Running 100 miles in 24 hours
Paddy Marsh is a man who likes a challenge, which is why he’s set himself a target of running 100 miles in a 24-hour race he’s doing next month.
A man who started playing senior football as a teenager, Paddy is no stranger to tough physical tests, but this one is on a different level and he has been training since January.
“I’d never done more than 10k before that,” said Paddy, “but if I’m going to do something, I’ll test the boundaries, so I’ve been working up the distance.”
Paddy has a special reason for taking on this epic task. Shortly after her birth last September, his daughter Sarah was diagnosed with a rare metabolic disorder called Homocyctinuria.
Eager to repay some of the "wonderful help and support" Sarah and the rest of his family received from Temple Street Hospital, Paddy decided to raise funds for this worthy cause.
His first target on his training plan was the Mullingar Half Marathon on St Patrick’s Day, and although he tore a hamstring at the 17/18k mark, he was back training again by mid-April.
A typical week for Paddy means getting out four times, taking in an intense session, fartlek and interval sessions, which add up to 30 or 40 miles, plus a long run.
“I started at 2.5-hour runs but in the last few weeks I’ve been up at 5am on Sundays and going till 3 o’clock, and in the next two weeks it’s 5am till 5pm. My target [in the race] is to do 100 miles.”
Aware that it is a huge challenge, Paddy has done eight hours at his target pace of 8min 30sec/km, and is confident he can maintain that for 16 or 17 hours. Beyond that is an unknown but he says his motivation for doing the race, and his support crew will get him through.
“It’s for herself [his daughter Sarah – see below], for Temple Street. And I have a good crew, Stephen Byrne, Keith O’Brien, Jimi Gillivan and Dave Sheridan. Kieran Dufficy was supposed to come up with me, but he was to do Limerick marathon in May and got a bout of dizziness, so his doctor advised him not to do it.
“He had done a lot of the training, and I would have appreciated his support on the day, but he’s doing a marathon in Waterford on the same day, and I’ll be thinking of him.”
Paddy says thorough planning is vital, and to that end he and his crew have visited the track in Victoria Park, Belfast, where the race takes place on Saturday/Sunday June 25/26.
“You have to trust your own body,” he said. “You learn a lot about what you can do and what you can’t do, what your body needs. When you get to that distance, there is pain. When the lactic acid gets into your muscles, how do you cope with that? Every single step is going to be sore, but the motivation is doing it for a good cause – that’s why I have 100 miles in my head.
“I have that sort of competitive streak in me. I want to look back and say 'I’ve achieved something’, and as well as that, companies are sponsoring me per mile so the more miles I do, the more I raise.”
Paddy paid tribute to his wife, Tania (“she’s been brilliant”), their children Matthew (6), Nathan (4), Aidan (2) and Sarah (8 months) and the Flynn family, Thomas, Frances, John and Paul. He is marketing manager for Thomas Flynn and Sons at The Downs and he says they have been a great support to him.
He also thanked “all our friends and family who have supported us from the start, I’m not going to start mentioning names but they know who they are and we are truly grateful for all their support”; and “everyone who has sponsored me – I’d really like to thank them for their support. It’s been amazing the amount of generosity that is out there.”
“Tania said to me, 'you have to think of it this way, if you do 75 or 80 miles, you’ve done three marathons in 24 hours’, but I would be disappointed and that’s because I’m competitive,” Paddy concluded.
There is a blue jacket for those who make 100 miles in the race, and Paddy has his sights set on one of those.
• give.everydayhero.com/ie/24-hours-for-temple-street#/