I finished up my long runs on Wednesday and conserved my energy for the half marathon on Saturday. On Thursday evening I got out for a short jog with a few people from ‘On The Road Again’. My plan for Friday was to get a 4 mile jog done, just to keep the legs moving.

For some reason I couldn’t get motivated. I don’t really care what time of the day I run at as long as I get a run in. By late afternoon I still wasn’t feeling like going for a run. I decided to go for a walk instead. Midway through the walk I started getting stomach cramps. Not exactly what I needed the day before a big race.

I got plenty of fluids in to me and a bit of food and hoped I’d be feeling better in the morning. I got my race gear ready and set the alarm clock.

Sky over Blackrock

The following morning I still had no energy and decided it was best not to go to the race.

I was pretty disappointed but decided not to dwell on it too much.

3 bad days out of 320 miles isn’t a bad return!

After going for a walk on Saturday afternoon I decided it was time to look at a training plan for an ultra marathon I’m interested in taking part in at the end of April.

A quick internet search brought up a ten week training plan by Keith Whyte. Keith is an ultra runner from Ennis. He has represented Ireland on a number of occasions.

This training plan should offer a bit of variety to my training programme and should hopefully make the next 1,700 miles a bit easier.

My tee-shirt from the 4 provinces challenge arrived in the post so now I just have to go out and earn the medal. I have my eye on a couple of interesting races over the next couple of weeks.

There is still plenty of time to vote for the best of Galway awards.  www.bestofgalway.com

Well done to everyone who competed in Kinvara last Saturday. My colleagues were kept busy giving post race massages.

There have been a few offers to do post race massage at a few upcoming races so hopefully I’ll be getting plenty of practise in before my exams.

There are no shortage of races coming up. Entry is open Friday11th for Galway 5km series. This series normally sells out in a matter of minutes.

I will be starting some running groups after Easter so if you are interested please get in touch.

My donation page for my 2,1016 miles run is www.idonate.ie/2016miles