Welcome to the homepage of Sligo Athletic Club. We cater for Juveniles, Juniors, Seniors, Veterans, Joggers; men and women in Track & Field, Road and Cross-Country. Information such as Club News, Training Times & Venues, Fixtures and Race Results will be posted here.
For breaking news please be sure to check out our Facebook page.
Monday, October 22, 2012
You are now a Marathoner.......
Sligo AC’s Marathon Brave Hearts, “Rookies or experienced”
How you should be feeling the day after you complete the Dublin City Marathon, “Walking on cloud nine”, feeling pretty good about yourself, even though you will more than likely feel like your, “Limping on cloud nine”, But that certainly will not dull the glow even the slightest for what you have just achieved.
You set a goal of running the 26.2 miles, whether as a personal goal, or a “reclamation project”, the main thing is YOU DID IT.
“So … what was your time?” is a question you will hear from some people who really would not have the faintest understanding of what a good time for a first time or experienced marathoner might be, Or a bad time, for that matter.
You can be sure that if you answer, “2:30:20” or “6:05:47,” it would be met with the same blank stare.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying time doesn't matter to a runner, or that we should all run simply for the experience. Of course it Matters. A marathoner’s time provides a way to measure improvement, or perhaps decline. But that’s personal,
The Shop Floor Worker, the Mother / Father Juggling school pick up’s rushing for athletics training after school, the office worker and their colleague sitting at the desk beside them, they’re not going to the Olympics, but the discipline they had to summon and the commitment they had to carve out of their busy lives to train enough to run 26.2 miles was positively Olympian, regardless of time.
So for those who for what ever reason will not partake in this prestigious event this year, on the day’s after Marathon Monday, when you see your relative, friend, training partner or co-worker who completed the 26.2 miles — running, walking, or crawling please just leave it at congratulation’s, or that’s a serious achievement well done, after all they are now a member of a world class elite group and for that deserve and have earned their time in the spotlight.
Nobody succeeds alone.
While running a marathon might seem like an individual accomplishment, we rely heavily on other people throughout the process.
It starts with getting really good advice from other people who have ran marathons before.
Furthermore, our family, friends and co-workers are extremely supportive throughout the training. After long runs on Saturday / Sunday mornings you can be sure someone at work, rest or play will ask how many miles did you run the day before. “They are so supportive it felt like they were training along with you”.
The training is the real marathon
“I firmly believe that the actual marathon is really a celebration of all of the training you have done”.
You have stayed extremely motivated throughout your months of training. You can be sure there were some very challenging times along the way, like not wanting to get up and run at 6:30 a.m. on Saturday / Sunday morning, especially when the Sligo weather was not in your favor!
And some of the 15, 17, and 20+ mile training runs were nearly as difficult as the marathon itself,
In life, people win or lose based on what and how they have prepared, while everything may appear to happen on one day during the big event, the preparation for the event is what is most important.
Will I hit “the wall” (and if you do you will just have to find a way to make it through)
During the marathon, you may actually feel really good at certain points and you might start thinking, “This isn’t so bad, I may start speeding up so I can finish even faster.” Think long and hard, as 26.2 miles is a “Marathon” distance and with only a few meters to go it may take all of your efforts to put one foot in front of the other until you reach that finish line, this is simply the price you have to pay to accomplish big things, “so be sure you have the answer if you ask that question”, but always think positive.
Don’t start off too fast – Consistency is key
The training the week before the marathon is very light. Therefore, by race day, your body is just begging for exercise. And you are obviously extremely excited about the event since the atmosphere is so electric.
As a result, it is extremely tempting to want to start off the race by running really fast. But keep telling yourself that “I am going to take it slow at the beginning, because I know I will need the energy later in the race. For the first 6-7 miles, you may feel like you are running really slowly, However, you will be glad you did this, because you will need that energy for the finish.
If you do your best, you will have absolutely no regrets
There is a peace and contentment that comes from doing the best you can no matter what happens. This is all you can control and all you can ever ask of yourself, so go out run intelligently, soak up the atmosphere, be amazed by the people around you and believe in yourself, but above all enjoy yourself.
Dedicated to all Sligo AC Dublin Marathon 2012 participants…
Sunday, October 21, 2012
What A Weekend.....
Hectic Weekend for Sligo AC members....A massive well done to all Sligo AC members who competed with great commitment and effort in a number of events throughout the area this weekend, We had a first placing in the Sligo IT 5K and many PB's were also recorded by our Male, Female and Junior athletes, which goes to show you get back what you put in, we also had members competing in the novel Coney Island 10K and again records were set and satisfaction accomplished, there was also the Rathcormack 8K, and of course our up and coming stars our juveniles who competed in the Sligo Cross country in Oxfield this afternoon. Again congratulations to one and all club members, all you friends and colleagues in Sligo AC are proud of you all..
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Country Men do the job....
Well done to the Sligo AC Mens Masters Team who won Gold in the Connacht Crosscountry in Calry.Led home by Mel Casserly who finished a superb 2nd and backed up with fantastic running by Danny Hannon,Steve Finnegan and Rory Connor. Great running by Conal Sexton just missing out on an individual medal in the Novice and well done to John Dolan who made his debut over the distance. As you can see Mel still has the "Hunger" for top honours.....
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Road Runners of the 7:57 Club
The Loneliness of the Long Distance Road Runners of the 7:57 Club.
You’ll not get a Jaffa cake, fig roll, jelly baby, lucozade sport, PowerAde or High 5 Iso Gel between here and The Liffey Valley this side of October 29th .... and as for the banana’s they were bought during the weekly “Big Shop”.
Why could this be?
Because the lads from the 7:57 club are fuelling up for the Dublin City Marathon, like a bear going into Union Wood hibernating (Where most of them have been hiding sine January), For most Sligo people they go to Dublin for 3 reasons, the airport, the zoo and Lady Gaga concerts, but these boyos aren’t most people they are marathoners so they add in a trip the last weekend in October each year, and some have said it’s a lot less painful than having to go up shopping “so it’s not that bad after all”.
But on a serious note all these lads have put in a huge commitment and have dedicated huge amounts of time and effort to training for the Marathon. From the outside looking in you may think that they have done so many marathons that they just turn up, but that is not the case.
Early mornings, rescheduling of family plans, missed nights out, watching what you eat and drink are all par for the course. Lads getting out of their bed hours before the runs and driving miles out of their ways to leave out water bottles for us all along the route and back again to collect them after.
Morning and evenings when you wouldn’t put a dog out these boys took to the roads to stick to their schedules encouraging one another along the way.
No prima donnas or Billy big times here everyone was there to help the other along and although an individual sport they did it with team spirit and encouraged and persuaded any new comer that they could do it too.
Ordinary people doing extra ordinary things
Good luck:
Enda Dineen, Eamon Dunbar, Mark Burns, Ciaran Donnellan, Enda Whelan, Damien Kennedy, Kieran Coleman, Joe Davey, Richard Gorman, Paul Deering, Fintan Whelan, Mel Casserly, Nickey Davey, Padraig Scanlon, Jonathan Hill, Paul Davey, Ian Howard, and Roy Kelly.
Like their male compatriots our ladies have put in the hard slog for the 26.2 miles juggling their time and other commitments to build the mileage necessary for completing the task.
Many a mile was put in the race course on Saturday mornings and that’s not an easy place to do your long runs mentally or physically. Building steady mileage over the summer months on the road’s to culminate in the completion of the marathon has paid off, So ladies I am sure you will achieve all you set out to achieve.
Good luck to:
Linda Higgins, Aisling Kennedy, Aisling Gillen, Sharon Dineen, Vanessa Foley, Sarah McCaffrey, Deirdre Deering, Cathy McCarthy, Fiona Melvin, and Edel McGowan.
Some of these athletes are seasoned Marathon runners and others are what is known as Marathon virgins but the one thing is that each and every one of them have completely committed themselves to this magnificent challenge, and some times this can be over shadowed by the “what time do you hope to do it in” question, which immediately puts you under un-needed pressure, as the most important thing is to enjoy and soak up the adulation you deserve for achieving what you have just accomplished, a statistic to keep in your mind is that only 1% of the worlds population will ever complete a Marathon, so on Monday October 29th these individuals will become members of a very elite group and for that they are to be saluted. Best of luck and above all Happy Running.
You’ll not get a Jaffa cake, fig roll, jelly baby, lucozade sport, PowerAde or High 5 Iso Gel between here and The Liffey Valley this side of October 29th .... and as for the banana’s they were bought during the weekly “Big Shop”.
Why could this be?
Because the lads from the 7:57 club are fuelling up for the Dublin City Marathon, like a bear going into Union Wood hibernating (Where most of them have been hiding sine January), For most Sligo people they go to Dublin for 3 reasons, the airport, the zoo and Lady Gaga concerts, but these boyos aren’t most people they are marathoners so they add in a trip the last weekend in October each year, and some have said it’s a lot less painful than having to go up shopping “so it’s not that bad after all”.
But on a serious note all these lads have put in a huge commitment and have dedicated huge amounts of time and effort to training for the Marathon. From the outside looking in you may think that they have done so many marathons that they just turn up, but that is not the case.
Early mornings, rescheduling of family plans, missed nights out, watching what you eat and drink are all par for the course. Lads getting out of their bed hours before the runs and driving miles out of their ways to leave out water bottles for us all along the route and back again to collect them after.
Morning and evenings when you wouldn’t put a dog out these boys took to the roads to stick to their schedules encouraging one another along the way.
No prima donnas or Billy big times here everyone was there to help the other along and although an individual sport they did it with team spirit and encouraged and persuaded any new comer that they could do it too.
Ordinary people doing extra ordinary things
Good luck:
Enda Dineen, Eamon Dunbar, Mark Burns, Ciaran Donnellan, Enda Whelan, Damien Kennedy, Kieran Coleman, Joe Davey, Richard Gorman, Paul Deering, Fintan Whelan, Mel Casserly, Nickey Davey, Padraig Scanlon, Jonathan Hill, Paul Davey, Ian Howard, and Roy Kelly.
Like their male compatriots our ladies have put in the hard slog for the 26.2 miles juggling their time and other commitments to build the mileage necessary for completing the task.
Many a mile was put in the race course on Saturday mornings and that’s not an easy place to do your long runs mentally or physically. Building steady mileage over the summer months on the road’s to culminate in the completion of the marathon has paid off, So ladies I am sure you will achieve all you set out to achieve.
Good luck to:
Linda Higgins, Aisling Kennedy, Aisling Gillen, Sharon Dineen, Vanessa Foley, Sarah McCaffrey, Deirdre Deering, Cathy McCarthy, Fiona Melvin, and Edel McGowan.
Some of these athletes are seasoned Marathon runners and others are what is known as Marathon virgins but the one thing is that each and every one of them have completely committed themselves to this magnificent challenge, and some times this can be over shadowed by the “what time do you hope to do it in” question, which immediately puts you under un-needed pressure, as the most important thing is to enjoy and soak up the adulation you deserve for achieving what you have just accomplished, a statistic to keep in your mind is that only 1% of the worlds population will ever complete a Marathon, so on Monday October 29th these individuals will become members of a very elite group and for that they are to be saluted. Best of luck and above all Happy Running.
Monday, October 1, 2012
Colooney 5K
Colooney 5K Road race (Run / Walk) in Aid of Colooney Redevelopement, Sunday 14th October, Registration from 11:30am - 1:00pm at Colooney Parochial hall (Beside the train station), entry €10 on line at www.runireland.ie or €12 on the day. Refreshments and prize giving in the owenmore inn Colooney afterwards.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)