Running For Status

Dublin Marathon 2013: Introduction

Dublin Marathon 2013: Introduction

I had an extra ticket to BOS-Europe after booking a domestic business class flight so I decided to fly to Paris, then fly on a cheap ticket to Dublin for the marathon on Friday. I can then book DUB-BOS on Avios on the way home. Plans have changed a bit so I won’t be going home after this marathon. I’ll be heading to Auckland for the next marathon. See my post on my long 20 hour trip from Dublin to Sydney and another few hours onto Auckland.

Hotels

I was flying with another frequent flyer on one of my mileage runs to LA and he told me about Choice hotels. There were quite a few of them for only 8k points a night. This is great as American Express Membership Rewards is a partner with Choice Hotels 1:1. I only used 32k points to book 4 nights of hotel, which wasn’t too bad.

There was availability on three nights around the marathon in the downtown location, which was only about a mile from the start line. There was only availability at the airport hotel the last night. It works out perfectly as I have a 6am flight and the airport hotel would get me to my flight in time.

Marathon

I had registered for this a few months ago and there didn’t seem to be any overwhelming demand for this marathon. It was very easy to register for. However, it was pretty expensive at about 130 EUR.

The marathon is Monday so I would have Tuesday to sight-see and also go to the Guinness Factory. I may go there before the marathon. This marathon is “walker friendly” so there is a generous 7 hour time limit. I should not have a problem.

There are two checkpoints to hit during the race, but both are based on 7 hour finish so it should not be a problem for me. It may be for some.

Race Strategy

This is much more important now than before as I have another marathon just six days after this one. I plan on running it very slowly and take walking breaks in the middle. This will allow me to enjoy the course and take plenty of pictures.

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