Imagine running a marathon. Then imagine running an Olympic marathon. In suffocating humidity. When you're 41-years-old. Then imagine banging out a few press-ups at the very end.
It sounds like some sort of cruel winter GAA punishment, the sort practised by every Mick O'Dwyer wannabe up and down the country. Laps of the pitch, followed by pushups, situps and yelling ("that'll learn ye to be frequenting the pubs of Dingle five weeks before this crucial Division 17 mid-table game".)
But no, instead it is the fate that befell one Olympic athlete - Meb Keflezighi of the States - who, when faced with the slight embarrassment of falling on his rear end at the end of the marathon in Rio, decided that the best way to save face would be to bang out a few pushups (maintaining decent form for someone who has just run 26.2 miles, it must be said).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3l4aysGSn-g&feature=youtu.be&a
Kind of like an extravagant version of the old 'I wasn't actually waving at someone who just ignored me, I was actually scratching my head all along' trick.
As Roy Keane might say, credit to Keflezighi (who is, at 41, a veteran who came second in the marathon in Athens in 2004)-and credit, indeed, to Paul Pollock, first of the Irish finishers, who absolutely tore through the second half of the race and went past no less than 64 people in that time to end up in 32nd (2.16.24), a fine performance.
Of the other Irish performers, Kevin Seaward came in 64th with a time of 2.20.06 and Mick Clohisey, clocking up a time of 2:26.34, stepped over the line in 103rd position.
