IMAGINE RUNNING down O'Connell Street behind a fleet of Dublin buses. Imagine doing this for 26 miles. Now imagine doing this knowing you had asthma.
This may seem like a dramatic comparison, but it's the challenge facing some athletes at the Beijing Olympics next August - at least if the worst fears about Beijing's air pollution prove true. No wonder a couple of medal contenders, including the great Ethiopian Haile Gebrselassie, are opting for shorter distances.
It's something even the casual jogger can relate to. You could be on the quietest country road in Ireland, when all it takes is one dirty old SUV to drive past and suddenly you're next breath feels like your last one.
Ireland may not have any medal contender in the marathon, but no matter what the event or distance, Beijing's notoriously poor air quality is likely to be a factor on performance, and couldn't be much more contrasting to conditions home-based athletes would be used too - even if they trained solely on O'Connell Street.
Heat and humidity is one thing, but the problem with Beijing is there's really no way to acclimatise to air pollution. It's bound to inhibit performance, no matter how well prepared the athlete is. And it isn't just carbon monoxide and industrial pollutants. Beijing's other problem is the Gobi desert, a mere 200 miles away, which constantly blows in dust and other dirty particles that makes it feel like you're breathing inside Mulligan's bar late on a Friday night, long before the smoking ban.
However, it's certainly not the first time the Olympics has been subject to mass hysteria about air quality, and in the most instances that hysteria proved largely unfounded.
Could it be the same with Beijing? No one expects the city of more than 13 million people to be smelling of roses next August, but they are spending €11 billion on improving the environment, and taking drastic measures during the course of the Olympics, most notably, the banning of private cars on alternative days, based on odd or even licence numbers.
The Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) aren't taking the pollution issue lightly, although according to Beijing chef de mission Dermot Henihan, no one can predict how good or bad it will be until, as they saying goes, they "let the games begin".
"We're certainly as prepared as we could be," says Henihan. "We had our medical team out in Beijing last August, the exact time the Olympics are taking place, to assess the air quality, and while there were some problems, it certainly wasn't all bad. There was quite a fluctuation in air quality, and on some days we did have perfectly blue skies.
"But we have put together an acclimatisation booklet that has been circulated to all the athletes, and will ensure they take every precaution they can to be ready on the day. Obviously there is some concern among the team managers, but it's not much different from the most recent previous Olympics. There was a lot of talk about humidity and high temperatures at those Olympics, but they weren't nearly as bad as feared.
"The reality is, no one knows how good or bad the air will be in Beijing until the Olympics begin. So right now I think there is a lot of hype. We're certainly not saying it's going to be alright out there, but we're steering away from the hysteria that seems to be developing."
The issue of air quality at the Olympics was first raised at the 1968 Games in Mexico City, mainly because of the high altitude, and the 1984 Games in Los Angeles generated similar concern because of the city's legendary smog.
Yet that proved far less troublesome than feared. A few athletes did suffer, most notably Britain's Steve Ovett in the 800 metres, but the marathon, which like Beijing was expected to pose a serious health threat, instead produced some unexpected results.
The fear was no European would be able to handle the heat and smog, when in fact Europeans won all three medals in the men's race - including the silver medal, which famously went to Waterford man John Treacy.
Ovett's situation in the 1,500 metres was a little different. He was suffering from asthma-related respiratory problems, which he maintains were made worse by the city's air pollution. He collapsed after his 800 metres final and spent two days in hospital because of lung spasms. Ovett later made the 1,500 metres final, but collapsed again with a lap remaining, and some say never fully recovered.
Many studies into asthma have been carried out since 1984, and not only is pollution now known to be one of the causes, as in the allergy prompting an inflammatory reaction, but so too is exercise. Only in recent years has the term exercise-induced asthma become well-known in a sporting context, as some of the world's leading athletes, most notably Britain's Paula Radcliffe, have spoken of their ordeal in coping with it.
Up to one in five elite athletes experiences exercise-induced asthma, and these are the ones most concerned about the conditions in Beijing, including both Radcliffe and Gebrselassie. Limerick sports injury specialist Gerard Hartmann has worked closely with Radcliffe for the past decade, and while she remains determined to make the marathon start line in Beijing, he does have his concerns.
"A lot of athletes are genuinely worried about the pollution in Beijing, but for Paula it will be even worse, because of her asthma," says Hartmann. "She uses an inhaler the whole time, and I've seen her do track sessions where's she been gasping, and her husband has to race over with the inhaler.
"For her, Beijing presents a combination of three things. Number one, you have air pollution, and heat. Number two is her asthma. And number three is the stress of running in the Olympics, because asthma can be brought on by such stress. An athlete may get away with one of those things. But put all three together, like you will have in Beijing, and it's much harder to get away with it."
Hartmann also advises the former Kenyan Lornah Kiplagat, the world half-marathon record holder who now runs for the Netherlands, and together they have decided to skip the Beijing marathon in favour of the 10,000 metres. "At least that will be in the stadium," he says, "while running the marathon, and pushing her body in those conditions, could prove detrimental to her whole career."
Both the men's and women's marathons have a 7.30am start in Beijing, when the temperature and air pollution should be at their most bearable. Some countries have already decided to issue protective facemasks to their athletes in Beijing, as well as recommending special diets to help deal with pollution, but the OCI aren't getting quite as worked up.
"People seem to forget that a lot of the Olympic events take place indoors, and others are well away from the city centre, such as the rowing and the sailing. One thing we are certain of is that August is the rainy season in Beijing, so we will definitely be issuing the Irish team with umbrellas," says Henihan.