Six Miles in Seanadh Phéistín

It's getting close to Barcelona now - just another week and a half until I'm trotting around the streets of that wonderful Catalonian City in an attempt to run 26 and a bit miles...  Unfortunately the wheels came off my preparation these past few weeks - between catching a cold and general work upheaval, but I'll not allow the negative voices to get to me, I'm going to enjoy this marathon come hell or high water.  Yesterday evening I went to Seanadh Phéistín for a six mile run with Conor.  He'll also be running the Barcelona marathon, as will Míchéal.  We were both a little dodgy going into yesterday's run - he had lost a couple of weeks of training also, but the six miles did us the world of good - if not physically, then certainly mentally!  My plan now is to get another few mile in tomorrow, and then compete in the Craughwell 10 mile run on Sunday.  Then it's pasta and rest until Sunday week!

The Jesuit philosopher Anthony de Mello had a good line; 'us humans', he would say, 'seek happiness in the way a fish would seek the ocean!  It's all around us and we don't even know it!'

How true of today... finally Spring has come to Galway and brought with it a wash of colour, a slight increase in temperature, and a real stir in nature.  I ran from Salthill after work - heading out towards Bearna village.  This time, however, rather than running into the little village itself I turned right before the church and headed down to the gorgeous Silver Strand.  This is an interesting little beach - much smaller and more secluded than it's illustrious neighbour, Salthill, but popular enough to have a car park and proper toilets!  Overlooking the beach, towards the town side, is a jut of a hill - a large grassy hill with the sides facing the sea cut straight and white with sand - like the hills of Dover!  There are actually two of them, with another to the east - closer still to the city (you can see one in the pic above which I robbed off the net...mid right of pic...I'll bring my camera next time).  These hills are strangely positioned, just on the water and resembling tall islands at times - I've seen them for years but it only occurred to me today that I might be able to run up one!  So, like a child full of wonder, I crossed Silverstrand beach, climbed up the boulders that lead to the gammy fence the council have erected to protect people like me from ourselves, and then I broke through that fence and leaped onto the first of the hills!   I was freeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!  Giddily I ran up the steep hill excited to see what I would see!  And what did I see?   A lovely level run and then a sharp dart downward to the otherside.  The tide was outand it seemed that you could run from one hill to the other, and possibly cross back into town in a loop.  Could it be done?  On I ran, to find out!  I came to an estuary, exactly in the middle of both hills and under my feet were a hundred thousand mussels...  They were huge and all there for the picking.  It's not the best time of year for mussels I reckon, but a bounty like this couldn't be left unpicked, so I stuffed the pockets of my shorts with a handful and then carried on.  Unfortunately it wasn't possible to cross over to the other hill, so I turned back towards Silver Strand again.  Coming to the top of the hill from the other side was like a scene from that old smaltzy tv programme Highway to Heaven - the sun was setting just at the top and a dog was hidden in it's golden rays until I came up close! 

Of course the mussels were rattling around in my pockets making it uncomfortable to run, so I left them atop a pillar on the road outside Silver Strand - to be collected on the way back.  Later on I cooked them in a sauce of onions, tomatoes, garlic and a drop of white wine.  Delicious.

How did I feel running-wise?  Who cares - on days like these the run itself is beside the point!

A chocolate bar in the middle of a long run?

Five miles into an eight mile run I decided to stop at a shop and buy a mars bar and a bottle of water.  I slugged them both back and then trotted on home.  Weird, I know.  The new mars bar approach to running came about due to some bad preparation earlier!  I had the day off, and had an inkling that I would do my 20 miler run, so I had a bowl of porridge at 10, fully intent on heading off on my run two hours later.  But, following a cup of coffee up at the local café, and a cup of tea with Big Ron, I kept putting this mammoth run off.  Eventually, I got out the door at 3pm - with pangs of hunger!  Lesson one from today:  if you don't fuel up properly you will weaken quickly!  My route was basicially just around the village - from one tip of the peninsula to the other and back again.  At Dóilín beach I decided to trek along the strand to where the old pier is, rather than double back  up the road again.  This route brings you to a raggedy old road that is serious incline from the old pier back to the main road again.  I had brought a few quid along for fear that I might need to buy water somewhere during the long run but, as I trekked up that incline, I decided on two things:  1)  I will not run 20 miles, nor near it!  2)  I NEED CHOCOLATE!  So, back to the village, into the local shop and, mars bar and bottle of water later, I'm on the last leg home... Still a very enjoyable run, and I'll live to fight another day on the old 20mile front.   This, coupled with an interval on Saturday makes for a good enough past few days.

The picture above is of a little whale that washed up on our local beach.  The poor thing.

Wild Seas at Salthill...

I haven't been feeling the best these past few days, so I've reluctantly cancelled running appointments with Conor in the hope that I'd shake back into top gear.  However, I couldn't afford to wait too long (marathon on the horizon), so I went for a run on the Salthill prom after work this evening.  Just over five miles.  The weather was wild and the seas were very rough (I have exaggerated with this pic but, not far off!).  I headed west against the wind on my way out.  It's hard to describe this to non runners, but nothing, and I mean nothing, beats these kind of runs.  On my way from work a colleague said 'better you than me - I wouldn't go outside the door in this weather!'... The only tough part is the getting out there, being out there is just fantastic.

Five and Half Miles of Lactic Loosening!

Following Thursday's 18miler I took a break on Friday and got back into the saddle (well, into my runners) for a 5.5 mile jaunt up and down the local village.  This was TOUGH.  My legs clearly have a mind of their own and they did not want to be out on the road yesterday, so soon after the 18 mile run.  At every step they were screaming 'nnnoooo',  On the other hand, my brain was well up for a run yesterday.  It was a bright and beautiful February day - a real Spring day.  For once Ireland seems to be getting the very best of Europe's weather.  The big rugby match in Paris between Ireland and France was called off, while the English and Italians played on a snow covered pitch.  Meanwhile, on this island I was running around An Cheathru Rua in bright sunshine!  Now, why would the legs have any complaint about that?

18 Miles!

I'm not long back from a great 18 mile run - legs are sore, belly is slightly uncomfortable, fatigue is setting in but ooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhh my God I feel great.  Can you beat that feeling of actually conquering a long distance run?  

Just as I did for my last long run (16 miles a few weeks ago) I just togged from work and ran out of the city towards Bearna.  This evening was a little drizzly and there was a slight wind in my face on the way out, but nothing too drastic.  Strange for me to say this - but I've actually been listening to an ipod on some of my solo runs lately, and for a man who never listened to music while running, well, I'm warming to it.  There was a specific reason for the ipod though - I don't have one of those garmins, so I've been judging my distance by time and checking it back on an ipod related measuring tool after!  I'm normally bang on with time - my pace was 8.30ish so 18 miles would clock in between 2h 35 mins and 2h 40.  And so it was!

Anyway - back to the ipod... I listened to a few Gillian Welch albums, one after the other, when all of a sudden one earphone went kaput, quickly followed by the other (cheap earphones).  It didn't bother me at all though - I'm still a no-earphone man in general.  

I was steady and strong for most of this run, though I did find it more difficult than the previous long run.  The Barcelona marathon is a month and a half away - I've still got a good bit of time to strengthen the legs.  There was nothing left in them by the time I reached my car this evening!

Five Miles Interval.

My idea was to head off after work for a long run.  See where the road would lead me.  Only two weeks ago I did a 16 mile run using this very tactic - but it's been short distances since.  So time for another long run.  However, much to my annoyance I discovered that I had left my gear at home!  My work is a long oul commute so by the time I finally reached home it was dark and definitely not long distance running time.  Weighing it all up, I decided to swop a long session with an interval!  So five miles of hard threadmill running was the order of the evening.  And I did fine - survived anyway.  The great thing about interval running (or repeats as some call them) is that they break the monotony of the threadmill.  A straight run on that yoke is just sheer hell.  Another big benefit of the intervals is that you do feel a different kind of buzz after these runs, and they certainly bring your fitness on a good bit. So, box ticked on the interval front - and the long road will live for another day!