The Run, the Mountain and the Pint

The Run

Jaysus that was tough. In my youthful drinkin' days there was fairly little justification needed for a pint but now that I've reached the ripe old age of 35 I seem to feel like I have to run up a mountain for 10km before I can have one. And just one.

At the start we ran into some woodlands. The ground underfoot was mulchy and the incline was slight. Richie and I were trotting along nicely. Then, like a bantamweight champion who can't punch hard but can punch often, this ever so slight incline seemed to go on forever and was threathening to knock me out. My poor calf muscles were beginning to bring their complaints up the line to my thighs. Richie was coping better than I, and so, like the gent that I am, I encouraged him to go off and find himself in these woods...

The Mountain

After the long slow incline of the woodlands we finally came to the real climb! The great Edmund Hillary may have thought nothing of this little hill but to us it was like Mount Everest. It was impossible to run so everyone trekked as best they could - a bit of runner's comaradarie does wonders to get you through and the banter was great at this stage. We went uphill and downhill for the next few kms. The view from Annacurra is breathtaking and it's easy to see why people love this mountain running lark. Descending can be pretty scary as you have no control at all and so I just decided to throw myself downill.

Richie came home in an impressive 61minutes while I was way down at the bottom of the field at 72minutes.

The Pint

And then of course... the pint! The Saltee pub is a lovely spot at the foot of Annacurra and as well as serving some great grub it has one of the sweetest pints of Guinness you could drink - especially if you are after either walking or running a mountainy 10k! One of the owners, Noel came down to greet Richie and I, which was very nice - he had also run (and managed a whole lot better than I did!).

All in all it was a very nice breakaway in Wicklow which Deirdre and I enjoyed a lot in the company of Richie and Deborah... I reckon I'll definitely come back next year to break my Annacurra PB!!! (PS: I did stick to my quota of 2pints so I'm on target!)