Weaving my way at tempo pace...

I know it is fuzzy but I was running backwards when I took this photo!  It doesn't look like much of a house now but as a young lad it seemed to be quite grand in comparison to the other old ruins around the area.  And it was a ruin all through my lifetime and for much of my mother's. The place is interesting for two reasons:  1) there was an old weaving machine left to rust and rot in one of the rooms and 2) the place is known locally as tí Chóil an tSappar (meaning Cóil,or Coleman the Sapper's place).  Now as a grown-up, working in a museum, I regret that the weaving machine wasn't kept and I'm interested in the casual way that the place was known to belong to a 'sapper').  Sappers were soldiers, mostly infantry men with some kind of an engineering background.  This is remarkable when considering that where I live was a very poor area back in the late 19th and early 20th century, when this man would have lived.  He would have joined the British Army, and probably fought in either the South African Wars or possibly the First World War (I must find out!).  This area is now and has always been an Irish speaking part of the country - hardly the breeding ground for sappers!  Not only this, but the man was obviously an entrepreneur because the weaving machine was certainly there for commercial use...

As for my run... I had to run two miles easy (which is how I could take a photo at all), then three miles at a tempo pace and finally two miles easy again.  I ran up to the village and down to the Coral Strand.  There was a viciously long and steep incline from the mid point of the three mile tempo but I kept going as hard as I could.  Boy was I glad to reach the top!
Lost a good old mate today - I bet he's up there somewhere stone carving!

Distance:  7 miles (2 easy, 3 tempo, 2 easy)

Route:  Up the village to the coral strand.

Satisfaction:  8/10