Twelve, again.

These cows were resting on the six mile patch of Seanféistín Road, where I decided to park up for my twelve miler.  Whenever I run long distances on my own my mind wanders in all sorts of directions.  Today I solved Ireland's education and health issues and I also mapped out a road plan for cultural tourism!  I'm reading a very interesting book at the moment that I picked up for €1 in Charlie Byrne's called 'Human Nature in Politics' (boring you may think but wait...).  It's a very old book, written in 1908, and the edition I have is from 1919. I find it interesting to get the perspective of another age on all kinds of issues and the author of this book, a man called Graham Wallas, covers everything from political morality to human instinct (ok, still boring you say...).  Personally, I think our political system turns good men into mugs and attracts mugs to rule good men (as for women - there are none in Irish politics!).  Anyway - my mind was wandering all over old Wallas' book as I ran my twelve miles today...

And for the second time in two months I traveled without my running shoes... this time around though I was wearing some kind of runner, so instead of turning back I decided to carry on regardless.  Thankfully they didn't seem to do any damage!  Running conditions were grand - a slight swirling wind against me on the first six, but then it gave me a little backing on the way home.  I ran slowly enough (my programme calls for long runs to be 45 secs slower than target marathon time but methinks I was slower still).  Although I do think I can run faster than this particular pace, I am now of the opinion that breaking the four mile mark could be a bit harder than I thought!

My final pic here is of eleven cups in a row, with teabags at the ready.  The house is full of teenage boys at the moment, here to learn Irish in the local summer college, and after mowing the lawn this evening I returned to the house to find that they had meticulously laid out their cups for when they would return to the house after tonight's big disco!

Distance:  12

Pace:  Slow

Satisfaction Rating: 7/10 (enjoyed the run but a little disappointed with pace)