Big Ron Comes Back...

After a long stint on the sidelines, Big Ron finally made his running comeback on Tuesday, with a three mile trot around Bóthar Buí and Dóilín with yours truly.  Weather was wonderful on Tuesday, so it really was a joy to run up this side of the village, with magnificent views of the mountains and the sea.  Big Ron struggled a little coming up the hill from Dóilín pier and it was hilarious to see a supreme athlete such as he puff and pant in my wake.  Of course I made the most of this, knowing it will take the Big Red One about three weeks of running to leave us all trailing in his dust again.  'I hope you don't mind if I finish up at the three mile mark,' said Burgundy.  'Wimp', I replied.
Three weeks may be overstating my gloating time though...

Three Miles After Hip Lay Off

I took the bulk of last week off from running.  Following my glorious six and half mile comeback last Monday I felt a soreness in the hip area.... Now, it isn't often I feel a sorness in the hip area, so I was mightily alarmed.  Was this my future staring me in the face?  I spent four days crawling up our work stairs like a war veteran.  Were my running years already catching up with me?  Well, in panic I took the few days off and rested.  Until yesterday, when I jaunted off around the village for three easy miles.  No great pain, so hopefully that will be that with this aul hip pain.  Probably time to change my runners!

Beautiful New Route - Just Beside Me

Conor and I went out for a six mile run yesterday evening and with time constraints we decided to run from the house, rather than take our usual drive as far as Seanadh Phéistin.  What a revelation.  Now, I do normally have a village route run but this time we decided to turn left down a tiny road called Demense.  I know the road well from my youthful days of taking a shortcut to the football pitch, but for some reason or other I've ignored this route when it has come to running.  The downside is that it can be rough underfoot, but it is spectacularly beautiful and remote.  Of course the evening added a good deal to it - clear and warm.  I've slipped a bit running-wise lately (I did run a four miler on Monday) and I've also slipped blog-wise.  But, I'm back for sure?!

Missed Marathon, Missed Blog Posts, Friend Passes.

This was possibly the longest stretch between blog posts since I began this carry-on a couple of years ago.  I should have been on to tell the story of my successful Barcelona marathon over a week and a half ago, but, alas, there was no Barcelona marathon for me - successful or otherwise.  Our trip got cancelled when one of a party of three took ill.  There will be other marathons - it's not the end of the world.  My own training has dipped dramatically these past few weeks though, but I still got out about three times to trot around four/five miles.
On Saturday another good friend of mine, Michael, passed away following a battle with cancer that lasted over a year and a half.  He was much loved and achieved a great deal selflessly in his life.  We will miss him greatly.  We might also do well to learn from him.

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.