The Republic of Ireland

August involved Ireland. The Republic of Ireland. You have to be very careful with that chat. It is not southern Ireland. Or the south of Ireland. So I’ve learned.

I’d been having a bit of a bad patch in the run up to my trio to Dublin and had thought of giving it a miss. Thankfully, I convinced my very good friend Catherine to accompany me and into the bargain we got to stay with her family in her childhood home back in the village of Ardclough. Catherine is in the not-so-exclusive one-of-my-colleagues group. This blog has taught me that I have a lot of colleagues, ex and current. We started new jobs in our clinic a week apart and have been friends since day dot.

That weekend I arrived into the airport in Dublin and was picked up by Catherine and her mammy, and taken out to meet the first of her sisters and her children- the weekend continued in this pattern and I got round about 3/4 of the immediate O’Neills.

On Saturday night, the ladies O’Neill (Catherine, Emer and Claire) showed me the what the craic in the Dublin was like, and very good craic it was too.

 

 

We got back as the sun was coming up, more or less, but I felt I couldn’t stay in bed all day as I was guest. So I got up and showered and tried not to appear too hungover.

Mrs O’Neill, Philomena, Phil as they say, cooked us up three square meals a day and took us out in the car for a tour of the surrounding hills and wandered around Dublin showing me the sights and generally being a mum and looking after things.

Our Sunday drive took us all over County Kildare, up hills, down rivers, on top of ruins and out into fields. London felt very far away.

There was also Mr. Donal O’Neill, brother Paul, partners and in-laws, and a gazillion hyper and gorgeous children. A fantastic family, who all made me feel very at home in their homes- thanks guys!

  

My race, on the bank holiday Monday in Dublin, was one of the Rock ‘n’ Roll series. Originating in the States, the Rock ‘n’ Roll brand has spread across to Europe and now has a European tour leg of the series. I had planned to do my first RNR race in Nice earlier this year, but the weather had other plans and this become my inaugural RNR run. It was also my first half marathon of the year- I had planned a slow progression of returning to training in January and working up to the longer races later in the year. And as ever, the best laid plans went out the window when life happened. Oh well.

So, with minimal training, as per my signature style, and off the back of a night out in Dublin I attempted to run 13.1 miles and not be too broken by the end of it.

The RNR race runs a beautiful route, first along the River Liffey and past all the main city sites, then out to and all around the picturesque Phoenix Park. Don’t take my word for it, watch this nifty video if you like, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJmraLd6r5I

Unlike my Run to the Beat experience, which promised music but didn’t deliver, the RNR was full of bands, every mile or so, with great sound systems so you could actually here them for more than the few seconds you took to pass them. Along with the actual sounds, the bands were all pretty friendly and would smile, wave and salute runners as they passed by.The RNR race runs a beautiful route, first along the River Liffey and past all the main city sites, then out to and all around the picturesque Phoenix Park. Don’t take my word for it, watch this nifty video if you like, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QJmraLd6r5I

But my absolute favourite thing about the RNR race was the refreshment stations, which were like a small corner shop of treats- water, juice, Powerade, bananas, gels, sponges, whatever you wanted they had! Having watched the Commonwealth Games marathon on TV the week before, and noted the winner Michael Shelley cracking into some energy gels at keys points in his race, I decided to give it a bash and follow suit.

I’ve tried a few boosting substances before- that sounds more illicit than it is, I mean jelly babies and the like- but have always found they made me feel nauseous. The gels were a bit weird tasting, but I had it in small doses and all was well. The race flew by and I was amazed at how easy I found it with the energy gels on board.

During the race, I made a few friends along the way, chatting about running and where we’d travelled from. Near the end I was running alongside a woman on her first half race and she was struggling, so I ran along with her until we could see the finish line ahead and knew we would both get over it. Team work.

I made a glorious run for the finish line, feeling great on the gels, and finished alongside the 2.10 pacer. And seeing as I started the race behind the 2.45 pacer, I’d made up a lot of ground. Best half ever, although my trainers were pretty done in by the end of it!