Monday, October 14, 2024

IGT Downtown 5K


Providence, RI
Sunday, September 15, 2024

The most popular road race in the US is the 5K, with more than 8.9 million registrants in 2022, according to Running USA.  That is likely due to the shorter distance being especially popular with novice and intermediate runners, but it is certainly not my favorite distance.

But as this would be the third race of the nascent 4-race RI Grand Prix and I had already missed one race (you need three to qualify), I'm in!  I skipped the Wahaneeta 5K yesterday and I know I don't rebound as quickly after a race, but I'll have to think about whether I want really want to skip Run for the Pumpkins on October 5, with the final race of the series (Ocean Road 10K) being the next day.  But I digress ...

Race day:  With a race start of 10am, it was already getting warm when Jana and I arrived in downtown Providence.  We arrived a good 90 minutes early, which in truth was due to Jana's good planning.  Parking was in the Providence Place Mall.  Unlike other race events with garage parking this year in Ottawa and New Haven, parking was so simple, plenty of places throughout the mall with zero driving wait, and a ridiculously cheap price of $2 for the three hours we were there.  Check in at Marathon Sports inside the mall was quick and easy.

The original plan was to run the whole course, but Nick was looking to run two miles and that worked as well.  Gave me enough of a flavor for the course and got the legs ready to go.  I got back to the start, changed into my race shoes and was ready to go with twenty minutes to go.  I'm not sure why the race starts so late, but that meant it was warm (70°F) and open sun.  There were signs indicating where to line up based on 5-minute increments of expected time and I went to the 25-minute sign only because it meant I could stay in the complete shade as long as possible.  Paul Gray told me I was in the wrong place, and needed to move up.  Which is what I did about ten minutes pre-race when the field was filling in.  Went for a few strides and ready to go.

Charlie Breagy was trying to speak three minutes pre-race when AC/DC's Thunderstruck came on and drowned him out.  Works for me!  Unfortunately he asked for the music to be cut (sacrilege!) but he kept his remarks short and with 90 seconds to go Thunderstruck was back on.  Yes!  I saw Molly Huddle two rows ahead of me, which was pretty cool as well.  I am feeling good!

Mile 1:  Despite lining up in the fourth row, as often happens, two guys in front of me partially blocked me in and it was clear these two clowns had no business being up front.  Ugh, frustrating.  I went up on a sidewalk to pass them and after another 1/10 of mile of so I had no more roadblocks.  About 1/2 mile in I checked my lap pace and saw 5:23.  OK, that's absurd and not sustainable, but I also chalked it up to excitement and just having come down a 30' hill.  I saw Adrian a ways ahead of me, and Jared just ahead of me.  The course is a lollipop and splits off at about 0.8 miles.  Mile 1 split 5:30.
Start of the 2024 IGT Downtown 5K 


Mile 2:  We were spread out nicely in the second mile, as I continued not far behind Jared.  The entire road was closed, so we had plenty of room to run.  At 1.6 miles in, we turned onto South Main Street and ran alongside the Providence River as we made our way back.  Towards the end of the second mile, I heard Chariho head coach Bill Haberek call out to me and offer encouragement.  Besides being my 8th social studies teacher way back in the late 70s, he's just such a great guy and has done so much for the sport.  Mile 2 split 5:38.  Fantastic!
Lollipop course with the first and final 0.8 miles being the same


Mile 3 to finish:  I'm feeling good and counting my chickens before they hatch, and am figuring on a great finishing time (for me) of somewhere in the 17:40s.  But I'm unable to hold the pace, and that's even before that massive uphill climb at the beginning of Smith Street slows me way down.  (It's not really massive, and it's more like a "bump" than a "hill", but it sounds better that way, right?)  We go past the Amtrak station and RI State House, with a small downhill back to the finish, but unfortunately my Mile 3 split is a slow 5:57.

I push the best I can downhill, turn the corner and see the clock ticking into the 17:50s.  I think I can make it at least for a sub-18, but the clock and the distance and time required to get there is always so deceiving and I finish dejected as I watch the clock turn to "18:00".
Finishing the 5K,
unfortunately NOT sub-18


Final result:  18:02 (5:48 average pace), 18 of 1,293 overall, 1st of 67 in age group.  Full results here.

I am really disappointed not to break 18, and I don't want to be a "negative Nancy" so I just sit out of sight for a bit to get my pouting and sulking done privately, before catching up with others.
Team WTAC today, minus Jared and Dave
1st place RI Grand Prix team today!


I picked up my award ($25 to Marathon Sports - same award as I got at Branford, so I have $50 now), and then went for a solo cooldown.  Fortunately, I caught up with Adrian Massie and ran and chatted with him for a while, so that helped my mood.  18:02 after all isn't a terrible time for a 60-year-old, and it was enough today to not only be the 1st 60+ but also the 1st 50+ runner out there.  Like Mick Jagger sings:

You can't always get what you wantBut if you try sometimes, well, you might findYou get what you need

Saturday, October 12, 2024

Stavros Memorial Beach Run 2024



Westerly, RI
Monday, September 9, 2024

My 22nd straight year of running in the Stavros Memorial Beach Run.  Yes, even in 2020 during COVID we hosted the Beach Run, albeit with thermometer forehead checks at check-in and waves of ten per state law at the time.  Hopefully will never encounter another pandemic again in my lifetime.
Fun Run 2020:  masks and temperature checks
Remember these crazy times?


Stavros Beach Run 2020:
multiple waves of ten runners each, with each runner lined
up at a separate cone

But I digress.  As usual.  This is truly one of my favorite races every year.  There are so few races where the entire race is run on the beach, and I believe none at all in our area.  Perhaps similar to small low-key trail races, it holds a similar vibe and it's so much fun.  It's also the easiest logistics as we don't need police as it's not on roads, and we don't need to mark the course as well.  As Race Director, I am typically the first to arrive and the last to leave, and yet those ~2.5 hours in between just fly by so quickly.

Race - outbound:  I went through the usual quick announcements, including the one standard question from Mark Burbelo that has become tradition (Q: "Is there water on the course?"  A:  "Yes, on the way out it's on your right [as I point to the ocean], and on the way back it's on your left").  That one still draws laughs!

Kim started the race with a siren, as Schane timed and started the clock.  As always, much of the Westerly High School cross country team runs in the race, and as always, much of the Westerly High School cross country team blasts out at the start.  After the dust (I guess "sand" is more appropriate in this race) settled about 1/4 mile in, two runners were ahead of me:  top WHS runner Noah already way out in front, and then Nick Alge.
Start of the 2024 Stavros Beach Run


I followed fairly close to Nick until catching up to and passing him about a mile in.  Fast 5:55 first mile, barefoot in the sand.  At that point, I had just Noah ahead of me, but WAY ahead of me, as I gazed ahead to the breachway and turn around.  At the turnaround, Fran was waving people around the cone, and Noah had long since turned and was on his way back, so I was hoping for a 2nd place finish at that point.

Race - return:  It would be a headwind back to the finish, but not a terrible one, just enough to slow us down a bit.  It's fun passing through the oncoming runners on the way back, and they're so supportive and encouraging.  As the onslaught of runners thinned, I hadn't noticed until now that I had gained quite a bit on Noah.  Unfortunately, he knew, because he frequently turned his head and glanced back.

With about a mile to go, I passed Noah for the lead.  But that was short lived, as another couple of minutes later, he easily passed me with a strong surge.  I willed myself to not let him put a big gap on him.  I was just a few feet behind him, when I sensed the surge might have cost him some energy and I noticed the wind coming out of his sails.  I caught him and ran next to him for a bit for passing him again.  My watch showed about 1/2 mile left now.  Knowing that I have endurance but not a kick, while I took solace in that he was breathing even harder than me, I didn't take anything for granted and forged ahead as fast as I could.  

I stayed on the hard-packed sand on the water's edge as long as I could, before heading slightly inland through softer sand to the finishing chute.
Finishing up
Winner!



Final result:  18:22, 1st of 57 finishers.  Full results here.

I had finished 16 seconds ahead of Noah, and I was relishing my win.  This was my second win in 22 starts, interestingly a win at age 50 (17:26) and now a win at age 60.  Obviously you race who shows up, but I'm really happy with this!

Immediately went for my traditional dip in the ocean, as I caught with several similar like minded runners.  Got a few slices of pizza and watermelon before compiling and printing results, and just like that, the night was over as the sun set on yet another fantastic Stavros Memorial Beach Run.

Cooling off post-race:
(left to right:  Dave Goodrich, ???, me, Bob Kerwin, Matt Sweeney)
Nice pic w/ Nick Bottone, John & Jeanne Stavros, and Jana and me
- The Westerly Sun



Thursday, October 10, 2024

New Haven 20K - 2024

 

New Haven, CT
Monday, September 2, 2024

This would be my third consecutive running of the New Haven 20K.  To give you a flavor of my two previous showings, my Strava posts in 2022 and 2023 were titled “New Haven Sufferfest 20K” and “Another New Haven Sufferfest”, respectively.  It seemed this race would always be hot and humid, but finally we got a break, with a decently comfortable 66°F and 81% relative humidity at race start.

Despite having run this race the past two years, I seriously underestimated the time needed to drive to the New Haven parking garage, basically because I had no issue the past two years and thus I failed to give a contingency buffer.  I was regretting this as I sat in New Haven traffic moving at a snail’s pace, watching my ETA on Google Maps get steadily later, as I feared the impending mad rush to get to the start would impact my race performance.

Upon parking, I hustled over to check-in, which fortunately was very efficient, used the bathroom, and changed into my race shoes as there would be no time for a warm-up.  I ran some strides in the park and arrived at the start line just as the national anthem was starting up.  Not good.  But at least now the stress was gone.

Race start:  I got a glimpse of professional runners Keira D'Amato and Hilary Bor on the starting line, saw Jared to my right, and we were off.

I didn't see Jared at first in the busy and crowded first half mile or so.  But as the crowds thinned out, I saw him right next to me.  OK, maybe we can run together for a bit.  That stretched into nine miles running together, which definitely helped!  Unlike last year in the sun, heat, and humidity, where my miles slowed to as much as 6:40s, this year while running together we were knocking off mostly sub-6:10 miles!

At time like water stops, he or I would go slightly ahead of each other, and then work to catch up batch, and continue working off of each other.  There were a lot of music stations along the course as well, and most were pretty motivating, include Tom Petty, CCR, and even a bagpipe player!
Running together with Jared,
about 6 miles in


Unfortunately, in Mile 10 ("the hill"), Jared dropped back a bit.  My race wasn't against him, so I had hoped he'd continue to the finish, but it wasn't to be.  Mile 10 last year was where I was getting passed by both the 1st and 2nd eventual age group winners as I hung on for 3rd.  But I was feeling good and forged ahead.  Besides last year I was in my 50s and I'm in a new age group now!  

After the hill, I picked up the pace, and finished with a 12th mile split of 6:07 and then the final half mile in a 5:30 pace!  Does that suggest that I left something out on the course?  
"Sprinting" it in to the finish


Final result:  1:16:54, PR!!  88th of 536 overall, 1st of 21 in M60 age group.  Full results here.

Not only did I win my M60 age group this year, but the two M50 gentlemen that passed me last year finished behind me this year, and thus I was the fastest M50+ today.  Felt really good about this race!


Post-race food was really good as usual, and I helped myself to two servings of soft ice cream to make my day.  This was the 7th of 8 in the USATF-CT road series.  This year I completed four in the the series, and I'll miss the final race (Norfolk Pub 10M) as I'll be away in December.

Tuesday, October 8, 2024

August 2024: Elevation! And Ireland!

Running stats:

Miles run:  281.2
Elevation gain:  24,423'
Weekly miles (for weeks ended in month):  62, 47, 58, 56
Consistent mileage, but a really big increase in elevation.
Probably one of my biggest elevation months.
Mostly attributed to two mountain runs in Ireland and one in NH.

Primary running surfaces:  Roads (122), trails (122 miles)  Not a typo!  Evenly split.
Primary running locations:  Charlestown (76 miles), then Exeter (37) 

Other disciplines:
  • Walk / hike:  25 miles
Quick synopsis:
  • Only one long run.
  • But three mountain runs.
  • And ran in six different states and also Ireland for the first time.
  • Three races:  mixed bag.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Interesting runs:
  • Soft Surface Recovery, Exeter, August 5.  6 miles.  Actually, it wasn't the run that was especially interesting, but rather the fine specimen we saw on our post-run swim:
    Beautiful 5-foot long Northern Watersnake sunning itself
    as we swam in the Wood River next to it.

  • Hickory Knob State Park, McCormick County, South Carolina, August 9.  6 miles.  Hot as hell 92°F run, but it was mostly shaded and definitely an interesting run on the Lakeside Trail.  Went slow and easy and "rewarded" myself with a shake and ice cream at the local ice cream store!
    View along my run.  I definitely don't see this kind of 
    view back home.

  • So Glad to be Back in the North!, Hagerstown, Maryland, August 12.  11 miles.  After very hot runs in South Carolina and Georgia, it was so refreshing to go for a 58°F run.  Also exceeded my expectations with a lot of greenery, including paths through city parks.

  • Carrauntoohil, County Kerry, Ireland, August 15.  10 miles, 3,500' elevation gain.  High point of Republic of Ireland.  I could easily list every run I took on this Ireland vacation, but I've already written a detailed blog post on the Ireland trip, so I'll just hit the top three memorable/interesting to me.
    Again, there are many more pics on my Ireland trip blog,
    but this view from the top was pretty cool!

  • Slieve Donard, County Down, Northern Ireland, UK, August 19.  6 miles, 2,746' elevation gain.  High point of Northern Ireland.  Really dismal weather.
At the summit.  Rain and gale force winds.  When not behind
the Mourne Wall, it was very difficult for me to stand up straight.

  • Mount Monadnock, Dublin, New Hampshire, August 22.  10 miles, 2,575' elevation gain.  Day trip with a touch technical climb.  With Matthew before he returned to the left coast.
    Cool pic running through the rocks and mist approaching the summit



-------------------------------------------------------------

Races:

Run 4 Kerri 4M (August 4):
South Kingstown, RI

Got really weak and dizzy on this one, but I succeeded in taking down the 21-year-old M60 Course Record!
Besides taking down the AG CR, after I recuperated,
the highlight was the return of the fire hose shower!



Bottone Mile (August 7):
Charlestown, RI

Fun event at our all new venue at Ninigret Park!  Everything went really well, including the post-race barbeque.  So nice to have a traffic-free course with zero 90° turns.  As far as my own race, not the best but about what I expected.  Disappointing to see so many kick past me at the finish.  Final result 5:23.




Run the Ridge 10K (August 17):
County Wicklow, Ireland

Fun destination race.  Very club oriented in Ireland.  I was off to a slow start up to the ridge, but caught many on the downhill return.  1st overall in M60+.  (Actually 1st M50+ also)


(then scroll down to "Saturday August 17" or search for "Run the Ridge")


-------------------------------------------------------------

Miscellaneous:
August 17:  Seeing AC/DC live in concert in Dublin!
Simply amazing.

August 18:  Giant's Causeway, Northern Ireland, UK.
Like nothing I've ever seen before.  Doesn't even look natural.
But it is!


-------------------------------------------------------------

Looking ahead to September:

Four races on the docket:
  • New Haven 20K Road Race, New Haven, CT, September 2.  Third year in a row.
  • Stavros Memorial 3M Beach Run, Westerly, RI, September 7.  22nd year in a row!  And one of my favorites!
  • IGT Downtown 5K, Providence, RI, September 16.  My debut appearance.  Not a huge ran of road 5Ks, but looking forward to this as part of the RI Grand Prix.
  • Three Sisters Skyline Half Marathon, Sisters, OR, September 21.  Another destination race!
-------------------------------------------------------------

Monthly highlight: 
Traveling to, running, vacationing, and seeing AC/DC in Ireland!

Monthly lowlight: 
Perhaps seeing so many kick past me at the end of the Bottone Mile.  But I don't want to mar the great experience and event overall. 

Saturday, September 28, 2024

Ireland!




One of the highlights of many years in the past two decades has been family trips with Jana, Mark, and Matthew.  We learned from trips early on that Disney and cruises aren't really "our thing", so those were both a one and done vacation.  

Fortunately, since those experiments, we've gone on what I believe to be some really fun vacations in cool places in the natural world, including Mount Rainier and Olympic National Park in Washington State, Oregon, various places in California, Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Bryce Canyon, Alaska, Everglades, Key West, Hawaii, England, Scotland, Iceland, and others.

With Mark and Matthew busy in schools and jobs in other states the past few years, it's become harder to put these together.  But last December, I was really happy all four of us were able to make a week long trip to Hawaii.  Frankly, I wasn't sure if we would be able to put together another family vacation this year, but with Matthew home for two weeks between summer and fall semesters, and direct flights from Boston to Dublin, Ireland (and northern Ireland) it is!  Unfortunately, Mark wasn't interested in Ireland and declined, but hopefully he'll come on a future family vacation again.

Wednesday, August 14
Arrived Dublin Airport bleary eyed at 8:12am local time (3:12am EDT).   Took a shuttle bus to the rental car pickup, where we picked up our 5-door crossover with left-handed manual transmission!  
Got used to sitting on the right side of the car to the drive,
and driving on the left side of the road much quicker this time
than two years ago in Scotland

It was the left-handed manual transmission shift that
took a little more getting used to, but it quickly became fun!

Of course it does make it easier when you can just follow cars
ahead of you on the left side of the road, and it's when you pull
out with no cars ahead of you that I have to think for a moment

The morning driving was pretty easy, as on the very quiet M4 and other motorways in Ireland.  As this was my second time driving on the left-side of the road, I felt more comfortable this time.  (Not that I didn't make mistakes; more on that later.)  Driving with the manual transmission shift on the left side was very new to me.  It just felt awkward at first, but I got used to it completely by the end of the day.

Day 1:  We drove west across "the entire country", which only amounts to about
120 miles between Dublin on the east coast and Galway on the west.


We would be spending the next few days in SW Ireland, but the highlight of today's trip would be the famous Cliffs of Moher.  
One of the downsides of the Cliffs of Moher
being so famous is that there were a lot of
people here

But we walked 4 miles in total, and were able
to get away from the majority of people who seemed
content not to walk much
It wasn't cold at 64°F, however it was quite windy here
with winds about 20mph


The first evening we spent
in Limerick

The city itself didn't impress me that much, although this
castle on my evening run was really cool

Thursday, August 14

While the city of Limerick was not my favorite, the hotel we stayed in here (Limerick Strand) was one of the best on our visit.  The breakfast buffet did not disappoint either:

A pretty big and extensive buffet

"Kippers"

Meats, cheeses, and smoked fish are quite prevalent in 
European breakfast, with the latter two working quite well for
me.  "Porridge" (oatmeal) and muesli are also common items
that I enjoy, but at least at this breakfast, there were really so many
different items.


Day 2:  Much less driving today, with a total of only 88 miles

After a fulfilling breakfast and the short drive to Killarney area, we parked at "Lisleibane" trail head for Carrauntoohil, the highest point in Ireland.  Just Matthew and I would embark on this run / hike (mostly a run except for steeper and more technical sections) with about 10 miles of total distance and 3,500' of elevation gain.
Start of our ascent.  I was hoping the coffee stand here would
still be open upon our return, but it was not to be.  I asked the
employee how to pronounce "Carrountoohil", but it took him
saying it a few times before I finally got something close to it.
The trail started out very runnable as kind of a rough
dirt / gravel road.
Our first and I think only water crossing.  Going up I jumped from
rock to rock; coming down I just plowed through the river.
You can see me running up at about seven o'clock in photo,
with the dirt double-track long below and behind us.  This is about 2.5 miles in,
and pretty much the end of my continuous running.
Getting really technical here!
Matthew is a ways ahead of me,
but clearly visible in this photo.
The trail got pretty muddy
and rough in spots!

Sheep as we got near the summit


Some stunning views!

And, alas, the summit!

And here we are at the highest point in Ireland.
---
We met some really nice people from Northern Ireland at
the top, and the guy who took this photo joked that it would
cost us €50!


Moving time was 2:11, with elapsed time 2:52.  Matthew's was shorter, both because he didn't off course on the return, and well, he's faster than me!

It was just a short drive to check in to the Parkavon Hotel Killarney, but by then it was after 6pm, so we just opted to eat at the restaurant attached to the hotel, which wasn't bad.  

Friday, August 16

The hotel itself was just OK, but the proximity to running trails and Killarney National Park was superb.  Matthew and I went on a 7 mile run through the park, with almost the entirety of the route on a combination of very quiet roads and paved park pathways.

We had to get off the paved pathway (Matthew ahead in blue),
but it was generally very quiet inside Killarney National Park

Surprised how close we were able to get up to this deer



Day 3:  232 miles back to Dublin, with some stops along the way to 
break up the ride and also sightsee

As with the hotel itself, the breakfast buffet at Parkavon was just OK.  After the run and breakfast, we checked out, with today being an easier day with just a few short sightseeing spots:

1.  Ross Castle, Killarney National Park

Ross Castle, with Lough (Lake) Leane in the background,
was definitely worth the visit.  We took the FREE option to walk around.
I would have gladly paid to access the interior of the castle if only
we were allowed to self-tour and not to have wait over an hour
for a tour to start.


2.  Torc Waterfall, Killarney National Park


Short, easy walk to this natural attraction


3.  Muckross Abbey, Killarney National Park
First glimpses of Muckross Abbey,
a monastery and grounds dating to the mid 1400s,
as we approached on the trail
This was much more enjoyable than Ross Castle,
as we had unfettered access to all passageways
and courtyards

I love these ancient circular stairways!



On our way back to Dublin, we noticed that the Blarney Castle (with its famed Blarney Stone) was relatively on the way, but unfortunately, we just didn’t have enough time see both the Blarney Castle and Rock of Cashel, so we stuck with the latter, which we already had timed tickets for.

4.  Rock of Cashel, Cashel, Ireland

Nice stop about halfway back to Dublin.

Jana in front of one of the surviving buildings
from the 12th and 13th centuries
Matthew (right) and I checking out writing
on one of the many tombs
While we didn't have the unfettered access
the way we did at Muckross Abbey,
you were still able to access many of the 
building's courtyards and grounds


---

We stayed in an Airbnb in the
quiet "East Wall" neighborhood
on the north side of Dublin

The Airbnb was functional if not expensive (~US$350/night),
but had to be the most cluttered Airbnb we've ever stayed in

On the other hand, the Airbnb host was extremely gracious
and helpful, and she called to make a dinner reservation for
us at this pub

Irish pub style food at Elephant & Castle
in the Mayson Hotel

Walking back from dinner along the River Diffey in Dublin


Saturday, August 17
A long day today chock full of events,
but one of our shortest in terms of driving at just 82 miles

Run the Ridge 10K.  We were up and out the door by 7:30am for the one hour drive south to the race in the Wicklow Mountains, with a 9:45am start.  After my first of two driving errors where I drove into the wrong lane (actually a pedestrian lane), the rest of the drive on the wrong side of the road went fine.  Checked in, got our bibs (old school chipless) and went for a 2-mile OAB run on the course, which gave us a feel for the starting and ending mile.

The course started out with a lap around the "pitch" (grass field),
before going out on a CCW lollipop
Essentially a 900' climb to start, and then two long
downhills punctuated by a short 150' climb


With Matthew pre-race.
Bibs on and ready to go.

The 20K started at 9:30am and gave me an opportunity to see how the race start and field lap would go.  In a race with only 140 finishers and having previously checked out the prior results, I opted to line up pretty close to the start.
I started out pretty far up, with Matthew ahead of me
on the front line.

Race:  The race started, and my position kept slipping further and further back as so many runners passed me on the lap around the "pitch".  I am not sure if I'm just not good at running on grass or if I went out too conservatively.
Finishing my lap around the field before heading out into the
woods

Once we were out of the park and started climbing, the hordes passing me came to a swift conclusion.  There were still a handful of runners that passed me on the uphill, but the ratio of me passing vs me being passed swung in my favor.

I didn't actually realize we were going to go above treeline, so that was an added bonus!  We had nice panoramic views and it was amazing how many huge patches of purple loosestrife there were.  Very attractive.

At three miles in, we hit our high point, and started the descent back towards the finish.  This is where the fun really started for me!  I recall just one person passing me on the downhill sections, but the number that I passed was more than a dozen.  Just such a blast bombing downhill.  I really could go as fast as my body allowed, as these were non-technical trails.
Passing a group of runners on a slight downhill section,
with less than a mile to go.  None retook me.
(Photo from race photographer)

Doing my best to sprint it in
(Photo by Jana)
Finish line!



Race photographer photo, crossing the 
finish line


Final result:  45:34, 7th overall of 140, 1st in M60 age group.  Full results here.

Nice write-up on race website!

Fun race and fun lowkey trail race vibes!

---

Post race we had lunch in the village, and then walked through the Glendalough Upper Lake and Glendalough Historical Monastic Site:



Since Matthew won a gift certificate to a running store in Wicklow village, we headed there on our way back to Dublin and also enjoyed some bakery products and coffee.

---

AC/DC concert. The evening's highlight and one of the unique highlights of the trip was seeing AC/DC live in concert on the very last stop of their European tour, at Dublin's Croke Park.

 In high school, I had listened to and enjoyed AC/DC’s music, especially when the megahit Back in Black was released in 1980.  This was followed by a period of more than a decade when I didn’t really listen to AC/DC at all.  I think I had had too much of a good thing and got my fill of it, if that’s possible.  Until one day many years later on the radio the catchy beat of Thunderstruck was playing,  What is that song?  I’ve never heard of it.  Well, that’s because it didn’t come out until 1991, much later than most classic rock hits.  This ushered in a new era of AC/DC appreciation for me, and I’ve been an even bigger fan since.

When AC/DC stopped touring in 2016 after Brian Johnson’s hearing loss issued, I figured they were done for good.  Then with advances in hearing technology, they recorded a brand new album, Power Up, in 2020, and I watched a podcast with Brian and Angus where Brian said they would be back on tour again.  Well, a life disruption called COVID-19 came along that year, but alas four years later they were back on tour!

And now it just so happened that we were going to be in Ireland the very date of their final stop of their European Power Up tour!  Matthew and I both checked concert seat availability, and unfortunately they were sold out.  Darn.  About a week later I just happened to be checking the Ticketmaster Ireland site again, and somehow there were 13 sets of two tickets available.  (I guess that would be from ticketholders selling their tickets back to Ticketmaster?)  Anyway, I tried twice to book tickets only for the screen to pop up that those tickets were now no longer available.  About to give up, but the third try was the charm!  
Not the cheapest, but not bad prices,
right?






































Yes, in for AC/DC!!!


























On our way walking to Croke Park.  Saw all kinds here.
Roads around the stadium were shut down.



Wow, the inside of Croke Stadium is really nice!

A sold-out crowd of 82,000 fans
waiting for the main feature.

Angus himself!  Fantastic!

Awesome to see Brian out there belting out hit after hit!
(Note:  The acoustics were a bit of an issue with some distortion,
especially where we were under a metal canopy,
but we were still watching AC/DC live in concert!  In Dublin!)

The bell dropped at the start of Hell's Bells.  It was 
pretty awesome!

Closing out the night with cannons fired towards the
end of "For Those About to Rock".
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So glad I got to see this awesome band perform live!


Sunday, August 18

Matthew mapped out today's 8-mile run on the Howth Peninsula, just east of Dublin, and the scenery far exceeded my expectations.  
View of Howth Lighthouse from along the trail

Stunning views of the Irish Sea

Despite the above views and nice trail, the majority of runners we saw during our drive and run were NOT on this trail, but rather running on cement paths!!!  Go figure.  I don't get it.

Today's drive into Northern Ireland would be our longest drive of 248 miles,
but it was broken up with a number of stops


Northern Ireland, UK
Checked out of our Dublin Airbnb and headed north for the UK constituent country of Northern Ireland.  We had our passports out and ready for inspection, but there was no border control at all.  We were not only leaving the country of the Republic of Ireland, but in this post-Brexit era we were leaving the EU as well, which I thought mandated hard border controls.  Evidently this must have been something negotiated as part of Brexit.

The only differences we noted upon entering Northern Ireland were that distances on signs changed from kilometers and meters to the silly Imperial measurements of miles and yards, and that prices were in pounds instead of Euros.

Today we would be visiting two UK National Trust sites, both in close proximity on the northern shore of the island:

Carrick-a-Rede:  The planned highlight today was Giants Causeway.  I had actually never heard of Carrick-a-Rede, but after looking into this attraction and seeing how close it was to Giants Causeway, we booked tickets, and were glad we did.
Dramatic cliffside views



One-way rope suspension
bridge to the small island
of Carrick-a-Rede


The views were spectacular and crossing the suspension bridge was really fun.  The only downside to this visit was Sean’s wife, a dour looking mom, who yelled at her husband for purportedly not watching the kids close enough.  She yelled loud enough for everyone present to hear, including their two young kids:  “Sean, you’re a fu%#!ng idiot!”.  Real classy.

Finishing up our visit, we got lunch and before sitting down to eat, made sure to stay far away from Sean’s wife.  She still did not look happy at all.  Seemed like one of those people that is perpetually miserable.

Giants Causeway:  
These stones look like they're part of a jigsaw puzzle. 60 million years in the making,
through volcanic eruptions, erosion, cooling cracked lava, and glacial activity.

I also learned that this was the filming site of Led Zeppelin's
"Houses of the Holy" album

We finished up our stay with having dinner at the onsite restaurant, including fish and chips cooked fresh to order.  Not bad at all.

Yes, we're in the UK!
London style taxicab at our hotel,
Crowne Plaza Belfast.


Monday, August 19

The penultimate day of our trip was the only day of rain.  The rain held off long enough for us to visit the botanical garden in Belfast, but not long enough for our mountain run.  Today's three highlights:

Belfast Botanical Garden:


Slieve Donard:  Through online research, I had read recommendations not to ascend Northern Ireland’s high point on busy weekends, but rather to visit on weekdays.  Between being a Monday and less than optimal weather, while there were more people on the mountain than Carrountoohil, there still weren’t many.  We started out at sea level in cloudy weather, 60°F, 13mph wind.  But the weather would soon turn worse.  Much worse...

Picturesque little waterfall along
the trail early on

We quickly got above treeline.  Slieve Donard is in upper
right corner of this photo, ensconced in fog

Well, hello there!  No one was around here, but this guy
was out on the trail.

With 1/2 mile to go, we reached the Mourne Wall,
which fortunately protected us from some of the windiest
conditions I've ever experienced.  I was glad to have a quarter-zip
(which I had bought in Limerick on the first day of the trip) and
gloves in my pack, and I quickly put those on just as it started to pour.

The final half mile ascent was incredibly windy with buffeting rains, but fortunately completely protected by the Mourne Wall.  I assumed (wrongly) that the 5' high wall was built for these wind protection reasons, but afterwards learned that the wall was built between 1904 and 1922 with the sole purpose of keeping livestock from entering and contaminating a newly built water reservoir to serve drinking needs for the city of Belfast.  Interesting.

Just completely socked in as we approached in summit
in wind and driving rain.  There won't be any views from
the summit today!

I had trouble even standing up at the very summit,
as the wind was just insane.

We didn't stick around long, as we were wet from the 
driving rain and would get cold easily if we stopped.

Brú na Bóinne:  Tickets were selling out quickly for the pre-historical attraction, and we arranged our schedule around what little was remaining two months out, which was to visit Knowth, a series of passage tombs that were built around 5,000 years ago.

Irish passage tombs dating to 3200BC. These are the largest passage tombs ever discovered in Europe. More than 200 people from the Neolithic era are buried here. The tombs are solar aligned with sunrise and sunset of the equinoxes.


Tuesday, August 20
Our Ireland vacation was coming to an end, as we were flying back to the US this morning.  This was our last chance to get a run in, and we headed to Phoenix Park at sunrise for a planned out 10-mile run.  Our choice of parking lots was closed at that hour, but we were able to reroute to a different parking lot along the route.
Arrived Phoenix Park at sunrise,
where many deer awaited us

Excellent paved paths within Phoenix Park
(The few roads we ran on outside of the park and coming into
the park were borderline dangerous for running due to being
narrow, busy, and zero shoulder)



Fortunately Matthew (above) had mapped out a route involving
a minimum of roads.  The route also included this neat small
section of the 130km "Royal Canal Way"


Ireland is one of two countries outside of North America, the other being Qatar, where US customs has pre-clearance facilities.  It sounded great and made for smooth sailing upon arriving in the US later in the day, where we simply landed and departed the airport as we would for a domestic flight.    But in the meantime, it took an inordinate amount of time to get through US customs and additional security checks in Dublin airport and I think we all worried we would miss our flight.  Certainly not an efficient process, with duplicate redundant processes and security checks that could seemingly be streamlined.  It didn’t help that two of the US Customs officers we dealt with were not only unfriendly, but rather rude to us.  I think they needed a reminder that the same people they were treating poorly were US taxpayers footing their salary.

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Epilogue

Ireland is a safe and very clean country with many interesting historical and natural attractions to visit.  I feel we hit many of the highlights on this trip, but there are certainly others we missed that are undoubtedly worth visiting.

I loved the varied car choices on the island.  It is my opinion that as Americans we tend to oversize so many facets of life, from our obesity rates, our portion sizes, and our massive SUVs such as Cadillac Escapades and Chevy Suburbans.  And as a lifelong manual transmission driver, I just love that the vast majority of cars in Ireland (including rental cars!) are manual, allowing more engagement with the vehicle, giving the driver more control, and let's face it, they're a lot more fun to drive!

On the other hand, the roads in Ireland (excepting perhaps the highways) are quite narrow, especially in remote areas where they often lack shoulders, guardrails, and in some cases require you to pull over to allow oncoming traffic to get by.

My personal trip favorites:

Event: AC/DC concert
Run: Carrauntoohil
Natural attraction: Giants Causeway
Historical attraction: Muckross Abbey
Hotel: Limerick Strand

The lowlights to me were really very few, and just came down to narrow roads with no shoulder (so not great for running - stick to trails and paved paths) and a handful of people, including Sean's wife and the US Customs officials we had to deal with in Dublin Airport, so hopefully those people were just unique to our trip.  The hotels and Airbnb were not cheap, but we knew that in advance.

Great country overall.  Would I come back?  Absolutely!