ready for my close up.......

I was reading that girl one day and it led me to this. So the three of us (me, Tony and Grace) are signed up! I couldn't believe it really! It genuinely feel like a real privelige to be involved. Claire has such stunning photos, the ones of her children are particularly beautiful.

It will be a chance to have a photo of our family as it stands now, right before it changes forever. And for that I am very grateful to Claire for the opportunity.

Joke

What's Irish and stays out all night?

Patty O' Furniture.

Adventure Race

I've been blogging all over the shop about it so I'll just send you here and here and here. There's a couple of posts on each sometimes! (Adventure Racing can involve various disciplines but usually it's canoeing, mountain biking and mountain running with navigation on teams of 4). As expected Krissy never stopped laughing the entire day.

Yesterday was spent recovering as I was wrecked from lack of sleep, not from the race. Back running properly now so next up will be putting teams together for the Wicklow Way relay, training for attempt on the Wicklow Round and then Jungfrau Marathon in September.

Blogging, Blogging and Blogging some more

I've been blogging away from home! (no not just Wednesday Night Runners) but on a proper looking website!!! I'm so pleased to have been asked to join Team Geared Up blog. It's a sporty group blog about all things outdoors. Take a visit and leave some comments! It's a great reference for adventure racing, climbing, any kind of outdoor gear really!

I'm doing blogs about running and my first one was about the Connemara Ultra. I've blogged about our beginners attempt at adventure racing. Any good running stories, give me a nod!

Back to Work

There's been lots happening but nothing really worthy of a blogpost. We were in Wexford for Easter, great time really, but lots of hassle with the noisy neighbours. Turns out the landlord, who said he had given them a months notice, hasn't actually, so we intend going to the gardai ourselves to make a complaint. Bit of a pain but we have nothing to lose and a street free of vodka and beer bottles to gain.

Lots of mountain bike training has been done in anticipation of the Adventure Race this Saturday and of course I've been blogging about that over at Wednesday Night Runners.

Canoeing for us all this Wednesday in Blessington, I better remember the camera this time.

We got tonnes of work done in the house. All the kids bedrooms are more or less sorted and Grace is now settled in hers with a few minor items to sort. The skip is full of junk, the new shed is ordered and so is the new carpet. It'll be a new house before the new arrivals get here! It feels good to be a bit more clutter free but I have a lot to do yet. Grace in fairness got rid of lots of clothes and freed up lots of space.

If we get a few more good weather weekends we can get the garden into a suitable state for kids to play in and if we can afford it, a deck.

Wow I'm tired after typing that never mind doing it all.

Builders Holidays!

Being a builder means I'm off work now till Monday week!! wOOt!
I plan on doing lots of painting in preparation for the new arrivals. That's after all the mundane stuff of the house being filthy cos we're too busy mountain biking/ running and canoeing to clean/ tidy it and the 7 loads of washing to be done. So be it.

Last night was spent canoeing on Blessington lakes with the gang with the backdrop of the most spectacular sunset.

The Chipper in Naas

After visiting my Dad in Naas last night Tony, Grace and I had our usual post-marathon splurge. It usually involves fish and chips in a supermacs in Moate or somewhere but since the soup and sandwiches after Connemara were so good the splurge was postponed till last night. There's a sit down greasy-spoon-type chipper in Naas and it serves massive portions. Great big heaps of fish and chips and beans and anything else you want to shovel into your face for a well-deserved feast.
In general, I'm not a fan of chippers outside Dublin. They are never Italian and therefore never any good cos they serve frozen chips. But this chipper, being just inside the pale, I think, is brill and is Italian.
We resisted the urge to grab a McFlurry on the way home. Angels we are.

Connemara Ultra 2007

Well myself and Tony completed our third Connemara Ultra yesterday. It really was great. I know that's hard to believe if you are someone who has never run long distances but it really was. We both always enjoy Connemara. I know there's the usual cliches about the scenery but it genuinely is incredible and it does make you think about something other than running.
You know if you are running a race and you have to stay focused and not drift because then you slow up, well Connemara is one of those races that you actually want to drift off. It keeps your legs at a slow pace and that is quite hard to do for the first 13 miles. You really want to hurry on and get a few miles under your belt, but the thing to do is go easy.
I've done all 3 ultras in much the same time, and the 3 parts in 3 even splits of 1:50, giving me a finish time of 5:30. This means I'm actually speeding up for the last 13 because it's uphill mostly. I actually fly in feeling absolutely great, huge rush of adrenalin when you get to the top of the hell of the west and then flying in the last 2.3 miles. Jaysus it's great!!
The miles absolutely flew by, I couldn't believe how well it went, luckily for me. It's such a well organised event. Ray really must work full time at it.
Liam, Gary and Tony all ran PB's and the girls all had super runs in the half, along with Eugene. Lots of familiar faces down there too but unfortunately because it wasn't a secure baggage area I couldn't bring my camera. I took some photos the day before of the scenery but I forgot the uploading cable so will have to post later!

Next up is the adventure race 21st April. Scary this, as I'm a big wuss on the mountain bike and my legs will still be tired for the run and I'm no canoeist!

Update: photos from the day before in Connemara.