and yet more running......

Lots more running this weekend; should be the last weekend of serious running before our attempt on the Wicklow Round. We reckon it's at least 120k and it will probably take the gang of 5 of us about 24 hours. We plan on starting at about 2am so finishing hopefully the following midnight. It's probably the best time of year to attempt it as the weather is good, days are long, heather is short etc. etc. Lots of people have offered logistical support along the way which is great and we will really need it and appreciate it.
So early tomorrow morning we will head off for about another 8 hours on the hills. Forecast isn't great so will be carrying jackets, spare gear etc. and need lots of water for 8 hours.
Sunday then will be back on the hills with a gang to run legs 3 and 4 of the Wicklow Way relay. This should take about 2 hours and finish in Glendalough. I love all runs that finish in Glendalough. I love lashing in at the end, barging through all the tourists who get in your way on the tracks!!
Wednesday night's mountain race went well for me so was in good form for my day off work yesterday. Carpet delivered and done by 8am, shopping in the morning, 10 mile run in the evening and baked apple crumble for after dinner last night and it was yum. When I give up work I can see myself eating all day which won't be good for my running at all!

oooh i've been tagged.....

I've never been tagged before so this is a blogging first for me. Spoon from It's No Picknick is the person responsible.

Alphabet Scoop Meme

Available or single: Very married.

Best friend: Audrey, from school, although I don’t see her that much!

Cake or pie: Oh the choice would kill me, I would have to have both.

Drink of choice: H2O

Essential item: Trainers

Favourite colour: Pink

Gummi Bears or Worms: Worms, they make me smile when I think of Phil and Lil liking worms in the Rugrats.

Hometown: Dublin, never lived anywhere else.

Indulgence: Eddie Rockets Kit Kat Ice Cream dessert. The yardstick by which all desserts are judged.

January or February: January, February, like me, is too short.

Kids: Yes, one daughter.

Life is incomplete without: Goals

Marriage date: September 9th 2001, 2 days before 911.

Number of siblings: Eleven, yes 11. Very Irish Family. And I'm the youngest.
Oranges or apples: Oranges, even the tinned ones are good.

Phobias/fears: Heights. Which explains why I’m going rock climbing Sunday week, thanks to Karen. Scary stuff......

Quote, favorite: Intellectuals solve problems, geniuses prevent them. Albert Einstein

Reasons to smile: getting what you want ;-)

Season: Summer, I love to tan even though I know I shouldn’t!

Tag three: I doubt I have that many readers, but if you read this consider yourself tagged, please.

Unknown fact about me: At the moment I only have 6 toe nails.

Vegetarian or oppressor of animals: bacon and cabbage, yum yum

Worst habit: I have no patience.

X-rays or ultrasounds: Ultrasound sounds serious, I’ll go with ultrasound.

Your favorite foods: Banana-walnut-oat muffins(my own home made recipe!), fish and chips, superquinn sausages on fresh superquinn bread rolls and my all time favourite Fruit Pastilles – I’ve had 8 packs in the last 3 days.

Zodiac: Sagitarius

24 hours of flickr

I decided to take part in the 24 hours of flickr (May 5th) and document my day on Saturday from getting up, driving to Wicklow, running up lots of mountains for 8 and a half hours, car getting broken into, dinner at the mother in laws and home to Grace. That just about sums it all up.



The 8 and a half hours running was the best bit! Bits of walking/ navigating/ stopping in the pub in Drumgoff for a lucozade (trying not to stand too close to ordinary folk as I was pretty stinky at that stage).



Anyway I took tonnes of photos. The mountain ones will all look the same to most people but the idea was to document for ourselves the various summits we had to reach so that when we apply to do the Wicklow Round attempt we have an idea of the splits (times between each summit).
The rest of the weekend was spent decorating, oh how unbelieveably shite that was. I am so sick of painting. It looks like our 'new arrivals' will be coming at the end of June (not January, as typed earlier!). (Here and here is what that's all about). At least now the house is finally coming together, with the major rooms all ready for occupation! Now all I have to do is give up work.....

Meeting Strangers on the Beach!?!

I was blogging recently about answering a 'call' from Claire of Gingerpixel blog to pose for some photos on Killiney beach. And here are the results of our session and here is the set of all the portraits. Claire is so talented, the photos are all just incredible.
Myself and Tony found it hard to relax, we're always shy with cameras. I was worried we would look so stiff! But these are gorgeous! I would highly recommend Claire for any of your photography needs!

Poor me...

Aww. I fell during last night's mountain race and today I am sore. Not bruised sore, right now it's more grazed sore. It was one of those falls where the ground was rocky and uneven and I hit along my entire right side. The graze on my lower arm is so sore right now I just want to go home and lie down! I wish! I whacked my chest off a rock too and I'm interested now in what that bruise is gonna look like.

The Week in Racing....

I'm trying to summarise all that's been happening this past week. I've done two mountain races (Ticknock and Cushbawn)and including tomorrow nights race that will be 3 in a week. My legs don't know what's hit them but I'm doing speedwork too so hopefully that will counteract it. The mountains are fine for endurance but for speed they can cause you to slow down a little.
Tony and Gary and Niall went out on their reccie of the Wicklow Round. It's a project that's very important to Tony and although there's a few us who will be tagging along, it feel's like Tony's baby. He (along with us) will probably be the first to do it, haven't heard from anyone else attempting it yet so fingers crossed for him (and us). It'll be an 8 hour reccie on the hills of the second stage of it this Saturday. Let's hope we don't get weather too sunny as we will be carrying more water than we ever have before. Heavy!
Trail Blanch Font Romeu (finally) put up some photos of the snow race this year. Only one I noticed was of Tony, pictured above.
I'm still blogging away over at Team Geared Up and our own running blog Wednesday Night Runners. I'm hoping I'm not being too non-adventurous for Team Geared Up. I love running, that's all.
I'm still trying to put together final preparations for our all female team for the Wicklow Way Relay. I love the idea of 8 girls covering 120k of the Wicklow mountains and not being anywhere near last! Clonliffe girls are just the best, the club has come on heaps since Bronagh took over. We're running and winning all around us on the mountains!

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.

Connemara Ultra

Myself and Tony are off to Connemara, with most of the gang, this weekend for our annual Ultra! I love this race.

Connemara is not so much a race as an experience. I've felt good for most of the race the last 2 times and hopefully this year will be the same. I love that feeling when you're running up the 'hell of the west' and you just say to yourself: "I feel f*cking fantastic". It only happens in Connemara! And that's after you've run about 37 miles and have 2 more to go! Last year I had Paul with me for the last 2 miles and we really encouraged each other along.

I always say hi to everyone I pass in Connemara especially if it's on an uphill. I'm probably more used to hills than some of the people I meet en route so I alway try and encourage others up them. It's a tough course for those of us who have done it before but even tougher for the newbies.

For those who think it's mad running 39.3 miles here's how I get my head around it: I jog really slowly for 13 miles, even slower than I think I should. I'm trying to make those miles not register in my legs. Then when I get to the 13 mile mark I forget about them altogether and starting counting up the marathon miles. So in effect I start to count the miles from scratch at that point. So when I get to mile 14 I actually count that as mile 1 and so on from there. That's cos that's how it's predominantly marked from then on. It fools your brain and so kinda fools your legs!

The next 13 miles are fairly flat so I run at my normal pace. Towards the end of this 13 miles as I'm coming towards Leenane I start to meet marathoners from the regular marathon race. This is a great distraction as I say hi and how's it going to anyone I pass.
The next 13 miles is all mostly uphill but the key thing is once you turn at Leenane with 13 miles more to go, you just keep telling yourself at that stage that you are heading for home. Just get up those hills, one foot in front of the other, that's all it is and get home as fast as you can.

Simple eh?

(It is really, it's the months of training that are the killer, the race is the easy bit!)

I was blogging on our running website about the essentials to wear/ bring here.

The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

From The Poetry of Robert Frost by Robert Frost

http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15717

With the link above you should be able to hear the poem read by Robert Frost himself.

JFK Arboretum New Ross Co. Wexford

Spent Sunday at the JFK Arboretum in New Ross, Co. Wexford. Great place, trees and plants were wonderful. There's some lovely walking trails and in the Summer it'd be a great place for a picnic, has a playground too. We did the St. patrick's day parade in New Ross on Saturday too! Priceless! Loved every minute of it!

Some photos here.

Fostering and the Changes Ahead Part 2

Been thinking a lot lately about the changes ahead and that makes me think; if it's scary for us it must be frighteningly awful for a child. Myself and Tony have finished the course that we had to do and we're also about to come to the end of our assessment. So it feels like it's all about to start.

There are simple things to sort out, even in a practical sense.

1. We have to have a daily routine going, something that hasn't been done by us before because we've both always had to work and were never at home during the day. I love making lists so I intend to do a daily schedule and try stick to it, that way we can hopefully have time for everyone's needs. Can't spend all our spare time running anymore!

They have a couple of children in mind for us and we have been thinking about them a lot, even though we know nothing but their age and gender.

2. Saturday morning TV is something I've not done since Grace was tiny! Looking forward to it.

3. Budgeting for holidays throughout the year, instead of booking one (or 3 or 4) and going! No more running trips together that would involve being away from the kids for long periods. But we can still do the odd marathon/ ultra but just seperately and once we have established we can afford it. Maybe a trip to Disneyland every 2 years!

4. A regular grocery shopping day: lunches for 3 children for a week, dinners for 5 for a week. Might make up a menu plan for each day and shop for the ingredients. Saw a hint on some website about doing an excel document with your shopping list and putting an x next to what you need, filtering out just those and bringing that list shopping. We need to do that as we often come home with things we have 3 of already and forget to buy what we actually need.

5. Get involved with GAA or soccer. Definitely want to bring the kids to some kinda match, must talk to some of my family members about this, as me and Tony know nothing. The zoo is also a place we haven't visited in a while. We did lots of things when Grace was small, now we can visit all these places again!

6. Have a board game night. This is something even Grace loves and it's rare to find something that kids of all ages like. Also that could include the game Buzz Junior which gives a 4 year old as much chance of winning as anybody. Maybe have a movie night, once a month? And a baking night!!!wOOt!

7. While I'm good at using my camera all the time, I want to make sure I start using the camcorder a lot of the time to record special events for children in our house. I can't wait to get started.

8. Memories, life books and treasure boxes. Keeping things safe for these children is going to be a serious priority for us. We got so much inspiration from the course about this.

9. Budget for different expensive times of year, besides holidays such as; back-to-school time, Christmas etc.

10. Maybe do a parenting course or read up on those kinda books I haven't read since Grace was born.

11. Bikes and wellies for all.

12. I plan on trying to get involved in some kinda community things, I don't know what cos I haven't a clue what exists but it might be something to involve the smaller child or it could be something I do while they're at school. Also plan on keeping better contact with my friends who are stay-at-home mothers. They're all such good parents, well behaved kids, healthy food, all that kinda stuff!

13. We have to buy some new furniture for the rooms to cater for the new arrivals. We also have to finish decorating the hall and kitchen. Do the back garden, including deck. Turn the office into a room, hopefully for Grace. Get a new front door. Organize all the junk that currently clutters the kitchen.

I'll probably add to this list as I think of things. On Friday we will find out more about the prospective new arrivals, we have so many questions. I'm so excited though.

Wednesday Night Runners blog

Wednesday Night Runners

Check out our new running blog at the link above. It has the profile of all the gang and what our intentions are, running wise, for the future. The plan for 2008 seems to be the Gobi March. From now on, myself and Tony will probably not be doing any multi stage events together as we couldn't both be away from the kids at the same time. Aw.

I'll hopefully aim for the Himalayan 100 mile stage race in 2009.

Fostering and the Changes Ahead

Tony and I have, since last year, been going through the process of being assessed for Fostering. We're nearing the end of that process now, we have a day long course on Saturday, another half day next Wednesday and then some more meetings with our Link Social Worker. The assessment process has been really good. We were warned it may get very personal or emotional or even upsetting but so far we have both found it quite a good experience.
I suppose it may have been an easier experience for us because we already have some familiarity of the fostering process.
To be honest I'm really looking forward to it. We have a good life and can afford to share it with children who may not be having such a great life at home. I love the idea of our family becoming bigger also. But mostly it's genuinely for altruistic reasons. I hope any children we encounter end up happy and stable. We would hope for us that these children would stay with us forever but if it turns out that their homes are suitable to return to, we hope that that is a happy outcome for them too.
We are both expecting our lives to change completely. In prepearation for this, we have encountered lots of change already. We are trying to get the house in order, paving the garden, decorating rooms, hanging doors, selling the beloved beetle in favour of a family sized 7 seater jeep and not least of all, me giving up work.
What effect it will all have on Grace is yet to be seen but she has experience of fostered children also and she so far seems laid back about the whole thing. I think she is looking forward to maybe having some 'brothers and sisters'.
The plan now is to give up work at the end of April. Hopefully I still have time to keep up some blogging every now and then, but particularly time for reading all my favourites.