Archive for March, 2025

We stopped here for some dinner. I was expecting it to be quiet given it was winter in Wicklow. But no, it was rammed as what looked like a coachful of old people marched in. We ended up sitting in the doorway. It looks lovely and airy in the photos but I wouldn’t say this matched the decor in real life. The food was edible. Alas for them, their lamb dinner had to compete with the leg of lamb I was cooked Elina for her tea. My burger came in a bowl. The staff were friendly.

The graveyard was not a metaphor for getting older. Instead, it was a lovely walk around Glendalough. It was beautiful and, importantly, there wer much fewer biting insects than in June.

I wanted to push myself on distance, so I allocated last Sunday as my all-day long run. I was out for seven hours, of which six hours was moving time, and covered 53 km. I had some junk food for lunch, thinking real food would settle my stomach instead of just bars and gels but it just made me feel anxious. I kept going though and was happy with the job. I think this is the longest training run I’ve done that wasn’t an event.

For Elina’s birthday this year, we headed into town for some food followed by a trip to the archaeology museum. Once we were home, Venla helped me decorate the house. And of course, a caterpillar was sacrificed on the alter of cake.

It’s been an exciting time to be running Marlay recently. First, Paul Sinton-Hewitt (parkrun’s founder) made a guest appearance a few weeks ago. A got a five-high and a handshake. Then last weekend, they celebrated their 500th event. I wasn’t in photo and there wasn’t cake but that’s understandable given they would have had 688 runners plus volunteers to feed.