Chris Worfolk's Blog

Ruins is the second novel in Orson Scott Card’s Pathfinder series. I went straight from the first book to this one and it is probably even better.

Card gives an introduction in which he says trilogies are often rubbish because the middle book/film is just filler. I think he is spot on: most trilogies would do better as two books. This one is more like an Asimov book. Stuff happens. Interesting stuff. And we get even more into the science fiction that was promised in book one.

Pathfinder is the first novel in Orson Scott Card’s series by the same name.

I loved the Ender’s Game books so I thought I would give this a try. I wasn’t sure at first as I was looking for science fiction and this started out more as a fantasy book. And it is, although it got more science fiction-y as time went on.

I’m glad I stuck with it. It turned out to be a great fusion of fantasy and science fiction involving time trial but with some good twists on the way time travel is usually presented. Rather than getting caught up in ensuring causality loops, Card just tells a great story.

On Sunday, Iveagh Sports Ground launched their junior parkrun. I was quietly hoping there would be cake. There wasn’t, but there was lots of very friendly and encouraging volunteers. The course is two laps on grass. It’s flat but still has a few lumps to make it interesting.

Another weekend trip. This time, our first one to County Wexford. Gorey is three laps of a the local park. It’s flat, a nice park and a cafe with toilets in the centre for post-parkrun snacks. Ticked off another G for Staying Alive and my 59th for Cowell Club. Lovely to be there for their 8th birthday and thank you to all of the volunteers.

We hiked up a hill. Classic Snowdon style: drive most of the way up to th highest car park and then walk the last little bit. And I didn’t even summit it as I wasn’t feeling great. Beautiful scenery none the less, though.

Last weekend we visited Galway for the first time.

We arrived Friday and drove over the nearby town of Barna as a friend had recommended eating a Donnelly’s pub. Would recommend the cheesecake if you find yourself there. It was dark so we didn’t see much but did get a good meal and make it out in time before the rugby kicked off.

I completed University of Galway parkrun and then we headed over to Salthill to visit the aquarium. It specialises in local sealife which was great because as much as I enjoy a sealife centre, they get very similar once you have seen one. We also had tapas at Black Cat in Salthill which is very much recommended.

Another letter ticked off the alphabet challenge! This week I completed the University of Galway parkrun, earning me a valuable “U” and completing the spell “parkrun” challenge. It’s a nice course: a few laps around the field then an out and back along the river before one final lap of the field. Very flat and surface was nice enough for my fast shoes.

On Friday, we staged our first Mini Triathlon. It consisted of a 400-metre swim in the pool, a 10 km cycle in the spin studio and a 2 km run around campus. It was a lot to organise but well worth it. Eight athletes took part and apart from having to invalidate the bike results due to a misconfiguration, everything went smoothly. We can’t wait to run some more events like this next year.

On Saturday we took to the cycle track at Corkagh Park for a coached cycle session. We went through fundamentals including gears, braking, cornering, and then onto group riding skills. We finished with a time trial and then a relay race with matched pairs from the time trial. I didn’t win but I did have a lot of fun coaching!

Last weekend I drove up to Mullagh in County Cavan to tick off my “E” in parkruns. It’s a beautiful part of the world. It doesn’t have the dramatic mountains of Wicklow or the west, but lovely countryside filled with trees, rivers and fields. And people: I had a lovely welcome. Thank you to all of the volunteers who made the event happen.

The course itself is four laps in a figure of eight around the park. It terms of lapping sports fields it was lovely as here were bridges, ponds, streams and lovely buildings surrounding the park.