Posts Tagged ‘running’

The Causeway Coast race takes place on the north coast of Ireland and passes the Giant’s Causeway. There are distances of 10k to ultra, with the half marathon involving a bus ride to Carrick-a-Rede where the race starts and the course follows the coast line back to Portballintrae.

The race starts in the quarry and heads up along the headland. There are several chokepoints and stiles so it is easy going at first with lots of queuing, but it isn’t the kind of race you try and go fast in anyway. You pass through Ballintoy Harbour, which is a beautiful sight.

It then drops down onto the beach and there is lots of scrambling over rocks, followed by a kilometre or two along the beach. The sand wasn’t soft, although was a bit soggy. After that, it mostly runs along the cliff tops with plenty of ups and downs for good measure.

I started feeling anxious about half way and had a rough few kilometres. Then, just as I was feeling better and picked up my pace, I went over on my left ankle. I was worried I had done some damage but luckily, after getting back up I was able to walk and then run it off. No issues the next day.

You do see the Giant’s Causeway but it is from the top of the cliffs so it is not comparable to seeing it up close. The cliffs around there are impressive, if a little unnerving given the wind. I am not sure how high they are but I would estimate it is around a hundred-metre drop.

For the final part, we drop down to sea level again and run along the railway tracks back into Portballintrae where the finish is.

My official time was:

2:37:11

I wasn’t interested in the time; I just wanted to finish, so I was happy with anything. It is definitely one of the prettier races I have done so if you want a scenic coastal route and just want to have fun, this is a good choice.

Christie parkrun is an out-and-back along the River Bann in Coleraine. There was a warm welcome from the team and ticked off another C for the pirates challenge.

The Grand Canal Way parkrun is located in Tullamore. As you might guess, it is an out-and-back along the canal. You go out for 1,500 metres, the back, then out again for a shorter 1,000 section. Nice and flat, as you can imagine.

It was cool and rainy the whole thing. Everyone was very friendly and kept apologising for the weather. They didn’t seem to believe me that this was my ideal running weather. Thank you to everyone who made me feel welcome.

I didn’t realise it at the time, but this was my 50th parkrun in Ireland. Unless you ask the DUP, you insist I have only done 47.

Back in 2021, we launched the Running Ambassadors programme to train people to effectively communicate the benefits of running, share their passion with others, and build a safe and supportive environment using the RISE Framework.

Four years later and I am exciting to announce we have now brought the course to Udemy to broaden our audience and allow more people to access the training.

Bala is a town located in the middle of North Wales, at at the north end of Bala Lake. Importantly, they have a parkun and it is one of the four required to complete The Full Ponty challenge. I ticked off Pontefract in June, so this is the second one I needed.

The course is an out-and-back along the river with a turnaround point at the lake. You do this twice before finishing. I had had surgery a few days before so no running for me, but I had a delightful stroll along the course with the hills in the background and the lake at the end.

Another S for my snakes challenge!

Sligo parkrun has an out-and-back section before opening up to two loops of a bigger park. There is a slight hill here, but nothing compared to Temple Newsam or Cabinteely. And on the plus side, you get a beautiful view of the hills in the distance.

Sligo is a picturesque place and I stopped on the way back to take a few pictures.

Our first base camp for our road trip was the seaside town of Portrush. Long beaches, fish and chip shops, arcades, the whole classic British seaside town feel. It also had a parkrun. With Portrush being a summer hotspot, over 500 runners turned up for an out-and-back along the beach. The sand was firm enough under foot but there were some wet bits to run through. A lot of runners did it in bare feet.

After parkrun, Venla and I built the first of many sandcastles.

What better way you could spend a Saturday than running through the Dublin Mountains?

The Trail Festival is run by the same people that run the Dublin Mountain Backyard Ultra and takes you through 30k of hilly terrain with the option of doing one, two, or three loops.

The run starts at Kilmashogue Forest and goes straight up. There were about 30 of us taking on the 30 km single loop and I soon found myself at the back of the pack. The uphill was a lovely wide gravel track but also uphill. The downhill was single track and I’m not much of a trail runner so I didn’t pick up a lot of speed there. Luckily, there was a two-kilometre road section into Glencullen that allowed me to catch the back of the pack.

Trail is a word with a wide definition. Once we were through Glencullen, we ended up climbing a steep bank (I would have completely missed the turning if I hadn’t seen others) and then onto what the locals called the “bog road” where the path disappeared and we were running through small bushes. Then there was a small gully with a river at the bottom and ropes to help us climb down. The ropes did not save me and I fell over twice here.

We almost made it back onto the Wicklow Way track before turning again towards a trig point at the top of the hill. This offered spectacular views of the whole of Dublin Bay and Wicklow in one scene.

Here we got into the real bog. I stopped on what I thought was a solid bit of mud and found myself above submerged up above my knee and had to climb my way out. At around 15k, Dublin disappeared behind the hills and I felt panicked about being in the middle of nowhere even though I knew it was just over the horizon. That was an unpleasant half an hour.

At around 23k we came down into ZipIt where there was a water drop. I had brought enough food and drink for five hours but was drinking more than expected so glad to be able to refill my bottles. Then it was straight up the hill again and towards the finish. I was tired by this point and started stumbling over rocks a lot but luckily did not fall.

The final two kilometres were downhill again and my quads were on fire as I descended. I managed to find the correct turning point, which I was quite proud of, as almost everyon else that finished came in the wrong way. Very glad to be done. I’m not sure I had fun but I’m glad I did it :D.

Dundalk parkrun takes place on the Dundalk Institute of Technology campus and consists of three laps around the playing field. While it is not the most exciting of parkruns, it was well marshalled and I had fun.

Mountlucas parkrun takes place in the Mount Lucas wind farm. It is a single lap trail course and you get to pass right underneith the turbines: their foundations are just off the side of the trail and the blades pass over your head.

Lovely to have the one lap and I got a warm welcome from the volunteers. Thanks everyone, and happy 8th birthday!