Trip around Ireland 2012

... anti clockwise, since the traffic is also on the wrong side. That was our way around the Island.
Getting there taken the ferry from Liverpool and heading straight north along the coast via Boyne Valley, Newgrange, Monasterboice to Belfast.
Here we've spend the first night after showing my daughter the still existing relicts of the irish conflict for the last decades.
With a short visit at the Bushmills distillery finishing myself and the day we spent most of the sunny day at The Giants Causeway. Always impressive!
A great hostel we recommend in Londonderry - Independence Hostel.
In the Glenveagh National Park the next day we had a nice hike - cool weather but sunny.
Going further south along the west coast we spend a couple of hours here and there like in Donegal, at the Drumcliffs in Sligo, crossing Connemara by doing a boat trip alongside Killary Harbour and ending up one night in Galway. It is a great place for going out or just sightseeing.
Our way then lead trought the Burren, via the Cliffs of Moher, Lahinch and crossing the river Shannon getting into the Kerry county. A stunning trip around Dingle was just the doorstep to heaven (just missing the pint of Guinness :-)
After that the Ring of Kerry was just not that impressive anymore and we decided to head towards Cork as soon as we could. A second night in the then in the Kinlay hostel (as before in Galway) lead to the conclusion - recommended place to stay wherever it is, very friendly and welcoming.
Loads of driving was going on and to be honest - it was to much to say in the end: I had a relaxing holiday.
Nevertheless, heading back to Dublin via Kilkenny made the whole roundtrip a successful event.

Cheerio Irleand!

... more details to follow...

12th of August 2012...
Still having the spirit of our London 2012 visit, the new challenge was:
Morecambe Bay crossing on low tide!
Frappy trained about two months and was in good mood to finish her first half marathon. Will there be another one afterwards? Well, one need to be careful.
Sleeping in that Sunday and after a nice breakfast we enjoyed the ride to the Lake district - as usual. I love that place on Earth.
We park the car on the south end, near Morecambe - later on will that be the spot for the finish line. A coach will take us to the north end of the bay which takes quite a while and we can talk to fellow runners on the bus as well as afterwards. There is another couple of hours to wait.

The start takes place - the first mile in the rain and an enormous head wind. Frappy, thats not one of the easiest to do. But the sun comes out after a while and will be a nice companion until the finish.
It is an amazing experience, having a tractor on spots, where usually the water of the Atlantic ocean floods everything away, set up as a water station. Also crossing the remaining streams, like being waist deep in the water, is an unusual experience and makes it clear - that race is on of the top UK adventures.
Frappy is doing amazingly good on the run and after about 2.5h we celebrate the finish of her first 21k (in fact it was actually a bit more)
Thanks to Paul, who gave me the tip of the race and to the org team which made all of that possible.
Here a link to the photos... they will make you running that race the next time it happen :)

gallery of the Cross challenge 2012


mm

It is quite a while ago

... that I posted some news. It was not that nothing happened the last few months; rather the opposite. No time for doing something properly.
Well, however -  last weekend we have been back to Cornwall again and I thought I have to emphasize it again how beautiful that place is, how good I feel over there and that the Royal Cornwall Show once again was a great hit. I also had the chance to do some training again and I probably have mentioned it before - my favorite place for trail running. That is the perfect transition to, what has happened running wise this year.
In March I managed to finish the Steyninger Stinger - a off road Marathon distance. Great experience - pretty cold and rainy and it took me ages to finish that race but - GREAT. I guess I somehow managed to scare my girl friends mum. When I got to the finish I start shaking and freezing, so she decided to spoil me with some new, warme running cloth. Thank you very much, I love it!
Actually O was planning to give the Bob Graham Round (Lake District) a try in June. Looking than at the logistics of that individual race - I decided just to stay with the Malvern Hills Ultra for this year. So I prepared myself for the race in May.
What can I say, everyone got a bit worried when the flooding started to happen along the race course but eventually the amazing Team around Steve did a great job and made that great experience possible (thanks for being able to have once in life a shower in a real castle ;). The race report is to find here: race report MHU 2012
So far so good, talk to you soon.

mad mike

Rock, Cornwall - the place where is always sun

In march this year it came that situation I got to know my favorite place to run.
Family and very good friends invited us to stay in their house for a few days. Coming from a few days of hard work in Germany and having a long trip in the car I was looking forward to have some rest.
Cornwall, the land of Rosamunde Pilcher, is beautiful!
I probably do not have the right words to describe it but saying that tells you: Go, and check it yourself - it is one of the Lords favorite places on earth. Since march, we have been there whenever we had the chance and opportunity. Our friends have done everything to make us curious for coming over another time - having a six hours drive from Preston down south. But who cares...
What is it? Definitely for me it is the weather, which was always amazing when we were there. It is the family and friends we have met, definitely the food but for sure my favorite place in the world to run trails. Along the coast, up and downhill, trough sheep and cow herds, seeing the cliffs and the colorful water, having the wind and the sun in my face and than in the evening really good food - what else should I say. Have a run around Rock and you know what you are training for!
Thanks to B & S for showing us that amazing place!

Dublin Marathon 2011

Not having ran a pure Marathon this year - Dublin has fit absolutely into the picture. We wanted to go anyway to Ireland to see what's what and so it was a good opportunity to combine ... running and Guinness.
After doing quite a bit of trail running the last couple of months and not having the chance to do any 30k I did not have that huge expectations about the race - finishing under 4h would have been great, I thought.
We booked the flight for 0 Euro (yes free, just taxes and fees) and flew with Air Lingus to Dublin, 2 days before Halloween. Respectively the City welcomed everyone in a cruel look - just learned, that this tradition comes originally from the Island and got exported probably all over the world by now.
2 days of power sightseeing were a good preparation for the Marathon ;) and on race day I did not feel at all like running another 40k as the 2 days of walking around town. But at least the night before I've got the chance to see Windmill Lane ("U2 roots") and listen on the course next day right in the beginning to an U2 song on full volume was huge motivation. So I could push from the beginning. The first 10k I tried to stick to the "4h pacers" (thanks a lot guys) but decided then to try on my own. I was so happy that I run trough the whole race - beside a with a quick pit stop for a "p" and a "drink" - you can't imagine. Up until the end I did more or less the same speed (well, there were some hills on the way ;) really cool. So I will go ahead doing the trail running and obviously -lesson learned - there is a way of finishing a Marathon and not necessarily doing a lot of 30k training runs before. This is usually a time issue. Thanks to everyone for the amazing time in Dublin.