Ticking over

So, instead of sticking my head in the oven I managed to hold it together this week to record 22.7 miles - just about the minimum I reckon is necessary to 'tick over' whilst there's nothing particularly important coming up by way of races. That sort of mileage my blogging colleague Thomas the 'Rubbish Marathon Runner' ha ha! (see bloglist) will almost knock off any morning before breakfast. But I console myself by knowing that (1) I'm getting old and (2) I am not, never was, and never will be a proper runner.

Three lots of early-morning four milers this week. At least I felt good enough to run them without cutting them short. Then, faced with the certainty that I do not have a running window this weekend, I delayed my Friday pint by a couple of hours and headed off eastwards. I've not really done any evening running since I left Jersey. A certain nostalgia there which I'll return to in a later post. Certainly things are a bit different along my usual route on a Friday evening. The Cill Airne, instead of lying idly against the Liffey quayside is buzzing with IFSC workers drinking and eating al fresco on its decks. Along Dublin Bay the southbound traffic is heavy as people head 'down the country' for the weekend. In particular we have the pop festival Oxegen over the next three days down in Kildare and the forecast is for typical festival weather necessitating ponchos, wellies and a willingness to share tents with complete strangers. Strangely the Sandymount/Blackrock area this evening has a lot of Indian-looking folk milling around - they are never usually evident.

After a dodgy start I settle into a reasonable groove and I'm able to plod away to the far end of Blackrock Park before turning back. More for comfort than out of necessity I pick up a fruit drink at the garage on the way back. And, with the Garmin not co-operating tonight, I guess that's 10.7-ish miles in 1:56.26 - which believe me I'm perfectly happy with, though it won't keep my rivals in the Blarney Half Marathon awake tonight!