U2 Fever

I was standing by the side of a track confessing to someone that I thought a four-minute mile was too big an ask at my age – 60-second lapping and all that. Then I was cruelly awoken by my mobile phone alarm. Cheese in the evening never fails to produce slightly crazy dreams.

5am on a dull-ish Dublin morning; I'd decided that I was going to do my LSR madly early in the weekend. This evening (Fri) is the Crystal Palace Grand Prix on the telly, after which I’ll be gasping for a pint. Saturday and Sunday I’m on the Tullamore trail again without the opportunity for a run.

Despite the early hour it is semi-light. It’s somewhat surreal to head over the Sean O’Casey footbridge before 5.30 passing Eastern tourists already snapping each other against the background of the Liffey and the city of Dublin. Maybe they are part of the influx of visitors to the capital for U2’s three gigs at a sold-out Croke Park, starting this evening. There are always a few people gawking at the graffiti which adorns the outside of U2’s old recording studios at Windmill Lane (just over the back from my gaff) and their newer studios at Hanover Quay. Here also on the quay is the site of the proposed U2 Tower, a mega-project which, like many other projects, has been put firmly on the back-burner due to the prevailing economic conditions.

My legs are working well this morning but, as usual, I am making no attempt to break out of second gear. The difference between my LSRs and SSRs is purely the letter ‘L’! All the better to be able to scan Dublin Bay for anything that might be going on out there – working boats at anchor etc. The beach is squidgier than usual this morning before I escape back onto concrete and tarmac and turn at the end of a deserted Blackrock Park.

As I approach the city on my return run things are coming alive as usual. I head up the north quays at a bit more of a lick to complete 10.7 miles in 1.56. That’s 27.9 miles on the week, always assuming I don’t get the urge to lace up again before Monday.