unironedman

I just needed a little nudge. Gary is good at nudging. This particular nudge was prompted by the fallow running period following the Connemarathon in April, when we were both struggling a bit with motivation. May’s total dipped under 50k, June was shy of a marathon, and July said ‘hold my beer’ and managed a few kilometres less. So we needed to halt the slide, and the answer was Garmin Connect Challenges. Gary’s idea; just suggest a weekly total of four runs, with a minimum of 5k per run, and perhaps a 10k at the weekend.

It was just the gentle push I needed to get back out there and find my feet again. Four runs a week. It’s not been too difficult with the fine weather either. Just get back home from work and throw on the runners for a quick 5k. Or, more often that not, a modest-paced 5k. I mean, let’s not be hasty, Master Hobbit!

For now, the slide has been halted. And it’s good to see that the body responded, albeit it took or a week or so to poke the curmudgeonly fecker into action. But now, as we tip into the fourth week, the motivation is outweighing the urge to just potter about the garden, or finish off the shed.

This is truly riveting stuff. I do apologise.

At the end of this month, Gary and I hope to take on another wee challenge when we visit the lovely Leitrim and tackle part of the Miner’s Way. We hope to do at least 60k of hill-walking/hiking/running, depending on numerous factors, including the weather and our joint (!) fitness. On that score, with Gary currently recuperating with a banjoed shoulder, the whole trip could indeed still fall asunder. But Gary assures me he is on the mend, so we keep our fingers crossed.

In the meantime, we had some guests over from London for a short weekend visit. An obligatory dinner was had in the Salmon Leap Inn, and several Guinness were scoffed. Which was in keeping with the theme of the trip; earlier that same day, I took them over to Oughterard Cemetery to visit the final resting place of Arthur Guinness. It was a poignant moment for both Lucy and I as our Dads had been lifelong friends, and both have since passed on. And one of the last times they were together for serious craic before illness made travel and communications problematic, I took them both to this same spot.

No other exciting news really. I continue to work up the road in the hire shop, and we are busy, busy, busy. And there are one or two gigs as well. And speaking of which, here is my guitar (okay, here is one of my guitars) shortly after new strings were fitted…

I especially love the Fireman Sam post. Long before I even considered a career in the service, Dallan was mad about Sam, and we all watched it religiously. It never dawned on me particularly that fire wasn’t a big part of the cartoon series, though it makes sense now. And funnily enough, after 16 years in the brigade, I can confirm that quite a number of our callouts did not involve fire of any kind. Also, one of our long-serving Station Officers had a ‘tache very like SO Steele. And one or two firefighters I met over the years moved in slow-motion too, but that’s another story. I cannot speak of the reboot which is computer-animated. Bah humbug, I say. They also tried to ‘improve’ Thomas the Tank Engine in the same way. And to avoid upsetting the yanks, the Fat Controller was referred to only as Sir Topham Hatt. Bless.

‘Paint the door red!
That’s what he said!
I’d rather do something groovy instead!’
Elvis Cridlington