Saoirse lost her Mum to cancer when she was twenty-eight. Her Mum was only fifty-nine. Twenty-eight years later, she has lost her Dad. Michael passed away in hospital after a short illness at the age of eighty-eight, and the funeral was last Tuesday. Needless to say, it’s been a rough few weeks for the family. … More Farewell
IN WHICH GARY AND I HAD PLANNED TO DO A LONG OLD RUN AND HIKE AROUND LEITRIM, AND THE IRISH WEATHER SAID ‘HOLD MY BEER…’ Sunday was the last day of Summer, according to the met folk. And in fairness to them, they had also accurately predicted the weekend’s weather. Gary and I had hatched … More Decimated
Voyager 1 was launched on September 5th, 1977. I was nine years old. Today, it is over 15 billion miles away from Earth, moving at 38,000 miles per hour. It operates on 69 KB of memory, using modified Fortran code. It still sends back amazing data to our planet. According to Garmin, my little watch … More Is there anybody out there?
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 … More Challenge accepted
The weather has been good of late. Unseasonably hot for these parts. Of course, we marvel at our 32° in Galway while Portugal gets baked with 45° so it’s all relative, I guess. Essentially, there has been no running of late, nor any gym work. Exercise is taken at work, running up and down stairs … More A drought of sorts…
… but it can rain for a considerably long time… Running of late has been as scarce as common sense and human decency around the globe. Look, I’m sure there are lots of decent folk around the world, doing thoroughly decent things. Indeed, I know this to be true. I have been among them when … More It can’t rain forever…
Just a quick bloggidy-blog post from your friendly unironedman. It will ten years tomorrow when I started this online adventure, which was the precursor to a slightly longer (and ongoing) one in which we set out to do an ironman somewhere in the world. Somewhere turned out to be Kerry, and who could complain! Well, … More Happy Birthday to me. Sort of…
When your wife’s niece asks if we’d like to babysit her cat while she’s away, and her apartment is in Biarritz, it seems churlish to refuse. With a week’s holidays booked, it all fell together nicely. RyanAir fly direct from Dublin, which is another bonus, and unlike most of their destinations, the airport in Biarritz … More Long live Finn!
What is it about May? The cold and dreary Winter and early Spring seem to drag on for ages, and you long for those warmer months. You want to see wildflowers in the hedgerows, sit on the deck outside and sip a cold beer, and perhaps jump in the lake. Literally. And then, of course, … More The year is flyin’
IN WHICH WE REACQUAINT OURSELVES WITH THE WILD WEST OF CONNEMARA, DISCOVER THE DANGERS OF DISCO, AND MAKE SOME NEW FRIENDS: THE CONNEMARA ULTRA RACE REPORT Somewhere along the road to Clifden, Gary and JC are chatting in the front as I peer out the windows from the back seat. I forget the lead-up to … More Shuffling the deck
unironedman 