Back

After an absence of 2 weeks, I’m back in my own house. It’s unusually quiet here, because Niamh and the kids are still with the grandparents in Dublin for 3 more days and will come to Kerry on Saturday. I think I’ll very much appreciate the peace and quiet for a while, because at the moment I’m so knackered that all I can think of is sleep.

The holidays were a complete success in just about any area you can think of, maybe apart from relaxation (and maybe from a financial point of view). We had 6 great days in Slovenia and 6 great days in Austria, the wedding was a blast, and I even went running every day, apart from yesterday, when I was too tired after the journey back to Ireland. I think I’ll write a holiday report, but Niamh still has the camera, and what is a holiday report without photos?

I’ve come back home to over 200 unread entries in bloglines and 250 unread emails, even if most of those are bound to be spam. It will take a bit to catch up, so don’t expect too much commenting from me soon. I’ve probably lost most of my readers during my 2 weeks absence, such is the fickle nature of the internet crowd, but hey!

I guess this is still a running blog, so I’ll just sum up all the runs I did while I was away. I still don’t own a GPS device (and most likely never will), so all runs were by time. The mileage is just a rough guess.

May 31: Bled, Slovenia. 34:30, ~4.2 miles.
One loop around the lake, plus an extra loop around a hill. I couldn’t resist going out for quick run after arriving.

Jun 1: Bled, Slovenia. 1:55:20, ~14.8 miles
4 loops around the lake, 29:03, 28:13, 28:58, 29:03. Very hot and humid. Got tired towards the end.

Jun 2: Bled, Slovenia. 58:14, ~7.4 miles
2 loops around the lake (before the wedding, had to hurry). Even hotter and more humid. The temperature really started to get to me. It was 15 degrees Celsius hotter than what I was used to.

Jun 3: Bled, Slovenia. 1:08:42, ~8 miles
Up and down some hills near Bled Camping. I randomly followed some trails in the woods, and ended up on some incredibly steep (unrunnable) sections. At one point I looked down and realised that I was practically looking down a vertical 100 meters high rock face towards the camping ground below me. Yikes!

Mileage that week: 72

Jun 4: Bled, Slovenia. 59:49, ~7.4 miles
My worst day as far as running was concerned. The heat and humidity really got to me and I cut the run short after half of the planned run. At that stage I was wondering if I should just stop running and rest.

Jun 5: Ljubljana, Slovenia. 1:23, ~10 miles
Three hills in Ljubljana, Slovenia’s capital. Felt much better. Either it was less humid, or I got used to the higher temperatures, or both.

Jun 6: Ljubljana, Slovenia. 45:28, ~5.5 miles
I randomly criss-crossed the woods around Ljubljana Castle. I now know those trails better than most locals, I bet. Had to cut the run short because of lack of time.

Jun 7: Graz, Austria. 1:30:58, ~11 miles
I had great fun running up to the top of Graz’s Schlossberg (castle mountain), through the Altstadt (old town) and then doing it again. I also used the run as a scouting mission, because later that day I had to show the in-laws around the place.

Jun 8: Graz, Austria. 1:09:00, ~8.5 miles
I ran from Graz to the basilica of Mariatrost. When I got there I realised that it was on top of a hill. 5 hill repeats followed. Great run!

Jun 9: Vienna, Austria. 1:34:03, ~12 miles
Ran from our B&B through the city centre to take in the sights, and then towards the Prater, Vienna’s biggest park. The inner city is spectacular!

Jun 10: Vienna, Austria. 1:28:39, ~11 miles
2 trips around the entire inner city on the breathtaking Ringstrasse. This was supposed to be shorter, because I ran while Niamh went to a mass that included the famous Vienna’s Boys’ Choir (what can I say, I’m a cultural barbarian). The service took longer than expected, and the run was longer than planned.

Mileage that week: 65

Jun 11: Vienna, Austria. 1:16:22, ~9.5 miles
Similar to Friday’s run, but ran towards the Prater on a more direct route. Expected this to be longer.

Jun 12: 0
I thought about running after arriving in Dublin, mainly to keep my sequence going, but was much too tired. I went to bed at 9pm and was asleep within 10 seconds! Slept for 10 hours.

Jun 13: Dublin, Ireland. 1:51:55, ~14 miles
Within one mile I realised that running felt much easier again. The lower temperatures here are truly telling.