Cantering on the Curragh

Wearing my Irish Lung Foundation t-shirt

Today was good fun! We headed to the Curragh in  Co. Kildare to run the twelve miles required for this weekend's long run. I deliberately put it off until today, needing a  little more recovery time from last weekend. It was ok. I wasn't exactly at my fastest, but after at about the seven-mile mark I began to get into a more comfortable pace. I really did enjoy galloping around the open spaces of our nation's principal army base and training centre, opposite the race course and surrounded by extremely large sheep! No.1 was fascinated by the size of the sheep, I can't claim this observation!



The Plains of the Curragh



The Curragh is visible on the main route (M7/8) that runs between Dublin and Cork. It is a an open plain in the middle of the country with gentle undulating mounds. On one side of the road, you have a racecourse and on the other you have the plain and, hidden behind trees, are tops of buildings suggesting the presence of the army base camp. In truth, I know nothing about what is here, what is its function or otherwise. All I can tell you is that I have frequently seen people running on paths beaten in the grass and thought it might be a good place to try a run. We left the M7 at junction 12, parked shortly after we passed over the cattle grid and I took off running South. After about two - two/half miles I came to the boundaries and had to swing left, still on a path, but through gorse bushes. There is an interesting history attached to the gorse bushes around the Curragh. According to Wikepedia, in the nineteenth century, these gorse bushes sheltered prostitutes who frequented the camps and were known locally as wrens! I didn't see any such birds today! Instead I was amazed to come out behind the buildings that I mentioned earlier, and to discover a village on my right. I was also running parallel to a horse training track marked out by wood chippings. I tried running on the wood chippings, but they were too soft. This side of the buildings was also wide open plain. I kept wide of it, until I eventually met a road leading to Athy on my right and, by my estimation, back to the car on my left.  My navigational skills have improved from last week. This indeed was my return route, through the village that seems to host army families. I could see regular terraced houses complete with Satellite dishes, a local Centra, a church, a tall building which is a fire station and so on, all sheltered by trees. On my right a UN tank marked the entrance to the Military Museum. I was fascinated. It was like a 1950s village, a set for the British series Dad's Army. To complete the picture, a platoon (?) of soldiers and I crossed paths at a junction. They looked like they were marching to the mess for their dinner. Despite their polite stop at the junction, I decided to run around the back of them! I did not fancy shaking my booty in front of a company of soldiers, no matter how orderly they were!

I continued through the little village and sure enough realised I was heading straight for the car. It gave me just over six miles. At that stage, I met No.1 who was equally enjoying the novelty and open spaces of the Curragh. We trotted along together for awhile, wondering where the various roads went, who were the people on horses coming towards us and so on.  Soon I had to trot on again, this time I was heading North of the car, then swinging East, then South, so that once again I was back on the original section of my run but this time closer to the trees and buildings ... and the sheep. I came across a dead lamb and, later, a dead adult sheep. What a pity ...  I don't really like lamb or mutton!?



Sporting a Jedward hairdo and my t-shirt!



I was really enjoying the wind on my back now, stepped onto a tarmacadam road and left 'rip' for a bit, setting my sights on a telephone pole ahead of me. I really enjoyed that bit of sprinting. Soon I was back at the Southern perimeter, I turned around and plodded, cantered and so on, in a playful manner until my twelve miles were complete. I really enjoyed the freedom of it. You could do any combination or make any pattern you liked out there. The only disadvantage was the wind which, I imagine, would be a constant companion. Still, I could see myself using it again, particularly for some interval training where you could 'zig zag' your way up along the open plains.