Day 59 - 5km from home

Today I drove to Tramore Valley Park on the opposite side of the city for my long run. What a wonderful, liberating feeling! It’s like someone has had their hands around my neck for the past two months, and that today, they finally started to loosen their grasp! Firstly, driving somewhere that is not the Wilton Tesco is just so strange, and secondly, being in Douglas, a part of the city that we haven’t been allowed to go to for about two months, is just so exciting!

I had a lovely eighty minute run around the park. There’s so much space here - wide paths, grassy fields and undulating terrain. I even (almost) bumped into Donncha O’Callaghan on the narrow path on the way into the park!

During the run, I started pining for a time when we will be able to reward ourselves with a nice brunch out somewhere after our Sunday long run. So, to make up for not being able to do this, I stopped in Centra on my way home and bought a scone for myself. Again, I haven’t been in a Centra in almost two months!

On my way home, I spotted a guy practicing his hurling against the wall of Cork City Gaol. That wall has been creatively used, quite a lot, during this lockdown!

In the afternoon, and after a shower and lunch, myself and Peter headed to the big field beside the river Lee, so that he could do a running session. He thinks that he’s getting “soft” during lockdown, so he wants to start doing sprint sessions again. We measured out 60m on my GPS watch, and I wandered around and sat by the river, while Peter worked away for almost an hour. It’s great that he’s motivated enough again to get back out running, after a break of a few years!

When we got home, we had a great Zoom chat with Fiona, Lisa, John and Garrett. These Zoom chats always have us laughing lots, and are the perfect tonic at the moment! We chatted for almost two hours, mostly reminiscing about funny stories from races that we’ve done in the past.

There wasn’t much time after this and before I would end up falling asleep, so me and Peter watched the final episode of Money Heist - Season 1, and then I collapsed into bed. My legs are very tired after today’s long run, but I’m happy after another day well-spent.

Boris Johnson updated the British public, this evening, on how they are going to start relaxing restrictions. His speech was quite confusing, though, and most people do not seem to be clear on exactly what they’re being instructed to do for the next few weeks. I’m glad that we seem to have much clearer leadership here at the moment! Our government’s document may have been a bit overwhelming for me last week, but at least it was very easy to understand!Lue lisää