Donadea 50K Race supporters. It was freezing!
On February 14th, 2015, we had four members of our club - The Dun Laoghaire Pier Runners (DLPR) run their first ultra-marathon. This was held out in Donadea, County Kildare (Donna-Dee) and is one of the most famous (and most mentally taxing) Irish Ultras. We made the trek out with a few members of the group to cheer our four on. A few weeks before, we all came out here (45 minutes West) to train on this 5K loop but I only managed about 2 (5 miles) whereas, on race day, our four runners did 10 laps of the 5K course! (so 50K/31 miles total, which is 10 laps of a 3 mile course, plus some change)
I cannot explain to you how brutal this prospect is. And this isn't flat either, it's forest trail but has about 3 hills in it, and you can imagine the difficulty on those hills after 4 hours and 45 minutes out there....
Norah, Grainne, Billy, Clare (Wayne taking picture) and me, (nearly 6 months pregnant).
Here come John and Kitty on their 7th lap (21 miles done, of 31 miles)!
(still smiling which is the best possible sign)
Kitty coming through and starting her last lap! (so 29 minutes to finish under the 5 hour mark!)
And this woman, the hero of the day: Here she is finishing her 50K, after a very long sprint finish (unreal), but....that's not the impressive bit. She is also blind and ran the entire 50K with a wrist tether to her running guide. For the final strait - the last 100 metres - she ran on her own. I've seen this in a couple marathons, but always road races - never an ultra, and definitely not a forest ultra with hills, branches and uneven terrain. I was so amazed by her. (and she finished well under 5 hours which makes her all the more goddess-like)
And here's our Kitty, the first of our group to finish - coming in at 5:00:11!! She made it around on her last lap in 29 minutes (an amazing feat in itself) and came in at exactly 5 hours. This sounds like an unholy amount of time, but believe you me, 5 hours means you are really, really moving the entire time, not a single walk break. It's an incredible pace to maintain. (and if you want to have your mind blown, try to grasp the fact that the winner of this Ultra, Gary O'Hanlon, finished in 2 hours 57 minutes! For 50K! A full marathon, plus 5 miles.) Even if you're not a runner, to give an idea - the strongest runners in our club - people who run 4-6 days per week, who clock incredible speeds & mileage each week, all finished between 5 hours and 5 hours, 8 minutes. I would be 30 minutes over that time for 50K. And he finished it all in under 3 hours....I digress but it is super-human.
Lindsey & John with their Donadea 50K Finishers T-shirts!! (These shirts are seriously coveted and are the mark of a badass runner. When you see this shirt around Ireland, you make a mental note: "that person is in another league", and on this day, four of our runners entered that club!
Celebrating with two of our finishers.
And the day after Donadea, we decided to take a bit of a Sunday jaunt to Killiney Beach. We've been here over 3 years and have never made it down to this beach which is only 2 miles from our front door. Mostly because it's in an awkward spot and requires either 1) a car, or 2) a train ride, plus a 2 mile walk. This day though, we were up for it and it was absolutely stunning.
There's a long, steep staircase, once you cross over the cliff-side train line which brings you down here. And if the tide is out, you can continue walking all the way down to Killiney beach (and the next train station). If the tide is in however, you can't walk around the point on the top part of this picture, and you must return this way. In the summer, the nice thing about this is a it's a bit of a secret-cove beach. Thankfully we timed it with tides and could make the long beach walk to the next station. It was bitterly cold & windy but so gorgeous. Norah & Wayne made sand castles & motes and I sat, bundled with hat & gloves & blanket and ate our picnic. :)
On the walk down we spotted this Irish robin sitting on someone's bike. As we got closer and closer, it still sat there and chirped. Cutest little thing.
Down on the beach, below the train trestle.
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