Our Club's First 50K Race and Whiterock Beach

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.



Playing with Friends on the Weekends

For February, and now the beginning of March, we have felt like we're doing our final get-togethers with friends here in Dublin. Each time we hang out with friends, it feels incredibly special and also tinged with sadness because we know it will be one of the last times we see them. I'm finding I want to savor each one of these visits with our different groups of friends and we've filled up each weekend in an attempt to do this. For about a month now we've hosted friends for dinner, often on both Saturday and Sunday just to cram in as much as we can. The week is so jammed with the PhD and preparations for moving that we can really only see people on Saturday and Sunday so we've resigned ourselves to filling our remaining weekends with nothing but love.

These first were from last month when we went bowling with Richie & Joanna and baby Jasmine. Bowling is incredibly fun to do with kids (more fun for me though) but in Dublin it's oddly expensive so this is our first time doing it.  

What's that now? The pregnant lady won?! That's right, I was victorious.

Joanna brought over her Chinese tea ceremony set and it was so lovely! There's a whole process and you purposefully spill the tea out and over the brown teapot which then seeps through the holes in the wood, down to a tray below. And the tea is meant to help with digestion and 'feeling full' so much appreciated for pregnancy.

Our beloved Richie, Joanna & baby Jasmine

Norah reading to Lilia in the incredible Dun Laoghaire Library just 2 blocks from us.

A lovely evening at our place with Karen, Nolan & baby Hannah. Here she is doling out hugs on her way home.

The Saturday DLPR Running group - Still going strong (and now meeting 4 days per week!), after 3 years and 2 months. Saturday is still an institution - we meet at 10 am, here at the pier, have a run, and then coffee in the café afterwards. I'm still plodding along now, at 6 1/2 months pregnant but I think the running will soon be done and I'll switch to walking for my exercise. So far, I have felt amazing and I'm promised myself, as long as that continues, so will I. (and conversely, the day I start to feel pain, or feel uncomfortable running, will be the day I stop)

And in the café afterward - this was a group of about 18 so it was lovely and busy and two new babies of runners were along to the café as well. Such a great day.  



Wayne, me and baby bump out for a short run.

Me, here at 6 months and Norah giving baby both a hug (and a listen?).

I'll leave you with a bit of an odd video (gorgeous music but odd set-up). So this was 2 weeks ago at the Dublin Chinese New Year Festival where we went with Richie & Joanna although it's not of the Chinese portion of the events, but two young guys playing Trad music. Well worth a listen.

To prove it was actually a Chinese festival, here's the Chinese Lion (I thought it was a Dragon...no, turns out, it's a Lion):

And dinner with Kara, Joe, Geordan & Rory - We can hardly believe that when we arrived, Geordan was less than 2 and Rory was still in Kara's belly. Now he's almost 3!

Love these cutie pies!

Update as we Near the End in Dublin

I realize that title could be misleading... Not the apocalypse - just moving back to Seattle.

Here we are this week, on our way to my first prenatal scan for the baby. Week 21 (now at week 22). And here is Norah in one of her signature ensembles - this kid dresses herself and all her pizazz shows. We particularly like the fish socks (Auntie Sarah sent) over her tights. The top of the socks look like fish mouths, eating your leg. She always feels like a million bucks, this girl. :)

We took this because we thought we'd like to remember the Irish experience for the majority of this pregnancy (even though I'll give birth back in Seattle). Oddly enough, this picture was taken on the wrong floor and we were on our way to PRE-natal ultrasound instead. In Ireland, buildings start on Floor 0 and sometimes we forget this. They told us to head to the 2nd floor so up we went, 2 flights and saw this sign. Hm, all the doors seem to have locks and codes...."just yank on that one again and see..." It wasn't until we realized it was a locked wing also holding the neonatal intensive care unit that we needed to walk up 2 more flights to the 3rd level (2nd Floor). Oops.

Me, posing (again...wrong unit) :)

Ok...here we are...this seems right.

And here is our first image of baby boy or girl Dykstra (we don't know). :)  

Baby #2

And a trip to Marlay Park's fairy tree a couple weeks ago. These are all over Ireland but this is, by far, the  most ornate. People have worked on this one for many, many years. Most are just beautiful old trees that have somehow been deemed a fairy tree (not sure who this happens, if it's passed down, or what) - and they're usually covered in little strips of fabric, tied to the branches. People do this to leave a wish, or a prayer, or a request for the fairies. Often you see pacifiers/soothers (or here, Dodies), tied onto branches with a note from a toddler saying they're ready to give it up and want the fairies to keep it. It is such a sweet idea. This one though has actual doorways and windows and places where you can peek inside the tree.

It was dusk when I took this but at the top of the tree there is a fairy castle, complete with wraparound walkways with railings.

 Pacifiers hanging up top and a letter from a child.

 One of the many windows (this one filled with copper coins)

This little wooden door is so detailed - it has carvings, actual iron hinges and a knocker that moves.

Here it's covered in glitter and a child has left their baby-bottle to the fairies.

Another night in Dublin - always conscious of the fact that this will be one of our last times seeing this image. Looking at the Samuel Beckett Bridge.

 

We are in super-over drive the past two months, getting 1) the PhD finished (8 weeks to go now!), 2) getting ready for this international move/purging belongings/preparing to mail things back, 3) mentally preparing to leave our loved ones here and to close this innnncredible chapter in our lives and finally, 4) preparing the condo in Seattle for our return and getting Norah registered for school in the Fall (no small task given we're here and required to be there when doing this).

I was well for about 3 weeks there (after 2 full months of flus/chest infections and I'm not joking, a bout of dysentery). I was feeling amazing for the last 3 weeks in January - running twice a week, doing prenatal yoga, pilates and working everyday to help on Wayne's PhD. Well, this last weekend Norah and I got another nasty cold (thank the heavens it's only a cold - This I can handle) but a full week has passed and we're still battling it. The wonderful news is, Wayne did not get it - his immune system is an absolute rock. So, in the next few days I'm looking forward to feeling 100% again and not getting sick again until 2017. Pregnancy and asthma combined mean any little bugs knock me for a loop but I'm hoping this is the last and that the rest the pregnancy will be smooth-sailing. :)

For the last month or two, Wayne and I have been working as hard as humanly possible on the PhD. Well, me about 3/4 time (and preparing for move) and him always more than full-time. I am so proud of him and so impressed with his determination to finish this thing. It will be the feat of a lifetime if he finishes this thing in 3 years and 3 months time. Which he is going to - that's only 8 weeks away. (The international average for a PhD is 6-7 years!) And honestly, the level of his research is equal to almost two entirely separate PhDs rolled into one. Not to mention he taught full-time at the University while maintaining all of this - designing the classes, lecturing and grading 7 full courses in the graduate and undergraduate departments. I'm just floored that he's even still standing upright - that he hasn't had a full-on mental breakdown at some point. Anyway, super proud of him and that's where we're at.

Norah is very much aware of our move home and we're doing a calendar-countdown so she isn't too stressed about this big change. She's very aware of leaving her friends and her life here so it'll be an adjustment. (juts wait 'til she has Mighty-O donuts at Greenlake, or goes to the Children's museum or the Science Center or ANY playground in the U.S. and Dublin will be a distant memory) :) She is so lucky to be only 4 and to have two amazing cities feel like home to her.

So main update - we have about 8 weeks until Wayne finishes the Phd, I'm 5 1/2 months pregnant and all is going well. We have not had any stress breakdowns and plan to keep it that way. ALSO, all of my extended family will be arriving in Dublin in mid-March for St. Patrick's Day! It will be a huge to-do that my Aunt Mary is hosting (usually held in San Francisco) with over 20 guests flying in. I'm helping her do some organizing but mainly it'll just be a break to visit with them and show them some of our favorite places here. We cannot wait to have them all here!