
My Inov-8 Mountain Running Shoes
I love to run. But don’t get me wrong. I don’t just run anywhere. Remember, these days it’s all about location, location, location. My preferred place – the mountains. Or hills to be precise. You see, what with living in Ireland, we don’t exactly have mountainous heights. Ours are strictly speaking hills, tentatively teetering below the thousand metre line. And it’s just below that line, I run.
And when I’m not in the hills, or wanna-be mountains, I’m on the road. Quite literally. I work for an international charity. My job: to visit their work the world’s poorest countries, to give advice on how the poor can become less poor. Mightn’t sound it, but it’s actually sorta stressful. Which brings me straight back to running. Running keeps me sane out there. You see, when I’m staring poverty and problems straight on in the face, running reminds me of what’s important in life – health, freedom and happiness.
So now, after nearly 3 years of airports and dodgy hotels, back-of-beyond villages and chaotic capitals, I’ve figured that a few of my running yarns might be worthy to share. But be warned – there’ll be agonising accounts of trudging tarmac and jungle tracks in far-off distant lands. There’ll be terrible tales of Irish bog and shite, and general mountain mayhem. There may even be the drawl of ridiculous races and personal triumphs that infuse all runners, and ultimately bore stupid their spouses. Welcome to my multiple running stories…

My ASICS Road Running Shoes

4 comments
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June 6, 2009 at 9:15 pm
laurie
congratulations on finishing the wicklow round. i am not a runner. i’m a walker. we just hiked part of the wicklow way in may. i am deeply impressed that you ran from drumgoff… at NIGHT. my goodness. we hiked it in the daytime and that was enough for me. beautiful beautiful beautiful place you live.
June 6, 2009 at 10:07 pm
moireosullivan
Hi Laurie, thanks for the congrats. The best thing about going from Drumgoff through Glendalough at night is that it is so quiet and peaceful, with no one around – very magical!
Seems like you have hiked a lot of Wicklow when you were here. Just back from the Wicklow Way Relay (http://www.imra.ie/events/view/tab/details/id/612/) where teams of 8 ran the length of the Wicklow (the route marked by little yellow men you must remember!), a total of 104 km in just over 7 hours. Now that’s impressive!
April 15, 2009 at 4:47 pm
moireosullivan
Hey Chris, Cool site you’ve got going at seriousrunning.com!
My adventures at the moment are mostly in the Wicklow Mountains here in Ireland – not been travelling for the last six months
after a mad last year going to Haiti, Laos, East Timor, Congo and Rwanda! However the mountain racing season has just started here this week, so plenty of fun to be still had at home
Enjoy the runs (and don’t be too serious!)
April 14, 2009 at 3:32 am
Chris Barber
It’s a good thing you have running to de-stress from your work. However, it must be very satisfying and interesting to work for an International charity. I can’t wait to hear more about your adventures!