Phone, Camera And Ipod Soaked As Nenagh Olympic AC Gives The World Jog A Huge Welcome.
Just a quick and temporary post for anyone trying to contact me..My temp no is 086 2033672
My regular phone is out of action..Hope it drys out soon or I will have to figure something else out for the moment.
It rained hard and cold all the 33.8km from Roscrea to Nenagh through puddled hard shoulders today. I passed through Moneygall the ancestral home of Barack Obama. A proud sign stood by the roadway with too much detail for me to take in as cars and trucks pelted me with rainwater. Suffice to say the town is laying claim to the American president because a wig maker from here moved to the United States in the 1800′s.
I pushed on for about an hour to Toomevara, went into the Centra service station making a beeline for the toilets with my thermos of hot tea..
Gradually and very carefully I warmed my hand under the hand-dryer and drank hot fruity tea. What will I be like in Canada in a little over a week I wondered.
Well I do have good equipment, I guess I just got caught out.
In the bottom of my bag I have warm mitts, waterproof mitt covers, gore-tex leggings and gaiters…Tonight they will be the first items I unpack.
In the pocket of my so-called waterproof jacket my mobile phone, camera and ipod swam. I was soaked to the skin, as wet as a fishes underpants.
I pushed on towards Nenagh, up and down the undulating hills about a k up and a k down. Past the roadworks, turned left at the roundabout and then there was only 5 left..The rain eased off..It was not so bad now but I was shattered, head down I pushed too tired to enjoy the beautiful maple leaf covered road and pathways. My head was still down pushing at around 8kph. I was daydreaming of the finish of the World Jog..Today is October 29th. My planned finish date with the 2013 marathon is this day 3 years..
I musn’t think too much like this, it will grind me down, my resolve is strong, stronger than even when I broke my two world 48 hour records…Come what may I will succeed, ready for the battle, mental and physical, barrier get out of my way…I am coming through.
Ray from the Local athletic club, Nenagh Olympic drove out to meet me when I was near to the town. Then Deirdre the local ultra runner who has a very commendable 22 hour 100 mile pb ran the last couple of k with me. The Club have kindly put me up in the luxurious Abbey Court Hotel. A few of the young athletes, Ray, Mary and other club members cheered me into town.
Later on that evening I watched the youngsters train on a local school grounds road track totally enjoying themselves in the bitter cold. It’s always wonderful to see kids play sport….
PS. Not sure why today’s route was not uploaded to the Spot tracking map as I tracked my locations about 6 times today. I will go outside and try another Spot tracking soon.
Total distance to date: 158.1km.
Nenagh Olympic's warm welcome
Moneygall Ancestral home to Barack Obama
October 29th, 2010 at 5:46 pm
Hey Tony, Martin Doody here, just saw your blog about your phone being out of action. Just wondering what time you plan on hitting Limerick tomorrow and where I can meet you?
October 30th, 2010 at 1:02 am
Tony, yesterday – Friday – was a really tough uncomfortable day, but you got through it as you will through all of the bad days that come along here and there in the next three years. Any evening that you are ok and any morning that you can move on will be a good and promising morning. Keep it going Tony. The numbers of your supporters will increase by the day to many, many thousands as you move along and get local coverage on radio and newspapers etc. God bless.
October 30th, 2010 at 7:58 pm
Well Tony
Best of luck with the road ahead and keep up the blogs, They are a Great daily read