These Are The Kingdom Of Days, Castleisland Co. Kerry.
Another tough day. It rained all day. Still having problems getting early starts. I pushed on from Newcastlewest up a steep hill, was climbing for about half an hour before Abbeyfeale. Then the descend.. They are always lovely. Just before crossing into County Kerry, locally proudly known as ‘ The Kingdom Of Kerry ‘ I had lunch in the local Spar. I had been singing the Bruce Springsteen song, ‘ These Are The Kingdom Of Days ‘ in my mind all morning.
I sat inside the doorway out of the rain drinking my 2 Lt bottle of milk, sardine roll and apple cake. The friendly shop attendant asked me what I was doing.
” I am running around the world ”
” Oh! I see, well you picked a bad day for it! ”
Am getting a lot of funny looks and comments ” Where’s the baby? ”
To which I generally reply, ” Strapped in there under all the baggage! ”
As a cyclist when coming up to junctions I am so used to motorists pulling out in front of me, now they realize I am not a cyclist and probably wonder what I am doing with a buggy. I detect an unusual patience with motorists. From the distance they probably think I am a cyclist and when they are turning right out of a junction in front of me or even when making a right turn off a main road in front of me, even with little traffic they wait until I have passed, such is their curiosity, I think they can’t quite figure out what is coming up the road, I guess.
About 4km out of Abbeyfeale I started climbing. Think I was climbing for a good two hours, it was still raining heavy with a strong headwind in my face. My gps was telling me I was fluctuating between 5.5 and 7kph. Not very steep in comparison of what is in store in the Rockies and the Andes. Am still finding my fitness and at times like this am not too bothered by the gradient. Am working on my mind, staying positive, pushing on almost meditative to the summit.
Got there, then Sheila from the local athletic club Riocht AC pulled up in her car, I had about 10k still to run. Gave her my bags, she wanted to drive along in front but I sent her on. It was getting late, the photographer from The Kerryman newspaper was waiting in town for me to arrive. Told Sheila about 5pm.
The road dropped down sharply, Nirvana was a joy to run with after such a tough day…
Now it was easy, I was clipping along at about 11.5kph. Sometimes she was hard to control being so light, would be great to always travel so lightly. Will have to ditch some of my ‘ essentials ‘ when I finish the Irish leg.
Just before the roundabout on the new road I tripped on a cats eye reflector on the edge of the hard shoulder. A fully laden buggy would have prevented me from falling, instead being so light now it jerked out in front of me as I fell on the hard shoulder with Nirvana halfway across the inside lane, luckily enough there was not much traffic at that time. I was fine, just a bit shook up.
Ran into town. There was a horse festival on today. The Kerryman photographer stopped me to take the photos as I stood in a load of horse shit on the main road. They were not going to bother with a reporter as they were writing the story from my site. I gave him my card and asked him to mention the website, they never do.
Sheila brought me down to Riocht’s clubhouse, a fine big building with a gym attached.
I was looking for the legendary hill runner, John Lenihan, a legend on the hills and former world mountain champion. John is still dishing out world class performances, he had a great run in Poland in the world championships recently.
He is 50 now, they had a big party in town for him a few weeks ago.
He is a very humble man. He wasn’t about, I was told he was either out running or feeding the pigs. I was a bit disappointed at missing the big tough Kerryman.
Now I was getting cold and hungry. We walked to Sheilas house. Her husband John had cooked a big pot of Irish stew. Then the offer of a hot Radox bath or eat first. I get asked that question all the time, It’s always eat first, need a bit of chill out time before the soak.
The stew was wonderful.. Big helpings 
Am getting close to Dunquin now. Think I can make it a day earlier, no point in dickin’ about with 3 easy days. They expect me on Thursday, I know I can make it on Wednesday. I told Colm my southern co-coordinator about this. Apparently they have a big reception planned for me when I wheel Nirvana into the Atlantic.. He says they are broadcasting updates on my progress on Radio na Gaelchta.
Don’t want to spoil the party by arriving a day early.. He suggests let him know for sure in the morning from Tralee which is only 18km away. Will wait till then as I got a few errants to do there.
Today: 45.2km. World Jog Total: 287.7km.
November 2nd, 2010 at 9:11 pm
Keep at it Tony! Looks like you’ve had a few bumps in the road to begin this journey – particularly with the wet weather, but things will improve. Hang in there and keep moving forward! – Gotta Run, Paul
November 3rd, 2010 at 7:54 pm
What a legend!
I drove by you on my way home from work. Passed you out as you were on the way into Newcastle West. I was travelling to the Kerry border, just past Abbeyfeale. I thought “who’s that nutter!”. But then figured it must have been a charity run or suchlike. I’m just after reading your article in the kerryman newspaper – where they also gave details of your website.
Fair play to you for taking on this outrageous challenge!
I wish you the very best of luck and look forward to reading your blog regularly. As I’m reading, if I think I can help you in any way I will be in touch again.
Wishing you a happy and healthy trip!
Frank