Dublin or Bust

I have been in Dublin since around 6am this morning, local time, and it is now just before 1 as I write this. The flight was a bit miserable, some serious chop around Nova Scotia and then the saltiest "Chicken" I have ever had. Renting the car was easy enough although I was given the task of being the navigator from the Airport to the hotel. Now, this wouldn't be that bad if it weren't for the fact that in Ireland they drive on the left side of the road and my dad just couldn't get the hang of this. No, we weren't driving in the wrong lane, but rather he drove without any sense of where the left half of the car was. So then entire time on the highway to the city was spent either in 2 distinct lanes, or with my half the car literally inches away from the curb... at 45 miles an hour. I actually screamed 3 times.

I am amazed how well I remember the city, after my dad got flustered with the roads and whizzed through downtown at 50 miles an hour I was able to redirect us back the hotel without a map, which I thought was pretty impressive. At the hotel we ate some light breakfast (or Dinner #2 kinda) and met up with a sleepy headed Jackie. She looks terrific. Greece has her much more tanned than I've seen her in a long time and her hair has become very fair in the island sun. With the Dennis clan fully united, we left for the city.

It was a very nice walk, through Stephen's Green, down Grafton's Arcade, by the Bank of Ireland/Trinity College, through Temple Bar back to the Millennium Spike-thing and then back to the hotel. With everyone taking a brief nap I decide it time to pick up my race bib.

I know the general route to the expo center which I expect to only be about a 5 minute jog, so I head out. One block takes me to the Grand Canal and the feel is incredible. For those of you who don't already know, I first started running while I was spending a summer in Dublin in '05. I learned how to run on the Grand Canal, I started with little loops and then gradually extended my routes block by block to extend all the way to the bay. The minute my feet landed back on the footpath I felt a true swelling in my chest. Potent. It's hard to explain but running the same route day after day really bonds one to the area, perhaps its a survival complex. Of course there is one HUGE difference between then and now... oh, say about 40 pounds. Thats right, last I cruised down this drive, past the geese, swans and barges, I weighed 190 pounds. Perhaps this is part of the reason why I didn't remember the Canal and being so short?

Picked up my number and made it back to the hotel (Dublin, the fickle mistress has already rained on my 3 times. It is a beautiful blue sky right now. It could rain again in 2 minutes. ) Showered up. Jackie, Chas and dad are all asleep. I think the siblings are going to break off for the afternoon and let the old man snooze. I'm just starved for lunch (I mean Dinner #3).

Possibly Kilmainham Gaol and the Brewery? We'll see! Race starts at 9 tomorrow so I'll be done around 12:20 hopefully which means I should have results posted by 9 am new york time! wish me luck!