I enjoyed my training through a pretty bleak winter in Kerry, just delighted with the fact that I could go out and do all these things. I knew that there was one big race on the horizon, though: the Beara Way Ultra. In a way I was lucky, because I knew what I was signing up for. I had done the Beara Way before, so I should (emphasis on should) know the route and be familiar with the terrain.
When I didn’t get to do my 100 mile race in September, I knew right away that I was going to do the Beara Way instead. After a failed attempt earlier in the year and a good summer of mountain training, I was excited to give it another go.
I felt very lucky to be on the start line of the Ecotrail Wicklow 80 km race on September 24th, only a few days after travelling back to Ireland. From looking at the maps and talking to some people who had done the race in previous years, I knew the trails should be very good and that it could be a fast course.
I could have done without the trip to Slovenia. But every mile that I had run this summer had been worth it. All the routes planned, all the mountains climbed, all the time spent at less-than-ideal Airbnbs, it had been worth it.
The day had started with a bumpy bus ride from Gortin to Ballintoy on the north coast of Northern Ireland. We’d be running back to Gortin, a 170km route along the Causeway Coast and through the Sperrin Mountains.
As race day is coming closer and closer, it’s not just other people asking me that ‘why’ question. I’ve started asking myself the exact same thing. Why would you do this?
May 2022 saw the second edition of the Waterville Trailrunning Festival (WTF), an event that a lot of people had been looking forward to for a couple of years. The longest continuous event of the festival, the 130km race, consists of three loops of 43km. What happened over the course of that day and the subsequent night?
It’s not a race, but a personal challenge: ‘107 km of ancient trails and mountains, where pagan and pilgrim cultures collide’. With about 5000 m of climbing, this definitely is a proper challenge – one I’d been looking forward to.
When I mentioned my intention to do this 95km route to some of my running friends two months earlier, most of them just said ‘cool’, ‘good luck’ or ‘have fun’. One responded slightly differently: ‘Sounds like a plan. Let’s do it.’