Ireland day 1038. Thursday 01 August 2024- Malahide Olympics!

Today’s summary	With the Olympics in full swing, we were both inspired to do some running today. After a morning of paperwork (for me) and cooking (for Val), I did my usual walk-run-walk circuit and later on Val tried out a 100m sprint up at the demesne. More athletics in the evening in the form of the Olympics on the TV
Today’s weather	Warm and sunny though it clouded over and a cool wind sprang up in the evening. Light southerly wind. Appx 21c

Today’s overview location (The green mark shows the location of my route)		Close-up location (The orange line shows where I walked and ran) (Click button below to download GPX of today’s walk as recorded, or see interactive map at bottom with elevations corrected): WRW again Mini Olympics

Commentary

(Summary blog only. Last full blog was Day 0368).

I think we are becoming infected with the Olympic bug (either that or its a side-effect of the warmer weather) because both Val and I felt the need to embark on some athletics of our own today.

But – as ever – before we could indulge our sporting fantasies, first we had to get through a morningful of chores. I spent a couple of hours on admin and general paperwork, and Val did some cooking (including some fantastic honey and mustard glazed roast sausages, which we had for lunch).

Eventually, once we had cooked, paperworked and eaten, I headed out and did the same walk-run-walk circuit I’ve covered a few times before. Today, as the tide was out, I walked to the start of the run section (up Paddy’s Hill) via the beach. The beach walk, combined with the warm sunshine, made the whole outing particularly enjoyable. You can see me gasping for air at the top of the running section in the banner image at the top. The icing on the cake for this outing was spotting a cinnabar moth caterpillar on some ragwort on Seamount Road on the way back. The first I’ve seen in Malahide this year, and something of a relief as I was a bit worried than none at all were going to appear this year.

Meanwhile, Val has decided to have a go at sprinting – possibly a more manageable and less time-consuming enterprise than long distance running. So, using Google maps, I worked out a 100m flat section on a grassy meadow in the Demesne and, equipped with maps and running gear, we set out to give it a go.

It was straightforward enough to find the appropriate grassy stretch “on the ground” and Val duly ran it a couple of times, to see how it worked out. It was a fun exercise, and nice and easy to fit into the daily routine. I’m sure she will give it another go – though I think I’ll try and find a slightly flatter stretch of ground to run on – and ideally somewhere where the grass is shorter. It’s amazing how much even a closely cropped sward can slow you down.

So a good day of athletics all round, and now we’re going to finish it off perfectly by watching some more of the real thing on the TV, live from Paris.

Today’s photos (click to enlarge)


Lifeguards on duty for the summer on the narrows at the mouth of the Malahide estuary	Lambay – a mesmerising island

Along the coast road – the grass is looking quite dried up already – even after all the rain earlier in the summer	The fairy circles on the playing fields near to Paddy’s Hill are quite remarkable

If you look carefully, the tiger stripes are a giveaway. The first cinnabar moth caterpillar in Malahide this year (well the first I’ve seen, at least)	Val in sprint mode

The 100m running track! Actually it wasn’t perfect as it is slightly uphill and the grass is slightly too long – we may try somewhere closer to the cricket ground next time