This week I was incredibly fortunate to spend a few days in my home county of Clare while attending the wedding of an old and dear friend to the love of her life. It was a beautiful occasion in the stunning surroundings of the Falls Hotel in Ennistymon (location of the riverside gallop scene in the ‘My Lovely Horse’ video in Father Ted), and to see so many familiar faces sharing in such a special event was a real treat. Especially after the last few years, when at times it seemed almost impossible that such gatherings would ever take place again.
The morning of the wedding I embarked on a very enjoyable training run around my hometown of Ennis. I haven’t lived there for nearly twenty years, but there’s a comforting familiarity to the place that I’ve felt on every return visit, and it shows no sign of diminishing. On my way around the town, I bumped into an ex-colleague with whom I worked in a supermarket on weekends while in college. While I didn’t take him up on his offer of room temperature cider and a cigarette at quarter to eleven in the morning, I was grateful that it had been extended. And more than a little tempted to join him. But there was a long day of socialising ahead so I continued on, keeping an eye on my running app while also scanning the route for more friendly faces.
I’ve thankfully completely recovered from my bout of Coronavirus , but I can’t say I’m the better of the wedding yet. A couple of days of wonderful company, excessive alcohol consumption, delicious food and – on my part at least – enthusiastic if rhythmless dancing has left me worn out. It got me thinking, which of this week’s pursuits would you, dear reader, consider the more daunting: a two-day wedding or a twenty-kilometre run? The former was obviously, for me at least, immeasurably more enjoyable, but both require a certain amount of training and an adequate recovery time. I’ll put it to a vote below. And I’ll let you know how I get on with my twenty-five kilometre run next week. Getting there.
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How could anybody turn down room temperature cider and a cigarette at quarter to eleven in the morning?!