Gaelforce West

Now, one thing I would NEVER have put myself down for was any sort of endurance challenge (I was a sprinter as a kid and always had to be at the front of the pack!).

I've done the Women's mini-marathon for the past 3yrs and love doing it to raise money for To Russia with Love and just for the craic and the atmosphere in Dublin that day. I have a slightly competitive streak in me (my friends will probably laugh out loud upon reading the italics there!!) and every year I try knock a couple of minutes off my time, as you do.

Anyhooo, this year, as the hockey season was coming to an end, one of the girls came to me (why me??) saying "We have to do something to keep our fitness up over the summer Luc and I have just the thing"! Once she'd told me that there would be loads of HOT, fit men at it and the after-party would be "amazing", well, she had me at said men ;) (Am I really that fickle?!)

Before I knew it, I was on the Gaelforce West website, Credit card in hand and filling in a registration form. Then I decided I'd better check out what exactly I'd signed up to and to my complete disbelief, it was a mere 65K of running, cycling and kayaking..................SIXTY-FIVE KILOMETRES..........what the....? Oh, and just to throw a lil' sum'in, sum'in in for the craic, part of the 'run' (yeah right!) is up and down Croagh Patrick!!! How the hell was I going to do this?? I mean, yeah I'm fit enough to play a hockey match, but not 65K-fit!!
{to see full details on the event log onto http://www.gaelforcewest.ie/}

I just had to get stuck into then. I HATED cycling and to just give you an idea of how much: one year a now ex had given me a bike for Xmas and so I decided to cycle into work in Middle Abbey street. The buses scared me so much that I picked the bike up in my car a YEAR later!! I used to look at the 'wans' in the gym who'd do the spin class and think "Why would you do that to yourself?" but then I joined the 'wans' and am now a regular wan and in the running up to the "challenge" sometimes did 2 in a row (I KNOW ridiculous but I'd no bike and had to train!).

So, Gaelforce West took place last Sat. 22nd August and I managed to complete it as hoped, injury-free!! Luckily, I hadn't practised on the route because if I had known what I was letting myself in for there's NO way I would've done it! But after 6hrs49mins09secs of asking myself "Why the hell are you doing this?", looking around and thinking "hmm, he's cute" (on numerous occasions, yes you CAN focus on the challenge and check out the talent at the same time!!), having numerous PMA chats to myself and getting a 2nd/3rd/4th wind as a local Westportian is sitting in the most random of spots, cheering us all on..............I finished it!

It was definitely worth it, the feeling of crossing the finish line is incredible, completely euphoric. The camaraderie and sportsmanship is so encouraging and of course, the pints at the end are THE nicest pints ever!

2 days ago and yesterday, I was saying there's no way I'd even think of doing it again because I was walking around as if I was a 90yr old woman but today, now that I feel slightly more human and am walking in a more spritely way (kinda!), I'm already thinking "Maybe I could do it in 6hrs next year"!!!!