Adventures in the Irish Wilderness

Standing on top of Brandon Mountain in a blowing storm

Recently I flew "home" to Ireland to attend a family reunion. As some of you know, my mother is an Irish immigrant and although the distance is great we have always kept very close ties with all of her family, both here and on the Emerald Isle.

Prior to leaving for my trip, my trail running (and definitely racing) had really tapered off, as is obvious by my lack of posts on this blog recently. I still continue to run almost exclusively in the woods, but have begun to spend more time just simply moving through the woods in the most efficient way possible. This has included a good bit of time hiking a lot of the trails I normally run.

During my trip I was pleased to find that several of my Irish cousins, whom I had not seen in many years, also enjoy being in the wilderness. This common bond sparked several adventures including one with me standing on top of Ireland's second tallest mountain as seen in the photo above.

Although the weather was not ideal, they accompanied and guided me through what has to be some of the most spectacular landscapes on the planet. I cannot thank them enough for their help and friendship. Hopefully I can return again someday to tackle some of the peaks that the weather would not allow; or maybe someday introduce them to our local treasure - the Blue Ridge Mountains!