Roaming With the Roddens: Ireland

After we said goodbye to Scotland, we took a short flight over the sea to Dublin. We decided in the spring that we wanted to visit Ireland and run the Dublin Half Marathon so that we could check out Ireland for the first, and certainly not last, time. We spent four days in Dublin checking out the main tourist sites on both sides of the race day and we also spent two days and a night in Northern Ireland visiting our new friends in County Down and seeing the Titanic Museum in Belfast.

Dublin is a neat city with a lot of interesting history and the Irish are some of our favorite people. One of our friends from the Harps met us in the Temple Bar area and showed us around before we all had a delicious dinner and a fun night together. We wanted to be able to spend more time in the country visiting our friends from all over, especially on the West Coast, but that will have to happen one summer in the future.

Due to the way the summer unfolded we were not able to train for the race the way we had wanted, so we took our time on the day and enjoyed the sights and sounds of the race, which took us past many of the most iconic spots in Dublin. It was a great event and we highly recommend it! When we drove up to Castlewellan in County Down we were excited because Joe was invited to attend a training session with the boys we met in Bratislava. Their club, Aughlisnafin GAC, is full of great lads and they have become good friends. Joe enjoyed the training session, which included a live scrimmage and he played well, particularly considering it was two days after we ran the half marathon! After the training session we were invited by Gerard, one of the mighty 'Fin boys, to his home to meet his family and let Joe clean up. After spending some time with his amazing kids and wife, we headed to the club's pub and spent the next six hours or so sharing pints and telling stories with the boys just as we did on that rainy day in Bratislava. It was wonderful visit and one we will definitely make happen again!