Wicklow Round Attempt
| Author | Date | Message |
|---|---|---|
| Paul O'Callaghan | May 27 2016, 5:36pm | This post is my official notification that I'll be making an attempt at the Wicklow Round tomorrow 28th May, starting at 2.30am. I will be running solo, and as a personal preference my attempt will be unsupported (I will carry all my food, gear and provisions-water will be from streams-for the duration of the challenge and won't have drop bags or logisitcs support along the route). For safety and updates, Hazel McCarthy will be meeting me at the regular road crossings and she will use my facebook account to post on the IMRA page. I'll also be using the ViewRanger BuddyBeacon to track my progress. This will send out a GPS ping every 30 minutes and can be viewed here http://www.viewranger.com/buddybeacon/v2/#userbar_top Username: ocallcon@gmail.com PIN: 1234 |
| Pól Ó Murchú | May 27 2016, 6:06pm | Good luck with it Paul. Weather looks great for it and conditions up there are quite nice at the moment. Would love to get out and catch up with you but not about this weekend. Look forward to hearing all about it. |
| Jeff Fitzsimons | May 29 2016, 2:15pm | Paul, great to see another succesful round completion. The FB updates were great to follow, recover well. You have a lovely day for basking in the satisfaction of a job well done. |
| Paul O'Callaghan | May 29 2016, 10:15pm | I've had a lovely relaxing day and thanks again to everyone for their support yesterday. Here's my splits Start 2:30am Kippure 3:07am (37 mins) Carrigvoher 4:02am (55 mins) Gravale 4:21am (19 mins) Duff Hill 4:41am (20 mins) East Top 5:02am (23 mins) Mullaghcleevaun 5:15am (13 mins) Moanvayn 5:48am (33 mins) Silsean 6:03am (15 mins) Oakwood 7:28am (1 hr 25 mins) Table 8:23am (55 mins) Camenabologue 8:40am (17 mins) Lugnaquilla 9:41am (59 mins) Corrigasleggaun 10:19am (38 mins) Carrawaystick 10:32am (13 mins) Drumgoff 11:23am (51 mins) Mullacor 12:58pm (1 hr 35 mins) Derrybawn 1:27pm (29 mins) Camaderry 2:58pm (1 hr 31 mins) Tonelagee 4:10pm (1 hr 12 mins) Scarr 5:23pm (1 hr 13 mins) Knocknacloghogue 6:42pm (1 hr 19 mins) Lugalla 7:25pm (43 mins) Djouce 8:47pm (1 hr 12 mins) War Hill 9:04pm (17 mins) Tonduff North 9:23pm (29 mins) Prince Williams Seat 11:01pm (1 hr 32 mins) Knocknagun 11:16pm (15 mins) Finish 11:55pm (39 mins) |
| Paul O'Callaghan | May 29 2016, 10:15pm | I've had a lovely relaxing day and thanks again to everyone for their support yesterday. Here's my splits Start 2:30am Kippure 3:07am (37 mins) Carrigvoher 4:02am (55 mins) Gravale 4:21am (19 mins) Duff Hill 4:41am (20 mins) East Top 5:02am (23 mins) Mullaghcleevaun 5:15am (13 mins) Moanvayn 5:48am (33 mins) Silsean 6:03am (15 mins) Oakwood 7:28am (1 hr 25 mins) Table 8:23am (55 mins) Camenabologue 8:40am (17 mins) Lugnaquilla 9:41am (59 mins) Corrigasleggaun 10:19am (38 mins) Carrawaystick 10:32am (13 mins) Drumgoff 11:23am (51 mins) Mullacor 12:58pm (1 hr 35 mins) Derrybawn 1:27pm (29 mins) Camaderry 2:58pm (1 hr 31 mins) Tonelagee 4:10pm (1 hr 12 mins) Scarr 5:23pm (1 hr 13 mins) Knocknacloghogue 6:42pm (1 hr 19 mins) Lugalla 7:25pm (43 mins) Djouce 8:47pm (1 hr 12 mins) War Hill 9:04pm (17 mins) Tonduff North 9:23pm (29 mins) Prince Williams Seat 11:01pm (1 hr 32 mins) Knocknagun 11:16pm (15 mins) Finish 11:55pm (39 mins) |
| Paul O'Callaghan | May 29 2016, 10:29pm | Some of my message got lost on the way to the post. I'll write a report over the coming days which includes vomiting, falls, an unscheduled summitting of Leohard, getting lost in the pitch black bog and having to start walking back to Dublin when I'd finished! Also, typo on Tonduff North, (should read 9:33pm instead of 9:23pm. |
| Niall Corrigan | May 30 2016, 4:58pm | Great effort. Well done. |
| Brendan Lawlor | May 30 2016, 5:01pm | Well done Paul! |
| Paul O'Callaghan | Jun 7 2016, 10:09pm | I've had a good opportunity to absorb the highs and lows of my Wicklow Round and I'll post my report below. I've also had a good opportunity to read the online support and warm messages which came in before, during and after my run and I'd like to thank everybody who sent them. I want to send a quick thanks to Pol O'Murchu for his advice and encouragement during the early months of the year and I'd like to acknowledge the absolutely huge effort Hazel put into the months of planning and facilitating my recce runs as well as single handedly looking after me during my entire Round. I'll also post some photos on the FB page. Thanks again everyone. P |
| Paul O'Callaghan | Jun 7 2016, 10:21pm | “It’s definitely do-able”. Little did I realise it, but those few words would grow to occupy most of my waking, and some of my sleeping hours for the first five months of 2016. I was on a recce run for RAW 2015 with a group of runners led by Liam Vines, and whilst climbing Knocknacloghogue Liam was recounting his recent completion of the Wicklow Round with Laurence Colleran. Being new to trail/hill running, I wasn’t familiar with the Wicklow Round but once I’d done some Googling, the seed was firmly planted but as I was planning on having a go at the Wicklow Way Race in 2016, I thought I’d come back to the Round in 2017. However, after a recce from Pier Gates to Drumgoff Gap in December I decided that spending the coming months training through unappealing treescapes on forestry roads wasn’t for me. So I got out OSI sheet 56, marked each of the 26 summits and remembered Liam’s words… “It’s definitely do-able”. On closer inspection I realised that I’d only ever set foot on 5 of the 26 mountains so this was going to take some work! Luckily for me ignorance is bliss, because once I’d committed myself to making the attempt it just grew and grew. And grew! Early on I decided to keep my intention low key so that, as much as possible, my route wouldn’t be influenced by previous attempts, but rather explore the whole thing and let my route (good or bad as it would turn out to be) be only dictated by my own experience of the hills. My first recce was Sally Gap to Silsean in January and that’s pretty straight forward, but from there the options became almost endless. So I drew straight lines on maps, drew route options around the straight lines, looked at satellite images, recce'd each option, scrapped the routes, drew new routes, recce’d these and scrapped them too. The more I recce’d, the less routes I finalised, and the more familiar I got with the hills, the longer my to-do list was getting! Don’t get me wrong though, I was loving the whole process. The planning appealed to my OCD and the recce's were turning out to be great adventures in unfamiliar places, often getting bogged down waist deep or losing my way in the middle of ten foot high gorse patches. West Wicklow in particular is so different to the Wicklow I knew from the N11, and doing it all during the winter….brilliant! The hills are stunning on a fine day, but wild places in wild weather are just amazing. Then, as I started to shortlist possible dates I slowly realised that not only the weather, but vegetation growth, bog drainage, moon phases and daylight hours would have to come into the equation. I would also have to plan the logistics, enlist a crew of helpers, and supply each crew stop and refill point. But then one day as I was waiting for a parent teacher meeting in Coloaiste Choilm, reading my notes which came everywhere with me, a few lines from Adrian Tuckers account changed it all. A reference to an unsupported attempt by Jonathon McCloy and that maybe it couldn’t be achieved in the allotted 24 hours. Why would Adrian, whom I’d never met, taunt me like that? The thought had never entered my mind, but once it did, I knew instantly that it was right for me. The challenge became more primal and simpler in an instant. Regardless of all the variables on the day, I would just run. I would take what I need from the start, and just run. I wouldn’t have to enlist the crew, pack the aid stations and synchronise every refill. I would run for a day and Hazel would be there with me, with a smile or a kick up the arse as and when I needed it. By mid March my training was going well, the constant bog running slowly building the strength and endurance while I was marking off routes and getting a realistic handle on target times and splits. By early May it was all coming together perfectly and I was confident that my run would go without a hitch. It would be fast and clinical! And then the date arrived, and fortunately so did Murphy and his famous law. And yes, I do mean fortunately. I was starting on Saturday 28 May at 2:30am so I took Friday off work and spent the day alone in Wicklow. I drove to a few locations, walked a few hills, had lunch over Glenmacnass waterfall and used the day as a break from the full on training schedule and the actual challenge. Hazel asked me what I was doing and I couldn’t phrase it without sounding all “Hippy” about reconnecting with the hills after spending so long concentrating only on splits and routes, but it was basically me taking a deep, calming breath before the event. I really enjoyed the day out but by the time I got home I was running late so I quickly dropped Ethan and Kaelem to my sister Elaine’s, laid out my gear, packed my backpack and weighed it. 5kg. Oh oh! Last minute nerves were causing me to pack “just in case” stuff which I hadn’t intended carrying. I eventually pared it down to 4.5kg, but that was way over the 3kg I’d set as my limit. I got two hours sleep and when the alarm sounded I woke with my head and neck covered in cold sweat. Strange and not good, but soon we were headed towards the Dublin mountains with loads of time to spare, which was just as well since there was a diversion on the M50. We still arrived at the start point with an hour to spare so we drove around and chatted a bit before we took a selfy and I headed up the Bog Road. Conditions were absolutely perfect and not only could I see the Kippure mast lights but I could even see the lights in the service building at the base of the mast. As I ran, the orange half moon rose to my left over Tonduff and I couldn’t believe how lucky I was with even the weather coming together so well for me. However, by the time I left the Bog Road and was running on trail I was overheating, sweating profusely, feeling I was running too slowly but conversely knowing I was going too fast. I don’t wear a GPS watch and instead of listening to my body I kept the pace up just in case I was wrong and was losing time. When I got to the summit trig pillar and recorded my split I wasn’t surprised to see I was ahead of time, but I knew I had the descent and run to Sally Gap to calm down (and now there was a few minutes in the bank if I needed them later). And it worked, from the summit I took it handy across country to the Military Road arriving 2 minutes ahead of time, and then I used the road section to reign in my pace and get the feel back. I’d known all along that the night section would set the tone for my entire Round and that if I got the navigation wrong not only would I lose time, but it would affect my confidence and mood. Accordingly I’d recce’d the section 8 times and was feeling very happy with how it had gone so far. The heat was still bothering me but running wise it was a cracking start and I summited Carrigvoher on time. My other concern was foot sprains, 10 of which I’d had in the past few weeks. I took it to be inevitable that I’d suffer at least one, most likely descending Kippure, Lugalla or Tonduff North. Imagine my surprise then, when on the descent of Carrigvoher (only 2 summits in and on a nice trail) my right foot twisted and I crashed to the ground in a ball of pain. I wasn’t impressed at all but thanks to the regular occurrence of these I knew not to worry too much and to just keep running until it numbed. I had those few minutes in the bank and although I was taking it easy, the rest of the night navigation went without a hitch and I clocked off the next 4 summits easily. Then it was Billy Byrnes turn. This gap is a horrible run with nothing but slippery hummocks and peat patches for over 1 kilometre, but this time round it was the easiest I’d crossed it. So I proceeded to Moanvayn and Silsean before picking my way down to Ballinagee Bridge where my brother Derek was waiting. I took off my night gear and although I was feeling good and my splits were fine, I couldn’t believe how soaked in sweat my clothes were as they went into my backpack. As I left Derek to forward my progress to Hazel it felt great to be running in just a tee and shorts, and a quick dunk in the Kings River added to my refreshment. Next up was Oakwood, which a lot of people don’t like, but after multiple recce’s I’d gone back to the drawing board on this one and after spending a full day zig zagging its flank I had a sweet route up. But this ended up not counting for much because by the time I came out of the forest I was burping and nauseous, and by the time I reached the aptly named Stinking Rock I’d vomited twice. I’d also spent a lot of time on a simple, quick route from Oakwood to Table Mountain, but again it ended up being a dreadful experience with more vomiting and chaotic muscle spasms in both calves, so that halfway across I stripped off and lay on my back in the heather for 5 minutes to try compose myself. At this point I wasn’t sure what was going wrong between sweats, weakness, cramps and sickness, but I’d tinkered with my nutrition plan (another case of “just in case”) when packing so I decided to stop eating from here on in. When I got up I looked at the track up Table Mountain and decided to bear it out as the worst terrain was almost behind me and the trails from Table to Drumgoff would allow me to pull my body back together. I was happy to still be on time at Table and although I love the open mountains, this time I was glad to be back onto nice trails which I was taking handily as my calves were both on constant cramp alert, as was my crotch now too. Camenabologue came and went nicely but when I stopped to fill a bottle at the Imaal Gap I couldn’t believe the frenzied chaos that was going on in the muscles below my calf skin so I took very careful baby steps from there all the way to Lugnaquilla. I left Lugnaquilla summit feeling good as I managed a textbook arc around the South Prison and knew it was easy downhill all the way to Hazel in Drumgoff and this would allow my legs to recover. But then Murphy showed up again, and as I tiptoed across the slightly technical granite stones on my way to the fork in the trail I triptoed and hit the ground yet again. This time on granite and taking a piece the size of my thumb nail out of the palm of my hand. I’d messaged Liam the day beforehand thanking him for planting the Wicklow Round seed in my head but also telling him that no doubt I’d be cursing him at some stage during it. This I proceeded to do now. Bloody sweats, bloody pukes, bloody cramps, bloody bloody hand, bloody Wicklow Round, bloody Liam Vines! And whilst I was doing this I ran straight past the bloody fork in the bloody trail. Of course I’d never run the Zig Zags to or from Lugnaquilla so I didn’t realise my error until I was approaching the cairn and preparing to record my split. Suddenly it occurred to me that I didn’t recognise this cairn, and that I’d run to an effective dead end. I took out the map and looked across the valley to my right and sure enough there was Corrigasleggaun exactly where it should have been, and here was I at the summit of Leohard, exactly where I shouldn’t be! After I dropped a major F-bomb I decided to run back to the saddle, contour around the Lough Gap and continue on to Corrigasleggaun. This was a major turning point in my attempt, for up until then although I’d had a few hiccups and setbacks, my times were still holding reasonably well. I had 3 targets, the top one being if all went perfectly, the next being my realistic time, and the third being my personally acceptable time given my training. I’d lost a few minutes here and there but the detour up Leohard was something I couldn’t claw back from and although it was downhill to Drumgoff, it felt uphill the whole way. Even when I came off the trails after Carrawaystick and should have been running the downhill forestry roads, I had to drop to a walk at times, even walking the tarmac from the Wicklow Way to Drumgoff crossroads where Hazel was waiting. I accept sickness, weakness, exhaustion, pain and despair as part of running long distance challenges, and actually once you’ve put in place the right running training, these things are essentially what endurance events are about. People rarely “get it” when you try to explain why you look forward to feeling the worst mental and physical symptoms during your chosen sport, but to me the words of Simon and Garfunkel are enough “Hello darkness my old friend, I’ve come to talk with you again…” But I was only 9 hours and 60k in and the darkness wasn’t due for at least another 7 or 8 hours! So it wasn’t for dramatic reasons that I told Hazel that I didn’t know how I was going to keep going for another 50 odd k. Only a few weeks earlier I’d run Sally Gap to Drumgoff before breakfast after a couple of pints the night beforehand, but this time, with all that had happened, I was mentally and physically shot. But two of the big traits that make us good endurance runners are single mindedness and stubbornness. So although I didn’t know how I’d keep going, I knew one thing for sure….I’d keep going. My clinical, fast Wicklow Round had gone arseways, splits had gone out the window and even the 24 hour cut off was irrelevant. But I’d run the entire Wicklow Round even if I knew I’d miss the cut off and get a DNF. I felt my only option was to crash completely and hope for a reset, so I dropped to the grass at the side of the road, Hazel set her alarm for 15 minutes and I conked immediately. Although physically I felt the same when I woke, mentally I was better. I’d keep going, tiny step by tiny step until my body came back to life, which deep down I knew it would. Myself and Hazel walked up to the start of my climb of Mullacor and we said goodbye and although it was a gruelling climb, I was happy to be going again even if I was stopping every 20 steps. Once I summited Mullacor I noticed that the day was glorious once again and had a nice run along the Derrybawn ridge, even managing to run some of the uphill sections and making Derrybawn in my planned split. My stomach and my legs were feeling better coming into Glendalough, dunking myself in the river and enjoying a chat and laugh with Hazel instead of my planned whizz through each checkpoint, and even posing for photos as I started the steep climb out of the valley. As I made my way to Camaderry summit I could feel it coming back, I was feeling good and somehow I knew that the day was going to keep getting better. Then when I reached Wicklow Gap I didn’t see Hazel at our rendezvous but as I was fishing my Sharpie out of my bag to leave a message at our agreed point if I got there first, she strolled around from the other car park and we had another chat and laugh and it was definitely feeling like a nice days running was coming together. I posed for more photos as I set off up Tonelagee and it was during this climb that I knew it was back. Not only did I feel how I should be feeling after this distance and this amount of climb, but I felt better than I should. Once I’d come off the steep side of the summit and was on my way to Glenmacnass my legs felt great and I had no sign of tiredness or soreness in them and I floated down the mountainside at full speed. Then I spotted a guy walking uphill towards me and I wondered what he was at, wearing a cotton top and holiday shorts on the hills. Then I saw that it was Liam and I was blown away. Although he was in work later and he was out with his girlfriend, he’d come to Glenmacnass, walked up towards where he figured I would be, just to give me company running down. It was another huge positive in what was promising to be a great day. Hazel said she didn’t know what was going on because she hadn’t seen Liam go up, couldn’t see us coming down, but could hear me laughing before she saw me. In my mind it reminds me of the picture of Arnulfo and Scott on the cover of “Born to Run”. Brilliant! So after another chat, laugh, some more photos and some jokes at the expense of some hill walkers I headed for Scarr. I enjoyed another good climb, including some uphill running and as I approached the Lock Spit Stone a light bulb went on. From here to Scarr summit was an out and back so I stashed my backpack and tee in the heather and had a lovely, free feeling run up and down Scarr, which once again added to my revitalisation. Once I had my kit back on I took off for Knocknacloghogue. Unfortunately though, my chosen route was across Pure Pluckin, and although every other square inch of Wicklow had dried out over the previous few weeks, Pure Pluckin was wetter than on any recce and it turned out to be a long walk through a marsh during which time I personally renamed it Pure F***in! Once through this, I dropped down to the Inchavore River where I had another refreshing dunk as some bewildered scouts looked on, before I pushed up through the Scoils to Prison Rock and from there by The Gap Ditch to the summit. By now I was at 100%, it was early evening and although I’d run 80 k with 4500m vertical over 16 hours and hadn’t eaten in twelve hours I felt like I was just out for an afternoon run. I was enjoying each of my stops with Hazel instead of watching the clock and flying through, my running splits were perfect, there was strength in my legs and above all else, I was absolutely loving being out in the hills and running free. I continued on to Lugalla (only stopping for the obligatory dunking in Cloghoge Brook) and a descent which I thought would end in a foot sprain flew by in an instant as I bounced down through the heather. My plan was to save some height by climbing up to Sheepsbank Bridge at a right angle to the valley but as I was running off Lugalla I thought to myself “why be afraid of a bit of climb?” So as soon as I cleared the forest I dropped down to the river quite a bit downstream from my route and started climbing towards the Sheepsbank Lodge instead. This climb went easy and as I cleared what I thought was a hump in the hillside I realised I’d completed the climb and there was Hazel at the side of the road. Perfect. After another longer than planned stop and a few sour jelly snakes I started for Djouce. I’d thought I’d be tired and relieved to reach this point as there are only 5 summits left from here. But I was delighted because I’d five mountains left to enjoy and I was going to have a great evenings running. My only concern now was that because of dropping so much time mid way through, I was going to be running at least the last 2 hours in darkness. The problem being that because I’d never planned them as night runs, I’d never recce’d the last summits at night and some of my landmarks and waypoints were only discernible in daylight. But I’d worry about that later, for now I was having too much fun as I summited Djouce in a mist and then belted towards the setting sun and War Hill. War Hill to Tonduff North went like clockwork and I just managed to make it off the rough open mountain before darkness set in completely. However, when I reached our rendezvous point there was no sign of Hazel so I took out my Sharpie and wrote our agreed message on the signpost and ran up the road. Then I turned around and ran back down the road because whilst taking out my pen I’d dropped my maps which had my splits written on them. I picked up my papers and ran back up the road thinking that maybe Hazel had stopped for a bite to eat and I’d missed her because I was doing well speed wise now. So I climbed Prince Williams Seat, again feeling really good but starting to think that the only other possibility was that Hazel was in a crash. The darkness didn’t pose a problem on the climb up Prince Williams Seat, but it did on the track to Knocknagun which I’d only recce’d once because in daylight it’s so obvious. In darkness the little twists and turns and drops into bog cuts were a bit of a nuisance but as I wasn’t feeling tired I still managed a good time. My chosen route from Knocknagun to the finish was purposely across country because I didn’t want to finish my Wicklow Round on tarmac, but my route was all supposed to be navigated in daylight by familiarity with the terrain. As I came off Knocknagun I knew I was in trouble because the key to my navigation was my first turn into the bog, which was at a particularly dark patch of heather, and all the heather was pitch dark now. I figured my turn was 230-250 paces from a deep cut I recognised so I counted 230 and hung a sharp left and ran about 100 paces. Nothing. As noted earlier, I’m stubborn so instead of going back I decided my turn must have been 90 degrees when it should have been 45 degrees and in pitch darkness I turned what I figured was 45 degrees and ran 100 paces. Nothing. O.K. so I scrapped the not finishing on tarmac plan and took a direct line to where I figured the Military road was and this brought me into chest high heather and marsh around the Askancrann brook. I couldn’t believe it, I was going so good and was so close to the end and now I was lost like a headless chicken in dense pitch black bog heather. I scraped myself through the heather until I finally climbed onto the Military Road and turned right for the last run of the day. Physically I was still feeling 100% and I ran a good pace up the road but halfway up I knew I should have been seeing Hazel’s car lights and there was only blackness. I upped a gear and the closer I got, the surer I was that there was no sign of life at the end of the Bog Road. And then I was finished but I was alone in the middle of the Dublin Mountains at midnight and Hazel was missing. The only explanation was a crash but although Hazel had copies of all my maps with the exact details of my every turn for the day, we hadn’t told anyone Hazel’s route. My phone battery was at 2% so once I swapped it for my full spare one I tried calling her but the calls kept dropping as the signal was so poor where I was. Thankfully I was feeling OK and had my night clothes in my backpack, so I wrapped up well and waited at the barrier for 20 minutes but I knew I had to go get help so before I put my gloves on I sent Hazel one last message, “I’m walking towards Dublin” and put my phone away to start the walk down to Tallaght when who should pull up beside me but Hazel. We had crossed wires on the check point before Prince Williams Seat so while Hazel was at one lay-by, I was up the road writing my message in another. Hazel had checked the signpost in her lay-by and when she didn’t see a message she’d figured that maybe because of the darkness I’d chosen a different route off Tonduff North and given me more time. Then as the night went on she contacted our friend Simon who as a member of SARDA and the coastguard had the final say on whether to task mountain rescue or not. Simon was confident I was OK and that it was a change of route so decided to let it ride for a bit longer while Hazel drove to the finish point. But when there was no sign of me there she had driven down to Tallaght and back up looking for me. What a palaver, eh? I had meticulously planned my Wicklow Round attempt and was confident that nothing could go wrong and that I was going to have a perfect run and achieve a great time. I had tried multiple variations of routes in the effort to shave minutes or even seconds off the overall time on the day. I had my sister make custom pieces of clothing to save grams in my backpack. I planned on the principle that every second counts, and to that end my checkpoints with Hazel would be less than 60 seconds in duration and I even knew how many seconds was in each of my target times. I had even sat down twice, closed my eyes and run the entire route step by step in my head. So you would think that I would be feeling pretty lousy given the way my Wicklow Round went. On the contrary, I feel great. I still haven’t put my finger on the full explanation as to why but there’s no doubt in my mind that although I’d the worst day of competitive running, I’d the most enjoyable days running ever. It’s not as simple as saying that I overcame the obstacles and kept going because that puts it on a simple level. I think part of it was the realisation after Glendalough that if it had all gone perfectly and I had achieved my goal, it would have satisfied my ego alone. In the end, as the hours and summits went by from there on, I got more and more enjoyment from running and I can vividly remember running from Djouce to War Hill to Tonduff North, and I ran fast and strong with a big smile on my face. Even when I got lost coming off Knocknagun, I wasn’t stressed out, I was having a fun day in the hills. As for arriving at an empty finish line and the text saying I was walking to Dublin, well that turned out to be the icing on the beautiful cake that was my Wicklow Round. Me and Hazels Wicklow Round. I loved it and I wouldn’t change a single thing about it. |
