The Burren and Cliffs of Moher

Just a few more pictures from another day trip with my parents. Unfortunately, it was ridiculously foggy when we were at the Cliffs of Moher, so we didn't really get to see them. We did see some of the "baby cliffs", which helped to diminish our disappointment slightly. For whatever reason, I can't seem to stop taking pictures of cows in the stone-fenced fields.

Here are the pictures:

http://picasaweb.google.com/cjerichsen/TheBurrenAndCliffsOfMoher

The Connemara and Visitors

After nearly a month on my own, the last few days have been quite the change. Early Tuesday afternoon, my parents arrived in Galway. They are staying in another house in Gleann Dara, which is admittedly a bit nicer than my own. As they were pretty wiped after a “long-fricken-ass travel day”, we stayed in the area for the rest of the day. They did treat me to dinner at Finnegan’s, so I was able to finally eat out for the first time since I have been here.

Wednesday ended up being a long, event-filled day for me. I had to get up at 6:00 A.M. in order to get my run in and make it over to my parents’ place in time to catch a tour bus to the Aran Islands. Due to gale-force wind advisories, we decided to postpone the Aran Island tour (which includes a ferry ride to the islands) and opted for a tour of the Connemara. As you may or may not be able to tell from the pictures, this is basically Ireland’s wild lands – one of the last “unspoilt” areas of Ireland. The tour took us through some of the Twelve Ben’s, a series of mountains that are roughly 750-850 meters high. We ended up at Kylemore Abbey before the tour made its way back to Galway. This provided some pretty cool photo-ops, but since it is still in use, we didn’t get to see much of the abbey itself.

After we got back to our neighborhood for the day, we made dinner for the three of us. At the grocery store, we decided on lamb burgers. They were unique and (at least I thought) very succulent.

Shortly following dinner at about 7:45, I received a text from Kelly, who was checking to see if he could figure out his cell phone. We weren’t expecting him at the train/bus station until about 10:30, so it was a good thing he figured his phone out because he had already arrived. After a confusing set of one-ways and no parking zones, my parents and I eventually found a place to park in an employee lot next to the train station. We couldn’t find Kelly immediately, but we eventually spotted him and made the pickup. Now, in roughly 30 hours, I went from having zero people I knew from back home to having three. It was quite the change, sure, but definitely a welcomed one.

The rest of the pictures from the day can be found here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/cjerichsen/TheConnemara

Random Sights

The picture of numbers was starting to bother me, so I thought I'd post a few more pictures from Galway..

A typical sight on the "country" side of Galway - stone fences and animals.

Galway Cathedral, from the bay side.

View overlooking the city and Galway Bay from the hill on Circular Road.

Narrow roads that I frequent the most - a tough squeeze with two cars.

My Trip, by the Numbers..

I was planning on posting this last night, but I got sent home from work at the greyhound track early because it was a slow night, so I was a little upset when I got home. Here is a link to the company I work for right now:

http://www.igb.ie/

When I'm done working here, I will definitely have to go and watch the races for a night. From where I work and what I can see, it seems like a pretty cool deal.

In honor of the lack of Sportscenter, Sports Illustrated and a general ESPN influence, I've decided to post my own "By the Numbers" for my trip. Here it goes:

• 14 - days I've been on the Emerald Isle
• 0 - seconds of NBA Finals action that I have seen, unfortunately
• 4 - Euro 2008 games that I have seen at least half of the 90 minutes played
• 11 - hours worked at my job at the Galway Greyhound Track (slightly less than 1 hour/day)
• 40 - minute walk to and from work - and I walk pretty fast
• 16 - times I have went for a run
• 128 - total mileage of these 16 runs
• 1 - elite entry for Irish Runner 5 mile in Dublin (fee waived, etc.)
• 8/11 - days that I have been in Galway where there has been some precipitation
• 1 - time that I have used an umbrella
• 107 - page impressions on June 1st, a record for The Erichsen Files
• 2 - Finnish roommates, one of which is moving out today
• 2 - phones that I have been using over here (Skype and my Irish cell phone)
• 1 - movie I have seen in theatres (Indiana Jones, in Gaelic with subtitles)

From Dublin...to Galway

Here are the links to the pictures I have taken so far. The first link is from Dublin, the second from Galway.

http://picasaweb.google.com/cjerichsen/DublinIreland

http://picasaweb.google.com/cjerichsen/GalwayIreland

Enjoy!

Update Schedule

Turns out the McDonald's around the corner from my hostel has free wireless. Considering that this is somewhat of a rarity, I will likely be visiting McDonald's a few more times than I may otherwise prefer.

Below is the link to the pictures I will be posting from Ireland. The link will also be located on the right side of this page, under "Favorite Sites" when I get around to it.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/27237226@N07/show/


The pictures are out of order right now, but I don't have time to figure out how to fix it.

I will also shortly be including a national meet recap, as well as an update on how things have been going so far in Dublin.

Last Chance Meet - North Central College

(Shortly following race - limited image choices)

After racing for three weeks with no concern for times, I did a 180° switch for the last chance meet in Naperville, Illinois. I ran the 1500 with only two things in mind; a fast time and a tune-up for the national meet next week. I think I was successful on both counts. I ran a huge PR (3:52.92) and I felt great doing it.

It was also a great trip for the team. I’ve been to North Central for this meet three times now and every time has been an awesome experience. This year, we had about twenty guys come down and compete, with almost everyone picking up a southern accent at some point during the week. Most of the time, our phrases went something like this: I don’t want…(insert anything here). It was an addicting habit and it ended up as the resounding theme of the trip. Whether that is good or bad is yet to be determined, but at least it was memorable.

2008 MIAC

Oh yeah, we had the MIAC Conference meet this weekend, too. After I got my second automatic qualifying time (5000m) at the Gina Relays, I was able to relax and “just race” for the rest of the season. I didn’t have the same added pressure of chasing a time that I did my previous three years – freshman and sophomore year in the 1500, last year in the 5000. It also made the conference meet much more tolerable (considering the cold, rainy weather on Saturday), even enjoyable for me. I think I was able to use my competitors’ disappointment about the less than ideal conditions to my advantage. All three races ended about as well as I could have hoped going into the meet. I finished second (to Kelly) in the 10K, first in the steeplechase, and another first towards the end of the meet in the 5K. We still ended up falling to the Tommies by about 20 points, but I have no regrets about racing 18,000 meters in two days, two weeks before nationals. If things would have went a little differently, we would have had a solid shot to win the meet. It was also really fun, lining up three different times with numerous teammates (eight total in the 5K) with team points that actually matter at stake. Even though we finished second as a team, I would consider this year’s conference meet a success.

Graduation

It’s a little strange to now be an official college graduate, but I still get to live the college life for a few more weeks. I didn’t have the same “sad to be leaving” feeling that I expected, mostly because I was going to be on campus for another two weeks. It did eventually hit me after the ceremony and the reception that followed. The hardest part was when I said goodbye to my parents. They really don’t have much of a need to be back at Saint John’s and it is entirely possible that was the last time we were on campus together. I know I’ll be back and they could be, too, but “we” might not.