Dublin Mountains Way

Saturday, 27th April 2013 – 43.4km Dublin Mountains Way 
I’d been looking forward to this Saturday all week as it was the only weekend for the next month that I didn’t have some kind of race to pace or run so effectively it was a free weekend where I could do what I liked. Of course most normal people would probably take it as a chance to ease back and chill out but I was about to take the other path…

The Dublin Mountains Way is a fully waymarked trail which runs from Tallaght all the way to Shankhill, just North of Bray. The distance is given as 40km but that’s not the tough part. As the title of the route suggests it is pretty much all over mountains and hills and very little is on flat terrain. And to top things off I was more apprehensive about the downhills than the climbing due to my quads still in the recovery process from Wed night! Somehow I had placed myself in the position that the uphills were going to be the easy part of my relaxing weekend!

Start (Tallaght) – 10km (Castlekelly)

I was parked up in Sean Walsh Park and ready to go by 9:10am.The trail starts right beside Tallaght Stadium and is pretty boring until after a few miles when you leave suburbia behind. Beforehand I’d reasoned this was going to be the most lkely place to get lost as there was a chance I’d miss one of the waymarkers on the urban streets. I hate it when I prove I’m always right by making a wrong decision! Sure enough, about 2km into the run I was looking out for a waymarker that never appeared to me and ended up running all the way down to Oldbawn and returning to the route via the Bohernabreena road. Eventually I was back on track but in the process had tagged on an extra 2km! I was hoping that would be my last detour. 

Bohernabreena waterworks.

I was now on the start of the trail proper and making my way up towards the Glanasmole Reservoirs. This section is on a perfect surface and the sunshine was out so I was really enjoying this section. The incline is nice and gentle around here and some great scenic views across the reservoirs. The trail then returned to a rocky surface with loose gravel as I left the waterworks behind me and the slope got a little steeper but still relatively easy. After another couple of kms I emerged out onto another roadway in the midst of the Dublin hills and I was taken by surprise as to how rural the Way had now become.

10km (Castlekelly) – 20km (Cruagh)

Unexpected obstacle along the DMW!

I remained on-road for another 6km during which I got passed by a couple of other runners. A few quick words were exchanged before I told them to fire ahead as I was going a bit slower than them. I think they were happy they didn’t have to nurse me along with them and as they opened a bit of a gap they asked if I was doing the loop back into Tallaght. They were pretty surprised when I responded that I was going to Shankhill instead! About 1km later I was on a small laneway and came across a very odd road closure. Some farmshed had been burnt down recently and beside it on the road were a load of bushes and tree branches. The road was closed all the way across so I had to climb over, not sure if I had gone off track again or not. A quick glance at my map and I continued onwards before ventually hitting a bend in the road to confirm I was still on track.

About 2km more of road followed before I was directed into a recently chopped down Featherbed forest with a purpose-built path. This was a fun section and I soon forgot about all the road miles behind me. However, that only lasted about 500m before I was back out again onto the Kilakee Road! At least by now I was becoming familiar with where I was so I knew Cruagh was not far away and with it lots more off-road kms. 

20km (Cruagh) – 32km (Glencullen) 
The Cruagh section has some nice short sections of trail through the forest before emerging out onto fireroad for the majority of the forest. The Eastern section of the forest is very much downhill and this was the first part of the day that the quads were getting a bashing. I intentionally kept the pace moderate and tried landing on my forefoot as much as possible which seemed to make things easier. The downhill lasted all of 2km with some quite steep sections. The slope finishes as you exit the forest, cross the road and into the car park for Tribradden/Pine Forest.

A new business has opened up here called ‘Zip-it’ which features zip lines, high wires, rope ladders and all that sort of stuff. It all looks like great craic and I reckon I’ll be back here soon for a go! 

The next section of the trail across Tibradden Mountain starts off with a steep climb and as the slope eases off the trail gets more technical with large boulders and lots of smaller rocks. This is very difficult to run on with fresh legs but by now I was slowing to walk most of the tougher terrain. This section is also quite busy with hikers and fellow runners. Around 25km into the run I was halfway across Tibradden and I noticed my feet were clipping the tops of the rocks the odd time. Obviously, my legs were getting tired and not registering the right amount of clearance beneath them. On one occasion I caught a bit more than expected and went tumbling! I was still thinking on the way down that this couldn’t be happening! Luckily I was up straight away and apart from a minor graze on my hand and a larger graze on the side of my left knee I was still good to go! Unfortunately my pride took a bigger beating as a hiker coming towards me had seen my fall and I passed her in no time, suitably embarrassed, muttering that I was fine. I jogged on for another 50m before slowing again to do a proper self-assessment, once I knew I was far enough away from the unwanted attention! 

My next peak was Fairy Castle up ahead. By now I was walking much of this rocky terrain as it was getting steeper all the way to the top. I was taking the opportunity to take on board water whenever I slowed to a walk and once refreshed I was back trotting along again. Fairy Castle was the high point of the route and I knew it would be downhill most of the way home. I paused at Three Rock for another scenic view and took a gel at this point also. As per most other times when I’ve taken gels I really didn’t feel any kick of energy and doubted it’s impact. From here on til Johnny Fox’s it was nearly all downhill. Even so, the pace was less than electrifying and about 35mins later I was passing through Glencullen.

32km (Glencullen) – Finish 43.4km (Shankhill) 
Back out on the roads again, the section from exiting the Three Rock Forest all the way to Scalp Forest is on roadside. Much of this is down a steep incline where you have no choice but to go too fast than you want! Eventually the road started to bottom out and I found myself in Kilternan where I grabbed a bar of chocolate and a Lucozade Sport. Strangely for me I only had a couple of squares of chocolate and a few swigs of LS. I was now on the last leg of the journey and soon I’d be back on the trail that Krusty showed us around back in the depths of Winter. Regrettably I was now pretty shattered and with 37km in the bag I just wanted to get to the finish of the trail. I had arranged to meet my Sister at the endpoint so she would drive me back to Tallaght to collect my car but the agreed meet time of 1:30pm started to look more like 1:45pm, and then, even later! 

I still had to negotiate the climbs of Barrnaslingan and Carrickgollogan before I could trot down into the village. Barrnaslingan was was lightly outlined through trees which made it difficult to follow, let alone run! Once I crested the hill though I was familiar with the trail and it was easy to follow again. A real trudge up and around Carrickgollogan before I was dropping down through Rathmichael Wood, over the M11 motorway and back into Shankhill. I appeared out of the laneway at the back of Brady’s Pub just before 2pm and luckily it was perfect timing as Karen had just arrived (Having herself got delayed with traffic!).

So, a quick look at the statistics on the watch showed 43.4km covered with a moving time of just over 4.5hrs and average moving pace of 6:18/km. Even though the run was tough in places it was always enjoyable knowing that I could move at my own pace and the weather was nice for the majority. Not sure which direction is quickest (certainly adding in an extra 2km in Tallaght was not very helpful!) and I’m pretty sure I’ll be back to do this again later in the year!

Sunday, 28th April 2013 – 6.6km Recovery Run 
Went for a few drinks in Clontarf to watch the Munster match so today’s run was a nice gentle jog down to the pub to collect the car. Body was a bit stiff in some joints from yesterday but overall could have been much worse! 

Week 16 Summary:
RTW: 7 from 7 days
DTW: 108.7km
DTY: 1,430.1km