Supermoon

Supermoon partially hidden by clouds.

First (this has nothing to do with this post), do you know what it means when the Irish label something spicy? Take for example the spicy beef pizza I just threw into the oven. What makes it spicy? The bell peppers and the onions on it! I'm sure the people from Albuquerque are laughing now. On my next trip I'll bring back a jar of medium green chillie sauce and let some people here try it. The jar marked hot, would be considered weapon grade here.
Maybe there is a connection to this blog entry after all; via New Mexico. I just did an easy four-miler  thinking about my training plan and how to fit it into my upcoming travels when I realized it was pretty cold. I wanted to run faster to warm up quicker, but didn't want to go against my training schedule so my body would get a chance to recover enough for tomorrow's long run. Freezing, I was thinking about the radio show the other day I heard while driving around.

View from Skerries at the Supermoon the day before.

It had been nice and sunny for a few days in a row. This is not nothing but blue sky type sunny; after all, we're still in Ireland. No, this is you see reasonably large patches of blue sky with an occasional direct view at the sun type of sunny. Nevertheless, people kept calling into this radio show and argued whether this was a good thing or not. Some advocated caution, that this much sun would cause a major outbreak of skin cancer among the Irish, while others warned that too much of it would just cause disappointment when it would invariable go away again. The opposite camp suggested to accept it as is and enjoy it. While I sided with the second view, it also felt dumb. None of these people had any chance to influence the weather, so why discuss it?
Now that we're back to normal: overcast and cold (sub 50s) that discussion seems even more ludicrous, but it brings me back to the connections of this blog entry's topic. A while back Anika alerted me of the supermoon that occurred a couple of weeks ago. Of course I had to go out and take pictures, and of course, the Irish thought it would be fun to throw some clouds between me and the moon. I anticipated that, so I went the day before and the day after. On the actual day it poured cats and dogs!

Sunset before moon rise. In Ireland, even the sky is green!

The day before the moon's closest approach to Earth, I went out to Skerries because I thought seeing the moon over water would provide for good picture opportunities. On the day after I went to the Glasnevin cemetery because I thought it would be cool to have some Celtic crosses with the full moon behind them. More people, including historical figures, are buried at Glasnevin than currently live in Dublin.

The hatch pattern on the ground is from the fence that barred me getting in.

I was there near midnight with my camera equipment and tripod, but all the gates were locked and I couldn't get in without some suspicious-looking climbing. Plus I didn't have time because the huge moon -- which appeared much smaller later, higher up in the sky -- was already coming out. So I used the so, so locations available and headed towards the city center in hopes of a good shot. I didn't really get a good picture of the moon in the city, but I did get a couple nice pictures of the Grattan and Ha'penny bridges late at night. You can see my best pictures on picasa.

Grattan bridge near city center.

Royal Canal

The SC deadline has passed, we submitted our paper, and I had a three-day weekend to recover. I slept a lot and started planing my training schedule for this year. I'm thinking of doing the Dublin Marathon at the end of October. It is relatively flat, although not completely so, and I'd like to come in under four hours.
I have been biking to Phoenix Park and running there, which is nice, but by now I know most of the deer by name. There are also often a lot of cars in the park, especially when they have events, which happens often on weekends during the Summer. So, I was looking for something away from cars, nice and long, and an alternative when I don't want to run in the park.

The 7th (or 6th?) lock

From the pictures, you can tell I found it. Two miles from here is the Royal Canal that connects the river Shannon in Western Ireland with the river Liffey in Dublin. It has an interesting history, is about 200 years old, and was shut down around the time I was born. It has been rescued and is now a great, 90-mile long recreational area, with wild life, houseboats, no cars, and a path along its entire length. Perfect for running.
Today I rode my bike, starting at the twelfth lock at Castleknock to the sixth lock at the boundary to Dublin city center. The first lock is in Dublin where the canal meets the Liffey, and number 46 connects it to the Shannon at Clondara.

At the outskirts of Dublin city center

About fifteen minutes after I took these pictures, I was drenched by torrential rain. Ten minutes after that, steam came off my clothing because the sun had come back out. The Irish say expect to experience all four seasons; each day. During the brief rain, I was freezing and hail was coming down!