Irish Highs

It’s noon Ireland time. I’m on a bus from Dublin to Cork. I’m running on 2 hours of restless sleep and fumes from the cup of coffee I just gulped down. And like my Dad says: “I have to pee like a racehorse.” (Without fail on every drive home from Fraser to Bath after a trip to my Granny’s he’d be in the driver seat squirming around like a fish out of water situating himself to subdue the urge of the bathroom break he so desperately needed.) I writhe some, but then decide to sit still, thinking that if I move, my bladder will act in the wrong way.

Finally, the bus comes to a stop in a town center to pick up some more passengers. One of my travel partners and I rush through the aisle and ask the bus driver where we can go to the bathroom. He looks around hopelessly, then tells us to try the black door of the pub to our left. I racewalk to the door. I rush through and a man at the jukebox can tell exactly what I need and points me in the direction of the bathroom. The urinal is the wall, one of those ones with water rushing down at all times like a trough. I start going to the bathroom and then hear the music playing over the speakers.

I figured my first experience in an Irish Pub would include sipping on a Guinness and listening to Dropkick Murphy’s. Instead…it’s peeing against a wall while listening to Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing.”

And with that, welcome to “runLBP’s EuroTrip 2k10”! Posts will start appearing daily (given Internet cooperation) and you can follow me all around Ireland and Amsterdam and Belgium. I’m pretty excited about it, and definitely pumped to get some more races in.

I’m traveling with two Georgetown girls: Elizabeth Maloy and Maggie Infeld, and we’re going to hopefully have some fun while running fast. I’ll be around until the 22nd and they’re staying over until the 28th or so.

We start out our European season with a 1500 tonight in Cork, Ireland. They have been plenty kind to us so far by putting us up in dorms and feeding us our every meal. They like my name, and hopefully will cheer for me tonight. You can check out results here: http://www.corkcitysports.ie/viewpage.php?memid=133&parent=133

I go off at 3:05pm Irish Time (10:05 EST). Let’s Go!