Ireland and England

Greetings from Twickenham, where I’m writing this entry at 10:30 p.m. because everything in town seems to close at 7:00 or earlier.
 

Last Monday night, 50 athletes from Dartmouth and Brown set out from Boston to Dublin. After a week in Ireland, we’re in London until Sunday, when we’ll head back across the Atlantic and go our separate ways. Today marked the halfway point of the trip and it’s been awesome so far, even if the weather hasn’t always cooperated.
 

I can’t speak for everyone, but the first day in Dublin was pretty hazy for me. After catching about one hour of sleep on the redeye over, we weren’t allowed to check into our hostel until the afternoon, so a tired group of athletes had several hours to kill exploring the city while simultaneously completing challenging tasks such as keeping our eyes open and standing on two feet. We ended up checking out a Viking exhibit at a local museum and visiting a cathedral before collapsing at the hostel for a nap before dinner. Silas, Will, Steve, Henry and I then went next door to sample one of Ireland’s many pubs. A couple of pints later, Steve was feeling sick after realizing they put butter in everything in Ireland and the rest of us were ready for the longest day of the trip to end. Even with the 10 underclassmen sharing a single room (Connor, Brett and I shared a senior “suite”), all the men seemed to sleep pretty well, though I was convinced the train outside our window was going to come crashing through the wall at least half a dozen times.

My, what strong Viking women they have in Ireland...

Distance boys in Christchurch, shortly before falling asleep in the pews.

Asleep in the pews.

Barry surprised us with a workout on Wednesday morning, which we ran at Phoenix Park, which is notable for a) bearing a monument to the Duke of Wellington, who, to my shock, was actually a Dubliner; b) hosting hundreds of deer (they seemed quite content to watch us run while they lounged about); c) being the site of two famous murders of British politicians in 1882 (perhaps better I didn’t find out about this until after the workout); and d) the site of an upcoming Killers concert (somewhat ironic now). We spent the rest of the day at the Guinness Storehouse, which offered a great panorama of Dublin, before checking out the city’s nightlife (hint: don’t wear shorts if you want to go out in Dublin). 

In the Guinness Storehouse.

On Thursday, we made the cross-country journey to Limerick (only a couple of hours by coach), where we were met with much friendlier confines than the cramped rooms of the hostel. The distance boys had a sick suite of their own, and once Will worked his magic to configure a wireless network, we were all set. That night, we had dinner with the Brown team, and after heading to the campus pub for a few pints, we all had several new friends (especially Will). We even discovered a new drink: the Local Fresh Special, a mix of blackcurrant juice and Guinness. Unfortunately, when I ordered it at the bar, I found out that this drink was merely a figure of Henry’s imagination as he, along with a Brown girl (or student-athlete from Brown, as they prefer to be called) had set me up as the victim of a merry prank. After a few funny looks, the bartender called over a young Irishwoman and tried to present her to me as the real Local Fresh Special. Thoroughly embarrassed, I returned to our table, tail between my legs.

Friday saw the karaoke debut of Barry Harwick ’77, and I’m sure that everyone in attendance would say that it was a positive experience and everything there. Rocking “Johnny B. Goode” in a slightly different manner than Chuck Berry and Marty McFly, Barry twisted and turned while “singing” the classic hit. He was probably outdone by Will, who sang “Summer Nights” with his new friend from Brown. Brett Gilson gave the strangest rendition of “Stayin’ Alive” I’ve ever heard and I “killed” it on Mr. Brightside before we turned things over to the DJ for a night of dancing. Despite an overreliance on “Cotton-Eyed Joe,” a good time was had by all.

The next day, we visited the Cliffs of Moher, taking in some amazing views along the way. It’s a good thing Matt Pierce wasn’t with us, because with all the geological features we encountered, he would probably still be there right now. We had a lot of fun staring at cows and being pelted by rain thrown at us by an extremely hard wind. Will even saw someone in a Rams jacket! Saturday night brought back memories of the spring trip, as we plowed through the third season of Game of Thrones while I munched on cheap cereal. We also downloaded the Speech Zapper app and had a good laugh as Silas and Henry struggled through an explanation of how to make their favorite potato dish. Hopefully they don’t end up developing any speech impediments…

Cliffs of Moher.  This place was awesome, even when it rained.

Great views.

We had our first competition of the trip on Sunday, and we all ran in the 1500. Sandbagger Steve was up to his old tricks, letting Brown’s Erik Berg (aka the Turkey Berger) set the pace before dropping him on the last lap for the win. Steve ended up running about 3:50, which, considering the rainy, windy conditions, abbreviated warm-up and toned-down recent training, was actually quite impressive. Will came across a second later for second (a PR!) with Silas, Berg, Henry and me following behind. I couldn’t quite crack the mythical 4-minute barrier (Barry had me at 4:01), but I did unleash my vaunted kick in what was almost certainly a sub-31 second final 200. We enjoyed a banquet last night and flew into London today, where we ate some overpriced Chinese food with the Brown guys (sorry, student-athletes from Brown).

Dartmouth guys chasing after some delicious Turkey Berger.

That’s about it for now. We’ve got a busy few days planned in London before heading home – hopefully I can convince the guys to like England as much as I do (unlikely).

I’ll leave you with one last piece of advice:

Don’t trust Silas;

Never trust Silas;

Don’t trust Silas because Silas won’t trust Steve.

Don't trust this man.

-Jonathan