St. Patrick's Day Headlamp Run- March 17, 2008

Contributed by Mark Graf

We've all seen articles about Pub Tours of Ireland in the Travel section of the Sunday paper.

Most of these tours take you from pub to pub in the comfort of an air-conditioned bus.  Some of the more challenging ones might have you traveling by bicycle.

We did one this evening without ever leaving the confines of Ayer, MA.  In fact, we did it without ever leaving the confines of a very hilly one-mile loop in Ayer.

And, yes...  We ran from pub to pub.

This is what happens when the Thursday-night Headlamp Crew dreams up a way to celebrate St. Patrick's Day.

And just as Anthony presaged in his invitation last week, thus it unfolded:

Lap 1:  We're all fresh and pumped to go.  Anthony, his buddy Paul from the Ayer FD, Brian Irwin, Jason Shamberger, Devon Skerrit and me.  Razi showed up, too, but took one look at the rest of us and decided she'd rather stay home with Leann.  So off we go...  Nice gentle glide downhill into town, and then...  WHAM!  The climb up Columbia Street.  And beyond.  600' of vertical.  (According to the organizers.)  We huff.  We puff.  But we do it, and return to the Start for some of Jason's freshly-baked soda bread.

Lap 2:  Feeling good.  The soda bread really did build some base.  We conquer the hills again and arrive at our first pub.  (Which looks strikingly like Anthony's house.)  We pour ourselves frothy glasses of Harp.  Perfect!

Lap 3:  Burp.  Are we crazy?  Our stomachs swish like half-full vats of beer.  The hills seem more formidable.  But we come around to the next pub (which again looks strikingly like Anthony's house) and treat ourselves to glasses of Smithwick's.

Lap 4:  Repeat the above, only with more burping.  (And with some grumblings that this is might be the last lap.)  Arrive at the next pub (which again looks strikingly like Anthony's house) for wonderful, creamy, smooth Guinness.

My mind is getting foggy.  Which lap are we on?  Oh, yes...  The last one.

Lap 5:  We detour a little off the course and run by JP O'Hanlon's so we can see what we're missing.  It's crowded, but not overly so.  (The $15 cover charge will do that.)  The patrons standing outside smoking mutter to themselves as we run by:  "What's that all about?"  The last pub on our tour (which looks strikingly like...  oh, never mind) serves us shots of The Knot Irish Whiskey.

We decide to stay there for a while, sampling the wonderful treats Leann and Anthony prepared for us, and to laugh about what we just accomplished.

There must be an Irish blessing about this.