Marathon Mac

Some (but I know not all) of you knew that I have been training since January for the Luxembourg Marathon, which took place this past Saturday evening.

There is not too much to say other than the actual run was pretty cool (tons of people out supporting, just really a big party in the city), the weather was perfect, and that was maybe the most painful experience of my life My hats goes off to anyone who has done one, and luckily I was able to drag my fat ass across the finish line in 4:08. It was 8 minutes off my goal but that those last few miles I could not have cared less about the goal.

No pictures survive of how I looked after finishing, although I am sure they would have been great as the response I got from most everyone is 'Are you alright?'. But luckily for everyone there is this video from the finish (I am the dude by myself in the brightly colored EY team shirt about half-way through the video).

See Ryan Run.

Good times, good times. Cheers!

Riding the hog....Italian style!

To celebrate the ‘end’ of busy season, Willie (my young, metal clad Irish colleague) and I met Timmy at Alghero on the beautiful island of Sardenia, Italy. We did not know what to expect, as this was still at the end of off-peak season, but we figured as long as there was beer and sun we would be fine. Willie and I rolled straight from a company party to catch the 4:00am bus to the airport, and after arriving in Sardenia we immediately cuddled up and took a nice long nap. Fully rested we rolled into town and downed what would be the first of 4 pizzas I would consume during the weekend (mmmmm), and some kick-ass gelato. I attempted to take a picture of us, but let’s just say Willie isn’t exactly photogenic.


Seriously, how do you manage to both be licking your lips and closing your eyes! Let’s just say this wasn’t the only time this happened during the weekend.

Anyway, Timmy came in later that night and we hit a town that officially has only 1 discotheque and not many more actual bars. Oh well, that did not stop the fun.


After a good night out, we got up and did something that everyone should do in their life: riding a hog in bike gang. Well, not so much a hog but a 125cc moped. And less of a gang and more like myself, a young Irish kid with braces and Timmy. Not really the most intimidating group around, but I am pretty sure we could have taken anyone.



(for those of you wondering, yes I am in fact wearing an European carry-all...it is quite convenient to put all your stuff in and carry around on your shoulder when traveling!)

It did not necessarily start out smoothly, as I very narrowly avoided death and the destruction of my moped while pulling out from the rental shop, but after we got the hang of it these bad boys let us have one of my best days so far in Europe. We made a stop in a kinda picturesque lagoon:

we went off roading to a little beach for some swimming:


and we ended the day with our feet up at a small beach sipping on beers and watching the waves. What an amazing day!

For a little video flavor of what it was like to cruise on these bad boys going 100 km / hour (62 MPH), check out this video:

I do not know if I will be heading back to Sardenia again, but I guarantee that is not the last time I am cruising around on a moped in the Mediterranean!

Until next time, cheers.