The 13th century Kilkenney Castle is a beautifully preserved medieval castle and serves as the top landmark of the city of Kilkenny, Ireland.

Our next race destination was the medieval city of Kilkenny in southeast Ireland. Named after the 6th-century monk St. Canice, the city is famous for the beautifully restored Kilkenny Castle and the Medieval Mile shopping area.

We took the 10:30 PM Ryanair flight bound for Dublin out of Brussels Charleroi airport on Friday, September 14, 2018. Upon arrival at 11:10 PM, we walked to the Maldron Hotel Dublin Airport for an overnight stay.

The airport bus terminal was only a couple of blocks away from Maldron Hotel.

After an early breakfast, we took a 40-minute bus ride to Red Cow Luas Stop the following Saturday, September 15, 2018. From Red Cow Luas on Bus 600, it took us almost two hours to reach the Kilkenney, Ormond Road bus stop.

Our hotel Pembroke Kilkenney was just around the corner.

We dropped off our bags and walked to Sullivan’s Taproom to pick up my race bib for The Medieval Marathon Kilkenney 2018.

The marathon was starting at 1:00 PM so we had time to have a leisurely pizza lunch at the historic Medieval Mile area.

Before I realized it, it was time to make our way to the start line at St. Francis Bridge. It was cold so I was bundled up but I noticed the other runners were dressed in regular sleeveless running clothes! Ah, to be acclimated to the local running weather is one of my goals.

I buckled down and started with my usual pace at gun start. The marathon had a generous seven-hour time limit but everyone was running fast!

The views along the course were beautiful.

The final few meters of the course wrapped around the historic Kilkenney Castle and finished at The Parade grounds.

The marathon completed, we made our way back to the hotel where we ordered room service and called it a night.

Sunday, September 16th was another beautiful day. We attended mass at St. Patrick’s Church and walked the Medieval Mile tourist area.

We also visited St. Canice’s Cathedral and the Round Tower before having lunch at Left Bank, voted as the best bar in Ireland.

We picked up our luggage at the hotel and waited at the Ormond Road bus stop for our direct ride back to Dublin airport. We checked into the Priority Pass lounge to wait for our Ryanair flight at 7:20 PM.