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Mud, Sweat and Tears: An Irish Woman's Journey of Self-Discovery
Moire turned up to her first mountain race with the wrong shoes, wearing too many clothes, and with a body verging on obese. Though tempted to pull out and go home, she reluctantly runs.
Little did she know the race up Corrig Mountain would inflict such physical blows: Her lungs catch fire, her legs explode, her heart hits record speeds. And though it’s a gentle summer’s evening back in Dublin, on top of Corrig Mountain the wind screeches and the mist swirls as she lurches and lunges over grass, rocks, and rutted bog.
The next morning, everything hurts. But still she perseveres. Every week, she’s battling it out with the other mountain runners, adversaries on the hill. But by 9 pm, she’s joining her new found friends in the pub, discovering the wonderful healing powers of a proper pint.
Over the next three years, Moire competes in every mountain race she can find, whatever its shape or form: everything from ten kilometre sprints up summits, to one hundred kilometre runs requiring map and compass. She even dabbles in adventure racing, doing multi-day multi-sport races in teams of four in the barren wastelands of Ireland and Scotland. But it is not until she sets her sights on the still unconquered Wicklow Round that she finally finds her nemesis.
In July 2008, Moire made a solo attempt on the Wicklow Round, a gruelling endurance run spanning a hundred kilometres over twenty six of Ireland’s remotest mountain peaks. After twenty one and a half hours she collapsed, two summits from the end. Battered and bruised yet undeterred, she returned a year later to become the first person ever to complete the challenge.
This is her story.
Little did she know the race up Corrig Mountain would inflict such physical blows: Her lungs catch fire, her legs explode, her heart hits record speeds. And though it’s a gentle summer’s evening back in Dublin, on top of Corrig Mountain the wind screeches and the mist swirls as she lurches and lunges over grass, rocks, and rutted bog.
The next morning, everything hurts. But still she perseveres. Every week, she’s battling it out with the other mountain runners, adversaries on the hill. But by 9 pm, she’s joining her new found friends in the pub, discovering the wonderful healing powers of a proper pint.
Over the next three years, Moire competes in every mountain race she can find, whatever its shape or form: everything from ten kilometre sprints up summits, to one hundred kilometre runs requiring map and compass. She even dabbles in adventure racing, doing multi-day multi-sport races in teams of four in the barren wastelands of Ireland and Scotland. But it is not until she sets her sights on the still unconquered Wicklow Round that she finally finds her nemesis.
In July 2008, Moire made a solo attempt on the Wicklow Round, a gruelling endurance run spanning a hundred kilometres over twenty six of Ireland’s remotest mountain peaks. After twenty one and a half hours she collapsed, two summits from the end. Battered and bruised yet undeterred, she returned a year later to become the first person ever to complete the challenge.
This is her story.
- GenresAdventure
274 pages, Paperback
First published June 7, 2011
About the author
Moire O'Sullivan
5 books6 followersMoire O’Sullivan is a mountain runner, adventure racer, author and mum.
In 2009, she became the first person to complete Ireland’s Wicklow Round. She subsequently wrote the inspirational mountain-running book, Mud, Sweat and Tears.
In between having her children, Moire won Ireland’s National Adventure Racing Series in 2014, 2016 and 2017, a story captured in the book Bump, Bike and Baby.
Moire previously worked for international aid agencies throughout Africa and South-East Asia. During a stint in Vietnam, she welcomed into her home a dog named Tom, the subject of her book, The Hound from Hanoi.
Her latest book, A Quarter Glass of Milk, charts how when her husband took his own life, she was left with a stark choice: to weep forever over the glass of milk that had just spilt or to get on with the quarter that was still remaining.
Moire now lives in Rostrevor, Northern Ireland, at the foot of the Mourne Mountains.
In 2009, she became the first person to complete Ireland’s Wicklow Round. She subsequently wrote the inspirational mountain-running book, Mud, Sweat and Tears.
In between having her children, Moire won Ireland’s National Adventure Racing Series in 2014, 2016 and 2017, a story captured in the book Bump, Bike and Baby.
Moire previously worked for international aid agencies throughout Africa and South-East Asia. During a stint in Vietnam, she welcomed into her home a dog named Tom, the subject of her book, The Hound from Hanoi.
Her latest book, A Quarter Glass of Milk, charts how when her husband took his own life, she was left with a stark choice: to weep forever over the glass of milk that had just spilt or to get on with the quarter that was still remaining.
Moire now lives in Rostrevor, Northern Ireland, at the foot of the Mourne Mountains.
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
February 20, 2019
* * *
3 / 5
~mini review~
Moire O'Sullivan is an awesome woman, no doubt about it. The first person ever to run the Wicklow Round in under 24 hours, Moire is a fantastic mountain runner - as well as orienteer, adventure racer, and mountain marathon-er. She's done some epic stuff and it's inspiring to read about. My only problem with the book was the consistent stream of self-derogatory comments - there must be a better way to convey insecurity and lack of faith in your own abilities than to put (often sexist) words in other people's mouths! Every time Moire recounts a race it is peppered with comments like "I must finish in order to prove wrong all these fit and athletic people who are surely thinking "what is a chunky woman doing here?"". It gets old and gives a (in my experience) false account of the orienteering community.
Other than that, this book is awesome and very well written for a self-published book.
Read more of my reviews on my blog: http://atlasrisingbooks.wordpress.com
3 / 5
~mini review~
Moire O'Sullivan is an awesome woman, no doubt about it. The first person ever to run the Wicklow Round in under 24 hours, Moire is a fantastic mountain runner - as well as orienteer, adventure racer, and mountain marathon-er. She's done some epic stuff and it's inspiring to read about. My only problem with the book was the consistent stream of self-derogatory comments - there must be a better way to convey insecurity and lack of faith in your own abilities than to put (often sexist) words in other people's mouths! Every time Moire recounts a race it is peppered with comments like "I must finish in order to prove wrong all these fit and athletic people who are surely thinking "what is a chunky woman doing here?"". It gets old and gives a (in my experience) false account of the orienteering community.
Other than that, this book is awesome and very well written for a self-published book.
Read more of my reviews on my blog: http://atlasrisingbooks.wordpress.com
March 7, 2024
Would love to meet Moire, she is a beast. Book was easy to read and did have me wanting to push myself more. I wish it was a little more in depth in the day to day pain/exhaustion struggle with all she challenged herself with & the logistics of it all, as the jumps from challenge to challenge over periods of time left me wondering and made it seem too easy which I know wasn’t the case.
May 31, 2012
very good so far, anyone who runs and tries another form of the disiplene can relate to this book.book was easy read could have spent a little longer on finish of book.
January 3, 2022
An inspiration to start the year! This memoir details Moire’s journey to become a mountain runner and the first person ever to complete the Wicklow Round, a 100 km route across 26 mountains in 24 hours. She faces both physical and mental struggles to do this and you can almost feel you are there with her, encouraging her to keep going against the odds. Her grit and determination seep off the pages and show that women can do adventure sports as well as men. This book should inspire more women to try.
April 17, 2024
This was recommended to me one Saturday morning as I was 'running' around the mountains in Dublin thinking I was great to be able to do 6km. I wondered how does someone even start to train to do some of the more challenging mountain runs, the answer was 'read this book'. I couldn't put it down, it's really well written, it's funny, it's inspiring and I'd recommend it totally. Even if you have no intentions of ever running up a mountain, it's a story of one very determined woman who believed she could so she did!
August 14, 2022
As the book progresses, Moire moves from bumbling incompetence to highly analytical, absolute focus and dedication to her goal - I found that shift to be fascinating. She learns from her mistakes but also, critically, learns from others which I really liked.
Insightful, inspirational and definitely a book worth sticking with if, like me, you find the first third quite irritating!
Now I suppose I ought to read Bear Grylls' book of the same title for a 'compare and contrast' exercise...
Insightful, inspirational and definitely a book worth sticking with if, like me, you find the first third quite irritating!
Now I suppose I ought to read Bear Grylls' book of the same title for a 'compare and contrast' exercise...
October 9, 2022
I really enjoyed this book. It was my first of the mountain runner genre many years ago. Well written and insightful. I was already firmly gripped by the delights of the hills but this book inspired me to up my efforts.
July 27, 2019
Incredibly inspiring
I fully enjoyed reading the author's story and could feel her love and sometimes fear of the wild through every page.
I fully enjoyed reading the author's story and could feel her love and sometimes fear of the wild through every page.
December 7, 2025
This book is excellent! What an inspiring woman. I read this book very quickly as it was easy to read and very interesting. Thank you for sharing your amazing adventures, Moire xx
September 2, 2014
I really enjoyed this book. I found it fast-paced, interesting and ultimately inspiring. There are a lot of sections that read like race reports - that's something I like so this worked for me but if you don't like reading about the details for races or routes you might not like it as much as I did.
My favorite part was how honest the author was about her feelings of doubt and how she was able to share what it took for her to learn to be confident and fast in the mountains.
My favorite part was how honest the author was about her feelings of doubt and how she was able to share what it took for her to learn to be confident and fast in the mountains.
September 2, 2014
I really enjoyed this book. I found it fast-paced, interesting and ultimately inspiring. There are a lot of sections that read like race reports - that's something I like so this worked for me but if you don't like reading about the details for races or routes you might not like it as much as I did.
My favorite part was how honest the author was about her feelings of doubt and how she was able to share what it took for her to learn to be confident and fast in the mountains.
My favorite part was how honest the author was about her feelings of doubt and how she was able to share what it took for her to learn to be confident and fast in the mountains.
May 31, 2014
Amazing achievement and obviously a pretty formidable athlete. It is interesting (and inspiring) for runners and especially those familiar with the places in Ireland where the book takes place. However, it is self-published, something which is generally evident in the quality of the writing and in particular the repetitiveness in places.
December 11, 2012
I've hiked those hills several times and watched the runners pass with a mixture of awe and bemusement, so it was entertaining to hear from one as to what life is like from their viewpoint. It's no literary classic, but it's well written, well paced, honest and entertaining.
February 5, 2012
Not especially well written and certainly not well proofed. Self-published really. Story interested me as it gels with book I am writing.
March 3, 2012
More of a long blog entry than a book, but I loved reading about Moire's adventures and learning a bit about Ireland. A very inspirational story!
August 2, 2014
Although I run, I know very little about mountain running so this was fascinating and a really absorbing read
January 10, 2015
A great story about an amazing journey
An amazing story and well worth the read. If you run mountains you'll know exactly why this was such an achievement.
An amazing story and well worth the read. If you run mountains you'll know exactly why this was such an achievement.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews