Trail Running With Your Dog at Killinthomas Wood, County Kildare

It’s a cool September weekend and you’ve decided that you and Finn need to get out of the house for a while. Nothing complicated, nothing that needs hours of planning. Just a pair of running shoes, Finn’s harness, some water and a woodland trail where the two of you can switch off for an hour or so.

Killinthomas Wood, around 2 km north of Rathangan in County Kildare, is ideal for exactly that. The woodland covers about 70 hectares and has five waymarked trails adding up to roughly 10 km. The routes pass through mixed conifer and broadleaf woodland, with gentle gradients and trails designed to suit a wide range of walkers.

Getting Ready

You pull into the car park and Finn knows immediately what’s happening. The harness comes out, his attention switches completely, and suddenly he’s ready to go. You check that everything is sitting comfortably, have a quick stretch beside the car and start with a few minutes of walking.

That short walk gives both of you a chance to warm up. Finn gets to investigate the first few smells around the trail while you loosen your legs, and once you’re properly into the woods you gradually move into an easy running pace.

Running Through the Woods

There’s a good choice of routes at Killinthomas. The official trails range from the 1.3 km Camp Walk to the 4.1 km Ballydermot/Killyguise Loop, with several options in between. All are graded easy by Coillte, and the routes start and finish back at the car park.

For today, you’re not trying to set a personal best. You’ve got around an hour to an hour and a half, depending on how often Finn decides something beside the trail absolutely must be investigated. That’s part of running with a dog. Some sections flow beautifully; other times you slow down, let him sniff, then pick the pace back up.

September is a lovely time for it. Killinthomas is well known for its bluebells and wild garlic earlier in the year, but now the woods are beginning their transition towards autumn. You’re simply following the trail, listening to Finn’s paws behind or beside you, and enjoying being away from roads and screens for a while.

Eventually you ease the run back into a walk. Finn has explored countless new smells, you’ve had a decent workout, and both of you are comfortably tired. The last few minutes back towards the car become the cool down.

That’s really why Killinthomas works so well. You don’t need technical trail-running experience or an ambitious route. The gradients are gentle, the loops are clearly defined, and you can choose a distance to suit the day.