The highlight of the June bank holiday weekend for me is always the Cork City Marathon. This is a community in action project and the buzz, rain or shine is always good. Regardless of my involvement I always go in for the start gun of the main marathon to soak up the atmosphere. I tell everyone who will listen to me that I love the stories of the GAA lads entering a relay team the night before and having a cut off it. I root for the people who are slowly moving to the coveted 100 marathon club achievement. I could go on forever and a day here but I’ll finish with more often than not I’m with a pack of people busting a gut on the straight road to hit a half marathon PB whether I’m chasing a PB myself or pacing for others doesn’t matter any excuse to run around Cork City whilst having the ‘craic’ is good enough for me.

My love affair with the Cork Marathon began with severe pain. In 2010, As an ambitious but completely naive 21 year old I took on the whole marathon. I didn’t build up to it and looking back now in I trained the wrong way for it. To top it all off it rained like cats and dogs and the wild Atlantic wind cut through to the bone on the Marina. I didn’t just hit the wall, the wall hit back hard…repeatedly. It took me 3 weeks to recover but I finished. It took me 4 years and two degrees worth of knowledge before I dared to take on a marathon again. My first marathon had put the fear of god into me but more importantly I respected the fitness it took to run a Marathon and I have never taken marathon training for granted since. I either put in the training or I won’t be a marathoner.

Almost 10 years on I nostalgically thought lets have another cut off the Full Cork Marathon. For the record in 2016 my brother lost patience with me going to Dublin for the marathon and running PBs. He was adamant that my PB should be in Cork. In the 2016 Cork Marathon the sun split the stones, the straight road became a battlefield I wilted badly on the North Campus walkway by UCC. I have finished badly twice in Cork Marathons and this was and still is starting to gnaw at me mentally. In January 2020 things changed I got accepted onto a springboard computer programming course. This was a serious opportunity and I felt two marathons in a year was beyond my reach. I already had priority entry for Dublin 2020 secured. I decided my head would need to rule my heart on this one and the Cork City Half Marathon will have to do. Within a few weeks the Cork City Marathon team were looking for pacers. I had paced the Cork City Half Marathon in 2019. It was an unbelievable experience. I accepted the offer to return and got ready to pace the 2:20 Half Marathon. My pacer buddy from 2019 Tom Grennan was set to return and I was looking forward to teaming up with him again.

Then COVID-19 came and took everything out. Mentally this rattled me and probably everyone else as well. I have been vocal that COVID-19 has revealed that Irish people are world class at powering through. The worse it gets the more resilient we get. For me on the June bank holiday weekend for it was a case of pick a route and go. With this in mind I decided I’d start from the Lee road, head for the Marina, come back along the old railway line and finish in Fitzgerald park by the amphitheatre.

I kept the route rough. My mindset was my half marathon my choice. It was a hot day which made me miss the Cork Marathon all the more because we would have had the support of residents and crowds out in force all over the city on a day where it was already 18 degrees at 10:30 am on the Marina by the Lee Rowing club. I was delighted to see so many people out running, walking and cycling. I never mind dodging in out of people. I always crack a smile when a child on their bike comes blazing past me, turns into me unexpectedly or just wobbles a little as they get used to cycling. I could bore you with the rest of my ‘adventure’ but it was a half marathon. I got out and ran, I paid no attention to pace, I had my own support team with Julie cycling next to me for a bit, I listened to pod casts about anything other than current affairs and perhaps most importantly I felt this was a small step towards a new normal. The Strava photo is below for you to verify my half marathon.

I’ll conclude swiftly and let you get on with your day, I work in physical activity and I believe if people get out and move a bit everyday the world will become a better place.