Back in the saddle

I finally made the decision last October to get running somewhat seriously again after 3 years of idleness. We moved house this summer to the quaint village of Quin, aprox 6 miles from Ennis, Co.Clare and the surrounding countryside and fresh air re-ignited a passion in me that was barely flickering.

I ran a good bit in my 20's back in the 90's when running was still a minority sport. I remember running a 4 mile race in Tullamore in 28 minutes flat and finishing 2nd last! The "fun runner" was absent from races for the most part and every race was for racers.

I hooked up with the Ennis Track Club for training and we would regularly run 10 miles on a Sunday morning in St. Flannan's College. The training I could keep up with but the racing left me defeated and I eventually quit running and bought a bike and eventually took up Martial Arts to stay fit.

The funny thing about running is it is a virus that once contracted is very hard to shake. One day sitting in a doctors waiting room in 2008 I picked up that bible of running "Runner's World" and flicked through it. An article by the editor Amby Burfoot on the Boston marathon caught my eye. So engrossed by it I was that I nicked the magazine rather shamefully!

This was the catalyst to get me going and I took to running again with a relish that surprised me. I was getting fitter, leaner and faster. I gave up Martial Arts to concentrate on running the Dublin Marathon in 2009. Before this I also ran the majestic Ballycotton 10 mile race (still my favourite) and a couple of half-marathons including the tough Achill one.

For the next 3 or so years I ran and ran, slowly but consistently until January 2011 when running a 10 mile race in Dungarvan I injured my hip. This was the same injury I had the previous summer when I had to pull out of the Dublin marathon whilst out training.

Again I gave up running and had a few physio sessions from my sister, but really I was sick of being injured so that was that until last autumn. Now I'm back, I have decided that injuries are not going to keep me down and after turning 40 I want to be fit enough to play with my kids as they grow up.