Friday Jigsaw: Cork BHAA race in Cork City - Feb 2016

For this weeks online jigsaw, we go back to the end of February 2016 and one of the Cork BHAA races on the Monahan Road / Centre Park Road circuit in Cork City.

You can find the 150-piece jigsaw HERE

Guest Post: May Bank Holiday... by Pat Walsh

 ** May Bank Holiday ** 

Few weeks ago I posted a plan to do a Half Marathon or a 10mile last  weekend. I do know from messages that many of you are training for this and hopefully it will go well for you.

You can train for the month of May to improve this, once you have cracked the distance.

Relax and enjoy it, no pressure on yourself and just complete it. Have a cuppa and a Bun. Feel free to let me know how you get on with a message, comment or a picture. 🤓

My own training fell apart with an injury, so I am on greatly reduced mileage at the moment. A few spins on the bike to make up for it but it isn’t the same at all. Still, I am ok and thanks for the kind messages received asking about my health. Thank You . . 

I can reveal that it has a strange Latin name for the precise description of my ailment.

“Birthcertitis” 🤯🩺

It is the inability to look at your birth cert and act your age and not to be running around like a Young fella. If it was an NCT test I would be scrapped. 

Still the vaccine could be down to my age group soon. (one advantage of age.. thanks GM) 💉💉

So one-third of the Year gone and we are at the first of the Summer Bank Holidays. To say it was strange year so far is an understatement. What is ahead of us is hard to plan.

I am trying to stay positive. Thankfully we got some good news last night. I have had enough ‘Hold Firm’ for my lifetime.

We surely have been through the toughest bit and it can only get better. 

The days are longer and brighter and our travel limits are improving. 

Increase in numbers in groups for adult training is super and we can enjoy the gang again.

The Summer Gear, running shorts and tops can appear again soon. Fake Tan may be required in some cases. Penneys will be open soon for the Hawaiian Tropic. 🤣 ☀️

Inter County Hurling will be back on TV. 📺

Countrywide travel, with Hotels and more Hospitality opening soon might present a different set of problems... We might not have time to train (a different problem)…!!. But great to think we can go somewhere. 🍺🍷🥘🥗

Once they open a few shops and dining places and we will be ‘ar muin na muice’ again. 

Final word on this. It is not how far we can travel, but what we do and how we conduct ourselves is key to maintaining these freedoms. Travel, explore, have fun, enjoy your friends but BEHAVE. 

🏃🏃‍♀️ 🤸🤸‍♀️

Hopefully we could see some form of limited races in Autumn. It should be possible to safely do low-key, limited numbers events. I think we would all welcome that. Maybe we might not like the flat-out lung bursting issues that happen with racing but the social interaction of just going somewhere and meeting a few fellow runners would be lovely.

Clubs and Charities have suffered badly for funds the last year so if there is any way it is possible to organise these runs, I have faith in their ingenuity to accomplish it safely. 

Few posters attached to this post for virtual runs attached that may be of interest to you. Now that you can run with a few people they might be an attractive challenge.

🏃🏃

Folks, you may be sick of me pushing the mental side of things but I do feel it is so important to remind ourselves of the long term impact of this on us all. 

Mind yourself and if you can, mind others. Some may need a helping hand, a friendly voice to clear the hurdles. The long term implications of all of this are not understood yet and who knows what people have suffered and what damage has been done to the mental health of people.

Any Covid weight gain will fall off with a few weeks (hard) training, there is no issue there. The head isn’t as easy or as straight forward.

Make sure as restrictions ease that your friends come back into the light again. They might need a push or a pull.

Get out there and move your arse, Get others with you where and when you can. Don’t out run the love of running as one day you may be as crocked as me.😂😜🥰

As always, comments questions or messages are greatly appreciated. I love them. Stay safe and well.

#pwr #survive21

Notice: Youghal AC Virtual 5-mile race series - May, June, July & August 2021

Youghal AC are holding a virtual 5-mile race series this year on the third Thursday of May, June, July and August. This is similar to the old Ballycotton Summer Series which followed the same pattern.

From Youghal AC... ' Youghal AC are pleased to bring back the old 5 Mile Race Series popular among all runners in East Cork and beyond, starting on May 20 and then the 3rd Thursday of each month finishing on 19 August. All runners will receive a T shirt with all the race dates listed, cost for 4 races and T Shirt is €20.00

For any runner who only wants to run one or two of the races this can be arranged also at a cost of €5 per race with option to buy T-shirt.

Runners will be able to run their 5 miles each month between the Thursday and Sunday all results will have to be posted to MyRunResults.com by Sunday evening.

T-shirts will be posted out in batches by date registered the week before each race date. Register early to have your t-shirt for in time for all 4 races.'

Entries HERE

Carrigaline Community School do 48 hour run to raise awareness for those in direct provision

Ten staff from Carrigaline Community School are running 4 miles every hour for 48 hours to raise awareness for the Sanctuary Runners movement and for those living in direct provision.

Ten staff from Carrigaline Community School will be attempting to run 4 miles every 4 hours for 48 hours this May Bank Holiday as part of the @SanctuaryRunner movement&to raise awareness about the plight of those living in #directprovision More @RedFMNews @CorksRedFM pic.twitter.com/7osOqPBJOy

— Fiona O'Donovan (@FionaRedFM) April 28, 2021

Friday Jigsaw: Start of the 2014 Ardfield Road Race

For this weeks online jigsaw, we go back to the start line of the Ardfield 5k back in 2014. It's a little bit harder this week with 220 pieces.

You can find the jigsaw HERE

Cork City Council go with 'Widen the existing Greenway' option in Rochestown

 

Back in February of 2021, I had a post up about improvements to the Greenway at Rochestown in the suburbs of Cork City. See post HERE. The pubic consultation included two options for moving the Greenway next to water and away from traffic.

The consultation got a large number of submissions and they roughly split 50:50 with walkers, runners and cyclists supporting the waterside route and local residents & environmentalists objecting.

At a recent meeting, Cork City Councilors were briefed on the preferred option by engineers and they indicated that they were going for the easy 'Option 3' which was for just widening the existing Greenway.

From Cllr Kieran McCarthy...

Elected members of Cork City Council were briefed yesterday evening on the Emerging Preferred Route (EPR) for the Passage Railway Greenway Phase 2, with a view to the next public consultation taking place from mid-May.

A number of possible routes were identified to enhance the section of Greenway along the Rochestown Road. A major upgrade of the existing route has been identified as the Emerging Preferred Route. The upgrade will include:

- Narrowing of the traffic lanes aimed at reducing traffic speed;

- The road will also be realigned to create additional space for the greenway;

- The enhanced greenway will be segregated from traffic through the introduction of a high quality landscaped strip between the greenway and the vehicle lanes. 

- The initial public consultation identified other issues for consideration such as the widening the greenway, signage, protection of the Cork Harbour Special Protection Area, native tree planting, pollinator friendly planting and other factors to be addressed as the design for the project progresses. A number of suggestions to support cycling will also be brought forward including bike repair stands and bike storage facilities.

 The project team identified the possible impact on the adjoining Special Protection Area as well as security and privacy concerns as some of the main reasons why the coastal routes behind Island View and St Gerard’s Place were not brought forward.

This means the upgraded Greenway will remain alongside the busy road. Cllr McCarthy's statement also doesn't clarify what will be done to stop local residents using the improved Greenway as a parking area like they do at present.

12-Year Old from Belfast runs 5k world record for her age

At a recent 5k race, 12-year old Emer McKee from Belfast finished in an amazing time of 16 minutes 40 seconds and set a new world record time for her age!

In an interview, she said... "Normally I'm just running as fast as I can and just waiting for it to be over. I started doing parkruns and I then joined the running club when I was nine and everybody there was really nice and supportive and friendly."

It looks as if Emer may able be run even faster as she recently clocked 16:37 in a 5k that wasn't officially timed.

Link... https://www.bbc.com/sport/athletics/56891059

Cork runner Aoife Cooke qualifies for the Tokyo Olympics by winning Cheshire Marathon

Well done to Cork runner Aoife Cooke who won the Cheshire Elite Marathon in the UK in an impressive time of 2 hour 28 minutes and 36 seconds.

This was a qualifying time for the Tokyo Olympics! Well done Aoife!

A time of 2h 28m 36 seconds works out as an average pace of 5:40 per mile! (3:31 per km).

The Olympic qualifying standard for women in the marathon is 2h 29m 30s which is a lot tougher than it was in the past.

First 5 women...

Pos Gun time No. Name Club Chip Time Gender Pos Chip Category 

36 02:28:36 164 Aoife Cooke Eagle AC 02:28:36 Female 1 Senior Female 

40 02:29:04 419 Maor Tiyouri 02:29:03 40 Female 2 Senior Female 

42 02:29:34 313 Ann-Marie McGlynn Letterkenny ac 02:29:34 42 Female 3 Vet 40 

57 02:31:14 236 Rose Harvey Clapham Chasers 02:30:58 56 Female 4 Senior Female 

62 02:31:40 186 Beatie Deutsch 02:31:39 62 Female 5 Senior Female 

First two women...

Guest Post: One of our own ...by Pat Walsh

**One of our own **😍🏃 ...by Pat Walsh

As runners we can dare to dream. Life would be boring without it.

How far, How fast, what are our limits, where can we go, what can we achieve.

Tomorrow morning in a bid for Olympic Qualification our OWN Aoife Cooke is running the Cheshire Marathon. As National Marathon Champion no better girl to have a go. Standards are high and this will not be easy, so all help is required.👏🙌👐

For those on the Cork / Munster running circuit Aoife is a regular and well known to us. The quietest most unassuming character you are ever likely to meet hides a hidden brand of fiery determination that is at odds with her public persona. 😍🥰

Job for you all

Whether it is a few prayers, a novena, a Child of Prague in the garden or a few likes and positive comments here, do what you must in advance to help.

Then tomorrow morning 8.30am send a wave of positivity across the Irish Sea to drive her home. About 11am we can celebrate.

We are so proud of Aoife and she is “one of our own”

I will post a link when I find it ☘☘ Thanks to those who supplied

https://runcheshire.niftyentries.com/Results/Wrexham-Elite-Marathon

Picture taken when you could hug people at Ballintotis 4ml a few Years back. Should be on around this time of Year . In fairness I kept the gap between us to under 10minutes which for 4 mile isn’t bad for me.

"Tōkyō de o ai shimashou" :D :D I googled it :D

#pwr #GoAoife #Tokyo

Sonia O’Sullivan takes Nike coaching role in Oregon

 

A recent Irish Times article by Ian O'Riordan reported on how the 2000 Olympic silver medalist over 5,000 metres Sonia O'Sullivan is taking up an assistant coaching role with Nike for the run up to the Tokyo Olympics.

In the interview, Sonia O'Sullivan said... “It all evolved quite quickly, and once we started talking, it felt like an instinctual decision for me, something I felt I’d like to do. I won’t know what it’s fully about until I’m out there, but to be a part of a fully professional set-up, with a good budget behind them, to get the best possible out of the athletes, is something I’m excited about”.

Full story on the Irish Times website HERE

Friday Jigsaw: Aoife Cooke in the 2019 Cork City 10-Miler

 

Best of luck to Cork runner Aoife Cooke as she travels to the UK this weekend to take part in the Cheshire Elite Marathon and chases a qualifying time for the Tokyo Olympics.

With that in mind, it seemed appropriate that this weeks 96-piece online jigsaw should be of Aoife back in the 2019 Cork City 10-miler.

You can solve the online jigsaw HERE

Guest Post: Cross Training ...by Pat Walsh

 ** Cross training ** 🚴‍♀️🏊‍♀️🏃

With a small bit more freedom, but no clear guidelines on resumption of groups or races maybe it is time to think of overall fitness rather than just running.

We are all guilty of concentrating on one aspect of our training, when the body might do better with a variety of exercise types. Long term it maybe in your best interest anyway.

The weather has improved, evenings are longer and we can stray further from home. ☀️🌲

Cycling and swimming are 2 obvious choices that still challenge the body but take a break from pounding the roads. A good long walk has its own benefits as well. 

We also need to consider some strength / core training and also to include some element of stretching and flexibility in our plans.
.
Wow .. How do I fit that all in?
Very simple… Plan it
.
Don’t run too much. Drop one run and go cycle or swim.
Walk on the in-between days to help recovery but and still getting exercise and fresh air.
Develop a stretching routine of 10-15mins and repeat twice a week
Develop a core and strength routine of 10-15mins and repeat twice a week

There are lots of Videos on You Tube of these routines and minimal equipment is required. 🏋️‍♀️🤸‍♀️
Example
Monday Walk and Strength
Tuesday Run and Stretch
Wednesday Walk
Thursday Run and Stretch
Friday Walk and Strength
Saturday Long run
Sunday Nice easy cycle or Swim
.
Feel free to juggle as required. Make it suit your life. If the idea of exercise on all 7 days is beyond your current free time, then adapt. Bring children or a partner on the walk or cycle.
Do the Stretch and Strength with the kids, they might enjoy it.
Get your walk at lunchtime and force yourself out of the house or office. 🚶🚶‍♂️

 

 
The length of each of these sessions can be based on your own current fitness.
Variety is good for mind and body. You will get a longer running career if you are stronger and more flexible. Who knows you might enjoy it.
You can go back concentrating on running when there is races and goals to achieve. 🏆🏅

Stay safe, stay kind and stay sane.
Turn off the TV and the news feeds and get out in the fresh air.
Smile.
Contact a friend.
#pwr   #survive21

 

Guest Post: What now? ...by Pat Walsh

** What now? **

Huge emphasis on vaccination at the moment and the rollout is slow. Other than complain on social media we can do Nothing.

I urge patience and don’t be getting too bothered about the schedule as no real freedom comes to most until we are nearly all done anyway. If you are old, vulnerable, frontline or some medical condition then of course you must be up the top of the list but the rest of us will have to be patient. We are not in control so don’t waste mental energy on it. 🤗

We are runners, we are used to obstacles.
I have trained many people (and driven them daft) and the one thing I emphasize is to control what you can and don’t be worried about things totally outside of your control. 😱

Things we can control, our own proper training, wear the right gear for whatever conditions, have back-ups of gels and water and plan our run. There are things we cannot control and curveballs are thrown at us. The last 13 months has been a GIGANTIC curveball.
🏃

We train in good weather for 3 months and the day of the race is wind and rain, we get on with it.
We run races on “scenic courses” to find we are running up the side of a mountain, we get on with it.
We have a disappointing race due to a bug or some other illness that appeared in the days beforehand, we dust ourselves down, refocus and get on with it.
We don’t get that longed for PB, we refocus and say “Next Day”.
🏃

I say this to show you some examples of the resilience of us as a running family.
We take a knock and roll with it and go again. We have had glory days and they will come again to us, I have no doubt.
🏃

I’m not giving politicians or NPHET or any of the Suits a free pass on this. Their performance is scandalous. The Vaccine rollout is slow, cumbersome and open to all kinds of backhanded chicanery. #Muppets. 🙈🙉🙊

This week we hear that the chance of spreading Covid in an outdoor environment is less than 1 in a 1000. That is now accepted worldwide as being true and still we cannot run with a few buddies. Please give us limited safe things we can do and we will survive until the country is sorted. A Blanket “No” without a reason is as stupid as the person saying it. To think a virus knows where the county boundaries are is testing my credulity. It is our behavior spreads this, not how far we go.
🏃‍♀️

 

 

Enough
Last Monday we celebrated our first steps to freedom by going somewhere nice outside our 5K limit and walk or run. Take your time and breathe the air and take in the surroundings.
We are starting again on a new Journey. Make yourself part of it.

If you have been training all along then this new freedom will be a great help to pick new routes, but don’t go mad. Racing is a long way away yet.

If you fell off the running wagon in the last few months then circle the calendar and make next Monday the START DATE. New freedom, New YOU.

We must take charge of our lives and make the best of what we have.
I would love to be writing about detailed training plans or upcoming races but for now just get going. We have endured enough 😍🥰

“Too long a sacrifice
Can make a stone of the heart.   
O when may it suffice?”
#pwr #Survive21 

 

Notice: Doneraile Virtual 10k - 11th to 13th June 2021

 

Doneraile A.C. Virtual 10km : Friday 11th June 2021 - Sunday 13th June 2021

From Doneraile AC: Due to the government announcement this week and the uncertainty of the next few months we have decided to make the 2021 event a Virtual 10km. Run your race in the location of your choice whilst adhering to HSE guidelines.

The Doneraile AC virtual 10km event will take place over the weekend of the 11th-13th June 2021.

All participants will be posted out a T-Shirt and Medal, with 2020 participants that rolled over their entry will receive a bonus gift.

The posting of Race packs will commence 17th May. 

Entries are now open and you can register by clicking HERE. 

Registration will remain open until Friday 11th June. Places are limited! 

Notice: Karen Fenton 5k Memorial Virtual 5k - 16th to the 19th of April 2021

The Karen Fenton Memorial 5k is usually held in April every year and it  helps raise much needed funds for an Ovarian Cancer Charity. This year, the organisers are holding a virtual event and are asking runners to take part.

You can register HERE

 From the organisers... Unfortunately due to Covid the 'Karen Fenton Memorial Run' in 2020 was unable to go ahead, the organisers were hoping to follow up with a great event this year but unfortunately in these unprecedented times they are still unable to host a real event.

🌼As an alternative please join Karen Fenton's family & friends for a virtual 5km run/walk during April 2021. 

🏃‍♀️🚶Run or walk anytime or anywhere between April 16th and 19th and upload your results to myrunresults.com portal.

There is an option to donate further to the Karen Fenton Ovarian Cancer Fund during registration.
👕 Remember the day with an option to purchase event merchandise.

Register @ https://register.enthuse.com/ps/event/KarenFentonMemorialRun

We are continuing to raise much needed funds for cancer awareness, research and to support the operation of the cancer machine in CUHC. To date we have raised over €120,000 and recently we donated €80,000 to go towards the purchase of the “Ion Torrent Genexus Integrated Sequener” machine, a new innovative machine that had been unavailable to cancer patients in Cork. The machine is located in CUH, where Karen spent her final two months. Once fully commissioned the machine will operate under the expert guidance of Medical Oncologist Dr. Dearbhaile Collins and Clinical Director for Cancer Services, Dr. Richard Bambury. Dr. Collins specialises in gynaecological malignancies, including Ovarian Cancer. This state of the art technology will analyse cancer mutations and find new “precise” treatments for patients.

Any additional donations are welcome as we continue to fundraise for this worthy cause.
Visit http://www.karenfenton.ie/ for more information.