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