Archive for January, 2024

I’m excited to announce that my Running For Beginners group reached 100,000 members last week!

A big thank you to everyone who has been part of the community. I even made a little thank you video:

Apparently Taylor Swift practises her entire Eras tour set list while running on a treadmill. I have no idea how; I was knackered after two minutes.

Ever since I first watched the IRONMAN World Championship, I wanted a Felt IA. And now I have one. On Zwift.

For years I worked hard to get to level 37 to buy a digital Felt IA from the in-game shop. I made it to level 33. Then in December, they redid all of the levels and dropped the minimum level requirement for that bike down to 16.

Last weekend, I took part in my first masters race. I’m officially old. Masters is for anyone over 35, so I’ve been eligible for a while but now it has actually happened.

In classic Ireland fashion, the organisation was relaxed. There was no pre-race information. Or any information on where the event was taking place (St Anne’s is a big park). Luckily, someone from the club knew. I got there and tried to find the registration desk. I marshall pointed me in a direction. It turns out it didn’t exist a and each club just had a pack of numbers. Also, they announced at the start of the race that the 6k was actually a 7k. But everything was smooth from then on in.

The course was muddy. Which is to be expected with cross country. Luckily, it hadn’t rained much in the days leading up to it so it wasn’t full of big puddles. But large stretches of the course were on grass churned up into mud, and so very slippy under foot. This made it very difficult to get traction and therefore the running was way harder. It was lovely to get onto the harder stuff each lap.

Blackrock AC was out in force and cheering us on each lap so it was lovely to be racing with the club. I finished in:

37:20

When Ted said he found the race very competitive I knew I was in for a tough time. I finished 170th out of 179 finishers, so a solid nine people behind me. So close to picking up the lanterne rouge. Maybe next year.

Venla achieves her marathon wristband at junion parkrun.

Naas duathlon.

St Patrick’s Day.

Lough Cutra triathlon.

Dublin Mountain Backyard Ultra.

Metalman triathlon.

Viking marathon.

Around The Park, Around The Clock.

Helmsley triathlon.

Antrim Coast half marathon.

Marlay parkrun.

Venla and her cousins.

The Last Tram in paperback.

2023 has been one of my busiest years ever and yet a lot of it has been routine stuff that doesn’t make a good blog post, In January I was recoverging from a sprained ankle and dropped by my local Toastmasters club. On the business side, I launched courses on Gestalt Therapy and Scrum.

One of the big projects came to fruition in February when I finished a six-week audit of my existing courses including 172 new lessons. There was plenty of exercise, too, with the Naas duathlon and Virtual Race Series 13. Venla also achieved her marathon wristband at junior parkrun.

It was Sichuan month in March as I finally cracked open my cookbook. We celebrated Elina’s birthday and St Patrick’s Day. Fitness wise, another long-term project came to a close as I finished the Learn to Lift course. Holbeck College launched its counselling diploma path. Unfortunately, I missed both the Bohermeen half marathon and the Florida Manor run due to illness.

Our extended family got bigger in April when my sister welcomed Dougie and Angus into the world. I had a busy month of racing the Phoenix Park duathlon, 300th parkrun and completing my first 100k at the DUHAC 24-hour run. I also tried daily cold showers but decided it wasn’t for me 🥶.

We visited County Clare in May so I could take part in the Lough Cutra triathlon. Unfortunately, I registered my first-ever DNF. I also took part in the Dublin Mountain Backyard Utra and managed 11 laps. In the business world, I launched my course on Positive Psychology Coaching.

We followed our west coast trip with a south coast trip in June, visiting Waterford for the Metalman triathlon and Viking marathon. There was also racing back home at Around the Park, Around the Clock. After 15 years together, we parted ways with the Astra and I launched my Mindfulness for Resilience course.

The World Cup kicked off in July and there was more racing at Kilkenny triathlon. I released my first set of shorts on YouTube.

We hosted Michelle in August and watched a lot of sport with England in the World Cup final and the Tour de France. Jonas Vingegaard was not the only cyclist to watch as Venla got her first bike and I took on Helmsley triathlon. I took my first trip to Belfast with other Hyde Park Harriers to complete the Antrim Coast half marathon. I launched my Motivational Interviewing course.

I was ill for the whole of September. Being unable to run much, it gave me chance to do some parkrun tourism with walks or jogs at Griffen, Waterstown and Dodder Valley.

The touristing continued throughout October with visits to Poterstown, Blanchardstown, St Anne’s and Marlay. I found a new yoga studio and my mum ran her first 10k at the Abbey Dash. We hosted my parents and England outperformed expectations at the Rugby World Cup.

I taught a daily class throughout November as part of my Yoga for Resilience series while Elina and Venla jetted off to visit the family. I also wrote my second novel as part of NaNoWriMo and got my first pair of glasses. There was more parkrun tourism at Hartstown and Father Collins, and I finished my virtual run around Transylvania. Patrick Kielty did his first Toy Show and we ate well thanks to Donegal month and Thanksgiving. Holbeck College launched its life coaching diploma path.

We finished the year with December as is tradition in the Gregorian calendar. I also finished the EduProgram with Trinity Entrepreneuers and Venla sung her heart out at her winter concert. I did some parkrun tourism at Tymon and Darndale, achiving a new best placing of 4th overall and 1st in my age group at the latter. I also completed the Reindeer Run and Chevin Chase. I released an updated version of my productivity course and the first paperback copies of my novel arrived. We finished the year with plenty of family and friends time.