Running the mile I’m in

So I did my first virtual running event yesterday, the Castleknock 5k. It’s a lovely charity event they hold in memory of a local guy who died young a few years back and all proceeds go to a selected charity. This year it was the local hospice, St Francis’, who had supported my Dad and Mam, so I wanted to make sure I contributed a few bob. I always remember a girl I knew in Athlone saying ‘if you ever get a chance to do anything for a hospice, do it’, and she was right. The hospice give amazing end-of-life care, at no cost to the patient or their family. They really deserve our help and money. Amazingly the Castleknock 5k raised over €20k yesterday, so that was fantastic.

The good thing about a virtual event is you can do it whenever you want, and there’s no hassle with getting there etc etc. The bad thing is it’s like any other run really, with no goodie bag at the end. There’s always loads of treats at the end of the Castleknock 5k and the general feel-good factor. But I suppose we have to get used to that – I’ll be doing some class of virtual marathon in October hopefully. It’s too depressing to think beyond then in terms of the virus and what kind of world we will be living in come the autumn. But as Mary Jennings, my running coach, would say ‘just run the mile you’re in’. Good advice I think.