The Book
It was some rollercoaster as Mary's
Get Running book was launched in February. A whirlwind of media appearances and some lovely feedback took Mary off the running paths and into a different spotlight. From TV to Radio, Podcast to Newspaper it for sure was different than the usual springtime routine.
See the highlights.
Classes
Our
running classes are what keeps up all fit, motivated and moving – especially on days where the weather isn’t too tempting. Starting in the dark in January we are now basking in the sun (some nights) and able to use the grass and sand to build in more variety (and relaxation) to our classes. We have coached many
beginners learn to run this year but our main group of runners are those of you who return each new term with renewed enthusiasm and camaraderie for the next season.
Running Events
Aoife led a series of fun
indoor track sessions taking many of our runners to a surface and speed like never before. Feeling like Olympians for a morning these events were a great success and more will return in the autumn. Slightly less speedy and more relaxed were our 2 Sunday daytrips to the country. Our
Run/Yoga Getaways are a winner and we will also do more in the autumn. Running technique remains as important as ever and monthly
Chi Running Workshop with Mary roamed around parks of Dublin. Lets not forget everyone who joined Mary for Half Marathon Workshops and are now close to their race day.
Writing
After writing the book, you would think that putting together a one pager for
The Irish Times each fortnight would be a piece of cake. But 5 years on and there is still always a rush to meet a deadline and find a new angle on running to write about. But so far so good, Mary has met all the deadlines so far and there are 12 columns published this year. Next weeks one will have a marathon focus, so keep an eye out for that if you training for an
autumn marathon.
At the races
Every Saturday we have runners trying out their local (or faraway) parkruns encouraging eachother to get out and move. So keen are some of our runners that we have had some 50 and 100
parkrun milestones to celebrate recently. We adore parkrun and between that and the many races around the country we love getting the Sunday facebook updates from our runners adventures and achievements. To all our runners who have followed our training plans and got the medal for something that was out of their reach at the start of the year, we are so proud of you. To all of you who encourage and support others around events as volunteers, friends and running buddies, you are truly amazing.
Run With Ray
We finished off the spring with the wonderful opportunity to reach more wannabe runners. Mary was asked by Ray Darcy to team up to coach runners for his
RunWithRay 5k series in June. How could she refuse? What an experience. From
weekly radio slot, podcast and meeting a few ‘celebs’ in studio it surely was different to the usual running coaching. It culminated with a week of 5ks around the country and such wonderful feedback from listeners and runners and even a feature in the RTE Guide.
The only downside
We were sorry to say goodbye to coach Anne in the spring after many years of coaching our running classes. Starting out as a student Anne has gone on to become our ultra-runner extraordinaire and we wish her all the very best in her future of running, coaching and everything else. She is not gone too far away though, we can still spot her in the parks on the run and hope to have her drop in for some guest appearances soon.
