3 years. 3 marathons.

As someone who was never that sporty as a kid and who never ever thought he could do even one of these, I’m super proud of these medals.

I decided to run a marathon in 2016 after getting a redundancy from a company and deciding that, for the first time in 17 years of working, I would take the opportunity afforded to me and take an extended break from the corporate world. I soon discovered that without some kind of structure to your day, life can become pretty unproductive very quickly. Running and training for a marathon gave me the structure that I needed. It gave me a personal purpose to get up in the morning which is vital to a fulfilled life.

At that time I also wanted to prove that I could do something that I never thought possible and that something turned out to be running without stopping for 26.2 miles.

I had never run more than 5k when I decided to do the marathon so I had no frame of reference for whether this was possible for me or not, bar my belief that if I believed I could do it, I could do it.

The big lesson for me in all of this is that what you believe matters. In fact, it matters more than anything else. More than your current ability or fitness level, more than your current wealth, more than anything.

The big lesson for me in all of this is that what you believe matters. In fact, it matters more than anything else.

Many thanks for all who organised the Dublin Marathon 2018 (#dublinmarathon), the 39th marathon to be held in this city. It was well organised, the support at every turn was epic and even the weather turned out to be perfect running weather (as it always does for marathon day).

I will not be partaking next year as I feel that this goal is well and truly conquered now after 3 outings so my mind is turning to the best question of all: what’s next?

Yours in health and happiness,

JP