Walk on Wednesdays – Flora Women’s Mini Marathon 2014 Update

Mammoth Tusks & Mammoth Tasks
Going the distance!
Setting: Flora Women’s Mini Marathon, 2014 – Dublin
(Photo: B. Gardiner)

Barbara Cleary the winner of the 2014 Flora Women’s Mini Marathon crossed the line in 34 minutes, 7 seconds. I would like to say we were not too far behind her but I think that might lead to uncontrollable laughter and some disbelief. However I can say we took it in our stride and while our stride was nowhere near Barbara’s time we did have fun along the route. We even had time to stop, have a quick debate and be redirected to go under the flyover bridge at UCD rather than get stuck at the water stop on the slip road.

We had a bit of healthy competition between the six of us but agreed as we were heading up to Fitzwilliam Place to join hands and cross over the finish line together. Little did we know we’d have to queue for our medals, still it was worth it and tucking into coffee, tea, muffins and carrot cake later in a little cafe on Merrion Row; we were very content with our achievement and still full of chat about the day.

It is wonderful to see so many women making a difference to charities across Ireland and abroad. Having taken this year’s mini marathon at a slower place it was nice to read the t-shirts displaying the chosen charity of each individual. Our yellow t-shirts were our beacon to keep a watch for each other in the thickening crowds. The fact that so many other charities had chosen a similar yellow only added to that challenge!

Congratulations to my sister Annette and her very welcoming colleagues Mary, Claire, Catherine and Michelle from Lifeline Ambulance Service. Thank you all for the lovely warm welcome and including me in your little group. To my colleagues in the Library, NUI Maynooth a huge thanks once again for your very generous support in helping to raise money for our chosen charity BUMBLEance.

Click on the link below to enjoy a very short video featuring photos of our day.

Flora Women’s Mini Marathon 2014, Dublin

Happy Walking!

Walk on Wednesdays

Junior Garden
St. Patrick’s College, Maynooth
(Photo: B. Gardiner)

I have a renewed appreciation for authors and magazine or newspaper columnist who have to write each week on a particular topic. I mean I love walking but I’m struggling here to say much for today’s post so I have chosen to look back at some of our other activities over the last four years in WOW. We began as I mentioned before as a result of a Bright Ideas campaign in 2010 and despite members of the group retiring over the years, several members of the group have stayed constant. Even some of those who retired continue to drop in for walks, when they manage to free some time in their packed schedules and people think working is full time! Still we are always pleased to see them and appreciate getting to continue our friendship with them in this easy way.

So who remembers the Walk in my Shoes campaign in April 2012 and all the concerns about walking in odd shoes? We quickly allayed these concerns explaining that the idea is to show you care about mental health and to help raise money to assist with the provision of FREE mental health services for young adults across Ireland. As it happens the day we picked for our campaign was probably the wettest one on record, so in our odd shoes we had a very funny, very enjoyable session making use of the Irish Heart Foundation Desk Work-out and we raised €85.00 in the process.

Some of our more recent activities were in October 2013 Library staff participated in the 5K that raised €600 for Trocaire’s work for the Syrian refugees. Later that year we had some more fun with the Maynooth Christmas Fun Run which includes staff and students on campus. The proceeds go to St. Vincent de Paul and the library’s contribution was €153.00 to this worthy charity.

My colleagues in the library have been extremely generous every year that I have participated in the Dublin Simon Fun Run and the Flora Women’s Mini Marathon. In 2011 we raised €105.00 for the Irish Cancer Society / Action Breast Cancer programme. In 2012 we supported St. Patrick’s Hospital Foundation, also in 2012 and 2013 we raised €85 and €125 respectively for Dublin Simon.

We have also supported various other charities over the years some I have mentioned in a previous post. One staff member Michael has completed the Galway Cycle on several occasions for charity. Another member of staff Ciara is a volunteer helping people who are sick travel to Lourdes. I can’t mention everyone here but I know we are all active in many ways helping people less fortunate than ourselves. Some people of course are more vocal about it than others, so this is probably a good opportunity to say what a generous bunch of people you all are.

This year I hope to complete the Flora Women’s Mini Marathon with my sister Annette and her work colleagues from Lifeline Ambulance Service. We hope to raise money for BUMBLEance and the Saoirse Foundation and I will no doubt be calling on my colleagues again for support so please don’t feel this post is just to butter you up for more sponsorship! Honestly it is just a reminder of all we have done but obvioulsy I’ll still be very happy to raise as much money as I can for this charity. This YouTube clip will give you some idea of how this service is helping children and their families across Ireland.

Now back to the subject of walking, while contemplating this post I came across a really interesting article “Why a walking workout is good for your body.” Please take some time to read this as it is very relevant particularly for those with health concerns. Happy walking.