Cork City Half Marathon in memory of Ali

It seems Ali is the only person who can push me to do a half marathon! The one and only half marathon I ran was the Bay Run in Glengarriff with Ali a few years ago.

Ali had been training away like the committed and hardworking soldier she was and asked me would I run with her…the following weekend! I told her I had never run a race and was definitely not at my peak fitness (which wasn’t much of a peak anyway!) and her reply was ‘Ah you’ll be grand, it’s just for fun!’

So the May bank holiday came, we stayed at a friend’s house in West Cork the night before and, in typical Ali fashion, she fuelled us with her stash of energy bars and gels before the race! I remember being at the start line and the plan being to stick together. That lasted a few kms until I told her to kick on if she was able and I was left for dust!

Ali’s athletic ability and drive was always something I admired and without her encouragement and the likes of dragging me out in the ice to Crossmahon school to do sprint training for Irish trials before a night out on Stephen's Day I would never have achieved anything in sport!

I have been wanting to do something in Ali’s memory and to help a charity relevant to her for some time. Even though Ali is not with us anymore she is still the only person to get me to run so I have signed up to the Cork City half marathon on June 2nd and will do my best to make her proud. In doing so, I hope to raise much needed funds for Pieta House who do incredible work to prevent suicide and to support the families and friends of those bereaved by suicide.

Thank you in advance for your contribution to this cause, best buds like Ali are too precious to lose.

More information about Pieta: Pieta provides a professional one-to-one therapeutic service to people who are in suicidal distress, those who engage in self-harm, and those bereaved by suicide. We need help more than ever to support our free lifesaving work. We rely on the generosity of the public, whose donations and fundraising make up over 80% of our income. Sometimes it takes just one phone call, or one person who cares, to help someone begin to find their way back from suicide and feel safe. You can be that person.