Half Marathon for Beaumont Hospital

So as some of you may know, last September 15th my sister Síofra collapsed in our home house and was brought to Mayo General by ambulance. After initial tests and scans in Castlebar she was rushed to Beaumont, where it was confirmed that she had had a sub-arachnoid brain haemmoraghe as a result of an aneurysm.

While Síofra was in a critical condition in Beaumont on the morning of September 16th, I was pacing the ICU family room and making deals with any higher power that might listen to me - one of which was (stupidly) "if Síofra pulls through I'll run a marathon or something, and raise a load of money for Beaumont." Miracously, Síofra had a really positive outcome, and after surgery and a few weeks in Beaumont she was discharged home to begin her recovery which has thankfully been fantastic. And so, that's how I find myself here.

I'll be running the Clontarf Half-Marathon on July 2nd to raise money for Beaumont Hospital (and, to be totally honest, to avoid generating bad karma by going back on a promise I made under duress ). The staff in ICU and the high dependency ward provided Síofra with amazing care from start to finish, as well as being so compassionate and helpful to us, giving frequent updates and reassurances, as we couldnt see her in person because of covid restrictions. We're also hugely grateful to the National Ambulance Service and the paramedics who saved Síofra's life by getting her to Mayo General so quickly, as well as the crew who transferred her to Beaumont in record time but unfortunately they dont seem to take donations. However, if anyone knows otherwise please let me know and I'll split the donations 50/50.

My running history up to now is limited to a few sporadic 5Ks, a 10K I ran with Síofra almost a decade ago and a few Mayo Day mini mini marathons with my nieces (including one just last weekend!) so needless to say, the prospect of running 21km is unbelievably daunting. I've been doing a bit of training over the last few weeks but its about to kick up a notch now that I'm 8 weeks out from the run. Any donations at all are so welcome, and nothing is too small. Things are hard at the minute with the cost of living going through the roof so if youre not in a position to donate I'd really appreciate if you could share this with as many people as possible!

Thank you so much!

Ríona