My training regime for the Waterside half marathon got off to a great start yesterday morning in the Queen's Quay car-park. I had to walk 218 yards to get a parking ticket and the same back so that was a quarter of a mile done straight away. DSD doing their bit for fitness in Derry.
To the front of the Council offices with race organiser Gerry Lynch for an interview for the Paul McFadden show on Foyle. It was comforting to talk to someone who seemed to have an understanding of what it’s like to be middle-aged and fond of buns (s
ome enterprising local business person should make him a sponsorship offer he can’t refuse to complete the half-marathon - I said we could go out for a training stagger together).
I said to Gerry, “I don’t mind how long it takes me to do the half marathon as long as I don’t get passed by a woman.”
I was only joking of course (ONLY JOKING!) but interestingly later another race organiser Noel McMonagle was able to recall the time he was passed by a female competitor in the half-marathon a few years ago. He remarked that she was a record holder (of course).
On to the launch of the training programme and before long I was holding up a pair of purple ladies’ trainers for a photograph.
“Now you know how I feel at times,” said the Mayor Drew Thompson, looking forward to a well-earned break at the beginning of June.
Up in the Council staff restaurant, with a lovely view of the Foyle, I decided to have the last sticky bun before starting the programme. You could tell Gerry was impressed when I took off a good bit of the cream and left it at the side of the plate.
As he told me himself, the journey of a 1,000 miles starts with a single step . . .
The full article contains 331 words and appears in Journal Friday DER Edition newspaper.
