1. What running shoes do you train in?

Brooks Adrenaline. I’ve been wearing them since 2010 & I love the fact that I can take them brand new from the box and run. No aches, no blisters, they can even withstand deserts, mountains and bogs and rivers alike. I trust them completely.

How many miles did you run last week?

@162 miles => my long week ahead of a 24hr Ultra.

What’s your favourite racing distance?

I enjoy the multi-day events most, they’re a bit primal!

Where’s your favourite place to train?

In Galway, Renville Park is a lovely place for a run all year around, in summer it’s lively with family barbeques, ice cream vans and enthusiastic kite flyers, at the moment the Woodland floor is carpeted with wild garlic… delicious!

That said, my favourite place has to be at home in West Cork, running past Leap village along Myross wood into Unionhall and hugging the coast from Glandore via Drombeg stone circle and on to the beaches near Castlefreake - its EPIC, especially on a Christmas morning when it’s still a little dark, you feel like the only soul on Earth.  

5. What’s your favourite event or race each year?

Any race in Connemara is a winner but I think the event I look forward to is the 5k series, I’m not a speedster but I love the build-up to it, the chat and craic afterward and of course it’s the herald of summer!

 

6. What annoys you most at races?

I‘ve never had what I would classify as a negative experience, simply because the stuff that does not go to plan often yields the memorable and entertaining stories. Life is too short to sweat the small stuff! That said ‘the red mist’ does descend when I spot other competitors throwing rubbish outside designated areas e.g. over ditches etc. so it can’t be scooped up afterward.  (God help you if I spot you!)

 

7. What race, that you haven’t yet run, would you most like to take part in?

I can’t pick just one!  - That’s like being asked to choose your favourite family member! ☺

Sorry, but I have a list and I’d ‘pick up my teeth up with broken fingers’ if there was a chance I could do all of them…. Here are a few from my Bucket list:

• Spartathlon – ‘following the footsteps of Pheidippides’ this epic 250km+ non-stop race from Athens to Sparta must be completed in 36hrs. This one really scares to crap outta me, never thought I’d consider a 24hr event as training run for another race – but this would be it! I plan to give it a shot this year in September – fingers crossed!

• Bhutan ultra: 230km multiday event: The happiest place on Earth - Bhutan is the only country in the world that measures the progress of society in terms of “Gross National Happiness”. This race is culturally rich as competitors experience home stays on route to a spectacular monastery, hanging in the cliffs at an altitude of 3000m. While there you get to spend time with the Buddhist monks and play football against them in a hilly field behind the monastery… no way I’m getting the ball when it goes over the edge!

• Badwater: 217km non-stop in Death Valley California: Iconic race in temperatures over 49 °C, even in the shade. An extraordinary challenge and fascinating event.

• Amazon Jungle Ultra 250km multiday event: A place I have dreamed about experiencing since I was in National School.  I get that ‘Christmas day feeling’ just thinking about it!!!!

• Gobi Desert Ultra 250km multiday event: A very diverse desert in Mongolia, a week living rough in a harsh but stunning environment is good for the soul, it’s one of those experiences that reminds me of how privileged I am living in Ireland at this time in history – in the eyes of those scraping a living in these regions, we are living the dream – shame that we forget it sometimes.

• Antarctica Desert Ultra 250km multiday event: a chance to step foot on the coldest driest windiest desert on Earth where no man can live (apart from some hardy researchers) – humbling stuff.

• Iceland – Fire and Ice Ultra 250km multiday event: A friend of mine completed this last year, he reckons he’ll never complain about Irish weather again EVER!! That’s a good enough reason to go!

• Midnite marathon Tomso Norway: During this event, competitors witness the midnight sun as this region experiences almost 24hrs of daylight in summer. I love that idea.

• Transgrancanaria: (125km + 8.500 M. 30 hrs), now that really is ‘sightseeing’ in the Canaries

• Connemara 100: (100m 30hrs) – It’s the Ultra on Steroids and that’s exotic enough!

8.  

9. What was your best-ever running performance?

I would have to say the 24hr World Champs in 2012. The opportunity was a dream come through and what transpired over that single day was the most surreal moment of my running life.

 

9. What was your worst-ever running performance?

My motivation comes from the heart so I tend to be drawn to events which have special meaning for me or capture the imagination. Given that, I would say that 2014 in general was a very bad year performance wise. I lost heart. For much of the year I could not get my head or heart to focus, this was largely down to physical (injuries) and personal reasons (Friend’s murder). Once the 24hr world champs were postponed and finally cancelled I was completely aimless. I figured I needed to ‘run away’ if you can pardon the pun (and to give George a break!), so once I got a few weeks of injury free training done I headed to South America and into the Atacama Desert for some time to sort myself out. I met some truly inspirational people during that race that helped restore some of my faith in Humanity. 2014 ended on a positive note running with George on his first multi-day event in Cambodia.

 

10. What’s the strangest thing that you’ve ever seen on a training run?

Out running in the countryside in Tipperary last weekend and I noticed some very large, very white woolly sheep in a field, I was just thinking about lunch…. ‘Hmmmm Lamb’. Then, all of a sudden, up popped a head from behind a hedge… it was a Llama not a sheep… Llamas in Tipperary!?...WTF? (I had lamb for lunch after that)

The End.

 

11. Favourite piece of running gear?

My brooks Adrenalines and a very old pair of worn Nike Dryfit running leggings… so comfy.

 

12. Who would you most enjoy beating in a sprint for the line?

What’s ‘a sprint’?!

 

13. What was the best bit of training advice you were ever given?

‘Run like a b!tch’…. (Valerie Glavin)

 

14. In ten years’ time will you still be running?

I hope so; life would seem duller without it.

 

15. If for some reason you were told you could never run again, how do you think you’d react?

It would be a very serious challenge, I have a personality type that uses running  not only for ‘escapism’,  but also as part of my identity, take that away and I would feel trapped, isolated and without real purpose. Might sound a bit dramatic but that would be the ‘knee jerk reaction’ emotionally. Given this situation, I would expect to go through a period of ‘mourning’, and succumb to depression, but knowing this is helpful in itself. I would adapt and create a new routine, a new goal. I would switch focus to something else sporting related if possible e.g.  Crossfit, weight training, cycling, swimming, walking. If this type of sport was out of the question I would develop my love of drawing and painting or horse riding…. I’d find a way to work it… no question about it.  That’s what people do, that’s what you would do. The nice irony is, the sport I have grown to love so much has taught me how to value, appreciate and live life well, and it has also shown me how to learn to live without it.

 

Have you ever been bitten by a dog while running?

No …..I’ve had a few ‘chasers’ though… what I found worked really well (in Cambodia anyway) was to turn on them screaming with arms waving wildly…scared the beeJesus out of them. And their owner as it turns out! (Yikes)

 

17. Have you ever had to stop for an emergency "Paula" during a race?

Does an Ultrarunner s*ite in the woods!?.... ☺. We’re not called ‘Animals’ for nothin’ ya know.

 

18. Favourite post-race food?

Aside from running…eating is one of my favourite pastimes…..if it’s not moving I’ll eat it… (I wonder what Llama tastes like?)

 

19. Most embarrassing ever running-related moment?

I think in general things you would normally think of as embarrassing are not as bad when you are taking part in an event, I guess that’s because it’s a great leveller… everyone is exposed to the same  or similar experience.

 

My favourite embarrassing moment was answering the call of nature during the Marathon Des Sables at camp. We had to do our ‘business’ into large brown plastic bags which were issued at the beginning of the week. The MDS team had gone to great lengths creating timber frame cubicles (3 in a row), the walls of these cubicles were opaque plastic – think fertiliser bags - and using them involved a fair bit of dexterity.

The toilet itself comprised a toilet seat fixed to what looked like a deck chair, the idea was to secure your bag around the rim of the toilet seat and drop a few stones in the bag to weigh it down.

 

I was in the middle cubicle one evening desperately trying to place the plastic bag securely on the toilet seat. Picture it… one hand trying to pull shorts down, the other holding the bag in place, right foot   pressed against the ‘plastic’ door to keep it closed while trying to maintain balance in the wind …. A game of Twister had nothing on this!

 

I remember being quite distracted by my two neighbours either side of me, the poor lad on my left had explosive diarrhoea, sounded like the stuff was just pouring out of him and he groaned loudly with every contraction, I was worried for his race prospects at the time. The fella on my right was doing his best rendition of ‘blazing saddles’. I tried not to make a sound (Laughing obviously ‘cause everyone knows that Gurls don’t fart). What was really bothering me at the time was the fact that the expedition food for dinner smelt the same ‘going in’ as it did coming out! & I spent the rest of the week ‘eye balling’ my dinner with distain! ☺

 

Anyway, I digress, toileting over, the biggest challenge was getting up again. I tried using one hand to get off the seat without spilling the contents of the plastic bag and used the other to pull my pants up at the same time. It was impossible to keep the door shut so once I stood up  folks in the queue  could my semi naked state due to the flapping plastic on the cubicle. De-railed by my exposure, I let the bag slip and spilled some ‘wee’ on my feet… well, mostly wee! (eeurgh).  The full bag then had to be carried past the queue to the bin … Classy ☺. As the week progressed, it got better, I stopped spilling ‘wee’ on myself.

 

20. The greatest Irish athlete of all time is / was?

While out playing with my cousins as a child, if I wasn’t Batman or the Lone Ranger, I was Eamon Coughlan… (and clearly a Tom boy!) . In the 80’s Eamon and John Treacy were our sporting heroes; we would spend hours running around pretending to be them, proud in our imaginary green jerseys. Of course a little later all eyes in Cork turned to Sonia O’Sullivan - our Super Woman.