River Valley parkrun

  Okay, we know it is not quite over with yet but we are going to be as optimistic as we can for the future. It goes without saying that this year has been a very difficult one for everyone and that we are not quite out of the woods yet, but we can see some hope on the horizon that things are going to get better. We are going to cross all of our fingers and toes and hope that the vaccine rollout scheduled for the New Year will begin to see a return to 'normal' life. You never, know, we may even see a return to parkrun before December 2021 with any luck! A New Year's Resolution  On Monday 4th January, parkrun Resolution begins. This is an eight-week campaign in which parkrun are asking you to make one resolution that you will try to keep. Whether it is getting in an extra run or walk each week or trying to run a marathon a week, choose one thing that you hope to achieve and stick to. At the halfway mark (25th January), parkrun will bring the community together and applaud ev...

Andy, I swear this is the last time I will use this photo (this year) This week has been hard in many ways. Looking at the news, things look bleak. It can be difficult to look past the doom and gloom but we are going to try and find some of the positives at the moment (and, as you will see, there have been loads this week). Always Look on the Bright Side of Life Okay, so this week we got a bit of a fright. On Thursday Sammy, Pete's daughter, texted into the Core Group to say that the Run Report would be a bit delayed this week as Pete was in hospital! We all got a fright but Pete was very quick to text us and let us all know that he is okay. Talking to Pete this morning, he wanted to stress that despite not feeling well on Thursday, he is feeling fine now and has admitted that he was basically faking to get a bit of a rest! That's fair enough Pete, you deserve it.  In true Pete style, he asked the doctor if he can do a 5km walk in the hospital. Despite wanting to admit him to a...

  Pete captured this on Saturday morning in Clontarf No, we are not making up some new weird rhyme along the lines of Hands Knees Bumps-a-daisy. We are in fact referring to washing your Hands (the full happy birthday version), Wearing a mask on your Face not just in-doors but in crowded streets. Maintain your 2m distance even when wearing a mask. We all need to be extra cautious. The government advised that if you are planning on getting together as a family over the Christmas then you need to be extra cautious from last Friday.  If you need any other reason to be careful then you can talk to Brian McWeeney. Brian was diagnosed positive on Wednesday but as he said himself he didn't need a test to know he had it as he was very ill for two days. He has been recovering well since Friday and keeping a close eye on his temperature. Latest update is that Brian's temp has returned to normal for two days in a row now but he has to be have a normal temp 5 days in a row before he is all...

This week we had one of folks engaged in a marathon event. It started with queuing outside Aldi in order to get the right type of Kevin the Carrot, followed by a rest stop in Weatherspoons for breakfast followed by hitting the wall in the Christmas section of Pennys! Oh and someone else ran 26.2 miles. We think both Pete and Ross's efforts are both worthy of praise and commendation. Ross put some serious training whereas Pete hasn't been inside a Pennys since March 😂 More on Ross later. The Results This week (so far) 47 people walked, jogged or ran a 5km route of their choice at a time of their choosing. Our first We finisher is getting close to the elusive sub 20 5km and that is Bryan Donovan with a time of 20:15. Well done Bryan, keep pushing for the sub! First female finisher was, drum roll please, Imelda Kavanagh. Imelda got in ahead of Sigita by 6 secs and is obviously starting to shake off the marathon as her 5k times improve.  First junior is Sadhbh who continues to pu...