I'm a relative recent import to Edmonton, having moved here from Dublin, Ireland in 2003. However, I have been involved in sports most of my life. My parents encouraged me to try different sports, from team sports such as soccer, hurling and Gaelic football, to more individual sports such badminton and swimming. I soon discovered that I preferred the drive and intensity of participating in a sport on my own – I only had myself to blame or to commend.

While in secondary school, I ran for many years on the cross-country and track teams, for the most part because it was a legitimate way of missing classes! In the initial races, I don't think I ever finished higher than middle of the pack, due mostly to fact that we were never given the chance to train. We just showed up on race day and ran.  Despite minimal caoching, I soon discovered my own rhythm and made some respectable finishes.

In my teens and early twenties, running took a back seat when I discovered bike racing. My parents had been involved in cycling for a number of years, but they didn't encourage me to take it up, as it’s a hard life, sometimes with minimal rewards. I raced for a number of years and enjoyed it, but, to be honest, I did not win very many races.

In my mid-twenties, I decided I needed a bigger challenge and discovered triathlons, which allowed me to continue with my passion for cycling, but also reinvigorated my interest in swimming and running.  While training for triathlons, I joined a running club in Dublin and participated in cross-country races, thinking they would help my summer season of triathlons. However, I have to admit, I wasn't the fittest at the time, so I suffered in every race; this did make it hard to find any enjoyment and to stay motivated! 

Most of my triathlon finishes were respectable, but again, I decided to seek out an even greater challenge:  Ironman.  It was in 2002, training for my first Ironman, that I really stepped up my training and discovered a new found love for running.  I completed my first actual marathon in the Penticton Ironman in 2002, and I’ve been an avid runner ever since.

In 2002, I ran my first Dublin marathon in 3:08. I really only did it because I had finished Ironman Canada eight weeks beforehand and was thinking that I could do it based on my Ironman fitness. That run was one of the hardest races I had ever did; I actual found it much harder than the Ironman.

When I first moved to Edmonton I was still involved in triathlons and competed in a few races such as the ITU race in Hawrelak Park and the Elbow Valley Half Ironman in Calgary. But, due to the long winters in Alberta, I was finding that I was starting to enjoy running outdoors more and more, and riding on the indoor trainer less and less. I was still only doing three runs a week, so I wasn't improving as quickly as I could have been.  It was while training for my last Ironman race in 2004 that I began to see the improvements over the previous year.  I also competed in a couple of half marathons that year, as well as The Great White North Half Ironman and Ironman Canada. 

In 2005 I concentrated on running for the first time and I began to feel more confidant in my ability and comfortable in my stride. However, although I was placing in the top end of the field, I was still not really making any inroads on the leaders.  Despite some progress, in 2006, I took most the year off of racing to go back to college.  I did keep up with my running, not to be competitive, but to help keep my head clear for my studies.

It was in 2007 that I re-committed to running and focussed on the Vancouver Marathon that Spring.  I really wanted to complete it in less than three hours, improving on my Dublin Marathon time in 2002. I trained on my own and it went well, despite the cold winter. I got through the winter intact only to sprain my ankle about a month before the race, which, not surprisingly, really messed up the training.   I went to see a doctor, who told me that I should give up running altogether. This was not an answer I was willing to accept. After getting acupuncture on the ankle I was able to run the marathon and finished better than I was expecting to (2:55), and I qualified for Boston. Last October, I returned to Ireland to run the Dublin Marathon for the first time since 2002, and came away with the new PR of 2:43.

This year I decided that I was probably not going to keep improving without some outside help, so I got a coach for the first time, and started working with Brian Torrance in February 2008 in preparation for Boston. Thanks in no small part to Brian’s training, I believe that I got the best result possible time I could have (2:44) on Marathon Monday in Boston, considering the short time we have worked together.  I’m sincerely looking forward to my next marathon and to pushing myself even further in my training.

I'd like to thank Jack and Fast Trax and Asics for giving me this opportunity. It's humbling to be asked to be part of this and to be recognized for something that I love to do.  I’m so used to going at this alone, but now I look forward to being part of a team.