I’m out running around Wexford, my plan tonight is to increase my target to 6 Miles as I have 5 weeks left. As I run down Wexford Marine the stitch from hell hits me (both sides), so now I’m running and my sides feel like something is trying to get out.  I continue running and I start imagining the famous alien scene, I imagine that little bugger trying to rip its way out of my sides.  I continue running as I have no clue how to get rid of it, as I do I start thinking of the Braveheart scene at the end where they are taking his insides out of him, and just like Mel defiant to the end he screams the famous words, my inner sole screams something similar HOPE & DREAMMMM.  In a weird way this spurs me on, I am now 3 miles in and not even out of breath. As I run a few things come into my mind, of the people that have come up and said they could not do 10 miles or worse yet, said they would do it and now starting to back out, this is something that has never entered my mind and I will try to explain why and maybe it might change their minds. When I run, I see faces of people at the launch of H&D 10, I see the faces of the children with no hair, I see the face of the father who is diagnosed with cancer who knows the inevitable is soon. This man speaks to me telling me how great the Hope centre is, what they have done for him.  As he says these words I see his sons eyes, loving staring at his father and I remember having that same stare of love and hope many many years ago.  A stare unfortunately all of you will see or experience in your life especially when Cancer is involved.  I remember the words from Margot Kehoe from Hope and Shay Kinsella from Share a Dream on the night of how the money doesn’t go to buy medical equipment or to find a cure but on the little things, like cushions for chairs when people in the hope centre are painting to make them more comfortable or money for art supplies.  Or how Share a dream care & support for the entire family and not just the sick child. And as all these faces come into my mind I find I am running harder, faster and the stitches haven’t even dawned on me and I’m reminded that the money we raise is for people of Wexford, it is for our Fathers, Mothers, Brothers, Sisters, Sons, daughters, friends or loved ones that unfortunately might get this unforgiven sickness, to make their last moments a little more enjoyable. With all this in my head I feel if the people involved asked me to run 100 miles I would do so, as would everyone else there that night. So I am coming to the end of my 6 miles I am barely out of breath, and the stitches are in the background (BTW if any of you know how to get rid of stitch please let me know, they are distracting) and I hope this encourages you all to keep on going. – 

Ok so January is upon me, I have only 82 days left to run the 10 mile so lets just see how I get on and I haven’t actually ran yet so it is time to get on the road, now that I have my new turbo runners and yellow canary running jacket (thanks My Sport & Santa) it shouldn’t be a problem -right. Well in two words “not good” I say I ran 100 yards before I had to stop and take a good break.  I convince myself maybe it was just initial shock and continue onwards, again another 100 yards and bam my body stops, frustration is kicking in, I march onwards and continue this for the next 30 minutes.  I can feel every stone of my body weight (all 16 and a half stone of it) hammering my legs when I run, and it dawns on me, one I’m really out of practice / shape and two I might have pigged out too much this christmas. The nightmare of eating too much turkey over many many days has come back to haunt me and in hindsight I think my body thought the new runners would move my legs for me.  So I head home disheartened but knowing I need to up the gears. So I need a plan asap,  I really need to shift weight as I am carrying too much, after talking to the nutritionist (Hi Ciara) it turns out, I really am not putting in the right foods to keep me going, I eat far too much Toast in fact I eat near enough to a Sliced brown pan a day between toast and sandbos, so they are out.  And who would have thought it that fried eggs etc are bad for you (noooooo) so back to poached and boiled eggs for me.  Fizzy drinks are now out, Tap water is in, so are more oily fish, tuna, mackerel etc, I believe the word is Protein and the more of the better as long as I don’t fry it.  So just to be clear I am not on a diet I am just changing what I eat for the better.  I feel like I’m saying “I’m not fat, I’m big boned.” So Five weeks on… I am now running up to 5 miles jogging up forth mountain and lovin it, I really enjoy going out, myself and Shane also run 3km twice a week around town (the Hilly bits). I have lost 8kg in the past 5 weeks and I have been eating like a king (thanks to Phelim Byrnes recipes, Mick Kelly’s low carb / sugar plan and Ciaras Warnings).  My legs are now stronger, I’m getting faster and my recovery rate has hugely improved and my new turbo shoes are supporting my ankles great, also my blood pressure is dropping (first time in years). One other change is I have started to grow a beard (to my wife’s annoyance might I add) but it is great it keeps your face warm and no-one recognises the wheezing, staggering lump running around the mountain.  So I recommend you all get one and good shoes. So it is going well, lots of support happening down here and it is great to see so many people taking part. – See more at: http://www.hopeanddream10.com/2013/02/19/fatman-rises/#sthash.Il03FZ5O.dpuf

These are some of the posts I wrote for the Hope and Dream 10 mile charity run in Enniscorthy to help raise money for two great charities Hope and Share a Dream. We were trying to help spread awareness and get me back into shape (Win Win)

Niall Reck, Married with 2 kids, designer / owner at Graphedia, I am 36,  6ft 1, I weigh 105 kg and have a waist of  38”.  I know this sounds dreamy but it is far from it. To sum up my fitness level: Badly out of shape, supporting man boobs and a belly like Buddha.

When it comes to exercise I need a goal to keep me motivated, I have been noticing my fitness slipping away lately and too many bad habits creeping in.  Speaking with John O’ Leary about this years event and seeing I needed to get up off my butt the challenge was set and as Alan Maher said if all else fails a lot of people would pay to see me puking up at the finishing line.

I would have been fairly fit over the years, having done martial arts when I  was younger.  Work and family life took priority over the past couple of years and this is where a few bad habits have kicked in, also the added bonus of injuries playing football with eagerly unfit men I have torn almost every ligament in my right ankle and ripped most of the ligaments in my shoulder.

Bad Habits:

• Overeating
• The temptation of biscuits, crisps and sweets
• Not exercising lately
• Too much TV, curse you BBC 2 for creating hours of enjoyable TV from 6 to 9, from top food programs to dance programs.  And of course ITV 4 from 9 pm with endless hours of Clint Eastwood movies and Escape from New York too, how could i leave it.

Goals: 

• Run the Hope and Dream 10
• Raise a load of money for the Hope Clinic and Share a Dream, 2 great causes that do fabulous work which have helped and touched everyone in some way
• Encourage a load of Wexford people to take part
• Get my fitness back, I’m out of shape badly
• Not necessarily lose weight but to decrease my fat and get more muscle in there.

To reach my goal of fitness this gives me 4 months to get in shape, seeing I cannot run for a while as my ankles are still healing this will involve a lot of core work and fitness stamina training.

  So the schedule is 3 days a week in Total Fitness Systems, consisting of Kettle bell training on Mondays, Fitness Training on Wednesdays and Boxing Fitness on Thursdays.

   I have also roped my good friend Shane Carroll into running the race with me in March so we will be Cycling our bikes every Saturday morning.  In two months time I plan on getting on the road and running, that should be fun.

So set your Rocky theme tune and lets see how this goes,  I’m really looking forward to it from a personal point of view and to see how much money I can raise for these two great causes

– See more at: http://www.hopeanddream10.com/2012/12/10/run-fat-boy-run/#sthash.JtRkAzhb.dpuf