Well I decided 5 weeks ago I would run a marathon so the training was short and could have went much better (calf injury) but I kept my eye firmly on the goal even cut out Guiness. The fatest time was 2 hours 25 min! UNREAL... I finished 3 hours 50 min, my legs cramped continiously for the last 10km however for the lack of training I am happy enough. 43km is along way but I only trained at the most for 28km jogs but next time I will crack under 3 hr 30 min without a doubt. I have found a new challenge in this marathon running also considering the Iron man events now too.
Photos will be posted soon. I had a fantastic day with Jess and family who came out to support! even though I looked like a train wreck crossing the finishing line it was great to see the support. Mick (Jess Father) competed in the 20km also! he finished 2 hrs 15 min which was a great time but he has decided to train harder and run the marathon next year so it will be a training partner for the future runs.
The last 10km by calfs gave me hell, agony cramping all over hamstrings and thigh it was hell! I was cursing at my legs! people must have thought 'this fkn irish man is crazy, but I was never going to give up my legs might but my mind just drove me to that finish line, once crossing I said 'fuckin never doing that again, its just for crazy people' next day I thought I want to do it better, faster than before so roll on my training and my future marathons... this was my first and the start of a new challenge for me.
Check out http://www.the-ring.com.au/ this is my new club where I coach boxercise and take personal training sessions. The classes are full on! the people are enthusiastic and the owners are avid boxing fans! AMAZING. Erin McGowan a female professional boxer who is a top 10 world ranked fighter also coaches there! all in all a great bunch of people and looking forward to a new challenge.
Decision made, flights purchased, destination Perth WA. On May 5th 2010 I am flying back to Australia its another exciting journey and one that i am really looking forward too. At the moment I am steady with my day job in Coleraine and 'Derry Boxercise' (my own setup). Currently I am setting up personal training and adding more classes to the current schedule. Also in the future the website will be given a full overhaul as it was a complete rush job.
Derry boxercise classes are held at the University of Ulster Magee Campus (main hall) Sat 2pm Tuesday 7pm Thursday 7pm everyone is welcome. Classes involve skipping, Circuit training, Punching techniques footwork Padwork and team boxing games.
The Boxercise classes got off to the flying start this weekend at the university of ulster, (Magee Campus). I rarely coach large groups of people together so this was an all new experience for me. At the Ring boxing club I coach youths in smaller groups who are preparing for competitive boxing however I found my skills transcended well during coaching the boxercise classes. The goal was for people to have fun and thus far people have provided me with so much positive feedback.
I have noticed certain things I would like to improve on and any feedback is welcome, the first classes I instructed 4 punch combinations stance, skipping and pad work. The girls took to the skipping like they had been doing it for along time. I was impressed also they dug deep and put in the effort. We all had great fun so I look forward to the next classes on Sat. Due to demand more classes will be introduced during the week, for information on the class click on the derry boxercise
Its been on the cards for along time, but within 2 weeks I will be instructing boxercise classes in my home town of the beautiful and wonderful Derry City (simply the best people in the world). My goals for the classes is primarily to have FUN, I would like to thank everyone for the patients as I know your all keen to get started with me. The Derry boxercise facebook group has now over 150 members, the classes themselves initially can only cater for 25 people per class but if the demand is high more classes will be introduced.
These videos are a recorded diary of travelling and camping Ireland along with a friend. Camping is so much fun, a fantastic hobby.. If you ever get to travel Ireland i would recommend camping, its cheaper, more fun and the campsites that we stayed at were amazing, obviously weather permitting. I hope you enjoy this footage that was captured in May 2009
This year was eventful, fun, sad at times, strange, beautiful but one that was lived with 110% effort, I guess i am thankful to have my health, friendships and family! really is there anything more important..
Merry Christmas everyone and have a wonderful New Year
I have a real admiration for Luke Kelly, born in 1940 in Dublin he was more widely known as the lead vocalist for the Dubliners along with another great singer Ronnie Drew. Luke possessed thee strongest of Irish traditional voices of the century, Kelly immortalised many great songs which our very own Phil Coulter wrote 'The Town I love So Well' and 'Scorn not simplicity' written about Coulters very personal experience of rearing a child with disabilities, Luke Kelly himself would often not perform this song when touring as he believed it was very special and wanted to preserve the beauty and relevance to it.
A strong minded socialist who was also an activist he became a member of the Connelly association (James Connelly a hero of my own), mainly providing his talent to occasions of hardship. During the Free Derry Festival, Luke Kelly performed to the masses in Derry, a community in relief and celebration for having no British rule within the community although it did not last too long I can only imagine the party, it must have been fun none the less. Other performers included Tommy Makem who brought the entire community to a standstill with a performance of his "Four Green fields" a song that tells of the rape pillage and terrorism that Britain brought to the Gaelic community over the centuries and the resilience and fighting spirit that never accepted defeat. Kelly embodied that strength in his voice. You can hear his depth of feeling and love for his country which echoed the rebels of yester year.
DERRY MERRY DERRY FREE - also a former teacher of mine speaks -Mr McCallion god rest him
Brendan and Johnny Sparring at the Ring Boxing Club. I expect Ulster titles from both these young lads this season. The Ring boxing club offers a place for the young men to develop boxing skills and compete. With boxing comes alot of discipline, its teaches people to respect there own health and more importantly (people) oponents after all when you step in that ring we are all the same, religion wont save you, your race wont make you better its simply knowledge, work ethic and ability to outpoint your oponent, the art form as Ray Robinson says "to hit and not be hit is the name of the game" which he did too well, the greatest fighter ever he was a fine tap dancer as a young boy too. :)
I have been tempted to get my act together with the whole photgraphy thing however other important things have put it on the back burner such as work and boxing. When I get around to picking up the camera again I know exactly what U want to achieve..I want to develop my skill as a HDR Photographer, I want to specialize in a new range of photography art using these techniques. Next up I am ordering the software which specialises in these effects then after I master this I will look forward to providing a new style of my own..
Here is one of the first HDR Images I created, I have to say though I used photoshop CS3 to merge the images, the software that I will have soon will do a much effective job. Other HDR Images can be found on KAD Photobox click here
Lately I have been doing some rethinking on my career and goals. On a self evaluation I am someone who has thus far floated through life, certainly a man without a plan. I have decided to change my career as I believe this is the root cause of me being in part an Air head. I have decided to complete a personal training and Boxercise course in London. My dreams have always been in sport why I choose IT as a career baffles me. People, who know me, know my passion for the sport I love coaching the kids and developing new skills in this sport. I have always been a people person and the idea of sitting in front of a screen and talking jargon, which I have done now for many years has stinted my personal growth. My personal fulfilment comes from coaching and sport, I look forward to starting out as a fitness instructor so here goes.
Recently I Competed in the Foyle Hospice 8 mile run and finished 6th out of 200 competitors with a finishing time of 44 min. Next up I am fighting for the Ring boxing club in Derry, it will be my first fight and it seems that all my friends want to watch so I just hope I don’t let the side down. I will be pushing myself harder than ever before, the next few months I expect blood and bruises but hopefully when I fight on the show I will be well prepared for an tough fight.
A night in Paeders i spoke with a couple from Boston, both of Irish ancestry obviously! But a friendly couple they were, they asked me about the troubles now...I informed them that times have changed! I spoke too soon, after a most enjoyable 5 pints of Guinness and some interesting 'international communicating' i returned home, the next morning I was awoken by my mother Who told me we would have to evacuate the street as there was a bomb at the home behind us! (Reported by a police man who arrived at our door) My reaction was not enthusiastic to say the least, i told my mother 'do they not have no consideration for people who may be suffering from a hangover' i refused to leave my bed but after some serious nagging by my mother i got out and visited our next door neighbour...Owenie I asked him 'are you evacuating' he replied 'I can't get my wife out of bed and I was hoping your home would take most of the blast' at this point all i could do was laugh. I returned to the house and informed my parents that our neighbours were not leaving and went straight to bed.
Later it was on the news that a car bomb was placed under the car of a catholic police officers family who lived behind us, the bomb had been disarmed. The perpetrators being dissident republicans admitted this act. I don't understand there logic in their 'cause' what really can be achieved by this. As Bobby Sands said 'Our revenge will be the laughter of our children' the past is where it is we must look but don’t stare.
I have been churning my way through this book 'Love all the people' its a collections of interviews, live acts, poetry and philosophy by Bill Hicks. Bill renowned for being an outspoken American comedian who told the audience how he seen the world via his comedy acts. I would recommend not reading this book in public! I have busted into fits of laughter on several occasions in cafes all over.... this man was a true genius.
Here are some snippets from the book..
Bill Hicks on Americans selling weapons "I'm so sick of arming the world, then sending troops over to destroy the fucking arms, you know what I mean? We keep arming these little countries, and then we go and blow the shit out of them. We're like the bullies of the world, y'know. We're like Jack Palance in the movie Shane, throwing the pistol at the sheepherder's feet.
"Pick it up."
"I don't wanna pick it up, Mister, you'll shoot me."
"Pick up the gun."
"Mister, I don't want no trouble. I just came downtown here to get some hard rock candy for my kids, some gingham for my wife. I don't even know what gingham is, but she goes through about ten rolls a week of that stuff. I ain't looking for no trouble, Mister."
"Pick up the gun."
(He picks it up. Three shots ring out.)
"You all saw him - he had a gun."
Hicks on Iraq 'People say "Iraq had the fourth largest army in the world". Yeah, maybe, but you know what, after the first 3 largest armies, there's a REAL big fucking drop-off. The Hare Krishnas are the 5th largest army in the world, and they've already got all our airports.'
Hicks on Fundamentalist Christians
******
Fundamentalist Christianity - fascinating. These people actually believe that the the world is 12,000 years old. Swear to God. Based on what? I asked them.
"Well we looked at all the people in the Bible and we added 'em up all the way back to Adam and Eve, their ages: 12,000 years."
Well how fucking scientific, okay. I didn't know that you'd gone to so much trouble. That's good. You believe the world's 12,000 years old?
"That's right."
Okay, I got one word to ask you, a one word question, ready?
"Uh-huh."
Dinosaurs.
You know the world is 12,000 years old and dinosaurs existed, they existed in that time, you'd think it would have been mentioned in the fucking Bible at some point.
"And lo Jesus and the disciples walked to Nazareth. But the trail was blocked by a giant brontosaurus... with a splinter in his paw. And O the disciples did run a shriekin': 'What a big fucking lizard, Lord!' But Jesus was unafraid and he took the splinter from the brontosaurus's paw and the big lizard became his friend.
"And Jesus sent him to Scotland where he lived in a loch for O so many years inviting thousands of American tourists to bring their fat fucking families and their fat dollar bills.
"And oh Scotland did praise the Lord. Thank you Lord, thank you Lord. Thank you Lord."#
This Book is hilarious exposing hypocrisy’s of people, religions, nations and the corporatocracy. Bill Hicks has enlightened me with his comedy and his truth.
I am a total 60's fan, I remember on a saturday morning curling up in front of the TV with my mom and watching old Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin Comedies followed by an episode of Abbott and Costello 'Meeting the Vampire' was my favorite. I remember being in uncontrollable fits of laughter. Black and white of course the comedy was clean, silly and ageless.
I found this tune whilst listening to some Simon and Garfunkel, this song was written by Paul Simon but he never recorded instead a fantastic 60's band called 'Image' did, later Paul Simon played the song at live concerts but the definitive version was captured by Image i believe. Enjoy Rubber Ball I think its an amazing find of a quality 60's band.
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