Jerry Devereux and I, both visually impaired, had been running separately for quite some time. Both of us are enthusiastic about park and street runs. We acknowledged that running is essential, one of the key ingredients to build confidence, mental fitness and improve social prospective.
On Thursday 2nd September 2021, Jerry and I headed to the Phoenix Park at 11am to test the 45/45 minutes fitness run. A race away from the gym, feel the pavement, fresh and cool air. We headed straight to the park to start the race, the park was fairly empty, quiet and the sky was grey.
Jerry reminded me that we must be careful and observe the coming bicycles. Jerry watched the coming traffic at every crossroad while I watched bicycles and pedestrians ahead of us. This was a good matrix as we both see things differently.
We ran at a convenient pace and talked about the weather, politics, food and news about Africa. This was quite interesting for me as Jerry was keen to know about the life of ordinary people and politicians in Africa.
The race was great and enduring, at 35minutes Jerry told me we had 10minutes to go. We managed to reach the point where we hung around for few seconds to catch some breath and we headed back to the gate. The next 45minutes run was quite easy because we were running down the hill. We ran at the same pace but talking less this time as we were both tired. At 45minutes we arrived at the starting point, tired and exhausted but a sense of accomplishment.
Folks, this is an interesting stuff. We look forward to run the 45/45 Fitness Run at the Phoenix Park in a few weeks. We are inviting anyone who is interested to join myself and Jerry. This is the race of hope, to care for each other as a community, we create a place for people to come together to celebrate the value of every individual. It’s an opportunity to join as a community, united in our desire to support each other, people struggling with sight loss.
David Kortukohun, Service User at the NCBI IONA Resource Centre.