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Archive for December, 2014

Twisted minds and ideology

Thursday, December 18th, 2014

On my gallop around the world I wrote many times on this about the wonderful kind and decent people in our world of all religions and what an amazing place we live in. The world is full of beautiful people but unfortunately a select few, as in so many walks of life make problems for the rest of us.
I have a heavy heart for the recent victims in the Sydney siege and then the following day another mindless  inhuman atrocity in a school in Peshawar, Pakistan.
The perpetrators of this evil terror, with their perverted twisted minds and ideology claim to carry out these barbaric deeds in the  name of Islam which is fundamentally a peaceful religion. They say they cause this carnage to rid the world of western evil. Surely they have another agenda for peace , love and humanity is beyond their limited comprehension.
Many of Islams beliefs, practices and culture may be different to our own in the west, however we are all human and have the same emotions. At the end of the day we are all cut from the same cloth and share the same heart ache today. It is our differences and our diversities which makes our world so interesting, or at least it should.
Last month world wide in almost 20 countries terrorist barbarically butchered 5,000 innocent men,women and children in the name of religion, or so they claimed to. To my mind this jihad self righteous intolerance is a  abhorrent cancer to our society.
With their swords and bombs. Even with what that self styled cleric said in Sydney – with his pens and words these subhuman beings do a grave disservice to Islam and the countless peaceful Muslims who only want to live in peace.
Alarmingly in Europe many people are marching against Islam and even in Germany fascism is raising its ugly evil head again.
Muslims should not be tarred by the same brush, After all Irish people never liked to be labelled as terrorists because of the murderous actions of the IRA.
Whatever God that is out there,  please give us a peaceful 2015 and a tolerant world in which we can all live side by side in respectful harmony. This is my New Year wish.

UPDATE: PS   I am still very tired. It’s 51 days since I finished running around the world and the stiffness is still in my legs. This stiffness is still there since the very first marathon over four years ago! Yes that stiffness never left my legs.  Perhaps a full recovery will take a year!

These days I post more on my Facebook page  than here. Please visit.

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I got a lovely presentation from the Dublin Marathon organizers and also got recognition of the run from Dublin Bay Running Club. This Sunday21st December  my running club MSB tell me they will make a presentation to recognize my global run at our annual Doyle Cup Christmas race. Thank you very much everyone :)   This means so much to me.

At the moment I am working on sorting this blog for the book.

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Strength doesn’t come from what you can do.

Thursday, December 18th, 2014

Strength doesn’t come from what you can do.
It comes from overcoming the things you once thought you couldn’t.

 

If anyone needs New Year motivation …. Well done to Ireland’s Andy Lee the new WBO middleweight boxing champion of the world! Speaking on his arrival back in Ireland after last weekends thrilling victory in Las Vegas he was quoted ” Any young kid can become a world champion too. ” Andy finally achieved his life long dream Well done Andy. I am reminded of Nelson Mandela’s immortal words ” A winner is simply a dreamer who never gave up. “

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since Tony began his World Run on 25th October 2010

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About Tony

I have always considered myself to be an average runner. In school, I was even bullied for I was a sports wimp. Through hard work, dedication, perseverance, self-belief and a strong mind I succeeded in not only running around the world but breaking four ultra running world records during my competitive career. Having previously cycled around the world I didn't start running until I was almost 30. Then I had a dream of running around the world. For many reasons, I waited for over 20 years. One reason was to establish my pedigree as an endurance athlete. I started and finished my world run as the current World Record-Holder for 48 Hours Indoor Track 426 kilometres (265 miles), a record I have held since 2007. I also broke and still hold the World Record for 48 hours on a Treadmill 405 kilometres (251 miles) in 2008. When I retired from competition, more pleasing than any of my world, European or Irish records I had the respect of my fellow athletes from all over the world - in my opinion, sports greatest reward - an achievement I am most proud of. Then I finally put myself out to pasture, to live my ultimate dream to run around the world! This blog was written on the road while I struggled to find places to sleep and to recover from running an average of 43.3 kilometres or 27 miles per day for 1,165 road days. There were many nights I typed this blog on a smart phone, so fatigued my eyes closed. Many journalists and endurance athletes have referred to my world run as the most difficult endurance challenge ever attempted. During my expedition I rarely had any support vehicles, running mostly with a backpack. In the more desolate areas I pushed my gear, food and water in a cart which I called Nirvana, then I sent her on ahead to run with my backpack once again over altitudes of almost 5,000 metres in the Andes. I stayed in remote villages where many people had never seen a white person before. I literally met the most wonderful people of this world in their own backyard and share many of those amazing experiences in this blog. My run around the world took 4 years. There were no short cuts, I ran every single metre on the road while seeking out the most comprehensive route across 41 countries, 5 continents, I used 50 pair of running shoes and my final footstep of the run was exactly 50,000 kilometres, (almost 31,000 miles) I eventually finished this tongue in cheek named world jog where I started, at the finish line of my city marathon. I started my global run with the Dublin Marathon on October 25th 2010 and finished with the Dublin Marathon on October 27th 2014 at 3 05pm! Thank you for your support, I hope you can share my unique way of seeing the world, the ultimate endurance challenge! Read more...

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