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.

MY FACEBOOK PAGE

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.

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. “

Thanks very much to Simon Evans my webmaster for  some updating work on this website
As Simon previously cycled around the world he surely knows a thing or two about bicycles. Just like me when he got home he was probably wondering what to do next.
Well Simon didn’t sit about too long before putting an idea for a new design of a child’s bicycle into action.
As seen on the Late Late Toy Show by 1,500,000 pairs of eyes this bicycle grows with the child. One of these bicycles is yours to be won please see.

https://www.littlebigbikes.com

LittleBig is the bike that grows with your child. Designed in Ireland, the LittleBig bike transforms from a little to big balance bike into a pedal bike so it suits kids from age 2 to 7.
Check out their Facebook page https://facebook.com/littlebigbikes are giving away a free LittleBig bike, Competition ends Friday!

Simon is also available for website design.

To listen to my interview on the John Murray Show press  John Murray Interview

Last Friday I was invited to attend a Mexican cultural event called A Taste Of Mexico at the Mansion House in Dublin. I thanked the Mexican Ambassador Sr. Carlos Garcia de Alba for the help the Mexican government gave me.  More help than any other government on my world run.

Lord Mayor of Dublin Christy Burke and the Mexican Ambassador to Ireland Sr. Carlos Garcia de Alba

As long time readers to the worldjog.com will know I received an escort for 2,000km and every single night during this time they provided places to stay ranging from 5 star hotels to floor space in roadside restaurants. Mexico was special.
While I was there Lord Mayor of Dublin the very likeable and hard working Christy Burke dropped in for a chat. And then two Mexican models came by to make me the odd one out! Think I need to work on my chat-up routine

And then it was time to cool down with some enchilada!

So because things were so hectic my new mate Christy asked me to drop by for a cup of tea soon

It has take four years, but in running around the world, Tony Mangan has
done what few will ever achieved.  This is a tale of adventure, courage and single-minded determination; a triumph of the spirit in pursuit of a unique dream.  Gavin McGuinness meets the world traveller

To read my Irish Runner magazine article please press  this link

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Thanks to the editor Frank Greally and journalist Gavin McGuinness for this

Correction:  My Mams name is Sheila and not Ann who is my sister, sorry for this!

Also it was the first run from east to west and not west to east (Jesper Kenn Olsen and Tom Denniss)

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Thanks to Kevin McGuirk for the following very high resolution picture

Hi Folks, Still in recovery mode!! The body is still seriously stiff!!  I have been invited to meet the Mexican Ambassador to Ireland  Sr. Carlos García de Alba Zepeda in the Mansion House in Dublin on Friday at noon for a Mexican cultural event. I will no doubt be thanking him for wonderful help I received from the Mexican government while running under escort through there. I hope he likes this interview in which I talk about my wonderful time in the country. Please see blog archive June/September 2011 on the right side bar of this page for those blog postings.

To listen to my  Highland Radio interview press >>   tonymangan

Highland Radio transmits to the Co. Donegal area.

Lately I have been making more posts on Facebook, so please also check out my Facebook page.

To listen to my radio interview with Pearse Corcoran press HERE And then press the red button on the stations home page.

To hear my RTE Radio interview on Irish radio just before the marathon please press  HERE   and move dial to   00.55.00 minutes

PS Meant to say just under 1,200 marathons in total and not 1,200 kilometres!

Video of my final footsteps of the world run with my mam Sheila, sister Ann and nephew Brian.

Press   HERE

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