Emma, of Ballymena Runners, at Glenariff Forest, Northern Ireland. Photo 0667.

You will hear me laughing.

I am the wrong side of forty, the mother of two, and have been with my husband, Paul, for twenty-six years.

 

I started running five years ago, when a friend asked me to keep her company at Ballymena Runner’s Cozy Sofa Night, which is a beginners session, to introduce people to running by getting them out of their comfort zone, by training to run 5k over a series of running lessons.

I am now one of the lady captains of Ballymena Runners.

I’m also the naughty person in Ballymena Runners. If anyone is going to get stuck up a mountain, and in trouble, it will be me.

I was lucky enough to run the London Marathon, and to have raised £1700 for the charity of a friends daughter, Avah McGinty (7), who has spina bifida and hydrocephalus.

Last year Avah joined me and a group of friends, and actually walked the last twenty meters of a run on her own. Which was pretty profound, for us all.

Everybody can do whatever they want. I was able to run a marathon, and Avah was able to run her own version of a marathon. We all just need to find our own way.

 

Story by Bout Yeh photographers Belfast

Emma, of Ballymena Runners, at Glenariff Forest, Northern Ireland. Photo 0663.
Emma, of Ballymena Runners, at Glenariff Forest, Northern Ireland. Photo 0669.
Emma, of Ballymena Runners, at Glenariff Forest, Northern Ireland. Photo 0656.

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