Thomas Burke competes 62nd 5K run in a row.
Penned for the Athlone Topic
The road ahead is long and uncertain, there are many many bumps along the way and a few icy patches and dangerous curves. Some of us travel the dark backroads at night and some of us in daylight. Tomas Burke from Coosan has chosen to tackle the bumpy road head-on and to tirelessly run 5k, each day, to fundraise for Pieta House.
Tomas is tackling the untimely death of a young friend by fundraising for Pieta House who specialise in counselling families in the aftermath of of suicide, in the prevention of suicide and promoting the awareness of suicide prevention.
For sixty two long days, Tomas has criss crossed Athlone. He didn't do a 5K everyday, on some days he did 10k and on other days he actually completed Marathons, pushing the daily 5k run up to an impressive 42K run.
This sole destroying exercise has paved the way for others to join him and run, fundraise and also raise awareness for much needed charities like Pieta House.
We are running out of time, to get the message across to friends and family, that they should seek help when the long road gets you down and to speak up when the journey gets too long.
Tomas is not alone in his goal as many friends have started to post pictures of their own 5K runs. Some with young families even opted to walk together.
Geraldine Kiveney from Coosan encouraged friends to post their selfies as they selflessly worked, walked and ran to help support Tom and Pieta House. Further a field, I posted a picture of 3 letters spelling T O M, which I spelt on a running app from the centre of Madrid. At 1.43KMs long, those three letters, that one word is actually the longest thing I have ever written.
Like the many friends coming out to support Tom as he completes his 62nd day on Tuesday 31st of January. I shouldn’t need to spell out what a tremendous effort Tom has undertaken.
If you feel lost, forget your TomTom, follow Tomas Burke´s example. Exercise is key to coping with whatever stresses life has to offer and while most people have sang, The Proclaimers ´500 Miles´ at some stage in their lives, few of us have put those words into motion and fewer still for such a worthy cause.
Tomas raised €7,000 and I wouldn't be surprised if he raised €7,000 more.
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