Sometimes it’s good to get out of our comfort zone and the week of the 22nd February 2019 was surely that for me. It was book launch week and after a (very) long time in front of a computer it was time to trade in the laptop and the running shoes for the high heels.  I hit the road to spread the word about the Get Running book on TV, radio, in the papers and finally then celebrate the book launch night itself.

What a week it was…

It started on Saturday  in The Irish Times Magazine with a piece by Deirdre Falvey who admitted she was far more curious about my career transition than running itself. Read it here.

On Monday, I could feel the nerves as I made my first ever trip into RTE Radio Centre to meet broadcaster (and thankfully big running fan) Ray Darcy. You can listen back to the full interview here.

On Tuesday I hit the road for Cork and the bright lights of day time television. As a guest on the couch of Today with Maura and Daithi on RTE 1,  I encouraged them to get outside and hit the road. Watch back here (from 8 minutes in).

Back to Dublin on Wednesday to prerecord some more radio interviews with Q102 and Today FM and then back on the telly again, this time on the Elaine Show on Virgin Media Television (watch back here) the final 1/3 of programme.

One more interview then with the lovely Sue Leonard from the Irish Examiner rounded off a busy day. It was actually great to be back on the beach that evening teaching classes to clear my head and wind down from all that talking about myself and running.

Thursday was book launch day and never having been at a book launch I wasn’t sure what to expect. To say I was overwhelmed by the display in Dubray’s Grafton Street and the amount of people who turned up is an understatement. Thankfully Pat Shanahan Photography was there to capture the moment. Check out the photos.

It surely did feel like a wedding – endless complements and the guilt of not having enough time to chat properly to everyone. Thanks so much to all who came along. I’m still winding down from it all.

Since that week these have been a few more mentions and appearances relating to the book and so great to see it hitting bestseller charts too! Ill post in additional links here as they are broadcast.

It is only now that the week is done that I can look back and reflect on how lucky I am to have had the opportunity to experience the world of TV and radio, tell my story and share a wonderful evening of celebration with so many running friends and family. Thank you to everyone for all your support. I hope I thanked you all on the night!

Certainly without Gill Books I would not have done any of it. Nothing like the pressure of a deadline to help put pen to paper!

So it’s back to reality into the running shoes and on the computer since. What’s seldom is wonderful.

If you want to find out more about the Get Running book and how to get it, here are all the Get Running book details.