Cathal Dennehy: principles worth remembering before Marathon season

Well over a million people around the world will do a marathon this year, most running towards something, others running away from something.

Runners during the 2024 Irish Life Dublin Marathon.

THIS is the week it often begins. When many have had their fill of gluttony and set about turning this ship around. That language will finally be learned. That smartphone will be cast aside before 11pm each night. That marathon will finally be run.

For many, the journey to that finish line starts on New Year’s Eve – a night that always triggers a strange kind of nostalgia for the future, an awareness that we’re slowly running out of time to do the things we always wanted: like running 26.2 miles around a major city. Whether triggered by drunken bravado or simply sober commitment to self-improvement, it’s a night when plans are hatched, promises made, to yourself as much as anyone else.