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One of the Greats

Words are not a whole lot of use to me at the moment in trying to describe why Paddy has inspired me to run a marathon and to run it in his name and memory.  The memories and the great times are much more useful then the words… but since words are all I have here online I’ll try my best.

Paddy was my father-in-law, a really great man who was taken from us much too early, at just 69 years of age. He lost his fight with pancreatic cancer in January 2012. Many people commented on the grace and courage that Paddy showed in his fight with Cancer. Every single day Paddy was alive after being diagnosed he made that day count. When he was up to it, he would do something special, go somewhere different and just live that day. We never saw him angry about it. He even told me during his big fight how lucky he felt to have such a great family around him. “Lucky” is not a word most of us would use if presented with that scenario. I’ve learned so much about how to live life from him and his fight with illness and I have to thank him for that.

I hope to use that same fighting spirit that he showed to us to help me run the Marathon Race Series this year; in his name and in his memory.

There is some history to where the idea for RunForPaddy.com came from. When Paddy was near the end of his time in this life I came in after a cycle to see him in hospital. There was some slagging going on about me in my cycle gear and about me starting to jog a bit these days and how I might be taking myself and my aim to get fit a bit too seriously these days!  I made a comment that I’d not be running any marathons any time soon to which Paddy joked “You’d run a Marathon for me no problems”.  I laughed it off at the time…but he was not too far from the truth. I’d been telling Regina, my wife, how this thought was niggling away at me recently and that I had to do something about it…. I felt that in the process of taking on the challenge of a marathon I could also make some money for a great cause in memory of her Dad. Regina has listened to this idea from me for a while now. I finally decided to go for it, after we came home from a great weekend  spent in Mullingar with her family. She’s been so supportive of my decision… so far!

Finally, on a personal note; I met Paddy about 10 years ago, shortly after I met Regina. As I said in my wedding speech back in 2004, from the very 1st day he met me he made me feel welcome in his home and from the moment he knew Regina and I were going to get married he always made me feel worthy and right for his little girl. We enjoyed so many great times together; great days with the family, great nights out with occasionally too many beers and fun meals in too.

As so many people have said about him, he was an super husband, father, granddad, uncle and friend to those who knew him. To me Paddy really was a best friend. Let’s try, in his name and memory, to make a difference and to make some money this year for a great cause.

Paddy Supple, one of the Greats.

Thanks for reading

Adrian