Anca and Costi are a consultant obstetrician and a therapist, from Romania, living on the Atlantic coast, and they have run two Dublin Marathons together without ever once finishing apart.
This will be their third, and the first they have run for a charity.
"We always run together. I think that's what helps us to keep going."
"Especially for me, to have somebody by my side to keep my mind distracted, especially for the long runs."
Then, the part she says with some affection and no illusions.
"It would be better without me. He definitely will run faster."
Costi does not take the bait.
"We are a team."
Timișoara to Mayo
They met at university in Timișoara, in the west of Romania. Anca was in medical school. Costi, who is from the south-west and moved there at eighteen, was studying physiotherapy.
The move to Ireland was supposed to last six months.
Anca had planned to spend part of her residency abroad. Then their son was born, and a month later a friend already working here rang her about a job in obstetrics and gynaecology.
"And I was like, are you crazy? I'm just one month delivered. I don't think it's a good idea."
"And she was like, oh, if you're not doing it now, you won't do it at all."
She interviewed, got it, and three months later the three of them were in Ireland with a three-month-old.
"That was the initial plan. To stay here for six months, twelve months, and then go back. And it turned into eleven years now."
She started as a trainee and is now a consultant in obstetrics and gynaecology.
Costi's Romanian physiotherapy qualification is not recognised here, which he summarises briskly.
"Unfortunately, nothing right in Ireland. That's a long, long story."
So he retrained, through courses in neuromuscular therapy, physical therapy and dry needling, and built a practice around a job covering a secondary school run morning and evening.
"I'm busy enough. And in between and after, I try to do my small business."
Their son turns 12 in November.
Kenya
The hospital where Anca works has had a link with Brighter Communities for more than twenty years, going back long before she arrived.
It was set up by one of her mentors, a consultant who has since retired, and Anca has taken it over as the hospital's main contact.
"She really enjoyed working with them, and she kind of gave me the virus."
In 2024 she and Costi travelled to Kenya with the charity for two weeks, alongside colleagues, friends and a group of students.
Anca spent most of it in the hospital, teaching, training, and running skills and drills. Costi spent most of it out in the community, helping build cookstoves.
What has stayed with both of them is the arithmetic.
"It was amazing to see how their healthcare works there, and how much they can do with so little."
"You won't imagine a healthcare run with what they have there. And there are so many good things to learn from them, especially how they run their community services."
What the Money Actually Does
Ask Anca what sustains the fundraising and she does not talk about targets. She talks about having seen it.
"You go there and you see exactly how they live, what conditions they live in. And with so little money they can do so much."
The examples she reaches for first are not medical.
"What they can do to help girls, and education for how to look after themselves when they have their periods. What healthy drinking water is."
"They don't have access to clean water. They don't have access to what we use here, pads. You won't even think that people live like this."
The part she finds most impressive is the method rather than the money.
"They educate each other. They train a small number of people on how to build stoves, and then they go and they help others. And then those who train, once they are comfortable with that, they train other people, and then they go into the community to help others."
"It's amazing. And it's good to see where all this money goes, and that will give you the power to keep going, for sure."
She also has the clearest statement of why a modest Irish fundraising total matters, and it is worth printing exactly as she said it.
"It might be nothing here. For them it can be everything."
They would both like to go back, and this time their son is coming.
"He was very jealous when we went the first time and we left him behind. We promised him next time he'll come with us."
Neither of Them Was Sporty
Anca is emphatic on this point.
"I was never a sport person. I never thought in my life I would run a marathon."
They started during COVID, slowly, five kilometres at a time and no more.
In 2022 they stepped it up and ran their first official race, a 10K.
"We were very proud."
In 2024 they decided to try a marathon, and ran their first half marathon that year in Westport in April.
They are not in a club. They train together, race together, and finish together.
"He doesn't mind, and he always stays with me. And we pass the finish line together."
Toenails, Saunas and a Tropical Downpour
Asked about the hardest part of training, Anca does not say the mileage.
"My biggest thing is losing the nails. My toenails. That's the hard part."
Beyond that it has been aches rather than injuries.
"You always have a little bit of aches and pains all over, and you think, should I go running again or not? And you try a small run, and you see you're okay, and you keep going."
She has an advantage most runners do not.
"I'm lucky that he is a good massage therapist. So when I have any issues, he helps me."
Costi, being the only therapist in the house, treats himself.
Recovery otherwise is the Atlantic coast doing what it does.
"We have nice saunas around on the Atlantic coast, very close to us, Westport. And we go there for a sauna and a dip, and that usually helps."
On fuelling they are deliberately boring, which is the correct approach and not the usual one.
"We kind of stick with the same breakfast. It's not good to change too much in your diet when you're running long runs, especially if you're taking gels."
Which made October interesting. Anca had a conference in Rio and brought the family, and a 33-kilometre long run was due while they were there.
They had left the gels at home.
"So we had to go there and buy new ones. And I said, how will we do now? New gels, 33K. We'll definitely be in trouble."
The gels turned out to be the least of it.
"The weather was like a tropical rain for 33 kilometres," Costi says. "I missed my Irish rain."
"The roads were flooded," Anca says. "We survived it again. We've done it. We'll never forget it."
4:45, Then 4:18, and Now
Their first Dublin Marathon took four hours forty-five, with walking breaks.
The second was four hours eighteen, and they are still pleased about it.
"That was a huge improvement, and we were very proud of ourselves. And we did not stop at all. We ran together all the time, did not stop for anything."
Sunday will be their third, so they know the course, and they know where the hills are.
Sub-four hours is the aim.
Their son will not be coming. He is staying with neighbours and their children, and watching on television and on the tracker.
They will run in Brighter Communities shirts, which is the thing that is different this time.
"We'll run with them in our minds, for sure."
They have raised almost three thousand euro, and are hoping to pass the target on the day.
The Small Charities
One of the reasons this series exists is that smaller organisations rarely get a platform, and Anca did not need that explained to her.
"Even here, whenever there is an organised run, there is fundraising around, but it's always for the big charities."
"It's way easier, and people will donate for those charities, the big ones. But it is harder for the smaller ones. And they do amazing work."
Donate to the cause
This runner is raising funds for charity. Support them by donating.
