Jordan Adams, who ran a marathon in every county in Ireland alongside his brother Cian this spring, has announced a book about his life and the woman who inspired those 33 days on the road, their mum Geraldine.
A Licence to Live: My Race Against Dementia will be published by HarperNorth on Thursday 14 January 2027. Jordan broke the news on Instagram from a studio in Birmingham, where he was having his photograph taken for the cover.
“The book essentially is my life story going back all the way to my childhood and my upbringing,” he said. “Lots of references and stories of my beautiful amazing mum, Geraldine, who is the reason that I do everything that I do.”
Geraldine died in March 2016, aged 52, from frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Jordan and Cian later learned that they both carry the gene variant that caused their mum’s illness. When the brothers set out to run across Ireland, they were remembering 12 relatives they had lost to FTD, among them their mum, their grandmother and an aunt.
Jordan also spoke about what that knowledge means for his own future. “I’m on a mission to make dementia visible, obviously living with the knowledge that if nothing changes I will lose my life to FTD dementia in the next 10 to 15 years.”
From Antrim to Merrion Square
On 26 April, Jordan ran the London Marathon carrying a 25kg fridge on his back. The following morning he was in Antrim with Cian to run another 26.2 miles. Antrim was the first of 32 counties in 32 days, a journey that took the brothers through Longford and Leitrim, where their family has roots.
In Longford, that Monday morning felt like a family homecoming. The brothers have ties to Drumlish and Ballinamuck, and their grandmother came from Mohill in neighbouring Leitrim. On 11 May, more than a thousand people gathered at the Mall in Longford town to see them off, with pupils and teachers among the crowd. The brothers finished that afternoon at Glennon Brothers Pearse Park.
In Sligo, children from Carbury and St Edward’s national schools welcomed them to O’Boyle Park, where around 60 runners set off alongside them. By the time the brothers reached Dublin’s Merrion Square on 28 May, a crowd was singing “Olé, Olé, Olé” to bring them home. It was Jordan’s 33rd marathon in as many days. When he took the microphone, he had a confession for the runners who had come out to see him. “When I started this journey eight years ago, I wasn’t even good at running,” he said.
In his book announcement, Jordan said the campaign had raised more than £2 million. Readers who followed the brothers from Antrim to Dublin will now get to meet Geraldine through her son’s memories of growing up with her.
A Licence to Live is available to order ahead of publication. Jordan confirmed it will be available through Eason in Ireland.
Pre-order from Amazon Ireland
