“I remember arriving in Birr and tensions were high, everybody knew I was struggling. I had slept in the camper the day before, I couldn’t move at all in there in Birr, everything was aching.”
Given the physical state Peter was in, we stretched out his break significantly, almost doubling the usual rest period he would take. The fact that he had ran so well earlier in the day granted us this luxury.
Gavin told me in the aftermath what he did in the camper van to help Peter recover, “We let him lie down for a while and take painkillers along with some light massaging, anti-inflammatory gel, and icing. He said to us that he needed support on the final stretch into Nenagh or else he would struggle.”
Despite the rest and physio work that was done on Peter, he still needed assistance to get out of the camper van before he could take to the roads for his final stretch of the day into Nenagh. Personally, I feel as though the group of friends that joined Peter for this stretch from the start were a huge factor that gave Peter that extra boost of energy to get him going again, with a special mention to Brendan Maher who came out to run that leg and offered so much help to Peter in terms of recovery when he got to Nenagh.
“We took an extra-long break in Birr and, don’t ask me how, but when we started running again, I was feeling good! Loads of physio, loads of food, loads of TLC, and somehow, I was back out there.”
Being in the lead car for this final leg of Day Three, seeing the miraculous turnaround Peter made from the last 4k of the previous leg where it looked as though he had nothing left to give, was truly inspiring. It’s hard to put into words the respect and admiration I had for him as I watched him find his pace and chat to everybody who joined him along the way. Our Project Manager Meg cycled alongside Gemma for this leg also, and she described it as “Forrest Gump-esque” as so many people joined Peter along the way during this leg.
As Peter completed final 500m, running alongside what must have been 30 people, the streets ahead were lined with spectators cheering him on. It was an incredibly emotional moment as Peter took to the front of the group and received an unforgettable ovation from the people of Nenagh, which included many friends and family members.
“Seeing all the friendly faces and the crowd that was rallying around Nenagh was huge. It became possibly the best I had felt all week. The trade-off from the worst I’d felt to the best I’d felt all in one day, and it happened twice on that day!”
Michael Molamphy summed it up beautifully when I spoke to him afterwards, “When I witnessed him on the final run in to Nenagh, the bible story of Lazarus came to mind - not sure who played the part of Jesus in this one, but Peter's own incredible resilience was, without doubt, the main contributor.”
Peter told me how he felt as he finished what was a rollercoaster Day Three, “Nenagh was bittersweet. I wanted the whole thing to be over as it was such a high to finish that day on, surrounded by friends and family. But I had to be disciplined enough to not engage in it, because I knew the next day was going to be another battle. It was one of the craziest days of my life!”
As Peter summed up so well, it felt like such a high to finish the day on, it was hard to believe we had two more days left to go. There were so many questions yet to be answered as we went to bed that night. Peter had another 244km to run over the next two days. Would his body hold up for the rest of the week after the wobble in Birr? Nobody knew what was to come over the next two crucial days.