Mullingar mother takes on 'Jog 31 miles in October' challenge
By Sarah Slevin
A Mullingar woman has said taking on the ‘Jog 31 miles in October’ challenge has helped her own state of mind, as well as raising funds and awareness for mental health supports.
This is World Mental Health Month, a time for raising awareness and boosting support for mental health services.
It has been an especially tough few months for one Mullingar family, and mother-of-four Caroline McNamee has taken on a month-long challenge in support of Pieta House.
Caroline’s brother Thomas died by suicide three weeks ago, and she also lost both her husband and father this year too.
“It’s been a crazy and tough few months. I wanted to do something, I thought this challenge would get me out of the house and clear my head so I decided to do the jog for the month of October,” said Caroline.
This October, people have taken on the task of walking or jogging 31 miles over the course of the month to raise money for Pieta House.
Pieta House is a suicide and self-harm prevention charity, and has 20 centres across the country, including the midlands centre in Athlone.
Caroline said that jogging and getting out every day has really helped her mentally, although it was tough physically at first.
“I’m not gonna lie, at first it was so tough, because I hadn’t run in around 20 years, but I’m getting into it now. I don’t run every day, I jog two and then do a four mile cycle, which breaks it up,” Caroline said.
“I find it great for my own health.”
Caroline said the last few months have opened her mind to mental health challenges and the supports available.
“I never even thought of mental health before this happened to Thomas. I had heard of Pieta House, and Thomas was going to talk to someone a few weeks before. But if it doesn’t hit your own door, you kind of turn a blind eye to it,” Caroline said.
“I thought Thomas was fine, I would have never said he had problems. Never in a million years would I think he would do something like this,” Caroline.
Caroline has said it is important for people to know there is help and support for people struggling with their mental health.
“For people to know there’s something like Pieta out there that you can go and talk to is just brilliant, and they do a brilliant job,” she said.
“It’s a voluntary organisation and funds that are raised through this challenge will be well spent and will be used on people that need it. We should do more than just one month a year. More awareness is needed,” Caroline added.