About Paddy

All donations to the Irish Cancer Society

All donations to the Irish Cancer Society

 

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

6 Responses to About Paddy

  • avatar
    Rebecca says:

    Absolutely amazing! I’m blown away. Fair play to u Adrian. He was a fantastic uncle and what you wrote about him is spot on! We are all behind you 100%. I’m thinking I might give a race or two a go, you’ve inspired me to at least try!

    • avatar
      Adrian says:

      Hey Rebecca. Thanks so much for your comment here. You’re a star. We’ll have the Doolan’s selling their cars and running everywhere if we keep this up! Thanks for the support, means so much.

  • avatar
    Sarah gray says:

    Regina should be so proud of you! That is a heart wrenching beautiful testiment to paddy. He was a great neighbour and my dad misses his friend and drinking buddy very much. I hope you do well in ur marathons, you should be very proud of yourself! Rip paddy you are greatly missed by all

  • avatar
    Anne Marie says:

    well done ad, great site and lovely tribute xx

  • avatar
    Adrian says:

    Thanks a mil Anne Marie, and for the donation also. Tell all those many contacts you have about this…. after all you are Miss 500+ on linked in! :)

Final Total Announced

Our final total is in. €8,421 raised for the Irish Cancer Society. Thank you so so much to every single person who donated to The Irish Cancer Society through RunForPaddy.com

Thanks to everyone who supported me along the sidelines and the roads during my races. Thanks to everyone who ran some races with me. Thanks to everyone who did their own fundraising events and campaigns for RunForPaddy.com Thanks to Regina for listening to my moaning of aches and pains and for being the greatest person that’s ever lived. Thanks to Ann for supporting me from the moment I ran the idea past her. And thanks to the man behind it all, my inspiration for every mile and my true friend, Paddy. We love you man.

The Big Idea

To run the following 6 races and raise money for the Irish Cancer Society in memory of Paddy Supple

  • 5 mile (8 km) race in June
  • 10 km race in July
  • 10 mile (16 km) race in August
  • Half marathon in September
  • 20 mile (32 km) in October
  • Full marathon in October

    Sponsor Me - Please!!

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    Want To Get Involved?

    Some people have said that they might run (or walk) the 1st race with me and maybe even the second one too... some even said they'd do more then 2 races, but that was on a night out! You can register for the races by clicking here. Let me know if you sign up and we'll meet up on the race day.

    Not a runner or a walker? No hassle! If you have any other ideas on how you can help get in touch today... we need all the help we can get to make this big for Paddy!
    All money raised by you, my supporters, will be donated to the great work of the
    All money raised goes to Irish Cancer Society

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