May 13
16
Whoever said exercise was good for your health didn’t factor in the potential hazards and the dangers associated with clumsiness. I took my first tumble this week. In the middle of an eight mile run, I was lumbering down the Marina, past the Lee Rowing Club and about to turn onto Centre Park Road, when I crossed from one side of the road to the other. I meant to step up on to the curb to run on the footpath, but didn’t quite step high enough and caught my foot on the curb and went flying. I began to tumble forward and in a matter of seconds, I went from being vertical to completely horizontal.
Cork City Council is in the process of reviewing the current City Development Plan and preparing a new City Development Plan. This new plan will replace the current City Development Plan which was adopted in April 2009.The new plan will set out the overall strategy for the future development of Cork City.
The formal review of the Cork City Development Plan 2009-2015 commences on the 22nd April 2013. To this end, an Issues Paper has been produced which seeks to identify those issues that need to be addressed in the next City Development Plan. This Issues Paper forms part of the initial stage of this project and of public consultation on the Cork City Development Plan.
The development plan is primarily focused on physical planning issues such as the location of development and the appropriate uses of land. However, these cannot be successfully accomplished by us without first understanding the key economic, social and cultural objectives of the wider community.
May 13
9
Breathing – I read recently that Erma Bombeck, an American humourist, once said “the only reason I would take up jogging is so that I could hear heavy breathing again”. Well she wasn’t wrong. When I started training for the Cork City half marathon, I did at times wonder if I’d be arrested for suspected lewd behaviour on the Douglas road. It was only when there was a lull between songs on my iPod, that I realised just how heavily I was breathing and how ominous this must have sounded to the walkers I was approaching from behind!
May 13
1
Hills – I’m inclined to avoid them. Like the plague. The coward that I am, I’ve been planning my routes so that I don’t have to tackle any. But as the distances I run get longer, in a City like Cork, avoiding hills eventually becomes a problem. And a bit like a learner driver in the wrong gear, by the time I get to the top of a hill, I’m coughing, spluttering and rolling backwards!
So I bit the bullet this week and tried to incorporate some small hills in my routine. I soon realised that to make it to the top, I had to slow my pace slightly, rather than trying to sprint up the hill, just to get it over with.
Apr 13
28
I’ve decided to run a half marathon this June as part of the Cork City Marathon. Its 13.1miles or to make it sound even more onerous, 21.1 kilometres!
As well as the physical challenge of running 21.1km, I also thought it was an ideal opportunity to raise some money for a Cork charity. Over 172 charities benefitted from participants in the 2012 Cork Marathon. Participants raised money for a vast range of organisations, from animal welfare groups, local schools and the lifeboat service to the many voluntary care organisations.
Apr 13
26
In December 2012 a draft Masterplan for the Marina Park was brought to Council for consideration prior to putting it out for public consultation for a four week period. At the request of Council the draft Masterplan was deferred for further consideration and development. This was primarily for the purpose of ensuring that a draft plan for public consultation should provide certainty for all stakeholders as to the proposed final manner in which the GAA Stadium Redevelopment and Centre of Excellence would be incorporated.
Apr 13
25
At a recent meeting of Cork City Council the City Manager, Tim Lucey, presented members with a report outlining the possibility of publicly funding for an events centre in Cork City.
In late 2012 independent assessment was undertaken to determine whether there is an economic case for public investment in a multifunctional large scale event centre for the city. The assessment was also to determine if there is evidence of market failure to the extent that consideration should be given to the investment of public funds to facilitate the delivery of such a facility.
Apr 13
24
It feels like I’ve taken ten steps backwards this week. Between battling severe weather warnings and a vomiting bug in the last number of days, my training schedule has been shot to pieces. I was completely out of action for the first half of the week and when I finally got back to training, a four mile jog that had been relatively comfortable the week before, suddenly had me struggling after less than a mile. As you read this – there is just six weeks to the Cork City Marathon and it seems as if I’m as far as ever from being fit enough to complete the thirteen miles.
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