On joining nearForm as Chief Product Officer
This might surprise you, but the most exciting tech company in Ireland is based in Tramore.
On April 3rd I joined nearForm as Chief Product Officer. I genuinely believe nearForm is destined for all-time greatness and I want to contribute to that.
One of my career highlights so far was playing a part in the acquisition of FeedHenry by Red Hat. The day I found out that they were a potential buyer will always stay with me. I have had 2.5 amazing years with them and my opinion has only gone up as time progressed.
Posted by Conor O'Neill on Thursday, April 6, 2017
Carrigfadda Hill and Warrenscourt Forest are two brilliant running spots in West Cork
Warrenscourt is great for a fast semi-trail run. Carrigfadda will test your lungs and is slippy as hell at the moment but the view from the top makes it totally worthwhile.
A few months back I was browsing the Coillte Outdoors site for forests in West Cork that looked good for running in. The two most promising ones I found were Warrenscourt Forest and Carrigfadda Hill.
Warrenscourt I’ve done Warrenscourt Forest twice and I highly recommend it. You can access it from either the Warrenscourt end or Kilmurry end and both are very short drives off the N22 near Lissarda. Whilst it’s quite steep in places, it’s very runnable with some beautiful views along by the stream.
Posted by Conor O'Neill on Wednesday, March 22, 2017
My first ever IMRA/MMRA trail run in Castlefreke - impressive turnout and tons of kids!
I finally signed up for IMRA and did the Castlefreke trail run today. Tough but very enjoyable. Delighted to see so many kids doing it.
I only learned of the Irish Mountain Running Assocation (and Munster Mountain Running Association branch) last year. They have an extensive line-up of events all year from hard-core 127km Ultras to family friendly events like today’s run in Castlefreke Woods and Long Strand.
And unlike a lot of running related things in recent years, it’s an absolute bargain to take part. €10 annual membership and €5 for today’s race.
Posted by Conor O'Neill on Sunday, February 5, 2017
Go to a parkrun this Saturday in West Cork
A wonderful weekly event to get you fit. Currently in Clonakilty, Castlehaven, Macroom, Ballincollig, Bere Island and Glengarriff. Maybe in Bandon at some point too?
I talked about parkrun in my monster post last year on the future of Ireland’s health. It was started in the UK in 2010 and has spread around the world. In parkrun Ireland there are over 50 events every week. You may have heard it mentioned on Operation Transformation too.
The idea is incredibly simple. Every Saturday at 9.30am, you turn up to your local parkrun and do 5km. You can sprint, run, jog, walk or amble.
Posted by Conor O'Neill on Thursday, January 26, 2017
Acknowledging the achievement of Carol Morgan in The Spine Race
Not only did Carol win the women's Spine Race, she smashed the record by 43 hours and came 6th overall
I first learned of the Montane Spine Race last year when there were some mentions online of an Irish guy winning some insanely long race and breaking the record. This turned out to be Eoin Keith who is an amazing ultra runner. He had to pull out this year in third position after breaking a rib near the start. He waited 170 miles to do so :-)
(Image Source The Guardian) Yup, the Spine Race is 268 miles along the Pennines in the UK.
Posted by Conor O'Neill on Sunday, January 22, 2017
Bringing the carnage to the Dublin Marathon 2016
Yup, I did it. 4 years after a disastrous first marathon, I did my version of nailing the Dublin Marathon.
Four years ago I ran my first marathon, in Dublin, and it was a disaster. Everything seized up at the top of my right calf around mile 10, followed a few miles later by my left calf. I hobbled the remaining 16 miles in pain. It had never happened before and it hasn’t happened since.
I thought that was the end of my marathon “career” and reverted to Halves and 10k’s until last year.
Posted by Conor O'Neill on Sunday, November 20, 2016
Why we need more events like Ginger Runner Virtual Run #GRVR16
A bunch of people around the world ran for two hours on the same day. And it was brilliant.
If you’ve ever Googled for video reviews of running shoes, you’ve almost definitely landed on a review by The Ginger Runner, Ethan Newberry. For a long time, that was all I knew him for and I bought several pairs after confirming that he liked them. Then I discovered Ginger Runner Live, where he does long interviews with ultra runners live on YouTube. These are my goto podcasts whilst running slowly, along with Bad Boys Running, The Ultra Runner Podcast and Adam Buxton (who may not be a runner :-) ).
Posted by Conor O'Neill on Sunday, November 20, 2016
Timoleague to Courtmacsherry and initial impressions of Elephone Explorer Pro
Whilst you can dip your toes into action cameras with this, the video quality just isn't very good.
One of my fave things to do is watch videos made by Ultra Marathon runners and videographers. The views are always stunning and instantly make me want to go out for a run. My first attempt to do similar in Run Forest Run was a bit of a disaster as the rain killed my phone.
We’ve had an action camera for a few years that my bro-in-law kindly gave us. It’s a Contour GPS.
Posted by Conor O'Neill on Sunday, October 2, 2016
The Berlin Marathon 2016 - A race for everyone in a great city
A fantastic experience to be in the same race as the fastest long distance runners in the world
Our build up to Berlin had not been great. Between holidays, Red Hat Summit in SF, Red Hat Tech Exchange in Vietnam and a week of post-Vietnam illness, I only managed to get a few long runs in. D’wife also tripped whilst running, less than a week beforehand, and smashed her face up badly. But we had done the Clonakilty 10 Miler which we both felt went well. So we flew from Dublin the day before without too many nerves.
Posted by Conor O'Neill on Sunday, October 2, 2016
The Walkist Manifesto - From Greenways to pathways everywhere and the future of Ireland's health
It's time to make a decision on what this country and its people will look like in 20 years time.
Intro I began this post several months ago. It started quite simply - I wanted to congratulate those behind the wonderful Waterford/Deise Greenway and encourage Cork County Council to embrace a West Cork Greenway and execute on it. The Waterford one is partially opening this week.
However the more I thought about it, the bigger the “vision” got. What I’m going to present here is obvious in many places, controversial in others and possibly pure fantasy.
Posted by Conor O'Neill on Wednesday, September 21, 2016