Craig never expected running to change his life. What started as a way to get out of the house during lockdown turned into something much deeper: a source of strength, healing and self-discovery.
“The longer you’re out there with yourself, the more you learn about yourself,” he says. “My whole life just changed with running.”
Everything kicked off during lockdown, where walking was a way to get out of the house, “A mate of mine and I went out one morning for a hike, we were heading up the mountains”, They spotted a runner and got inspired, “We seen this dude just tearing past us running. The two of us just looked at each other and said right, we need to do this right, if he can do it we can do it.”
That moment stuck with him. What began as a casual hike became the start of something that would completely shift his mindset. “I just got addicted to it then,” Craig says. “I just wanted further, longer runs. At the time I woulda been suffering fairly bad, I woulda been on a lot of tablets and stuff. I started feeling stronger and better, and in another two year after that I was actually able to get myself off everything. Everything just clicked. It was like a new life force or something.”
Running gave Craig a new sense of freedom.
“One day I just broke crying down out running, out of just sheer joy,” he recalls. “All the emotions and feelings that were stirring up, from being actually able to feel that happiness that I never felt before, that I thought I couldn’t feel. I want other people to feel this.”
That joy soon turned into motivation to help others. “We were looking at the Offaly Way,” he explains. “It starts in Ferbane, kinda cuts a good bit cross country but from there then you can join onto a bigger trail, it’s the Slieve Bloom Way, 100km that’s all mountain.”
“To give us a boost to do it we said we’d try and raise some money for Jigsaw.” he was nervous to start the fundraiser, “ I didn’t launch the actual fundraiser until the night before I was going on the run. I got into bed, the next morning there was nearly two grand. I could not believe it.”
The response blew him away, but for Craig, it wasn’t just about the money.
“The time I was growing up I just dealt with everything myself,
I didn’t know there was anything like Jigsaw or anything like that”
He encourages others to take on the challenge for Jigsaw, “I think it’s just great and amazing what they’re doing like, but like that they don’t get enough funding. It’s whoever’s willing to get out there and lace up a pair of shoes or oil up a chain of a bike and get going, because they need you and they need any support they can get.”
Now, every time he runs, Craig carries that purpose with him.
“I’d like to think that, touch wood, sometime down the line if my kids ever needed them that they’re there,” he says. “If you can throw a few quid to them or set up a fundraiser, it’d be great like, they’d be more than grateful.”
Running gave Craig his happiness back. Supporting Jigsaw, he says, is his way of making sure others can find theirs too.
Feeling inspired by Craig’s story?
If you too are inspired to Run for Jigsaw, please visit www.jigsaw.ie/fundraise or email fundraising@jigsaw.ie
