London Marathon #18: 3 weeks to go

This week included the longest run I will be doing as part of my preparation for the London Marathon. The run was set in Northern Ireland, County Donegal, the most northern county in Ireland. The scenery is spectacular, the rugged coastline juts out into the wildness of the North Atlantic Ocean. Malin Head is as far north as you can go (see below).

With Whelan as my surname by birth, I obviously have some Irish ancestry. This run got me thinking about where in Ireland my ancestors came from. The self-leadership lesson this week grew out of this curiosity to know more about my heritage. I learned that there is a joy in reaching back in time, discovering a connection to a place and people that hadn't entered my frame of reference before. What did I find? Where did I come from?

More after a summary of last week's program:

• Tuesday: Tempo run, Niagara Falls. This run was 11km, done at a bit faster pace than I will be running the marathon. Niagara Falls straddles the Canadian/ United States border and is actually made up of three different waterfalls. Horseshoe Falls is the largest, it's on the Canadian side of the border. American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls are smaller, they lie within the United States.

• Wednesday: Walk, Tahiti. Walking at a brisk pace for 50 minutes. This helps with recovery for the next hard session.

• Thursday: Interval run, Amboseli National Park, Kenya. Intervals of random duration and equal recovery, ranging from 30 seconds to 5 minutes. Interval pace was fast, recovery pace was moderate. Distance covered, not including a 10-minute cool down, was 7km.

• Friday: Walk, London. Walking at a brisk pace for 50 minutes.

• Saturday: Long run, Ireland, County Donegal. This run was done at an easy pace. Total of 35km.

• Sunday: Easy run, around the streets of town. This run is done at a very easy pace, 13km.

• Monday: Walk, London. Walking at a brisk pace for 50 minutes.
  

I found that:

• Whelan is an anglicisation of the medieval Irish surname, O Faolain.

• O Faolain was derived from the Old Irish word faelan, meaning young wolf.

• The name originated in its Old Irish form in the tenth century, in the areas now known as County Kilkenny and County Waterford in southeastern Ireland.

• Whelan/ Whalen is 79th on the list of most common surnames in Ireland.

• We pronounce the name "Wheel-an", in Ireland it's pronounced "Well-an".

• There is a Whelan Coat of Arms. It is characterised by:

  • Silver - peace and sincerity

  • Blue - loyalty and truth

  • Red - fortitude

  • Fleur de Lis - purity and light

  • Line of diamonds - travel and labour
    

My other ancestral lines include:

• McKeon, from northeastern Ireland.

• Mitchell, originating from Surrey, England, migrating northward to Scotland.

• Sleep, from Cornwall, England. This is my mum's maiden name. She jokes that she is one of the few people in the world when asked, "Are you asleep?" she can answer, "Yes."

"To forget one's ancestors is to be a brook without a source, a tree without a root." - Chinese Proverb