THE STRENGTH TO CARRY ON Cancelled music festival will be held next month
STRENGTH works for both body and mind. To be at the top of your game a mix of both is desirable. Have you ever gone on a run when your head just wasn’t in it? Even after you dragged on your shoes, left your house and got the first kilometre under your belt, you still couldn’t get into the zone. It’s always easy at this point to give up and go home. But you don’t. You don’t give in. You keep at it and, eventually, you start to enjoy it. Eventually, you’re cruising.
From my own experience, it happens now and again that I have to push myself to go for a run. But I always stick with it and don’t give up even when I’m not in the mood. I know my mood will eventually change when I’m out running. I believe that it is important to push ourselves, even when we are not 100 per cent up for it, provided we are not sick, exhausted, hungry or thirsty. This builds up mental strength that can serve us well in life.
It takes both mental and physical strength to push towards the line when you are fatigued. You might be in a race and you’ve been alongside the same person for ages, so that it’s become a race between the two of you. You want to win; they want to win. You compete all the way to the line. Sometimes you’ll clinch it and sometimes you may not. Winning can be glorious because you competed and found the extra bit of energy you thought wasn’t there.
In both of these examples, in order to keep going, you engage your mental strength. These are simple and effective examples of how to build mental toughness. The more you call on mental strength and use it the stronger it will become.
From the book ‘Outcome Running – 10 milestones towards a more positive and faster you’ by race organiser Eoin Ryan and available from www. eoinryancoaching.com SOUTH Wicklow will finally be ringing with the sound of music as the 49th Arklow Music Festival gets under way on April 21.
The festival had originally been due to begin on March 3 but organisers were forced to cancel it because of Storm Emma and the Beast from the East.
The festival programme will keep to the same day to day schedule as the postponed festival and the festival programmes are also still valid although local shops will have an additional insert with the revised dates. These inserts will also be handed out during the festival.
The official opening of the festival will take place in St Mary’s College Hall on Sunday, April 22, at 3 p.m., with members of the Hudson family from the Arklow Bay performing the opening.
The Arklow Bay Hotel is the festival’s main sponsor this year, sponsoring the Grand Pianos 2018 for St Mary’s College Hall and Arus Lorcain. They are also sponsoring competition no 44 for Adult Choirs.
All venues are the same as last year and include St Mary’s College Hall, Arus Lorcain, the Marlborough Hall, the Arklow Bay Hotel and the Christian Brothers School. School drama, orchestra and school and adult choirs competitions will take place in St Mary’s College Hall while male and female monologue, piano, violin and string competitions including woodwind and brass will take place in Arus Lorcain.
The Marlborough Hall will cater for junior choirs, youth choirs, sacred music and verse speaking for girls and boys age five to 14 years.
The Arklow Bay Hotel will host the action songs, verse speaking and action poems competitions and the CBS will have all the Dan Gaeilge competitions on both Sundays.
As part of festival week, Arklow and District Chamber of Commerce is once again sponsoring the award for the ‘Best dressed window display’ in a musical theme. The winner will be announced at the Prize Winners Concert on Sunday, April 29.
The programme of competitions is available on www. arklowmusicfestival.com and on Facebook. For more details email arklowcfs@hotmail.com or office@arklowmusicfestival. com, call into the office on 61/63 Main Street, Arklow or ring 0402 32732.