Mission (im)possible for Cavan runner

Cormac Lewis is a man on a mission but he wonders, just one week out from his latest, if this might be his last.

“Nothing is impossible, but it's definitely getting harder,” admits the ultra-marathon runner who is set to tread a path from West London to Heathrow (32 miles) before hopping on a flight to Derry and running overnight back to his family home in Cavan Town.

This weekend - Friday-Saturday, May 8-9, is Cormac's third such feat of endurance, having previously run from his home in Wales to Dublin and then Belfast in consecutive years previously.

“I've got to say I'm a bit nervous,” Cormac tells the Celt.

He recently ran the London Marathon and found the going “tough”, mainly due to the unseasonably warm temperatures.

“I'm obviously training to do more than 130 plus miles and, at about the 20 mark in that marathon, I was really struggling.”

Cormac explains he has spent the past six months “training hard”. The last four weeks have seen him clock up between 70 and 80 miles a week - with morning half-marathons starting at 5am, and finishing before his kids wake up and he has to get ready for work.

In London, the routine switches to evening runs.

“I've been doing that but in eight or nine degree temperatures,” says the former champion kick boxer. “Then [for the London Marathon] it was suddenly 20 degrees... It really zapped me, and it really played tricks with my mind.”

Cormac finished 10 minutes off his target at just under 3:08 hours. But the whole time for the final few miles the Cavan man wondered whether he'd be fit to go beyond what was required to complete his latest home-coming run. “If I was that bad at 20 miles, what's my head going to be like at 125 miles?” he asks.

“I've had a lot of deep debates with runners who think I'm crazy because I'm trying to train for a marathon while I'm really training for a 130 miler, which is like two completely different sports.”

The staggering mileage Cormac has covered has garnered him quite the following on mapping app Strava, with other runners showing both interest and curiosity as to how he is able to keep going.

It hasn't been easy.

“You're trying to squeeze all these training miles into a week, while balancing home life, work, travel. I keep thinking this is my last ever because I'm getting so fed up. I'm pushing myself, and more than I did last year. I think I'm getting close to my limits of tiredness. Most of my runs are with a head-torch on when the rest of the world is asleep.”

Yet Cormac reflects on the ancient Japanese ritual ‘Misogi’ - the process of doing one defining thing every year. “Something that pushes your boundaries. Nothing is impossible if you put your mind to it. Fear of failure is a great motivator. I'm really excited about it, and nervous, but I'm always like this in the run up. Then when it's over, I miss it.”

Shocked by the growing levels of homelessness he witnesses running the streets of London, once again the Operations Director at GBE Group is looking to raise funds for British charity Shelter.

He has managed to raise in the region of £10,000 through his previous two runs. It is one of the things that focuses Cormac's mind back to the task at hand. The other is on a more personal level, and stems from the support he receives from family and close friends who have joined him on various legs and durations in the past.

When the Celt speaks with Cormac he's sitting with the laptop open and a chilled can of beer on the side. He's mapping the route he'll run from Derry back to Cavan, taking in the Bogside, and following the road to Omagh, via Enniskillen, Kinawley and Belturbet, before home along the N3.

There will be between 20-30 people joining Cormac on his London leg, a "sight seers' run", which starts in West London at 7am on Friday before turning into a veritable sight-seeing tour on foot - taking in Westminister and Tower Bridge among other iconic sights.

As the crow flies, it's not that far. But they'll be following the Thames and its many meanders.

Cormac will land in Derry 6pm with only his passport, a camera pack, battery charger and phone, and will meet his aunt and uncle Monica and John McCormick and his brother in law Karl McEntee, the latter of whom has committed to run to Strabane (20+ miles).

Another friend Hugh Leech will join Cormac “on the graveyard shift” to Omagh via Newtownstewart; and onto Dromore, Irvinestown and Enniskillen with Kevin Donohoe.

“If anyone wants to join, they're more than welcome too. It's a great buzz for me to see people. But some of these are really dangerous roads, but from Belturbet onwards anyone is welcome to join,” says Cormac who'll be joined by his friend Shane McPhilip to the border at Aghalane Bridge.

After 132 miles and 29 hours of running, Cormac will have been awake 35 hours, covered around 200,000 steps, consumed close to 10,000 calories and will have drank 25 litres of water.

“A five mile per hour pace, inclusive of me stopping along the way, I should arrive into Cavan Town about 3pm on Saturday afternoon.

“It's my last time doing it. Is it? Watch this space. I get a huge amount of energy from the people who join. But here I am, a lovely family and home here, and another one back in Cavan. There are millions who don't have that, living on the street. They're not there for the craic, and the problem is only getting worse.”

To donate to the cause Cormac has set up a JustGiving page titled 'Home to Home 2025'.