The real World Book day felt very much like taking on a marathon run.

At 12.00pm, the starting gun fired. I started out slow doing an hour of warm up with the Inkslingers creative writing led by coach Andrew McEneff and next, I found my landmark around 1pm during the Lunchtime Poetry Readings. I followed through with acclaimed poets Peter Sirr, continued on the race with Jean O’ Brien, nearly lost my breath with Gerald Dawe, found it back with Richard Halperin, ran faster with Aifric Mac Aodha and steadied my pace with Paul Perry. By the 3pm film screening of James Joyce’s The Dead, my coping skills were tested. I checked for an injury, didn’t feel any and so kept on.

Then finally I increased my overall speed to enjoy the last part of the race at 7pm with the dramatic performance by Peter Duffy of The Great Hunger by Patrick Kavanagh. Despite a terrible headache, Mr Duffy kept through his work-in-progress performance with a dedication and calm that awed his audience. His dramatisation of Monaghan farmer’s life (with the help of sounds effects) was so accurate and efficient than I passed the finish line without even noticing it.

You should stay on your feet right after the race, they say, and walk around in order to avoid some serious soreness.. but aside from the pain in my hands (from too much clapping) I was absolutely fine.