RTÉ music presenter Michael Cahill has been delving into Bruce Springsteen's story via audiobook while running near his home, and keeping his ears alert for that crucial moment when the dishwasher ends its cycle back at base
"So, I've become one of them.
"It's taken me weeks to admit to it publicly, and a certain amount of deep soul searching. But I sat down with my family, and finally admitted the truth, to each of them. That I’m now a runner.
"Like everyone, I thought: `how am I going to keep it together in this strange and unusual time?' So, I started jogging gradually and now run three 5km runs a week. I find it great for fitness, super for clearing the head and it gives me time to listen to some podcasts and audio-books. I’m doing the 5km in around thirty minutes, and the current soundtrack is Bruce Springsteens audio-book of Born To Run.
"I’m also listening to the audio-book of the Bob Iger Story. He’s the man who reinvented the Walt Disney Company, and ran it for the last fifteen years. Although my wife Edwina is suspicious - when work needs to be done around the house, I’ve gone out running. I time it extremely well though, I can sense when the dishwasher needs emptying.
"It’s busy at home with two kids, Jack is nine and Ella is thirteen. In between home-schooling, I like to keep them as active as possible and we’re lucky to have a big park nearby. We play basketball and then it’s over for some football. I have two left feet, by the way.
"Of course, there is also work to be done. I produce Tracy Clifford's lunchtime show on RTÉ 2FM, which I currently organise from home each day. I never thought I’d adjust to working from the spare room, but I’ve adapted and now like it. So as you can imagine there is a lot of music in our house all day long. Love anything by Dermot Kennedy.
"Around three-ish, I head into RTÉ, where I’ve started a new daily show on RTÉ Gold which airs 4.00 to 7.00pm each weekday. RTE GOLD has seen a massive increase in listenership during the current time, and it’s great to be a part of it.
"Evenings are all about cooking lots of food to balance out all that running. I like to think I cook a good steak, and some pretty decent roast potatoes. (Stick a tray of olive oil in the oven. Par boil the spuds for 7/8 mins until they just break-up, rough up the edges a little and then pop them into the hot oil for 45 mins. They’ll be bang on.)
"Then we like to stick on a movie some nights. We just watched Extraction on Netflix and Stars Wars: Rise of Skywalker, which I thoroughly recommend."
Michael Cahill, Weekdays 4-7pm, RTÉ Gold
