Onchan’s Post Office supremo Hassan Patel is raising money for Mannin Cancer Support Group by running 5KM a day through Ramadan.
Hassan has run the Post Office with his wife Hafswa for 10 years, taking over in March 2015.
He said he wanted to raise money for Mannin Cancer as it is a charity that’s close to his family having lost a brother to cancer.
“We always go the Breast Cancer Awareness and Mannin Cancer dos every year, it’s a good cause and while they’re building their new building, why not.” he said.
Training Your Mind
During Ramadan, the ninth month in the Islamic calendar, Muslims adhere to a strict fast, meaning those who can, don’t eat or drink during daylight.
Despite this, Hassan said he hasn’t found running 5KM to be much harder.
He said: “It’s like everything, you’re training your mind and your body and once you train it up, I think it’ll adapt to anything.”
Although, as Ramadan moves around the calendar, he did say it being in March does it make it slightly easier.
“I think because we started a sort of first of March, which is more or less still in winter, it still goes dark around six o’clock or half six now today, so we do more or less 12 hours fast,” he explained.
Hassan added: “It is a lot better than summer, where you do more or less 20/22, hours. So yeah, once you’ve been gone round in the summer season, the winter season is nothing, really.”
Family
Hassan has been doing his running the evenings after work usually on the prom or on the coast road.
“By the time I finish, usually about 45 minutes, it’s time to go home and hopefully the wife has my tea laid out for me,” he jokingly added. “We all get tea together and the whole family sits around the table.”
While his efforts seem a lot, Hassan said his son is also fasting and still regularly going the gym and doesn’t feel much difference, while Premier League stars like Mo Salah go through the same process while playing at the highest level.
Donate
Hassan has set himself a target of £500 for the month, with donations being accepted in the village’s Post Office.
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