Star of popular Irish soap Colleen Keogh has thanked Belfast for the unexpected warm welcome she experienced when running this year's Belfast Marathon.
The Scottish actress is best known for her role as Anna MacShane in Fair City and made her first-ever visit to the city last month to take part in the annual event.
After setting herself a target of running three marathons and three half marathons in a year, Colleen told Belfast Live how the Belfast one has set her off on a good foot to hit her goal.
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She said: "It's only something that I got into last year, I ran Cork Marathon in June and wasn't really expecting to enjoy the long-distance element.
"It was my first time ever in Belfast and to be honest, I got a bit of a shock as I wasn't expecting hills - that was a bit of a killer.
"Because I did Cork last year I thought I would be fine because I imaged the terrain in Belfast to be like Glasgow but no I was wrong."
Colleen said that even though her stint up north was only short, Belfast was one of the "friendliest cities" she had ever been to.
"I have been really blown away by the whole experience because the minute I arrived, people were just striking up a conversation about the marathon, asking what I did and where I'm from. Everyone was just so friendly.
"I was very overwhelmed with the whole experience in a good way, because of the kindness and generosity of people everywhere - even in Tesco," she explained.
Fair City has been airing on RTÉ since 1989 and has had a massive following in the south since the show's creation.
What Colleen had not anticipated as she laced her trainers and headed out on the 26.2-mile run was that there is also a fan base in Northern Ireland who were quick to cheer her on.
"I was so surprised - Cork last year was maybe my first experience with people shouting Fair City at me but I always knew of the big fan base down the country," Colleen continued.
"I thought that Belfast would be me carrying myself to the end but the spectators were just amazing. I did hear people saying 'Go Fair City' and it was like oh that's me and really helped.
"I never got the chance to thank anyone apart from giving them a wave and a smile but the fact that it was quite consistent throughout, it was like wow there are people here who really like the show too."
She added: "It was something I really hadn't experienced like it before - your work trickling into life and fans giving you that encouragement and when you are going up those hills, it definitely helped and gave me that little boost."
Colleen said she will "100 percent" be back in Belfast to tackle the marathon next year and explore a bit more of what we have to offer.
"I absolutely loved my time there and if I had more time to spend, I would have taken some time to sightsee more so I'll be back over the summer just to see the place more."
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