LALLY GIES IT LALDY

Stable newcomer Seán Lally gave it laldy at the Belfast City Marathon, bashing out a 2:47 and taking a colossal 14 minutes off his best. The podcast-loving primary school teacher was impressed with Stazza’s banter (knowledge) and joined The Stable in August of this year.

Battling the Belfast wind was as easy as learning his ABCs; he described it as “somewhat windy.” Others reported 70mph gales blowing them off course!

The Stable News’ investigative reporter, Ally “the Chin” Smith, bombed it up north to give Lally the third degree:

AS: Good mooorrning, Mr Laa-lly! How did you get on?

SL: Good morning, Ally. Now bring out your jotter, and we’ll start with mental arithmetic. I finished in 56^th position overall in two hours and 47 minutes. What is 56 divided by eight? And tell me how many minutes under three hours I was.

AS: That’s really good, sir! Eh, 56 divided by eight equals seven, and you were … 13 minutes under three hours??

SL: YES! That’s correct! Now, if I had a 14-minute PB, what was my previous marathon best?

AS: Come on, sir! I thought I was the one to ask the questions! Erm, a 14-minute PB means you did … 3:01 before? You really know how to take away a lot of time, sir. Excellent. Now, if you don’t mind, tell me what you thought about the race.

SL: I thought the race was OK. Some people said it was very tough. I thought it was OK. I cramped at approximately 38km and slowed down somewhat towards the end. 

AS: Absolutely brilliant, sir; you are one tough teacher! Have you any more races this year?

SL: Yes, just the one this year—Clontarf Half-Marathon on November 27. Then I’ll bank plenty of training before I tackle the Dublin Marathon in October next year.

AS: Brilliant. I’m hoping you smash your HM PB then too. And I’ll be practising my times tables for any other arithmetic coming my way.

The Stable News buzzed The Bossman for his assessment of Lally’s lively performance: “Sean’s a solid runner! I predicted 2:45 for him. and he would have done it—and more—if the weather played ball. Considering the woeful winds, 2:47 is a fantastic result and a massive PB, to boot! Well done, Mr Lally.”