O’SULLIVAN’S TRAVELS

Stablemate Ollie “Super Cop” O’Sullivan showed what can happen when you go all-in on The Stable’s philosophy, by taking a whopping six minutes off his half-marathon PB. The crime-fighting hero ran 1:26:30 at the Lilliput Half-Marathon in County Westmeath. 

O’Sullivan toed the line in cloudy but pleasant weather (circa 20^oC), and a slight breeze helped him sniff out any crime on the way.

The Stable News had a hard time getting a hold of “Super O,” but, with the promise of a ride-along, Ally jumped on a ferry to hunt him down in person. 

Here’s what the caped crusader had to say:

“I had good expectations going into the race. The previous Saturday, I had run a PB in a 3000m time trial, so I felt in good shape. The course for the half was T-shaped, so you were doubling back on the route. I had spoken to Lord Starrett the week before the race, and he gave me his usual bit of advice—don’t screw it up AGAIN—i.e., keeping looking at my pace and being too careful. 

The race began: I had a time of sub-1:30 in mind, which is a pace of about 4:15 per km. At 5K in, I looked at the watch; my time was 19:58, and I really thought I’d blow up. I just said, ‘get to 10K and see how you are.’ At 10K, the watch reads 40:20, and I’m starting to wonder when I’ll fold. I just had it in my head that I’d put in a really good few months’ block, and John telling me not to worry about times and to go for it when I raced.

10 miles in, and the watch reads 1:05:20, which was a 10-mile PB for me, and strangely enough the Alphafly seemed to still be working. I knew there and then that I had the half-marathon PB; I kept the pace up, except for an uphill km at 20K and finished the half in 1:26:30.

Being honest, I was over the moon. 2019/20 were nothing but injuries for me (osteopenia and stress fractures). Last summer, I met John Starrett again and told him I’d stick by his training religiously if I could get back jogging without injury. John adjusted my training perfectly, and I haven’t had any bone injuries since. I felt good on Saturday—the best I’ve ever felt racing—and I really believe that anyone who sticks to John’s plans is going in the right direction.”

From the back of the Garda (police) car, Ally added, “Ollie’s a great guy, so supportive of all the Stablemates. He ran an excellent race and fully deserved that massive PB.”

Lord Starrett, currently flying triple first-class to the States, answered the Stazza phone to give us his noble opinion: “Well done on not screwing it up, Ollie. See what happens when you listen to yer ol’ dad. Great job!”

So what’s next for our very own Stable hero?

“Next races will be another half in August time and a marathon in Amsterdam or Dublin in October.”

Looks like Ollie will have plenty more to listen to in his next block of training, so we’ll give him the last word for a while:

“Thanks to everyone in The Stable for the great comments after the race. Enjoy yer day, folks—and stay safe.”