TADHG-ER KING

Stablemate Tadhg Crowley slaughtered his official PB by almost thirty minutes at the Charleville International Half-Marathon. Crowley tanked it up to the Limerick town of Kilmallock and back to Charleville in 1:22:35. The warm and windy weather saw Crowley exposed on the straights, but he dug deep into his reserves to fight the gale for 33^rd place overall.

Ally “Punch-Drunk” Smith was helping clear the course when he spotted Crowley chatting to fellow runners: another one for The Stable News!

Ally: Alright, bud, I almost missed you there. Now, I can’t have you giving a War and Peace-length, 2-in-1 report again—that was a lot!

Tadhg: Ha-ha, yeah, like 2-in-1 shorts; too much material!

Ally: Ha, good one, pal. Help me lift this barrier and tell me what you thought of the race.

Tadhg: Well, I had only ever run one other half-marathon before Charleville. That was in Clonakilty,back in November 2019. On that day, a steward sent a group of us in the wrong direction, and we ended up doing an extra 1.5 miles uphill (anyone who has run Clonakilty will know the hill, as well!) I finished that day in 1:51:11. So technically, it’s a PB of 28’36’’.

Ally: Afft away! But rules are rules. You’ve made great progress since joining The Stable, and your unofficial PBs were lowering every week, it seemed. What was your goal going in?

Tadhg: I went to Charleville with the goal of running sub-80. I went out at that pace and was on track up until about mile eight. Then the wheels came off as we exited Kilmallock. We started on some small country roads, and I really felt the wind. I was completely isolated and in a world of pain. 

At about mile nine, a small group passed me, and I sat in on them. This carried me through, as I’d someone to race against and someone to give me shelter. I think most people struggled on that back end of the course, apart from Liam O’Connor. Amazing run by Liam!

I guess I should have adjusted my pace and plan from the start to allow for the conditions, but sometimes you gotta just give it a go and fall on your sword. I’ll be sitting down with the main man this week to make a plan for the rest of the year—watch this space! 

Ally: Tucking in behind a group was a wise move, and good on ye for giving it a lash; racing others, the clock, and battling the wind for 82’ is still some achievement. I’m looking forward to seeing what you can do on a calm day in spring. Also: cheers for keeping it brief—I’ve another 50 barriers to shift before I can go.

Tadhg: No worries, Ally. Here, I’ll help and you can get up the road quicker.

Ally: Cheers, bud.

Back at Stazza Mansion, Coach Stazza was setting up a half-pipe and some railings for his new venture “Stazza’s Skaters”: “This will be a state-of-the-art facility, and we will have the best coaches (myself included) to get some X games winners. We’ll build another one in Cork to help out ‘the Curator’ by getting the pesky skateboarders off the steps and railings at the Glucksman. Oh, yes, about his run. A solid performance, Tadhg; you’re right on the verge of a big breakthrough … Get some rest, and I’ll tell you all about it next week.”