The Irishman Running Abroad Half Marathon Challenge is your chance to be coached directly by the great Sonia O'Sullivan. Today on the show we reveal how it's all going to work and how two lucky listeners will win the prize of becoming the legend's apprentice. Even if you don't win, we want as many people as possible to come with us on this journey to the Antrim Coast Half Marathon on August 28th. Sonia had her own journey this week as she took on a run / hike like no other: The Grand Canyon. In the extended cut of our conversation, Sonia explains how this run came about. How difficult it was to summon the will power to do it, the hoops she had to jump through to get there and the ultimate benefits of pushing yourself out of your comfort zone to do something like this.

We go around the parishes on Strava to see what you have been running around the world. One listener in Edinburgh had a breakthrough by simply increasing his cadence, he ran a sub 3 hour marathon last weekend. We get him on the live line to explain. But what is cadence? Does Sonia ever even think about it? Apparently not but the benefits of focusing on achieving a 180 steps per minute cadence rate are immense.

There's Sonia's German inspired tip of the week and even more detail in the fully clickable episode notes (Patreon exclusive)

To grab an Irishman Running Abroad Singlet for the runner in your life, click here: https://www.rwsports.ie/category/irishman-abroad-running-with-sonia-shop

Joining our running club is easy on strava.com/clubs/irishmanrunningabroad. Hear about up-coming events, post your runs and maybe get a shoutout from Sonia.

The Irishman Abroad Liveline is now open. You can now get in touch with us and feature on our shows by sending your WhatsApp voice note to 0044 7543 122 330.

Why not follow me @jarlath on Twitter, visit www.jigser.com or email the show directly on [email protected]. We always want to hear from you.

Disclaimer: All materials contained within this podcast are copyright protected. Third party reuse and/or quotation in whole or in part is prohibited unless direct credit and/or hyperlink to the Irishman Abroad podcast is clearly and accurately provided.