With 4 weeks to go to the Antrim Coast Half Marathon, Sonia O'Sullivan asks us all to breathe out and listen to what our bodies are telling us. It’s a tough thing to do at the best of times but when your training hasn’t been going exactly to plan, it can feel impossible. She walks me and our team captains Neil and Aisling through the plan for this week, examines their progress, offers some unique tips on sock management and gives us glimpse into what her coaching life has been like this week as she moves to London. It’s a jam packed episode featuring a trip around the parishes you need to hear ..read more

In April 2021, for the first time since 1851, the population in the Republic of Ireland was estimated to have passed the five million mark. Many believe a big part of this story has to do with returning Irish nationals. This weekend I became one of them. According to CSO findings, 65,200 people immigrated to Ireland in the year to April 2021, 30,200 of whom were returning Irish nationals, the highest number of returning Irish nationals since 2007. 2022 is set to be an even bigger year for the return of the Irishmen and women abroad. James Parnell has made helping these people re-integrate into ..read more

This week we got short glimpse of what to expect from Donald Trump if he runs for office in 2024. This time it seems angrier, more out there and at its core, driven by revenge. Marion McKeone of the Sunday Business Post has been taking in the reaction to former the President's speech at the America First Policy Institute's event in Washington. There were a few notable omissions from the speech and a few moments that drew gasps. Meanwhile Alex Jones faced the music for his grotesque treatment of the family of the victims of the Sandy Hook massacre. Jones repeatedly “lied and attacked the parent ..read more

You don't have to be coaching at the world championships, moving house, raising kids or trying to recover from COVID to feel like you are using energy you don't have to run in the evenings. There can come a point in any training block where we feel like the tank is empty. That's where I got to this week and strangely, many of our listeners reported the same experience. Week 5 of Sonia's half marathon training plan really put it up to us all. This week we review what was learned with our team captains Aisling DeMaison in France and Neil Fusco recovering from COVID in Wicklow. On the micro level ..read more

My Hidden Race is the story of Olympic medallist Anyika Onuora, who stood on the podium at every major championship in athletics. Behind all the success and smiles lay something sinister that she could not speak about for years. The she has written with Jonathan Drennan doesn't go into detail about the technicalities of her sport. Instead, it gives an unflinching testimony of what it takes to pursue your dreams as a Black British woman against all odds and lifts the lid on the reality of life as a female athlete in a way that nobody else has done before her. She admits that there have been far ..read more

Just when you thought the January 6th Select Committee Hearings were over, they reveal there's going to be a new season in September. Last night's climactic instalment didn't disappoint with the focus turning to Trump's apparent failure to do anything during the entire three hour period during which his supporters attacked the Capitol Buildings. Today Marion takes us inside the key take aways from last night's revelations, the footage, the witnesses, the twists and the new information we never thought we would ever get. It's all here in this bumper episode - slightly delayed so that we could g ..read more

Sonia ducks away from the IAAF World Championships to give us another masterclass in training for the half marathon distance. She has a big announcement that only Patrons can hear and I have a huge prize for one lucky listener. I've been getting emails all week from squad members who have picked up bumps, niggles and of course the dreaded virus. We all know the road to any big race is never smooth. Sometimes the setbacks are easily managed with some time off but when the clock is ticking, things get a bit trickier. Sonia pops on her coaching hat and drops some knowledge on how to navigate thes ..read more

In 2019 Iain Ward signed up for a medical trial. As part of the trial an MRI was done on his brain and a small, supposedly harmless, tumour was detected. A later scan showed it growing so, two weeks after his 31st birthday he was scheduled for brain surgery, during which he had to be awake and talking the entire time. A week later it was confirmed that he had Stage 3 brain cancer, which normally comes with a life expectancy of 5 years. Because he’s younger he might get longer than this but either way he has decided that he’s going to spend his last years dedicating himself to achieving somethi ..read more

US Correspondent Marion McKeone joins Jarlath for a round up of the US news and the latest developments at the January 6th hearings. Elon Musk's attempt to buy Twitter backfires in his face while Joe Biden visits Israel but refuses to shake hands! There's so much more to this conversation available on Patreon.com/irishmanabroad. Get access to double size episodes, more craic, more fun and more conversation with Marion and hundreds of other podcasts from the Irishman Abroad Podcast Network for as little as £5! Want to submit a question or suggest a guest/topic?  You know what to do! 1. Iri ..read more

Cathal Dennehy, Ireland’s most respected athletics writer joins us to discuss the upcoming World Athletics Championships while Sonia helps her athletes prepare for the biggest event of the year. Things are definitely heating up. Week 3 of Sonia’s training plan for the Antrim Coast Half Marathon tested our listeners with a 5 mile repeat session and a 100 minute long run. We get the feelings and questions from squad captains Neil Fusco and Aisling De Maison, take a trip around the parishes and get a revelatory tip of the week from Sonia. Hear the entire conversation, get the training plans and e ..read more