10 Things I Think About Pacing The Charleville Half Marathon 2026

1. Hardest Possible Job

I think that I worry about what running will be like in 10 years’ time. There are too many people like me and not enough like Michael Herlihy. Too many people who don’t like volunteering. We may need to consider implementing some sort of mandatory voluntary service. I always feel guilty about the Charleville Half Marathon, so I normally volunteer to do some pacing although last year I stood at the side of the road in the wind and rain wearing two jackets handing out water bottles. This year it was pacing, pacing 1:20 the hardest possible pacing job.

2. Clinical Organization

I think that it is terrifying how much organization goes into the Charleville Half Marathon. It is so well and thoroughly organized that it would put anyone off organizing a half marathon. Arriving in Charleville to see the thousands of runners running around the place warming up and collecting bibs with no sign of any chaos. I collected my bib and pacing balloon in less than five minutes, leaving time to talk to John Kinsella and John Meade before warming up. John Kinsella was a bit nervous about his new Pumas, he need not have worried.

3. Swedish Warmups

I think that there are very few good sources of information about running. There are a lot of charlatans and snake oil salesmen about. Let the buyer beware. The only decent source of information is interviews with athletes like Andreas Ahlmgren. He said in a recent interview that his warmup includes 4x1min threshold efforts which seems like a good idea, so I stole it and tried it before my pacing job. It did a good job of covering me in a thick layer of sweat.

4. I Don’t Speak Instagram

I think that for a moderately old man like me, discussing running with youngfellas is like when I run in races abroad and you can’t talk because you don’t know the running terminology in the different language. I was very fearful of being unable to communicate with the 1:20 group as I don’t speak Instagram, so I planned to stay quiet and not be a shouting encouraging style pacemaker.

5. Beautiful Straight Exciting Road

I think that Michael Herlihy is a great man. He is responsible for this course with its never-ending straight road from Charleville to Kilmallock. It is so long, it feels like at least 10 miles to someone like me who can’t concentrate. I was lucky to have Alan O’Brien to chat to for the first 3 miles to pass the time. Apparently proper runners like running on straight flat roads.

6. Balloon

I think that pacing balloons are not needed after the first few miles. As we reached the end of the never ending straight road to Kilmallock after clocking off what felt like 21 3:46 minutes per kilometer splits I saw a little boy about Billy’s go hopping up and down at the side of the road. He looked like he would appreciate a balloon, so I disconnected my 1:20 pacing balloon from the handy clip on my shorts and handed it him before rejoining my 1:20 pace group.

7. Peloton

I think that as we passed through the historic old town of Kilmallock which is a great town as it signifies the end of the terrible 10 mile straight road from Charleville I thought that I was going to lead a big gang of runners under 1:20. There were loads of them with me. No one seemed to be in any great difficulty although the air was thick with humidity, never a good thing for running half marathons.

8. Echelons

I think that it was interesting how the group thinned out on the nice bit of the course on the winding country roads back to Charleville. I kept clicking off the 3:46 kilometers but almost as often as a 3:46 would appear on the watch another person would disappear from the group. I felt bad about this but there wasn’t much I could do except stick to the pace.

9. Smithereens

I think that the last 6k were very interesting. I kept to the pacing regime but despite the constant pace I passed a lot of people in various degrees of running and walking. By the time we emerged back onto the straight road at 10 miles my group had been reduced to just one man from Mallow, Aaron Cahill. He was still able to talk so I was confident that we would make it to the finish together.

10. 1:20:00

I think that the picking up the pace at the end of Charleville is unlikely. The mallow man had notions of picking it up which I neither confirmed nor denied as a possibility, “we will see when we get to a kilometer to go” I told him. On the way home we collected a few more members of our group which made it seem like I had done a great job brining so many people home under 1:20. As we entered the last few 100m I let them all go and jogged home exactly, precisely and accurately at 1:20:00 which was great as it meant Michael Herlihy couldn’t give out to me.