Darren Evans is someone who epitomises what it means to run for a ‘why’. He is the co-founder of the Green Runners, a running community making changes for a fitter planet; the co-founder of Pair-Ups, a process and kit to help runners extend the life of the trainers, and race director of the Longbridge Backyard Ultra, a running event with sustainability at its core, aiming to use business as a tool for regeneration. In addition, Darren is an experienced trail running coach and, under the handle 3Wordruns, the creative mind behind Running Greener odes – poems that aim to inspire others to join the voices calling for systemic change in our relationship with the natural world. 

Follow: @3wordruns

A Runner's Ode to Climate Change

www.3wordruns.uk

www.pairups.co.uk

www.thegreenrunners.com

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Ivan Kashdan is an interdisciplinary artist with a passion for the environment and a drive to use his skills to change how we perceive and interact with nature. He is one of the three founders of Hermit House Games (previously known as, and referred to in this episode, as Kash & Germ), a family studio based in London who are on a mission to change how nature is portrayed and interacted with in games, telling researched stories from non-human perspectives. 

The trio are currently working on 'A Home Below', a 3D third-person adventure where you play as a hermit crab exploring the ruins of a house lost to sea-level rise. 

Ivan is also a keen runner and recently participated in the Climate Relay, running alongside ultra trail running legend, Damian Hall.  

Follow: @ivankashdan @hermithousegames

Patreon: Hermit House Games

Mentioned

Hurricane Lizards and Plastic Squid: The Fraught and Fascinating Biology of Climate Change - Thor Hanson (2021)

Playing Nature: Ecology in Video Games - Alenda Y. Chang (2019)

Otherlands: A World In The Making - Thomas Halliday (2022)

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Dan Thompson is a life-long runner and the co-founder of the Running Out of Time Climate Relay. Dan has a background as a successful executive, investor and adviser in the music, computer games, and internet sectors. His involvement in running relay races dates back more than a decade; however, it was in 2022 that he first came on my radar with the world’s first and longest climate relay race called Running Out of Time. The Relay, which, this year, spanned 2,436km encourages people to run, walk, cycle, kayak, climb, wheel, swim and surf the baton across Britain for 29 days to supercharge awareness, celebrate great climate work and inspire action. Launching on June 6th at Ben Nevis, the baton arrived in Parliament Square, London on July 4th, having travelled along 210 stages, including over 80 visits to climate & nature projects, sporting bodies & venues, schools, events and iconic locations.  

Running out of Time

Follow: @dtruntheworld @climaterelay

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Jon Bilbrough (aka Wilderthorn) is known for secret gigs in disused and abandoned spaces, turning forgotten places of history and atmosphere into wild and magical ‘Wilderthorn-experiences’. Having begun his musical journey in Asia, touring his earliest gigs in Sri Lanka, Malasia, Singapore and India, he then returned to Chennai, India, to create demo recordings with local Bollywood musicians, famous for their work with award-winning Indian composer, A.R. Rahman. Out of those experiences would emerge the sounds and textures of his debut recordings and idiosyncratic performances that sway between song and improvised territory, driven by Jon’s powerful, emotive voice, tinged with dark operatic tones and folk-style flourishes. In intimate settings, he can be found backed only by his acoustic guitar and in larger venues by a wave of primal rhythms, clanging dulcimers, electric guitar swells and haunting violin textures. 

Instagram: @wilderthornmusic

YouTube: @wilderthorn

www.wilderthorn.com

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Immy Sykes is not sure if she qualifies as a cyclist, but she certainly does a lot of it. Immy, who is based in the North-West of England and goes by the handle of Immy Cycles on Instagram, talks a lot online about her experiences on the bike and the way that it connects her to the people and world around her. She is a passionate environmentalist, with an MSc in Environmental Sustainability and is also a shining light in opening conversations in navigating the curve balls that mental and physical health can throw us.  

Follow: @immycycles

www.immycycles.com

Mentioned:

The Lost Paths, Jack Cornish

Ghost Mountain, Ronan Hession

Doppelgänger: Naomi Klein

Elle Klatsch

Bikes and Birdhides

Helsby Running Club

Sisters in the Wild

Temple Cycles

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Joy is...Tiny Little Moments.

Matt Pycroft specialises in working in remote and hostile environments as a highly experienced filmmaker and photographer. Having begun his career creating short research-based films for the United Nations and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, he fell in love with life on the road and expedition filmmaking. He holds a few strings to his bow and is the host of The Adventure Podcast, an ongoing series of long-form conversations with pioneers of exploration and discovery. He is also Creative Director of Coldhouse, a content agency and platform for authentic storytelling. Coldhouse reflects Matt’s passion for seeking out untold stories and learning from working in extreme environments. No concept is too complex or location too remote.  

It might be because we quickly discovered that our brains and emotions work in a similar manner, but there is very little in this conversation about what people might instinctively think of when they hear the word ‘adventure’: the mountains, the oceans, the bravado, the danger. Instead, what quickly becomes the heart of this conversation, is a much deeper and profound adventure: the adventure that comes from being truly vulnerable with ourselves, when we are broken open and have to find a way to put the pieces back together. 

We talk about masculinity and the difficulties of finding an emotional vocabulary in a society that conditions, men in particular, towards anger; the discomfort of stopping when our brains are wired for being constantly occupied; what success and betterment actually look like; how we can evolve and learn through celebrating and supporting others, and the power of human experience and connection. 

I am so grateful for Matt’s openness and trust in sharing his personal reflections, and I urge you to listen to him over on the Adventure Podcast for more insightful conversations, alongside some practical specialist episodes on planning your own adventures.

Follow: @mattpycroft @coldhouse_ @theadventurepodcast

www.coldhousecollective.com

www.theadventurepodcast.co.uk

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Lindsey Freeman is a writer and sociologist interested in endurance, hapticality, atomic and nuclear cultures, and poetics. Her most recent book, Running, is about practice, love, queerness, and long-distance running, published by Duke University Press. Although described as a feminist and queer handbook of running, it’s a book for all runners.  It’s a book that celebrates the freedom and opportunity for self-discovery that running offers, whilst untangling identity, the body, failure, friendship...in fact the whole spectrum of what it means to lace up our shoes. 

Lindsey is at once both an intensely astute social and cultural observer and an incredibly gentle and empathetic soul, who embodies and explores what feeling, physically and emotionally, as well as thinking about, the world around us might mean for us individually and collectively. Running is the pivot point, both for Lindsey's book and for this conversation, but this is really about how we can create spaces from a place of deep understanding of our thinking, breathing, feeling bodies that are welcoming for all people who think and breathe and feel. In other words.

/www.lindseyfreeman.net

@atomic_lindsey_freeman

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Christine Yu is a New York-based, life-long athlete and award-winning journalist, who writes about sports, science and health. Her interest in the intersection between sports science and women athletes led her to her first book UP TO SPEED: The Groundbreaking Science of Women Athletes, which disentangles myth and gender bias from real science in order to address the huge research gap in supporting women athletes to excel at every stage of life. Ultimately, this is book that is not just a road map for women and girls but an examination of the systemic injustices in sports and science that affect all people in the hope of uncovering ways to make the system more equitable for everyone.  

Running is so much more complex than simply lacing up your shoes; it is embedded within the cultural, political and social web that means that our bodies, particularly female and non-binary bodies, are never just, and should never be limited to, being 'one thing'. Over the course of this conversation, we unpick the assumptions and beliefs that have contributed to these limitations and explore how, by embracing the multi-faceted nature of identity in how we both conduct, interpret and act upon research, we might create spaces that feel equitable for all people.

Christine is an incredibly informed and insightful person and there are so many 'a-ha' moments in this interview that I hope will speak to anyone who feels that they are being forced into a pre-existing jigsaw puzzle that doesn't fit their needs.

www.christinemyu.com

@cyu888

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Stef Mcloughlin is the Commercial Manager for Lewes FC, a football club that is not only committed to gender equality but is really showcasing how, with the right approach, sport can be a catalyst for societal change. There are infinite creative ways that the 100% fan owned club is doing this, but perhaps the most remarkable achievement is that Lewes FC became the first team across the globe to both pay and resource the men’s and women’s teams equally. Since this move in 2017, attendance and sponsorship have surged, which is testimony to the power of commitment, passion and innovation in driving real change. 

Stef is a brilliant advocate for the meaningful work that Lewes FC is doing, not just on a local level but on the world stage, in terms of championing women's sport. Talking to her, it is soon clear how what Lewes is doing is not just about football but how we can live, work and play in a more connected, compassionate and equitable way in all aspects of our lives. Lewes is a team but it's also a community and one that more and more people, across the world, want to be a part of.

Follow: @stefmic

@lewesfcwomen

www.lewesfc.com

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Running on Joy is back, after an extended break, to bring you a series focussing on women doing important work to uplift others, build communities, and connect and protect the world around them.

We begin with Alyssa Ages, a Toronto-based, New York-born author, freelance writer, and copywriter. Alyssa is also a mother, strongman competitor, endurance athlete (including six marathons and an Ironman), rock climber and CrossFitter. Her first book, Secrets of Giants: A Journey to Uncovering the True Meaning of Strength, is a deep dive into the science and psychology of why pushing our physical limits is so impactful. Released in September of this year, it is a powerful book, which interweaves memoir, research and adventure into an odyssey that uncovers why physical strength is about so much more than what you can put on a barbell but rather teaches us that we’re capable of so much more than we know. 

Whilst we begin by delving into Alyssa’s incredible journey, from being very much movement-adverse as a child to testing her strength and endurance in some of the toughest competitions in the world, this conversation, like her book, is about much more than numbers or finishing medals. This is a conversation about learning to trust the body again through grief and physical and mental trauma and how strength is a perspective through which we can see ourselves and the world around us, in order to assert our right to take up space, use our voice and get ‘bulky’. 

Thank you for your ongoing support of the podcast. Running on Joy remains ad free but if you could show your support by rating and reviewing on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, it helps spread the messages and knowledge that my guests are sharing.

Follow: @alyssaages

www.alyssaages.com

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Mauricio (Mau) Díaz is a runner and storyteller whose zeal for adventure and exploration is epitomised in his creation, along with co-founders,Manuel and Daniel, of Aire Libre, a Mexico City-based creative project that hosts immersive running experiences in exotic corners of the world. Rather than seeing running as a purely athletic pursuit, Aire Libre uses movement to explore unknown territories and foster deep transformations, with a strong focus on cultural immersion. By his own admission, running has given Mau some of the most valuable lessons of his life, and I was so grateful for the opportunity to delve deeper into what a life spent on the move means to him.

Mau is someone who balances incredible wisdom with a playful curiosity in the world and people around him. Indeed, early in our conversation he quotes Picasso saying that it took him: "a lifetime to paint like a child”. Mau, instead, suggests that his memoir might be titled "A Life Spent Pointing": pointing to the horizon and the places he wants to explore next. Just as Mau encourages everyone to take a moment to pause and appreciate the present moment, I hope spending time with his thoughts encourages you to also perhaps discover the world through joyful movement.

Follow: @airelibre.earth @maudac

Discover: www.airelibre.earth

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Patrick Stangbye might best be described as a visionary. He is a competitive ultra runner, creative director, and an advocate for a life of essentialism, of focussing on what really matters. It’s a concept that drives his running, life aesthetic and creative projects: moving is to living is to communication. In essence, Patrick's is an existence driven by perspective and enrichment, and it is this perspective that I was keen to explore in this conversation.

We spoke about: Having a mountain sensibility; being fluid with our creative and athletic identities; running as a space for processing and presence; living slow and staying fast as a lens through which we can assess what is necessary in how we live and what we consume; the value of an aesthetic approach to functionality; how brands and running communities can work towards inclusivity and ecological accountability, and the power of curiosity.

@patrickstangbye

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Simone Salvatici is a London-based composer, multi-instrumentalist, sound artist, and qualified sound therapist. One might say that he is a person on a constantly evolving, shifting journey, grounded in a deep and authentic commitment to sound. As a composer of instrumental music, Simone has released both solo and collaborative projects and has performed at venues, including Tate Modern, Sadlers Wells Theatre, the Natural History Museum, and the V&A, as well as International festivals. As a Sound Therapist, he uses his musicianship and aural skills in conjunction with experience gained from intensive studies, research, and immersive learning over the last few years to promote energetic and emotional shifts, using a variety of instruments from large gongs to tuning forks to synthesisers. Simone also now passes on his learning through Sound Therapy practitioner training.

Simone is an incredibly gentle soul who thinks deeply and speaks with great consideration and awareness of the resonance of the energy that we put into the world. It's a powerful conversation, which revolves around our relationship with healing: healing of the self as a pathway to healing others; attuning to the body as instrument and the power of communication beyond words, and the vital need for egoless play as a foundation for a more connected, intuitive existence.

@ssalvatico

www.sselvatico.com

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Jim Leary is an archaeologist and Senior Lecturer at the University of York. They previously held posts at Reading University and English Heritage. Formerly also a Field Archaeologist in Residence at Cambridge University, he has directed major excavations across Britain, including Silbury Hill in Wiltshire, the largest Neolithic monument in Europe. A passionate walker, much of Jim's research centres around the way that people moved in the past, and his new book Footmarks was published earlier this summer. Footmarks takes us on a restless journey that traces 3.5 million years of human movement, in turn exploring the relationship between our ability to travel and power. From early hunter-gatherers, to drovers and pilgrims, to migration, Footmarks shows us how movement has shaped our world. Archaeology, through this lens, is far from static. 

Jim is generous with his incredible experience and knowledge, with a distinctively un-monumental approach to history and an empathetic enthusiasm for re-animating the distant past. Our conversation makes a case for taking time to consider the mythic architecture of the landscape that surrounds us and re-connecting with a collective identity, forged through movement and storytelling. We are all, and always have been travellers, and our footmarks are something to protect and fight for.

Instagram: @jim_leary1

Twitter: @Jim_Leary

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This July, our core team of four set out on a 200-mile adventure across St Columba’s Way in Scotland to raise money for the incredible work of the Venture Trust and, specifically, their new Outdoor Therapy Program, supporting the mental health of vulnerable 16 to 25 year-olds and ex service personnel. We were joined by over forty people at various points of the route, our aim being to break down what a runner, rider or hiker should look like and to open conversations around the benefits of a reciprocal relationship to nature and mindful, slow travel. 

Over the last few months, Running on Joy has been bringing you some of these stories, along with personal reflections and interviews with patrons and collaborators. If you feel inspired, you can find out about future FareWays projects and how to support our fundraising efforts at www.thebighoof.com/fareways. 

For this episode, I travelled to Kent where I spent a beautiful weekend re-connecting with Richard Hansell, an actor and artist who joined us, like Zoe, at the halfway point of the journey. You can hear a short conversation with Richard in Chapter 5 of this series, where we thought about his expectations upon joining the group. On a sunny Sunday morning a few weeks after the journey to Iona, we sat down over steaming mugs of coffee and shared our reflections on the quiet transformations that occur through intentional movement; connection to the landscape, and meaningful conversation. It's a meandering, philosophical conversation, which is, as we touch on, much like a pilgrimage itself: an ode to the kind of friendship that you make walking alongside someone. 

With thanks to: The Jeremy Willson Charitable Trust, Gravis Advisory, Fera GB and Firepot Food for their generous support of the journey across Scotland.

Image: Jessica Lauman-Lairson

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Jacob Martin is a maker of things: of photography, of films, of podcasts, of adventures and, through the adventures, both micro and epic, of stories. One such adventure, of the epic variety, last summer, was to cycle 4,722 miles along the European Divide Trail from Arctic Norway to the Atlantic Coast of Portugal, a feat that only twelve people had ever undertaken before. It’s a trip that Jacob has documented in a beautiful photo book Strangers Make Good Friends – a fitting title for a trip that was as much about relationships as about endurance. 

Jacob is a self-effacing, quietly mannered character, and much of our conversation revolved around the magic of imperfection, both in art and life. Together we reflected on the meaning of home; the importance of friendship in telling stories; empathy and the necessity for respectful, compassionate debate; self-belief and cultivating a ‘hot ticket’ mindset, and how we can still cultivate awe in an age of media saturation.

On the back half, after getting into the weeds of the European Divide journey and how what we deem ‘civilisation’ isn’t necessarily civilised, we dwelt on the ethical responsibility of content creation; the need for mindful consideration of how we contribute to culture, and how we value and respect the attention of our audiences.

Follow: @mid_nowhere

Read: www.midnowhere.co.uk

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This July, our core team of four set out on a 200-mile adventure across St Columba’s Way in Scotland to raise money for the incredible work of the Venture Trust and, specifically, their new Outdoor Therapy Program, supporting the mental health of vulnerable 16 to 25 year-olds and ex service personnel. We were joined by over forty people at various points of the route, our aim being to break down what a runner, rider or hiker should look like and to open conversations around the benefits of a reciprocal relationship to nature and mindful, slow travel. 

Running on Joy has been bringing you some of these stories, along with personal reflections and interviews with patrons and collaborators. If you feel inspired, you can find out about future FareWays journeys and how to support our fundraising efforts at www.thebighoof.com/fareways. 

This episode was recorded over Zoom a week after the ride across Scotland, and is a conversation with Zoe Davison who joined us at the halfway point of the adventure. It was a great opportunity to delve more into Zoe’s own story, as well as to capture her reflections on how she was affected by her time with the 'Big Hoof gang'.

Follow Zoe: @zoe.davison

With thanks to: The Jeremy Willson Charitable Trust, Gravis Advisory, Fera GB and Firepot Food for their generous support of the journey across Scotland.

Image: @idabridgeman_photography

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Annabel Abbs is an award-winning writer of fiction and non-fiction whose most recent offering, 52 Ways to Walk, is full of clearly presented science; snippets of fascinating history, and an enthusiasm for how walking and being out in the world can help us tackle many of life’s challenges. Another recent offering, and Annabel's first foray into memoir, Windswept: Walking in the Footsteps of Remarkable Women, tells the extraordinary stories of eight women who walked long distances in wild and often remote places as they sought their own voices, including Simone de Beauvoir, Nan Shepherd, Georgia O’Keeffe, Gwen John and Daphne du Maurier. Annabel's short stories and journalism have appeared in various places including The Guardian, The Paris Review, Tatler and The Daily Telegraph.

There are so many take-aways form this conversation, whether you are approaching movement from a. literary, medical, mindful or theoretical perspective. Annabel and I certainly spoke about walking but walking as both a metaphor and a method: how we find and become ourselves through walking; how we walk away, walk through, walk back and walk towards; how walking allows us to leave and how it shapes our arrival; how we walk for expression, for freedom, for joy; how we walk to stay alive. 

Follow: @annabelabbs

Read: www.annabelabbs.com

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George Bauer is a Melbourne-raised trail runner, currently living in the Highlands of Scotland. Having run marathons and informal events across four continents, he now partners with brands to co-host holistic retreats, using yoga, trail running and profound connection to the food we eat as ways to re-connect with ourselves and those around us. Most recently, his work has led him to co-found Sundays, a creative community connecting people with the outdoors and movement through inspirational experiences and storytelling. 

George is someone who moves and creates in different ways and a lot of our conversation reflected on how being fluid and intentional with our movement, listening to our bodies and our surroundings, can allow us to create space for ourselves; reflect on our choices, and explore how we shape identity. Through embodying the stories we tell, perhaps, when presented with opportunities, we can practise ‘contagious vulnerability’; trust in our voices, and take the less travelled path. 

Follow: @_georgebauer @startwithsundays @airelibre.run

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This July, our core team of four set out on a 200-mile adventure across St Columba’s Way in Scotland to raise money for the incredible work of the Venture Trust and specifically their new Outdoor Therapy Program, supporting the mental health of vulnerable 16 to 25 year-olds and ex service personnel. We were joined by over forty people at various points of the route, our aim being to break down what a runner, rider or hiker should look like and to open conversations around the benefits of a reciprocal relationship to nature and mindful, slow travel. 

Over the next few months, Running on Joy will be bringing you some of these stories, along with personal reflections and interviews with patrons and collaborators. If you feel inspired, you can find out about future FareWays projects and how to support our fundraising efforts at www.thebighoof.com/fareways. 

This episode was recorded at the halfway point of the journey, an opportunity for both reflection and anticipation of the miles already travelled and those that lay ahead. I hope you enjoy being a fly on the wall to the conversations. 

With thanks to: The Jeremy Willson Charitable Trust, Gravis Advisory, Fera GB and Firepot Food for their generous support of the journey across Scotland.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This July, our core team of four set out on a 200 mile adventure across St Columba’s Way in Scotland to raise money for the incredible work of the Venture Trust and specifically their new Outdoor Therapy Program, supporting the mental health of vulnerable 16 to 25 year-olds and ex service personnel. Our aim was to break down what a runner, rider or hiker should look like and to open conversations around the benefits of a reciprocal relationship to nature and mindful, slow travel. 

Over the next few months, Running on Joy will be bringing you some of these stories, along with personal reflections and interviews with patrons and collaborators. If you feel inspired, you can find out about future FareWays projects and how to support our fundraising efforts at www.thebighoof.com/fareways. 

In this episode, I connect with Gavin the head fundraiser of the Venture Trust, as well a some of the service users who joined us for a day on our journey. There are some simultaneously moving and hilarious reflections on what it means to truly walk alongside someone.

With thanks to: The Jeremy Willson Charitable Trust, Gravis Advisory, Fera GB and Firepot Food for their generous support of the journey across Scotland.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This July, a core team of four set out on a 200-mile adventure across St Columba’s Way in Scotland to raise money for the incredible work of the Venture Trust – specifically their new Outdoor Therapy Program, which supports the mental health of vulnerable 16 to 25 year-olds and ex-service personnel. The aim was to break down what a runner, rider or hiker should look like and to open conversations around the benefits of a reciprocal relationship to nature and mindful, slow travel. 

It was a life-affirming journey as we experienced the incredible kindness of strangers and, what became known as The Big Hoof Gang, changed and grew as people from all walks of life joined us, each with their own tales to tell. We were also able to witness the work of the Venture Trust first hand as a group of their staff and service users joined us for a memorable day which started with leading six horses through central Perth and finished with hugs, smiles, tears and soggy sandwiches in the rain after a morning of walking, laughing and exchanging stories along the river.

Over the next few months, Running on Joy will be bringing you some of these stories, along with personal reflections and interviews with patrons and collaborators. If you feel inspired, you can find out about future FareWays projects and how to support our fundraising efforts at www.thebighoof.com/fareways. 

In this episode, Francesca, Jake and Louis take a break from two days of pavement pounding and reflect on their experiences thus far; the challenges ahead; what it means to walk alongside others towards a common goal, and the relief and liberation that the comparative simplicity of putting one foot in front of the other brings. Some time is also dedicated to Jake choking on a sandwich, which has been retained for authentic effect.

With thanks to: The Jeremy Willson Charitable Trust, Gravis Advisory, Fera GB and Firepot Food for their generous support of the journey across Scotland.

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What does running sound like to you? For Jimmy Watkins it’s cackling with laughter, pounding the trails to punk rock whilst waving around a GoPro and shouting like he's being pursued by a mad pack of hyenas. It’s certainly a far cry from the Kansas of treadmill running, but not out of character for someone who has formed a community for the people that ‘don’t fit in’ to the traditional assumptions of what a club runner should look and sound like. In 2006, Jimmy reached the 800m final in the World Indoor Athletics Championships and set a Welsh indoor record, only to leave the sport, join a band and tour the world. More recently, he's found his way back to running by combining it with his passion for punk rock. It is through this unlikely union that he has finally found an anarchic, joyful harmony that has brought him the freedom to truly use his talents to spread a mutual love of music, running, and being alive with the world.

There were moments of mad hyena cackling and moments of incredible poignancy in this conversation, which pretty much reflects Jimmy as person: he puts everything out there with a sincerity that is never contrived or derivative; it is simply Jimmy – all of it. We talked about the nature of competition; the joy and motivation of absurdity; navigating the grief of losing what you love and how creativity (and Kendrick Lamar) can teach us to love again; the philosophy of ‘flipping’, and why we should always, in the words of Joan Didion, ‘stay on nodding terms with the person we once were’.

Instagram: @nutbushjimmylimits

You Tube: @jimmywatkins800

Running Punks: www.runningpunks.com

Also mentioned:

Joyce (teaser)

Comedy Huel Review

Running Reviews

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This is the second episode of a series following the FareWays project, a collaboration between the Big Hoof, Running on Joy and The British Pilgrimage Trust, which aims to connect people to the outdoors through long distance journeys on foot and horse along the old pilgrims' routes of the UK, for the benefits of their mental and physical health. This July, our core team are setting out on our first 200-mile adventure along St Columba’s Way in Scotland, raising money for the incredible work of the Venture Trust and specifically their new Outdoor Therapy Programme for 16- to 25-year-old sand ex service personnel. We are inviting others to join us on our journey for however long and in whatever way they can in the hope of breaking down assumptions of what a runner, rider or hiker should look like and to open conversations around the benefits of our relationship to Nature and mindful slow travel. Details of how to financially support the project or join the journey and contribute to fundraising efforts can be found below. Every little that you can give really does count towards changing the lives of vulnerable young people, some of whom will also be joining us for two days on this first journey, thanks to your support.

Running on Joy will be following the adventure and there will be some incredible conversations and in-the-field storytelling emerging over the coming months, as well as interviews with patrons and collaborators connected to the project, each of whom have amazing stories and adventures of their own.

Dr. Guy Hayward is our first patron interview. He started off as a chorister at Cambridge University, where he took a PhD in music. However, eschewing an academic career, he decided to tread a more intersectional pathway, exploring the rich melting pot of spirituality, psychology, the arts, nature and religion. From this melting pot has emerged The British Pilgrimage Trust, of which Guy is the founder, a charity that works to open ancient pilgrimage routes around the UK and initiate conversations around how we engage with our Christian heritage, even if we are not traditional Christians. The BPT is about helping people to re-connect to and re-enchant the land in an accessible and multi-faceted manner. Guy has also worked on the revival of evensong in the UK, launching a website where people can find local evensong services near them, and go along and listen to the beautiful music, free of charge. 

Guy is someone who makes your mind crackle and we dug around in the weeds philosophically for this one, but this is ultimately a conversation about bringing light to people's eyes, about what heart-led intentional living truly means and about how we might learn to unthink, rewild, spend time, take breaths and fall into rhythm with each other and the magic of the landscape around us.

With thanks to sponsors and partners of the FareWays project: The Jeremy Willson Charitable Trust, Gravis Advisory, Fera GB, Firepot Food, and The British Pilgrimage Trust.

Donate to FareWays here.

Join the journey and fundraise here.

Find out more about Guy here and the British Pilgrimage Trust here.

Also mentioned: Bounder and Cad and Choral Evensong

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There are a lot of misconceptions and misunderstandings when it comes to running and pregnancy. From the time a woman finds out she is pregnant to the postpartum period and beyond, her body goes through an intense array of changes and there is both limited and conflicting information about what activities are appropriate for her and when. It’s only really been the past few years that recommendations have evolved from being either too restrictive during pregnancy, to the exact opposite 6-weeks postpartum.

Rachel Selman is a Georgia-based physical therapist, specialising in pregnant and postpartum athletes, who is tackling this information and support gap head on. A mum and runner herself, she is the co-founder of the fitness app ‘Stirrups to Sit-ups’, which aims to help new mums heal in the right way without having to navigate the minefield of internet advice as they try to figure out how their running will be affected by pregnancy and childbirth. 

Rachel is generous with both her wisdom and her own personal story, bringing both heart and science in her mission to ensure that other women do not feel alone. This interview is not only rich in practical advice but is also a call to action for recognition that this is all part of a vital conversation around women’s bodies. It’s a conversation about ownership, autonomy and self-identity; it's about equipping women with the language and confidence to advocate for themselves. Please listen, please share because this is not just about running – it’s about freedom and it’s about choice and the freedom that choice brings when we feel fully seen and heard as a whole, multi-faceted human. Because being a woman isn’t about limitation, it’s about opportunity.

@synthesisphysicaltherapy

@stirrupstositups

stirrupstositups.com

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For this live episode Running on Joy went ‘on the road’ to link up with a group of very special people who have been of incredible support to the podcast the past year. Camino Ultra is a London-based ultra running and coaching crew that put on a unique series of 50k races within London. Since their founding, their mission has been to create and inspire runners to seek out trails in the city, to help skill runners to track and navigate away from the concrete, and to empower the belief that longer runs can help you open up to ways of self-discovery.

The Camino crew has been running ultramarathons around the globe for over a decade but they also appreciate how important it is to look for local-based events that don’t have the same impact on the planet we all love. Their intention has been to make it as easy as possible for people to join an ultra by staying local to their home city, with adventure, exploration, opportunity, and inclusivity at their core.

Running on Joy joined David Bone, Camino Co-Founder, and Patrick Insole, a regular Blueways runner and supporter, to explore one of their Blueways routes along London’s Historic Canals. In total, Camino have designed twelve trail routes that get emailed to challengers to complete in their own time. The routes cover all four areas of the city, giving the London Blueways subscribers a real opportunity to experience all the best that the city has to offer from a Blue perspective: think parks and green areas that are adjacent to rivers, lakes, ponds and canals. As an added bonus, they are collaborating with many of London's finest water spaces to also offer open water swimming opportunities on many of their monthly social runs.

So much went wrong in the course of making this episode: there was wind, there was drilling, there was the small incident of Francesca falling over a few minutes after meeting...somehow, however, all of these beautiful imperfections epitomised a lot of the equally beautiful conversations that unfolded over the course of the morning. It really gets to the heart of what Camino is about in the fact that, from the moment that the first smiles and hugs were shared, there was a sense of implicit trust, acceptance and belonging; there was never any question of not following where David led because, wherever he steered, felt safe.

During the 'walk, run, observe', this notion of safety came up a lot. What does it mean to feel safe enough to be vulnerable, to be open to connection, to let go of limiting assumptions, to challenge ourselves? Camino has a mantra of sorts: 'never do nothing'. With safety and with trust we can all take one small step on the path less travelled, one small step into the unknown, one small step into realising something new about ourselves and the world around us.

And so, as you immerse yourself in the full, imperfect soundscape of the Blueway (wind, drills, tumbles, children and all), see it as an opportunity: to slow down, to tune in, to pay attention and experience what it is to truly listen to what is being said.

Follow: @camino_ultra

Join: www.caminoultra.com

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This is the first of a special series from Running on Joy following the FareWays project.

A collaboration between The Big Hoof Charity and The British Pilgrimage Trust, FareWays aims to connect people to the outdoors through long distance journeys on foot and horse, for the benefits of their mental and physical health. The core team of four are therefore inviting others to join them, be it for a morning, a day, or a week and in whatever way is accessible to them: hiking, running, riding or cycling. The first adventure is along St Columba’s Way, raising money for the incredible work of the Venture Trust with their Outdoor Therapy Programme. 

There will be some incredible conversations and in-the-field storytelling emerging over the coming months but, with this first chapter, we start at the very beginning of the journey with the origins of the project, its aims and mission, and introduce Louis, Kiki and Francesca, their stories, motivations and vision.

You can find out more on how to join the St Columba's Way adventure and donate to the Big Hoof here: www.thebighoof.com/fareways

Follow along here: @thebighoof

With thanks to FareWays sponsors and partners The Jeremy Willson Charitable Trust, Gravis Advisory, Fera GB, Firepot Food and The British Pilgrimage Trust.

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Since a problematic relationship with alcohol led to a stint in rehab, at age 23, Brendan has gone on to get a master’s degree, cycle across America, author 11 (ish) books, create award winning short films, speak to international audiences, run 52 marathons in a year and multiple 100 mile ultramarathons. His editorial work has appeared in Alpinist, CNN, Outside, Men’s Journal, National Geographic Adventure, Backpacker, Adventure Cyclist and dozens of other publications, and his clients have included La Sportiva, Strava and Arc’teryx.

These are heady accolades; however, it is Brendan's wry, self-deprecating humour and relatability that has earned his essays, cartoons and infograms such a dedicated following. He makes you realise how ridiculous life is, not just his life but everyone’s life. Yes, he writes and draws about running, but he also writes about eggs and dog food and washing dishes, and perhaps all these things are metaphors for more fundamental reflections on life or, maybe, to quote his essay on the topic, they are in fact ‘just about cooking eggs and that’s enough’.  

The mark of a great conversation is that you sort of forget where it started, where it's heading and what you ate along the way. In this one, we talked a lot about humour, not a lot about running and perhaps too much about a raisin. I laughed so much to the point of tears throughout our time together and, at the point of tears, laughed too, because, well, you either laugh or quit – right? Brendan has this magical, understated, goofy way of talking about pizza whilst also making you realise that life comes down to some very simple choices: do we choose inaction or participation; anger or joy; laughter or quitting? He's worked a lot of that out by hating running, drawing some mediocre things (his words not mine) and continuing to fail at frying eggs. So it follows that the question we should then be asking ourselves is: if he can, surely we can too?

@semi_rad

www.semi-rad.com

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Michael Doughty is a former professional footballer and co-founder of Hylo Athletics –– a brand on a mission to put considerations for the planet at the heart of the conversation around sport, starting with their renewable, carbon-negative and recyclable trainers.

A lot of our conversation was about communication itself: how we open ourselves to discomfort. hold ourselves accountable and speak from a place of objectivity and truth.

For Michael such communication starts with the love, gratitude and joy that can be found through embodied movement, allowing us to make the choices that determine who we are, how we represent ourselves and who we have the potential to be.

@michaeldoughty_

@hyloathletics

www.hyloathletics.com

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Sophie Pavelle is a zoologist and science communicator, whose first book, Forget Me Not, explores the lesser-known species threatened by climate breakdown in the UK. With a down to earth, fresh writing style, Sophie takes the reader on a low-carbon journey, travelling the length and breadth of the British Isles to seek out ten animals and habitats threatened by climate change in the 21st century, ranging from seagrass and salmon to Mountain Hares. Forget Me Not is a simultaneously funny, accessible and thought-provoking, passionate call to action and a reminder that we all have a part to play in protecting the magic of the land around us; indeed, we really can’t afford not to.

Sophie is a sensitive and empathetic voice who makes you want to take time to be and breathe and reconnect with a less 'filtered' way of encountering the ancient wisdom of our day-to-day existence. We spoke a lot about love: the difference between true, unconditional love and romanticism and how the former is both a means and manifesto for living life with the kind of reciprocal compassion that will ultimately bring about long-term reparation and change in our relationship with the world.

Instagram: @sophiepavs

Website: www.sophiepavelle.com

www.kendalmountainfestival.com

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James Poole is a North Face Explorer Team ultra runner and all round enthusiast for the outdoors, who have been a long-time voice for connection and inclusivity within the running community. He has run some of the most prestigious ultra-races around the world, including the iconic Western States and UTMB, as well as epic adventures such as an unsupported, 430km journey across the Gobi Desert. He holds the fastest known time for crossing the Balearic island of Mallorca on the GR221 and has just returned from a second solo, self-supported attempt to run 340 miles from Santa Monica to Las Vegas as part of The Speed Project. Historically a relay, TSP lives and dies by the motto: No Rules, No Spectators, and, in 2021, offered the chance for individual runners to make the crossing from LA to Sin City, surviving the blazing heat of Death Valley to finish at the famous Welcome to Vegas sign.

James leans into a conversation with the same open curiosity as he approaches his running: he is on the journey with you and happy to enjoy the flow, without expectation or agenda. We explored meeting each other and ourselves in the common language of movement and how enlightenment is not a place we arrive at but the person we accept along the way.

Instagram: @jamesdpoole

Mentioned:

SOLIS

The Speed Project

Run As You Are

Trash Free Trails

Tenzing Clean Air Tracker

Image: Ben Read

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Pola Rapaport is a writer, director, and editor of many award-winning films, as well as the producer of art-related video content, and a university instructor. I came across her work with the premiere of her new documentary Addicted to Life, a paradoxical, intimate, vulnerable and, ultimately, inspirational documentary about the Belgian Paralympic champion Marieke Vervoort who takes control of her ailing health to request medical aid-in-dying. The film charts the dramatic events of Vervoot’s final inspirational three years, during which her acceptance of death becomes an affirmation of life. It is an extraordinary piece of storytelling that demystifies one of the most controversial issues of our time and captures the willpower, strength and spirit of Marieke as she fights for her right, not to die, but to truly live. 

This is a conversation about paradox. It's about how we die but, more than that, about how we live, indeed, how we choose to die and therefore how we choose to live. It is about how our first greeting can be our farewell, about how we come together and how we part. It is about pain and about grace. It is about the importance of conversation and the power of the pause, about the places that words cannot go. It is about witnessing and about participation, about what it is to pay attention in a world that would rather look away. It is a conversation about integrity and holding fast but also, ultimately, about what it is to let go.

www.polarapaport.com

Instagram: @addictedtolife_film

Facebook: @pola.rapaport.7 @Addictedtolifefilm

Twitter: @Marieke_theFilm   

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Justin Pugliese is a runner, podcast host and community leader. I was delighted to welcome him to join me on the podcast, as a fellow content creator, to reflect on why and how we do what we do and to provide a space to reflect on what is a period of change and transformation for him.

This was a diverse and, at times, emotional conversation that revolves around energy: how movement gives us the grace to be open to being moved and how we, in turn, hope to move others. I

Listen: @justinstridepod

Follow: @jpugs84

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Tom is someone who is consistently curious about the world. He is a thinker, a craftsman, a scene-setter: someone who is not afraid to be constantly learning and evolving. Our conversation started and ended with a hot cross bun; something incidental but, perhaps, in fact, what it was all about.

Insta: @tomreynoldswriter

@peak.divide

Lionesses: Champions of Europe

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Scott Jenkins could be called ‘200-mile man’ but it is the messaging behind the miles that perhaps most distinguishes him, as well as the actual feats of endurance. The attentive amongst you might recall a previous episode with Scott's brother Rhys, and this was a super opportunity to share an alternative perspective on some of those stories, as well as telling new ones. Like his brother, Scott is an ultra distance runner, originally from Wales, and is the current British record holder for the Moab 240 race in Utah. He is also the first Welshman to complete this race, Bigfoot 200 and Cocodona 250, as well as being the 2nd ever Welshman to complete Badwater 135. He started his ultramarathon journey running from Boston to Austin: a total of 2000 miles or 75 marathons in 75 days. Through these challenges, Scott has raised over £87,000 for a variety of different charities and, in 2015, he completed an Operation Smile mission in Mekele, where he assisted in screening and in theatre for the repair of Cleft Lips and Palates. Since then, he has been selected as one of three UK Ambassadors for the charity.

Scott is a gracious man, who speaks thoughtfully and with great humility. His physical strength belies a story of a shy boy who found his voice through running and whose ultimate wish is to bring hope to faces that have never experienced the simple joy of a smile. We thought a lot about what gives life purpose; the benefits of a more instinctual and grounded way of being; holding ourselves accountable, and what we can learn from reaching beyond what might be possible.

Instagram: @scotjjenkins

Operation Smile

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At any moment, life could change in an instant. When that happens, what do you do? Anson Mackay is someone who inspires me on a pretty much daily basis. Up until their retirement in April 2022, they were a Professor at University College London, specialising in paleoecology, and have worked for over 30 years on assessing human and climatic impacts on some of the world’s most important freshwater ecosystems, including Lake Baikal and the Aral Sea in central Asia, and the Okavango Delta in Southern Africa. Having come out in the 1980s, when the AIDS crisis was in full flow and marches and protests were rallying against Section 28, a piece of homophobic legislation in the UK, they are a passionate advocate for the queer community and pushing for a more equitable and compassionate society. They like running a lot. So much so that they have completed several 100-miler races, most recently the gruelling Arc of Attrition: a perilous winter traverse of the Southwest Coat Path. For many, that would be challenge enough for one life; however, Anson's vibrant light shines all the brighter against the shade of the reality of existing with Stage 4-HPV related cancer. 

Anson carries themself with grace, humility and dignity, and it is with great generosity that they share their potent story. In essence, it's a very real conversation about death. More than that, however, it's an affirmative celebration of the gorgeous, fragile fluidity of the human spirit. Anson is the kind of person who makes you realise what it is to love and that gratitude, positivity and compassion are what life is about. Each day is a miracle and that is an incredibly exciting thing.

About: about.me/ansonmackay

Blog: www.ansonmackay.com/blog

Insta: @ansonmackay

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Peter Bromka is something of a philosopher of movement. He is an astonishingly fast marathoner and writer about running, whose ability to push the boundaries of what is physiologically possible is coupled with a curious mind that can riff from the micro details of split times to the macro questioning of why we do what we do when we run.  

I spent a long time immersing myself in Peter's thoughts across various media platforms in the weeks before we spoke: a veritable labyrinthine roller coaster that leaves you gasping for breath from the honesty and necessity of what he has to say. It was perhaps appropriate therefore, that our conversation revolved, not so much around the further breathless pursuit of answers, as having the grace to allow space for Peter's thoughts to percolate and unfurl.

It is a rumination on paradox. The paradox of authenticity and of experience; of competition and of success; of grief; of awareness; of revelation; of searching for meaning; of going the distance; of faith and of sacrifice; of fear and of pain. Then there's the final paradox: of heartbreak. Of how breaking apart, breaking down, breaking open, let's the light in again.

www.peterbromka.com

Medium: bromka.medium.com

Insta: @bromka

Mentioned: I'm Not Alright; The Marathon Doesn't Owe You Anything

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Nick Triolo is a runner, a writer, a writer about running. With a background in Environmental Studies, he is now senior editor for Outside Run and Trail Runner Magazine, whilst constantly exploring the boundaries of what it means to tell significant stories and how to use those narratives to advocate for the landscape that means so much to him.

In attempting to compile the usual list of show notes, the more I typed, the more it felt like too blunt an instrument to distil the essence of the time that we shared. Ultimately, it was a conversation about conversation: how we can be present and co-create beauty in the world. I hope, perhaps, that this exchange is some small embodiment of that, and I now invite you to share it with much joy and gratitude in my heart.

nicholastriolo.net

Mandorla 200

The Crossing film: running 70 miles across Baja to stop a gold mine (Patagonia's Dirtbag Diaries episode on it) 

Bylines at Trail Runner and Outside Online

Mentioned: 

Agony and Endurance

Let's Get Promiscuous with our Running

Four Directions of Standing Rock

Talk Easy with Ke Huy Quan

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Dr Kate Rawles is giving the world a wake up call. She is an outdoor philosopher, with multiple degrees to their name, a writer, cyclist and activist who is passionate about the need to find urgent, intelligent and effective responses to our multiple environmental challenges. With a love for endurance, she uses what she terms ‘Adventure Plus’ journeys to communicate on environmental issues and inspire positive change. Her book, The Carbon Cycle, Crossing the Great Divide, based on a bike ride from Texas to Alaska exploring climate change, was shortlisted for the Banff Mountain Festival Adventure Travel Book Award, 2013 and her upcoming book, The Life Cycle, sets our focus on Biodiversity as she cycles over 8,000 miles from Costa Rica to the southern tip of South American on a bamboo bike she built herself. Having left academia, she now lives in Cumbria and works freelance running courses that harness the power of wild places to support personal and professional positive action on environmental sustainability, alongside her activism and writing.

I spoke to Kate as she emerged from the tornado that finishing a book project entails, and I was increasingly struck, as we spoke, of the urgency of the stories that she is platforming through her writing and speaking. She is a passionate and knowledgeable communicator and, though peppered with Kate's chuckles and wry humour, many of the themes that we touched on are both shocking and vital. We discussed why statistics are not enough to wake people up; bikes as magicians and how to start conversations; the problems with a conquering mentality and being one animal amongst many; adventure as a means and metaphor for raising awareness and inspiring action; the hidden catastrophe of biodiversity loss and paying witness to both the tragedy and beauty of our relationship with the earth; the big 'Cs' of activism, and not having to be an expert.

Kate's book The Life Cycle; 8000 miles in the Andes by bamboo bike, is out with Icon Books on June 1st 2023.

Web: www.outdoorphilosophy.co.uk

FB:    www.facebook.com/biodiversitybikeride

TW:  @CarbonCycleKate

Inst:  @CarbonCycleKate

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There are many ways in which Beth French could be described: an ultra-marathon open-sea ocean swimmer who was once a Buddhist nun, a single mother who home schools her autistic son and an adventurer who suffered from a crippling chronic illness in her youth. From being confined to a wheelchair with ME at 17, in 2016 she set out to become the first person to swim across the seven most dangerous sea channels in the world, known as ‘Oceans Seven’, in a 12-month period.

Beth really does epitomise being your ‘own hero’ and showing that we are not defined or determined by our circumstances and it was honour to share space with her and hear about her incredible resilience and determination, told with warmth, humour and sincerity.

Beth was keen that this be a two-way conversation and we share some deep reflections on the perceptions of and misunderstandings around the triggers, symptoms, abilities and lived experience of chronic health conditions; re-discovering trust in our bodies; the strength in setting boundaries and why 'bigger, better, faster, more' is not the answer; how sickness can be a superpower; bucket lists and owning your future; the freedom of finding our edge; making the world ok for every body; what it means to endure; being your own uncool, and the perils of allowing your creative son to plan your adventures!

www.bethfrench.co.uk

Watch: Against the Tides

Facebook: /bethfrenchlives

Insta: @bethfrenchlives

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Nick Acheson is a conservationist, author, speaker and presenter from North Norfolk where he lives in a flint cottage by a duckpond with his three-legged lurcher and a flock of rescued animals. For ten years, he lived in South America, working with conservation NGOs such as WWF and Wetlands International. He also spent three years in Asia and have worked with wildlife on every continent. Since their return to the UK they have worked for Norfolk Wildlife Trust, The Wildlife Trusts and the Hawk and Owl Trust. Having crossed the globe in search of wildlife and swum and snorkelled in every world ocean, he has become more and more invested in adopting a low carbon lifestyle and is a committed cyclist and keen runner. I spoke to Nick upon the publication of his book ‘The Meaning of Geese’, a memoir of seven locked-down months in 2020-21, during which he cycled 1,200 miles around North Norfolk on his mother's 40-year-old bike, following the great flocks of Arctic geese whose wild cries haunt the county each winter.

Nick is an eloquent and wise soul with a wealth of knowledge that reflects a true and intuitive relationship with the land. Our conversation flitted along many paths and we thought about what it means to pay attention in a disconnected world; heart-centred knowledge and protecting what we love; haunting and what brings us home, and the power of names and finding ourselves through smallness.

Read: The Meaning of Geese, released February 2023

Website themarshtit.com

Twitter: @themarshtit

Instagram: @thewillowtit

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Rane Roatta might sound like your typical competitive cyclist, rising early to lay down the miles, following a strict regime and sweating in the Miami sun. What makes him unique, however, is that clocking up 80 mile daily rides originated from a real necessity not to crank out watts but…fruit. Although terming himself a 'professional amateur', Rane competed in the inaugural gravel world championships last year, balancing training whilst building his business 'Miami Fruit', which provides a direct-to-consumer exotic fruit shipping service. Rane still does much of the manual labor as well as leading the business alongside his girlfriend.

Rane is a contagiously positive personality and, together, we thought about being a life-long learner; the power of play; finding enrichment in goofiness, and why raising each other up, in racing and business, is the key to building sustainable communities.

A note on sound: Rane was calling from a slightly windy Miami with a temperamental connection. The sound has been reconstructed as best possible but please be aware of this whilst listening!

Follow: @cyclingspirit @miamifruit

Miami Fruit

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Max Romey is perhaps best described as a person in motion. He is an artist who paints astonishing watercolours, often on top of mountains, which, of course, he has to get to first. He is a filmmaker who specialises in capturing athletes, particularly trail and ultrarunners, as they hurtle through simultaneously awe-inspiring and unforgiving landscapes. He is a runner himself, not simply because it enables him to keep up with their subjects, but because it is also vital to his being. However, perhaps what I find most consistent about Max is that he is a storyteller, bringing the world and people around him to life in a manner that epitomises what it means to unlock the incredible paintbox of our existence. 

We think about finding a path in a world beyond words; 'getting over the doorstep' in life, art and running; why there are no 'bad days' spent outdoors, and the magic of an intersectional existence.

Follow: MaxRomeyProductions.com - Vimeo - YouTube - Instagram - Facebook

Watch: Alaska Marine Debris

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After an early career characterised by hours at a computer, Charlie Harpur turned his back on desk work and embraced the physical elements of gardening. When not working as a Landscape Designer and Gardener, he is an impressive trail and ultra-runner who, in 2019, became the British 100km champion. His other achievements include finishing 3rd Brit at the CCC by UTMB and taking the win at Centurion Running's South Downs Way 100.

Charlie epitomises the strength that comes through vulnerability, and I was humbled by how reflective and open he was in sharing about his complex journey with running and mental health, both past and present. We talked about building emotional armouries; the connectivity brought by natural neural networks; comparison culture and seeing the person behind the results; the lure of the great unknown; how plants and running can save your life, and why we would all benefit from stopping to hug the tree.

Charlie and I chatted for a while after we finished recording and agreed that ideas around diversity in trail running that we touched on, in terms of life experience and body type, should not in any way detract from the need to continue advocating and addressing the issues that prevail with representation and inclusion in the sport. Charlie also dove further into his experiences with overtraining and underfueling, which led to hormonal imbalances and greatly impacted his physical and mental health, and the need for more conversations around this. We are hopefully going to schedule a follow up episode for him to share his story, as part of the process of starting those conversations.

Follow: @charlie.harpur

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Hannah is a bundle of creative energy, with a passionate and true drive to make a positive impact on the world around her. We had a hugely enjoyable and diverse conversation about why activism needs activity; holding space so that others can follow; the role models that we can find around us, and the power of being a 'lovely imposter'.

Follow: @neonstash

www.neonstash.com

www.hannahbaileyphoto.com

Support: skateistan

Watch: A Land for Everyone

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Angel Collinson made her name snaking improbable lines down the sheerest mountain faces in her career as a big mountain skier. In that time, she racked up nearly every accolade possible: not only world titles, but also magazine covers and starring roles in adventure movies that would typically go to men. In 2021, however, she turned her back on her professional career and instead jumped on a 40-foot sailboat named Sea Bear to embark on a trans-Atlantic crossing. She has overcome a lot of mountains in her life, both on and off the ski slopes, but this latest plunge into the unknown has taken new levels of courage.

I connected with Angel upon her return to Sea Bear, after a period of reflective time on land. We shared a free-flowing space in which we explored ideas around embodiment, identity and the wild unknown. Angel reached out with a full and open heart, and I am so grateful for her emotional generosity as she navigates this 'one precious life'.

Follow: @angelcollinson

Image: Pete Willauer

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Robbie Phillips is is a professional adventure climber and filmmaker from Edinburgh. His intrepid spirit has carried him across the globe, climbing, in his own words, 'every type of rock, in every style'. From an early career competing as part of the GB team and then working as the Scottish climbing team’s head coach, he is now best known for his cutting edge ascents on alpine rock, including becoming the first Briton to climb the infamous 'Alpine Trilogy'. One of his latest challenges was climbing the world’s hardest sea cliff ‘The Longhope’ on St John’s Head, Orkney, along with his climbing partner, Alex Moore. This big wall sea cliff had previously only been attempted by the most famous rock climbers, including Ed Drummonds and Dave Macleod. The documentary film that Robbie made of the effort, ‘Not a Hope in Hoy’, premiered at Kendal Mountain Festival in 2022. I spoke to Robbie as he was putting the finishing touches to preparations for his upcoming 'Edge of the World' speaking tour, in both his capacity as a world-respected athlete and as a content curator with a flair for telling stories in an incredibly human, relatable manner.

Robbie is nothing but himself, and our conversation gives a flavour of his deep and sincere connection to his country, to the natural world and to the 'tribe' that he has found few climbing. What became clear as we spoke is that Robbie's drive and hunger for adventure comes, not from the destinations, but from the journeys: the most significant of which has been with himself. He comments at one point that he doesn't really remember who he was before climbing: for him, it is the start, the vehicle and the fuel. Here are the traces of Robbie's journey, told with his characteristic, candour, humour, creativity and heart. There is no destination, only discovery – that's what makes it exciting.

Instagram: @robbiephillips_

You Tube: @RobbiePhillips

Not A Hope in Hoy

www.robbieclimbs.com

www.urbanuprising.org

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A Friday 'Shining Lights' episode with a remarkable young man. At nineteen years old, Avery Seuter is not your typical teenager. In September 2022, he set off on an incredible cycle journey from his home in Maine to Key West, Florida, to raise money for the East Coast Greenway, a 3,000-mile pedestrian and bicycle path that connects the two states. Not only is the scope of the distance impressive in itself, he set out, not on two wheels, but one, riding an average of 20 to 30 miles a day on a unicycle. At the time of speaking, Avery was due to arrive in Key West in late January 2023, and I caught up with him literally 'trail side' along his epic adventure. 

Avery is an incredibly perceptive, compassionate and fresh voice in a time when we are encountering so much upheaval, fear and divisiveness across the world. His words resonate with deep gratitude and wonder for the places he travels and the people he meets. We chatted about: Avery's childhood introduction to unicycling through the circus; the practical adaptations and physical demands of transitioning from two wheels to one; the mentorship and community surrounding unicycling; finding new connections and exploring identity and belonging to a place through the bike; turning unexpected challenges into positive opportunities; the importance of safe, shared spaces to make cycling and a more active lifestyle accessible; being an 'accidental' athlete and the benefits of purposeful movement; creating your own natural soundscape when you 'switch off' from the noise of fast living; why 'stranger' doesn't necessarily mean 'danger'; how the microcosm of travel choices reflects wider societal divisions, and why differences can be a chance for learning; navigating the expectations of online platforms; the importance of kindness and how a cat made national news; serious thoughts on ice-cream, and the necessity of pursuing what brings you joy.

Follow: @averyseuter @eastcoastgreenway

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Canyon and Forest Woodward are brothers who grew up in the mountains of Southern Appalachia and the North Cascades of Washington State. After childhoods spent roaming the woods and trails, Canyon would go on to forge a path as a championship level trail runner; political strategist; author, and climate activist, managing the campaign that would see his friend, Chloe Maxim, become the youngest female state senator in Maine’s history, alongside setting astonishing course records and Fastest Known Times on the trails. Forest trod a different path to become an internationally published and awarded photographer and filmmaker, with his work, which engages viewers in contemporary issues through a humanistic lens, featuring in The New York Times, National Geographic, Esquire and The Atlantic, and his films, Food Chains and The Important Places, receiving critical acclaim and screening in dozens of countries and festivals including Tribeca and Berlinale.

Canyon and Forest's footprints crossed this year, however, with the launch of the film Rural Runners, a meditative and intimate look at the incredible journey that rewrote progressive success in rural America and won two campaigns in red districts where they were expected to lose. The film epitomises what it means to show up in an incredibly relatable and raw manner that shines a light beyond the dark state of party politics.

It was so rewarding to bring the siblings together; their relationship really does encapsulate the love that infuses all of their interactions with the world and those around them. In this incredibly creative exchange, we reflected on: growing up in the outdoors and the connective power of Nature; being open to different pathways; creativity as a philosophy of being; re-connecting to body and spirit through running; the cross-overs between the different states experienced in training and racing and other areas of life; finding a voice for change; the road to engaging in electoral politics to address a divided nation; the power of process predicating outcome; friendship as a manifesto; the importance of the formative places and people in our lives; why we need more ‘public listeners’; mindfully amplifying the energy for social and political change within the trail running society, and finding joy within ourselves and each other.

Post-Script: Canyon did make it to the start line of Bandera 100km and came 3rd overall in a hugely competitive field.

Follow: @canyonwoodward @forestwoodward

www.forestwoodward.com

www.canyonwoodward.com

Dirt Road Organising

Watch: Rural Runners; The Important Places

Read: Dirt Road Revival

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Rhys Jenkins is a record-breaking, ultra-endurance athlete from Cardiff, South Wales, who, over the last 10 years, has raised over £125,000 for various charities. Indeed, in 2021, he was a torchbearer for the London Olympics in recognition of his incredible work. His introduction to ultrarunning was running from Boston to Austin in the USA with his brother and two friends. Since then, it’s been a case of relentless forward motion. In 2019, he became Wales' first-ever competitor in the notorious Badwater 135 ultramarathon, renowned for being the hardest footrace on the planet. In 2020, he set a new fastest-know-time for the 870 mile Welsh Coast Path. In 2021, he then set a new record running the length of Great Britain whilst summiting the highest peaks in Scotland, England and Wales. Along with his wife, Rhys, is now the race director of Pegasus Ultra Running, which expanded this year to include the formidable Triple Crown of 200 mile 'Wild Horse' races. Their events are distinctive for their lack of aggressive cut-offs, which is a reflection of what a thoroughly empathetic and inclusive couple they are.

Rhys is, truly, one of the biggest-hearted, compassionate human beings I have ever met. He wears his astonishing feats with modesty, preferring to focus on the motivation behind the efforts: the charities that he runs for and the people with whom he connects. He is also exceptionally entertaining, with stories that make you simultaneously laugh and cry from literally wherever his feet have trodden. We could have chatted all evening but in this small snapshot we cover: the journey from 'Burger Boy' to ultrarunner; 'boils and all' stories from running across America; developing relationships/obsessions with particular routes and races; lightening, dust storms, near-death experiences and Billy Joel in Death Valley; why we need to speak out about difficult things and the stories behind Rhys's charity fundraising; reconnecting to landscapes and people on the Welsh Costal Path; why Scotland is 'Wales on steroids'; breaking the Three Peaks JOGLE record as a family; the terror of being a new dad; 'kind' thieves and kinder strangers, and feeling grateful for the most basic, and yet most easily overlooked thing in life: love.

Follow: @rjenko11

Donate: www.lucyfaithfull.org.uk

Pegasus: www.pegasusultrarunning.com  

Wild Horse: www.wildhorse200.com

Watch: Lighthouse in the Dark

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Hailey Moore @hailey.m.moore is a freelance writer and copyeditor based in Boulder, Colorado. She writes about the outdoors, people and communities and is herself an endurance cyclist and trail runner. She also takes incredible photographs that, like her writing, foreground the beauty of human interactions and incidental moments.

Hailey is a wonderful example of cross-pollination between the arts and athletic arenas, valuing craft in everything she does. Sharing our experiences and passing ideas back and forth was so much fun! We chatted about: connection to place through movement; giving ourselves grace; the mental health benefits of feeling strong; learning to fail; the autonomy of solo bike-packing; introspection and finding a rhythm with yourself on multi-day journeys; strong female friendship; reflections on authentic connection and community; how we present ourselves as writers; deconstructing stereotypes of what a runner or cyclist looks like; self-criticism as motivation; why making stuff is cool; the relationship between writers, story-telling and industry and how outdoor pursuits can be a means of creative expression; being inspired by those doing things differently; space and balance in successful relationships, and finding full presence in time spent outdoors.

Follow: @hailey.m.moore

Read: haileymoore.journoportfolio.com

Photo credit: @aaronlavanchy 

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Jacky Hunt-Broersma is the embodiment of never letting anyone tell you that you 'can’t do anything’. 20 years ago, she did not run at all but, earlier this year, she ran 104 marathons in 104 days, setting a new world record. That in itself is quite something but, 20 years ago, at only 26, she also lost her leg to Ewing's Sarcoma, a rare type of bone cancer. Now, she is one of the most accomplished amputee ultra marathoners around, with a passion for bringing the joy of running to other amputees. Jacky holds numerous firsts and world records, including being the first amputee to run 100 miles on a treadmill, in under 24 hours, and the first amputee to take on the brutal Trans Rockies mountain stage race in Colorado, which covers 120 miles with over 20000ft of climbing at altitude. She also balances all this with being an awesome mum and endurance coach. Quite simply: Jacky is a total bad ass, and I have few words that do justice to how affecting this conversation was and the warmth, humour and unerring positivity that Jacky brings to those around her. The world is a better place with her in it.

We discussed: conflicting feelings around survival narratives; learning to trust and accept a new body as a woman in your twenties; the power of gratitude; confronting the 'boxes' and stigma around disability; how 'just trying' and having curiosity can change lives; running bringing strength and connection to a common human experience; problem-solving and the practicalities of learning to run with a blade; the backwards thinking regarding provision for amputees to access sports; the need for us all to listen to our bodies and respect the incredible things that they can do; the mental games that fuel world records; changing the language and perspective around amputees, and inspiring others to 'do hard things' and realise that they are more capable than they think.

Follow Jacky:

Instagram: @ncrunnerjacky

You Tube: @ncrunnerjacky

Website: www.ncrunnerjacky.com

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A Friday 'Shining Lights' episode with Paul Powlesland. Paul is a civil barrister, environmental activist and storyteller who is bringing new significance to what it means to be a lawyer in a time of environmental crisis. After practising as a barrister in London for a decade, he founded Lawyers for Nature, as a response to the need to create greater respect, protection and representation for the natural world and those who seek to defend it within our legal system. Outside of this, he regularly writes and speaks on legal rights for the natural world, as well as representing Nature (including trees and rivers) in the courts as best he can. He has a natural affinity for water; is a swimmer; lives on a boat, and has founded a community project to restore the River Roding in East London.

Paul is a passionate advocate, whose love for the natural world and belief in the power of community runs deep. His words are urgent in a time when, as a society, we are becoming alarmingly distanced from the non-human beings that are dependent on us to be responsible guardians, and on which we are likewise inextricably dependent.

We discussed: being a wanderer; gradual 'feral-isation'; curb-side human rights advocacy; what 'rights of Nature' entails and the responsibility we have to bring Nature's voice to the table; the importance of acknowledging interdependency; the problem with Genesis and the history of power; learning from indigenous cultures; finding a language for the non-human; tree protection case studies and why the darkest hour is before the dawn; the many (many) problems being caused for rivers and the failure of companies to fulfil duties of care; co-existing with the river, developing the role of a Nature Guardian, and the rewards of mindful observation; the joy and enrichment of service; the damage caused by disassociation from Nature, and the magic and love that come from a deeper relationship with the natural world.

Thank you, Paul; now, more than ever, we need more voices like yours speaking out for those that cannot speak for themselves.

Twitter: @paulpowlesland; @lawfornature; @riverroding

Instagram: @riverrodingtrust; @right2.roam; @lawyersfornature

Join: riverrodingtrust.org.uk

Read: The Book of Trespass, Nick Hayes; The Rights of Nature, David Boyd; The Lost Rainforests of Britain, Guy Shrubsole; The Trespassers Companion, Nick Hayes

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In the last decade, Hillary 'Hilly Goat' Allen has earned a name as one of our most celebrated Sky and Ultra Runners of our times. Her energy, passion and success are undeniable; however, it is the manner in which her unstoppable spirit has emerged from a life-changing, near-death accident, whilst inspiring thousands of others, that has made her accomplishments all the more impressive. In 2017, she was ranked number one in the 2017 Skyrunning World Series when she fell 150ft from an exposed ridge-line during the Tromsø Skyrace in Norway. By the time fellow racer Manu Par had scrambled down to her, she had broken 14 bones, including both wrists, five ribs, both feet and vertebrae L4 and L5 in her back. Hillary survived but she was told that she would never run again. The journey of enduring multiple surgeries was in fact just the beginning of her battle for survival, as she recounts in her book, Out And Back: A Runner’s Story of Survival Against All Odds. What doctors could not anticipate is that Hillary would not only run again but would, after two years of dedicated rehab and recovery, return to smashing races, even setting several new course records. She also discovered cycling as part of her recovery and her gravel riding resume now includes the notorious Unbound Gravel. Hillary has been adamant in her aversion to the idea of making a ‘come back’; nevertheless, her resilience and single-minded belief is something that all of us, who have metaphorically fallen and had to put ourselves back together again, can learn from.

I chatted to Hillary off the back of her impressive win at the challenging Ultra Trail Cape Town 100-mile race and was delighted to discover, having failed in my resolve to 'not be goofy in front of Hillary Allen', that she is refreshingly down-to-earth, with an awesome sense of humour and own unique, charming goofiness herself. We discussed: growing up with curiosity 'in the dirt'; balancing life, work, study and running; the importance of curiosity and love when starting out competing; what Disney and European racing have in common; thoughts on fear vs skill; not being defined so much by what happens to us but how we respond to it; being alive versus truly living; how to hold space for others; the catharsis of writing and the power of belief; respecting your 'why' and owning your experience; having the humility to practise; trusting in your body and avoiding comparison culture; making new memories and the power of community; the importance of patience, and what chemistry and rainbow nail varnish have in common.

Follow: @hillygoat_climbs

Read: hillaryallen.com 

Image: @marz_merwe 

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A Friday 'Shing Lights' episode with Rosie Watson, a runner and climate activist, who, in 2019, began an epic journey running self-supported from her doorstep in the Lake District, across Europe, to Bulgaria. The purpose of ‘The New Story Run’ was to use the challenge to contribute towards changing the way we talk and think about the climate crisis. By meeting people on the way who were working on climate crisis related issues, and telling their experience from their individual perspective, she hoped to spread ‘new stories’ regarding how we can work together towards a better future.

Like all the best conversations, ours took some unexpected turns to focus on issues far beyond attempting an endurance challenge. We discussed: the transition from aspiring fashion designer to environmental campaigner; how a more holistic cross-pollination of research disciplines might benefit finding solutions to global problems; the speed and dissociation of modern living; intuitive planning and being people-led; the freedom of living simply; putting trust in strangers; the circular economy of kindness of kindness; learning to be open; the complexity of 'vulnerable woman' narratives; thoughts around pressing pause and re-starting; why 'normal' is not enough; the creativity that can emerge from adversity; the importance of playfulness; the symbiosis between how we treat each other, the world and ourselves; inadvertently filling our stress buckets, burn out, overtraining and chronic fatigue; letting go and re-finding ourselves; re-writing what constitutes an adventure, and what we can all do to nurture our inner child.

Support: newstoryrun.com

Follow: @rosiewats 

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Helen Mort is an award-winning poet and novelist, with a life-long passion for running, climbing and the outdoors. She has published three poetry collections, the latest of which, The Illustrated Woman, was shortlisted for the Forward Prize. She has also been shortlisted for the T.S.Eliot Prize, the Costa Prize and won the Fenton Aldeburgh Prize in 2015. She appears regularly on BBC radio, has taught creative writing for over ten years, and is currently Senior Lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University. Landscape is an important presence in her writing, and many of her poems have been composed while walking or running in the Cumbrian fells. Her first full length non-fiction book A Line Above the Sky, which recently won the Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature, is a love letter to losing oneself in physicality, dovetailing the acts of climbing and bringing a child into the world in a dance that melds nature writing and memoir to explore why humans are drawn to danger; how we can find freedom in pushing limits; attitudes towards women who do so, and the question of ownership of one’s body.

This is truly one of my favourite conversations of all time. A few technical glitches meant that it took place over two days; however, many ideas that we touched upon on the first day, simmered overnight so that, what would become, 'Part Two', really enriches the themes that we initially dipped into. We flit from the intensely personal to the theoretical, emerging with many more questions and paths of inquiry to hopefully continue over a run, a pint and matching Mary Oliver tattoos!

We discussed: attitudes towards hills; being awkward teenagers and channeling our inner flying squirrels; incidental meetings and sharing stories; struggling with expectations; getting honest about the joys but also problems in our relationships with running; how movement can facilitate creativity; embodiment and lyrical messiness; how we are seen/read and therefore how we project ourselves; tattoos and making our own maps; the conflicting responsibilities, expectations, double-binds, value judgments and presumed identities surrounding pregnancy and motherhood; interdependence with the landscape and which rock face you'd bring home to meet your mother; representation and the privilege of space; climbing, crinolines and the politics of clothing; dangerous women; measuring success and why we 'do not have to be good'; how writing and climbing bring us back to ourselves, and why we should embrace a life of 'book stacks'.

Discover: www.helenmort.com

Follow: Twitter: @HelenMort

Instagram: @morty_but_nice

Read: The Illustrated Woman; A Line Above the Sky; The Wild Verses

Watch: Run to the Source

Photo Credit: Joe Horner

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Another Friday episode in the ‘Shining Lights’ series, platforming lesser-known voices with their own incredible stories of showing up, shooting their shot and putting one foot in front of the other.

Emily Wormald is a cyclist based in the Lake District and is the founder of Lakes Gravel Gang, a women’s only cycling group, which has now grown to over 150 members. Having got into cycling through her then boyfriend, Emily is now a huge advocate of literally 'fixing your own puncture' and the freedom that cycling can bring, to women in particular.

I couldn't stop smiling throughout our conversation: Em positively radiates joy and enthusiasm and the community that she has built really does reflect that. We discuss Emily's introduction to the outdoors via the Scouts; gravel biking and out-the-door mini adventures; 'princess gravel'; reclaiming the word 'empowerment'; the barriers to women getting into cycling; amplifying everyone's voices; putting community first; pants, 'flaps' and safe spaces; skill-share evenings fuelled with pizza and planning routes according to cake; thoughts around language and ownership; the challenges and rewards of bike-packing; vulnerability in life and cycling; getting more women onto start lines, as well as unintentionally philosophical quick-fire questions concerning the classification of doughnuts.

Follow: Em Wormald @emwormald

Lakes Gravel Gang @lakesgravelgang

Map of Women and ENBY led groups by Saoirse: Women & ENBY led cycle groups (arcgis.com)

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Alex Staniforth is a record-breaking adventurer, author and charity ambassador, based in the Lake District. As just 27, he is no stranger to challenges, whether they be mental or physical. He is perhaps best known for surviving the two biggest disasters in Mount Everest history, whilst still only a teenager, including the 2015 Nepal earthquake. Since then, he has achieved numerous feats of endurance, including being the fastest person ever to climb all 100 UK county tops and running the National Three Peaks Challenge, completing 452 miles in just 9 days 12 hours. However, it is the personal mountains that he has faced since childhood: overcoming epilepsy, stammering, bullying and mental ill health, that, for me, distinguish him most, as well as the manner in which he has channelled those experiences into his own mental health advocacy, charity work, public speaking and writing. It is really no wonder that he was awarded the Pride of Britain Granada Reports Fundraiser of the Year in 2017.

Alex is someone who really does embody the idea of spinning growth from adversity; however, whereas so many similar stories may appear rose-tinted, it is apparent that Alex's altruism is deeply rooted within his being. Quite simply, he believes that he can help others and therefore he should. Alex's stories in themselves are incredible to hear; however, the frank discussions that we have around mental health that lie behind the stories are ones that I hope are impactful on an even deeper level. Alex is humble and generous in the manner in which he reflects on his own struggles as we consider the stigmatisation around eating disorders, particularly in men; the mythology of mental health equating to weakness; the long-term effects of childhood trauma; survivor's guilt; vulnerability; finding relief in physical challenge and the natural world; getting comfortable with being different and dreaming big; re-framing success; the importance of networks; the responsibilities and rewards of founding a charity; knowing your own strengths, and how we can still show up and make a difference when we are not doing 'hard things'.

Thank you, Alex; your work is important, you are important and you certainly 'make the boat go faster'.

Support: www.mindovermountains.org.uk 

Read: www.alexstaniforth.com/books

Follow:

• Insta @alexstaniforth_
• Twitter @alex_staniforth
• Facebook www.facebook.com/AlexAdversity  
• Linkedin www.linkedin.com/in/alexstaniforth  

Photo Credit: Andy Milton

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Another episode in the Friday 'Shining Light' series, platforming lesser known voices with incredible stories to tell.

Alvaro De La Camaro is an amateur triathlete, cyclist and father who has also happened to have ridden 2,500km from Croydon, London, to his native Cadiz, in Spain, in 10 days, all for a bowl of soup. To give some context, Alvaro is the co-founder of Cycling 4 Soup, a media platform documenting endurance challenges

to engage community, create connections, and to make sport (and soup), the binding agent to raise awareness for important causes worldwide. Although preferring challenges of his own design, Alvaro does compete, and, much to his self-confessed astonishment, he was the winner of the 2021 Ultraman UK. We also uncovered during our chat that the 2022 Croydon-Cadiz trip was really a warm up for a recent (undocumented) completely non-stop, self-supported cycle from London to Madrid in aid of Ella's Charity, working with women who have survived trafficking and sexual exploitation, which tested Alvaro's mental resilience to the limit.

Alvaro is an unbelievably lovely, humble human with an internal compass geared towards doing what he can with the capabilities he has been given. Having established that I am far from intimidating as an interviewer, we settled into a free-flowing conversation pivoted around the notion of what it means to be (in Alvaro's words) an 'Average Joe' pushing themselves outside their comfort zone in order to help and inspire others. We reflected on why, for Alvaro, competition will always be about the people you meet, not the podiums you top; the extraordinary that can be found in the everyday; the importance of telling stories; what we can learn from a 'bike-view' of the world; why finding balance is harder than training; what honesty means; being accountable to ourselves; Mama Maria's secret recipe, and what we can all learn from 'simmering' our soup in life.

Follow: @sir_cyclealot

Watch: Cycling 4 Soup

Give: www.ellas.org.uk

www.tribefreedomfoundation.com

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Adam Merry is an elite athlete for Saucony, based in Colorado. He started training competitively in 2017 and has since raced in distances up to 100km on the road and trails. As well as being an incredible athlete in his own right, he also uses his expertise to coach others and his background in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion to bring light to the issues in the trail and ultra running world.

I chatted to Adam upon his return from representing Team USA at the 80km World Mountain Running Championships and we shared an incredibly rich, broad-reaching conversation, as well as having a lot of fun! In addition to running geekery, we covered: pink shoes, babies and skinny pigs; the parallels between running and chess; finding our edge; the importance of community; why finish lines are arbitrary; movement as a means of connection and the thrill of representing your country; being a voice for representation; thoughts around tokenism; the role of mindful education in healing our communities; getting comfortable with being uncomfortable; celebrating the journey, and striving for 'experience' rather than curating 'identity'.

Adam is an incredibly kind and warm person, with a wisdom that far exceeds his years, and his words are important ones that we would all benefit from truly listening to and acting upon. I was particularly grateful for his guidance regarding how we can all show up, whether at school or on the trails, as better allies and, indeed, better humans, in our day-to-day lives. Oh and 'Merry Cooks' is sure to be the next Netflix big hit: you heard it here first!

Connect: www.runmerry.com

Follow: @amerryrunner

Run: Strava

Read: Trail Runner Article 'Black and White'

Learn: Racial Healing Handbook; Mental Training for Ultrarunning; The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari

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Jean-Baptiste Joly-Lavrieux is a photographer based in the French Alps. He spent over a decade in banking before leaving the profession to pursue his passion for trail running and photography. I was recently drawn to a series of photographs that Like the Wind Magazine shared from Jean-Baptiste's Instagram: images from the UTMB mountain race, all captured on a disposable camera. Although not his usual camera of choice, the experiment epitomises Jean Baptiste's fluid style that evokes his deep relationship with the natural world and how we move through it.

After the initial look-a-like comparison with the infamous trail runner Anton Krupicka, we move on to discuss the differences between existing and living and how we can flip that narrative; holistic balance; the freedom of running; being a life-long student of photography and learning on the job; telling stories through the lens; the struggle between self-doubt and joy with creative work; naivety as both a frustration and a superpower; the contrast between individual projects and working to commission; an obsession with Jim Walmsley's doorstep; experiences from UTMB and the liberation that the disposable camera project provided; overcoming shyness; the relationship between photographer and subject; celebrating the unexpected; how running informs photography, and, likewise, how framing the world through a lens changes our appreciation of it.

Follow: @jb_joly

Commission: www.jbjoly.com

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Stian Dahl Sommerseth is a promising young mountain runner from Norway, who has placed competitively at the 20 and 50km distances in races across Europe, including a recent 4th place at the Nice Cote D’Azur 50km race as part of the UTMB World series. We first connected on Instagram through a common sense of humour and some poignant post-race posts that Stian wrote regarding the privilege and joy of suffering in beautiful places. Stian is an athlete for Satisfy Running and an advocate for the International Dark Sky Association, a group striving to protect a night sky filled with stars from light pollution, as part of a shared global heritage. He is certainly one to watch as a bright star himself in the sport, but it is his enthusiasm and joy that really light up the running community.

I had so much fun chatting to Stian and this conversation really does roll along the lines of two friends 'shooting the shit' about things that they love. We discuss the nature of competition and how it can be a positive motivator; the feeling of completeness that moving in Nature brings; our thoughts on community, friendship and being part of a team; the issues regarding access to the night sky; expressing identity and the creative opportunities of social media; subverting stereotypes, and the intersectionality of running. This along with puddle jumping, naked running (!), (more) white spandex, music, celebrating our weird and the 'stickiness' of sharing our unique selves.

We laughed so much bringing you this episode and, on reflection, it really does epitomise how joy can connect us, wherever we are, however we move and whatever our beautiful brand of weird.

Stian's Playlist Recommendations:

Save Your Spot - No Pressure

Oh Caroline - The 1975

Blue In Green - Miles David, John Coltrane, Bill Evans

Follow: @stiandhl

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Markus Torgeby is a Swedish runner, author and lecturer. At age 20, with nothing but an axe, a sleeping bag, and the clothes he was wearing, Markus bought a one-way ticket to Gothenburg train station. There, in the Jämtland forest, where temperatures plummet to -40°C in winter, he lived off-grid for 4 years. Existing in complete solitude and harmony with nature, Markus constructed a hut by hand, slept on reindeer skins, survived on a diet of oatmeal, berries and fish and found a way to rebuild both his body and mind away from the pressures and heartache, on both the track and at home, which had driven him to the forest in the first place. This journey is chronicled in his book The Runner, a powerful exploration of running, resilience, loss, and self-discovery. His second book Under the Open Skies: A Practical Guide to Living Close to Nature offers advice on how to survive in the wild including how to build a fire, which plants are edible, the best techniques for chopping wood. Today, Markus lectures on heath and nature, as well as building houses and outdoor beds. Markus and Frida have three daughters and live in Jämtland, outside Undersåker.

Speaking with Markus was an immense privilege (and not just because it came to light that he only speaks in English once a year!). His sparkling eyes carry so much wisdom and the empathy and depth that comes from years of struggle and survival. Although we began by discussing movement, we spent much of the conversation considering the profound healing that comes from stillness. Markus's open, poignant reflections on the emotional turmoil that led to that day of buying the train ticket were incredibly moving and gave context to the decision that would literally save his life. His story is one, ultimately, of love that shows that, even at our most broken and fragile, humanity has the capacity to still, literally, see the stars in the darkness.

As we spoke, thought, cried and laughed together the light faded in Sweden, mimicking the days when Markus would live by the natural rhythms of day and night, sitting on a tree stump until running away became a way of coming back.

In Markus's words: 'we are afraid of the darkness and that's ok'.

Learn: markustorgeby.se 

Follow: @markustorgeby

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In November 2019, Claire Smith became the first British athlete ever to complete a continuous Double Deca Iron Distance triathlon: 48 miles of swimming, 2,240 miles of cycling and 524 miles of running, in 28 days. The numbers are almost too much to process and, as impressive as they are, the woman behind them is even more so, and for reasons that the numbers don't tell.

Over the last ten years, 'Brutal Claire' has been learning how to use her innate drive, ambition and healthy dose of craziness for a better purpose. Her first marathon was quickly followed by an Ironman, then Double Ironman...all this from a woman to whom athleticism, by her own admission, did not come naturally, and who struggled for much of her young adult life with an eating disorder, abusive relationships, and the downward spiral of alcohol addiction. Oh and she was also bringing up her two children and pursuing a career as a graphic designer and, later, events organiser. Through ultra-distance racing, Claire pulled herself from rock bottom to compete at the highest levels of the sport and found a successful company that helps others to realise their potential.

Claire and I share a 'brutally' honest and open conversation about overcoming mental health struggles, abusive relationships and addiction by doing things that push the limits of endurance. We consider what the word 'addiction' means to us and how it can be channeled in a positive manner.

Claire is a sensitive, warm soul and I was so grateful for the connection that this interview provided: we literally laughed and cried together as we shared about a mutual early loathing of netball (sorry listeners); seeing what you 'can't do' as inspiration to work out what you 'can'; the additional challenges that being a woman in the endurance and adventure world poses, and our issues with the notion of being 'women who beat the men'. This, alongside narrating Claire's incredible journey as an athlete and business person; considering what being a student of the sport means; being prepared to fail without glamorising it; the power of a good schedule and a little cry; self-sufficiency; building communities; fear and, of course, that small matter of taking a baby-jogger for a very very long outing down the A9.

Thank you, Claire, truly; your emotional generosity, modesty and strength are something I will carry with me for a long time.

Follow: @brutalclaire @brutaleventsuk

Challenge: www.brutalevents.co.uk

Read: Becoming Brutal and No Easy Day

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Mark White is the CEO/founder of Run Grateful, which aims to inspire people to connect through gratitude and the power of movement. Mark is known as a creative, an ideas man, and someone who wants to impact the world in a positive manner. His other current project, MEUS, is an app that encourages men to be more self-aware and reflective. In 2019, Mark was voted in the top 15 social entrepreneurs in the UK by Redbull. Mark is also a proud father to his two amazing daughters Sienna-Rose and Grace and dog, George.

Mark and I shared a free-wheeling space in our time together, turning over a lot of thoughts, both personal and philosophical, about what gratitude means to us. We discuss Mark's own journey with gratitude and movement alongside reflecting more broadly on what being process, rather than outcome, driven, might mean; the power of connection; the resonance of individual actions on the collective; why simplicity matters; the cross-overs between gratitude, belief and change; whether happiness is a mark of a meaningful life, and why finding our 'need', is more impactful than finding our 'why'.

Follow: @1gratefulrun @meus.app @markwhite_0602

Join: www.rungrateful.com www.meuspractice.com

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The one where I ask one of the greatest endurance athletes of our time his thoughts on white spandex; get into an existential debate on Gandalf vs Gimli, and try to convince him to set up a side hustle in American snack cakes.

John Kelly is a US based husband, father and data scientist who has run the Boston marathon dressed as the Zelda character Link. He also happens to be only the 15th person to finish the formidable Barkley Marathons since its creation 24 years ago. Having moved his family to the UK in 2019, he quickly set about tackling the longest and toughest trails in Europe and is the record holder for 'The Grand Round', a challenge devised by John and involving consecutively running the three best-known fell running rounds (the Paddy Buckley in Wales, the Bob Graham in England and the Ramsay in Scotland) and getting between them by cycling. In total, that's a running distance of about 185 miles (298 km), 25,440 metres of elevation gain, as well as over 400 miles of cycling. He has broken the Fastest Known Time on the 268-mile Pennine Way, not once but twice (having passed it back and forth with Damian Hall) and was the 2020 winner of the Spine Race, which follows the same route. Before departing the UK earlier this year, John cemented his place in the record books by taking on the Lake District’s 320 mile, 214 peak Wainwrights Round. To put this in perspective, most walkers would hope to 'bag' the 214 peaks in their lifetime; John did it in 5 days, 10 hours, supported by the British trail running community that he had grown to love and be loved by, including the previous record-holder Sabrina Verjee.

John is a huge advocate of the benefits of exploring our limits in order to apply what we learn in, what he describes as, the 'Goldilocks Zone', to other areas of our lives and our relationship with the world around us. The mountains are in his blood but John still manages to balance his love for exploration and challenge with his dedication to his family and work. John is a deep thinker who apportions equal consideration to questions both profound and benile. Together we reflect on topics from what gives meaning to his efforts; the beauty of collaboration; the nature of competition; the satisfaction of the unexpected; why 'hard things need to be hard', and, of course, serious thoughts on tea.

John epitomises the notion of 'polymath', and I wanted this to come through in our interview. He is generous with his time and there are a myriad of podcasts on the specifics of his achievements. I therefore took a slightly different tact and, pre-interview, delved into John's own writing on his incredibly detailed and insightful blog. I collated a selection of quotes for us to reflect on together and presented them, throughout our conversation, as a jumping off point for John to revisit and reflect on anew.

Post-Script: John was recovering from a nasty stomach bug but was adamant that we continue with our conversation. He did, however, in retrospect, protest that this was why he mixed up Moria and Helms Deep in our Lord of the Rings discussion. Perhaps we finally discovered John Kelly's achilles heel...

Follow: @randomforestrunner

Read: www.randomforestrunner.com

Watch: John's Hardrock Experience by Adam Weitzel for Ultimate Direction

Image Credit: Steve Ashworth

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Louis Hall is an actor, writer and founder of The Big Hoof charity. The Big Hoof promotes adventure and wellbeing through their long distance rides. Beginning in 2020, Louis rode down the length of the UK in memory of his friend Leo, raising over £38,00 for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust. Most recently, the charity organised a 2789km ride from Siena, Italy to Cape Finiterre, Spain, to raise money for refugees and their trauma. The pursuit of human connectivity, fundraising and adventure is at the core of everything The Big Hoof does. Louis, originally from Scotland, is now planning a ride across America. 

Louis is a gifted storyteller who thinks and feels deeply about the people and the land around him. Our conversation traverses the moving back story behind his first adventures; being an architect of your own reality; the necessity of action; old tales in a new language; the humanising nature of suffering; creative connection through movement; creating space for others; the humbling relationship between man and horse, and what it means to be a pilgrim.

Following our conversation, I felt inspired and excited for the future of The Big Hoof and the platform that Louis is creating to discover the vulnerable spaces within ourselves from where true strength emerges.

Follow: @thebighoof

Join: The Big Hoof Rides and Events

Support: Donate to The Big Hoof

Photo Credit: Kiki Ho

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Dan Lawson is a record-breaking ultramarathon runner who’s represented Great Britain and achieved podium finishes in some of the world’s toughest races. He is the current LEJOG (Land's End to John O'Groats) record holder, and founder of the incredible ReRun initiative, which aims to prolong the life of sports clothes and equipment and campaign to reverse the impact that over-consumption and production in the running world is having on the environment.

Dan is a truly beautiful soul who really does epitomise 'running on joy' in all areas of his life. He is a values driven person who wears his heart on his sleeve and cares deeply for the world around him and the people in it. This conversation played over and over in my mind as I slipped on my own running shoes this week and Dan's words filled me with immense gratitude for the deep sense of connection to the Universe that moving over the earth can bring.

We ranged across so many topics, from what 'flow' means to us to our shared childhood affinity for seals! We touch on many of Dan's achievements but, more profoundly, think together about the exquisite vulnerability of being human and what the pure actions of running, community and love bring us.

Dan makes you want to be the best version of yourself and sharing time with him was an immense privilege that I am honoured to share with you in turn.

Follow: @therunningdan

Watch: 'Breaking Ten' (Dave MacFarlane's film following Dan's LEJOG record)

Support: ReRun @rerun.clothing @rubbishshoes

Listen: British Ultra Running Podcast (hosted by Dan and James Elson)

Research: Multiday Races

Image: Dave MacFarlane (DmTwo Media)

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Damian Hall is a record-breaking ultrarunner, writer and activist, who has represented Great Britain at the Trail World Championships and competed in some of the world's toughest races. His attempt to break into the top ten at the 105-mile Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc was made into an award-winning film, Underdog; and the documentary Totally FKT followed him and John Kelly as they raced to break the 268-mile Pennine Way record in 2020. Damian has also set records on the Paddy Buckley Round, the South West Coast Path, the Cape Wrath Trail (with Beth Pascall), and Wainwright’s Coast to Coast. Damian’s journalism has featured in Runner’s World, Women’s Running and Trail Running and his previous books include In It for the Long Run, A Year on the Run and the official National Trail Guide to the Pennine Way.

He is a UK Athletics running coach and is a founding member of The Green Runners, a community of runners working towards a fitter planet. His most recent book We Can’t Run Away From This is an important and, indeed, vital examination of the impact of running in our climate and ecological emergency.

Damian is a genuine, passionate and humble person and my assumption of him to be a 'thoroughly nice human' was not dispelled. This was an entertaining, thought-provoking and, at times, emotional conversation, and I hope that it inspires listeners as much as it did me. We discuss vulnerability; what 'challenge', 'competition' and 'toughness' actually look like; learning from failure; the meaning and strength of community; why we need collective action; speaking out; celebrating imperfection; puns; what inclusivity looks like, and, perhaps most importantly, his latest book and working towards a greener future for our planet.

Damian Hall IG: @ultra_damo

Join: The Green Runners

ReRun Clothing: www.rerunclothing.org

Where There’s a Hill- Sabrina Verjee

More Fuel You- Renee McGregor

Black Sheep- Sabrina Pace-Humphreys

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Zoë is an outspoken advocate for environmental justice and is certainly not afraid of hard things. In this expansive conversation we delve into what drives Zoë; what finding our voice means and how we make space for the voices of others; why we need to keep talking and fighting for inclusion in, not only the running community, but all areas of life; not apologising for high expectations; the power of failure; what authenticity means, and the complexities of our relationship with media. All this, as well as Zoë's path as an athlete and why we should all pursue joy.

Zoë Rom IG: @carrot_flowers_z

Listen: DNF Podcast

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Special Episode Alert! Jack Kuenzle is a US based mountain runner, who has just set the trail and mountain running community alight by smashing Kilian Jornet's Bob Graham Round record (66 miles with 28,500 feet of ascent across 42 Lake District fells) by an astonishing thirty minutes. This, however, is just the icing on the cake of a string of incredible feats of endurance in 2022 alone.

Jack is an entertaining, passionate, driven guy and this was a rollercoaster of a conversation – much like his incredible record breaking effort.

We deep dive into his history in the sport, his preparation mentally and physically for FKTs, the specificity of his training, smashing your idols, the issue with bogs, his relationship with pain, not having a mantra, and finding joy far from the crowd.

Jack is not one to shy from the path less travelled, and I felt like we could have spoken for a lot longer. Nevertheless, hopefully this gives something of a brushstroke of his authenticity and magnetic energy, as well as his evident pure talent and work ethic. So much gratitude to Jack for giving up his time in a busy schedule (what he doesn't mention is that he is supporting someone else's Bob Graham attempt before he heads back to the States: he clearly can't get enough!) Please do show your support and follow his future endeavours on Instagram and at Uphill Athlete where he coaches.

Jack Kuenzle IG: @jackkuenzle

Uphill Athlete: www.uphillathlete.com

Photo Credit: @andrewmaybury

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Paul Minter is currently on the final leg of a 5,000 mile run around the coastline of the entire UK to raise awareness and funds for his charity Head Up. Paul has been running Forrest Gump style since 1st March 2022, housed and joined by members of the public along his way.

Head Up intends to promote mental health awareness for UK Armed Forces, and to help forces personnel build a positive mindset and improve their mental resilience. Paul and his fellow founding veterans are on a mission to raise enough money to develop a holistic and positive 7-day retreat for all those who have served, and are still serving, in any service of the UK military, who wish to improve their mindset and outlook.

Paul shares with me, in his characteristic humble and honest fashion, his own battles with PTSD and the loss of friends to suicide that motivate him; the challenges and joys of his Herculean effort; how running has helped him personally; staying true to your 'why', and his mission to spread a message of resilience, hope and immense gratitude, not only to those from a similar background to him, but to everyone he encounters on his incredible journey.

Paul is an exceptional human, and it is an honour to share his story with you.

To follow Paul and support Head Up:

www.head-up.org.uk

Instagram

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Please be aware that this episode contains discussion of mental health and suicide.

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