From a base jumping trail champion to running for your mental health
Five of the best - because six is passé. This is going to become a running joke. Get it?
Good morning/afternoon wherever you are in the world!
Whether you’re getting your run on today or taking a well earned rest day, it’s time for our weekly round-up of five of our favourite articles and podcasts from the running world.
I’d love it if you could add your recommendations in the comments section below or on our Chat page, and we build up a virtuous circle of the best running content.
So, without further ado and in no particular order, here are my fab five suggestions…
Ali on the Run Show Podcast: Mariana Fernandez - Peloton Instructor & Marathoner
This podcast episode sees host Ali Fuller in conversation with Peloton yoga and running instructor, Mariana Fernandez.
For me, the best part of this pod was listening to how Mariana stuck with her dream of being a fitness/yoga instructor despite a string of setbacks and waiting a year to hear if she’d got her dream gig at Peloton.
Bella Mackie on how running helped her mental health
This Runner’s World article speaks to journalist and author, Bella Mackie, about her experiences of anxiety and mental health issues - and how running has helped her.
I particularly enjoyed this quote: “With running, you incrementally improve every time you do it. You’re hitting these goals and feeling proud of yourself. And it gives you this sense of independence, which for someone like me, with agoraphobia, I found to be the most mesmerising, intoxicating thing in the whole world.”
Whether you have agoraphobia or are dealing with any other type of mental health issue, I think there is a lot of truth in the ‘mesmerising, intoxicating’ power of running.
You can read the piece here: Author and journalist Bella Mackie on how running helped her mental health (runnersworld.com)
Bad Boy Running Podcast: Allie McLaughlin - The base jumping trail running champion
From base jumping to mountain running, Allie McLaughlin is a multiple world champion - and fearless with it.
This conversation charts her rise to the top, from ice hockey playing student to champion runner, and the hurdles she had to overcome along the way.
The Half Marathoner: A round-up of unique races
Terrell Johnson’s The Half Marathoner is a hugely popular Substack newsletter, featuring threads and articles on his running experiences and stories from the world of running.
It also includes a regular round-up of cool races you’d love to run, of which this is the latest:
Jeremy Singh: Ten of the biggest mistakes I’ve made as a runner
Not an article, podcast or vlog, but a thread on Twitter - this from ultra runner Jeremy Singh is a really good guide to what not to do when running.
From running too fast all the time and a lack of targeted strength training to avoiding binge drinking and poor sleep, this provides some brilliant insight into how to become a better runner by avoiding those all too easy to make mistakes.
You can read the thread here and follow Jeremy’s Twitter feed at @singhcredible
If you enjoy Jeremy’s Twitter threads, listen to our podcast with him here or read our Substack article, How Jeremy Singh went from overweight dad to ultra runner - and 40,000 Twitter followers
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Running Tales on YouTube - Grayson Murphy: ‘My motto is aeroplane arms or you are doing it wrong’
You’ll hopefully know by now that the Running Tales Podcast can be found everywhere from Apple, Google Podcasts and Spotify to iHeartRadio, Audible and CastBox - basically anywhere you can listen to podcasts.
But did you know we also publish our podcast episodes in full on YouTube?
Subscribe to our channel by visiting @RunningTalesPod, where you can listen to the stories of runners such as two-time world mountain running champion, Grayson Murphy.
Our channel also features short video clips from all of our podcast guests, including on Grayson’s love of aeroplane arms!
Here’s an interesting question - does anyone read this far and look at this note I studiously post at the bottom of articles every week? 😂 Let’s do an experiment - if you’re reading this click ‘Like’ at the bottom of this post. Thank you.
If you do enjoy these posts and the podcast, thanks as ever for reading and listening to Running Tales.
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