How Ross Thompson found confidence as The Orange Running Guy
Struggling with his mental health, Ross turned to running - and discovered a whole new side to himself
“I’ve never been a confident person, never. If somebody tells me, ‘well done, that was brilliant,’ I’ll think they’re just saying that... so, to have my phone buzzing every two or three minutes is brilliant, I never expected it.
“I’m a 50-year-old bloke who calls himself The Orange Running Guy. The reaction is humbling.”
When Ross Thompson started running a little over a year ago, hoping to overcome mental health issues and lose some weight, the idea of inspiring others couldn’t have been further from his mind.
But as the sport began to impact him, easing his anxiety and providing an escape from the pressures of the world, he suddenly found he was able to help other runners.
Central to that was the creation of his alter-ego, The Orange Running Guy. Bedecked in his favourite colour, Ross has become well-known across social media, attracting thousands of followers to his social media channels.
While other runners may inspire followers by clocking fast times or attract sponsors by showing off their toned bodies, Ross’ appeal has more to do with forming a connection with every day runners, those who don’t necessarily excel in the running world but find happiness and achievement within it.
His times and distances may be far from spectacular - Ross posts runs that feature 15- or 16-minute miles, and has yet to run a competitive 10k event, but he embraces a realism that demonstrates that running is for all.
And although he may not be in any way what convention calls ‘elite’, that doesn’t mean Ross hasn’t found success in the world of running. He now boasts his own running group on Strava, alongside an Orange Running Guy WhatsApp group where fellow runners talk about upcoming events and discuss their own mental health challenges.
Not only that, he has some big goals on the horizon. His first 10k race is set to take place later this summer, finishing in the stadium of his beloved Wolverhampton Wanderers. And he has also has his sights firmly set on running a 50km ultra marathon at Endure 24.
Along the way, he has found a confidence he never thought existed.
This is the story of how Ross Thompson became The Orange Running Guy.
Uncertainty to ‘cloud nine’ - becoming The Orange Running Guy:
Ross started out on his running journey with a basic plan to improve his mental health and lose some weight.
He had noticed a decline in his mental wellbeing in the first few months of 2024, eventually realising something needed to change for his own good.
“At first, I really didn’t know what it was,” he said. “I was having some really strange feelings that I’ve not had before, and I couldn’t identify them.
“At that time, we were helping my son through his own mental health conditions, so I kept myself very quiet. I didn’t really tell anybody.
“And then it got towards Christmas, and it just got to a point where I couldn’t keep it to myself anymore.”
As well as seeing a doctor, Ross read up on what else could help him. One thing that kept coming up was running.
He had previously completed a couple of parkruns in 2019, but had not carried on with the sport. Still feeling low, he knew it was time to give it another try.
“People said, ‘it really clears your mind’ and ‘you don’t really think of anything else while you’re running apart from what you’re doing,’ and it’s very true,” he said.
Originally, Ross found it hard to get to grips with running. Not only did he find the physical activity itself difficult, he harboured doubts about whether running could help him and if he would be able to fully take part in the sport.
He told the Running Tales Podcast: “I didn’t do Couch to 5K at all. I literally jumped straight into it. It was hard with all the aches and pains you get when you do start to run.
“I did think to myself, ‘is this the thing for me’. I’m one of those people that like to see a quick fix, and it wasn’t that. So, when it wasn’t happening for that first or even second time, I did question if I should carry on.”
The purchase of a new pair of trainers from The National Running Show, courtesy of his wife, gave him a fresh boost, as did a first parkrun which he found “so supportive and inclusive” even though it took him an hour to complete it.
And a couple of months into his journey, The Orange Running Guy was born. Why the name? The reason is simple: Orange is Ross’ favourite colour.
“When I first started out, I was just me. It was just Ross,” he said. “It was my daughter who decided that it’d be a good idea to come up with a nickname.
“And for me to wear a bit more of my favourite colour. She’s the one to thank for The Orange Running Guy.
“It’s great to have a persona that’s maybe slightly different to my inner character. And it seems to work. You can’t miss me in a crowd.”
Along the way, orange has come to represent more than just Ross’ preferred colour. It is indicative of the positivity, happiness and brightness that he seeks to bring to the running world.
But while those small steps helped to keep Ross motivated, it was at a 5km race in Warwick where the running bug really took hold.
“It was not long after The Orange Running Guy became a thing,” he said. “During that race, because of the atmosphere there, something clicked.
“There were a lot of people, and I completed that in about 49 minutes, and everything just grabbed me. I felt really good when I crossed that finishing line. I was on cloud nine. I was buzzing.”
The event was Ross’ first race, and the boost of a competitive event coupled with the bonus of a medal gave him a feeling “I’d not had for a long, long time”.
“I just thought, ‘I need to do this more’,” he said. “There are those days, as everybody knows, when you just can’t drag yourself anywhere.
“You’re that deep in depression, or whatever it is, that you just say, ‘I’m not doing this’.
“But from that moment on, I’ve taught myself that if I feel rubbish, if I really don’t want to run, then I need to tell myself about the feeling you get afterwards, about the buzz you get when you finish that run, and how good it makes you feel.”
Embracing inspiration and positivity:
Ross began to feel the benefits of running, finding he could escape his anxiety while out on a run.
“I still have up and down days,” he said. “This week’s been particularly difficult, but I’ve managed to run twice and I’ve got a circuit training class booked.
“I’m at a point where I know how to control it, and not allow it to control me. When I start feeling anxious, I can condition myself to say, ‘right, okay, why is this happening?’.
“A lot of people will realise that you don’t know what triggers it [an episode of poor mental health]. I don’t know what triggers it. But I know that now I’m in more control of it than I was a year ago.
“I think I’ve learned that through running. When I’m running, if I do feel anxious I will talk to myself and say, ‘you’ve got this, you’re doing this, well done for getting out’.”
Ross said that feeling has translated into his everyday life, allowing him to address issues where he may feel out of control or not good enough.
Having The Orange Running Guy as an alter-ego, where he can find positivity, has allowed Ross to express another side of himself - to the point where he has been able to inspire others in their running journey.
“It’s not that I’m a different person, but The Orange Running Guy allows me to embrace a side of me that can inspire people and be positive.
“I’ve now got my own running group which I’ve created, I’ve got a WhatsApp group, I’ve got a Strava group. There are people that just know that side of me, they know me as The Orange Running Guy.
“I’m not saying that, as Ross, I’m not positive but there is a little bit of a difference.”
The confidence Ross has found as The Orange Running Guy was demonstrated by his latest visit to The National Running Show, where other runners approached him for selfies and to chat.
He said: “I was stopped probably eight or nine times during the show by people that wanted to talk to me, have a photograph taken, or to tell me that they love my posts and find them really inspiring.
“I couldn’t compute it. And I thought, ‘Oh, I am doing stuff. I am inspiring people’. When I’m out and about I morph into The Orange Running Guy.
“Sometimes embracing that persona is a lot better than actually the way that I am, which sounds really strange to say, because I’m not a different person.”
“I started this to challenge myself - and that’s what I’ll do”:
Ross said when he first started running he would never have imagined reaching a stage where his phone was regularly buzzing with social media updates.
With accounts on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and even YouTube, becoming The Orange Running Guy has kept him busy.
“I’ve been really shocked, humbled really,” he said. “Even to be asked on podcasts is something that I would never have expected.
“If somebody had told me a year ago, that I’d have over 2,000 followers on Instagram, over 2,000 followers on TikTok, and 150 subscribers on YouTube, I’d have wondered what they were talking about.
“I had no preconceptions of anything back then. I really didn’t know how long I was going to be doing it [running] for.”
One of the reasons Ross’ social media posts have resonated is the ‘reality’ of his running journey, with people able to relate to him more than they can an influencer with perfect abs and a 16-minute parkrun time.
“I got told the other day that, that I’m a real person,” he said. “And mine is a real story, with everyday struggles.
“Not putting the fast runners down at all, but I’m not somebody that’s doing a mile in six minutes, and I think that inspires people as they can see I don’t make anything up. I’m just me.
“It’s hard for me to explain how I’m inspiring people, it just blows my mind. I’m 50 years old, I’m slightly overweight, but what I always say to people is that if I can do it, then you can do it.”
He added that the support he has received from the running community has been at the heart of his journey: “It is one of the most supportive communities around.
“Going back to when I first started posting my runs, there were people who didn’t know me saying, ‘you’re doing brilliant, excellent, well done, keep going’.”
It was that support which enabled him to keep working at his running at a time when he could easily have stopped doing it. Conversely, the few negative comments he has received also served to spur him on and prove people wrong.
“I’ve had quite a few comments from people saying, ‘oh, did you walk it?’,” he said, “and I was worried about my pace and times at first.
“When I started running, it was something I was really aware of. I was looking at my pace, thinking, ‘I’ve just done a 16-minute mile, that’s really bad,’ or ‘I’ve just finished a parkrun in 50-odd minutes, that’s really bad’.
“I was getting people saying I should stick to walking and that running wasn’t going to help. But I got to the point where I was like, ‘I don’t care, you’re actually giving me more fuel, and encouraging me more than you know you are’.
“I was running, probably two or three months ago, and somebody leaned out of their car and said, ‘Run, Fat Boy, Run’. At that point, I just looked up and laughed.
“And I actually ran an extra couple of miles that day.”
One major goal which Ross has in mind is to take part in this year’s Endure 24 run, a race which give runners the chance to clock as many laps of an 8km course as they can in 24 hours.
He said: “I went with my wife, who’s also a runner, last year and I was watching people of all shapes, all sizes, all ages, go out and do it.
“I’ve signed up to do it this year, and I’m a bit scared, but that is my goal. To run 50k. We’ll see what happens.
“I started this sport to challenge myself, and that’s what I’m going to do.”
Before then, he’ll be taking on this year’s Wolverhampton 10k, his first race over that distance, and a first half-marathon is also on his wishlist.
“I’m a Wolves fan and the race starts and finishes in the stadium,” he said. “I want it to be memorable, so I’m not doing a 10k event before that race.
“I think that’s going be quite emotional.”
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