Meet the people who's lives have been changed through the power of running
As Tyson Fury's new documentary addresses the boxing champion's mental health challenges, we look at five examples where running has transformed people's lives
Netflix’s new documentary on the Gypsy King himself, heavyweight boxing champion of the world Tyson Fury, may flip between the banal and brilliant, but one area where At Home With The Fury’s comes into its own is its depiction of Fury’s mental health.
Fury was diagnosed as bipolar in 2017, and has struggled with depression, anxiety, alcohol addiction and cocaine abuse.
He has admitted to having had suicidal thoughts after retiring from the sport in 2015 and the series regularly shows him bouncing from incredible highs to depressing lows.
One of the - indeed, seemingly the main - ways, Fury seeks to control his emotions is through exercise. Obviously, boxing proves a major part of this but he can also regularly be found running the streets of his home town of Morecambe.
The power of exercise if something that is a consistent theme on the Running Tales Podcast, so today we’ve taken a look at some of the stories of runners who’s lives have been transformed through running…
Ben Davies: The power of running… and talking
Ben Davies started running after his young niece sadly passed away.
When his wife started a fundraising challenge for Birmingham’s Children’s Hospital, he supported her - but he didn't really like the sport!
Struggling with his mental health, he suddenly stumbled across ultra running - and without stopping along with the way to tick off all the distances in-between he started clocking up big numbers and competing in ultras.
He’s since completed the 145 mile Grand Union Canal Ultra twice, the second time earlier this year as the first stage of the impossible sounding Canal Slam which sees competitors take on three 130-mile plus runs over the summer.
As well as the Grand Union event, Ben also finished the 145-mile Great Western Run last month leaving him with ‘just’ the 130-mile Leeds & Liverpool Canal Race to go next weekend.
But for Ben running is mainly about mental health and talking. Having suffered with his weight as a child and at the hands of an abusive father, he found running long distances - and the life-changing friendships that he found along the way - reframed how he looked at life.
“I was in a really bad place mentally. I couldn’t get out of it. A friend of mine gave me the link to David Goggins’ book.
“I’d never even heard of ultra running. I thought the furthest anyone ran was a marathon. It opened my eyes to a whole different world.
“I just started Googling ultra marathons in the UK and I found the Grand Union Ultra. The more you read and the more you find the community of the ultra world, the more you find they are a different breed of runners.
“They are there to help each other out, get through things, and take themselves to different places. That just hit it for me.
“When I started running I didn’t even think of the mental health side of things. It was a release. If I’d had a bad day I could go out there, completely beat myself up and come home feeling good or I could go out, put some music on, the sun’s out and just have a nice time.
“The more I was running like that, the more I was coming home and everything was just the same. I’d not dealt with anything. It was the actual talking, and talking about things while out running, that started to make me think, ‘this is what running is all about - communicating with people and taking all your thoughts with you to talk them over’.”
Jeff Kase: From alcoholism to the American National Senior Games
Growing up in Michagan, Jeff Kase was a star runner but when he went to university partying and alcohol took over his life.
For decades, Jeff was caught up in the pain of alcoholism, experiencing personal tragedy along the way.
Jeff eventually quit drinking but was still battling health and weight problems until he found running again. He’s gone on to complete several 100 mile races and take part in the American National Senior Games.
“I would go to the bar almost every night and spend three to four hours there. I’d come home, and I was going through a half gallon of 101 proof bourbon and half gallon of Tanqueray gin every two to three days.
“Straight up vanity got me back into running. My school said I had been inducted in the Athletic Hall of Fame. I thought to myself, ‘that’s great’ and then I looked at myself in the mirror and I was larger than a house.
“I would have been out of breath taking three steps up to the stage. I decided I’d spent seven years resting on my laurels. I’d quit drinking but I hadn’t taken any other steps in my life.
“[When I got back into it…] I ran a looped event. I didn’t really know where I was at. I got a message, ‘do you realise you finished fifth and you won the 40 and over division by almost two hours.”
Rachel Ann Cullen: Finding strength through running
Rachel Ann Cullen has run a host of marathons, including London six times, but can now most often be found running trails across Yorkshire.
Her ever evolving running story saw her first take to the sport aged 18 to help her recover from a break-up. It later changed her life completely.
Having been diagnosed with bi-polar disorder - the same condition which affects Tyson Fury - and struggling to find her place in the world, Rachel found healing when she laced up her trainers.
Her story didn’t end there though. When she suffered an injury, Rachel’s world started to unravel. Battling body dysmorphia she eventually found solace in cycling and later turned to trail running, something she has found more relaxing and enjoyable - and less pressured - than competing for road PBs.
The quote below is from when Rachel completed the London Marathon for the first time:
“I wasn’t in a running club at the time. I wasn’t in a running community of any description really. I was entirely on my own on this journey.
“It felt like such a momentous ambition from the 12 years of a Prozac and alcohol lifestyle before I had my daughter to this person from whom the shackles had come off.
“I had found this strength I never ever thought I had.”
Colin McCord: Running was my mental physio
Running has become one of Colin McCord’s main weapons in an ongoing battle against post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). He credits the sport with having dragged him out of a life that had spiralled into drink and despair after he was violently assaulted.
On August 6, 2001 Colin was the victim of an armed robbery in which the perpetrators took their anger at there being a lack of money in the place he worked at out on him.
When Colin got out of hospital, his physical injuries, including cuts and burns, were healed through medical help, but the mental trauma stuck around.
He told Running Tales he began drinking and smoking heavily, treating himself, friends and family “horribly”.
Eventually, a therapist suggested he tried running - and Colin found his salvation.
“My initial reaction was to go back and get in the fetal position and close the curtains, and buy some Vodka to get through.
“It’s like if you have a broken leg, you don’t just put a cast on it and then run. It took some time. Running was my mental physio.
“I would love to be able to say there was one morning where I woke up, looked at myself in the mirror and went out running.
“I just remember the day that I came back and I felt better. It probably wasn’t run one, but run ten or 12.
“It felt like it was a bit childlike, like ‘I enjoyed that’. I wasn’t out of breath, I didn’t want to throw up and I really wanted to do it again - for my own sake rather than somebody saying it is good for me.
“I was down in Somerset, running along the coast. It was a lovely sunny night and I got back home and felt I wanted to do this again.”
Tom Mulchinock: Running saved my life
Having left school with little more than an addiction to video games and a reputation as the class clown, Tom Mulchinock found himself numbing real world pressures with increasingly heaving drinking.
Nights out turned into day drinking, which came with the dubious advantage of meaning he never had to confront a hangover.
When Tom eventually realised he needed to change his life, it was running which helped him find a new sense of purpose.
He’s now currently attempting to run 10 marathons in 10 different countries across a year to raise money for CALM, the Campaign Against Living Miserably.
“Running pretty much saved my life. I was an alcoholic roughly from the age of 18 to the age of 30.
“When I went sober I knew I needed to change my atmosphere and my environment, so I moved to Iceland. When I moved there, I started to do a lot of self analysis and self help.
“I started to practice a lot of mindfulness and go for a lot of walks, listening to podcasts. And then I decided to run. I couldn’t believe how it made me feel.
“I booked a 5k race. And I managed to do it. I competed. I think it was one of the first things in my life where I felt a real sense of achievement.”
You can sponsor Tom and help raise money for CALM via this link
What’s your running story? Let us know in the comment below