Why do you go running?
Plus catch-up on our latest podcast from sub-three hour marathoner and ultra runner Ady Pendred
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Hi all, just a quick reminder that we have launched our ‘Chat’ page as part of our Substack offering.
You can find out more about it here:
Today I talked about how I went for an important run… yesterday! Head over to the Chat to let us know what you think and what makes you run.
Yesterday was one year since I started my new job, which is - for me - a day which comes with a stack load of thoughts and feelings.
Not many of them have a lot to do with my current job if I’m completely honest, but it also signals a year - or just over depending where you put the cut off date - since I stopped being a journalist.It was a vocation that for so much of my time brought me a lot of joy, and it gave me a massive purpose.
I don’t want to sound clichéd or arrogant about it, but my aim as a journalist was to try and ‘tell truth to power’ and in whatever tiny way I could make the world a better place.
I don’t know if I succeeded in that at all, but I found more purpose there than I’ll ever find in a 1,000 corporate meetings.
If that sounds like I’m being critical of what I do now or the kind of job most people do every day, then it’s not meant to. It’s just that for a long time I was lucky enough to do something which resonated with me.And in the end, it should be said, my life in journalism came to a sad and angry end.
By the time I finished at (with?) the BBC, I felt like I had been chewed up and spat out. My views on journalism and how to do it were too often rubbished at the altar of personality and “fun”.
Perhaps I was far from a perfect employee. Is too passionate for my own good an overly kind way of saying I could be a pain in the arse? Maybe, but I wasn’t the only person left slightly broken by the way we were treated by some at the corporation.
I still struggle with how those last few days, weeks and months - years even - of life in journalism panned out. They have hit my confidence and left me too often battling frustrations that may not even exist.The end of those days is not the only thing to have hit home today. Those thoughts mingle with memories of our fantastic dog, Ben, who left us just two days after I started my new role.
I was thinking earlier about how sad his last moments were and the sight of him struggling in his final days was, but I am going to try and remember happier days when I think of him.The last year has also been strange due to my heart attack that wasn’t.
The fear that struck me in the back of the ambulance on the way to A&E is a distance memory now, and thankfully it was pericarditis and not a heart attack - though the condition is serious in its own right.For a while - and definitely at the time - I didn’t know how my life would change, if I’d be able to do the things I’d takes for granted and if I’d be able to run or play cricket again (of course, every day people suffer worse setbacks).
The slow recovery, the not being able to climb the stairs without being out of breath with a heart rate of 180, the Couch to 5k recovery runs; they all seem a long time ago now.
And so, I reach the end of this I hope not too (!) self-indulgent post by celebrating being able to get outside, in the sunshine and enjoying blasting away some of my sad, conflicted and wearisome thoughts.
Running has been a friend this last year - when I’ve been healthy enough to do it - and it was here again tonight, complete with mud and an on-form countryside.Why do you run? Let us know in our Chat page on the Substack app or via the comments below.
This week on…
The podcast:
On this week’s Running Tales Podcast we spoke to Ady Pendred, a latecomer to the world of running who has gone on to complete several sub-three hour marathons and find a love of trail and ultra marathons.
In recent years, he has stopped chasing times and learned to enjoy running for fun - not that it has slowed him down.
Running Tales spoke to Ady about how time isn't his be all and end all, his love of Lidl trainers and how his body didn't shut down at 50 as he was being told to expect...
Substack:
Our 16:15 Charity Run will take place at Northampton's Racecourse on Saturday, May 20 to raise money to help rough sleepers in the town.
Jointly organised by Step Forward With Lewis, Northampton rough sleeper charity Project 16:15 and Running Tales, the 16:15 Charity Run will start at 8am on Saturday, May 20.
Set to run for six hours, the idea for the run came about after George Murray, who slept rough on the town's streets for many years, sadly passed away last year.
We’d love to see as many of you there as possible to enjoy the run and support Project 16:15.
We’d love to know what you think about any of our articles and podcast - or just how your running journey is going. You can add a comment below.
Thanks as ever for reading and listening to Running Tales. We couldn’t do this without your support - please back us to keep going by…