Run with Rodders and escape the 'uber-cool' lies of Instagram influencers
Rodney Lowe' YouTube video of his sometimes painful Manchester Marathon experience reveals more about running than 1,000 brand-boosted reels
Social media is a lie. A series of posts and videos of people doing amazing things, visiting spectacular places, and telling us all how great their lives are.
In the running world, that often equates to influencers with bulging biceps and toned bodies, boasting about new PBs or the latest challenge some brand or other paid for them to do.
Put most of these characters at a local parkrun or on the start line of a town-based half-marathon, and they’d look out of place.
That’s because these uber-cool culture vultures of the running world aren’t actually that representative of the everyday runners who enjoy and embrace the sport on a daily and weekly basis.
Most of us, while loving a trendy trainer that might cut 15 seconds off an event personal best, look very different, perhaps possessing rather more curved bellies and crumpled features than our Instragrammable peers.
These are the runners we like to celebrate on Running Tales, watching them tackling challenges they never dreamed of.
One such individual is Rodney Lowe, the man behind the Runs with Rodders YouTube channel and a self-confessed unsporty child who found running later in life.
If there were ever an antidote to the shiny, false world of running influencers, it’s Rodney’s video of his Manchester Marathon experience.
Having picked up a calf injury in the weeks before his big race, Rodney was forced to employ a walk/run strategy that, coupled with the heat of the day, saw him struggle his way round the streets of England’s second city.
There are times where he seems almost delirious, moments where it all becomes too much and he starts to cry on camera. It’s incredibly raw, incredibly real, and while some may scoff at a six hour-plus finish, an incredible achievement.
So how did the school boy who teachers told to “do one less lap of the sports field so the class would finish on time” end up running marathons?
How 15 years of running activity ended with an Inflatable 5k:
Running wasn’t Rodney’s first choice as he sought to put his schoolyard sporting troubles behind him - and when it did arrive in his live, the influence of the sport was shortlived.
Initially, he took up mountain biking and, when he eventually transitioned into running via the Couch to 5K app, he was forced onto the sidelines by an angry appendix.
He stayed there for 15 years.
“It was mountain biking that I went to originally, along with friends from college,” he told the Running Tales Podcast. “I got myself a second-hand mountain bike that weighed an absolute tonne and we went to Cannock Chase [in Staffordshire, England], which is near me."
“But I suppose the thing with mountain biking is there’s a lot of uphills, but then I spent a lot more time probably walking up those hills than riding up them.
“And when you go down the other side, it’s gravity doing the job, so you’re not getting a huge amount of exercise benefit going down.
“My fitness wasn’t getting much better, and any weight loss wasn’t really significant. So, I went to running at that point. We’re talking mid-2000s now.
“I found I really enjoyed that, but my appendix decided it needed to come out. And after the recovery period, I lost confidence on the bike, and I just didn’t really get back into running - and time rolled on.”
It wasn’t until 2023 when Rodney decided to return to the sport, spurred on by having put on extra weight and an unusual opportunity to organise a 5k event at his work.
“I don’t know if you’ve ever done one of those,” he said, “but they’re pretty good fun. They’re accessible for people who don’t necessarily run, because it’s not that far between the obstacles.
“You can walk or run, and then you do a big inflatable obstacle.”
The relaxed nature of the event actually proved inspiring to Rodney and a number of his work colleagues, who turned their attention to the rather more formal Stafford 10k.
After completing Couch to 5k again, he was able to complete the race in an hour and 20 minutes. Despite feeling “absolutely awful afterwards,” Rodney was hooked.
Another 10k followed two weeks later in Tamworth, with the race’s big pull factor being a funky-looking medal designed around “a Norman soldier with a shield and helmet and all that”.
He said: “I’ve always looked to have a race to aim towards. If I ever don’t, that’s when you kind of lose that drive a little bit. So, I’ve always kept something booked.”
Discovering the parkrun phenomenon and turning to YouTube:
One part of running that has gripped Rodney is the weekly, Saturday morning 5k phenomenon that is parkrun.
His first experience came at his local event, Tamworth Castle parkrun, where he clocked around 45 minutes and was left questioning what he was doing.
“It can be a very difficult thing,” he said, “but the positivity that comes from doing it, and the fact that other parkrunners make it such a great event, mean you can get a quicker.
“You learn how to pace it, adjust that little bit better. But I didn’t turn a fitness corner instantly. I had to work towards that.”
These days Rodney has brought his parkrun time down to a personal best of 27 minutes and 16 seconds, but he remains grateful for the egalitarian way the event works.
“Some people are natural runners, some people are naturally fit, or they bring fitness from other events to running, and are able to do it, but the beauty of parkrun is that it is for absolutely anyone,” he added.
“Whether you’re parkwalking, or run-walking, or smashing out something stupid, it’s for everyone.
“I tell people when I volunteer and they’re coming around, that they’re doing far better than those people still in bed, or sat down at home just watching telly, not doing anything.”
The beautiful and historic Tamworth Castle event remains his local parkrun, but - when he’s not battling the price of diesel - Rodney enjoys visiting different tourist venues, not least for the benefit of his YouTube channel.
It’s a venture that was sparked by fellow running YouTuber Tim Stent, aka The Middle Aged Running Man or MARM.
After a chance encounter at Tamworth led to Rodney featuring in one of Tim’s videos for “all of five seconds,” he was shocked when a supporter recognised him the following week.
When a friend suggested he should use his new found ‘fame’ to start his own channel, Rodney was initially dubious: “My first reaction was, ‘why would anyone want to listen to me and what I have to say?’
“I’m not quick, I’m not particularly funny. But again, like with that first 10K, a little thing in my brain started niggling away, and I thought, why not? Why not give it a go?”
Rodney quickly registered the channel name and Runs with Rodders was born. While he has managed to attract more than 500 subscribers since then, Rodney is quick to say that his favourite part of putting out videos has been the interaction with people that has followed.
“I really enjoy doing it,” he said. “It’s become a hobby within a hobby. I like doing some silly videos as well. I did a Die Hard parody one at Chase Water parkrun when it was Christmas - I ran around in a white vest.”
‘Young me wouldn’t believe I ran a marathon’:
Perspiration brings inspiration. Every video Rodney produces is another part of his story, of the unathletic schoolboy taking another step on his running journey.
And when someone like Rodney completes another parkrun, or Ironbridge Half-Marathon, or the Manchester Marathon, then more people start to believe they can do it too.
“That’s very much where I want to be coming from,” he told Running Tales. “My point of view is that of an average runner.
“I’m not fast, relatively. And I don’t think I ever will be. My absolute best 5k time was part of the Fradley 10K and I did 27 minutes on that one.
“I don’t think I could actually repeat that again. So, I’m not that fast and I’m faster than others, very much in the middle.
“I aim my videos at people around my level. You’ve got some videos where the commentator is very fast, but then you got me at the other end of the scale, and I just try and bring that different view, that different opinion, to things.
“I do a little feature at times called ‘what hurts this week’? Because there’s always something that hurts.”
Rodney says his desire is to create relatable videos that give people an idea of what races or parkruns they would like to go to are like.
They show him pushing his own boundaries, even when then means half-hallucinating his way through a marathon.
So what would young Rodney, fresh from being pulled up short of completing another PE run, think?
“Well, old Rodney didn’t ever think he was going to do a marathon,” he said. “When I thought about doing the Stafford 10K, I didn’t think I could do it.
“I had to lie down in the pub garden after that one, because I went very funny.
“But young me, I don’t think young me would believe it, to be honest.”
You’d better believe it, Rodney - it’s right there on YouTube!
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As I said to someone this morning, most people can run, it's all about how fast you want to do it!
The profile of running and runners has changed significantly over the 30+ years that I've been running. Since Covid, it seems to have become a lot more cool and attract a lot more younger, trendy people. At my last half marathon, I couldn't believe the gorgeous outfits that people were running in as opposed to the old daggy shorts and singlet I wore for my first marathon. But no matter how much it changes, there is still space for everyone. It's the one sport that the first timer can compete in the same event as the world class athlete. I hope it stays that way.