Running Tales

When Chris Marritt DNF’d at the Ring O’ Fire, a 135-mile coastal ultra in Anglesey, he started to doubt his whole identity as a runner. As someone who had been running for nearly 25 years and had racked up 2,000 miles in preparation for the race, dropping out hurt Chris more than he had expected.  He spent the following year trying to repair the damage, while working out what needed to change seco...

Ian Williams was born with spina bifida myelomeningocele, a severe form of the condition. At the time, outcomes were very uncertain, with a survival rate of about 70% and only around 15% of those born with the condition going on to walk unaided - let alone run. Thanks to an operation in the early weeks of his life, and despite a risky school time pursuit of rugby, Ian bucked that trend and over th...

Megan Boxall's running journey has a variety of starting points. In many ways, it started when she took up the sport as a youngster, going on to complete several marathons and triathlons. Others may argue that it really began in October last year when she set out on a trip that was to take in the entire coastline of Britain, covering 5,240 miles. Or perhaps its origin was the moment when a despera...

Abby Heffern is an ultra runner and coach, who achieved her dream of completing a 100-mile race at the start of this year. Couple that with her desire to run not only more 100s, but also 200-mile events, and you might be forgiven for assuming Abby is one of those people who take to extreme endurance running like a duck to water. The truth is very different, and Abby's Forgotten Florida 100 fin...

From the nerves of taking on your first big race to embracing crowd support - and the dangers of service station Chinese, what makes or breaks a great half-marathon? For everyday runners there is far more in play than achieving the perfect splits or knowing which miles to pop your gels at. Whether navigating the pressure of simply getting to the start line, trying to employ a nutrition strategy th...

Adam Rodriguez is doing something incredible. The 29-year-old is currently ticking off the final weeks of an epic challenge which will see him run 55 marathons in 55 different cities in a single year - that's a marathon in every city in the UK. Along the way, he is raising money for the MOVE Against Cancer charity, the organisation behind the popular and vitally important 5k Your Way initiativ...

Adam Ross only recently started running seriously. Now, he's taking on a year long challenge to raise money for and awareness of homelessness charity, Shelter. Each month in 2026, Adam will be completing a unique endurance challenge, from 10k races to half- and full marathons, with the promise of some even tougher events to come towards the end of the year. As the co-founder and director of Tr...

Ashley Riley has seen first-hand how running can help people with both their physical and mental health. As an outgoing, comfortable, loud, business owning and confident middle-aged man, Ashley had few obvious worries in life. But that was before he experienced his first ever panic attack. It was followed by another one. And another. Within a month, Ashley's panic attacks had turned into bone...

When Rodney Lowe was at school, he was the kid who teachers told to do one less lap of the sports field than everyone else... just so the class would finish on time. These days, he runs his own running YouTube channel - 'Runs With Rodders' , tackles races and parkruns up and down the country, and is on the verge of taking on the Manchester Marathon. Rodders uses running to keep his own men...

Lisa Jackson has seen every side of running, from completing the gruelling Comrades Marathon to finishing last in a host of marathons. By embrace her 'flamingo runner' persona alongside a simple enjoyment of the sport, she has discovered the true power of running - becoming a published author along the way. And when she needed it most, despite a brief departure, running was there for her,...

Coach, journalist and now author, Raziq Rauf, is well-known in the running/writers world on Substack. His popular  Running Sucks newsletter , where he writes about running culture, run clubs and stories from across the sport, has more than 5,000 subscribers. He’s currently taking part in the  Salomon Off Track Gravel Tour , which involves him talking all things running and going on a gravel run in...

George Puckett wasn't happy - and he couldn't put his finger on why. The 31-year-old was living in a beautiful home in Abergavenny, south Wales on the edge of the stunning Brecon Beacons, with his fiancee and one-year-old boy. But in the midst of making that life, he had forgotten to care for himself. Eating whatever he wanted and not exercising, George had ballooned to 130kgs (20 stone) a...

Mark Doris, has been using running as a vehicle to raise vital funds for SANDS , the UK's leading pregnancy and baby loss charity, for more than ten years. The charity is close to Mark's heart as he runs in memory of his stillborn son, Marco, who would have been 11 later this year.  His fundraising efforts have seen Mark raise more than £27,000 for SANDS. And along the way, he has tackled...

This week's guests, Tom Doherty and Lewis Thompson, have taken overcoming adversity to another level, and are now reaping the rewards through a succession of crazy running challenges. Tom's story began in 2023 when he was diagnosed with cancer and underwent six hours of surgery. A full year of gruelling treatment followed, but Tom emerged with renewed vigour and a desire to take his second...

Dan Braddock started to get serious about his fitness back in 2010 after years of, in his own words, being on the chunky side. Initially, he started cycling to and from work, something he enjoyed so much that he rapidly graduated to taking part in cyclosportive events all around the UK. His running journey started in 2016, when - as with so many people - he began parkrunning. With both cycling and...

Becs Gentry has made a life out of running. Hoka's newest Global Brand Ambassador has worked as a coach for some of the biggest names in the sport in cities like London and New York. Along the way, she has excelled at a range of distances, including trialling for Great Britain's Olympic team. However, her journey was sparked not by a desire to be an elite athlete and coach, but a need to escape fr...

Terrell Johnson is Substack 'Running Royalty'. With more than 39,000 subscribers, his The Half Marathoner newsletter is hugely popular, combining personal stories with those of runners from around the world, training plans, lists of often exotic-sounding races, and intimate community conversations about everything running related. His own running story started when he was in his mid-20s. At that t...

Struggling with his mental health and looking to lose weight, Ross Thompson made the decision to start running around a year ago. At first it was a struggle, and Ross was left wondering if running was for him. But he slowly grew to like it, and his efforts were supercharged when he took the decision to create his alter ego: The Orange Running Guy. Suddenly, his running was more than just a battle...

Like so many other people, Sam Kirchin started running during the Covid pandemic. The rugby lover said he had been putting on weight even before lockdown started, so turned to running. He initially hated it, but continued to increase his distance and even started to take part in races. One person who was always spurring him on was his wife, Lyndsey, who took the decision to enter Sam into the Lond...

While most people were heralding the start of the new year with something fizzy or sleeping as fireworks went off outside, Jack Syder-Mills was welcoming 2026 in an entirely different way. The Norwich-based runner was heading out to the trails surrounding his home to tackle six half-marathons on New Year's Day. Jack was taking on the extreme challenge to raise money for the Brain Tumour Resear...

Steve Cushing describes himself as a 75-year-old, retired GP and back of the pack runner with two artificial hips and a pacemaker. But that only tells half of his story. He's previously run extreme events including The Ice Marathon, becoming only the ninth person to complete a marathon in the Antarctic, and - at the other end of the heat spectrum - the infamous Marathon des Sables. Having recently...

This is a repeat of an episode which ran in December 2024; more details below. As a sickly and frail child, Natalie Crawford avoided exercise at all costs. Poor attendance at school and a constant cough that wore her out led Natalie to be diagnosed with asthma. She spent time in and out of hospital with chest infections, would cough huge amounts of mucus up, and suffered from frequent bouts of pne...

Stephanie Reents' new novel, 'We Loved To Run', tells the captivating story of a female US college cross-country team, delving into what makes them tick and the external challenges that threaten to pull them apart. It's a fantastic read that explores everything from why women run and the pressures it brings, to the relationships teammates build and the coaches whose sometimes dubio...

Nikki Lilley was a talented runner in her youth, but the pressures of competition sapped some of her love for the sport and it fell by the wayside. Life and raising a family - with five children - meant she was kept pretty busy over the next few years, but she eventually found her way back to running (and swimming and cycling) in the form of the triathlon. Age group success followed, but Nikki suf...

In some ways, Tony Letts is your average club runner. He trains round his local parks, enjoys parkrun and is a member of his town club, Northampton Road Runners. Like so many other people, Tony starting running later in life, looking to improve his fitness. Along the way, he found a love of trail running and a desire to run increasingly long distances. And it's taken him on a journey which is...