30 Years of Running Marathons
30 Years of Running Marathons
Marathons and Mindfulness: Celebrating 30 Years of Running for Mental Resilience
Have you ever wondered how something as simple as running could transform your mental and physical health? Join me as I unravel my 30-year journey with running, from the exhilaration of major marathons like London and Dublin to those solitary, introspective runs during harsh winter months. Together, we'll uncover how running nurtures discipline, fosters goal-setting, and builds self-resilience, all while combating the sedentary lifestyles that dominate our modern world.
We'll also explore the powerful sense of community that running brings. Whether it's the electric atmosphere of major races or the close-knit feel of local events like Burnham Beeches Half Marathon, running has the unique ability to forge lasting friendships and boost mental resilience. Hear personal stories of pushing through injuries and life's obstacles to maintain a routine, and discover how those shared experiences contribute to a profound sense of well-being and confidence.
Finally, let's embrace the outdoors and the rejuvenating benefits of connecting with nature. From taking those first steps in a park to dreaming big with marathons or ultra marathons, physical activity offers tremendous mental health benefits. Listen as I preview my upcoming race and share the excitement of setting new goals, promising even more insights and stories in future episodes. Join me in celebrating movement as a powerful antidote to inactivity and a pathway to a more positive mental state.
Thanks for listening. Keep on running.
The race is on. The race is on. So let's get straight into this episode of 30 years of running marathons, and in this episode I'm just going to ask you one simple question Can running make you happy? Well, for me, over the 30 years, it certainly has. And I'm not just talking about running in the big races that maybe you see on telly, like London Marathon and all these big races where you've got the crowds cheering you on. No, some of my happiest moments have been when I've been out running on my own early mornings, especially in the winter when there's been snow, icy conditions, in fact, the tougher the conditions, the more, for some weird reason, I've loved it, and I guess the reason is is because I love to push myself and running has many benefits to your mental health.
Speaker 1:Not just mental health and physical health, but it's the overall aspect of running, and it's everything from no matter what standard of running you are, from setting your goal to maybe having never run before, to doing a bit of walking, then a bit of walking and a bit of running, to doing couch to 5k. Whatever your standard is, it's just the fact of that movement getting out the door and it's all the stuff that revolves around running. So it's not just the actual running itself, it's the discipline it gives you. So whatever standard you are, whether you're just planning to get out the door, you have to plan for it. You have to set yourself goals. So that's one skill. You learn to set goals, you learn the discipline, because more often than not, especially when you're first starting out, you don't particularly want to go out and run. It's also bad in the summer, when the weather's nice, you've got the nice early mornings, nice late evenings where it's still sunny. But there are times when it's not always like that, especially winter training. And you know if you're training for a marathon or half marathon. They normally happen in the spring. You do get some winter ones as well, but big races like the London Marathon happen in April and you have to train through the winter and you can't just say to yourself OK, I'm going to miss this day's training, this day's training. Ok, you can miss one or two days, but generally you have to go out, no matter what the conditions are. So running it builds you a certain self-resilience, it builds that discipline, it builds your mindset to set goals and all of these contribute to your mental health.
Speaker 1:And of course, back when I started running, mental health wasn't as talked about as it is today and I've never perceived myself level have certain mental health I guess how can I put it? Problems or difficulties, because for all of us life never runs smoothly. So our mental health obviously bobs up and down and you know, nowadays we can talk about it, whereas when I was younger it was very binary. It was either you know you're completely out of it, you know I think you need help, um, or you know you're fine, whereas nowadays it's more of a gray area and we realize there's different levels of mental health. Mental health isn't always talking about bad mental health. We all have mental health, like our physical health. It's just that nowadays we're tuned more to looking after it. And exercise has always been known obviously to help our physical health. But certainly nowadays we're delving more into the science behind how to help our physical health. But certainly nowadays we're delving more into the science behind how it helps our mental health. And it's just the fact of movement and obviously I'm a runner, so obviously I'm advocating running. But you know, if you just think of the simplest things you can do just to move, like walking, I mean, so many of us work in offices nowadays or work from home. We're just not getting the exercise.
Speaker 1:We used to think back to our ancestors. How many miles they walked, obviously, to hunt and gather food, and you know they would only eat, obviously, once they have hunted their food down. So they didn't eat the amount of food that we eat today and all the processed foods, and they weren't as sedentary as us today. I mean literally, you wouldn't have to leave your house. Today, you can order your online shopping from home, you get doctor's appointments over the phone. You can work from home, you can keep in touch through facebook and all the other social media sites and in some ways, we've come more disconnected, even though the world is smaller. Now, through, obviously, things like the internet, social media, emails, the world is a lot smaller and you know the internet can help us keep in touch with each other, but at the same time, it's pushed us apart. So now we tend to live our own little bubbles, our own little families, and there's not as much, shall I say, physical connection. And physical connection is important as regards mental health, as regards as the physical exercise, but getting back to the point of you know you wouldn't have to leave your house? You literally don't. You can work from home, you can order your online shopping, you can do everything from home.
Speaker 1:So what's the incentive to go out? Well, the incentive to go out is to reconnect with nature. It's well known that if you're walking or running alongside a river in the countryside, your happiness levels go up even more than, say, for example, if you're running, maybe, through a city centre. Now, not all of us can run through parks, long canals, long rivers, but in most city centres there is some sort of green space that you can go to, and whether you're running or walking or just going there to connect with nature is what is going to increase your happiness. And certainly we weren't designed to sit behind screens all day and connect via screens. We are human beings. We, you know, we, demand human interaction, and this, this is the thing, um, about running. Not only do we get the exercise you know the exercise that we need, which is what our ancestors obviously did far more than we do nowadays you also get that social interaction, because that's what exercise can give you.
Speaker 1:Okay, a lot of the time, when I'm training for a marathon or half marathon, I'm running on my own, but nowadays we've got things like park run and park run is running a lot of countries. So it's on a saturday morning and you go down, you do a 5k and it's not really a race, even though you know people are competitive. But you get all standards, got people who walk it, people that sprint it, you know, go on the 20 minutes for it, um, and then it's everybody in between, people running with dogs, with prams. But the thing about that is not only are you getting the physical benefits of running, which help your health, but you get a social interaction Because even if you go there on your own, you're going to make friends. There's certainly the park when I go to there's about 600 people. It's one of the biggest park runs in the UK and you meet the same familiar faces and you get chatting and you have a coffee afterwards. And certainly during the summer it's great because you can sit outside have a coffee afterwards.
Speaker 1:Great because you can sit outside, have a coffee afterwards and you know you've got your tribe, the runner's tribe, and no one cares how fast you ran it. You know we're all. You know. That's another thing. If, if you want to be happy, just don't compare yourself to others. You can only compare yourself to yourself. But nobody cares at parkrun and it's, it's a. It's a great little thing because it's done weekly.
Speaker 1:Um, if you just did that one thing a week, just the 5K run a week, that's probably a lot more than what a lot of people are doing. I mean, if people are just going to work they're getting in their car, for example if they're working in an office, getting into the office, sitting down all day, coming back home, not doing exercise Then just to do that 5K a week is more than what a lot of people do. And whether you walk or run, it's going to give you the health benefits and also the social benefits, because being social, mixing with people, which we need to do as human beings, is also important for our mental health. So running combines both of these. So, even though a lot of time the training is on my own um, very much on my own, which I do enjoy, I mean, I don't have to be. You can join running clubs. Yet again, you can mix in with different standards of runners, but just the fact that you know when I'm running on my own it gives a chance to clear my head and I run in nature and it's great because I'm reconnecting with nature. It gives me a chance to clear my head and you get the endorphins kicking Now, the endorphins you get from exercise.
Speaker 1:You probably heard of the runner's high and you literally do get a runner's high and I find, the further I run in fact the harder I run as well the tougher the run. You just don't think about anything else. Everything clears your mind. All you're thinking about is getting through that run, and it can be quite painful. It's not until you get back home that you know you're back in the real world. But for those 10, 15, 30 minutes, hours, two hours or whatever, you're completely in your own zone, your own little bubble and nothing else matters and you're just struggling to complete that run.
Speaker 1:And when I do hill reps, that I mean that's even tougher. I mean I'll just I digress quickly but I did a run last week and I did seven times up this hill near to where I live and it's a steep hill, about a third of a mile, and it's really tough and it's along the side. It is along the side of a road, but you're sort of like in woodland and just to start up it is steep but then it turns, turns again and it gets steeper and steeper and just to go up it once is tough and I know just to get there it's going to be about four miles, 4.4 miles actually to get to the top of the hill. So that's a good run, because if I go there and back that's eight miles, 8.8 miles. But what I like to do is like to see how many times I can get up, and I roughly know if I go up about seven times and then obviously by the time I run home that's about 30 miles. So I'm going to get in a half marathon distance. But of course, you know I never set out for that.
Speaker 1:My first goal is always, normally it's just to run to my old house, which is about 1.5 miles away, and then from there I go up to two, three miles and I don't want to get to four miles. I've hit the hill and then my first priority is just to get up the hill once. I get up the hill once and then I'll get this nice freeway running all the way down it again. And now I say to myself let's see, just see if I can do one more. You know, I think the most I've done is like 12, 14 times up, up it, but I never. If you think too far ahead, you're never going to do it. So last week I did seven. I think it's about 13 miles. Yeah, it's 13.1.
Speaker 1:I was only half mile distance, half marathon distance, and obviously it's great training for me because I haven't done much of this interval work which is sprint work. But hill work is really good and obviously my time's not as fast as as my normal half marathon time. Um, I'm sort of averaging about 1 hour 45. This was 2 hours 23, but bearing in mind the elevation, a couple of thousand feet. Then you know I was really happy with that. Um, and of course I know that when I I go to my next half marathon, which is in fact next week, uh, which I'll update you on then, and that's a hilly one, two, two lapper then I know I'm going to be well prepared for it Because even though it's hilly, it's nothing like the hill here.
Speaker 1:But getting back to the mental health side of it, this strengthens my mental health, strengthens my resilience, because obviously it gives me the confidence. You know I do that early in the morning, before work, and once I've done that I'm like, whatever happens during the day or during work. I know nothing can match that. I've done more than what most people have and I've conquered the goal that I set myself. I wanted to get those seven hills in and I got them in and I came back, and even coming back as a slight uphill. So it is just such a tough run. But of course, when I get through and I get back, even though I don't have long before work, I'm like showered breakfast. In fact, I have more energy and that's the thing about running or any exercise Once you get used to it, you actually have more energy and you feel better. So I come back and I know that I've conquered those seven hill reps. I'm just on top of the world.
Speaker 1:So, you know, nothing can face me during the day, during work, and that's improving my mental health because I'm not going into work. You know I've had a bad day yesterday. You know I'm not thinking about that, I've just been thinking about where I run, and now I'm full of confidence and I've never had a lot of confidence. So running gives me that confidence and so for the rest of the day I'm just on a high, literally a runner's high, and that is so good for my mental health and that is what running can do for you. And then also there's the other aspects of running.
Speaker 1:You know, as you know, I'm training for a half marathon at the moment, I'm training for marathons and I said before, you know, setting the goals for yourself, going out there, being consistent, going out for the runs when you didn't want to, it all helps your mental health, because to it all helps your mental health, because I know, when I haven't been for a run, I'm not as happy, I'm not as happy, I can get a bit depressed. So I know, once I've been for a run, even though sometimes I really want to get out the door, but, as I say, I just trick my mind into it. Let's just see how far you can go. You know, just go the half mile down the road and to the crematorium where nan is, and, just, you know, turn back. But you know, once I out there, I find I push through that barrier and I get stronger and stronger and it's just that mindset of just pushing through. The hardest step I always say is to get out the door. Once you're out the door, that's it.
Speaker 1:But you know, I've never come back from a run, or even race, where I felt worse. I always feel better, even if it's really tired me out. In fact, there's some of the best runs, because, I said, I've been out in winter when there's been snow, ice, and I've really struggled. But then I've come back and once I've gone through it, it's like it's like you push through the wall in the marathon. You, you've come through the other side, you You've come through stronger and it really strengthens your resilience and it's so good for your mental health.
Speaker 1:And then, of course, if you go up a level, when you actually do these races I mean most races, obviously, the bigger races like the London Marathon and Dublin Marathon, which I've run you get the crowd and it doesn't matter what speed you do. You're running a marathon or half marathon. You get so much respect for that and the crowds are there to support you on. You've got family, friends, the crowds and you just get such a buzz um, and that is good for your mental health, because when you've got people cheering you on, people supporting you, people shouting your name, there's nothing quite like it. I sort of must like being in the Olympicslympics yourself. It's such a good feeling. So I do love the bigger races, but I say you can get it at a lower level as well, even when you're just out training.
Speaker 1:But, yes, certainly with the bigger races and this race that I'm entering, uh, next week, burnaby's half marathon. It's a local half marathon I've done since I was a kid and it's just a two lap hilly race and the great thing is, if the weather's nice, which you can never tell here in the uk, they've got a swimming pool which you can use afterwards, which is great um which you can relax. Always tend to be a bit competitive, even after having run a half marathon, tend to see how many lengths I can do, but it's great because if it's really hot you can really um, chill out in the swimming pool. But yeah, this is a race I've been doing for many years and, to be honest, you don't because it's run in woodland, you don't get a lot of crowd support, um, because it's a two lapper or if you're doing the 10k. So there's a 10k and a half.
Speaker 1:If you're doing the 10k, it's just one lap. If you're doing, um, the half marathon, it's two laps. So when you come around the end of the first lap and certainly start to finish, you know you've got a bit of support from other runners and family and friends and spectators, but that's it. Normally you're out on your own I say out on your own. You're out with other runners and other runners, even though they're competitive, they're out there to support you so they see you struggling. I get many, you know, pats on the back, and so would you if you're running, just to, just to, you know, keep moving, especially through the hard bits, the hilly bits, but yet again it's a great atmosphere when you finish. I remember in the past years you get a lovely bright yellow T-shirt which, because it's organised by Burnham Joggers, that's their colour, and you just have this sea of people who are wearing these yellow T-shirts and yet again it's feeling part of a community, feeling part of a tribe, and that's certainly what we need nowadays. We need more connection Because, even though we have connection through screens, connection through screens isn't the same as, obviously, connections in real life, physical connection, and that's what you get with these races.
Speaker 1:You get the physical connection before, during, when you're with runners, with the crowds, and then afterwards. So not only are you getting the physical benefits, which are also helping to your mental health benefits, but also contributing to your mental health benefits is all the stuff that goes around it Running with others, you know, you're on the same boat, the crowds it's a spectator, friends cheer and you're on. And then the actual accomplishment of actually finishing the race. You know, you did it, you overcame what a lot of people couldn't, and that is such an ego boost, such a mind boost, such a boost for your mental health, an ego boost, such a mind boost, such a boost for your mental health and it's, you know, and you can find this, you know, with other exercises too.
Speaker 1:Obviously, walking, and you can start off with walking. You know, and I've got friends who are walkers and, to be honest, I'm walking far tougher than running. You know, walking for six hours, and they're professional walkers compared to me. I would just rather, you know, run it in half the time and get it over and done with. But yeah, so there's different. You know, you'll find your fitness will depend on what sport you do and you can be fit in one sport, not quite as fit in another, so it varies. But you know, I'd advocate any sense of movement.
Speaker 1:But obviously this podcast is all about running. Um, it's called 30 years of Running Marathons, but that's just the peak of it. You know, anybody can train themselves to run a marathon. It just takes a bit of dedication, a bit of discipline, a bit of training. But all that wrapped up is so good for your mental health. And if you just start off with the walking and then progress to a slow jog to the running and then progress to a slow jog to the running, the health benefits and the mental benefits just far outweigh any of, maybe, the slight cons that might be involved. You know the cons of maybe having to get up early or to run in the evening just to fit it around your lifestyle with family and friends and work, because even though sometimes it's a struggle to fit in work, because even though sometimes it's a struggle to fit in, the benefits you get from it far outweigh any of the struggles to actually fit that in, you know, to your regime.
Speaker 1:And remember, we only have one body, um, and it's important we look after it. But not just a body our mind. And too often I think, over the years our mind has, uh, been neglected and now more than ever we need our mental health to be top-notch. We need to look after our minds, because our minds are being bombarded with so much information, so much our minds, our brains, have to take in. At the moment, we're on all the time, 24-7. Through technology, we can always be contacted. There's always information flying off the internet, so much on social media and so much disinformation as well, as you know, information let's call it junk information, information that we don't really need to be looking at. You know, we're scrolling on our phones and our iPads before bed, on our iPads before bed, so we're not getting the proper sleep that we should, because our brains are still so hyperactive in the evening as we go to bed, because we just can't detach from technology. And you know, technology is good if we manage it correctly and if we control the technology rather than technology controlling us.
Speaker 1:And obviously I use a lot of technology for my running. So for my Garmin watch records everything that records my sleep, my stress levels, my runs. I upload it on Strava and then I'm on show on that. And yes, I do post my good runs on on Facebook as well. But you know it's what you do with the technology and that that's important for your mental health as well. And that's what running does for me, because when I run, I don't go out running listening to music, taking my phone or anything with me. I'm literally okay. I don't literally run naked. When I say run naked, I mean when people say they run naked, nowadays they run without a watch, or not necessarily without a watch, but without recording it. So nowadays there's often a joke that if it's not on Starva, you didn't do the run, because nowadays we's often a joke that if it's not on Starver, you didn't do the run, because nowadays we like to record everything, so we record all our lives on Facebook or Instagram. We like to record every single moment and often we're only recording.
Speaker 1:You know the good things and you know you look at other people's Instagram, facebook and you think, wow, what a life they're living. But obviously we don't see. You know the struggles behind that because nobody, hardly anybody, posts the bad parts of their life on Instagram. You know they want to show all the good stuff, they want to juice it up a bit, but nobody actually so, for example, if I post a photo after one of my races or my ultra marathons and that you know are like wow, look at that. But you know there's a lot of struggle and training, months and months of training behind that and the struggles behind that, the injuries, and I'm certainly not one of these people to to brag and boast. I'm fairly quite a reserved person. But if I've just run 60 miles, an ultramouth, and yeah heck, I'm gonna put my photograph on on instagram and facebook and tell all my friends about it.
Speaker 1:And yes, you should be proud of these accomplishments and certainly post them up. But when you look at other people's accomplishments and that's certainly another thing that can affect mental health don't compare yourself to others. Be happy for them, because you never see the full picture. You don't know what it's taking them to obviously have that nice holiday they could have saved up for years for it or have that nice car or that house, or look that way they've got like a six pack or, you know, look really fit. It's probably a lot of work that's gone into that, as it does. For if you're training for a marathon or half marathon, you know these things don't come easily, so you're only seeing the finished version. So you know, always, be always be aware of that.
Speaker 1:But, as I said, you know the feat of joy is to compare yourself to others and you should only try to improve yourself each day and compare yourself to yourself from where you were yesterday, last week, last month, last year, and that's why I love doing these episodes, because I can record you know how I'm feeling, what I've been doing. You know, as well as recording on Strava, I record all my runs and my training as well, my races, and it's a great record, and obviously I've got my medals as well to look back on and the races I've done and also my memories as well my races, and it's a great record, and obviously I've got my medals as well to look back on, and the races I've done and also my memories as well. And I can see from my records, you know, the races that I've done for this year. Have they been more or less than previous years? How are my times doing? But in the day, all of that is irrelevant, as long as I've enjoyed myself, which you you know, even in the races that I I didn't expect to do as well and I haven't done as well. You know I don't get too down on myself.
Speaker 1:There are many circumstances that may be affected. You know that slow time or or why I went faster on that time, and I'm grateful for every run I can do, you know, because there might be a day when I can't go running and that would absolutely destroy me because, you know, because there might be a day when I can't go running, and that would absolutely destroy me because, you know, running is like the lifeblood for me, just to be able to go out and run. And many of us take for granted our health, the fact that we can, you know, go out and walk and move, and we just take it for granted that we'll always be able to do that. But you know, time flies by. We shouldn't let the years pass by and it doesn't matter what age you are. You can start at any age. Just slowly start off with the walking and the movement and just get up to that level.
Speaker 1:But you know, I'd advocate anybody you know to start walking and then progress to running. And, as I said, you know, obviously this is about running. So I'm going to advocate running, but any form of exercise is good for your mental health. Going to advocate running, but any form of exercise is good for your mental health. And I don't think that, you know, over the years we have prioritized that enough. You know, we've looked at other ways to obviously improve our mental health and obviously there's a lot of, you know, case to be had for, obviously, medication.
Speaker 1:But some of the easiest ways to improve your mental health are not through medication. It's just going back to the basics that we did years ago and that we've lost, and certainly over the last few years with the uh, the onslaught of technology. Then we're just not getting the mental benefits that we need from just connecting with nature, just getting back to the basics, moving the being away from screens. I mean nowadays you can be stuck, as I said, 24 7 with screens, and that that is not healthy. You know, our brains were never designed to consume so much information and no wonder people struggle with their mental health. So to go out for a run, to get those endorphins kick in, to get that runner's high, but to get all the other aspects of running around it as well, to be able to set goals for yourself, to meet people on a weekly base in a park or to go to a running club, to connect with nature, there's so much that running can do for you. And obviously we know about the physical benefits. We know it can help you to lose weight, it's good for your heart, it strengthens your muscles, improves your flexibility. So that's all the physical benefits. But then we forget all about the mental benefits.
Speaker 1:You ask any runner and I can guarantee they probably never had what they would call a bad run. Yes, a bad run in the sense that, well, it wasn't as fast as I expected or I had a bad race. It wasn't, didn't go as expected, but they look back and they still felt good. And on any training run, you know, people don't come back from a run and said, oh, I wish I hadn't gone out for that training run, even if they've been through snow and the stroke. Okay, maybe if they come back injured, but nine times out of ten, even though if you didn't want to, if the weather's horrible, it's been diabolical and you go out, then you struggle through. I bet you anything. You come back and you still gonna be glad you went for that run, the only runs you don't enjoy, the runs you don't do.
Speaker 1:So I say this episode has been all about, you know, the mental health benefits of running and I say it doesn't just. You know it's not just running, but obviously me and my podcast is about running. It's about 30 years of running marathons, but in that 30 years of running marathons, we're talking about running generally and, as I say, you can start off with walking. You know running's just a progression from walking, but for me running's what I do, and when I don't run I do feel a bit down. So I know that running does my mental health really good and it does for so many others.
Speaker 1:And nowadays there's really no excuse. You can start off slowly, pick a pair of trainers up running gear fairly easily and, as I say, most countries can start off with a park run so you can meet up locally. You can start off walking it. You know. You just register and then you're going to make friends, meet people, maybe join a running club and from there the world's your oyster. Who knows what you're going to be doing? You know, one minute you could be running a park run, the next you could be running a marathon or an ultramarathon. And that progression as well just gives you confidence, and confidence is great for your mental health. You know, no matter else, what happened in your life at that particular time.
Speaker 1:If you're smashing these goals, if you're doing things you never thought you could do, then not only physically are you improving, but mentally you're getting more resilient, you're getting more confident, you're making friends, you're getting that physical connection that you need. You get the physical connection with nature, physical connection with people. What's not to like? It's just, it's just wonderful. And I can't emphasize enough how important it is, not just for our physical health but for our mental health. And who knows where you might get to. As I say, you might start off just walking and then you start doing a bit of running on your park run and then you go from there to a marathon, to an ultra marathon and before you know it you'll be like me, you'll be running marathons for years.
Speaker 1:So I just think it's so important and I'm emphasizing this at the moment because at the moment my training's been on and off. I've been injured, I've got this going to be soft mouth next week, but I've had a lot of things going on in my life at the moment and a lot of things have been changing. And sometimes, you know, even I find it difficult to get out and go for a run and there are days when, literally, like I, I just can't do it. But I know how important, because it's like a vicious circle If I don't feel like going for a run, maybe because of my mental health. But then I know if I go for the run it'll be better for my mental health. I'll come back feeling better.
Speaker 1:But because I don't feel like it, you know my mental health, I'll come back feeling better, but because I don't feel like it, you know my mental health isn't there, then I just don't go and then obviously my mental health gets worse. So I have to break that cycle and force myself, force my, you know, have the mindset, force myself to get out there and do the run. So it's a visual circle. You don't want to go because you feel that down. But then you know, if you do go, you come back feeling better, but because you don't go, because you're feeling it down, you just get more and more down. So it's important to get out there and sometimes it's just the little milestone. You know, if, if I'm planning on long run and I can't do, I'm thinking just get out the door. If I could just get out the door, run along to the crematorium and my nan is, you know, it's just half a mile. Half a mile there and back, that's a, a mile, which to me you know some people that's a lot, but to me that's that's nothing. But it's better than nothing. You know, I got out the door and even if I've just done that mile run, the endorphins are kicking in, I'm feeling better and I feel better for the day.
Speaker 1:So, as I say, my running's been up and down at the moment. So I was thinking what shall I post on my podcast? I've got no real highlights to obviously really highlight, so to speak, at the moment. Obviously, I did that 13-mile run up and down the hill, which was a highlight for me, and then the runs since then have been on and off. I have done the park run when I've not been working, which has been really nice, and I say they're weekly. So I know, even though they're not a race, this you know, sort of.
Speaker 1:Similarly, you know I'm running with others and that and it, you know, I like to bring out my competitive side in it and I get to meet all the regulars and that's a it's a great social thing for me as well. So you know that that always, you know, cheers me up and that's 5k, three miles, so it's a nice little run, so that that always cheers me up, even if I'm not running anything else, I always try and get there on a saturday and do the park run. So, yeah, running's been up and down and obviously next week I've got to be careful because if I do too many hard long runs just before the half marathon I'm going to suffer. But, as I said, I did the the half marathon up and down the hill there and that was two hours 23, so a lot of people would be happy at that time. So you know, I'm hoping I can break two hours next week but, no matter what, I shall enjoy myself because I shall meet many familiar faces. As long as the weather's nice, it'll be good. Um, I get that confidence boost of having run it, no matter what time I do, uh, being with other runners, being with my tribe, as I say, that physical connection, that being part of something bigger than yourself, and I shall enjoy it.
Speaker 1:So I just wanted to get this, this, this episode, down because I I thought it was important to emphasize about how important running is for your mental health, and not just the races but all the stuff that goes along the journey, from starting off from the little runs you know that, maybe just starting off with walking to the little runs, you know that maybe just starting off with walking to the little runs, the longer runs, to actually, you know, committing to a race, no matter what races we're 10k, half, full marathon and following through with that and having the discipline to get out there and do it and be proud of yourself and see that not only the physical differences within yourself, but feel how much better you feel within your own mental health. And nowadays we can talk about mental health more. So it's good that we can, because you know, we all have a mental health, like we all have a physical health, and it always fluctuates like our physical health does. So, as long as we can, you know, just because we can't see our mental health doesn't mean it's not there. We all know how I feel. We all have our emotions running through us all the time and that and it's just basically a way of controlling it. And we can definitely control it through exercise and running. And that's why it's so important not just think about the physical benefits of running, but also, um, mental health benefits.
Speaker 1:All right, and that's why I wanted to record this episode, just to to put that across.
Speaker 1:Um, and I know from my own mental health benefits how important it is to me and you know, hopefully, if you're struggling, then you know it can help you too as well, and certainly I would advise you, even if you're not running, just start out on that journey. A bit more movement, a bit more physical connection with nature, a bit of walking. Just get away from the screens and just try and connect more with nature and do a bit more movement, and anything like that can help, and before you know you'll be running, and then you'll be running marathons, ultra marathons, who knows? But just just to start somewhere. It is so good for your mental health, so I'm going to sign off there for now, as I say, my race is is next week, so I might get an episode in before then, but if not, there'll be an episode afterwards commentating on how my race went. But until then, you know, keep moving, keep running, keep walking, whatever. Just get outside there, improve your mental health and I'll see you on the next episode of 30 years of running marathons.
