Parkrunners Podcast
Parkrunners Podcast shares real stories from the global parkrun community—runners, walkers, and volunteers whose lives have been transformed by movement and connection. Hosted by Catherine Stenson, each episode celebrates courage, belonging, and the quiet power of showing up.
Parkrunners Podcast
Sophie Raworth: from BBC News to Marathon des Sables — Why parkrun still grounds me
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
This week on the Parkrunners Podcast, Catherine Stenson is joined by one of the UK’s most recognisable broadcasters — but also one of the parkrun community’s most inspiring runners — Sophie Raworth.
Many people know Sophie as a trusted BBC News presenter, but away from the newsroom she has quietly built an extraordinary running journey that began in her 40s and continues to redefine what’s possible in later life.
Now aged 58 — and fitter and stronger than ever — Sophie has completed more than 220 parkruns, countless marathons and ultra-distance events, including the legendary 250km Marathon des Sables across the Sahara Desert. She also achieved an astonishing parkrun PB of 20:31 at the age of 51 — proof that progress doesn’t have an expiry date.
In this uplifting and deeply honest conversation, Sophie shares:
🏃♀️ How running transformed her life after 40
🌳 Why parkrun became such an important part of her story
💪 Recovering mentally and physically after a fractured ankle forced her to stop running for a year
🔥 What drives her to keep challenging herself
📖 The inspiration behind her new bestselling book Running on Air
❤️ Why community, movement and Saturday mornings still matter so much
From her Richmond Park parkrun memories to ultra marathons in the desert, this episode is a powerful reminder that it is never too late to begin — and that one small step can truly change everything.
Whether you’re chasing a PB, coming back from injury, walking your first parkrun, or wondering if it’s “too late” to start… Sophie’s story will leave you inspired.
🎧 Listen now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Buzzsprout and all major podcast platforms.
Thank you for tuning in. It's been great to have you here.. If you've enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, rate, and review our podcast. Stay connected with us on social media (Instagram, Facebook & LinkedIn) for updates and more inspiring parkrunners' stories. Until next time, keep running, keep smiling and keep on showing up!
Hi there, and a very warm welcome back to the Parkrunners podcast. I'm your host, Catherine Stensen, and today I'm absolutely delighted to be joined by someone who many of you will recognize from your TV screens, but who is equally inspiring out on the running trails and a park run on a Saturday morning. Sophie Rayworth is a BBC news presenter, author of Running on Air, and is a passionate park runner who only discovered running in her Fridays and since then has not looked back. From her early days at Richmond Park to completing now over 221 park runs and multiple marathons and ultra races. Sophie's journey is a powerful reminder that it's never too late to start and just how transformative movement and community can be. Sophie, it's such a pleasure to have you with us on the Parkrunners podcast. It's lovely to be here. Thank you for having me. Not at all. Well, I know you're a big Parkrun fan, but I would love to dial back to what first prompted you to pick up running in your 40s.
SPEAKER_01I started running. I was actually 38 when I did my first run, and I'd had two children, and I was on maternity leave, and I was unfit and I wanted to lose some weight and get back, you know, back get back in shape. And actually it was something that went on at work that I think sparked it, which was that I got moved off a job that I was doing, and they moved me from the six o'clock news to the one o'clock news, and I wasn't overly keen on going there. And I kind of lost control at work, or I felt like I had, and I was on maternity leave. And I think it all coincided with an email from the Great North Run, which was Brendan Foster's half marathon, very famous half marathon, asking me if I'd like to be one of their celebrity runners. And sort of that all happened within a few weeks of each other. And my husband, who was a runner at the time, he was like, Come on, just do it. It'll give you something to focus on, distract you a bit, and uh you'll get fit again. And so I gave it a go and he said, I'll do it with you. So we started training together, and I found myself a training plan. And I hated running at that point. I really didn't like it. I couldn't do it. My first our first run was like two miles, and I had to stop all the time. And you know, I made the classic beginner's mistake of thinking I had to go fast and like I was out of breath within about five minutes, having to stop for water and my lungs burning, the whole thing. But I what I discovered because I'd signed up to this thing, I had to do it. And I told I started telling people I was going to do it, so I had to do it. And then I got a training plan, and I realized you know you do actually make quite a lot of improvement if you chip away at it. And it was a very early lesson, um, sort of slow and steady. So that's how I got into running. But I I did two half marathons, and then that was it. Um, and then after that I had another child, so again I stopped, and it was only in my early 40s. I was 42 when I did my first marathon, and I thought at that point I was too old. I just decided I well, I just thought I was too old to run a marathon. So I and then I saw a girlfriend do it, and I thought, well, if she can do it, I've got a chance, I'll give it one shot before it's too late.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Well, there's so much in in what you said there, because I think anybody who is on maternity leave knows how that can feel. Disempowering when changes are made in work when you're out on maternity leave. That's quite an uncomfortable feeling. But kudos to you for channeling that discomfort into something really positive like running. I've I also start running in in my 40s, and I recognise what you said about that first run. I was breathless before the end of my road. So you've said that how those early runs felt physically quite challenging, but you stuck with it and you ended up doing your marathons. Was there a moment when you realized that running might become something more for you than K or even a half marathon?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean, it was when I started training for the London. So I I decided to do the London Marathon. I signed up because I saw a girlfriend do it, and and then I saw um I saw Jenny Faulkner on that same year, this is 2010, and I'm watching the London Marathon on telly. And Jenny Faulkner, the TV presenter, crosses the finish line, and she says um she'd done it in three hours and 31. And I was like, wow. I mean she's younger than me, but I still owe this. Wow. And I just sort of thought, well, maybe I could. She crossed the finish line and she was on TV and she said to Sue Barker, I owe it all to Karen Weir at Matt Roberts. And I just remember, I remember where I was standing, I remember where the TV was, and I grabbed a piece of pen and paper and I wrote down Karen Weir, Matt Roberts. I had no idea who either of these people were, but I wrote it down and Googled it. And Karen Weir turned out to be a personal trainer. Matt Roberts is also a personal trainer. He owns a chain of gyms. And Karen worked there. And as it transpired, Karen Weir wasn't just a personal trainer, but she is also one of the Parkrun 13, the original Parkrun runners. So she was one of the people who set out with Paul Sinton Hewitt in 2004 in Bushy Park on what was then the Bushy Park time trial. And she, that's how I got introduced to Parkrun because I met Karen. I signed up with her. I said, right, I've run a half marathon. I have no concept of being able to turn around and run that distance again in one go. Um, I just don't think I can. Can I do it? And she said, you absolutely can. It's all in the training. Um so I signed up with her, and uh, and that's how I found Parkrun. I had never even heard of it. It was in its infancy then, it was 2010, 2011. And but I met Karen, the original Parkrunner.
SPEAKER_00That is that's such a lovely entree into Parkrun and the serendipity of you hearing Jenny Faulkner saying that is actually quite nice, but that ties into what I've started reading that in your book, um, is your competitive spirit. You you you looked at uh the people who can and thought, well, why can't I? That's really wonderful. So just linking um that to parkrun, Karen was the person to introduce you to that. Can you tell us a little bit about your first parkrun experience at was it Richmond Park?
SPEAKER_01It was Richmond Park. So Karen was also the run director at Richmond Park. So this is 2011, and I'd been training with her. I didn't actually go until um after the London Marathons. My first I did the marathon in April, and I'd been training with Karen for quite a few months by then. And I finally went in, I think it was September of 2011, October 2011. And uh I remember going and I remember the everybody being so welcoming. I obviously knew Karen, I knew nobody nobody else. And I remember everybody being really welcoming, and instantly um I was introduced to a woman called Sally Woodward Gentle because uh there was a a man who ran uh who ran Richmond Part Run, who was very well known at Richmond Park Run. He was one of the original runners called Serge Lowry, who sadly died. And I actually write quite a lot about him in the book. And he introduced me, he said, Oh, you're that lady off the television, aren't you? You must meet Sally, she works in TV too. And uh actually, it's probably what I love about Part Run, that was probably one of the first and last conversations I've ever really had about the fact that I work in TV or that somebody else works in TV. Because what I love about Part Run is you just turn up on a Saturday morning and it's so leveling, isn't it? Running is so leveling, it's a huge community. And I know all those people. I know they're I know what they're doing, I know that I know how often they run, I know what how fast they run, I know what they want to do, I know where they, you know, I know who their friends are, but most people I meet in Part Run, I have no idea what they do for work. They never ask me about work. We're all just accepted as runners and we all chat about running and races and what we're doing. And then is when I went to Serge's funeral, I think it was two years ago now, um, I went to his funeral and I couldn't recognize anyone. I was like, where are all the runners? And it was because they were all dressed in normal clothes with their hair done and makeup on and you know the memory in suits. And I it took me ages to realise who anybody was. But that was my initial introduction to parkrun.
SPEAKER_00It sounds, it sounds like uh it was worth coming back for because 221 parkruns later, there's something really littling and magical about that Saturday morning experience. I think that you know, to think that 13 people meeting in was at October 2004. And if you go like fast forward to the 1000 event at Bushy, over 6,000 people showed up, and now there's 12 million registered runners. So we we were clearly all uh attracted to that weekend kickstart that you get from park run, whether you're uh chasing a PB or you're just there to walk or jog and just have a positive start to your weekend.
SPEAKER_01I was I was very lucky a couple of weeks. I was very lucky a couple of weeks ago. I was in Guernsey for the literary festival, and Paul Sinton Hewitt was there, and I've got to know him because obviously he was a friend of Karen's, and so I've met him a number of times over the years. But it was wonderful to go to their park run with him, and you know, he's got sort of hero status, godlike status, and it's a it's amazing he's such a he's such a sort of um modest man, and I always say to him every time I see him, it's just extraordinary what he's done. And it isn't it incredible! Can you imagine if you'd started something with 13 of your friends and then years later you'd be going to all these events around the country and just watching everyone turn up in cars, hundreds, thousands of people at you know, individual events? It's incredible what he's done, absolutely amazing.
SPEAKER_00He must have to pinch himself. I think Black Bushy has turned into a global event. But I did see I did see the uh nice social post from both Paul and yourself in Guernsey, and I thought, like, how cool is that? It was kind of what do you think keeps you coming back to parkrun, even though you've gone on to really perfect the craft of running and not just long distances like half marathons, marathons, but you're an ultra runner now and have done so many amazing events. But parkrun every Saturday. Tell our listeners about that if you could, Sophie.
SPEAKER_01Well, do you know? I mean, I actually feel you say, Oh, you've done 221. I don't think that's actually very many compared to my friends. So Sally, who was my original parkrun friend who I was introduced to in 2011, she's done I think 600 and something, and she's got all the t-shirts. You know, I'm still I'm still trying to get my 250. She goes every single weekend. And I I do go, but then it I have I'm always training with a training plan. And I've asked my coach now to incorporate parkruns. So I do have parkrun written into my training plan. But I have this funny thing with parkrun now because obviously it's it I know it's not a race. Everyone says it's not a race, it's a run, you know, you do whatever you want, you run it, you walk it, you whatever. But the older I get, so I know that I'm when I was 51, that was my fastest parkrun time. And I still use parkrun to challenge myself. And I love running, you know, I do do marathons and I do do ultra marathons and I go long long distances, but there is still something wonderful about that sensation of running K and pushing yourself. And I love that sensation of going fast, especially when I'm fit and I'm, you know, I'm kind of on it. And so I love parkrun as a test. But on a Saturday morning, it's quite early, and I feel I put so much pressure on myself to go out there and run it. So sometimes I actually I'm a bit too scared to go and do it. It's ridiculous. And I want to, every time I go out there, even if I say, Oh, I'm just gonna take it easy, I never can. I can never take it easy because I just think you can go faster than this, and then I get swept along with them and it's exhausting and it's hard work. And I need to learn to sort of back off a bit, I think.
SPEAKER_00Well, you're competing with yourself, and that's actually that's fine. I I always like to emphasize to people that it can be as competitive as you want it to be for yourself, but it's not a race because for people who haven't been to Parkrun, it can sound like a very scary gathering of hundreds of people coming to the park. You would assume they're all elite runners. There's so many people of so many different fitness stages and levels that actually you everybody fits in. It's it's so it's so welcoming.
SPEAKER_01There really is. And I uh one of my one of my friends who I wrote about actually is um she was she was very, very overweight and she'd um put on loads of weight over the years, having kids, and she needed to lose weight, and she started and she lost weight, a lot of weight, like seven stone or something. Um, and then she started running and was getting fit and and she I kept saying to her, come on, she was running between lampposts along the River Thames, and that was how she started running. And I was like, Come to Parkrun. You can do it, and it's really good, and it'll encourage you. And she wouldn't come and she refused to come and she said, I don't want to be looked at. I'll run on a treadmill inside or I'll run on my own. And it took me six months to get her there, and I finally got her there, and she was so scared and so nervous. Anyway, she did it, and her kids came with her and cheered her on, and she did it in under 30 minutes, her first one. And now, and that was about, well, that was about 12 years ago now. Now she's like unbelievable. She lives in America now. She's run as many marathons as I have, more than 20. She's doing ultra marathons. She's off to Sydney in the autumn to do the Sydney marathon, and uh, she set up her own parkrun. She's set up the only parkrun, I think, in California, or one of the very few ones. So she's gone from this person who really couldn't run, then didn't want to run in public, then dragged to parkrun. And she says parkrun changed my her life, completely transformed her life. And now she's out in I think it's Palo Alto or somewhere like that in California, and she's got the the uh only parkrun there, and there are like 10 million people in the area, and there's just one park room.
SPEAKER_00Wow. I I think I read about her in your book, in fact.
SPEAKER_01And there was Steph, she's called Steph. Jackie is another park runner. Jackie Millet, who is another park runner who discussed, she also turned out, changed her life. She started running when she was my age now, 57. She's now 73, and she started running because of a health scare, and she discovered Richmond Parkrun. I met her there, and she went from at the age of 57, she ran parkrun, then she graduated to a half marathon, then she went to the marathon. She is now 73 and has run more than 230 marathons. She's lost count, so have I. But she is unbelievable. And and it's all parkrun, it's parkrun that started it.
SPEAKER_00Well, there's there's a note to self going on in my head here to invite those two wonderful women on to the podcast. Oh, you should. I I'd really love I was gonna say, I'd really love to chat to you about the your PB and getting that P B in your 50s speaks to incredible resilience and hard work, Sophie. Let's be honest. So, how did you ever imagine that would happen when you started?
SPEAKER_01That I'm my PB is 2031. Um, and um I was 51 when I did it. I'd just come back from running across the Sahara Desert. I was I was very fit, and I'd I think I'd done the London Marathon two weeks before. I was fit and I was uh feeling very fast. I'd lost quite a lot of weight running across the desert, so I was light as well. Um and I just did it. I felt I was in that sort of mindset of I'd run across the Sahara 150 miles in Marathon de Sable, and I kinda I was just thinking, I can do anything. If I could do that, I can do anything. So I was really flying high. But I have to say, even though that was my PB and that I haven't got that close to that for quite a long time, I'm I've started doing strength work. I'm now I'm 58 next this week. I'm 58 this week. And I've started doing strength work in the last thank you. I've started doing strength work in the last two or three years, and I am not far off what I was then, I think, fitness-wise. So yeah, I'm not writing it off. I'm gonna try and push a little harder and see how close I can get. I'm not sure I'll go under 2031, but I possibly could get back into the 21s, maybe even 20s, who knows? I just I've I'm not gonna write myself off yet.
SPEAKER_00I I love the resilience, I love the commitment to self-improvement. I think there'll be men and women listening to this who will be gaining a lot of um encouragement and motivation from just hearing you talk about you're not done yet. You are ready to keep on refining and putting putting the work in, which which is hard work. Um I don't know if you manage to listen to an episode I did with Dr. Hussein Al-Zubedi, but he talks about you know self-improvement and putting the work in, and he said your body will uh is the best return on investment, and you invest in it, it pays you back healthily. And you're both great examples of that.
SPEAKER_01I'm I'm always do you know what? I started running marathon running 15 years ago, and I have I'm always training. So I I always train for something now, and it has just become um even more so, probably in the last I don't know, 10 years of my life, it's become part of my rhythm, part of my life, part of my routine. I just do it. So, and it really does pay off. And I always say, I mean, it is like running, it's one foot in front of the other, or you chip away at it. It's it's small step, but small steps, put one foot in front of the other, you'll get there in the end. And it has really amazed me how you know, at my age now, and yet, you know, I said when I was 42, I never I thought I was too old to run a marathon then. And I'm much fitter than I was when I was 42, and um and much stronger as well. And I think it's it that's I've really learned a lot. And it's it it translates into the rest of my life as well. It's given me huge confidence, just understanding the strength that you can get in your body from working at it and chipping away at it and just consistency, it it makes me feel much stronger in my head as well. So it allows me to do things that I perhaps would have been more fearful of doing in the past. I think, well, if I can do it running, I always apply that kind of marathon technique to it. Um, you know, the the highs, the lows, the training, the the preparation. And if I can do it, you know, do it in a marathon, I can I can apply it to the rest of my life as well.
SPEAKER_00Sophie, that's that's interesting. But how how do you balance that sort of performance training with just simply enjoying the experience of running?
SPEAKER_01I go out to a trail. I mean, I I do all kinds of I mix it all up actually. So I'm not I'm not hammering around a track all the time. I do one speed session, possibly two uh a week, and the rest of the time I'm running 10k once or twice a week, and I do a long run at the weekend, but I always mix it up. So yesterday um I was I did a trail run on the coast. I went along the King Charles III uh coastal path in Sussex in Bosum, which I'd never done before. Bosum to uh West Wittering with some friends, and it was beautiful, and I really pushed it on the flat bits of the path, I really pushed it, but I was also discovering parts of the country I'd never been to. And it's all about sort of for me, it's about the adventure of it as well. And I get my ordinance survey map out and I find places to go and I plot it on the map, and I put it on my watch, and I can go and do great loops of places I've never been to before, and my watch tells me where to go. I've got my map, and I love the I love footpaths. I love the I love the footpaths across Britain. It um it's always something new and always somewhere nice to to run.
SPEAKER_00Well, my husband is a big fan of taking out the Ordinance survey maps, and he plans loads of great routes for us as well because he prefers trail running to road running. Um tried to get a mixture of both. But um I'm curious because in reading your book, I know you've you have endured your fair amount of injuries as well as any runner done. Runner don't how have you managed your way through the injuries?
SPEAKER_01So my injuries, I've had two big ones from running and one from skiing. So that wasn't very clever. So that stopped me running for a while. But the the I've only ever had two proper ones that took me out for a while, and one was both shoe-related, actually. One was many years ago, and it was a a brand of shoe which had changed. You know how you get the new trainer, you run in a certain trainer, and then they up the number and it's the new one. And they'd completely changed the shoe. And that wasn't evident. I didn't know they had, but it wasn't just me. Another friend of mine was running in exactly the same shoes, and it happened to her as well. Both of us had terrible Achilles problems, and it took six months for us to work out that it was because we both changed the shoe, and it was the way that we were running in these different shoes. And then the most, the more recent one, which was the worst injury I had, was when I fractured my ankle. I got a stress fracture in my ankle in a really nasty place. It was actually called a snowboarders fracture, and that was because I was overtrained. I trained almost all the time in in carbon-plated shoes, uh, which at the time this is 23, 24. And at the time I didn't realize you shouldn't do that. And I still think lots of people don't realize you shouldn't do that. Because I see people at park run on trails in carbon-plated shoes, and I just think, why? And it's really bad for your feet. If you train in them all the time, it weakens your feet, it weakens the muscles, it weakens everything else. You must mix your trainers up. And those shoes are actually race day shoes, they're speed session shoes. They're not for the trails or for the park runs. It's not just your normal park run. And anyway, I trained in them all the time and I got a stress fracture, and that was really brutal. I found it really. Hard, but I had to and I was off on crutches for two months and I had a knee scooter, I couldn't put any weight on my foot. Um, so for me it was absolutely debilitating. And I found the only way to get through it, I had I turned it into a challenge. So I wasn't allowed to do any other sport, I wasn't allowed to cycle or swim if I used I couldn't use my legs swimming, I mean nothing. And so to go from really active to nothing, I found incredibly difficult. But I just turned it into a challenge of getting around. I mean, just simply getting to work on my knee scooter on the tube rather than taking a taxi. It became a daily challenge, and I got through it like that. And I did also find that just by rehab, the rehab is that I, you know, at the time I was told I may not run again, or I may my ankle may not be able to do long distances again. And I took the rehab really seriously. I was very slow in my return to running and I rehabbed it properly. It took me a full year to get back, but I'm actually absolutely fine. And I'm as strong as I was, if not stronger, before I did it. But I'm not running in carbon shoes.
SPEAKER_00Um I'm interested in I'm interested in how long you had to take off for that particular injury that you suffered um in London Marathon 2024.
SPEAKER_01I didn't run from I pulled out at mile 20 of the London Marathon, and I didn't run again until I think the end of August that year. So then I was doing very, very short runs, but my ankle was quite touch and go until certainly the new year. It was only when I didn't realise the the carbon thing at all. And it was only when I completely stopped wearing carbon shoes, which was in March the following year, that my ankle started getting better. So since I've stopped wearing them, I've that's fine again.
SPEAKER_00Wonderful. Well, I'm sure you were very relieved to get back because all runners will have injuries. You know, I'm injured at the moment and I've not been able to do something for 10 days, and it's driving me insane. But I'd like to talk to you about your book, Sophie Running on Air, which I'm midway through reading at the moment, and it's it's a really it's a really emotional and engaging read. So congratulations on that. But you're a role model for so many um, you know, women now. What inspired you to write the book?
SPEAKER_01I was actually asked to write it in 2018 when I came back from the Marathon de Sable, and I met a publisher at a book festival in Cheltenham who said, Oh, you've done this, you must write the book. And I I didn't, I sort of said, Oh, yes, maybe, thank you. I'll think about it. And I did nothing for five years because I wasn't I wasn't sure what the story was going to be. I needed a sort of arc of a story. And I started writing it in 23, and I wrote the first chapter, which was about running the London Marathon and collapsing. And that's so that was an obvious opening chapter, but I didn't know what the rest of it was going to be or how it was going to flow. And so I kept stalling, and then I broke my ankle, and then I thought, well, I can't write a book about loving running if I can never run again. Um, what really sort of pushed me over the edge were the number of people. I there was actually one specific incident in a cafe near me, and uh, I was just waiting for my coffee, and this woman came up to me and went, Oh, I follow all your running adventures, and I just, oh, I wish I could do what you do, but I can't, I'm too old. And I said to her, How old are you? And she was 10 years younger than me. I was like, You're not too old. And I've just had so many people who have said that to me over the years. So many people have said to me, I'm too old, or I can't, or on my knees, or it's too late. And I just thought, it's not too late. It really isn't too late. And so I started writing it really, but that I was so that pushed me over the edge. And what's been lovely since the book's been out for the last couple of weeks is the number of people I've been going around festivals and the number of people who come up to me and say, I started when I was in my 60s, or there was a woman the other day who said to me, I did my first park run when I was 70, and then I went on and ran the marathon. Good for you. And there are lots of there are lots of people out there who, you know, who start a park run and later, much later in life, and think, well, actually, I can do this. And then they do and they push themselves. So I just think it's I think we we, you know, especially because I'm now almost 58, I do think we tell ourselves very often that we're too old or that you know we should be slowing down or about damage to your body. And I've written all about the knees because everyone always says to me, What about your knees? And I wrote all about that in the book because I'd met a a profess a surgeon who's doing all this research into it, and he says, you know, fundamentally it's not bad for your knees. Some people, it won't be good for your knees because you've got other issues and whatever. But most of us should be able to run. And it's all about keeping strong and keeping your joints strong. And if you have strong joints, strong muscles, your joints all will be okay. So um I found that quite empowering, and I just sort of wrote it, and I hope that it will encourage other people to keep going, keep moving, because I think it's quite important, it's really important to do that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Well, I listened to an amazing podcast on the Mel Robbins show. She was interviewing a guest called Dr. Von der Rice, and she was just sharing some value angles of um women in their you know, 50s, 60s, and beyond doing heavy weight training, not lightweights. Because of what it does for bone regeneration, fitness of all the tendons. And just generally, her point was that we improve our like mobility but also our vitality into old age. She said there's no reason why people should be slowing down you know, at 50 and 60. You can moderate or 70 and 80, but you can still be intentionally active. Sophie, would you say you've written this book for? Because you have inspired so many people by virtue of your starting late story. Um, everything you've accomplished, I'm I'm totally in awe of much of what you've achieved because it's really, really impressive.
SPEAKER_01It didn't feel it doesn't feel I mean, it's funny, when you put it down in a book, it kind of thin, oh, I've done that and that and that. And it doesn't feel like that when you're done. I did to me, it didn't feel like that when I was doing it. Uh it I've just been running with my friends and it's all the things we've achieved, or we've done. Um it's just been really good fun. But I wrote the book for my kids actually. I've written it with my three children who are 21, 20, and 18. And I dedicated it to them and I've written on it, you never regret a run. And kind of thought when I, you know, before it went out into the big wide world, I sort of thought, I it doesn't really matter now. I've done it. I don't mind how it what happens to it in one sense, because I'm just really glad I've written it all down for my children who, when they're my age, will hopefully look back and say, Wow, mum did that, because otherwise they'd never have known. Well, so that that's a very unique and lovely experience. Um It was amazing. I ran the London Marathon with Ella um this year, and she's 21. And because my father died exactly a year ago, we raised money for Cure Parkinson's. And Ella's very um, she's a medical student, she works really, really hard at university, so she didn't have much time, but she trained three times a week. I got Karen Weir, my original trainer, to coach her. And uh Ella kept saying to me, Mum, I'm running my race. Aaron says I should run my race, not your race. So on the day, I wasn't sure whether I was running with her or I didn't know what we were doing, but uh, we set off together and we stayed together for 21 miles. And um, at 21 miles, she actually just started falling back a bit because you know, psychologically, she'd never done it before. And the marathon is mental as a mental game as much as a physical one. So she'd only ever run 21 miles. And I sort of stopped to find her a couple of times, but I couldn't find her. And then I just thought, well, she said, I'm running my race, not your race. So I pushed on, and she was only three minutes behind me, but she did it, she was brilliant, and it's she um she's now talking about going off and running marathons with her friends. So I think she's done one with her mum. She can go and do it with her friends now. But um no, it's it's it was a really lovely experience. I, you know, my first training run when I was the first year I started running, um I've got pictures of me pushing Ella and her sister Georgie in a double buggy, and Ella was only two years old. So to be able to go and run a marathon with my daughter, who I used to push in training, was uh was very, very special.
SPEAKER_00Well, if you're if you're doubting that you're impressive, then just check that picture out and look at and all the marathons that you've run since then. Sophie, that is truly impressive. So they must be very proud of the book that you've written, and I'm sure that they are going to get a lot of joy from that as well as they reflect on it over time and also benefit from the wonderful example that you've set them as, you know, not just a mum, but a mom who's prepared to put the work in for self-improvement, because I think that's a really positive message for any child to get from a parent. You've had an amazing response to the book. It's already a bestseller on the Times and um elsewhere. Do you think maybe the response to the book reflects how many uh people secretly feel maybe it's too late to start um something new, but they're they're minded to want to do it.
SPEAKER_01I think lots of I think lots of people it's I've had a lovely response to it actually. It's been lovely. It's been really um, it's been really lovely to see because lots of people basically saying, I mean, the word they keep using is inspiring. I don't, you know, you you say you said just now that what I've done is impressive. I don't lots of people do this, and I've just written it down. Lots of people are doing it, and lots of people are really impressive and probably don't realize they're really impressive. It probably seems impressive, but people are achieving things the whole time. And I think lots of people who have been in touch with me have said, you know, you've inspired me to do this. And it's amazing what they're doing, absolutely amazing. And people signing up to races and start running or doing whatever. I mean, there was a woman I did a book festival at the weekend, and she said, It's really inspiring what you do. You're I'm an endurance swimmer. And when she said endurance swimmer, I assume she was talking about swimming like swim marathons, which are 10k. And uh the the woman who uh who was interviewing me, Jill Douglas, said to her, Well, what do you mean by endurance? And she said, Well, I'm swimming the channel in September. I mean, that's so much more impressive. But I just think it's I don't know, running has taught me running has has has been very empowering for me. I found it, and something didn't happen instantly, it's actually probably only in the last few years. And it's something that just makes me feel very alive, very in the moment. I really enjoy, I like the challenge. It just works for how my brain works. I like to have something coming up, something to look forward to, races to look forward to, going off with my friends, doing it with my friends. So um it's been really, it's been really lovely to do. Um, and the reception I've had from from the book has been is been wonderful and an added bonus. And um, I just hope I'm not creating a whole lot of work for physios up and down the country. I hope people take it easy when they start.
SPEAKER_00They might be grateful for the work creation, but I think in in you saying that that you're just doing this because you you've enjoyed it, it's fantastic. And it's it's so clear to see how much it gives you and how much it means to you. But I think you also um have a very positive effect on the people who are, as you say, maybe equally impressive, they're doing things and they may never document it, but hopefully they will get some recognition even from the fact that you've written it down. And you know, people will be drawn to your book because you're very well known, you know, from your BBC broadcast career and everything that you're balancing with that alongside. So, what would you say to someone who's feeling out there who might be listening, it's a bit too late for me to start running?
SPEAKER_01What guidance would you give to people? Read my book. I mean, you're not it's definitely not uh it's not it's not too late. I think anyone should try. I always say to people, anyone who says to me, Oh, I don't know, do you think I could run? I say, get the couch to 5k app and then go to parkrun. And don't be intimidated by park run, walk the first one. You can walk the whole thing. Walk, walk, jog it, whatever you want to do. Um, but I I just always tell people to go to parkrun. So start running, start running really slowly and then go to park run.
SPEAKER_00So just yeah, make a start. And I think parkrun is a great on-ramp for anybody who wants to even put their toe in the water to see what it's about, go volunteering, as you say, walk, run, or jog. So we are coming to the end of um our our time together, Sophie, and it's been it's been really enlightening and really means a lot to me that you've taken time to share that story with our listeners. So I'd love to know if we're gonna do a quick fire round if I could. What's your favorite park run location?
SPEAKER_01Um, my favorite, I think, has to be Richmond Park because it's one lap, it's beautiful, you see deer, um, and it's where I started. That was my that was my very first one. Lovely.
SPEAKER_00And your favorite trainers to run in.
SPEAKER_01Oh, I mix them up. I run my my probably standard ones are my Brooks Ghost. I don't like too much foam, I like to be able to feel the ground, I don't like too much sort of technology under my feet. So I run in Brooks Ghost, but when I'm racing, I now run in uh New Balance Rebel Fives, which are sort of light but don't have any plates or anything like that in them. They get you around in double quick time by the looks of it as well. Do you have post-parkrun rituals? I'm always almost late because I Saturday morning I can uh almost uh I have to get there quite quickly, so I jog to parkrun if I can, or I sprint there somehow because I'm always running a little bit late. Um, and post-parkrun ritual, I always have a cup of coffee with my friends, obviously.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Same here. Is there one person you could run a parkrun with? Who would that be?
SPEAKER_01Right now, my 18-year-old son, who is an amazing runner. Uh, I used to drag him round parkrun when he was a child, when he was sort of eight, and he'd do the first lap okay, the second lap he'd moan at me and try and walk. And the third lap, he would tell me that he was going to put his turbo boosters on, and then I could never keep up. And as he grew up, he got faster and faster. And he then managed a sort of, I think he did 19-minute or sub-19-minute part run. Um, and then he didn't run anymore. He's been playing rugby for years, but just since the most recent London Marathon, he came and watched and he has started running again. So I've bought him a pair of trainers, he's got a watch, he's got my old Garmin, and he he did clock up a five-minute something mile the other day. I don't think if I take him to parkrun, he won't come with me at the moment, but if I get him to parkrun, I don't think I'll see much of him. Put him a little bit like that. He'll have gone. Um he'll be he's quite fast. But I'd like to get him back to park run. That's my that's my summer goal.
SPEAKER_00Okay, well, I hope I hope he listens to this because I think he would be a brilliant pacer for you. And finally, Sophie, bucket list parkrun location you'd like to go to.
SPEAKER_01So there's a park run that I have really got my eye on, which is in Ireland, and I think it's called Inch Beach, is it? It's on a beach. And a friend of mine, a friend of mine from a Richmond Park Run called Bill Neely, who is from Ireland. I always see him on my Strava running on this amazing Inch Beach park run. Um so one day I'm gonna go and do that because it looks I'd like to run up and down on a beach.
SPEAKER_00That is one that I tried to do um last year, but I was at a wedding nearby and I couldn't get there in time, so I had to do another one. But it's on my list too, Sophie. Um listen, that has been um a wonderful run through of your both your joy of park run, um, you know, how is transformed into you know the current running habits you have now, where you're doing marathons, older marathons, but it's so clear you're enjoying your running. It's been a brilliant conversation, Sophie, and I thank you so much for sharing your story so openly. Lovely story.
SPEAKER_01Thank you for having me.
SPEAKER_00Thanks for joining us on the Parkrunners podcast. I'm Catherine Stenson, and I love sharing stories from our amazing Parkrun community. So today's conversation is already I might not share it with a friend. Bring them along to your next park runner. Don't forget to hit the follow up because you never miss a new park runner story. Until next time.