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Jenna Pogue | Running in Real Life
90 Plays1 year ago
Jenna Pogue is a runner with Massey Ferguson Running Club in Coventry and her book "Running in Real Life" is a light-hearted collection of stories, anecdotes and race reports from and about real runners, that portray what running can really be like.
You can follow Jenna on:
Instagram
Facebook
Blog
You can see Jennas book here
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Transcript
Meet Jenna Pogue and Her Book
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello, welcome to today's UK Run Chat podcast. Today we're joined by Jenna Pogue. She's a runner with Massey Ferguson Running Club in Coventry, and Jenna has written a book all about her observations and thoughts on running, the kind of things that rarely get mentioned in how-to books. She wanted to capture all the little quirks that make up grassroots running and has just published it. It's called Running in Real Life.
Jenna's Running Journey Begins
00:00:22
Speaker
Hi, Jenna. Thanks so much for joining us on the podcast today. How are you?
00:00:26
Speaker
Hi, yes, well, thank you. Thanks for inviting me really nice to sit and talk to you today. Yeah, it's good. It's good of you to come on. So can you tell our listeners just a little bit about yourself about, you know, how you got into running in the first place?
00:00:39
Speaker
Yeah, sure. So I've been running since 2014, so I'm getting on for nine years now. And honestly, I did it on a whim. So everyone that I knew was running, they were all running around me and I was adamant, I'm not going to do this. I'm not running. You're not going to suck me in. And then it must sort of get under your skin. It must indoctrinate you a little bit because I woke up one morning and just said to my other half, Stuart, oh, go for a run today.
00:01:06
Speaker
And that was me just like that. That was it. I, yeah, I put on some old trainers from the back of my cupboard, which I really shouldn't have because they were not running trainers and they were, they were a little out of date. And, uh, I went off for a run. I did a, I think it was a quarter of a mile from home and then back. And I loved it. And that was it. I was hooked straight away. I was sort of coming back to my door thinking, Hey, hang on a minute. I'm going to be good at this. I'm not. I thought I was that first day. Um, and pretty much straight away, I joined Massey Ferguson Runners, as you mentioned, with them ever since.
00:01:36
Speaker
I go all in. If I find something I like, I'm straight into it. After that initial, I'm not doing this, then drew the line, started running, and that was
Social Dynamics of Running Clubs
00:01:44
Speaker
it. I was off. Yeah. Oh, no, that's brilliant. Yeah. I mean, it's good that you enjoyed your first run, because my first run was horrendous, actually. I remember being in tears. Oh, no. I'm really pleased that didn't happen to you. I stuck with it, but I didn't enjoy my first run.
00:02:00
Speaker
that's a shame. I mean I've had runs since that have involved here as many off the on but yeah that first one it went well thankfully otherwise I perhaps wouldn't be here today talking to you and wouldn't have written a book about it. I've been in the running club for nine years. Yeah so how was it going along to a running club as a brand new runner then? How was that experience? Well I had the same myths that I imagined most runners have you know these things in your head so
00:02:23
Speaker
You know, I thought, well, do you know what? It's going to be people who were far faster than me, far better than me, far taller than me. I always imagined runners would be these really tall, slim sort of people. And actually the truth is we're sort of all different shapes and sizes. I thought it'd be all men because to me at that point, you know, all I'd seen was sort of men running. But, you know, I'm not afraid to do these things. I just bit the bullet and went down and it did help. My other half Stewart was in the club at the time. So he tried to sort of like buoy me along and say, no, you'll be fine.
00:02:51
Speaker
Um, and, uh, so I joined up, joined up online and actually the first thing I made it to was a social event. I actually didn't make it to training for quite a few weeks or, or to any races. I just went to their, uh, I think it was their Christmas party was their first event. So yeah, so it was great for me joining the running club and going straight to a night out. Yeah. I think you, you chat about this a bit in the book about how runners are party animals or the ones that you know, at least.
00:03:15
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, they take their running somewhat seriously, but they take their drinking and their dancing and their disco in really seriously. I mean, that is one of the things I love about being in the running club. And it's one of the reasons I think I have stayed in it for so long is the social side. You know, the running is great. We have training Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Sunday, and there's opportunities to do lots of running, but there's so many opportunities to socialize, to chat, to have a drink with, with people to get to know new people. And I think that's what I loved about joining the running club.
00:03:45
Speaker
You know, all those myths, they were sort of dispelled immediately. It was just a great group of people. And, you know, my running club are fantastic, but it's not sort of unique. Well, we must have four or five in Coventry alone who are all the same. And I imagine up and down the country, there's those same running clubs everywhere. Just, you know, people having fun, running, socializing. Yeah, it's nice to have just something in common. I mean, that's something that came across in your book, actually. It's just the huge sense of community that runners have.
00:04:15
Speaker
I mean, it's everywhere, isn't it? It's park run, it's running clubs. It is. Yeah, at Parkrun, there's never more sense of community than at Parkrun. You know, that Saturday morning regular event that you can get to. And especially these days with the inclusivity of Parkrun, you know, there's park walking, there's Parkrun, there's Junior Parkrun.
00:04:36
Speaker
It just spans the whole range of what people want to do for running an exercise and I absolutely love it. I know people who are on 500, 600 park runs, I'm only on 102 I think, but those 102 runs have been brilliant. I love them. Yeah, I think. You said you've done all those mostly at your local park run, haven't you? You will have got to know all the runners there.
00:04:58
Speaker
Yeah, so my local is Coventry. We are lucky in the Midlands, we have loads and I haven't quite made it to all of them yet, but Coventry is ever so close to home for me and what my good friends Jason and his family feel and enjoy.
00:05:12
Speaker
They started it and they run it with a great group of sort of volunteers. And it's just a nice place to be at sort of nine o'clock
Writing During the Pandemic
00:05:20
Speaker
on a Saturday morning. I just love it. I know I switched too. Sometimes I run it, sometimes I walk it, sometimes I volunteer. Sometimes I go actually, and I don't do anything. I just end up standing chatting or I'm in the playground with friends, children, or just standing on the side cheering people on. And it's fantastic.
00:05:36
Speaker
I think, I think I've probably been doing part one. I mean, I've done 102, like I say, and I've been doing it since I started. So I haven't, I don't make it every week, but it's always there and it's just nice to know. Yeah. Oh, well, let's, let's go on. Let's move on to your book then. So we, we as runners, we do, we do go all in, don't we? And we do get very obsessive about running and we love it and everyone about it.
00:06:00
Speaker
I would love to write a book about running, but it's something that I've never even thought I'll sit down and write a book. How does that happen? How do you even begin to start that process? Do you know, I think every runner probably could write their own running story. I mean, I wrote from my experience, but as you know, because you've read it, other people contributed and told me their stories. But again, it was a little bit of a whim, which I can be prone to. You know, I started running on a whim.
00:06:27
Speaker
And then there was one day in the pandemic, like in a thick of lockdown when you really couldn't get out much. And I started to panic a little bit that this amazing running community that was just spoken about would start to dwindle or disappear or, you know, because no one really knew what was going to happen.
00:06:41
Speaker
I thought, you know what, I need to get some of these stories down, some of these crazy things that I've done, crazy things that my running friends have done, things like turning up to races on the wrong day and things like that. I have to go to the toilet in the woods. I can't just let them disappear. They need to be in print. At the same time, my friend Penny had written a book about wild swimming with her friend Emma and they just published it and I was sitting reading it. I thought, you know what, they've done it. I'm going to do it. I'm going to write a running book for
00:07:06
Speaker
And it was just a whim. Stuart by the half had been out for his sort of solo, you know, 20 minute run or whatever you could have at the time. And he walked in the door and I was like, I'm writing a running book. And I think he thought, you know, like nine years ago, you said you were going for a run and now you sort of just announcing it. I was like, yeah, no, I've set up an Instagram, I've set up a Facebook, I've set up a blog, I'm doing it. And about 10 weeks later, I'd written the bulk of it, really. Wow. Yeah, thank you.
00:07:31
Speaker
Yeah. So just tell us about the structure of it because it's not your normal, this is what you do. You know, it does have tips and, you know, a bit of advice in there, doesn't it? I think it's very much a personal story, isn't it? Almost. Tell us a little bit about the structure. Sure. Yeah. So I didn't want to write a how-to book. You know, this has had to be the perfect runner for a couple of reasons. One, I'm not an expert on running. Two, I'm not a professional writer. Three, that's not really my sort of style. I wanted to write a very anecdotal,
00:08:01
Speaker
sort of book, I wanted it to be a bit like those evenings where we'd sit in the running club socializing and talking about all the stories. I wanted to have that feel, like someone could, a runner could pick it up and think, oh yeah, I've had this conversation with my friend after running.
Stories from 'Running in Real Life'
00:08:15
Speaker
So yes, the structure is anecdotal, it's conversational. As you say, there are some hints and tips in there about running, but it's all very tongue in cheek, lighthearted.
00:08:25
Speaker
Um, I wanted it to be just a really nice, easy to read book for runners, you know, something they could say, well, do you know what? Yeah, that happened to me. Uh, you know, they might learn a little thing. I mean, God, I didn't know people had to go and use their running buffers, toilet paper when they're in the woods, you know, that kind of thing. But most runners would know those, you know, they'd be the odd ones who might be surprised by that. But yeah, something, um, that runners could relate to. Yeah. And I think, I think that really comes across actually, it's very conversational. I find it really funny. I snorted on a few occasions.
00:08:54
Speaker
I love that. I'm so glad whenever people tell me they've read it and they laughed, I feel like I've done what I set out to do. There are serious running books out there and it's not to discredit them because I've read them all myself and they are all great and they're useful, but I just wanted that will make people snort. That's what I live for. Yeah, I think it's very real. I was nodding along to a lot of it going, oh yeah, I feel that. Oh yeah. Yeah, perfect. That is what I wanted and I hope anyone who's read it will feel the same.
00:09:23
Speaker
So let's get on to kind of some of the stories in it, really. So you talk about clothing mishaps is a big one. Yes. Yeah, absolutely. So when I talk about like clothing and kit mishaps, things like for myself, I mean, I went to do a half marathon in France and I'm sort of strutting around thinking I'm so clever. I'm this confident runner. I've got everything. I'm ready to go. And then when I'm digging around in my bag to put my vest on, it's not there.
00:09:50
Speaker
and not to give too much away from the book for anyone who hasn't read it but it was very neatly hanging up in my hotel room where I'd left it the night before because I didn't want to get my bib number which was pinned to it creased so I hung up in the wardrobe and then just left my hotel merrily in the morning thinking this is great I'm going to run a half marathon I'm going to be fantastic
00:10:09
Speaker
checked me out. 45 minutes before I was due to run, I had this panic in a Portaloo because I went in there to get changed. Panic in a Portaloo. That could be a book title, couldn't it? Panic in a Portaloo. I realized my vest was not with me at the race. It was a good two or three miles away at my hotel. I did get it. Again, spoiler alert, I got it back and I was able to run. When I talk about kit mishaps, I mean those kinds of things.
00:10:37
Speaker
It's not just me, all runners do them. Forgotten vests, forgotten trainers. Have you had running shoes? Yeah, we've done that before. Really? Oh my God. A chap who I mentioned in the book, often my friend Daniel's sort of the king of kit mishaps. I mean, he's done all sorts from like, you know, not having his trainers when he gets there to having two different trainers, like a left shoe and a right shoe from different pairs and that kind of thing.
00:11:05
Speaker
Yeah, I think everyone will definitely be able to identify with that.
00:11:08
Speaker
You also devote a whole chapter to toilet habits, Jenna. And I feel this is something we need to talk about. Yeah, absolutely. So when I told people I was writing a running book, so many of them said, are you writing about wild weeds? Yeah, do you know what I am now that you've said it? So even now, having written the book, people keep telling me more and more stories about their sort of toilet habits. And by that, I mean, you know, you're out on a run.
00:11:37
Speaker
you need to go, where do you go? What do you do? Do you have to just hold it in? I don't know about anyone else, but I certainly can't. Once it's in my head, I think I said it in the book, the thought of wee, wee, wee, wee goes in like a patter to the sound of my feet going. I just can't tune it out.
00:11:55
Speaker
Obviously there's the other issue, number two, and someone told me the other day that they had to dive off into the woods mid-run and this is not sort of out in the sticks woods, this is them in a very residential area just nipping into the woods behind some houses mid-run for number two and they said the second they were crouched down with their running shorts down some dog walkers come along. Oh no.
00:12:21
Speaker
and red-faced and bare-bottomed and in front of everyone. There's nothing they could do, obviously.
00:12:28
Speaker
lots of things, you know, friends telling me that they've been caught short and had to use leaves as toilet paper mid-run. That would be the worst. I can't imagine the moss and the books and things. Yeah, that's a reason to always run with the running buff, isn't it? Just the buff. Yeah, that multi-purpose buff. I know many a runner who have lost a prized buff had to leave out in a litter bin somewhere after a run.
00:12:56
Speaker
So let's chat a bit about, because in the book, each chapter has, well, most chapters have a race report after, don't they?
Memorable Marathon Experiences
00:13:06
Speaker
So it's a collection of very personal stories, not all your race reports, but reports from friends. So let's just chat about a few of those. Tell us about your race in
00:13:15
Speaker
Las Vegas that you... That's the first chapter, I think. It is. So the first chapter is like sort of running firsts. And so I put the race report in for that chapter. It was about my first half marathon, which happened to be in Las Vegas. And that goes back to what I said earlier about the running community. 15 of us, I think it was, went off to Las Vegas together to do the Las Vegas half and full marathons.
00:13:40
Speaker
And I don't think I would have ended up there if I'd been running on my own and hadn't joined a club. I can't imagine ever going, I think I'll go and run in Las Vegas. But in an after training social one night, when the drinks were flowing and everyone sort of peer pressure in each other into it, I found myself at home signed up to the Las Vegas Half Marathon.
00:13:59
Speaker
And it was epic. I mean, I don't know if you've been to Las Vegas or how many listeners will have been to Las Vegas, but it is the brightest, noisiest, most brash, loud, extravagant city that I've been to and to run a half marathon there.
00:14:14
Speaker
was incredible. It runs all the way down the strip so you sort of run out towards the Las Vegas sign and then back all the way to the other end of the strip towards Old Las Vegas and then straight back down to finish in the middle and of course you pass all the magnificent sights on the way, the hotel with the volcano that erupts and you know the MGM and the lions and all the amazing, the Bellagio fountains
00:14:37
Speaker
It was just a fantastic sight to see and it was the Rock and Roll series. So of course they put on a lot of music and singing and dancing and I just, I mean, I'm not even sure I ran the race. I think I just danced and bounced and like, you know, hopped up and down and it was just, it was a dream for a first half marathon. I'm so glad it was my first one.
00:14:56
Speaker
Yeah. Because am I right in thinking you weren't planning to do, you weren't planning to describe them were you? No, no, no. I was going to do the 10K and I come home and Stuart, my other half said, you're not going all the way to Las Vegas for 10K? That's absurd. You can't pay that amount of money and take a week off work and a week away from home.
00:15:13
Speaker
I was like, no, I'm doing it. And then when I went on and saw the price and thought, you know, he's right. I can't possibly go all the way to Las Vegas for a 10K. So did the only sensible thing and bumped it up to the half marathon. And, you know, he did the same and he he said, I'm not going all the way to Las Vegas for a half. So he did the marathon in the end.
00:15:32
Speaker
Yeah, he did a couple of them. I think we were split, maybe four or five did the full marathon and then the rest of us did the half. But like any good runner, there were five Ks that we took part in and things like that. We don't give ourselves any time to rest, do we?
00:15:47
Speaker
All the way to Las Vegas. I did the supporting on the 5K, but a lot of those half marathon and marathon runners were out the night before. I think it's the lure of medals. So the more races you do over the weekend, like a lot of race series, you get more medals. You get a 5K medal, a half medal. You get a medal for doing them both. You get a medal for doing a night and a day race, all that kind of thing. So they were walking around with so many medals on, like clanging by the end of the week.
00:16:15
Speaker
Yeah, I think they even give medals away for if you can collect the set, you get another medal for the set, don't you? Yeah, exactly. And I think some of them had their international medal for running internationally. So honestly, I could see scrap men eyeing them up as they walked out with all their sort of bling, jangling around their necks. It was brilliant. It was such a nice experience. I want to go again and do that race again, but it will never be the same as that first experience with all my running club friends.
00:16:41
Speaker
You know, we're all in our kit. We're all, you know, there was, it's Las Vegas, so there were two twos in cowboy hats. And it was just, it's what I love about running. And, you know, I never want to discredit anyone who runs really fast or really seriously or really far. But for me, it's all about the fun and the colorful sort of running that I love. And that's what Las Vegas was. Yeah. That comes across very clearly in your book, actually, that you're all about just enjoying yourself and having a lot of fun.
00:17:07
Speaker
just let's just chat about kind of the motivation to do race and things like that. There's obviously a lot of peer pressure within your club. Yeah, in the nicest possible way. Yeah. You've been talked into that you wouldn't necessarily have tried.
00:17:24
Speaker
Oh, do you know, I got hustled into something called Thunderrun, which is a 24 hour relay race. So there's legs of 10K and it involves one of the things that I hate the most, which is camping. You're there for 24 hours as a team, so you have to camp. You need to sleep at some point in those 24 hours.
00:17:40
Speaker
They hustled me into that once, but I have to admit, joking aside, it was fantastic. I did three legs over the course. I can't remember when I was in our team, but over the course of the evening, I got three chances to run. One at lunchtime, one then in the early hours of the morning, about 12 midnight to one o'clock, and then one again at sunrise, five, six o'clock.
00:18:03
Speaker
and it's all off-road, it's all trail and then you camping in between which I don't think I got a lot of sleep with everyone there but it was a fantastic thing to do and it's peer pressure but in the nicest kind of way. Everyone just wants to do these fun things together.
00:18:18
Speaker
Yes, and obviously every year there's all this talk about London Marathon and things and everyone in the club, I say, well, I'm not putting my name in, I'm not going to do another marathon. And then you see, well, I've put my name in anything. Maybe I better had, just in case. And that's the great thing. We keep each other going. There's always a potential that you could just dwindle out or something with life and work and all the
Injuries and Community Support
00:18:42
Speaker
other things going on. But being in the running club,
00:18:44
Speaker
has really sort of got that way of keeping you right in there, right in the thick of it, and motivated to do more things. Yeah, and how often do you run with your club? How often do you meet? Well, I'm coming back off a bit of an injury, so at the minute I'm running once a week with them on a Wednesday, that's our main club training, where we have groups from the super fastest you can imagine in the club, all the way down to the other end of the scale, the people who are quite happy to run and walk, and we've got everything in between.
00:19:11
Speaker
So I'm running once a week with them and then I'm hoping to get back to some Sunday running, which is our cross-country training. We do that all year. And then we've got a coached interval session on a Thursday. I'd like to get to that. So hopefully once at the minute, but hopefully up to about four times soon. So as soon as I'm back up and running fully, but I'm nearly there.
00:19:30
Speaker
Yeah, you talk about injury in your book, don't you? You have an injury bingo sheet. Hopefully I only scored five. I've been running about 20 odd years so I think I've cut off very lightly. What's keeping you off running at the moment?
00:19:49
Speaker
Pretty much everything in that injury bingo. What I had recently was less of an injury, more just of a condition, something called Morton's neuroma, which is like a nerve condition in the foot, right on the forefoot, right on the ball of the foot. That area takes an absolute pounding, doesn't it? There's no way to get around it. You can't run without putting pressure through your foot.
00:20:10
Speaker
So, I had a couple of little procedures to fix that and I am actually fully all cleared now and ready and I am back running and ready to go. But the injury bingo, I think over the years I've had them all I mean, I had Achilles tendonitis within six weeks of starting running because of those
00:20:26
Speaker
chunky old running trainers that I mentioned. And I was just looking over the injury bingo actually. I mean, I think I probably scored all or 20 of them, but it's just the way they came out when I asked my friends, you know, what could I put in an injury bingo sort of grid? And I was thinking of things like, you know, Achilles tendonitis and that kind of thing, all the normal things, shin splints. And then my friends come up with things like shredded nipples, which I hadn't even considered.
00:20:51
Speaker
Yeah, and that is something that affects quite a lot of people. Yeah, absolutely. So shredding nipples, my friend Simon said, well, I run into a post, does that count? Well, yeah, absolutely. I think he got a bit of a groin injury from that one. Yeah, so just, you know, as runners, we find these weird and wonderful ways to injure ourselves, don't we?
00:21:12
Speaker
We do, we do. I've, I've run into a bollard before. Oh gosh. Okay. It's really common there. Yeah, that's happened to me. I've also broken my toe on the, on a duvet. Oh gosh. Which stopped me running for a bit. So yeah, there's all kinds of weird and wonderful things out there, isn't there? Are you the kind of runner that will carry on running and deny it?
00:21:36
Speaker
I've been both. It really depends. If I'm in that mood where I could easily just stay on the sofa and I'm fine to let running slide a little bit, which does happen. It happens to all of us. We lose our mojo. The slightest thing, I could have a little splinter, but better not run. I better leave it. I need to repair and heal. Then the far other end of the spectrum, I can
00:21:58
Speaker
have a broken ankle and well I'm really looking forward to this race so I'll just do that one and then I'll see if it's okay. So I mean I can be both but I try to do the right thing and with this most recent injury or this condition really the mortons and aroma I have done the right thing and I have stopped running until it was all sort of signed off and cleared. And that's never easy is it? It's not. We have to just sit back and just give up something that we love for a while don't
Social Media's Impact on Running
00:22:23
Speaker
we?
00:22:23
Speaker
Yeah. And I mean, there's many times where I'm, you know, due to go out to a room when I'm fit and healthy and think, oh, I can't be bothered. I just want to stay in and eat a donut. And then, you know, when you have this enforced break from running because of an injury, it's suddenly so different. All you want to do is get out. Yeah, that's funny that, isn't it? Let's chat a bit about that because you do talk about Missy Mojo in your book as well. Yeah. And it does afflict us all every now and again. How do you, how do you get over that? Or do you just roll with it and take a few days off?
00:22:54
Speaker
I'm trying to roll with it and I have for a few years now. I think I've learnt my lessons the hard way through lots of years of running and rookie mistakes that forcing your body into things that it isn't prepared for, isn't ready for, needs to have a break from. I've done it and it's the wrong thing to do sometimes. My mindset at the minute is, let's just roll with this.
00:23:16
Speaker
I do have some of the, you know, like swimming and cycling and yoga, which all compliment running. So I try to tell myself, well, you know, do you not do those things? And you know, you're still in the loop, you still get in your fitness, you still, you know, contributing to your running, because all those things do help. Yeah, so I'm trying to roll with it. It's not always easy, though. Yeah. And I think it's hard when you do run for fun, if you get to the point where you're not enjoying it, you don't want to force yourself out and do it, do you?
00:23:41
Speaker
No, that's it. The other thing is that we're so surrounded by social media and you see everyone running. You see all your friends running, you see clubs, you see strangers running. That's the worst thing. How can you be jealous over a stranger running, but you are like, oh my God, look at them doing that summery sunny 5K while I'm stuck here at home. I hate them.
00:24:01
Speaker
But that's the curse of being in the running community. On the flip side of all that good stuff is that you see it and it can be hard at times, but it's good to give your body a rest when
Upcoming Races and Marathon Challenges
00:24:13
Speaker
you need it. And I'm really trying to commit to that in the next wave of my running as I come past it a year or so of injury. I want to be sensible.
00:24:21
Speaker
Yeah. So I mean, what have you got coming up next? Have you got anything booked in race wise? Yeah. I've got my first race back after this last injury and the surgery that went with it. So it's a 5k.
00:24:33
Speaker
I nearly said it's just a 5k then but that's something I'm stopping myself from saying because I've always been a big believer and a big advocate for any distance on your own two feet is just epic. I think being in a running club and again it's kind of the flip side of the community which is wonderful but
00:24:51
Speaker
You're so surrounded by amazing people doing amazing distances. It feels commonplace. It feels like everyone's doing it. And actually it's not running still like really quite an elite thing in the nicest possible way. You know, there's not millions and millions of people running marathons every day, even though it feels like it.
00:25:06
Speaker
So yes, I'm doing a 5K in a couple of weeks. It'd be my first one after injury. And I've just been out this morning to buy myself a new running club vest because somehow, I don't know, in three years, mine seems to have shrunk in the drawer. I'm going to blame sort of drawer fairies for just making it shrivel up because it did not fit me this morning when I tried to put it on. So I've been out and bought a new one, got some new trainers ready to go for that first 5K. Oh, good. I hope that one goes well. Thank you.
00:25:36
Speaker
Yes, you are, for the benefit of our listeners who can't see, we are on video at the moment and Jenna is wearing a London Marathon fishing cap, haven't you? Yes, this was 2017 London Marathon. I ran for the Brain and Spine Foundation charity with my friends Dave and Kelvin. We raised about 9,000 between us for the charity having quiz nights and
00:26:02
Speaker
and bake sales and raffles. That's one of the perks of being in a running club. We were able to do that because we have the people around us. That was my first marathon. My first half was Las Vegas and my first marathon was London. It was just the best day. It would be a really hard one to try and explain. I just loved it. I won every winner. I know it can be a contentious issue, the ballot and who gets to do it. I really hope that everyone who wants to do it gets their chance one day.
00:26:31
Speaker
Just sit tight, I'm sure. I'm sure it's coming for you. Yeah, it has become, it does seem to be increasingly difficult to get in. Let's talk about the ballot. I mean, do you put your name in every year? I do. I also am not going to because I said, I don't want to do another marathon. It's hard work training. It eats up your life. But then every year, I'm like, yeah, no, I can't miss out. I have to put my name in. And obviously at the minute with the pandemic rollover, it is going to be hard to get in.
00:26:58
Speaker
but you know I'm in a running club so we have three places every year or three or four depending on numbers so there's always that route as well I always pop my name in that in that raffle as well see if I can get a place I haven't been lucky again well actually that that year 2017 was a charity one but haven't been lucky in the ballot yet
00:27:15
Speaker
No, no, your other half has been quite lucky in that book, hasn't he? Yeah, yeah. And yeah, I did mention in the book, and it is okay to strongly dislike him for this, but he has been successful, I think, in four or five ballots. Wow, that was incredible look. I know, it is. And I mean, he's been successful in club ballots as well as the general ballot. And, you know, the first marathon he did was in the general ballot, he
00:27:38
Speaker
didn't particularly train very well. He did it, he finished it, which is still an achievement, but he will tell you that he learnt his lesson severely after that first one, and he has never taken training lightly again. So although he has been successful in four or five of them, you know, he really does it as sort of a justice now, gives it the respect it deserves. I think before you've done that marathon distance, it's hard to
00:28:02
Speaker
to understand how it's going to feel, isn't it? It is. Yeah, it's such a different thing. And, you know, that people are people process in different ways. And I know, non runners will say, well, you know, it's just X amount of 10 k's, which is just two half marathons, but it
00:28:16
Speaker
it's far more exponential than that. It's not just doing two half marathons one after the other. That second half is so different. It's a real feat and I have so much time and respect for anyone who's ran any distance, but marathons and beyond are just epic. They take so much time out of your lives for training and so much energy and so much emotions. I think I said it in the book, running isn't just this sort of straightforward thing. There's ups and downs, there's so many tears. Yes, there are.
00:28:46
Speaker
While we're talking about big races there was a little bit in the book that I particularly enjoyed which is I was overtaken by
00:28:54
Speaker
Yes. And it made me think back to my second experience of the London Marathon where I got overtaken by somebody running dressed as Jesus Christ, barefoot, carried across. Wow. Barefoot. Yeah. That's epic. I have seen someone running as Jesus Christ. I was spectating this year's London Marathon and there was a chat. I mean, it could have been the same one. It could have been different. I don't know how
00:29:21
Speaker
how common a costume that is, he's the same guy. I didn't notice if he was barefoot or not, I wish I'd taken more attention.
00:29:29
Speaker
But yes, I was overtaken by, there's a chapter that just came about organically, I wasn't planning it. But I think I was overtaken myself one day by something really random. And I just popped an Instagram post out saying, what were you overtaken by? And all of a sudden, like, you know, Instagram had like, you know, just a caught an algorithm, or people just love this particular thing, because I was inundated with the most bizarre things that people have been passed by. So I thought, well, you know, that's got to be a chapter.
Humorous Race Moments
00:29:53
Speaker
Things like, I mean, one of my favorites, someone told me they were passed by two runners dressed as jacket potatoes. I know. And I've never been able to get any more context on that. I mean, if those two people are listening, maybe they can let us know why they were running as jacket potatoes. Yeah, please do. I'd love to know. Yeah. I mean, it's baffling, isn't it? But I mean, you know, people being overtaken by a giant banana, a giraffe, a caterpillar, all the normal sort of stuff, a kayak. And then you've got, as you know, a kayak's not that normal. Is it really? Maybe it is when you're a runner.
00:30:23
Speaker
Perhaps I've seen enough of them. But yeah, the honey monster was another one that was overtaking someone. Lots of people getting overtaken by rhinos. That's the big charity out there. A spectator in very high heels who jumped on the course to run with a friend. I mean, who's running in from in high heels, Kike? That's hard work. Yeah, I did enjoy writing that chapter. It's one of my favourites. Yeah, that really made me chuckle a lot. Another bit that made me laugh was just the section about race photos, because why?
00:30:53
Speaker
Why do we always look so bad in race photos? I have no idea. I've always blamed the photographers but I'm wondering now if it is just me. Do you know what my problem is? I always want to give a cheer or something back to the photographer or the marshal on the side so every photo of me just happens to catch me mouth open.
00:31:16
Speaker
Okay. And then, you know, I see these, these people doing these amazing sort of jumps and these amazing shapes that they do when they see, you know, their feet in the air flying for the camera. And so I attempt to do something like that, but it doesn't get a plan. So that's why my race photos are bad, because I'm halfway through a poorly executed jump and my mouth is open. I think if I tried to jump mid race, I think I probably fall over and would make a very entertaining photo.
00:31:42
Speaker
That's it. That's what I think. Yeah, the aftermath of that. It's not worth it. I'll stick to my race photos. I always end up with what I call corned beef legs for some reason. They all seem to capture me just as I'm on that point in the run where my feet are really firmly planted into the ground. There's no spring or sprightliness to me.
00:31:59
Speaker
and so then that pushes all my sort of leg fat up and it all just you know crumples around the top of my thighs and it to me it looks like corned beef it's the most unflattering thing but I will share those race photos forever in a day because they're my race photos I've done it I mean by all means if you don't want to share them you know you don't want them to be seen you're not comfortable don't but I'm putting mine out there if anyone goes on my Instagram they'll see possibly the worst race photo ever my arms are out my mouth is open my tongue is out
00:32:28
Speaker
I'm in the bottom left hand corner of the frame, but that one is on the photographer. You know, you can't blame me for that. It's just awful, but I'm going to keep sharing them because that's real winning, isn't it? And that's what I wrote a book about. Yeah, it absolutely is. And I think we should be proud of those photos because they capture even if
00:32:43
Speaker
We're finding it tough. They capture those moments when we're finding it tough and we just get through it. Exactly. I'm in a Facebook group. I think it's Run, Mummy, Run. And every so often they say, share your favorite race photos with us. And always, it's the ones people start their sort of comment with, oh, I don't really love this because my face is doing this or my legs are doing that. But I wanted to share it because I'm proud of it. And it's just a snapshot, isn't it? It's not what we look like for the whole race.
00:33:12
Speaker
share your photos, enjoy them, be proud of them. Yeah, yeah. Let's do some quick fire questions then, which I thought I'll ask you some quick fire questions inspired by the book. Okay. Okay, so number one, best race sign you've ever seen. Oh, best. Okay, I really want absolutely crap me up the day. At least you're not at work. True. Yeah. Miles or kilometres.
00:33:42
Speaker
miles okay yeah i'm don't know kilometers i do kilometers for distances but miles for pace okay oh that's interesting yeah i'm miles and miles for those okay yeah favorite race distance
00:33:56
Speaker
10k, so accessible. Yeah, yeah. Doesn't take as much training, I guess. Exactly. And then, you know, you sort of, you're done, you're having lunch within a few hours, aren't you? You can get home, you can get for your lunch and your cake, you're done. You've got your medal. I love it. 10k, nice and accessible. Absolutely. Road or trail? Oh, road, always. Too many, too many tweaks and things to trip on. I will trip over them even if they're not there, so it's got to be road.
00:34:22
Speaker
But less opportunities for a wild weed, maybe. Yes, absolutely. You can't be doing that in the street, can you? Bucket list race.
00:34:33
Speaker
I'm not sure what they're called, but any of the races that take place at Disney, I guess Disney races, you know, Disney, Florida or Disney and Paris, but they're so expensive. They're really lifetime bucket list races. So one of those one day I want to run with, you know, Pluto or the Little Mermaid or something like that. And first thing you do after a run.
00:34:54
Speaker
Oh, gosh, this is embarrassing, but I sit in the sweaty chair for way too long. The sweaty chair. The sweaty chair. So it's an old chair that Stuart and I have popped into the garage and chucked loads of throws and a bottle of Febreze next to, and it's where you just come in. We should come in, get straight in the shower, get changed, and then sit and go on Facebook and Strava and Instagram, but I don't. I sit in the sweaty chair for far too long, waiting for Strava Kudos to come in, waiting for like
Quickfire Running Tips
00:35:21
Speaker
pings to come on that you know the sweaty selfie I've just posted so yeah first thing I do in the sweaty chair oh brilliant okay right let's finish off then with your top tips for running because you do share a few tips in your book don't you
00:35:37
Speaker
about tips for running in general. What would be your three, say your three tips? Okay, three. Okay, number one, you're the one who's running, you know, it's no one else and it is really easy to be inspired or even pressured in some cases by what other people are doing, but that's their running and it doesn't matter if they're going further or faster than you, just run your own races and training.
00:36:03
Speaker
Two, for me, I think embracing the social side is so important. Go to the club events, because actually, your club are there and they're putting these things on. Support them in races, support them in social events, support them at club events. Yeah, fully embrace that social side. It's fantastic, it's the best. Number three, I guess, I mean, it's a cliché, but you have to listen to your body, don't you?
00:36:27
Speaker
You have to do the running. That's right for you. So if you are injured, I know it's hard, but listen to what your body needs. You know, I sort of flippantly joked earlier, I could have a broken ankle and I'll just do this last race, but you know, be sensible because you think you want to ensure some longevity in your running, don't you?
Where to Find 'Running in Real Life'
00:36:45
Speaker
We all do. We don't want to be running just for the next year. We probably all want to be running till the last point that we can. Absolutely. Yeah. Awesome. Great tips there. Very, very wise advice.
00:36:56
Speaker
Not, yeah, there weren't hips or such where they were more like just, uh, advised musings, but hopefully, you know, they can land with somebody who needs to hear them. Yeah. Well, it's been an absolute pleasure chatting to you today, Jenna. Thank you. So please tell us where we can buy the book, Running in Real Life. Oh, okay. Brilliant. So, um, I have a blog website. It's in the early stages, but it's runninginreallife.com.
00:37:21
Speaker
If you go there, there is a link to where you can buy it. It's on Amazon in paperback or Kindle. I believe WH Smiths have just picked it up for online ordering, so you can get it there. But actually, what I noticed the other week, and I'm strangely proud of, is that if you Google it now, it's actually coming up. So if you just Google running in real life, it is appearing in one of the top searches, which
00:37:42
Speaker
It wasn't at first and there's been a lot of work in the background. It's like I've been having two jobs. I've got a full-time job. I'm not a professional writer. So I worked till sort of four o'clock and then come home and do some hours trying to market this book in the background. And so for it to now appear when you Google search, it's a nice achievement and I'm quite proud of that. So yeah, it's out there.
00:38:04
Speaker
Well done, because you've published this yourself, haven't you? I have. It's self-published, but I have to give a shout out to a lady called Alison, the proof fairy, because although it's self-published, you can do anything really. You can put any book out you want. I wanted it to be a real valuable book that runners could enjoy reading. So she edited, she helped me with the formatting and everything. I wanted it to be as professional as possible, although it was self-published.
00:38:32
Speaker
I mean it's been about two years in the making but it's there now ready for everyone to read and nod along with and laugh hopefully it's not. Fantastic well thank you very much Jenna and hopefully our listeners if they've enjoyed listening to you chat today can go and seek out your book and have a read because I certainly enjoyed it. Oh thank you thanks it's been really nice chatting today. Thank you. Thanks.