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Recovery Runners
307 Plays1 year ago
Recovery Runners Community was born in January 2021 when two runners from Leeds, Dean Smith, and Jamie Heselden, came up with the idea of introducing a small group of people in recovery from drugs and alcohol to the benefits of running.
Since then, the Community has grown and achieved local and national recognition, officially launching as a running community in Leeds on 1st August 2021.
Although Dean and Jamie use running in their own recovery from alcohol addiction, Recovery Runners Community welcomes anyone who is curious about, or uses, the benefits of running to recover from and manage life changing events or addictive behaviours including substance addiction, gambling, disordered eating, and mental health issues amongst others.
The team working with Dean and Jamie have all been impacted by some of these issues, either personally, or through supporting friends or family.
Running is the glue that holds them together, and they offer friendship, fun, and a non-judgemental running community for all.
They aim to ‘heal souls with soles’ and strongly believe there should be no barriers to this. They supply donated kit and trainers to those that need a start..
Contact: [email protected] to find out more or ask any questions.
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Transcript
Founding of Recovery Runners
00:00:00
Speaker
Hello, welcome to this episode of the UK Run Chat podcast. Today, I'm joined by Dean Smith and Jamie Hesseldon, founders of the Recovery Runners community in Leeds. Now, Recovery Runners, I believe, was initially born in January 2021 when they came up with the idea of introducing a small group of people in recovery from drugs and alcohol to the benefits of running. And since then, the community has grown
00:00:27
Speaker
and is now an official running club. So, hello Dino and Jamie, it's really nice to have you on the podcast. Would you like to introduce yourself to our listeners a bit more? Hello Jamie, would you like to go first, Paul?
Personal Recovery Journeys
00:00:39
Speaker
No, you'll check it working. Hello everybody, I'm Dean Smith. I've been co-founder of Recovery Runners in Leeds. And yeah, like you said, it was a bit of a
00:00:54
Speaker
A brain sneeze back in 2021. Myself and Jamie were running consecutive 5Ks with rehabs in Leeds and we decided to join forces and we call it Recovery Runners. So we came away from there not really knowing what to do, where to go, what was going to happen. And I put a Facebook page up Recovery Runners and Instagram page and it kind of
00:01:23
Speaker
exploded overnight. Yeah, it was a bit wild to be fair, it was a bit too much to be honest with you initially and from that we had people that we knew that were in recovery that ran up and down country with people that we know and they invited people and then after a week or so somebody said, I've been 12 months of a suicide attempt, my last suicide attempt, I've got an eating disorder, can I join?
Community Expansion Beyond Addiction
00:01:52
Speaker
And we were like, well, yeah. And then somebody says, I've got a gambling addiction, can I join? So then we knew pretty much early doors that it would be bigger than just helping people in recovery from drugs and alcohol. Because that's what we knew. Both Jamie and myself are both in recovery. I'll be 17 years sober this year and Jamie will be eight years sober this year.
00:02:16
Speaker
But we knew the benefits of not just physical exercise, but mainly running. How that helps with mental health and, you know, physical health as well. Yeah, that's incredible. So do you want to take us back to how you discovered running then and how it's helped your own recovery? Yeah, certainly. Over to you now, Jamie. Yeah, well, yeah, my name's Jamie Esselton.
00:02:43
Speaker
I've got fans of recovery runners as well. We did set it up in 2021. And running for me started in a 2015 back end of. I put my last drink down on the 29th of September, 2015. So my first sober day were the 30th of September. After a few days being in bed poorly.
00:03:09
Speaker
obviously coming down from the alcohol with Charles Stinson's. I was hallucinating and stuff like that. So what a very good place.
The Power of Friendship and Community
00:03:19
Speaker
And I went to a few 12 step meetings where I got introduced to Dino on my second one. And we become friends from that.
00:03:33
Speaker
And about a month later Dino introduced me to a place in Temple Newsom called Commando Fit, which one of our friends runs, who's also in recovery. And it will act just on a Tuesday and Thursday night, we'd meet up at seven o'clock, do a bit of exercise, a bit of running. And it comes from there really.
00:04:01
Speaker
Winter come, I didn't want to be rolling around in mud. Yeah, fair enough. It ain't blabbering you, we're getting showered at half-ay, covering mud car, we're covering mud. And I just took a couple, I just, well, I just liked running, the runny side of it. And I started going out on a Saturday morning with a few of us from the command office. And we started doing a run before hand. And from there, I think I just, it just,
00:04:30
Speaker
The penny drops are just, I found out we're good at it. Okay. Running, summat what we're good at. And from there, I moved away from Temple News and I moved up to Rothwell. And my partner says, oh, there's a running club, just can't come from us, why don't you join that? Rothwell, there he is. So, she come round on one Wednesday evening, we're made because of like a scared little boy, you know, got his first day at school, trying summat you.
00:04:58
Speaker
It's a bit nerve-racking, isn't it? Yeah, going along for the first time. It is, it certainly is, especially when you're full of anxiety and stuff like that.
Mental Health Benefits of Running
00:05:06
Speaker
And yeah, we're both putting out together and we went out for a run and I enjoyed it. The people, they feel so welcome. So I kind of don't go in and from that, I started entering a few races, myself and Dean, we did the Abadash. It was first ever Abadash together.
00:05:27
Speaker
It was from that really, just my running just kicked off with awful ideas. I was doing that. And then I won the Jane Tomlinson, Jane Tomlinson award with a 2022, I won it. Unexpected, you know, just for what myself and Dean have done with the coveted runners, it's one of the biggest awards you can get. It's the biggest award you can get. And from then,
00:05:57
Speaker
We're recovery runners, we've just been constantly at it, you know, running and seeing other people come like, we've got a young lady who's come down Colleen and she started her first 5K and she dropped out of it because she didn't like it and then she come back and did another one, what Dino took.
00:06:19
Speaker
And from that, she's running marathons now with us, you know, she's just signed up to Manchester Marathon with a few other ladies who have come to recover the rumours. And just to see people come down and progress really, you know, from a 5k couch to 5k to now running a marathon, it's amazing. That's incredible. Yeah, you should have yourselves. What an achievement. We don't do it to like, you know, we do it because
00:06:46
Speaker
what running has done for us. We know how it's helped us, especially with his head. You know, sometimes when you're having a bad day and you just want to get out and have a run, as soon as you've finished out running, you come back and you've had a shower and the endorphins kicking. You feel amazing. Yeah. So what? Oh, sorry. No, sorry, go on. I was just going to ask what what is it about running? Because we hear that running is really good for our mental health. You know, what is it specifically about
00:07:15
Speaker
how it helps people in recovery like this? You know, some I can't answer that question. I know what I know what really does for me. Yeah. How it makes me feel. And I know from talking to as other people in recovery have come down, how it helps them. But it's just the same feeling you get. It's it's a feeling of goodness and you know, you feel great about yourself when you've finished.
00:07:43
Speaker
And it, it just begs and beats, you know, I suppose feeling shitty all day and all, like you've got out and you've done something and you feel great. And I apologize for swearing. Ah, you did it before I did.
Building Self-Esteem Through Running
00:07:59
Speaker
Yeah, but like you say, I like, do you not have a little bit of a chat and see what Ali comes across with? It's been an experience.
00:08:08
Speaker
Yeah, so you've been running quite a lot of the dinner. No, same sort of time. To be fair, Jamie took it on before I did, because I was doing the commando fit with his friend Mick, who we've known a long time, and he's an instructor there. And again, he just got to a point where we were sick to death and rolling about in mud and everything else. You couldn't see at night time, up there at 10 p.m.
00:08:33
Speaker
But the running thing, again, as Jamie said, it was somewhat that he found it were good at. And my look on that, I wasn't great at it, but I wasn't terrible at it. And I think from that, as he said, we did Abidash in 2017 with my first race, that was a 10K, and then my next race was a 10 miler in the January.
00:08:56
Speaker
And I did my first marathon in 2018 and it just, it kind of took over a little bit. It replaced alcohol and drugs and it played on and it became, I don't know, it became something new. I was 46 when I started running.
00:09:15
Speaker
I'm 52 now. But for me, going back to that question that you asked Jamie, why does it help people with addiction and stuff? For me, and I think it goes for a lot of other people in recovery as well, is when you come into recovery, your self-esteem, your self-worth, your self-doubt, high on the list.
00:09:37
Speaker
You hate yourself, you've been stripped down to your car and then you find something that you're quite good at and then you run your first event and then there's somebody there saying there's a medal.
00:09:53
Speaker
and it boosts your self-esteem, it boosts your self-worth, you're like, God, I actually did that. When I first started running, I'd never run anywhere. I couldn't run a bath. I wouldn't run for a bus. I'd run to off-license at pub and that sort of stuff, but I didn't run. I used to see people running, I think, you're not well, that's what it says, I don't really know.
00:10:22
Speaker
You know, close to that time when we first started running, I joined a running club as well. Jamie joined Ruffler as I joined South Leeds Lakers, because I'm from Beeston in Leeds originally. And he was the same run past half that all the time. And it wasn't until my 10-miler that I saw these shirts that said South Leeds Lakers. And I thought, well, I live in South Leeds. I wonder where these guys are.
00:10:45
Speaker
And they actually met around the corner from where I lived and exactly the same as Jamie. I was in my 40s and I was scared to death of going around to meet these people. And when I got there, the guy that I took at register, I went to school with 30 years ago. Amazing. And we only chose his middle school and I was like, wow.
00:11:04
Speaker
Yeah, exactly. And, you know, I believe stuff's putting us back at the right times.
Group Running vs. Solo Running
00:11:09
Speaker
We're exactly what we needed. You know, the right people, the right things. And that was it for me. If I, you know, if I'd have met somebody different, I might not have stuck an arm with it. I don't know. But we're joining, joining a running club to help me, you know, and they would, and I run events and they run events in a, you know, you get a club shirt, so you're part of something then, you know, you're not by yourself. And then you're entering events together and
00:11:33
Speaker
you know, and you get to meet them in Leeds, the running community is fantastic. It's massive. It's mad. So you go to events and meeting people and when you're running, people are shouting your name, that sort of stuff. You know, to some people, that's no, but to people that are, that feel like they've been, they feel like the stuff that you're standing sometimes, you know, it's worth a million, quit that. Yeah. Yeah.
00:11:59
Speaker
That's interesting. So is it more the group aspect that's helping your recovery, do you think? Do you ever run on your own or are you always running with you? Yeah, no, I run quite a lot by myself, you know, as I'm training now for Berlin Marathon. So I'm doing a lot of training by myself. But it's always good to run in the group, you know, because you can always have a chat and a talk and get basically what's a few
00:12:27
Speaker
on your chest, you can get it off, you know, you can have, it's like, recovery runners for us, it's like, it's like having a meeting, you know, it's only takes two of you to have a meeting. And when there's a few of them, you're running down canal, it's, it's us, everyone's just chatting away, just talking about what the week's been like, if it's been good, if it's been bad, you know what I mean? They're just getting it, they're just adding how they're feeling there, like, and it's brilliant. I'd say,
00:12:57
Speaker
Running in the crooks a lot better than running by yourself. Just get learning when you're doing miles by yourself, do you know what I mean? You then start thinking, thinking, I'm good enough for this. You're going through a lot. But when you're running with others, you haven't got time to think like that, because the miles just come on easy and easy. And before you know it, you've done. You're like eight, nine mile up and you're laughing, you don't realise. So yeah, running,
00:13:24
Speaker
personally, myself, I always like to run in the group. And it brings you along, because there's always someone who's a bit faster than their ticket pay. So you're trying to keep up with them and, you know, stuff like that, didn't you? A lot better. Yeah, it's good in that respect, isn't it? There's always a bit of friendly competition. Oh, yeah, always competition. There's always competition in running. Yeah, I know what I love about running with somebody is that you don't
00:13:53
Speaker
you can just have a chat without having to make that direct eye contact. It just seems much easier to open up, doesn't it? Yeah. Yeah. Certainly does. Yeah. Yeah. So tell us a little bit about the group then. So we touched upon it earlier. So you've got people that it started with kind of recovery from drugs and alcohol, but you've got people recovering from all sorts of things in there. So just talk us through the kinds of people that come along and how it's helping them. Yeah.
00:14:22
Speaker
Quite a lot of people, sort of, mate. We've got a good few people coming along now all suffering from everything, you know, from Covid, from grief, you know, eating disorder, gambling. PTSD anxiety. Yeah. Really, we've opened the umbrella to everything that we do, you know. So if you've got a problem coming down, let me say, we always say we are doctors or counsellors.
Inclusion and Diversity in Recovery Runners
00:14:48
Speaker
But we're good listeners, you know what I mean? And even if you want to come down for a party, doors always open. Yeah. Come in and have a chat with us because everyone's suffering from summer or recovering from summer, you know, no matter who you are, everyone. Doors always open, so that's how we do it. And come down and it just seemed to be getting
00:15:12
Speaker
The word now is spending more and more of coming down. Even people, they say they are recovering from it, but they're coming down and they're just coming out for the room with us because they want to. We had one lady who watched us for months out of a flat. And she just said, I can't believe on a Sunday morning now you're all laughing and joking. And she says, I want it to be part of it.
00:15:35
Speaker
It took a couple of months to put the courage to come over and to join us. And now she's there every Sunday. She loves it. That's just from looking out on a balcony on a Sunday morning. So that's done that. And like word of mouth from us friends and people who come down, we have about from 25 to 30 people every Sunday morning on a good Sunday now.
00:16:04
Speaker
So come in there into where we're doing that at Lockkeep's house. You can hear us miles away from the laughter and the us lot shouting, especially Dino shouting all the time at me. But yeah Dino, that's you mate. I'd say it started off with people in recovery that before would even
00:16:28
Speaker
even thought about weekly meetings and thought about having a hub because back to what we initially thought of it and then COVID it so we couldn't do anything, you know, and then we could plan with new people in the Lead City Council who were also before run leads and active leads and work from there really. And then by the time it came to us being able to be let out of the house kind of thing, we were kind of quite, you know, we were established in a way that we knew where we were meeting per week.
00:16:59
Speaker
but then now we're a lock keeper, so we're a glass box that leads dock.
00:17:03
Speaker
and that were right on where they would open water swimming and what have you. And that would create for time being, but then they needed it for something else.
Consistency and Adaptability
00:17:10
Speaker
So luckily we'd had a conversation, well Jamie had a conversation with Peter who works for Canal Connections who have a lot keepers house and we went into there and we're working in joint ventures with them really. Because you know, they're reading from the same book that we are that mental health helping other people, you know, and trying to do it for free as well, you know, and
00:17:33
Speaker
And so from that, you know, a lot of people, I would say a good 75%, say 80% of people that come down are people in recovery from drugs or alcohol, you know, but then you've got the people coming down PTSD, people who have anxiety, like it says, Karen, also I watched this for weeks, and then now comes every week, she's becoming an integral part of our group, you know, and people recovering from cancer, people recovering from long COVID.
00:18:02
Speaker
and like people just like the feel of the place that there's no it's not there's no hierarchy like there can be in some running clubs there's no like I know for a fact that people have got to join running clubs and they're being told that they can't join unless they can run a 10k under a certain time
00:18:21
Speaker
And we're not all about that. That's why we're a community rather than a club. We try to just make it as a safe, non-judgmental space where you can feel comfortable and go for a run if you want. That's what we're aiming at. Yeah.
00:18:41
Speaker
I mean, aside from the barriers of people perhaps feeling a bit anxious about joining your first time, you know, are there any other barriers that people come up against before they can start running? Is there anything the club can do with that? I mean, some are. We like people that come down that can't run. Believe it or not, people that have maybe run a little bit, but then you've got people that have come down who are like quite overweight.
00:19:08
Speaker
You know, but once they get into running, because they've heard about us, they want, you know, they know what we're like, and they've seen people that come down and really enjoy it. And, you know, and they stick, and they get, you know, as soon as they start to feel better, and as soon as they start to, you know, it's that self-worth, self-esteem, and what have you then, they change, they change, they change, you know, you can see change instantly. Once they know that the part or something, and I think that,
00:19:32
Speaker
We try to make ourselves as diverse and inclusive as possible. And that's the thing we've said, even if you're recovering from an ingrown journal, you can come down. You don't have to be in recovery from anything. That's what we're called. That's it. And that's it. I was judgmental down there. There's none of that. We're all just one big team out. We're there to help each other.
00:20:03
Speaker
That's why we are like what we are. People love coming down because they ain't got that hacking money because we can just go out and have a little steady 5k or if the people who want to come down and want to do a 10k, we've got people who want to go out and do fast 10k. We take them out and do a fast 10k here, but you could also do a slow 5k or a slow 5k walk.
Structured Growth and Independence
00:20:24
Speaker
That's why it's like, and that's why it's working, you know,
00:20:30
Speaker
I think that's what I'm... I think it's up that side, but you said... Well, we adapt on the day. There's no... we don't put all up before and I'm saying, right, this is what's happening this week, this is what's happening that week, this is how fast we expect it to go. And we see all turns up on a Sunday morning, we see how many run leaders are there and we say, right, I want to do a 5k, I want to do a 10k, right, but somebody wants to do a 3k because they can't do it. So...
00:20:54
Speaker
the 5K group might come down and start and just do a 3K. Most people aren't bothered about it. It's not about the running and the distance. It's about the community and the feeling of a bit of... Yeah, that's important. That's a big deal, isn't it? You just want to be heard and feel part of a community.
00:21:18
Speaker
You know what I mean? They all have a party, they all drink a water after and it's just, it's like, it gets them out and it gives them so much I do on a Sunday morning. You know, that's what it's about, giving, getting people out and getting so much I do on a Sunday morning, instead of being lying in bed, I suppose, you know what I mean? Yeah, absolutely. Better get up and go, come and recover the runners, you know. So how's it evolved since you started? So you started back in January 2021,
00:21:46
Speaker
And you're obviously a running club now. So are you affiliated with UK athletics? Not yet. Not yet. I think we're looking at being affiliated. We are trained. We have got trained personnel. We've got fully trained run leaders through England athletics. Jamie and myself are now running coaches.
00:22:04
Speaker
We have walking leaders training through which city council and we have cycle leaders as well because that's another branch we're going to be going into. The fact is, like I said, we're not down to running club, we're down to running community for the fact that we could do walks and cycling or just sit down and have a chat. And so we're not affiliated as yet because we feel that
00:22:33
Speaker
that I could put constraints on what we're trying to do.
00:22:36
Speaker
Does that make sense? We don't want to be, we don't want to be. I suppose it's a bit like Brexit, we don't want Brussels telling us what to do. We're like that. We don't answer to anybody but ourselves and everybody's safeguarding and all that. Everything's top of the, everything's all above board and everything's all, all buses tick there. We're not ticking people through river and stuff. So we're not putting people in danger, but we feel that
00:23:05
Speaker
we will be restricted in what we could actually do and we know that what we do is working. Yeah, that's a good point. So how do you think the community will evolve then over the next year or two? I think it will evolve by itself.
00:23:21
Speaker
I think that it's very much, from that conversation, I can remember vividly me and Jamie walking through it parked. I mean, we'd been friends for a long time and we had a bit of a fallout. And then that was a kind of rebonding again for Jamie and myself, that walk. And then from that walk came the conversation about five Ks. And then from that came recovery runners. And then that year, then we got in touch with, I was working for John Lewis before.
00:23:51
Speaker
And I got in touch with Ron Leeds about, you know, keeping employees active, keeping them fit. So they want to take as many days off work, that sort of stuff. And it was Neil Jones. So I got back in touch with him and see if there any funding that could help us.
00:24:04
Speaker
that funding initially I think and I got Jamie and a couple of others through the Runleaders course and stuff like that so that was that was another step up that people were getting qualifications and then from that there were two people meeting then there were six people meeting then there were eight people meeting
00:24:21
Speaker
and then we had we got a kit designer where his own kit we've got his own kit his own colors so that we're in over progression and then you know we're in the April of that 2021 run leads and active leads put Jamie and myself forward for a community champions award at the lead sports awards and to our absolute amazement we won it
00:24:44
Speaker
And we're honest to God, Michelle, we were studying Green Room laughing, pointing at Telly going, oh, do you remember when they were talking about that? And then they just mentioned his names and then we turned around and nobody else at Green Room had left. And we were just scobsmacked and we were live TVing and you know, I've been really good on here tonight, but I can swear like a sailor.
00:25:05
Speaker
And that won't come, me.
Commitment and Recognition
00:25:08
Speaker
I can be really inappropriate. But, you know, and we were just like, we're live on TV and we were like, we were just golf spots. We were both in tears on live TV, not knowing what to do with ourselves. And so that opened the door up to other places that saw us and were like going, oh, we're interested in this. But
00:25:29
Speaker
Recovery Runners is evolved by Jamie and myself's hard work of putting out there, putting out there social media, being in touch with people, as well as working full time and as normal jobs that we do. And so, but there's been so many doors that have been opened for us, but they've been, they've had chain on, you know what I mean? They've got, oh, we really want to be involved. And then they go, oh, we forgot about you now. Let's move on to the next person.
00:25:58
Speaker
So we've been let down a lot. I mean, it's been come to two years now we've been officially open.
00:26:04
Speaker
But, you know, a lot of it's just been through tenaciousness. And luckily the people, people are jamming yours, you know, through his family. Like, that's when we started to get ambassadors. We have some celebrity ambassadors. We've got a few celebrity ambassadors. Oh, brilliant. Yeah, tell us about those. Well, Dom. Dom Mattier used to play for League United. He's a friend of Jamie's and Jamie's cousin Jason, who's one of our sponsors as well.
00:26:32
Speaker
And that was just like a conversation as in, would you be interested in being an ambassador? And Dom had been through his brain cancer and that side of stuff. So it was like, right, we've got Dom Matteo over at Leeds United Legends. Everybody who's a Leeds fan knows he is.
00:26:50
Speaker
And he's been going through this scary time with brain cancer. And then there were Jack Bateson, who's a boxer, a loco boxer. Oh, Jamie knows again. And his cousin Jason knows. So like, right, we've got two celebrity ambassadors.
00:27:07
Speaker
And then we're like, right, that's good to start off with. Then we had, we had another one. We're not going to name names, but it won't, it won't a good look for us. You know what I mean? So we kind of like let him go by, but then from there, then we asked, I don't know if you don't tick tock and face, but there's a girl in there called the Yorkshire peach.
00:27:27
Speaker
And she's an American. And she does like the comparisons of America and UK. And it all started in lockdown. She started on TikTok just by saying Chicken Goulgeons wrong or something like that. And honest to God, she called them Goulions or something. And she went to bed with 10 followers and woke up with 25,000 followers. So she worked from that and then the court for her. She's got over a million followers. She's awesome. She's helping you get the best out of her. She also offers to be my wife's best mate.
00:27:57
Speaker
So that kind of worked. And then we asked Ebony Bridges, who was a boxer, and it was all about getting different people, but strong people within their own community, strong females, strong males, people that people knew. And then we asked Noel Whelan, who was an ex-League United player as well. And that would basically throw being cheeky on Twitter. I mean, I just basically asking him.
00:28:25
Speaker
You don't get, exactly. And then Alison Law, who's deputy mayor for Yorkshire Combined Authorities and Policing, Tracy Barbie, who's my Yorkshire Mayor, my Yorkshire Combined Authority Mayor, she's our deputy. But she used to like all our stuff, so I thought that would be cheeky and ask her. And she said yes.
00:28:47
Speaker
So, and then recently we've got a guy called Brett Crossley, who I've been following. He's a triathlete and a Paralympian. And he had a really bad motorcycle accident in 2006 and broke his spine. So he's been in a wheelchair ever since. So rather than letting that stop him, he became a Paralympian.
Charity and Community Engagement
00:29:07
Speaker
And we asked him and we didn't even realise he lives right corner from where Jamie lives.
00:29:12
Speaker
So we got them there, we tagged them in stuff and they retweeted us stuff. And then that gives us an all several levels of other people that we're reaching. Yeah, yeah. So do these people ever come out in group runs with you? Yeah, I get it. But Ebony's been down a couple of times, hasn't she? Jack's been down. Yeah, well, a few times, Jack can't come down. Yes, he did. But then he keeps on saying he comes.
00:29:40
Speaker
Obviously, he's a busy man himself, you know. But yeah, they've come down. Like Dean says, Evan has been down a few times. And we're having a barbecue on the 5th of August to celebrate a second birthday. Hopefully, we're going to have a few of them. We're going to come down to that. So you might as well come and join us if you like. If anyone's listening and is near to Leeds, then what date was that again? It's the 5th of August. And where's that happening?
00:30:08
Speaker
It's at the Luck Keepers' house, just at the Royal Armouries. Where you normally meet? Yeah. Where we normally meet, the Grey Bull, didn't you? Just outside at Canal. Three fold. And I'm sure if you come down, three fold a drink. Soft drink. Soft drink.
00:30:25
Speaker
Oh yeah, but Colin, you're more than welcome, you know, all. Absolutely. Going back to, wait, wait, wait. You know, so you get ambassadors, they have their own lives, etc, as well, but, you know, Ebony came down on his first birthday and then she came down the day after a fight at Christmas, we had an event on at Christmas, we have two events a year.
00:30:48
Speaker
We have one at Christmas and we get easter eggs for kids for the charity and at Christmas we get toys and we put on a race and what have you. This year as well we did a full bank collection for the local full bank. So we're working not just for the sales, we're working within the community as well.
00:31:05
Speaker
And at Christmas, everybody had a fight night before, and it was a brutal fight, to be fair. And she came down, we thought, oh, she won't come down to fight. She came, she rolled up in a taxi and she were bandaged and she were battered, but she stayed there for what, four hours, having photographs taken with people, signing autographs, meeting people. Anyway, it was fantastic. We just love, let's say, people's faces that were there, that were going, by God, there's a celebrity here. And she's been, she's been a massive,
00:31:35
Speaker
She's a massive fan of what we're doing as well. She really is. Yeah, that's fantastic. So, I mean, what advice would you give to somebody? Is there somebody listening who's nearby now? I'm thinking I'd like to come along, but I'm really unsure. Don't be shy, just come down with don't lie.
00:32:03
Speaker
Come in and make yourself known and just approach myself or Dean, if you ask anyone who's there, they'll point us out and just come in and you feel welcome straight away by everyone. Everyone is welcoming, so you do enjoy it. Even if it's just for a little chat and to have a look around to see the
00:32:24
Speaker
Get the feel of the place before the workshop. Come and have a run or a walk with us, or like we said, a party. Come on, look on social media as well. Look on social media, we're on Facebook. Yes, where can people find you on social media? They'll find us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram under Recovery Runners Community. If you just put Recovery Runners Community, you'll find us.
00:32:43
Speaker
and you'll see photos there from you know every Sunday we have a team photo and we put that up and again they can see who's down there each week it's a bit of a registered as well so we know who's there and so we put that up and people put up what races they've done and if they want some advice on something or
Expansion to New Locations
00:33:02
Speaker
A lot of it is just, especially those Facebook pages, it's encouraging each other, helping each other out. People are going, oh, I'm struggling with this, and oh, is anybody wanting to meet up for a run?
00:33:14
Speaker
that sort of stuff. And another thing as well, usually, either myself or Jamie, on a Sunday morning, we start at 10, but one of us or others down there at half nine on a morning, and it's a case of it coming before the rabble turn up. If you just wanna have a one-on-one chat or see what we do or see what we like. To be fair, most people follow us from afar either on social media or from the flat balcony, and then just turn up.
00:33:43
Speaker
just turn up when to see that we're not as mental as we sound. No, you sound brilliant. I wish you were more local to me. Well, where are you? I'm in Bolton. See, Bolton needs a recovery. The runners can be on it here. Well, I was going to ask, you know, what is your vision for the future? Are you hoping this will spread further? I know you've had to do it all on your own, but what's the vision? It's, well, it's... No, wait, you'll go, you'll go. That actually said we've got a... we've got recovery runners Bristol.
00:34:14
Speaker
Just that started a good few months ago when they meet on a Saturday and they started doing the local park run. And we've also got recovery runners, Newcastle as well. So they started up there, a gentleman called Steven, he just set it up, got in touch with myself and Dino and I spoke to him myself. They've got the first one happening this Friday, the seventh. Fantastic. So for anyone up in Newcastle, recovery, yeah.
00:34:43
Speaker
so that's all we want to do really just get it about over the country do you know what i mean because there's a lot of people in recovery in the country so little groups sitting up here and there and you know all wearing recovery and then hopefully once a year all meet up and have a run together in an event like Leeds Marathon or something like that's the dream yeah so if you're listening out there and you're not local to Leeds then get in touch with
00:35:13
Speaker
Jamie and Dean and maybe they can give you some advice about how to get started. That's all people have done. I know we can tell them is what we've done. We don't say what you should do. We say, this is how we did it. And when we first started, we wanted it to be a bit like Lonely Goat. Lonely Goat Running Club, where if you went to Edinburgh, there were recovery runners there, and you were at Edinburgh for a weekend, you could run with like-minded people.
00:35:41
Speaker
You know, you want, you know, you want, you're running with other recovery runners, you can have a chat and that's where it started. That's where we wanted it to be. We wanted to have like a recovery runners in every city really, you know, with people, we've got people on there. We've got nearly 820 members on Facebook now.
00:35:59
Speaker
And they're all over the country, all over the world. And we just wanted to set up pockets. It don't even have to be as established as us. You just have to meet up at your park run once a week, that sort of thing. And if we're all wearing the same colors, then people start to ask questions, then, oh, yo, what do you do? What's this recovery run is all about? Which we generally get when we're doing, when we did lead 10K. At least marathon people are catching up with us and saying, oh, we follow you, guys. You're doing really well. We might come down on Sunday.
00:36:27
Speaker
You know, so we're still very much word of mouth as well, you know, even though social media, social media, we're still word of mouth. Yeah, you know, I don't think you can underestimate how important it is, though, can you? Yeah, I know. Yeah. So have you got any big racing there? I know you mentioned Berlin earlier, Jamie.
Breaking Barriers to Running
00:36:47
Speaker
Yeah, I've got a Berlin lap coming up and Great North Run, yeah. Yeah. Before hand, so Great North Run uses a training
00:36:57
Speaker
And then hopefully go out and get the time that I want for Berlin. Then we've got Yorkshire. Yeah. Yeah, in October. So that'll be my fifth marathon this year then. Wow! Time for a little rest then, you know.
00:37:13
Speaker
So, Manchester. It never stops, does it? That's an addict's head though. That's an addict's head. That's like more, more. Jamie's got like hardcore ADHD as well, which makes him really fast.
00:37:32
Speaker
I guess that's the power of running, isn't it? It can be addictive, but in a healthy way, can't it? Oh yeah, it's addictive, really addictive. Well, I think any kind of exercise is addictive, you know, when you start getting into it and how you feel afterwards. If it's yoga, better gym work, you know, boxing, all you get into, you get, well, I know us addicts, though, we swap in one addiction to another, you know,
00:38:01
Speaker
It's amazing. Yeah. It's a good addiction to health. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And you've got that support now from your amazing group. Yeah. We've got that support, you know. And Aunt Mrs. she gives support as well. She doesn't like it when I'm out all the time running. But I think she's driving me running and like, you know, doing what I used to do. Yeah. Yeah.
00:38:25
Speaker
So is there anything we've missed that we've not chatted about? Jamie just spurred me there that when we first started, we knew that even though it is an inexpensive spot, it can become an expensive spot. And we didn't want people not having, not be able to come along. So I reached out, when I first started, I started doing 5K, I was sending George's clips.
00:38:52
Speaker
And I put the noise out on Facebook and wanted to run in close to, have you got any old running trainers knocking about? Have you got any old running kit knocking about? And I swear to God, Michelle, we're ridiculous. I've got a shed in my back garden, one of these big metal ones, it's 10 meters by four meters, and it ended up absolutely rammed. And we managed to, you know,
00:39:15
Speaker
kick people out, editor, that didn't have anything, trainers, you know, football girls, running bras, running leggings, for chaps, running shirts, vests, and shorts, and trainers for everybody. And, you know, some of them, they weren't immaculate condition, but if you were just starting out, everything went through my washing machine. And so everybody got kitted out.
00:39:41
Speaker
And then, you know, the one thing that we strive to do within Recovery Runners now is, you know, there's people that come and go. Like anything in life, people come and they give it a go and it's not for them. But the people that want to make it part of their lives and you can see it changing them. You know, we'll help them. We'll help them, you know, we're not allowed. I mean, Neil, he's tried Recovery a few times and now he's kind of got it nailed on and he's just got a grip of this running life like you wouldn't believe.
00:40:11
Speaker
So we helped him out, we got, we pay for his play, we pay for his entry fee for Lee's half, you know, half funding that we got and then we pay for another girl that don't leads full marathon, a single man, the one you couldn't afford it. So that's what we're aiming to do, we've been here to do that.
00:40:30
Speaker
You know, by doing little events and getting little pots of money in from here and everywhere and being able to help people out who wouldn't normally be able to enter events or to even run. You know, they could sit there watching you, but they haven't got a pair of trainers on the feed. They're not going to be able to run. And that's what we're trying to do. And that's potentially a barrier to them even coming in. Exactly. And that we want people after
00:40:55
Speaker
You know, I may be controversial here, Michelle, that running can be very much a white middle-class spot because it can be expensive and it can be a very clicky spot as well, believe it or not, can't it, running? But we wanted to bring them barriers down from the beginning. The one thing that we're not down there is clicky. I mean, Jamie and myself are directors and co-founders of it, but we're not in charge of it.
00:41:24
Speaker
The people that come down, we leave it up to something that's very much bigger than us to point us in the right direction and that's only been through getting recovery, how we've got recovery through a 12-step programme and being able to change and knowing that helping other people keeps us on the straight and narrow really.
00:41:47
Speaker
Yeah, that's part of your recovery, I guess.
Grassroots Approach and Authenticity
00:41:51
Speaker
As much as people think we're helping them, they're helping us tenfold, without a doubt. Seeing people coming,
00:42:01
Speaker
I hate running. I mean, Colleen despised me. My first couch 5K I did was, she would run it, my wife would run it, and I ended up shouting at them both, you know what I mean? And they were like, come on, stop mourning. Just if you don't want to do it, don't do it, but don't mourn because you're stopping other people from enjoying it.
00:42:19
Speaker
And my wife didn't come back. No, my wife couldn't go running. She'd get a taxi to the toilet if she could. She'd not go running. And she would as well. But Colleen came back for second couch 5K and stuck with it. And she's put a photo of her first book this week of where she was four years ago to where she is now. And I would have said she was a good 18 stone. And I'd say now she's like a size 10.
00:42:46
Speaker
And that's still running, her mental health being well, her recovery going well, her life going better. And she's built up this community of female runners round her. She brings people down and it's seeing that changing people that is like, we're doing it right.
00:43:03
Speaker
We're doing it right. So that's why we don't want to change. And we want to keep it as grassrootsy as possible. People are trying to drive, well, what do you do? This will make you gold standard. As soon as somebody says to me, gold standard. I'm not interested because that's not what we're about.
00:43:22
Speaker
No, you don't change your life, bro. And it's working really well, I swear to God. If you can get over it any time on a Sunday morning, you know what I mean? You'll see, you'll see. And if you see anybody running around in a recovery runner's vest, just tap on my shoulder and just ask them where the bats are from, you know what I mean? And that'll mean the world to them.
00:43:44
Speaker
We are the only group that help people in recovery in the UK. We are the only running club that do it. And that boggles my brain that nobody else has thought of this. So I can't understand that too. Ex-drunk lunatics thought of this. I really can't.
00:44:12
Speaker
It's just like everything that we did, you know, how it all happens from just like a cell phone for that walk, we were both doing, we were both giving some back up and being given to us, you know, helping other people and we decided to put it together to get growing rooms and spacious places together. And
00:44:32
Speaker
And that's how it happened and it's how everything happens. So like you said, you have a sneeze and that's how the world works. People come out with amazing ideas and that's what we're covering. Thanks for that. Yeah. It's come to be recovery cyclists as well. Yes, we will. Yeah, so talk to me briefly about
Incorporating Cycling
00:44:51
Speaker
that. Well, that came again, that one or another.
00:44:54
Speaker
brain fart, I suppose. People going, what happens is, right, we're part of quite a few committees, and it's all council, and it's all this, and it's all that, and they're sitting at a meeting, about a meeting, to plan a meeting, about a meeting. And we don't do that. We ask for forgiveness.
00:45:21
Speaker
Yeah, you're the practical side of things. That just amazes people, I think, because they're like, how do they just do it? It's because you say, do it and we'll do it. And the cycling thing, we want to do this, we want to do that. And then I just started speaking to a guy who runs cycling UK in Leeds.
00:45:43
Speaker
and they wanted to make a hub. So we're like, right, let's do it. So that's what we're in the process of doing. Now, tomorrow morning, our 20 foot shipping container gets put in the back of the grounds where the lock keeper's house is, and that's going to store bikes. Now, the plan is for a free cycle higher through the day on a Sunday,
00:46:05
Speaker
You know, but I say between 10 and four or something like that, to get the people out who hate running, hate walking, and hate sitting around talking, to get them out of their house and go for a cycle down, because we're right on the river. As soon as you come out of our door, you're on the river. And you can go left to go to Leeds City Centre and go down Canal, or you turn right, and you can stay out the river, all the way down to Doncaster and Castleford if you want. You can go as far as you want.
00:46:31
Speaker
And the plan is then to put that another dynamic into getting people out of the house. Because after COVID, people have just got users staying in and doing now.
00:46:41
Speaker
And there's a big push on mental health and getting people out of the door. But there's way too much talking about it, Michelle. And we act on it. And we are doing that. And so within two years of us being officially started up, we're up to numbers of people that come in. That's just through attraction. There's been a bit of promotion with social media and stuff like that and as celebrity ambassadors. But a lot of this is people coming, liking it, telling their mates and bringing their mates.
00:47:11
Speaker
And then the last building, that side of it, and we moved into walking, so we have walk leaders, and then coaching for myself and Jamie, and then now it's like, like a natural progression, we'll be cycling. So it gets people doing more. And, you know, I remember as a kid, I'm an old fat, but I remember as a kid, on Sunday mornings, you'd go out with your dad on your pushback.
00:47:33
Speaker
You know, that's gone now. That's gone. That's all taken over by PlayStations and Instagram. You know, we don't want to drag people back to 1970s, but we want people to know what it's like to feel a part of a community again. Sort of side this next thing.
Seeking Help and Community Support
00:47:48
Speaker
Yeah, that's brilliant. And getting people outside as well. Exactly. That's the main thing is getting people out. Yeah.
00:47:57
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, well, it's been absolutely fascinating talking to you, gents, and I wish you all the very best with, you know, future plans and taking over the UK. Yeah. So just to finish up is, you know, is there a specific message if someone's listening today about the power of running and recovery, you know, perhaps someone's trying to recover from an addiction, what would you say to them? Basically, you know, it's
00:48:27
Speaker
anyone's struggling at all like that don't give up you know even if you've got to walk a little bit it will come to you one day you know and it gets easier outside when you first start anything any spot running oh just keep on going it does get easier you know and you just don't see the benefits of it don't give up ask for help it works if you work get them all in Jamie get them all in
00:48:55
Speaker
That's it. Ask for help. The one thing that we have within our 12-step program that we attend, one of the sayings is you are no longer alone. But that spreads it. There's so many other things. Because people with manic depression, people with bipolar, people with anxiety, they're the only ones that think that they're the only ones that are suffering with that. There's people out there that are exactly the same thinking they're by themselves.
00:49:22
Speaker
But you put these people together, phenomenal things happen. Phenomenal things happen. Lives change. I think they never be afraid to ask for help. That's one of the big things. I never did. When I was drinking and carrying on, I never asked for help. I always thought I would buy myself and I'm not. You know what I mean? There's so many benefits, not just from running, but being part of something. And if you're not sure, if you're not sure,
00:49:50
Speaker
Use social media or join a local running group. These things, it's amazing. I never thought of 52. I've been running my third marathon this year.
Spreading Support and Belonging
00:50:07
Speaker
You know, we did Paris, he's doing Berlin, we both did Leeds, we did Berlin last year. We did Manchester, I'm doing Manchester next year. All the girls are doing Manchester now because nobody got into London. Everybody got their rejection letter. So they're throwing their nose towards Southerners now. So they're all doing Manchester marathon.
00:50:34
Speaker
And that's it. It's just if you want, if you don't do it and you're full of fear and you're sat at home thinking, I can't do that, you can. You can. I can do it. You can do it. You know, I not want to say that blasé, but it is. It's running and the community itself, not just our community, but the running community itself is somewhere else. It's another branch of family. It's another branch of family for me.
00:51:04
Speaker
Brilliant. Yeah, I love that. So, you are not alone. You are no longer alone. That's the one. I want to ask Strap Life for Recovery Runners is helping souls with souls. You know, and that's what we do. It's helping people just by going out for a run. You know, as Jamie said, we run at a pace where people can chat. That's the thing. Yeah.
00:51:30
Speaker
It might be no, you know what I mean? It might be, it could be like, one guy turned up this weekend, Matt, he'd never been before, he's seen his Instagram, and this guy, I hugged him when he told me what was going on. He had so much loss over these last 12 months. I don't know how he was stood there. You know what I mean? I don't know how he was stood there, but he was, and he's still running, and his man club, and stuff like that. These people save people's lives. Simple as that.
00:51:58
Speaker
I could go on forever. I could talk forever. I just stop passionate about what we do. I was so passionate about it. I could bottle it. I give it to people. I go, this is what to expect. They like smelling salts. Yeah, your passion for it is clear. So just tell us quickly what your website is and where people can find it. Website in the moment is being built. So we don't have a clear website at the moment.
00:52:29
Speaker
in the middle of the website built but on social media, on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram you can find us on the Recovery Runners community. You'll see the big white circle with the square and the triangle and the semi-colon in the middle of it. The semi-colon's there just to remind you your story's not over. Yeah.
00:52:52
Speaker
are also on a Sunday morning at 10 o'clock, Lock Keepers House in Leeds down at the Royal Armouries. You can find us from half nine on Mudge. Brilliant. Well, I wish you all the very best. Thank you, Michelle. Thank you, Michelle. Thank you for the opportunity. We're really excited about this because we've been wanting to do a podcast and we haven't been able to yet.
00:53:16
Speaker
Yeah, there we go. We hope you all enjoyed this thing. Yeah, definitely. Thank you. Cheers. I hope you find running as beneficial as we have.