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00:00:01
Nathan Richardson - Run Around The Grounds.
52 Plays4 years ago
In this episode Joe speaks with Nathan Richardson who is currently running over 2000 miles to all 92 football grounds in the English Football League for @Mindcharity & @SuperJcharity
You can connect with Nathan on: Facebook Twitter InstagramRecommended
Transcript
Nathan's Journey and Introduction
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome Nathan, how are you doing? I'm not too bad, thank you. Whereabouts are you? So I'm in a place called Traxford in the morning, that's in Dartmoor. I've just stopped for some months. I've been travelling this morning from Pulse Bridge and I'm making my way out the other side of Dartmoor now, hoping to get to Exeter later on today. Wow, okay.
00:00:28
Speaker
Tell us what your challenge is before I dig in a little bit deeper about where you are now. What's your challenge and why you're doing it? So I went to 192 football grounds in English football leagues. That's the top four leagues in all you don't know. I'm going to be running 2,500 miles, roughly.
00:01:08
Speaker
because I'm a football fan so yeah it was a great combination of things that I enjoy doing which led me here. Why did you choose those two charities?
Charity Support and Football Allegiance
00:01:21
Speaker
So two different reasons. The first one is for Supergiosk because it's a local charity to me. I've seen first time the works, the great work that they do. So, you know, I wanted to give them sort of a bit more, I wanted to get them a bit more well-known. And I wanted to get them... Where are they based, Nate? They're based in Berry, where I was sort of, I was brought up in Heywood, which is a small town next to Berry. And so they're based in Berry.
00:01:53
Speaker
sort of they do work for children that face post surgery disabilities and stuff like that so yeah I wanted to I thought that there's a really good charity and the other one is just to do with mental health I had a bit of trouble with myself and I know how good running is for mental health
00:02:15
Speaker
I had to get that in there because I believe it's important. And also obviously Mind, you know, they do some great work as well. So yeah, those are the two reasons for those charities. Brilliant. Brilliant. And obviously you're a football fan. So you're a Barrie fan, are you? No. Well, I've got two clubs. I'm Manchester United and Rochdale. Right, OK. Yeah.
00:02:39
Speaker
doing, you know, sort of present at the moment. But I'm still running to Barrie, I'll still be going there, that'll be my second to last club. And I plan to finish in Rochdale sometime later on in the year, hopefully in November. Nice. Okay, cool. My club's shoes will be tanned, I remember having some battles with Barrie over the years.
00:03:07
Speaker
first Shrewsbury, in terms of club, it's quite hard on its own. If you look sort of where the map is, there isn't much around Shrewsbury, that's in the football week, so I thought I've had to run from wolves to
00:03:26
Speaker
So I was making my way down to Stoke and Crewe and Port Vale and then I ran to Shrewsbury and then all the way back to Wolves and Birmingham. So that was quite a trekking itself. But yeah, got a great welcome there. So yeah, Shrewsbury was a good one. Good, good. Glad to hear it. Glad to hear you. So he's watched your local team then, is it? Yes, yes.
00:03:52
Speaker
Yeah, I know what it's like, being a shoesbie fan growing up, we had an all me mate, you have a Premier League team as well. Yeah, well, I thought, you know, sort of mixed them up. I had the big start of all the traffic back in March. So I was sort of brought up in Rockdale, Heywood, Berry area. And then I, but I live near Sayo now, which is obviously close to
00:04:27
Speaker
So how have you planned it then?
Route Planning and Local Assistance
00:04:32
Speaker
It's quite a lot of miles, 2,000 miles. How have you planned your route? With a lot of planning. I think that's one of the hardest bits to be honest. Running you can get on with. It's just putting one foot in front of the other.
00:04:50
Speaker
But what I did is I did an original plan, so I found a map online. The club, the 92 club, is something that's been going for years. So people do it, you know, there's records, who's drove there, the quickest. So some people will get in a car and they'll drive around them all and see, you know, how fast they can do that within like, I think they record three days.
00:05:12
Speaker
some people do it over the course of a season or two seasons and then that rule is you have to see a game at every ground you know. These things have been going for years so I found a map of all the seasons, clubs and that's where I started basically and then I worked out
00:05:30
Speaker
ways to get to each club. And then as I go on now, it's sort of a weekly basis. So every week, I'll look at the following week and try and work out the best route, the safest route. And yeah, speaking a lot to the locals and trying
00:05:56
Speaker
won't get any better knowledge because they're going to tell you this road's better for running. Don't go down there. And then obviously I'm getting in touch. I've got an awful lot of support when I started putting out on running groups from the beginning. So I've got like a long list of places and then people. So then when I know I'm going somewhere, I'll get in touch with them by Facebook or something like that and try and sort out the comments
00:06:31
Speaker
it gets things from the clubs in those places and then they're, you know, getting to the press and it's a lot of planning. But he's sort of doing the same sort of planning but in a different place every week. So, you know, I'm getting better at it and, you know, have a little bit of help from parents from home. They do a little bit of it and my brother helps me out a little bit.
00:06:55
Speaker
How did you start then, mate? So you started at Man United, how far into this had you planned? Because if you're doing it stage by stage now as you go, how far into it had you planned when you set off and where did you go? So I had it all planned. So from the beginning I had had
00:07:20
Speaker
I died at Old Trafford. I did the first day to Etihad, which was only, I think, four and a half miles. And then I gradually built up and built it up. So then I went to Wigan, sort of Bolton, Wigan.
00:07:39
Speaker
I was like, oh, after that. Forgive me if I miss one. It's all right, it's a lot to remember. And then I started working, then I ran towards Merseyside and then I ran to Liverpool and Everton, which is obviously very close to each other. Then I ran to Tramet and then I started looking my way back to Macclesfield and that's when we got to the spot because of, you know, Covid. And then I stopped the challenge and then on
00:08:22
Speaker
the Midlands clubs, down to Cheltenham, across the Cotswolds and Forest Green, then Swindon, then Bristol, both Bristol clubs, then over to South, all along South Wales, Cardiff, Newport, Swansea, and then back along South Wales, because I had to start to go back on my
00:08:32
Speaker
At the end of May, I started going from around Maccasfield area, and then I worked my way from Maccasfield,
00:08:45
Speaker
there's no North Wales club in the league anymore. That was a blessing. In North Wales, that could have been tricky. And then I started working my way down to Exeter and then Plymouth and then put around about where I'm at now, coming back from Plymouth. I was at Plymouth about three, four days ago. Now I'm just going to wait my way to Bournemouth now. So do you know how far you've run so far?
COVID-19 Challenges and Adaptation
00:09:12
Speaker
I think around 700.
00:09:15
Speaker
miles, but I've not told it properly, I need to do it actually. Over a longer period, but the miles are still in there. You mentioned obviously Covid and the pandemic, so how did that impact your plan? Like everybody else, heavily, I didn't know
00:09:46
Speaker
there's a lot of uncertainty as there was with everybody so I was basically sitting at home waiting obviously people are a lot more wary of taking you in for accommodation people have got their own situations on if they want to be isolated and then people didn't want to come out running which was obviously a big part of it I was giving out people for support and that stopped but then
00:10:14
Speaker
after a bit you know it's the same thing you know things started to loosen up a little bit more I was getting I thought I'll give it a go and see if I get the help and I did still you know it was a lot harder a lot harder but you know I was getting there because I could still get an apartment you know and there was people sort of giving me
00:10:37
Speaker
So there was one lady, she was staying with her partner and her home was free so she let me stay in her home while she stayed somewhere else. So I was working around it for a little bit but luckily now it's calmed down a little bit and people are willing to come out a little bit more willing to give a little bit
00:11:02
Speaker
like everybody made it a lot harder. I didn't obviously know whether I was going to be able to do it again, but because I'd sort of given up work to do this, so I had to sort of make it, you know, I had to make it work somehow. So I did. Yeah, good on you. So you started in March, you did a couple of weeks, and then you had to wait until the end of May to get going again. And you went back to where you were in Macclesfield, did you? And then just started again.
00:11:33
Speaker
basically, yeah, to the point where I'd stopped before and I was like, right, let's give it a go, let's see what happens. If it's too much or I can't make it work, then I'll have to stop again. But, you know, I've found a way to get through it. I've probably done a bit more, spent a bit more money than I wanted to on accommodation, but at the end of the day, it's a once in a lifetime thing, isn't it? So, yeah, like I say, luckily,
00:12:01
Speaker
and got to come out, well, we were sort of coming out the other side of it and it is getting easier, so people are more willing to come out and join and stuff now, but yeah, that's basically what I did, yeah.
Daily Routine and Training Regimen
00:12:12
Speaker
Yeah, so are you getting many people actually come and run with you? Yeah, absolutely. The last Exeter where I had a great, I think, almost 20 people came out to run... Very good.
00:12:27
Speaker
So actually, you know, mostly around the clubs and the cities, you know, when I get people, but, yeah, I've had people join, all sorts of different places, sometimes groups, sometimes just one or two people, sometimes a whole brewing club. Like I say, that's, now we're in clubs, getting back together again, that's a lot more, a lot more likely that's gonna happen. So yeah, I've had quite a few people coming out here. Brilliant. So what does your, what does a typical day look like at the moment then?
00:13:00
Speaker
from where? Are you in a tent any time or are you always getting accommodation? I've been in a tent the last few days so there wasn't many offices for accommodation around there and the hotel was too much so I've been camping out getting up in the morning I've got a little stove I put some food on
00:13:25
Speaker
I lost some food and then I start moving. Usually I try and get done
00:13:33
Speaker
day. And then basically, I just stop in the afternoon, have a bit of food again. Most of the time, then I have the afternoon to myself, if I'm in a big place, like sort of a city that I've never been to, I walk around it, or some people like if I'm staying this month, they'll take me around and show up some places. And that more sort of just been sort of about an afternoon. And then yes, do the same again, sort of six days a week,
00:14:02
Speaker
And then most of the time I take Sunday off and just rest and speak to people in the evenings and speak to family, catch up with people and that's it basically. How are you coping with it mentally if it's a long way to run and have you had any injuries or niggles? Injuries I've done quite alright with. I've had a few niggles but
00:14:29
Speaker
I try and stick to the mileage that I know between 10 and 15 miles a day. I never really go over that. Mentally it can be tough but there's always something that I'm thinking of that's the next thing. So usually what I'll try and do is set myself something so I know there's a next big city, I know when I'm getting there I might have a night in a whole
00:14:55
Speaker
rest up and get everything sorted. So I always sort of look towards that. So at the moment I'm looking to get into Bournemouth early next week. That's always my, you know, thing I'm picking off. And then after that I'll be looking to get to London and then London is the halfway point. So, you know, I've always got to have something to look forward to and, you know, that sometimes keeps me going and, you know, I enjoy it within itself. So, you know,
00:15:23
Speaker
sometimes there's no better place to be you know when you're just getting up and going having you know the run and then that's it yeah so it can be tough someday you know ups and downs but at the end of the day I can't really complain to be honest that's good that's a great way to look at it so how did you prepare for it then have you you've always been a runner or
00:15:53
Speaker
I saw it, I ran a little bit, I'd done half marathon and then I stopped. But then early 2018, late 2018, I lost two family members, so then I set myself within a short course of time, so I set myself to argue, right, I'm going to run a marathon, the first one I was going to run. And then I ran Manchester in April.
00:16:17
Speaker
April 7th, I think 2019. And then a week later, I talked myself into doing another one, which was Paris. So I'd run my first and my second within the first within the same week. And then I just got the book for it. And then I think five or six weeks later, I ran a 12 month marathon called Dale. And then that was it. You know, I was off. I was just, you know, I need to do something bigger. And I actually came across a guy called Scott who ran
00:16:51
Speaker
Yeah, do you remember? I remember that, yeah. Yeah, we'd start like in Burnley every week and then it'd run to every weekend, you know, we'd start in Burnley and then we'd run to wherever Burnley was playing at, so it was an amazing idea. And then that was it. If anyone's done all the downs, no one's done them. And then that was, that's where the planning started.
00:17:15
Speaker
I saved up on, worked out how much money I'd need, saved it up, left work in December, then trained January, February, March, every day, got a backpack, got a backpack on my back, you know, because I knew I'd be carrying a bit of weight, and then built the mileage up, graduated, and graduated, and graduated. And yeah, that was all the preparation. Okay, so what sort of mileage were you doing in your training, at Pope Beach Week? So, I built it up.
00:17:45
Speaker
I built it up from about December and I was building up, I was doing three miles a day and then I built it up to four and five and six and I thought to myself if I can get to 50 miles a week then I'll say that I'm not going to give myself a time limit.
00:18:07
Speaker
50 miles a week, I could work for that on a basis. Not going any faster speed, you know? And then, yeah, I got to 50 miles a week and I was confident that I could work on that. The most thing I was worried about was the bag, you know, the weight. But then I sort of worked out with myself, what do you need? What don't you need? Started pulling stuff out, so I ended up training with a heavier bag than I was actually running with, which
00:18:36
Speaker
Yeah, I was running about 50, 60 miles a week and then I got going and now I'm on most weeks 70, 80. So yeah, I used to say between 10 and 15 miles a day, 60 days a week. Yeah, and take your days rest. Cool. Take my days rest and then feel like a new man on the Monday.
00:18:58
Speaker
So next is Bournemouth, then you're going to make your way, I suppose you've got Southampton. Do you want to go to Brighton first or are you going to go to London? Yes, Southampton. I've got all the boot on my social media and stuff. I've got the whole order of references and I've got the map. If anyone wanted to look at it. Where's that? Go on, tell us where we can find it.
Upcoming Routes and Social Media Presence
00:19:27
Speaker
I've got, so I've got Facebook, which is at run around the grounds. Twitter is at me for it's nine to Instagram. But if you type into Google, run around the grounds, all the pages are there. Anyway, it'll just come up all the donation pages and everything. Okay. Yeah, the whole world is there, but it's
00:19:52
Speaker
Portsmouth, sorry Bournemouth, Southampton, Brighton, and that's a lot of fun. And then inwards to London, if I recall it, and then it sort of goes exactly all the way around London. You know, we should cover quite a lot of clubs there. And then over to the East Coast.
00:20:12
Speaker
and now it's in its which is stuff and then back up north through Yorkshire and Derbyshire and then to the northeast Newcastle and Sunderland and Middlesbrough then over the top of the north to Carlisle and then Carlisle down to Preston, Morecambe, Blackpool and then in via Burnley and Blochdale
00:20:45
Speaker
Have you got any tales to tell that there's a lot of camaraderie at football clubs? Is it any of the clubs you know stand out or something? I'm saving them to write a book or something but one was a really good, Horace Green is the first, the only 100% vegan
00:21:11
Speaker
in the whole of sports. They only give vegan stuff to the players, to everyone in the ground. And it was a really interesting place to go to. And then so I spoke to them, they were telling me about the first, they're going to build the first wooden stadium as well. So the first
00:21:36
Speaker
Paul Vail gave me an incredible welcome. I've got to think about them. They gave me the best welcome out of every cup I've been to, including the ones I support. So far, my family had come down to visit me there.
00:21:59
Speaker
I mean, a photo of the ground meeting, the invite was back for a game, you know, for a VIP to get to do a game. Yes, they were amazing as well. That's good. But yeah, most of the coaches have been really helpful even in this time, so yeah, it's been good.
00:22:16
Speaker
Yeah, brilliant. Okay, so just reiterate for us then, how can people donate if they'd like to, and how can people, you know, you say you've got people running with you, how can they get in touch with you if they want to come and do a couple of miles with you, or offer up accommodation, anything like that? Just give us all your details again, so people have got them. Yeah, so the best way to do it, probably, is go, type in the one around the ground on Google, and it will take you
00:22:48
Speaker
And I've also got a website that's called nathrich.com and then from there it'll link it to all my social medias rather than me reading them all out separately. Alright, so that's nice and clear, that's nathrich.com, nathrich, R-A-C-H dot com. Yeah, dot com, yeah. And is you're just giving and all that kind of stuff on there? Yes, there is a version where
00:23:18
Speaker
So obviously it follows two charities. My aim is to raise £9,200 which will be £100 for every club. Very good. Very good, Nate. Nate, thanks for coming on and joining us. It's been great to hear. Just remind us where you are now. You're in the middle of Dartmoor somewhere. Yes, in Jackford. So I'm hoping
00:23:47
Speaker
brilliant okay well enjoy the rest of your day we get to exit to them thanks for coming on and joining us and we'll follow you follow your journey through your social channels thank you cheers