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Mel Bound | This Woman Runs
81 Plays1 day ago
In this episode of the UKRunChat Podcast, Michelle talks to Mel Bound, founder and CEO of This Woman Runs, one of the world's largest women's running communities.
What began with a simple Facebook post asking if anyone wanted to be her running buddy has grown into a movement supporting tens of thousands of women across the UK through free weekly walks, runs and beginner-friendly programmes.
Mel shares her own running journey, from being an asthmatic child encouraged to run by her GP, to losing her running identity after having children and recovering from major back surgery. She explains how 75 women turned up to that first run in Bristol, revealing a much bigger need for connection, confidence and belonging among women who felt excluded from traditional fitness spaces.
We discuss:
• How This Woman Runs began from a single Facebook post
• Why "the running was never really the point"
• The barriers that still stop many women from joining running groups
• The importance of community, confidence and belonging
• How volunteer Run Angels help women take their first steps into movement
• The evolution from This Mum Runs to This Woman Runs
• Building a nationwide network of women-led communities
• Why the organisation is simplifying its model around free weekly Sunday morning walks and runs
• Mel's own recent experience of injury and rebuilding confidence
• Receiving an OBE for services to women's community sport
Whether you're an experienced runner, returning after time away, or wondering if you're "the sort of person" who could join a running group, this conversation is packed with insight and encouragement.
Find out more about This Woman Runs and locate your nearest community at thiswomanruns.com
If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, leave a review and share it with a friend.
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Transcript
Introduction to the Podcast and Guest
00:00:00
UKRunChat
Welcome to the UK Run Chat Podcast. I'm Michelle and in this episode, I'm joined by Mel
Founding This Woman Runs
00:00:06
UKRunChat
Bound. Now, Mel is the founder and CEO of This Woman Runs, which is one of the world's largest women's running communities. What began with a simple Facebook post asking for a running buddy has grown into a movement supporting tens of thousands of women across the UK. and helping women discover the benefits of movement and community.
00:00:27
UKRunChat
and Mel, welcome to the podcast. It's really nice to have you on.
00:00:31
Mel Bound
Thank you so much for having me. It's so absolutely lovely to meet you and looking forward to chatting today.
Mel's Early Running Journey
00:00:36
UKRunChat
So let's start with your running story then. Now you've you've been running for quite a while, haven't you Because you started because of childhood asthma, is that right?
00:00:46
Mel Bound
Yeah, so I sometimes think that I met the first social prescriber with my my GP. So i I started running when I was maybe, I think I was about seven or eight, and I had really um chronic asthma. And um my GP, I think for the 70s, this is pretty forward thinking, just shown my age there. But he basically said he basically said to my mum, the best thing you can do for her is get her outside and running.
00:01:11
Mel Bound
And that will make her lungs stronger and will help her um just just manage kind of her asthma and hopefully things will start to settle down and improve.
00:01:11
UKRunChat
Wow.
00:01:20
Mel Bound
and
00:01:20
UKRunChat
That's really forward thinking, isn't it?
00:01:21
Mel Bound
forward thinking.
00:01:21
UKRunChat
Yeah. Wow.
00:01:23
Mel Bound
I know. And um so mum took that very seriously, obviously. And um ah off I trundled to the local running club and and and various you know other other things as well. And I discovered...
00:01:39
Mel Bound
i were the the The best way of describing it for me was I discovered the absolute joy and freedom of running. you know As a really young kid, that was you know id I'd been slightly bullied because I was the weird wheezy kid. and um i didn't really i't i don't know that i felt i really fitted in at primary school.
00:01:58
Mel Bound
And suddenly I had this thing, this superpower that I was not only did I love, but I was wasn't bad at. And I went from being the the kind of slightly bullied kid to the kid that was you know always picked first for the for the school sports day relay team um and just absolutely loved it. And I've got this one of my earliest memories of running, actually, is um ah a kind of a local club.
00:02:21
Mel Bound
It's like a fun run in my in my in my local village. and In my head, it was about 20 miles. It was probably about half a mile. and remember i remember
00:02:31
UKRunChat
Yes.
00:02:33
Mel Bound
being on the start line and and that feeling of butterflies that you get you know even now. um And then kind of setting off, I was in my kind blue velour shorts that were very kind of on trend in the 80s and heading off and just that feeling of kind of flying and freedom and and and just feeling really happy. And also, you know, that feeling of really challenging your body. Like I really felt that my body was working hard and really enjoyed that feeling. And that was the start of...
00:03:02
Mel Bound
a very long love affair with running. So it was, it kind of became something that really defined most of my, my kind of childhood teens, something I did for fun. I wasn't really competing, but it just was, was my happy space, my head space, what I would go out and do when I got home from school, I'd go for a run in the woods and I i absolutely loved it.
Challenges After Motherhood and Surgery
00:03:21
Mel Bound
Fast forward to 2014, I had two young kids And I don't know how many of your listeners out there might relate to this, but I suddenly went from someone that had all the time in the world to go for a run whenever I fancied it to suddenly having absolutely zero time, no energy, very sleep deprived.
00:03:42
Mel Bound
um And I also had had a surgery on my back. I'd i'd fallen, I had a little stumble out running and I'd slipped a disc in my back and that ended up needing surgery. And so I went from from being someone that absolutely identified as as a runner to doing absolutely nothing for for about three or four years um and wondering whether I would ever run again.
00:04:04
Mel Bound
That was genuinely how I felt at the time. I just couldn't work out how to get back to it.
00:04:06
UKRunChat
That's tough, isn't it?
00:04:08
Mel Bound
Yeah, it was really tough.
00:04:08
UKRunChat
Yeah. Like a bit of a kind of ah a change of identity almost, isn't it? When you lose running.
00:04:14
Mel Bound
Yeah.
00:04:14
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:04:15
Mel Bound
Yeah. and and And to be honest, that's where all of this started because I am with kind of a lot of, I'll call it gentle, gentle encouragement, but had a um a personal trainer at the time that was supporting me through my, and my rehab after my surgery. And she kept kind of saying to me, going to go out for a run again. Are you, you know, we've done the strength work, you've done the core work, your back is really strong. And I kept saying no And, um and then in the end, she said, why don't you just put a post on Facebook and try and find someone locally that could, that could only go out, you know, once the kids are in bed, that also is a bit mackered and doesn't really have much time and is, you know, a ah lacking in confidence and doesn't have have um doesn't have that much fitness anymore. Maybe you can find someone that that might feel that feels the same way and and might go for a
Building a Community Through Social Media
00:05:02
Mel Bound
run with you. And um I put that off for ages. And then eventually I did it.
00:05:06
Mel Bound
And from that post, I put just on a local kind of buying and selling group, Facebook group. 75 women turned up um to meet me.
00:05:14
UKRunChat
Wow.
00:05:16
Mel Bound
Do
00:05:16
UKRunChat
What was going through your head then when you you saw all these women?
00:05:20
Mel Bound
i mean that you know what? Initially, my initial thought was, I wonder where they're all going. Because I thought I must have missed some massive event or something. Because um I just ah didn't in a million years think they were all coming to meet me for a run. It was bonkers. It was absolutely bonkers. And it was November, you know. So it was dark. It was rainy. It was 8 o'clock at night. And all these women had come out of their house to to to meet me from a random Facebook post. like it was It just was bizarre. But i remember thinking,
00:05:50
Mel Bound
wow, this is there are lots of women feeling the same way. That was the overriding feeling. And I think, you know yes, they'd come out the door for a run, but I don't think, even then, I think I realised it wasn't really about coming for a run. It was, you know they were looking for connection and a community and other women that felt the same way. And that's what made had made them come kind of come out of the house and and come and meet me. And that is where it all began.
00:06:14
UKRunChat
Wow. Yeah. So practically with that first run, how how was it?
00:06:15
Mel Bound
know.
00:06:18
UKRunChat
Like, what did you do with 75 of you? Did you plan it?
00:06:20
Mel Bound
had no plan I had no plan, obviously, because I didn't expect that to happen. So we just sort of went for a run down the main road. it was really unglamorous. And, it you know, it literally was cars flying past us, splashing us. And um ah we only went for about 10 minutes down the road and then we went back. But then we stood outside the park and took talked for an hour.
00:06:42
Mel Bound
And there was just this amazing sense of I found my people. I have found my people. It was amazing, honestly. And um I think, I don't think I could ever imagine then where what would kind of, where this, that would lead. But what we did know, all of us that were there that night, was that we wanted to do it again the next week. We just wanted to, we just wanted to do it again because it just felt so good.
00:07:05
Mel Bound
and um And so I went home and set up a Facebook group. At the time, i called it This Mum Runs. That's where we started.
00:07:10
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:07:11
Mel Bound
um and yeah, it grew from there. It grew from there.
00:07:15
UKRunChat
Wow. So, so you must have felt so like buoyed up in that moment of having found all these women that needed the same, the same things as you did.
00:07:21
Mel Bound
Yeah.
00:07:23
Mel Bound
Yeah.
00:07:25
UKRunChat
so
00:07:25
Mel Bound
Yeah.
00:07:26
UKRunChat
kind of you, was it hard for you to get back into running at that point? Did that take some time to get your fitness back up?
00:07:32
Mel Bound
um To be honest, it was easy from that point. And I think there's so, you know, once you've got some mates to run with and people that can run at the same time as you, and also, so that that makes it million times easier already.
00:07:36
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:07:39
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:07:47
Mel Bound
But I think the other the other thing was that we, and this was kind of almost by accident, it was designed like this.
00:07:48
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:07:56
Mel Bound
we We didn't put any pressure on ourselves about how far or how fast. And that's still core to our DNA now. So all of our runs are designed around the number of minutes moving.
00:08:06
Mel Bound
So we'll go for a half an hour run or we'll go for a 45 minute run. And depending on who's there will impact how far we go. But but it meant it just meant that all the pressure was gone.
00:08:17
Mel Bound
So all the pressure that I had made i had previously put on myself where, you know, I might rock up to a race and I've got my splits written on my arm. And if I, if I miss them by 30 seconds, I'm really cross my, with myself, all of that had gone, it had gone.
00:08:31
Mel Bound
And actually i was so i think I just was so grateful to have, have, have it back in my life that all the, all the kind of, um all the pressure i that I'd previously put on myself had completely disappeared. And I just was running for the absolute joy of it, which is where I started as a kid. You know, it was just that freedom, that kind of that that kind of absolute sheer joy of being out and moving. So it bizarrely, having had that long period of time without it, once once that moment had happened, it was bizarrely easy to continue.
00:09:03
UKRunChat
Yeah. So what what were all the women mostly
Expanding to Include All Women
00:09:06
UKRunChat
moms like you? Cause obviously the this woman runs began as this mom runs. Were they all in a similar situation?
00:09:12
Mel Bound
Yeah, yes. i yes I put the the original post on a mum's buying and selling group.
00:09:17
UKRunChat
okay yeah.
00:09:18
Mel Bound
is Yeah, because I thought, I just need to find someone that, ah you know, running clubs, the the the running clubs at the time would run at half six, seven o'clock in the evening, which is exactly when you're putting your own children to bed.
00:09:18
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:09:30
Mel Bound
So I had this idea that if I could find up another mum that, um you know, also couldn't go out at 6.30, 6.30 o'clock in the evening, that, um Maybe we could find a time that worked for us. So yeah, everyone that turned up did have young kids. And um so in the kind of early, actually for the first seven or eight years, we were very kind of focused on how do we make this easier for mums that have got very specific demands on their time. um you know, you can't not put your kids to bed. You can't not give your kids tea. You can't at the weekend, you're running in them around to clubs and things. So there's genuine pressures on on um on mum's times. on top mum's time and so the kind of in those early years it was really about solving those problems for women that had kids um but what what kind of happened over over time is that we were designing this amazing community and we we exist um we've got digital spaces but we also have um uh in real life communities that meet in 40 cities around the uk now and um
00:10:34
Mel Bound
what I realised was actually a lot of the problems that we were trying to solve around confidence, around fear of judgement, around lack of time as well actually, were actually pretty universal for a lot of women and that there was something in our name, know, having mum in our name that meant that women that didn't have kids felt they couldn't come.
00:10:54
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:10:54
Mel Bound
And that i I started to feel very uncomfortable about that. And especially as we we were really trying to create a very inclusive space where where all women felt like they could belong. um And actually, if if women that didn't have kids came along, quite quickly they realised it didn't matter because the last thing any of us wanted to to to be doing was talking about our kids. We wanted a break from our kids. So the the actual kind of experience and once once people arrived was irrelevant whether you had children, but the name was off-putting. And so that's why a couple of years ago we changed from This Mum Runs to This Woman Runs.
00:11:28
UKRunChat
Yeah, and yeah, now it's it's more inclusive to all women.
00:11:30
Mel Bound
Yeah, definitely.
00:11:31
UKRunChat
that's from the and Yeah, yeah. Because, I mean, there are, think women do feel barriers to joining like other running clubs, don't they?
00:11:32
Mel Bound
Yeah.
00:11:38
UKRunChat
Like you say, it it can be can be difficult. So when did you realise that this was going to be something bigger than your run with some women locally?
00:11:47
Mel Bound
I realised almost straight away, almost straight away, because it just, so not only obviously did a lot of women turn up to that first run, but what happened really quickly was it it kind of spread like wildfire in um in Bristol, which is which is where I live and where this started.
00:11:48
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:12:06
Mel Bound
It just took on a life of its own really quickly. And quite quickly I was spending every kind of waking minute when I wasn't looking after my kids were working, responding to women in the Facebook group that I'd set up to um support them, to help them to start groups in their part of Bristol, um to um ah to start running full stop. So in the kind of very early weeks, um I think I'd been feeling quite... and Smug is the wrong word, but I'd been feeling like, wow, we're doing something amazing here and lots of women are coming and it's really inclusive and it's there's no pressure.
00:12:47
Mel Bound
um And then about this was probably two or three months in, um one of the women who had joined our digital community, but hadn't come along to a session, shared a post in the group. And for me, this was the big turning point. And this is when I realised, OK, this is this needs to be something different. And this is where the real need is. And she basically said, um I'm a mum of two and I've spent the I spent I spent the last 20 years sitting on the sofa drinking wine.
00:13:16
Mel Bound
and not moving basically. Does anyone feel the same?
00:13:17
UKRunChat
Yeah. Right. Yeah.
The Impact of the Couch to 5K Program
00:13:19
Mel Bound
And um i I really, you know, I love the the the feeling that this community has, but I don't feel like I can come along because I literally can't run for a bus. And um I distinctly remember when this post came in because I was putting my son to bed and my laptop was out on the landing and I could hear all that of these notifications on the on the Facebook reaper, was thinking, what the hell is going on?
00:13:42
Mel Bound
And when I opened my laptop, There were hundreds of replies to this post with women saying, yeah, I feel exactly like that as well. i love you I love being part of this group. I can't take part. And initially I was gutted because i just thought, that's terrible. We've created this space and there are all these women that feel like they can't they can't join in. And then one of the women said, oh, I know, let's get a book from the library about learning to run and we'll go and meet in the park and we'll and we'll figure it out.
00:14:13
Mel Bound
We'll figure out how to do it. And I just thought, hang on a minute. I'm sure... I think we could probably do something better than that. And um so I basically, this was in the very early days of Couch to 5K actually.
00:14:19
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:14:24
Mel Bound
And I'm not even sure it was in an app at this time. and But I basically said, OK, I'll take a group of you that are willing to commit to 10 weeks turning up once a week.
00:14:36
Mel Bound
And I'll help you go from zero to feeling like you can run 5K and then you can start coming to our sessions. And um so that's that's what we did. And honestly, that group, there was 20 women that came along and I.
00:14:50
Mel Bound
or I think all of us went through just a massive personal transformation in those 10 weeks. So the women know that didn't think they could run, had never run, suddenly could. But I also went through a transformation of, oh, wow, this is how hard it really is for women who've never done it before. So I'd had the benefit of this has been in my life forever. And I've just stopped for a bit because my life's too busy. But for the for those women that came to they that kind of that programme, they had never done it. They didn't believe they could do it and they didn't know where to start. And so going on that journey with them was so transformative for me because I just thought...
00:15:29
Mel Bound
There are other women that feel this way and I want to build something that's support that's for them. So that mainly so they feel they can come to the weekly sessions. That was, I want to give them a pathway in so they get the joy of turning up every week and and and taking part. And that was really, for me, that was really the start of it.
00:15:46
Mel Bound
um And yeah, it yeah.
00:15:48
UKRunChat
Wow. What gift for them. That's that's incredible, Mel.
00:15:53
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:15:53
Mel Bound
And for me as well, honestly, and for me, because I think, um I mean, it's completely, obviously completely changed my life because six months later, I quit my job and went all in on trying to trying to figure out how do we take what had started in that kind of outside the park in Bristol and build something that we could literally put anywhere in the world.
00:16:11
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:16:11
Mel Bound
that was That was kind of my ambition.
00:16:13
Mel Bound
Like, how do we design a I don't even know what if I knew what it was at the time, an experience that women turn up to every week that helps the women like, you know, Annika who put the first post and that group of women that turned up for that first Couch 5K group.
00:16:30
Mel Bound
How do you build something for them and put it wherever in the world it's needed? that's That's kind of where it started.
00:16:36
UKRunChat
Yeah, so is Annika still running now?
00:16:39
Mel Bound
Do you know what? I don't think she is. If she's listening, Annika, I'm coming back for you
00:16:45
UKRunChat
let us know, Annika, we'd love to hear.
00:16:45
Mel Bound
she missed herself it you. She did for a long time. She actually became one of our volunteers. She also became one of our run coaches. So we we then we evolved Couch to 5K into our own beginner program, which is called Run 30.
00:16:52
UKRunChat
Wow.
00:17:00
Mel Bound
And we trained a team of coaches called Runmakers. And Annika was one of the original Runmakers. So she, um yeah, then ah took on the responsibility of of taking women on that on that journey as well.
00:17:13
Mel Bound
Then pesky COVID got in the way. So that's basically what happened for a lot of women, isn't it? So um so that's where we lost her, I think.
00:17:21
UKRunChat
Yeah, that was tough. We were all stuck at home trying to do the schooling and working and yeah, it was tough, wasn't it?
00:17:26
Mel Bound
was horrific. Yeah.
00:17:27
UKRunChat
Yeah, well. So COVID aside, we don't talk about that anymore, it's traumatic for many.
00:17:29
Mel Bound
That's not good yet. Yeah.
00:17:35
UKRunChat
and So how how did you kind of, how did this movement kind of expand then? Because it's huge now, you have such a lot of communities, don't you, all across the UK.
00:17:46
Mel Bound
Yeah.
00:17:47
UKRunChat
You've got an app and
00:17:49
Mel Bound
Yeah.
00:17:50
UKRunChat
you know, you've got this huge digital online community as well.
Project Rockstar and Volunteer Training
00:17:54
UKRunChat
How did you go about setting all that up and putting the infrastructure in place?
00:17:54
Mel Bound
ye
00:17:59
Mel Bound
umm So I think it's fair to say we did it really badly at first because, you know, it didn't exist anywhere else and I'd never done it before and we were figuring it out.
00:18:05
UKRunChat
You know,
00:18:10
Mel Bound
And so we... tried stuff, we made loads of mistakes. We were kind of ah building with the community. So we were doing a lot of talking to the women that were had joined, that were in the digital space, that were interested in becoming volunteers and helping us turn this into something that was an actual thing that we delivered um every week and could be scaled.
00:18:32
Mel Bound
um One of the first things we did actually was, the working title for this project was Project Rockstar. And so we figured out that the only way we could grow it, first of all, the only way we could make it sustainable in Bristol, but then the only way we could take it elsewhere was through volunteers.
00:18:40
UKRunChat
Right.
00:18:53
Mel Bound
um And so Project Rockstar was about how do we how do we how do we grow an amazing like a volunteer army, basically, how do we recruit amazing women to be volunteers in our community? What does a what does a good volunteer look like?
00:19:09
Mel Bound
um How do we train them? how do we How do we make sure that they obviously how they that they know how to lead a session in the way that we want a session um delivered?
00:19:20
Mel Bound
But how do we get them to really understand the women that they're supporting, the women that might not come along for, you know, that might it might take them months to plug up the courage to come along?
00:19:23
UKRunChat
yeah.
00:19:30
Mel Bound
how do we get them to understand that? So we spent a long time thinking about that training process. In the really early days, this will make you laugh, but we um when when we first launched a community outside of Bristol, the first one was um in in London,
00:19:46
Mel Bound
And we would drive up and down, up and jack down to London with my TV in the back of the car, delivering these training sessions. So we'd like find cafes that would give us a space for free.
00:19:57
Mel Bound
And then we'd i invite local women that were interested in finding out more about what we did and becoming volunteers. We'd literally go and set up camp. and deliver a session and train groups of women to to be volunteers.
00:20:11
Mel Bound
and obviously that was amazing. It was amazing.
00:20:13
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:20:14
Mel Bound
And I wish, we in and a lot of ways, I wish we still could do it like that, but it obviously wasn't very scalable.
00:20:16
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:20:18
Mel Bound
So yeah.
00:20:19
UKRunChat
Very time consuming on your part.
00:20:20
Mel Bound
that
00:20:21
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:20:21
Mel Bound
yeah So eventually we've kind of then moved that onto, okay, we need to make that online. And what does that look like? So that kind of whole volunteer bit, we spent a lot of time thinking about and co-designing with women in our community and testing stuff and know all of that.
00:20:27
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:20:37
Mel Bound
And that's, that's still core to absolutely everything we do. um that And I'd say we did a pretty good job of that, by the way, but the, um, The bit that we didn't do a very good job of initially was that we so we scale we scaled far too quickly.
00:20:51
Mel Bound
um so Because there was so much interest in from women.
00:20:54
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:20:55
Mel Bound
up we We built a big digital community. um all over the country, all over the world, actually. And so we had women saying, will you set up groups in our, where we are?
00:21:06
Mel Bound
We were like, yeah, okay, well, let's just train a few volunteers and off we go. and um And actually, I blame COVID for this as well, actually, because over COVID, we massively grew. So we we at the start of COVID, I think we had four or five communities in different cities. And at the end of COVID, we had nearly 60 communities.
00:21:24
UKRunChat
Wow. Yeah.
00:21:25
Mel Bound
So jesus it wouldn't it went nuts and we were just we couldn't keep up with demand and we were training volunteers like crazy. And um which was and on the one hand was brilliant because we did a lot of work over COVID. Joking aside, we did a lot of work keeping women moving in various different ways.
00:21:46
Mel Bound
not in groups, not in the kind of sessions that we were leading, but just through the the kind of initiatives and things we were running through our digital communities. um But it was it was way too quick. And so we didn't have the right systems. We didn't have the right kind of processes, the right policy, all the boring stuff we just we didn't have in place. We didn't have in place.
Refining the Running Sessions Model
00:22:05
Mel Bound
And so although we had a big network, a very big network, um the experiences were a little bit were a little bit inconsistent, um you know, that when sessions were happening, were all over the place. um And so the last 18 months, we've done this massive piece of work where I'd say this is kind of like where we're really...
00:22:26
Mel Bound
but I kind of liken this ah to building a cathedral. So what we spent the last 18 months doing, probably the last decade doing really, if I'm honest, and everything we've learned is building the foundations and really getting the foundations right. So that started with a massive national listening exercise where we went out and spoke to all our community. We listened to our volunteers. We held some volunteer weekends or we invited volunteers all over the country to come and sit in a room and talk about things you know, how things are going and what they loved and what wasn't working and what did they, you know, what did they want for their communities and us, you know, as as ah as a kind of wider community.
00:23:02
Mel Bound
And then off the back of that, we designed um a new model that we've been testing in three cities, so in Bristol, Northampton and Southampton. We've been testing that for six months with ah with a group of, you amazing volunteers have gone on that journey with us and have you know met us every two weeks and given us loads of feedback and tested our kind of crazy ideas.
00:23:25
Mel Bound
And what's come out of it now, 14 years into this journey, is, right, this is our model. And we take we've taken everything we've learned over the last 12, 13 years.
00:23:38
Mel Bound
We've done a lot of listening and testing in the last year. And now we've got a model that we could literally put anywhere in the world and have real confidence that it would, it will be an amazing experience that it will, so you know, it it will launch. Well, we can support that local team to grow it, that large numbers of women will come along to those sessions and they'll have a brilliant time and come back. So, you know, it's, it's, it's been a massive learning journey and lots of mistakes and learnings along the way, I would say.
00:24:13
UKRunChat
Yeah, so what's changed then? What can people expect in the future from the the groups?
00:24:21
Mel Bound
so what the big thing that's changed is so we we basically I think in in our desire to solve all the problems for all the people we were doing a lot of stuff that was so we had um sessions happening on a Wednesday night we had sessions happening on a Sunday morning we had coached programs we had an app we had all sorts of stuff happening through our digital communities we had a merch store we had lots of stuff happening and right at the kind of start of this process we had to say it we kind of had to kind of have an honest look at what we thought the main thing was that we do bit like parkrun's main thing is you turn up at
00:24:44
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:24:56
Mel Bound
and saturday and run 5k what's our equivalent of that and let's really focus on that and so for us it's and this has kind of come out of all the learnings and the pilots and everything it's um a free weekly walk and run on sunday mornings at eight o'clock that's our absolute cool thing um So all of the kind of peripheral stuff over time will stop and will be absolutely laser focused on supporting women on a Sunday morning at eight o'clock to turn up, to walk, to walk run with our Run 30 programme or to run for 30 minutes supported by our team of trained volunteers. I can't tell you how good that feels for me as well, just to kind of go, that's what we do.
00:25:41
Mel Bound
I haven't got all these kind of, ah you know, and we do this and we do this and we do this. It's a really simple model. and It will be the same wherever we are in the world. And women can turn up and know exactly what to expect. um And there's there's something amazingly powerful in that, I think.
00:25:56
UKRunChat
Yeah. So how many volunteers do you need for each group then if you're offering these two different things?
00:26:01
Mel Bound
So to start a group, you need a a minimum of eight volunteers.
00:26:06
UKRunChat
Right.
00:26:07
Mel Bound
a
00:26:07
UKRunChat
Okay.
00:26:07
Mel Bound
and the And the kind of core programme that they offer is a walk session, 30-minute run, and a coached Run 30 programme.
00:26:21
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:26:21
Mel Bound
So we ask for eight volunteers, and two of those volunteers we also will train to be um run maker coaches, so they can deliver that run 30 program and that's that's the kind of absolute minimum that we need for to to know that we can deliver that um those sunday morning sessions in a way that feels manageable for the kind of local volunteer team um and that um means that we've got a high level of confidence that it'll be that we can deliver all of those things every every single week 52 weeks a year
00:26:28
UKRunChat
Yeah. Yeah.
00:26:52
UKRunChat
yeah Yeah, because it's difficult, isn't it? i mean, I've av run groups in the past and when it's just you, it's it's hard. You do need like a core team. Like this is what Parkrun asks as well, isn't it?
00:27:01
Mel Bound
egg Yeah, yeah.
00:27:02
UKRunChat
You need a core team to get a Parkrun set up. It's so important to have the support.
00:27:06
Mel Bound
You do. and And also kind of quite um kind of clear roles and responsibilities as well.
00:27:11
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:27:12
Mel Bound
That's one of the things that we've we've done a lot of work on in the last year is like, okay, yes, you're going to have a a team of volunteers, what are they all doing? let's give them Let's make sure they've got a really clear, you know, we need someone that's going to manage local um social media, for example.
00:27:20
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:27:26
Mel Bound
We need we need someone that's going to be a lead volunteer and manage the rota. We need someone that can manage the welcome every week so that, you know, we make sure we're welcoming in it in a consistent way, exactly like Parkrun a lot of ways.
00:27:37
Mel Bound
So we've done a lot of work on on on figuring out the different roles we need within that volunteer team as well, making sure that we've but we've we're giving them the right training and the right tools to be able to do those jobs.
00:27:47
UKRunChat
Yeah. So, so how do you kind of recruit your volunteers then for groups? I'm just thinking that there's probably people listening to this podcast who are thinking, I'd love one of these groups in my area.
00:27:53
Mel Bound
Yeah.
00:27:56
Mel Bound
Yeah, get in touch with us.
00:27:57
UKRunChat
How would they get involved?
00:27:58
Mel Bound
The best groups, honestly, the best groups are where some, exactly as you've just described, someone, you know, discovers us on social media, listens to us on a podcast, whatever, and thinks, that sounds amazing.
00:28:07
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:28:09
Mel Bound
I'd love to set that for my area. And they contact us. And then we support them to...
00:28:14
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:28:15
Mel Bound
you know build a little local team, first of all, because that's the first thing they need. they need get Get them trained, support them to launch, and then everything else that goes with us supporting them as a group. And we've we've tried it the other way around where we've gone to places and tried to proactively recruit volunteers, but it just it doesn't work in the same way.
00:28:32
UKRunChat
No.
00:28:32
Mel Bound
you You kind of need someone or a little group that kind of go, wow, that sounds that sounds amazing, and I want to bring that to my area, and then we support them to do it, basically.
00:28:37
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:28:42
UKRunChat
Oh, fantastic. So if you if you're listening out there and thinking that your area doesn't have a This Woman Runs group yet, but would like one, then do get into email.
00:28:49
Mel Bound
yeah
00:28:50
UKRunChat
We'll put all the contact details in the show notes.
00:28:53
Mel Bound
Yeah.
00:28:53
UKRunChat
So have
00:28:53
Mel Bound
There's a really good damn section on the website just to say on um that kind of explains exactly what goes into, um you know, having a group in your area. And um yeah, they can get in touch with Georgie and my team, who's amazing, and she can tell them exactly what they need to do.
00:29:07
UKRunChat
Brilliant. So have have you noticed ah women still coming to your groups for the same reasons that they were all those years ago?
00:29:16
Mel Bound
am Do you know, was I was thinking about this this morning, ah and um how really how little has changed.
00:29:17
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:29:22
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:29:23
Mel Bound
um Like the same problem the same barriers, the same problems, the same fear of judgment, the same confidence issues, the same, like genuinely the same issues with time, genuinely the issues with time.
00:29:35
Mel Bound
the mental load the emotional load the practical load of you work and running a family and and um looking after elderly relatives and all those things that that kind of wrapped into women's lives it really hasn't changed in in in all the time we've been doing this i think uh what has changed is um
00:29:45
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:29:58
Mel Bound
for us anyway, is understanding what we do about it and the importance of that kind of feeling of belonging and community and connection, the magic, the magic in that. like we're We've got so much kind of knowledge now and experience of of of how powerful that can be and how it trumps all of those barriers. um So if if women can pluck up the courage to come along, they know that actually none of those none of those things matter.
00:30:26
UKRunChat
Yeah, and it's taking that first step though, isn't it? That can be the hardest.
00:30:29
Mel Bound
Yeah, but it's hard. It's hard.
00:30:31
UKRunChat
yet Yeah, yeah.
00:30:32
Mel Bound
Yeah. And also, by the way, I've just, so it's interesting because I, so I've got on this, you asked me about my running earlier and um so I've, you know, I've run since I was a kid and then I stopped when I had, when I, when I had children and I've been running really consistently and doing kind of more and more interesting things with my running as a result, direct result of being part of the, this one runs community and the friends I've made.
00:30:37
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:30:53
Mel Bound
And so last year I ran late and 50, which was not, it's totally nuts to me.
00:30:57
UKRunChat
Wow.
00:30:59
Mel Bound
Even, Even when I was standing on the start line, I didn't believe I could do it. and um um And I did it. But a year later, almost a year later to the day, I'm inactive again because I had three months ago had had a surgery on my shoulder. And it's meant I've actually only just taken the sling off. So I've not been able to do anything. I'm definitely not been allowed to run. And it's interesting thinking about that again, thinking, wow, I know I am actually back at the start.
00:31:26
Mel Bound
um But what's different is I'm part of the TWR community. And so I've been going to the Sunday morning walks. I've been staying connected. And I know that I could do the Run 30 programme if if i that might be a way to get back into it. And so it's it's not a linear journey, is it This kind of being a runner. It's not really a linear journey. Injury.
00:31:48
Mel Bound
it illness, menopause, kids, life, all those things can get in the way and and stop us for a period of time. And it can feel really hard to get back to it once once you get started again.
00:31:59
UKRunChat
Yeah, and I think you're you're kind of demonstrating there that it's the community, it's the connection that's so important, isn't it, really, in helping you take that first step again.
00:32:03
Mel Bound
Yeah. Yeah, definitely. Yeah.
00:32:07
UKRunChat
So you you fell over, didn't you, on the trail and didn't realise you'd injured your shoulder, is that right?
00:32:11
Mel Bound
Good.
00:32:13
Mel Bound
So I already had a frozen shoulder, i which i'm which I'm blaming menopause for.
00:32:18
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:32:19
Mel Bound
so I was already having treatment for a frozen shoulder and then I tripped. out on a, on a, just on a root, a kind of tree root out running and fell kind of outstretched arm and, and, and really jarred my shoulder. But because I already had a lot of pain in my shoulder, I didn't, I didn't actually realize what I'd done. And it was, so it was two or three months before I went to the doctor. and then and when I had an MRI, he he said, your rotator cuff is in two.
00:32:44
Mel Bound
It's actually torn in two. And, and most people would have gone straight to A&E with, with the pain. And I was like, well, you know, Women are what a hardcore. We just get on with it, don't we? So anyway, a week week later, I had surgery and it's um it's on the mend.
00:33:01
UKRunChat
Yeah. So what what is the prognosis for you getting back to running then? How long have they said?
00:33:07
Mel Bound
I'm really hoping, I'm seeing the physio next week, I'm really hoping I'll um i'll get the green light to start doing a bit of running. I've got ah i've entered something in December as a bit of a ah something to like a target to work, to um a lovely trail marathon in December, so that's my goal, to get back to that.
00:33:19
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:33:23
Mel Bound
yeah
00:33:23
UKRunChat
Our fingers crossed for you.
00:33:25
Mel Bound
Yeah, hopefully, yeah.
00:33:26
UKRunChat
It's awful not being able to do what you love, isn't it?
00:33:28
Mel Bound
It's so awful.
00:33:29
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:33:30
Mel Bound
It's so awful, especially when you when you lead a running community. And so you yeah my whole feed on social media all the time are people out doing these amazing runs. And the FOMO is massive.
00:33:40
Mel Bound
But I think um i think what i what um i think one of the things I feel lucky about is that I i know I'll get back to it. it's yeah it's I don't have any doubt that I will get back to it.
00:33:52
Mel Bound
It's just annoying having to miss out in the meantime.
00:33:54
UKRunChat
Yeah, yeah. And it gives you a bit of empathy and experience with but those that are also undergoing the same things, doesn't it?
00:33:58
Mel Bound
Yeah, totally.
00:34:02
UKRunChat
So need that.
00:34:02
Mel Bound
Yeah, yeah, definitely.
00:34:04
UKRunChat
Yeah,
00:34:04
Mel Bound
Definitely.
Receiving an OBE for Community Contribution
00:34:05
UKRunChat
yeah.
00:34:05
UKRunChat
So I was quite impressed reading the statistics actually that you've collected around the impact on members, not just physical, but mental health as well. um
00:34:15
Mel Bound
Yeah.
00:34:17
UKRunChat
They're saying 96% an increase a positive impact on their mental health.
00:34:17
Mel Bound
nice feet yeah
00:34:23
UKRunChat
That's brilliant, isn't it?
00:34:24
Mel Bound
Yeah. I mean, isn't that just everything?
00:34:26
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:34:26
Mel Bound
It's I think the whole team is so proud of that because um I think and I think it's as a direct result of the focus on zero pressure and just come for a bit of headspace and a bit of time for yourself.
00:34:38
Mel Bound
And so, you know, the impact of that is absolutely huge on your mental health.
00:34:42
UKRunChat
Yeah. Yeah.
00:34:43
Mel Bound
And yeah, it's it's a it's it's says it's a it's a stat that we're really proud of.
00:34:49
UKRunChat
Yeah, yeah, it's it's brilliant, honestly. You should be really, really proud of yourself. And you are, and as as we speak, you haven't yet received a very exciting recognition. But by the time this podcast goes live, you will have some. We're allowed to talk about it. Do you want to kind of tell us a little bit about what's happening for you personally next week?
00:35:09
Mel Bound
um Well, I say this for me personally, but I i also will add this is a i I very much see this recognition as something for the whole community and definitely all of our volunteers. um But I received a very exciting letter about three weeks ago from the Cabinet Office. um letting me know that I will be receiving an OBE in the King's birthday honours later this month. So proper snotty crying moment when I open the letter. But just, you know, intense pride, I think, for...
00:35:43
Mel Bound
for everyone that's been part of of this journey. And I think it just, it's, for me, it's, it's kind of testament to everything that, you know, so many people have done over the last 12 years to contribute to everything that we, that we achieve as a community. It's amazing recognition.
00:35:58
Mel Bound
So yeah, get to go to the palace at some point this year.
00:36:01
UKRunChat
Who have you picked? You must have had a lot of people wanting to go with you. You'll have somebody with you one person.
00:36:06
Mel Bound
Well, can you imagine if I didn't take my family? They'd literally kill me. So um so if you're allowed to take three people, so I'm taking them.
00:36:14
UKRunChat
Oh, that's nice. Yeah.
00:36:15
Mel Bound
Yeah. And the thing my family, what my kids are ah most excited about is, well, two things. I didn't know this. This happened when when you got a um and an OBE or an MBE. But your kids can get married at St Paul's Cathedral, so they're very excited about that.
00:36:30
UKRunChat
Wow, I didn't know that either. That's amazing.
00:36:33
Mel Bound
How exciting is that? um And you also say you can also have a family coat of arms. That's going to happen.
00:36:39
UKRunChat
Oh, that's got to happen. Yeah, please tell you'll make that happen.
00:36:43
Mel Bound
There's probably a pair of trainers on ours.
00:36:47
UKRunChat
It's got to be, hasn't Or a race medal. Something like that.
00:36:50
Mel Bound
Exactly, exactly. So yeah, it's very bizarre. The whole thing is very bizarre, but um like proper pinch me moment, but just um amazing recognition for for so many people's hard work over the last you know decade or so.
00:37:03
UKRunChat
Yeah, what a fantastic achievement. That's testament, I think, to the impact that you've had and that somebody or two people at least have thought, I'm going to nominate Mel for this.
00:37:08
Mel Bound
Yeah.
00:37:12
Mel Bound
Yeah.
00:37:13
UKRunChat
and
00:37:13
Mel Bound
If you're listening and it's you you, please tell me because i don't know who I don't know who nominated me. I would love to know.
00:37:19
UKRunChat
Oh, that's lovely.
00:37:19
Mel Bound
and
00:37:20
UKRunChat
Well, thank you, Mel. It's been lovely chatting to you. What can people expect from This Woman Runs over the next few years? you looking to expand further with what you do?
00:37:28
Mel Bound
Yes. Yeah, that's God. We're just getting started, to be honest with you. So um next next kind of few months, the focus is on um the the model that I've just kind of described, the the Sunday morning sessions, walk, run 30, 30-minute runs. We're to be putting that into all of our community our existing sessions.
00:37:48
Mel Bound
35 communities around the UK first step. But then we've got a long list of of people that are, um you know, already been in touch wanting us to launch, support them to launch communities in their local area.
00:37:59
Mel Bound
So that's next step. um And then starting to think outside the yeah UK as well. So this is very much a
00:38:04
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:38:05
Mel Bound
you know how do we how do we take what we're doing in in the UK and put it wherever in the world it's it's needed or wanted? So very much just getting started and watch this space. But for anyone listening that that wants to find out where their local community is, then obviously go to our website, thisrunruns.com. There's a lovely map on there with um where all the communities are and they can link through to the local Facebook groups and join those and find out about local runs. um and And if there's not a community um in your local area already, then as as we talked about earlier, just get in touch with us and um we'll we'll tell you all about how we can support you to get that started in your local area as well.
00:38:43
UKRunChat
Yeah, brilliant. And for for any woman who's listening and wondering whether she should join her first running group or go for a first run, what would you say to her?
00:38:50
Mel Bound
Yes. Well, I'd obviously say do and just come because we'll look after you and um you will literally never look back. In fact, I had a message from someone, ah one of our volunteers um last week, um telling me about a woman who'd come along to a session and and afterwards had admitted that she'd sat in the car crying.
00:39:10
Mel Bound
literally shaking with fear before she'd got out and joined the session like she almost hadn't been brave enough to do it um and then she managed to get out the car and join the session and she said it literally had transformed her life um she just she just couldn't believe how welcoming it was how supported she felt how much you know how how just how well the group looked after her and how she felt like she fitted in you know if anyone out there is listening and feeling the same way then just know that you know, if you turn up to one of our sessions, you're going to be looked after and there will be other women that are feeling exactly the same way. um And we'll make sure it's a really amazing experience for you. So just just come and we'll and we'll we'll do the rest.
00:39:47
UKRunChat
Yeah. Oh, brilliant. Thank you so much for joining us on the UK Run Chat podcast today, Mel.
00:39:51
Mel Bound
It's an absolute pleasure. Thanks for having me.
00:39:54
UKRunChat
We'll put all the links in the show notes. You can find out more about This Woman Runs, the Run 30 programmes and opportunities to get involved. and If you've enjoyed this episode, please do share it with a friend, leave us a review if you'd like, and don't forget to follow uk Run Chat for more conversations from across the running community. Thank you for listening and happy running.