Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Andrew Hughes
0 Plays2 seconds ago
Andrew Hughes is two months into a year-long challenge called the Five-a-Day challenge. Every single day of 2025, he’s running at least 5k, but there’s a twist—he’s doing it with a different person every day, sharing their running story, and documenting it all. His goal? To connect with 365 different runners and compile their experiences into an eBook that will inspire others to get out and move.
Andrew's already had some incredible conversations along the way. But with 10 months ahead, how is he holding up? What have been the most memorable encounters so far? And how can you get involved?
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61567400655476
Strava club: https://www.strava.com/clubs/1429549
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to UK Run Chat Podcast
00:00:00
UKRunChat
Hello, welcome to this episode of the UK Run Chat Podcast.
What is the Five A Day Challenge?
00:00:04
UKRunChat
I'm Michelle, and today we have a very inspiring guest, Andrew Hughes. Now, Andrew is two months into a year long challenge called the Five A Day Challenge.
00:00:14
UKRunChat
Now, every single day of 2025, he's running at least 5K, but there's a twist because he's doing it with a different person every day, sharing their running story and documenting it all to raise awareness about social isolation.
00:00:28
UKRunChat
So his goal is to connect with different runners and hopefully compile their experiences into an ebook that will inspire other people to get out and move more. Now, Andrew's had some incredible conversations along the way already.
00:00:39
UKRunChat
So I'm looking forward to finding out more about it.
Origin and Challenges of the Five A Day Challenge
00:00:42
UKRunChat
Hi, Andrew. Thanks for joining us.
00:00:44
Andrew
Good morning, Michelle.
00:00:45
UKRunChat
Yeah. how How are you this morning? Yeah,
00:00:47
Andrew
I'm doing very well, thank you. Nice and sunny here today, so that's good thing.
00:00:51
UKRunChat
same here. It's nice to see spring arriving at last, isn't it?
00:00:54
Andrew
Yeah.
00:00:56
UKRunChat
Yeah, so just tell us a little bit about the Five a Day Challenge then and and how how you kind of came about starting it.
00:01:03
Andrew
Yeah, so it's actually an idea I had um probably five years ago now, so it was prior to COVID pandemic. um and My background is finance, so there's something of an obsession with numbers and whole symmetry of the thing. So obviously five a day comes from the fruit and veg, having your five portions a day of fruits and veg. And I kind of thought, well, we could change that into five kilometres a day. It's obviously, you know, quite a standard running distance.
00:01:31
Andrew
And my plan in those days was effectively to recruit four other lead runners so that there'd be five runners running a day with different people. But we'd only have to run every fifth day so that we wouldn't run ourselves into the ground, as it were.
00:01:46
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:01:47
Andrew
I put the idea out on social media. I had a few people who were interested in coming for a run with me, but nobody who was interested in leading.
Andrew's Running Journey and Storytelling
00:01:55
Andrew
And then COVID came along, so i kind of shelled it for a while.
00:02:00
Andrew
And then about six, eight months ago, I noticed one of my ah Strava buddies just kept posting day 12, day 13, day 14. And I could see that he was on a running streak and his plan was to go up to 100.
00:02:13
UKRunChat
yeah
00:02:14
Andrew
And then when he got to 100, he had no idea whether he was going to carry on or or finish. And I thought, do you know, I could probably give this a go. But years before that, a load of ah Club friends of mine and tried to do 5k a day as part of red January and after a about two weeks They were all injured.
00:02:31
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:02:32
Andrew
So I thought I'll give it a go see how how long I can do thinking i'll probably get to 10 to 15 days tweak me and next thing I knew I was at 80 days And then my dad spent the night in A&E So I'm on the way home from the hospital about half past 10 thinking I've still got time I could do it tonight. Just no forget it. Forget it.
00:02:52
Andrew
You know, it was always going to end for some reason or not ah so thankfully he pulled through had another streak of about 70 days which stormed dara interrupted so i had to pack that one in but it occurred to me and during that point actually i can go back to five a day the difference now being that i feel confident that i can do all of the running so as we were getting towards the end of the year then i thought right i'll i'll launch it now rationalizing that
00:02:55
UKRunChat
yeah
00:03:19
Andrew
Our local park run, we have 700, 750 runners every week, and I only needed half of them to come with me and I'd be able to complete the challenge. But then the idea of capturing people's stories was always there because, frankly, running 5K a day, as much as it's a challenge, it's not really meaningful. But if you can actually capture something from it that is meaningful and make it meaningful for the people you're running with, then that's a much better project and much better challenge.
00:03:47
UKRunChat
Yeah, absolutely. and but Yeah, we'll get into some of the more individual stories that you're able to share in in a while. So just just going back then, because you were mentioning kind of your first attempt at a running streak and how some of your friends have got injured.
00:04:00
Andrew
yeah
00:04:01
UKRunChat
What what did you do differently, you think, that that enabled you to to carry on?
00:04:04
Andrew
i yeah I think they were going full gas every day, whereas I wasn't.
00:04:06
UKRunChat
What was the key? Yeah.
00:04:11
Andrew
um So I think you know they were sort of doing a 5K as if it were like ah a training run for a race, whereas I was just enjoying the views and trotting along.
00:04:12
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:04:19
UKRunChat
Okay.
00:04:21
Andrew
But I think also you know the the pace thing is important.
00:04:23
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:04:25
Andrew
I'm not a particularly quick-paced runner, but if I were, and I were running with other people who were quick paced runners, we wouldn't have enough time to fit their story then.
Transition from Sedentary Lifestyle to Running
00:04:35
Andrew
So you actually have to giving that time over to people, making them slow down, making them think, making them talk, actually gives you a better conversation as well.
00:04:37
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:04:45
UKRunChat
Yeah, that's a good point, actually. but Better value for the kilometers there. So have you if you've always been a runner then?
00:04:51
Andrew
No, so my personal running story goes back about eight years. um So prior to that, I'd worked in a number of quite stressful roles in finance over in Liverpool, um latterly in mergers and acquisitions, which would be long days, very often long nights as well, um sort working under extreme pressure.
00:05:13
Andrew
um And as a result, there'd be times when you'd need to concentrate. I would just nip to the vending machine, get bag of crisps, a miles bar, whatever. And obviously having a relatively sedentary lifestyle at that point, ah i piled on the pounds.
00:05:26
Andrew
um So my route to running was firstly by a friend noticing that the the weight, the the fat was approaching my heart. I specifically remember saying those words and it really kind of made me think, ah, yeah. and Particularly as a husband that had a heart attack, so it really made me stop and think. um So I kind of went through swimming, walking, cycling and eventually to running, partly on encouragement from a friend that i was working with at that time who was quite partial to doing a local parkrun.
00:05:58
Andrew
So just the normal route that it is these days, you go through Council to 5K, you go to parkrun and you kind of take it from there. So my first parkrun would have been about eight years ago today.
00:06:11
Andrew
So that's kind of where I started running in earnest. And then from there, just through ah local groups, not competitive clubs, more social running.
Setting Up Social Running Groups
00:06:19
Andrew
um And I've also kind of set up a couple of groups of my own across the years just to encourage people to to run socially, to you commune with nature um and not to be pounding the pavements and training hard all the time, but just to enjoy themselves.
00:06:37
UKRunChat
Yeah, it's important, isn't it? I mean, clearly you've you've fallen for running hard, but I mean, what what kind of running do you do then? You mentioned kind of the nature there. Are you generally off-road?
00:06:46
Andrew
Yeah.
00:06:49
Andrew
Yeah. So the the running group that I started running with was literally about 200 yards from my house is where they meet up.
00:06:49
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:06:56
Andrew
Our run leader there, Lady Corporal Lynn, was very fond of her off road. And where I live in West Kirby, we've got plenty of opportunities. So, you know, if you want to do ah a flat run, you can do that.
00:07:06
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:07:06
Andrew
If you want something a bit hillier, you can do that as well. On road, off road, all the possibilities are there. um So, you know, the first time doing off road, I was very nervous, you know, i was convinced I was going to twist my ankle or something like that. And needless to say that that didn't happen. And so it's what it never has.
00:07:24
Andrew
um But I was also conscious that quite a lot of the clubs locally are just doing training on street circuits and just kind of running around the same courses all the time. So the idea of actually, you our county is very picturesque, you know, we we're coastal, we've got hills, we've got forests.
00:07:42
Andrew
This idea of taking people away from those road runs to something a bit more scenic where they could get the buzz of communing with nature was something I was very much into.
Parkrun Experience and Community Building
00:07:52
Andrew
um So ah cut myself and a couple of friends, we set up a group we call Wirral Social Runs, that's a shameless plug there.
00:08:00
Andrew
um And we sort of try once or twice a month to go somewhere
00:08:01
UKRunChat
No, that's fine. ah no
00:08:04
Andrew
Yeah, we we try once a month to go somewhere a little bit more scenic. The most popular run being out to Hilbury Island, which is a group of islands just off the coast here at West Kirby. And when the tide's low, you can run out across the sands there.
00:08:19
Andrew
And if you get there on a particularly nice evening, you'll get a glorious sunset. And sometimes the seals come to play in the waters around it as well. So that's kind of you know where the the off-road and the communing with nature thing comes from and and what we've done with it.
00:08:35
UKRunChat
Yeah, that's that sounds lovely. Yeah. Tell us a bit more about your kind of journey with Parkrun then. you been a regular since you started running then there?
00:08:42
Andrew
Yeah, so I, it's Birkenhead Park Run is my local.
00:08:42
UKRunChat
Because you're in your locals, but is it Birkenhead Parkrun?
00:08:46
Andrew
So I started out, let's say eight years ago, quite quickly got up to 20, 30 runs and then started to volunteer a bit more.
00:08:48
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:08:56
Andrew
um Kind of got to the point where in a way with 5K, I'd achieved what I felt I wanted to achieve, um which in those days was to not get overtaken on the third lap by a 70 year old lady called Irene.
00:09:10
Andrew
I think the yeah that the morning when Irene didn't burn me off on lap three was quite a moment for me. um And since then, I've mostly volunteered. So I've racked up over 300 volunteering roles between Birkenhead Parkrun and also we have a local junior parkrun where I used to help out on a Sunday.
00:09:29
Andrew
So my journey with Parkrun now is is more about volunteering and helping other people to achieve what they want to. But also we've got a very close knit community there, both among the volunteers and also with the runners as well.
Documenting Runner Stories
00:09:42
Andrew
So the the thing about Park Run for me was always community. And I remember that first run, turning round the corner, first corner, going round the lake in the park.
00:09:47
UKRunChat
yeah Yeah.
00:09:51
Andrew
And there was a lady there who used to be a teacher. And she brought her school bell and she was ringing it like ah an absolute lunatic. And there was just a sense of of atmosphere and community and energy about the whole thing that, you know, has pretty much kept me gripped ever since. And it's still there. um You know, the volunteers have changed over the years, but that enthusiasm and that energy is still there.
00:10:14
UKRunChat
Oh, that's lovely. and So let's yeah let's chat about the the challenge then. now So you're you're two months in.
00:10:19
Andrew
Yeah.
00:10:20
UKRunChat
So you started at it at the start of January. How's it how's it going so far?
00:10:25
Andrew
It's been fine. um So I think today is day 70. um So that's kind of, ah you know, I'll be getting into my second longest streak after I've done tomorrow.
00:10:36
Andrew
And I'll be 20% stage at some point later in the week.
00:10:38
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:10:39
Andrew
Not that I'm a mathematician and doing all these numbers in my head or anything. um but I'm not feeling tired and not feeling demotivated. There's been kind of the odd one. what what What I do with the process is that I'll send people some questions out in advance um just to get an idea for you know who they are, um if there's anything in particular they want to talk about.
00:11:01
Andrew
But also it gives me kind of a skeleton um report because obviously I'm documenting everybody's story. um and within those answers to the questions there'll be clues as to what to talk about but very often it's more about what's not there rather than what is there um sometimes you you'll see little hints that point you towards for perhaps being a bigger story that they're not quite telling you um so what I'm finding is that that there's been the odd day when I've looked at the story and thought there's not a lot there this one might be a bit difficult so then I just take it in a different direction and we'll kind of
00:11:37
Andrew
do the COD psychologist, let's start with childhood, you know, what did you do in school, how was life growing up? and And you can kind of see from those sort of green shoots where things come from.
00:11:45
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:11:49
Andrew
and You get recurring things, without a lot of kids who did cross-country at school and they hated it, and now they love cross-country because they're not being forced to do it and because they've trained how to run, first of all. So, when yeah, there' there's been the odd day when ah I've wondered what was coming, and then there'd been others where I've i've looked and thought,
00:12:08
Andrew
we're going to get on, you know, we're going to have a really good time, going really good chat and I'm really interested to hear what this person's going to say. So I think the way I put it was I'm interested in people and the people have been interesting.
00:12:20
Andrew
So it doesn't feel like a drag. And then physically everything everything's been fine so far.
00:12:25
UKRunChat
No.
00:12:28
UKRunChat
Yeah, that's great. I mean, running every day is tough enough, isn't it? But how how is it? know you mentioned you've got kind of the parkrun community to draw from, but have you found it difficult to find people to run with every day so far?
00:12:37
Andrew
Yeah.
00:12:41
Andrew
Yeah, it's getting more difficult. i think what what I've had in these first few months is that there have couple of clubs that have really embraced the idea, um shared it with their members you know on their own platforms and social media and so on. And then beyond that, there'll be people saying, I did this, and it was actually more than I thought it would be. It was really enjoyable and and encouraging each other to to turn up.
00:13:05
Andrew
But think as well, every now and then, I'll run with somebody who's a bit of a connector, who's just sort of got connections in the local community that I'm unable to reach.
00:13:12
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:13:16
Andrew
So this month I'm starting to see quite a lot more people from the Ellesmere Port area, which is you know sort of a little bit dry from where I am.
00:13:23
UKRunChat
Okay.
00:13:25
Andrew
and Essentially because I ran with somebody a couple of weeks ago who's then encouraged his local club and the wider community to take part. So starting to see people coming from further afield and that also means you know By and large, it's people that i've never met before.
00:13:39
Andrew
So to actually sort of start from fresh with from somebody rather than with preconceptions is really good. um But yeah, finding runners has been the more difficult thing. So I'm yeah hoping that today and I've had some other approaches from local media, just raising a little bit more awareness outside of my platforms will help.
00:13:57
Andrew
That's basically because I largely market it through Facebook. So it kind of only reaches a certain audience.
00:14:02
UKRunChat
Yeah. Yeah.
00:14:03
Andrew
But I don't really have the reach on other platforms to be to be pushing it through them for myself for now. But tech yeah, I think finding the people rather than doing the running is going to be the biggest challenge.
00:14:11
UKRunChat
yeah
00:14:16
Andrew
And perhaps my assumption that half of the people who come to Parkrun, who I say well done to as they cross the line every week, that half of those people will turn up and go for a run with me might have little bit naive.
00:14:29
UKRunChat
you'll have to start chatting to them at the finish line won't you and say come on get booked in like they like part enough and have like a volunteer row to fill out you can have one yeah
00:14:31
Andrew
I wish I had the time and too busy scaling them or... Yeah. Yeah, too busy scanning them and telling them to keep moving down funnel and stay in order and all that kind of stuff.
00:14:47
UKRunChat
so most of the runners you've run with so far have been known to you already is that right
00:14:50
Andrew
yeah I would say probably about three quarters. um that They've either been you know people I would regard as friends or people who I knew who they were and had had the you know occasional short chat with.
00:15:02
Andrew
But I think even many of the ones that I would think of as friends, it didn't really know as much about them. and prior to going to for the run as I did afterwards.
00:15:10
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:15:11
Andrew
And I think it kind of speaks to, um it's very easy in social groups to fall into chit-chat rather than into meaningful conversation. um And whilst you might you know warm to a person and have empathy for them, it's quite rare that you will go into sort of more lengthy, in-depth conversation.
00:15:30
Andrew
And I also think sometimes we're a bit nervous to talk to people about things that we kind of know are there. So um quite a few of the people I've run with have had eating disorders and certainly with with one of them who I knew, I knew there was an issue there.
00:15:42
UKRunChat
wow
00:15:45
Andrew
And when she sent through her her answers to her questions, she didn't actually refer to the eating disorder. But I kind of said to her, I've sent when I was reading your story, there was something else you wanted to talk about. And this was about 500 metres into the run.
00:15:59
Andrew
And then that was it for the but for most of the rest of the run. We were talking about his struggles with food and you know how that interacted with their running. And it was something that she really wanted to talk about, but it just needed me to break the ice with her before she felt free to do that. um And then after I'd sort of written up her story and shared it with her afterwards, the the response that came back was, I really feel empowered now and I feel that I'm ready to talk to other people about what I've been through and to be able to share my experiences with but them and with others who may be going through
Therapeutic Benefits of Running
00:16:34
Andrew
the same thing. So,
00:16:35
Andrew
um you know that I'd say that was somebody that I knew albeit more of a Strava buddy than somebody I knew in real life but then there've been other people that I know in real life and we've been part way through the run and they'll say to me I've only ever told two or three people this before but and when then volunteer something so incredibly personal um that you know It sort of takes me by surprise, but also gives me a new insight into who they are and how they've become the person they are because of the experiences that they've been through.
00:17:10
Andrew
So in some cases, those are things that they want to put out there. They want to share their story because it may help other people. And then in other cases have been conversations that, you know I want to talk to somebody about this, but I'm not ready to be public about it. So can we keep it to ourselves? And, know, obviously I'm happy to do that. And I'm not even going to tell you on an anonymous basis what it was that they told me.
00:17:37
UKRunChat
Yeah. So um how what do you think it is about running in particular that enables those conversations to start? And there's something specific, isn't there? I suspect it's kind of because you're not sitting down face to face with somebody.
00:17:50
UKRunChat
I think it's easier when you're you're not having to make eye contact with somebody. You can kind of just chat, can't you?
00:17:54
Andrew
Yeah.
00:17:55
UKRunChat
I don't know what your thoughts are about that.
00:17:58
Andrew
I think there's there's a lot in that. I think know very often if if you watch ah TV shows and films and so on, and you'll see people going through therapy, I've not been through therapy personally, so i don't know whether that is how it works.
00:18:11
Andrew
But this idea of the psychiatrist's couch that somebody will be lying, kind of not looking face to face at the person that they're working with.
00:18:17
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:18:20
Andrew
um And that sort of breaking of the eye contact, I think, makes it easier to confine things of a more personal nature. So there is obviously that aspect to it that when I'm running with somebody, we're running side by side rather than facing up to each other.
00:18:35
Andrew
And I think that helps. But I also think there's a sense of when you're running, you feel like you are your best self. So, you know, your your body is entirely engaged in the activity that you're going through.
00:18:48
Andrew
And a lot of people talk about the mental health benefits of running. And one of the things that I've kind of asked people is about what their thought process is when they're running, because I've found that some people, and I include myself here, I'm not really thinking, I'm not really actively trying to deal with whatever problems I've got that day, but the process of relaxing the mind while I'm exercising the body actually helps me to process and so to find solutions to whatever difficulties I've got.
00:19:21
Andrew
Whereas other people are quite actively engaged in thinking. But I think either of those two approaches is helping people to be open and to speak about things that you know perhaps are more difficult.
00:19:35
Andrew
But I think there's also the just the fact of having somebody ask them those questions. Because in normal social social situations, we just don't. And so many of our friends, yeah we we pick up through other friends.
00:19:48
Andrew
So we're kind of starting in the middle of an existing friendship. So you don't always go back to the start with that person to understand what their background is, where they come from, what they've been through and how it's shaped what they are today.
00:20:03
Andrew
But this project is allowing me to do that. And I know that when I get an email from somebody and they give me their answers to their questions, They're kind of inviting me to say, it's okay to talk about this stuff.
00:20:17
Andrew
Or in some cases, I can see that it's slightly hidden away and they perhaps want to talk about it, but they're not sure whether I'm ready and willing to do that. And then one of the questions I put in, which was intended as a bit of a jokey throwaway, is what is the lesson you've learned the hard way?
00:20:35
Andrew
So I put my own story out there with guidances to how to answer the questions. And my lesson I learned the hard way was about um just buying a cheaper of New Balance from Sports Direct rather than getting you gate tested.
00:20:49
Andrew
And then there was another one about the toilets and the Conway Half Marathon, which I won't go into the graphic details of where that goes. But then the first two people I ran with were both dealing with historic grief.
00:21:05
Andrew
ah One of them, quite recent, had lost his brother and the other had lost a child at the age of three weeks. And they both, the lesson than they'd learned in the hard way was about spending quality time with the people you care about whilst you're still able to do that.
00:21:19
Andrew
um So it's quite funny the way so you know it it opens up those conversations. What I thought would be toenails are overrated or, you know, take some Vaseline with you on the marathon run actually is for a lot of people has turned into something profound.
00:21:35
Andrew
So I've managed to create a set of questions that allow people to be deep if they want to or to make jokes about toenails if they don't.
00:21:45
UKRunChat
Yeah, no, that's that's really good. yeah It sounds like you're turning into a bit of a therapist yourself. Like people are, ah are you finding you can draw more out of people?
00:21:50
Andrew
the The word therapist has been used.
00:21:54
Andrew
Yeah. ah The word therapist has been used.
00:21:55
UKRunChat
Can you draw more stories out of people?
00:21:59
UKRunChat
Yeah, no, I can understand why.
00:21:59
Andrew
Yeah.
00:22:04
UKRunChat
Because I guess most of our, it seems like a lot of our relationships today are quite superficial, aren't they?
00:22:04
Andrew
um yeah
00:22:08
UKRunChat
So you are digging deeper.
00:22:10
Andrew
Yeah, I think that's exactly it. you The number of times I've i've written, because I like to write an opening paragraph to each story, which is kind of a the opposite of passive aggressive, passive compassionate way of kind of saying to them, you know, this is what I've taken from you as an individual, because I do think that we don't spend enough time telling each other what we think of each other and how much we appreciate each other and what qualities we value in a person.
00:22:39
Andrew
So i've kind of used that opening paragraph as my way of being able to do that without, you know, that awkward eye contact that i was talking about before in ah in a different context.
00:22:49
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:22:50
Andrew
um So, yeah, that that whole thing of digging deep, a lot of the conversations have been with people that I thought I knew. And then you discover a whole lot more about them.
00:23:00
Andrew
and And it is, as we say, that thing of assumptions we make in friendships that we don't always know each other's history. um but we very often assume that we do. So actually this kind of gives me an excuse in a way to go back to square one with people, to pretend in some ways that I'm wanting to document that for the purposes of the project and for somebody reading the the story who doesn't
E-book Inspiration and Life Lessons
00:23:25
Andrew
know that person. But actually underneath it all, it's good for me as well.
00:23:30
Andrew
But I also feel like it's something of a conceit.
00:23:31
UKRunChat
Yeah, no, that's fantastic.
00:23:33
Andrew
I feel like it's something of a conceit, because by the time I get to the end of ah of a run and a conversation, I know loads about them, but they still know very little about me.
00:23:34
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:23:42
Andrew
So perhaps at some point we need to do this in reverse and they can probe me on whatever they want to.
00:23:51
UKRunChat
Yeah, well, maybe that's a way to, towards the end of the project, you can invite them back and they can interview you.
00:23:56
Andrew
Yeah, so that that is something I am actually planning to do. um So ah the guy who runs Wirral Social runs with me, he's asked to 31st of December. Otherwise, i think I would have run with him already. and He jokingly said that it's so he can just not turn up and make me fail the whole project on the end of the year by year.
00:24:16
Andrew
not having a runner. What I then thought I would like to do is on the 1st of January is to just put an open invitation out to all the people who've come during this year. Let's all just go for a run together as a you know bit of a celebration and to cap the thing off.
00:24:32
Andrew
um But I have kind of also picked up that Quite a lot of the people I've run with, that that you know they're happy to share um some of the sort of deep, dark, difficult times that they've been through because they've come out the other side now.
00:24:47
Andrew
But there have been one or two others where there is a sense that their story hasn't finished yet.
00:24:49
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:24:53
Andrew
um So I may actually cheat slightly in terms of the different people and actually go back to one or two of those runners just to sort of catch up and find out where they're up to today.
00:25:01
UKRunChat
yeah
00:25:04
Andrew
um and you know but That's obviously something that I've spoken to them about at the time and they're all quite willing to do it.
00:25:14
UKRunChat
Yeah, no, that' set that sounds good. So how are you tracking and documenting each story then? Are you just kind of writing it down from memory afterwards?
00:25:23
Andrew
Yeah, so so as I say, I start with the questions. So ah the point when I go out, I've already got like ah a Q&A format written down in a sort of ah an ever-growing Word document that has that person's responses. What I do when I get them is I'll read through and I'll highlight particular bits that I know that i want to talk about, and then I'll refresh on that information before we go out further on. Hopefully most of the time I remember the things that I wanted to to query and go into a bit more detail with.
00:25:55
Andrew
So when we get to the end of the run, obviously everything's on Strava because as we know, if it's not on Strava, et cetera, et cetera. um And then I'll also do a post run selfie with them where we're both hopefully looking a little bit sweaty and red face.
00:26:03
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:26:07
Andrew
So everybody knows that we did actually do the run. And the post run selfies I found are quite interesting because I'm, So they're looking at the camera and very focused on trying to get the picture right and look like I'm a little bit disinterested or even annoyed about something.
00:26:22
Andrew
And then the person next to me is beaming from ear to ear because they've just had 35 minutes of running and self-discovery, which they've really enjoyed. So then I'll just go straight back home at that point.
00:26:35
Andrew
and embellish the story that's already written down with some of those extra details that came out during our run. And then I'll send it over to them for them to look over, make sure everything's factually correct and that and they're okay with the level of detail that's going to be going out there.
00:26:52
Andrew
So but yeah at the moment, the page doesn't have a massive following, but you know there will still be people that they know, people in their community will be reading things about them that perhaps they didn't know already.
00:27:03
Andrew
So obviously they they need to be comfortable with with what's being being shared.
00:27:07
UKRunChat
yeah
00:27:08
Andrew
And that's essentially the process I'm following. And then at the end of each week, um I'll put out a week's worth of stories on the Facebook page. And as you mentioned before, I'm building them into an e-book to to put out at the end of the year.
00:27:23
Andrew
But again, the intention there is that will just go out on Facebook or whatever social media platforms that people can download it for free. um They don't need to pay to go out for a run, so i don't see why they should have to pay to read about it either.
00:27:37
UKRunChat
Yeah, absolutely. So what are you hoping that people will take away from from the book and all the stories then?
00:27:43
Andrew
um I'm hoping they'll take similar things to what I'm taking from the journey. um So I hope that what I'm writing will document accurately what's happening. So um like me, they will in some cases find out things about people they know, but you know things that they didn't know about already.
00:28:05
Andrew
um I think they'll see some common themes coming out from a lot of those stories. you know There's a lot in there about... ah One of the questions is, what does running do for you? And in some cases, you know it allows me to eat chocolate and drink beer.
00:28:17
UKRunChat
yeah
00:28:18
Andrew
um There's a lot about it helps me to keep a lid on my mental health.
Inclusivity and Diverse Runner Experiences
00:28:24
Andrew
So they see those themes coming out. um And I think they'll also... from time to time they'll read a story and think, ah, not just me then. um Just that sense of, you know, those sort of little quirky things that we do or things that obsess us about running and, you know, how we, quite a few people talked about climbing the walls when we had the ice and snow earlier in the year and they couldn't get out.
00:28:48
Andrew
And I think in some cases they will get some inspiration from some of these stories.
00:28:50
UKRunChat
yeah
00:28:54
Andrew
and I really hope so. um That they will see people going through difficulties coming out the other side and believe that they will be able to do that as well. um And there'll be the odd story that I think will probably make them laugh as well.
00:29:09
Andrew
So I think there's there's quite a lot to to come out of it.
00:29:10
UKRunChat
yeah
00:29:12
Andrew
um The only thing that sort of strikes me is that because I've done like a Q&A format, if you were to read a lot of them in one go, it might start to feel a bit repetitive. So perhaps people will look at it more like a motto calendar and maybe read one a day and sort of you know simulate the journey that I've done, but without having to run five kilometres every day.
00:29:28
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:29:36
UKRunChat
But hopefully it does inspire them to run as well as well as talk.
00:29:39
Andrew
Yeah, absolutely.
00:29:40
UKRunChat
ah So has this experience changed your perspective on running or the running community in any way then?
00:29:48
Andrew
I think that the key thing it's it's brought home to me, I've always been somebody about inclusivity with running. It's always been you know something I've been keen on, perhaps because you know I'm not the quickest runner myself and also because a lot of my early experiences of running were with Parkrun, which is obviously about that inclusivity.
00:30:09
Andrew
um But it's the fact that you know I've met a lot of very different, diverse people.
00:30:11
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:30:16
Andrew
um you know There are still... people that I expected I would meet that I haven't met yet and I hope I will along further along the journey. um But I think what it's done perspective-wise is opened my eyes to the fact that there are some people out there trying to run who don't even feel accommodated at the groups that I've set up, which are designed more for slow runners.
00:30:41
Andrew
um So I did have one lady came and it it kind of, it felt strange to me that somebody I didn't know would come and meet me at nine o'clock at night on a cold winter's night.
00:30:53
Andrew
A complete stranger, although it turned out after about a mile that we had a mutual friend, so I knew everything was okay. um But she had post-viral fatigue syndrome, um so she was really struggling to run, so she was able to jeff maybe a hundred yards but would then need to walk 200 yards beyond then.
00:31:11
Andrew
But her motivation for wanting to get back to running was about being fit and living longer for her children. So, you know, there was like an entirely different perspective and an awareness that actually running also reaches out to the people that you don't see on a Saturday morning at Parkrun or on a Sunday morning at whatever your local race is.
Social Revelations and Kindness
00:31:33
Andrew
um So I think that's something that perhaps expanded um my existing view of of running as an activity rather than changed it as such.
00:31:44
Andrew
um And then there have been other things just, you know, not beyond the sport, but socially, there have been lessons that I've learned. Firstly, that we need to be kind, that we need to be kind to ourselves as much as we do to two other people.
00:31:55
UKRunChat
Thank you.
00:31:59
UKRunChat
yeah
00:32:03
Andrew
um And there have been quite a few, i would say traumatic revelations from some of the women I've run with. um And that's always, always been due to the actions of one or more men in their lives.
00:32:16
Andrew
So to me, as a man, it's reminding me that we need to do better, that that all of us as men, we need to do better. And I'm sure that, you know, there will be people out there where abuse works in different ways, where it's men against men and women against men, but mostly it's men against men.
00:32:34
Andrew
Oh, it's men against women. And we need to do better. um And I've learned about trauma and recovery. You know, some of the things that people have been able to talk to me about, it's because they're out the other side now.
00:32:48
Andrew
actually had one lady who didn't want to share her story, not because... it was too sensitive, but because she didn't want people to pity her. And I just had to say to look, you know, you've told me, i don't pity you, I admire you.
00:33:04
Andrew
And I think that other people will take strength and encouragement from sharing what you've done. So it's the only time that i've actually pushed somebody to to share something rather than the other way around. Sometimes I've said to people, are you sure you want to share this?
00:33:19
Andrew
But on this occasion, I just felt like there's something that
00:33:20
UKRunChat
Yeah. Yeah.
00:33:22
Andrew
it would chime with a lot of people and I wanted her to be able to put that out there and knowing that a reservation was about pissy rather than ah people knowing what she'd been through we you know we we got through that um and then so the final one is just coming back to the point I raised before that some of our stories are just still works in progress that they're not done yet it's been quite
00:33:26
UKRunChat
yeah
00:33:29
UKRunChat
yeah
00:33:46
Andrew
easy for people to talk about some of their historic trauma because they're through the other side of it but some people are still going through it and we need to learn to support each other and to not be frightened to ask the question you know to go beyond are you okay to say this is why i'm asking the question because i can see there's something wrong if you don't want to talk to me about it that's fine but talk to somebody
00:34:13
UKRunChat
Yeah, and hopefully that's a lesson for all of us out there that sometimes we do need to just dig a bit deeper, don't we? And if we've got an inkling that something's wrong, maybe we do need to be asking those harder questions of people just to encourage them to open up.
00:34:26
Andrew
Yeah, I just think we need to be a bit braver. we we know We need to be braver in asking, um you know ah but we need to do that from a position where the other person knows we're not asking out of nosiness or you know some desire to interfere.
00:34:30
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:34:41
Andrew
Just look, I can see you're not right. you know I care enough to spot these things. If there's anynie anything I can do to help, then just shout, but but to not be overbearing and to add to the problem.
Future Plans and Call to Action
00:34:58
UKRunChat
Yeah, well, hopefully you can see some of those kind of issues that people are going through resolved over the years. That would be that would be fantastic.
00:35:06
Andrew
Yeah, and the that's...
00:35:06
UKRunChat
and but You've still got 10 months to go still.
00:35:09
Andrew
Yeah.
00:35:12
UKRunChat
and Do you have any kind of runs lined up so far that you're especially looking forward to? How far ahead are you booked?
00:35:18
Andrew
I've been doing things month to month. um So I've got a few coming up in the next couple of weeks I'm quite looking forward to.
00:35:22
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:35:25
Andrew
So um there was one local running group that were very keen that I should run with the lady who set up their group. So she's not somebody that I know.
00:35:36
Andrew
or have come across before, but just somebody that they've always found very inspiring.
00:35:38
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:35:42
Andrew
So I'm really looking forward to meeting her and that that's going to be a slightly different room because normally and running one-to-one with people, but she's going to bring the whole group with her as well. So were it'll almost feel like I'm interviewing her in front of a panel, I think, when we do that particular one. So I'm looking forward to that one.
00:35:58
Andrew
um And there's also where a lady who's a friend from Parkrun who was involved with the Hillsborough Family Support Group, and she actually lost her brother at Hillsborough. So with the Hillsborough anniversary coming up, she said that she likes to try to do something positive every year on the year of the anniversary.
00:36:15
Andrew
and this year it's going be going for a run with me. So on the one hand, you know, I kind of know that might be a a sobering and and difficult conversation, but I'm know looking forward to being able to provide some support to her, and I think there will be some positive things to come out of that. so But beyond that, nothing at the moment.
00:36:34
Andrew
um I tend to be booking month to month, so I'm not even fully booked for March yet, but I've got about another week where I've not got any gaps.
00:36:38
UKRunChat
yeah
00:36:42
Andrew
And then we're just going to have to have another push and fill some of those gaps and start filling up April as well.
00:36:51
UKRunChat
Yeah, well, perhaps we can fill some of those for you now. So how how can people get involved then if they want to run with you?
00:36:54
Andrew
yeah
00:36:56
UKRunChat
So tell us exactly where you are and how they sign up.
00:37:00
Andrew
So physically, I'm in West Kirby in Wirral, and I've been asking that we do all the runs here, um with the exception of Saturdays when I'm quite happy to do them after park run in Birkenhead Park.
00:37:12
Andrew
And that's just a matter of time commitment from my perspective, because, you know, this is basically an hour and a half each day in terms of going for the run, doing the the write-up of the story afterwards, following up.
00:37:21
UKRunChat
yeah
00:37:24
Andrew
And sometimes people fancy a coffee afterwards, so that hour and a half becomes two and a half or even three hours, ah which is fine. You know, if I've got the time in the day, I'm happy to fit that in. and But then in terms of where you can find me online, ah there's a page on Facebook just called Five A Day with hyphens in. I've been a bit inconsistent here, so I set that up with hyphens.
00:37:46
Andrew
um And there's also a Strava group call five a day 2025 without the hyphens. without the havenens um And I'm sort of using both of those as areas where you can go find out information about the challenge and ah there'll be contact details there if you want to get in touch and and take part.
00:38:03
Andrew
um Obviously, I'm happy to take people from anywhere and everywhere. But so you know do bear in mind if you are going to travel, just make sure that we've got some contact details to exchange messages if anybody's running late or anything.
00:38:18
Andrew
I'm quite happy for people to come from further afield.
00:38:19
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:38:21
Andrew
Although obviously it lends itself more to to people locally. um In terms of the running that we would be doing, it's a relatively easy sort of 32 to 34 minute pace or slower if that's your pace.
00:38:34
Andrew
So 32 to 34 is mine. If you're quicker than that, you need to slow down. If you're slower than that, I'll slow down. and And we tend to keep them flat and well-lit areas. So, you know, it's not a difficult run.
00:38:45
Andrew
It's all about spending some good quality time together and having a conversation.
00:38:52
UKRunChat
Yeah, that sounds great. And you can essentially do kind of daytimes or evenings as well, haven't you?
00:38:52
Andrew
And then,
00:38:57
Andrew
yeah, so on the the various pages, there'll be details of the times of day that, you know, I'm i'm comfortable to do. um i'm not so I'm not working at the moment, so I've got quite a bit of flexibility on times I can do during the day.
00:39:10
Andrew
um I just kind of have a blockage every day where I visit my dad in his care home. So other than that, I can be flexible.
00:39:16
UKRunChat
Yeah. Yeah.
00:39:19
UKRunChat
Yeah. So is there any dream running partners you'd especially like to come and join you then?
00:39:24
Andrew
um Yeah, I thought about this. And I think because the project is about stories, um the people that I might think of as dream partners, people will already know their stories.
00:39:29
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:39:40
Andrew
So there isn't really much to tell. kind of think, you know, you look at great interviewers like Michael Parkinson and people like that, that they had that ability to to probe and to go beyond what was known in public.
00:39:42
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:39:53
Andrew
um So I think if I were to throw out any number of athletes, the chances are that people know most of their running story and probably quite a bit of their personal story as well.
00:40:04
Andrew
So I think if if I were to name one, it would probably be Paul Sinton-Hewis, who's the founder of Parkrun, and probably spend most of the run moaning to him about one or two minor gripes I have about the way Parkrun works rather than actually getting information out of it.
00:40:11
UKRunChat
Oh yeah. Yeah.
00:40:20
UKRunChat
and
00:40:21
Andrew
and And then beyond that, it would probably be people who we don't necessarily think of as runners. I'm a Liverpool fan. I'd love to run with Jurgen Klopp and just get into a little bit of his psyche and and get behind it.
00:40:31
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:40:35
Andrew
And then maybe you're into your sort of your dream dinner party guests, you know, people like Stephen Fry and the likes of that are just ah interesting as individuals. And you know but you'd have, you know, 35 minutes of really good conversation, although suspect Stephen doesn't run, so maybe 40.
00:40:56
UKRunChat
um yeah well oh thank you very much andrew for joining us it's been fascinating and we'll share the links in our show notes so that people can find the strada group and the facebook group and go on and read some of the stories that you've been putting together so far
00:41:04
Andrew
Thank you.
00:41:11
UKRunChat
So yeah, we wish you all the very best with the coming year.
00:41:14
Andrew
Thank you very much.
00:41:15
UKRunChat
And yeah, keep us posted with how you're getting on. we'll We'll be keeping an eye on your Facebook page. I might come and join you myself. I'm just based in Greater Manchester, so it's not too far away.
00:41:23
Andrew
oh right No excuses then. it Come to a day trip to sunny West Kirby.
00:41:26
UKRunChat
know.
00:41:27
Andrew
and not yet When I first moved here,
00:41:28
UKRunChat
know. I might need to bring her daughter along though or she'll never forgive me.
00:41:31
Andrew
That's fine, that's fine. and he thought We can go on the beach. but When I first moved here, I was working between Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds and I was on Manchester Oxford Road Station and they had of a series of posters of glorious scenery saying, visit Wirral.
00:41:47
Andrew
And all of those posters were within five minutes walk of my front doorstep. So there we go. You've probably been dreaming about the place already.
00:41:53
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:41:56
UKRunChat
Yeah, probably. Yeah. Oh, yeah. we'll Well, we'll make that happen, shall we? Yeah, that sounds great.
00:42:00
Andrew
Yeah, by the way. ah like
00:42:02
UKRunChat
Right. Well, thank you very much for joining us. And thank you all out there for listening to this episode. And do get in touch with Andrew if you'd like to join him and contribute to the Five Day project. And we'll see you on the next episode.