Latest / The Green Runners Storytime / Vassos Alexander: The Minimalist Maximalist

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Vassos Alexander: The Minimalist Maximalist · The Green Runners Storytime

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We love the trails, but we know our footprints leave a mark.
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How do we protect the wild places we run in without losing
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our minds or our hobby? I'm Laura Briggs, and this is
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story time with the Green Runners.
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Join me as I talk to the Trail Blazers and everyday heroes
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taking imperfect actions for a healthier planet.
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Let's get into today's story. Today on the podcast, we have a
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man who is a bit of a powerhouse.
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He's a sports broadcaster and author.
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He's trained to swim the English Channel, completed Iron Man
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triathlons and tackles gruelling ultra marathons.
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But despite all that, he also happens to be a runner who has
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famously crossed the finish line wearing a pair of battered
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gardening shoes. Fasos, Alexander, welcome.
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Thank you very much for having me.
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To kick off Vasos, I just like to say massive congratulations,
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'cause I understand that you just finished running the
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entirety of the District line on the London.
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Underground A. 100 kilometers. About that, I think a little bit
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less about 96 kilometers with my friend Anna from from Barnes
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Runners. I have to say it was her idea,
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but no one had done it before, probably because the district
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line is a bit of a nightmare. It's got lots of sort of
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different branches. So yeah, this time a week ago
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and and just, yeah, that ticked off the stations.
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It's about it's about a marathon to to Wells Court.
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And then you do all the different branch lines back to
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Wells Court for the 4th time is about another marathon.
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And then it's about another half to get to what is it, Ealing,
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Broadway. And then we finished at
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Richmond. But it's good, good fun, bonkers
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adventure, doing something cool with your Sunday, that sort of
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stuff. It is totally bonkers and I'm
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just wondering why you chose the district line.
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Was there a particular reason for that for that underground
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line? But loads of people have run the
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Central Line or the circle. The Circle Line is quite
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popular. District haven't been done
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before and both Anna and I live quite close to it.
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So we thought, we thought we could end at Wimbledon actually,
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which would have been near both of our homes, but we couldn't
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because that would have added another sort of 1015 kilometers.
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And we, we were not here for that.
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So we actually ended up at Richmond.
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But it just, it just, it was her idea.
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She just went, you know, it's never been done before.
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Do you fancy it? And I went, yes, I fancy it.
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And then we sort of got our Diaries together one day and the
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coach and horses. And then it was about 2-3 months
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ago she had the idea. So I've been sitting on it for
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ages and sort of hoping no one did it.
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Not that I really care, but I, I, I know Anna wanted the
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fastest known time. So she, she, you know, she
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painstakingly mapped the route. We only got lost a couple of
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times, which is to her enormous credit.
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And, and then, yeah. And then we just take them off
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station by station by station. You know, you run a couple of
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kilometers, selfie by the station, run another selfie by
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the station. And then they come thick and
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fast in central London. And actually there's one,
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there's two stations, a Colorado, some like Cannon
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Street and Monument in the City of London.
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And I've heard, and I'm obviously going to try this,
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that you can, if you're quick and everything works your way,
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get off the train, run up, run to the next station, get back
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down and then get on the same train, which I'm very much sort
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of hoping to do. I think I might do it with my
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son. That sounds like, well, the the
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challenge you just did was absolutely bonkers, but then
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trying to catch a train on top of that.
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I like the idea though, you know what I mean?
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Just we're only, we're only here once.
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Let's make life fun. I love that, I love that now,
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from one track to another, you are now taking over the
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breakfast slot on the brand new track radio, which means you're
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back to the brutal, brutal reality of early morning alarms.
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How are you coping with those early starts again?
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Are you kind of a straight out of bed person or do?
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You, yeah, no, you've got to be. You've absolutely got to be.
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There's like there's huge scientific reasons why snooze
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button is terrible for you. And especially if you're on a
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breakfast show, you don't want to be giving back some sleep.
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It's slightly better than the last breakfast show that I
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worked on because it starts at 7:00, which is immediately half
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an hour more sleep. And it's in Notting Hill in
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London, which is about half an hour closer than London Bridge,
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where where the Virgin radio show comes from.
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So I'm I'm already getting about 45 to 50 minutes extra sleep and
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that almost that almost tips me into getting up early rather
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than getting up in the middle of the night as it was in the last
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1. So it's so far so good and I'm
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and I'm loving it. I love the idea sport music
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radio station. It's like somebody invented my
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perfect job and then and then offered it to me.
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So you know, at at the moment, and we're only like 3 weeks and
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one day in at the moment, I'm bouncing out of bed.
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Living your dream. Listen, are you running?
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Are you running to work still? I do, yeah, I do.
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I mean, what I've, what I've done so far is cycling run home,
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running cycle home. So I had to leave my, my bike
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chain to a lamppost there. And I sort of, you know, I go in
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one way on a bike and on the other way I run.
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I have run both ways a couple of times, but yeah, usually it's, I
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ran in this morning and ran home, but then it was, it was
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bank holiday and it was just sort of just quite easy.
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And we had a sort of like lower dress, lower key show today.
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But yeah, so a couple of times I've run both my commutes.
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But what I, what I tend to do, and I don't know how long this
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is going to last, is yeah, either either run in cycle home
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or cycle in run home. Either way, that's pretty good
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going. You're you're doing something
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active. Yeah, it gets, it gets you
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going, it really does. It gets you going, gets the
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heart rate going, just sort of, just sort of wakes you up, you
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know, pumps you up a little bit. And we're at the top of Notting
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Hill by Notting Hill Gate station, which was one of the
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ones on the District line actually.
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So, you know, 5 minutes before I arrive at work, it's absolutely
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easy. It's been sort of seven K of
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nice flat terrain. You know, the biggest hill is
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Hammersmith Bridge. And then and then I get to the
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bottom, I get to Shepherd's Bush and I have to run all the way to
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the top of to the top of Notting Hill or cycle.
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But either way it gets the heart pumping.
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And then we're on the 3rd floor, 52 steps up with no lift, which
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again, just, you know, it's just like nice little finisher.
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No, no, not everyone's going to love running to work Bassos, and
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you weren't always as fit as you are now, am I right?
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I. Believe there was a time when
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you really you really weren't into all this exercise at.
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All I wasn't, Yeah, I wasn't. It was only in my 30s that I
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sort of, I got into it. I just thought, I suppose vanity
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was the was the sort of driver I realized I sort of I was on my
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way to. I was presenting a show at
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Television Centre Evening Show, and I just played golf, which is
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about as active as I got in those days.
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And I just noticed a little bit of fat flopping over my belt.
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And I thought that's new. And I thought, well, I didn't
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really mind it, you know, but I thought, well, I suppose this is
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what happens in your 30s. And so I'll either I'll just,
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you know, get fatter, which is fine, or I'll start exercising
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and I'll try that. And I tried that and I didn't
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really like the gym I do now, but I, but I started running and
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I just loved it. It just ticked all the boxes for
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me. And so it was never a, it was
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never a plan to, to sort of run silly distances like I do and do
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sort of stupid adventures like the district line that you just
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mentioned. It was just, oh, let's just run.
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And then my first race was the Great North Run about 16-17
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years ago, and I loved it. And then I went a bit further
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and then I wonder what's beyond the marathon finishing line.
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And then, you know, 100 kilometers, 100 miles and blah,
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blah, blah, and you just end up doing sort of silly because I
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love getting outside my comfort zone.
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And I think the reason I'm so sort of evangelical about it all
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is because I wasn't always a runner, you know?
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Jessica Ennis Hill, the heptathlete, the morning after
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she won Heptathle on gold at London 2012, I was presenting a
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show on the BBC with Chris Evans, Radio 2 Breakfast Show.
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We were based in the Olympic Park in these sort of two huge
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shipping containers right in the shadow of the stadium.
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And the medalists would all get brought to us.
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And Jess had just won gold. Bruce asked her what it's like
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to be so fit, which is so fair enough to possibly the fittest
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person in the world. And she said I don't know
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because I've always been fit. But I I do know because I
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haven't always been fit. And it's much better.
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It's just your life mentally and physically is just better if
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you're, if you're fitter, if you run, if you swim, if you do
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whatever, then if he, if you don't, it just objectively it
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is. And so I think that's why I'm so
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kind of, I'm so keen to get other people to, to kind of just
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to start 'cause I know how much better life is.
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So can you give us a bit of a comparison from life before fit
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vassals to life now? What was your kind of day
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looking like? Would you kind of just eat junk
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food? Were you?
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Beer I sedentary. Yeah, I was more sedentary.
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I just eat junk food. It's so easy to get into that
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cycle of, you know, and you just, you know, you just think,
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well, look at those idiots running.
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Look at me, I'm sitting down. It's obviously better and it is
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obviously easier. And obviously, you know, getting
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up early to run to work is not well, it's not for everyone, but
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it sort of should be for everyone because I mean, you
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know, you're doing something that's hard.
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You're doing something that, you know, I can count on the fingers
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of one hand, maybe the runs that have just felt joyous and easy
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and better than sitting on the sofa.
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So you can sort of see where people kind of come from and
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where I was coming from just in that cycle of, you know, TV and
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junk food and, and pretty sedentary lifestyle.
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But as soon as you break that cycle, you start going on a a
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kind of virtuous circle rather than a vicious circle, and you
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realize how much, how much happier you are.
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Oh, 100%. I mean, I think we've, you know,
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anyone who's started running or got into a bit of an exercise
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rhythm knows how how great it can make you feel.
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I noticed that the thing that you also got really into was the
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tech side of things. You said that when you started
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getting into running you, you kind of went a little bit
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overboard in terms of getting the right kit, but all the tech,
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the watches, the trainers, how did that kind of spiral?
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Well, yeah, I did very briefly. I mean, it seems so long ago now
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that I've sort, I've sort of forgotten about it.
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I did do an article in the Observer where I just was
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wearing all the kit and I did sort of, I did sort of take the
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Mickey out of myself about it. And I did, yeah.
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And I did, I found I, I, yeah, I did.
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And I was trying to break a three hour marathon and I did
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break a three hour marathon and I loved that, you know, and I
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did need a, a Garmin for that. But for instance, now I'm not on
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Strava. I, I can't, I can't bear the
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whole, you know, if it's not on Strava, it didn't happen
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culture. I just like the idea of just
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doing a run for I, I only really, I very rarely Garmin my
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runs. I just stop watch them.
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So I, I, I, I measure my runs by time and if I want to do an
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interval, then that's fine as well.
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You know, I can run hard, but I don't need to sort of, I'm not a
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slave to the watch anymore. So yeah, it was ages ago and I
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did like everyone. I'm a, you know, I spread it to
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the, the, the golf me that I must have new equipment sort of
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spilled over into the running me.
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But to be fair to me, it was only briefly.
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And, and I, and I very soon, I think as soon as I discovered
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trail running, I, I sort of realized that, you know, all of
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that stuff is just, you know, I'm not, I'm now the absolute
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antithesis of all the gear, you know, I've just whatever.
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If, you know, you don't need, you don't need new trainers for
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a marathon. You don't need a new top or a
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new, you know, the latest pair of shorts.
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You know, it's just just what I love about running especially is
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the simplicity of just get outside and run.
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Which is totally what the Green Runners is all about.
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It's about trying not to get too much gear, not too carried away
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with all the new tech because we are just so we sold it all the
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time, aren't we? We're fed this idea that we'll
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run faster if we have the new trainers and we'll run better if
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we have the right watch and all this, that and the other.
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What was the what was the moment when you really realize that
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kind of less was more in terms of your running?
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Well, I'm, I'm quite haphazard as a sort of character and I and
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I like that about myself, you know, even though, I mean, you
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mentioned that I once did an ultra marathon in gardening
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shoes because I forgot my running shoes.
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And that was my first ultra, which which I again, even at the
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start line, I realized that it was sort of stupid, but I I
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still quite I'd rather that than sort of lay out a flat Henry of
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all. And I know it works for some
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people. And I'm not saying that I'm
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right. In fact, I'm saying the
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opposite. I know I'm in the minority and
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I'm probably wrong, but I also think that there's sort of you
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can overthink stuff. You know, the amount of
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questions I get asked, you know, the the amount of tiny details
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that people want to know about, you know, what about this before
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their first marathon or their first 10K or half marathon or,
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you know, or even ultra. What about this?
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What about nutrition? What about or, or yeah, yes, all
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of that. Or just I forget about it and
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just, you know, it's like it's a few hours out of your day and
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it'll be a bit easier or it'll be a bit harder, but just don't
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worry about it. And I'm very much sort of in
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that character. And I suppose if you want to
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meet a pinpoint of time, it would be my first trail race,
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which was 1/2 marathon ish. Like, trail half marathons are
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in Keswick. And it was when I sort of, I
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crested, I fell and it seemed like the whole of the Lake
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District was sort of beneath me, all of England actually.
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And it was just so beautiful. And suddenly I just thought, I
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really don't care about pace and time.
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I just care about being here and connected to nature.
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And somehow when you're running in nature, actually, not
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necessarily just in nature, when you're running in anywhere, a
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town, you know, this morning between, you know, W Putney and
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Notting Hill, I felt very connected to where you are.
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You feel really connected to a place when you're running in it.
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And obviously, you know, the Lake District beats Hammersmith.
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On some level, yeah. Yeah, I'm going to agree with
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you on that. So you you talked earlier about
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really wanting to, you know, beat that three hour marathon
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and then you talk about the simplicity of running and how
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you love that. So my question to you is, do you
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prefer just going out and running by yourself or do you
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prefer the idea of the race and having to having to beat a
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certain time? What what appeals to you more?
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I mean, there are other options, you know, there are, but if
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those are my only two options, then I suppose I'll run by
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myself. I used to like, like you say, I,
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I, you know, I did, I trained hard for, and I'm not naturally
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really fast enough to, to break 3 hours in a marathon.
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So it was a lot of kind of determination and, you know,
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lactate that went into my 259 in London, whatever it was 1012
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years ago, 10 years ago maybe. And so there is a, there is a
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certain fulfillment in training for and, and, and achieving a
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goal like that. And, and there, there is a
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certain nervous excitement on the start line of a major race
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that I love. I find it quite intoxicating.
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But then there is a certain freedom of just going running,
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you know, actually getting a bit lost, you know, going and
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exploring places that I mean, that's, that's where running is
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for me. I'm, I'm chair of my running
16:28
club currently. And I've been really careful to
16:32
to make it much more inclusive, much more of a community than a
16:37
group of blokes actually, mostly as was just chasing times.
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And you said that you much prefer trails to to road
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running. So do you tend to, do you tend
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to go on the trails with your club or are you more of a you
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know? Is it very?
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Lucky. Kind of, yeah.
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We're very lucky we're barns runners, we have Richmond Park
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and we have the Thames towpath and we have Wimbledon Common on
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our doorstep. So even though we're a
17:05
london-based running club, we're a particularly green, leafy,
17:09
slightly swanky bit of London. And so we're very lucky to have
17:13
trails on our, you know, on our doors.
17:15
So we very rarely run the roads. Do you remember in January a
17:19
pizza shop? We're offering free pizza if you
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ran or a pound per kilometre of pizza if you ran a strawberry in
17:26
the shape of a pizza. So we did some.
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We did, yeah. So we, we all ran that.
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We all did that. I, I, it took me an unhealthy
17:33
amount of time to work out what would look like a pizza slice in
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barns. And we did, yeah.
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There was a 5K and A10K option and we did that.
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And then we ran to the pizza. Was it Franco Manka and, and,
17:46
and had our pizza instead of our normal club run.
17:48
But usually we're on the trails. I'm very lucky.
17:53
We've just moved actually from Barnes less than half a mile to
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to West Putney. But well, I'm the last house
17:58
before Putney common basically. So the first run on the first
18:03
step of my run for the past six months where we've been living
18:06
here has been like not even like when I was in Barnes, it would
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be like 3 or 4 minutes until I get onto towpath or green or
18:12
common. But now it's like not even 3 or
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4 seconds. It's the first step is on the
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common. I I'm so lucky.
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I love that yesterday I did. I did some stupid intervals
18:22
around the common and I was just very happy.
18:25
That sounds so nice. I love the way that you will run
18:29
for pizza. That's obviously something that
18:31
you you can stick with and it kind of brings me back a little
18:35
bit. So maybe asking you about your
18:37
nutrition like obviously so many other people do.
18:40
Are you that haphazard with your nutrition as well?
18:43
Are you? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
18:44
What's your kind of go to for a for a long run?
18:46
What? I don't have one.
18:47
No, I don't. I don't for a long run on my
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own. Just not just crack on.
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No water, no nutrition, none of those little vests.
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I couldn't, I, I was, I was trying.
18:57
I said I'd meet Anna at six. AMI said I'd pick her up in a
19:00
cab at 6:00 AM by by where she lives.
19:04
And then we go on to Upminster because it was too early for the
19:07
Tube to take us there. So we had to get an Uber because
19:09
otherwise we'd we'd end really late.
19:11
And I was up for a breakfast show and I was like scrabbling
19:15
around at 5:30 going where on earth is my running?
19:18
You know, my running. What are they called?
19:21
The Salomon things? Yeah.
19:23
Is it at best I couldn't find. I did actually eventually find
19:27
it and didn't need it apart from the water.
19:30
It's like we were running through London, right?
19:32
We're running through a place of plenty.
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And then usually if you're in the South Downs or the Brecon
19:36
Beacons or Snowdonia, it's very rare that you're, you know, that
19:41
you're going to need, you can obviously you can.
19:45
I people learning running in these vests with hydration.
19:49
You know, I just think really though, you're, you're we're in
19:52
London. I, I know, I know it's like I'm
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not, I sounds like I'm judging and I'm not.
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It's just really not for me. I just, I just carry on.
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And then I do know I run these, you know, very long races.
20:07
And then obviously they have. Hit lists like the arc of
20:10
attrition is a particularly sort of brutal one because it's in
20:13
winter. And then there's there's 1314
20:15
miles into St. Ives, which are absolutely
20:18
barren and it's in the dark and you're in the, you know, the
20:22
total mercy of the elements. But even then it's only 1314
20:26
miles. And then you've got an aid
20:27
station. You know, it's very rare that
20:30
we're actually, you know, especially in a, in us lot,
20:34
right, us runners in the Western world, we're very rarely in, in
20:38
a, in a place where we, we sort of need food urgently.
20:42
What if I go six hours running without food?
20:44
Well then, fine. I absolutely love this so I I
20:48
know she won't mind me saying this, but my sister-in-law a few
20:51
years ago decided she'd train couch to 5K and I just remember
20:56
the amount of water bottles and hydration vests she was taking
21:01
out. And I why would you take why
21:04
would you take water on a 5K run?
21:06
But that I didn't want to sound judgy like you.
21:08
I know you can't. You can't and I do.
21:11
I maybe I am sort of secret in the back of my mind.
21:13
Maybe I do kind of judge. I mean, I don't like that about
21:16
me, but I'm I really don't think I'm judgy, right?
21:19
I really think I'm just that you do you, but don't make me do
21:24
you? You know, I just and and I and
21:26
I, and I hope you don't mind, but I'm going to turn up with at
21:29
races without my running number or without my running shoes or
21:32
whatever. I'll just just and then it's
21:34
fine. And if I can run, I can run.
21:36
It's so it's so doesn't matter. You know, we overthink so much.
21:43
Here, here. I'm with you.
21:45
Although I would put a caveat on that and say if anyone's going
21:48
out running today on the hottest day of the year, I would suggest
21:51
they do take some water with them.
21:53
Just in. Case you're, you're not with
21:55
that, are you? You're like, no.
21:57
No, no crack on. So the hottest day we've ever
22:00
had was a couple of years ago and I went out for a run like
22:03
you could see, to see what it was like, you know, and it was
22:05
45.4 or something on the car, the momentary.
22:09
And it was like, yeah, it was in the mid 40s.
22:11
And it went, no, it was hard. And then I've been in Death
22:13
Valley running and that's 55° and that is hard.
22:17
But you're not, you know, you are still going out for a run,
22:22
right? In a, in a first world country.
22:25
You're not, you're not sort of in, in the Antarctica or like
22:30
the, the sub-Saharan Africa 100 miles from civilization, you
22:34
know, you know. I love this.
22:38
I'm just, I'm just thinking of that small period of time when
22:42
you said you were really into all your kit and the watches and
22:45
the yeah and everything else, and now you've completely
22:48
shunned everything. I saw just.
22:51
Go out and just. Run and get out and enjoy it and
22:54
maybe don't be as totally sort of blase as me.
22:58
I've done a lot of running right and I have I've been lost in a
23:03
in the fog in Snowdonia on my own.
23:06
No one knows where I am miles from anywhere the clad comes
23:10
down. I don't know which valleys
23:11
which. And I have thought, Oh, this is
23:14
a bit, this is a bit tasty, but it's only tasty, you know, it's
23:18
only, you know, I've and, and that's, you know, if in winter,
23:24
then maybe you think take her to an emergency blanket and stuff
23:27
like that or what, you know, then don't be, don't be a burden
23:30
on people, don't be a burden on the emergency services.
23:33
But sort of anything South of that, I sort of feel like just
23:36
get on with it. And, and, and, and even if
23:39
you're listening, thinking, well, I can't get on with it
23:40
like that because you're stupid, but at least get on with it like
23:43
a bit less. Just just just care a bit less
23:47
about all the stuff. OK, so how do you feel?
23:49
Like what about mandatory kit then Vassos?
23:51
Because now I'm worried that you're a bit of a race
23:53
director's nightmare. No, I totally am.
23:56
You just walk up to race. I'm not.
23:57
I'll do it because you have to. I'll do it because I have to.
24:00
But it's like a last minute. What now?
24:02
What do I need now? But of course, of course,
24:05
otherwise we get to a situation where, you know, just to run a
24:07
5K in France, you need a doctor's certificate.
24:11
I think that's why Park Run. It's park.
24:13
Park Run's no longer in France. Is it because they needed the?
24:16
You needed the bureaucracy to get a?
24:18
Too many pieces of paper. Yeah, I tried to join a swim and
24:23
like a, a, a, a nothing like a two mile swim from one beach to
24:28
another. And they said where's your
24:30
doctor's now? And I'm going to have one.
24:32
They went, well, you can't what anyway, so, so obviously we
24:36
don't get to that situation. So yes, we we do.
24:39
We obviously need because races can't go on and races are great.
24:43
Races are great. They're just so lovely.
24:46
So we need, you know, we need to do what the race directors tell
24:50
us because otherwise they won't be able to put their races on
24:52
and etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.
24:54
So yes, obviously I do. I do, slightly reluctantly,
24:58
slightly through gritted teeth, put all the kit that I meant to
25:01
into my race pack when I'm. Seeing race, you're compliant
25:04
when you have to be, but if you didn't need to you, you would
25:07
just. No, I definitely wouldn't.
25:09
No, I mean I definitely the minimum possible.
25:11
I have never once, for example, run with a crew anywhere.
25:15
Great. What's your favorite race you've
25:17
ever done then? Probably the Spart Athlon.
25:22
Yeah. I mean, I just, I'm Greek and
25:25
it's just, it's really hard and it's really long and, and they
25:30
sort of and they front load it so that you have to do the first
25:33
marathon in whatever it is 3 hours, 40 or you're out and all
25:37
of that. And so 153 miles and then the,
25:39
the wonderful reception you get all along the route actually.
25:42
And then especially when you get to Sparta, I sort of hope it
25:46
hasn't lost its soul. It definitely hasn't yet.
25:49
I hope it doesn't lose its soul because it is just such a, a
25:53
celebration of kind of Greek culture and you know, the
25:58
bonkers stuff that, that, that we now do.
26:02
You know, I just, I, I loved, I loved every second of it.
26:04
And I was very, I was very fortunate and humbled by the
26:07
fact that I finished it because the, the list of people who
26:10
failed to finish spot Athlon is like a who who's who of ultra
26:13
runners. So the fact that things went
26:14
right for me on the day for about 120 miles, the last 35
26:18
were tasty. I, I've, I've, you know, I, I
26:22
didn't. Take any water with you.
26:24
Of course I didn't know, but that one you definitely don't
26:26
need. Not all these people with like,
26:28
like their big full vests and stuff and there's like there's 8
26:31
stations every two or three miles.
26:36
I love it. I was reading an interview with
26:39
you back in something like 2016 and it was what's 1 record that
26:45
will never be beaten? And you said, oh, no one's ever
26:48
going to run a marathon under two hours.
26:50
And I thought, oh, this is a good time to an interview now
26:53
because they have. Yeah, does this.
26:55
Change. Does this change your?
26:57
Goals now. Well no, I'm definitely wrong
27:00
about that, but mind you, who knew 10 years ago that shoes
27:04
would basically come turbo pallet?
27:07
I know, right? I sort of feel like marathon
27:11
times need to be BV and AV, you know, before Vapourfly and after
27:17
Vapourfly, you know. I mean, did you, you know,
27:20
Sebastian Salway after the London Marathon, he held up a
27:22
shoot. Did you see the size of that?
27:25
Yeah. I mean, you sort of think, well,
27:28
how can you not run sub two hours in that thing?
27:30
Obviously, no, it was great. And I love the fact that it had,
27:33
there was so much attention. And I'm also, I'm thrilled for
27:35
Hugh Brasher because he would have been.
27:37
So I spoke to him the next day. Actually he was, he was.
27:40
So I said he was, I said, I imagined you jumping up and down
27:44
like a little boy on Christmas Day.
27:46
And he said that's exactly what I was just doing.
27:48
He said one of his staff has video of him and, and I'm so
27:52
pleased for him that it happened in London, you know, and that it
27:55
was, you know, and then, and then it was Sebastian Salway,
27:58
who's a, who's a, he seems to be a good guy.
28:00
I've, I've never really chatted to him.
28:03
So no great. And I love and I love the fact
28:06
that it's inspiring new people to start running.
28:08
You know, people were sniffy about Roger Bannister's 4 minute
28:11
mile, you know, and, and because he had paces and that wasn't the
28:14
done thing in the 50s. So, and, and, and so I don't
28:17
want, I don't want to even begin to be sniffing about that record
28:20
because it's great. My wife got excited about
28:23
marathon running. She, she never does, You know,
28:25
people who, who really didn't care about the sport, cared
28:28
about the sport. So I'm, I'm really, I'm thrilled
28:30
for Hugh #1 and I'm thrilled for running #2 and I'm thrilled for
28:34
Sebastian selway #3 and I really don't care that I was wrong.
28:38
And there is just that little tiny asterisk, like, would it
28:41
have happened without the shoes? Maybe.
28:43
And maybe it would have happened before we all thought there was
28:45
a book that was written chasing two or something.
28:48
I could remember about about 10 years ago by like proper, proper
28:53
sort of running science journalist who said like it it
28:56
can never happen. The difference between I think
28:58
it was like 2O3 at the time, the Kaylee and and and 1:59, he said
29:04
was too big a sort of gap to bridge.
29:07
But what were the shoes and the new training?
29:10
It's happened, yeah. How do you like, how do you feel
29:15
about let's go back to the shoes a minute because do you think
29:18
like encouraging people to buy these kind of, you know, one hit
29:21
wonder shoes just so they can shave a.
29:23
Couple of rubbish. Awful rubbish.
29:26
It's rubbish, the £450 and you know, I just know it's terrible.
29:32
It's terrible for the environment and it's terrible
29:35
for for running because it's sort of becoming a bit more like
29:38
cycling and it's all about the gear.
29:40
And, you know, in my running WhatsApp group.
29:42
Oh, look, Nike, you're doing a sale 20% off whatever the latest
29:48
vapor fly, the alpha flies, whatever they're called.
29:50
You know, I, I, I have had, I did buy one pair.
29:54
I bought as well. Usually I get sent, which is,
29:57
which is lovely, by the way, I kind of kind of recommend that.
30:02
I'll try. And, and yeah, they were, it was
30:06
like running on a trampoline. It was in Amsterdam.
30:10
I was due to run the Amsterdam Marathon the week after the sub
30:15
two happened in Vienna, wasn't it the first sub two?
30:20
And it was one pair of these pink shoes left and they
30:22
happened to be in my size. And I thought, oh, I've done so
30:25
much training and if they are going to give me 4%, I thought,
30:30
well, I have one go at APB, one last go at APB and, and I've
30:34
done all the training. My last five runs before
30:37
Amsterdam, my last five long runs were actual marathons, you
30:40
know, organized marathons, but just sort of taking it
30:43
relatively easy. And I think I may have
30:44
overtrained because the whole race was a fiasco from about 10K
30:48
in and but I'm so I have run in them and, and I did, I mean, I
30:54
did like it. Look how bouncy and stuff they
30:57
are. But I do think it's pretty awful
30:59
that that you know, that, that we're reaching a stage where
31:01
you're getting disposable running shoes, for goodness
31:05
sake. Quite, quite so OK, somebody who
31:08
has never run before, maybe they have a bit of an unhealthy
31:11
lifestyle and they're looking to get into running.
31:14
What your kind of your your top 3 tips for somebody who who
31:19
wants. No, no, you don't need 3 tips.
31:21
You don't need 3 tips. You just need one tip, right?
31:23
You just need one tip, which is just to start how whoever you
31:26
are, right? You can run for 10/20/30
31:30
seconds, right? You can jog for 10/20/30 seconds
31:32
If you see a bus and you really need the bus, You, you, you,
31:35
you, you make the bus. If it's, you know, 1020 seconds,
31:37
drive away. So just do that, right?
31:39
Run for 20 seconds and then walk for a minute or two and then run
31:43
for 20 seconds. And then just do that for 20.
31:45
And then just extend, you know, it's a bit like the couch to 5K,
31:48
but you can do it on your own, you know, you can just run a bit
31:52
and walk a bit. And then you realize that the
31:53
bits of running get longer and the bits of walking get shorter.
31:57
And then this is how I got into it, you know, And then I, I
31:59
suddenly realized that I'd run, I thought, I can run 10 minutes
32:02
here before I, before I walk. And then I thought, well, what
32:06
if I don't walk? What if I run another 10
32:08
minutes? Then I'll run 20 minutes.
32:10
And then I decided arbitrarily, I thought, if I can run 20
32:13
minutes, I can call myself a runner.
32:16
By the way, if you can run 20 seconds, you can call yourself a
32:18
runner. You know, we're all in the same
32:21
way. We're all, you know, it doesn't
32:22
matter if you're Sebastian Saway or me or somebody who can run 20
32:25
seconds. We're all runners, right?
32:28
And, and ever since then, actually my sort of my minimum
32:31
run distance rather annoying has been 20 minutes.
32:35
So it's like, yeah, if I go for a run, it's 20 minutes or, or
32:38
more. And, and so, yeah, so I am.
32:41
So I would just say just start because it don't think it's like
32:45
it has to be. You have to turn up at a park
32:47
run, although you can and you can walk it.
32:49
There's loads of ways in, but I think maybe the easiest is just
32:54
to run for an amount of time that isn't isn't too much for
32:58
you to sort of contemplate and then just walk for a bit.
33:01
And then maybe even do that only twice or three times in 20
33:04
minutes. But just start once.
33:06
It's the first step. The first step is the hardest.
33:08
Once you're in, once you're on in the game, you're in the game.
33:12
OK, so just start and literally don't take anything with you.
33:16
Just get out the door, yeah? Especially when you start, you
33:20
don't need, you don't need to people.
33:21
No, because people think that they need to go to their local
33:24
running shop or Amazon or whatever and buy new running
33:27
shoes, which you just don't. I only want around 62 miles,
33:32
right, in shoes that had a heel on them because they were all my
33:35
old sort of like suit shoes that I was using for gardening.
33:38
They were just the really embattered old things, you know,
33:40
and I ran 62 hilly miles in them.
33:43
It's fine, you know, if you're just going out, go out in
33:46
whatever shoes you usually go out in and just just, you know,
33:50
maybe not high heels or anything, but just go out and
33:54
just and see how you go. And then if you start running,
33:56
if you start loving it, then maybe go and see about buying a
34:00
pair of running shoes. But it's so simple and people
34:03
over complicate it. I love hearing how passionate
34:07
you are about just getting out the door and and running.
34:09
It's it's really refreshing. Tell us a little bit about the
34:13
new radio show, Rasos Track Radio and the breakfast show
34:18
that you're on. What's what's that all all
34:20
about? What's the vibe?
34:22
Well, the idea is to, well, there's nowhere really.
34:28
There's talk sport, which is a wonderful, brilliant thing.
34:31
I love talk sport, but talk sport are very kind of football
34:34
heavy and they're they're kind of blokey.
34:37
And you know, if you love all sports, not just football and
34:39
all sports, not just men's sports and all sports, not just
34:42
elite sport, there's nowhere really for you to go during the
34:45
day from 7:00. We're never going to have, well,
34:48
at the moment we're not going to have any rights or anything like
34:50
that on track radio. So we're sort of concentrating
34:52
on getting 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM, right?
34:55
We've got some brilliant presenters.
34:57
Mark Pugach, IT VS lead sport presenter.
35:00
He's doing the drive time show Sonia Sammy doing this sort of
35:05
afternoon and mornings. And then I'm I'm on breakfast
35:07
and it's it says it's sport, all sport, men's and women's sport
35:11
and non elite and elite and music.
35:14
And you know, bar USP is just just sport.
35:18
And we try and tell the stories like, you know, somebody who
35:21
doesn't necessarily love sport. Why should they care about what
35:25
we're talking about or this sport, You know, if you don't
35:27
know about basketball, netball or, you know, right now England
35:35
are playing New Zealand in the deciding women's T20
35:38
international. So, you know, you might not know
35:40
about T20 cricket, you might not know that there's a Women's
35:43
World Cup happening in this summer.
35:45
But we'll tell you all about that and we'll tell you who to
35:47
look out for, who's interesting, why it's interesting.
35:50
It's a bit like Drive to Survive LED people to Formula One who
35:53
might never have thought they'd be Formula One fans.
35:55
We think, you know, it's just stories.
35:58
So we're telling the stories of sport and.
36:01
Like you said, you're kind of dream job because it
36:03
incorporates everything you love.
36:06
I love radio. I really love radio.
36:10
And I love, you know, and I love presenting and I love doing
36:12
sports. Yeah, like you said, I'm a bit
36:14
grumpy about the, you know, the breakfast show hours again.
36:17
I thought I'd left them behind, but actually, you know, for.
36:20
Punishment. You're done at 10 and then you
36:22
can, you know, you've got time to do any training you want to
36:25
do and all of that stuff and other, you know, I've got other
36:27
bits and bobs that I've got on the boil as well.
36:29
So I'm I'm really loving it. And it yeah, it gives you more
36:33
time to to do the running that you love, like you said.
36:36
Are there any particular green initiatives or things that
36:40
you've noticed when you've been out in nature that running has
36:43
brought you that you wouldn't have maybe otherwise done or
36:46
otherwise noticed if you? Weren't enough?
36:48
I just feel like you're so connected to your environment
36:52
when you're running in it that it just sort of by osmosis, you
36:58
become kind of greener and more, you know, and more conscious of,
37:05
of the world around you and want to and want to help it as much
37:09
as you can. I mean, my favorite thing
37:10
actually, and it sounds a little bit pious, but sort of ignore
37:14
the fact that I'm saying this about myself, right?
37:16
Because it's, it's really lovely thing to do.
37:18
And I, I sort of heartily recommend it whether you're
37:20
running or walking. It's just pick up litter along
37:22
the way, you know, and just, you know, find the nearest bin.
37:26
And I do that almost every time I run to or from work.
37:29
I just like randomly pick up any lip bits of this that I find
37:32
along the way and put them in the nearest bin.
37:35
It's really lovely. It's a really lovely thing to
37:36
do, you know, and you sort of feel quite good about yourself
37:39
and it just feels right and also feels that the sort of thing
37:42
that runners should do and do do. 100%.
37:45
Except for the runners who drop gel packets everywhere.
37:49
No, we don't hate gel packets. Absolutely hate gel packets.
37:53
Well, you know, if everyone did what you did, we wouldn't be
37:55
carrying gel packets, we'd be carrying just ourselves,
37:58
wouldn't we? Which is the greenest way to to
38:00
run. So we all need to take a leaf
38:03
out of your book. I know, I don't know.
38:05
I don't, you know, I don't. Yes, yes and no.
38:08
I feel a bit bad. I mean, obviously people have to
38:11
do it the way that makes them feel comfortable, you know, and
38:14
I am very slap dash haphazard, you know, whatever word you
38:18
wanna describe. And I am and I do.
38:20
I like that about me. But it's also, I will tell you
38:23
that it is fine. You know you do survive life
38:26
doing like this and you have much less stress.
38:29
You're here to tell the tale. So, you know, that's testament
38:32
to it in itself. I think it's hugely refreshing,
38:35
as I said before, to hear from somebody who runs really
38:39
incredible distances as well. But it's just so relaxed about
38:43
the way you go about it. I think.
38:45
I think we need more of that because.
38:47
Yeah, we fed. Information all the time, aren't
38:50
we? And we're told how to do things,
38:51
and we're told what to pack, and we're told what to wear and this
38:54
and that. And actually, it's really nice
38:55
to hear On the contrary, but you don't necessarily need all of
38:59
that stuff, so. But you definitely don't need
39:01
all. You definitely don't need it.
39:04
You might want it, but. You might, you might want it and
39:07
then do. But you know, Alex Connell, the,
39:10
the, the free climber. Yeah.
39:12
I was talking about this with my son who's got into climbing.
39:15
And we think that there is a very strong argument that the
39:19
greatest sporting human achievement of all time is hymn
39:26
free soloing El Capitan. It's not been done since it
39:29
happened almost 10 years ago now.
39:31
And, and just the most extraordinary, the most
39:36
extraordinarily skillful, daring, brilliant, just amazing.
39:42
Anyway, he says if you're sometimes in mortal danger, then
39:46
you're going to be at an airport about to miss a flight and
39:49
you're not going to be that stressed about it.
39:51
You know, in in situations where most human beings are stressed.
39:53
He's just not because like yesterday I was 3000 feet above
39:59
the, you know, above the ground in Al Capitan without ropes, you
40:02
know, And I feel like if you go running with a bit a bit, you
40:07
know, I'm not comparing myself to Alex Holland, of course not.
40:09
But if you just go running and just sort of like, forget it
40:13
all. You know, then you come the life
40:15
is a bit less stressful. Well, life is less stressful if
40:19
you go running anyway. But if you go running and don't
40:22
stress about the running, then the rest of your life becomes a
40:25
bit less stressful. Love that throw in an element of
40:29
danger along the way. Well, you know, like being a bit
40:32
lost. Yeah, it's great.
40:34
I know I can be. I can get lost in Richmond Park.
40:37
Not anymore, by the way, not anymore.
40:38
But I used to be able to get lost in Richmond Park.
40:41
I think you could blindfold me and parachute me into Richmond
40:44
Park anywhere and I would be able to tell you exactly where I
40:47
was relative to everything else and the streets outside.
40:52
And the same goes for Wimbledon Common.
40:54
And that's 'cause you run locally, which we love.
40:57
So yeah, running in your local patch is just such a good thing
41:00
to do, isn't it? Yeah.
41:03
I mean you really, Yes, you really you, you really get to
41:06
know it. There is not an alleyway path
41:09
trod anything that around within 15 miles of here that I don't
41:17
know really well. Excellent Vassal slip.
41:22
You've got the new breakfast show, You've just run the
41:24
district line. What's next?
41:28
I don't know what's, what's next.
41:29
I quite, I have had a couple of ideas.
41:34
I, I was, I was in, it was in my head to run a 200 mile race.
41:42
And so I think I might, if, if James will take me into the in
41:47
his winter 200. I quite like the idea of doing
41:49
that. I was going to do it last year
41:50
and then it sort of went quiet, or I went quiet, but it was
41:55
difficult. We were moving house and we had
41:57
some sort of family bereavements and stuff.
41:58
It just wasn't the right time. But I like the idea of seeing
42:01
what happens after 150 miles. I have a feeling that 100 miles
42:07
is my sweet spot because I've don't think I'll ever have, I'll
42:11
ever be fitter than I was when I did spot Athlon.
42:14
And I was absolutely flying for 120 miles and then came to a
42:18
grinding halt. So I wonder what happens, you
42:22
know, if that's me and my best, you know, I wonder what happens
42:27
after like 100 and forget 130. What about 100?
42:30
And you know, 50 miles, A106180190.
42:33
What about those last 10 miles in a 200 mile race in the
42:36
winter? So I'd quite I'd quite like to
42:39
see, you know, we mentioned Roger Bannister, he once we had
42:42
a cup of coffee once and sort of hit it off.
42:44
And he said to me that he has tried to get out of his comfort
42:48
zone every day if he can, because then you sort of expand
42:50
as a person. And I love that.
42:53
I, I, I like doing that. I love getting out of my comfort
42:56
zone. And 200 miles will be well
42:59
outside my comfort zone. So I quite like the idea of
43:01
doing that. And it's local, you know, it's
43:03
basically the South Downs way and the North Downs way.
43:05
Brilliant. Well, we can.
43:07
We'll look forward to tracking you on that one if you have
43:10
trackers. I don't.
43:12
Know. I presume so.
43:13
I think it would be mandatory kit actually.
43:15
Vasos, Sorry. Look, is there anything else
43:18
you'd like to plug Vasos before we we end the show?
43:21
No, absolutely no, no, no, I don't.
43:23
I don't need to plug anything. It's just a, a delight to chat
43:26
and, and, and, and congratulations for everything
43:28
you guys do because it, you know, the world needs green
43:32
runners and you know, it doesn't just happen.
43:34
I know how much work goes into it behind the scenes.
43:36
So congratulations and anything I can do to help, I'm here for
43:39
it. That's also so kind, honestly.
43:42
We are so honoured to have you on the show and as I say, I was
43:47
hugely starstruck when you first came on, but you've made me feel
43:50
really at ease and honestly I've laughed so much during that
43:53
interview. It's been an absolute pleasure.
43:55
Thank you so much again. It's been it's been a real treat
43:58
to chat. Thank you for asking me on.
44:01
Thank. You take care.
44:06
Thanks for listening to Story Time with the Green Runners.
44:10
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44:13
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