Demystifying Mental Toughness is for people who want to reach their goals faster and are curious what high performing athletes and professionals do to fulfil their potential. David Charlton shares insights, strategies and stories from leading athletes, coaches, psychologists and specialists to help you perform to your optimum level on a more consistent basis. If you're a motivated athlete, coach, sport psychologist, mental game coach or executive listen in for proven and practical advice in this podcast.

Paul Smith is an inspirational charity runner from Sherburn Hill, Durham, who at the time of recording the Demystifying Mental Toughness podcast episode had run for an amazing 5007 consecutive days. In his quest to run every day he has raised £1000's for many charities such as the Sir Bobby Moore Foundation, Sir Bobby Robson Foundation, Alzeimers Association, St Cuthbert's Hospice, Finlay Cooper Fund…

He'll often be seen wearing outlandish costumes on his runs and wearing a big smile on his face, however just like many people, Paul has also experienced difficult times and is very good at masking his emotions. In this very inspiring, funny and thoughtful interview, Paul opens up and share's his journey to date, his hopes for the future, challenges that he has faced and conquered. For anyone who enjoys running, runs for mental health reasons or may be would like to get into running but has been putting it off this episode is well worth a listen.

What you'll hear in this episode of Demystifying Mental Toughness

• He has ran every day for nearly 14 years and blames Ron Hill for his run streak!

• He has his own rules, every run has to be outdoors and must be more than 5k.

• Ice, painkillers, biofreeze, running either side of midnight have helped Paul manage pain and his recovery.

• A bowel procedure, teeth extractions, passing blood, going on a stag week and work issues have caused particular challenges in his quest.

• Keeping it fun and fresh helps Paul.

• Running is vital for my mental health especially right now with Coronavirus, it's the best anti-depressant on the market.

• Sometimes the funny costumes can be a façade. It's like a painted smile.

• It's all about the numbers for Paul and that helps him think about different ideas such as running for 50.00 minutes – my 5000th run in a row.

• On his 3000th run he ran 30.00 miles around the centre circle of a football pitch, changing direction every 30 times, dressed at Bobby Moore for charity.

• On March 21st, St Cuthbert's Day, Paul once dressed like St Cuthbert, a monk, got the haircut and ran from York Minster to Durham Cathedral for St Cuthbert's Hospice.

• Doing crazy things keeps him going.

• One of Paul's aims is to run 100 marathons by the time I'm 100 years old.

• The hardest steps are the first steps.

• For anyone looking to get into running, look to embrace the challenge, endure it and enjoy it.