English For The Long Run

Megan Cassidy is back on the podcast!

Megan is a 41 year-old runner, originally from Ohio (Cleveland), who currently lives in Orlando (Florida) and her favourite distance is the marathon.

In December 2022 she set herself the goal of running a "50k Every Day" in order to break the Guinness World Record of ultra marathons in a row and raise money for two charities.

She talks about this experience but also about safety on the run, recovering after long runs, low heart-rate training and running in freezing temperatures.

Megan raised money for the following charities:

www.innocenceproject.org (to help get innocent people out of prison)

www.happytrailanimalrescue.com (a non-profit animal shelter)

She is currently reading The Art of Resilience by Ross Edgley and absolutely LOVES it.

You can follow Megan on instagram as @thefeistyrunner

Huge Thank You Again to Megan for sharing her ultra marathon-story with me.

If you want to improve your English, listening or reading about running stories, please visit my web page and hit the subscribe button: https://englishforthelongrun.com

Bye for now, and enjoy English for the Long Run!

Living Life by Scott Holmes Music

Bailey Quinn, a 29-year-old endurance athlete from Florida, finished the NYC Marathon in 9 hours and 19 minutes and was the happiest person on planet earth.

She wore a rainbow tutu and ran for a charity called Team Kids and a video of Bailey doing the marathon went viral around the globe. For a couple of weeks she was the talk of the day on social media.

I was intrigued by her grittiness and enthusiasm and wanted to get to know her better, so I invited her for this podcast. And she said yes!!

What we talk about:

- Doing something Big and set Huge Goals

- Being Afraid of Trying (me) vs Giving Yourself Permission to Fail (Bailey)

- Being a Plus Size Athlete & Back of the Pack Runner

- The Charity she ran for (Team Kids)

- Her Injuries and Addison's Disease

- Her Professional and Athletic Goals for the Future

The swimmer she mentions is Sara Thomas (English Channel crosser and breast cancer survivor).

Some powerful quotes:

- "The ultimate failure is never trying."

- "People are angry when you are not ashamed of what they were taught to be embarrassed of. I'm free, I'm happy."

Huge Thank You to Bailey Quinn for sharing her inspiring story with me.

If you want to find out how you can improve your English, listening or reading about running stories, visit my web page and hit the subscribe button: https://englishforthelongrun.com

Bye for now, and enjoy English for the long run!

Living Life by Scott Holmes Music

Magdalena Sznigir is a 30-year-old Polish endurance sports fan (triathlon, mountaineering and ultra running).

She lives both in Armenia and Sao Miguel (one of the Azores Islands) because this way she's close to her beloved Caucasus mountains and the ocean.

She speaks a bunch of languages: Polish, English, Russian, French and Armenian and in 2023 she wants to get fluent in Portuguese as well.

In July 2022 she set a Fastest Known Time record (FKT), the very first one in Armenia. She ran-walked 200 kilometres around Lake Sevan in 1 day, 11 hours and 29 minutes.

It was a huge challenge, but worth it.

Extremely tough, but life-changing.

What we talk about:

* How she manages to live in two different parts of the world

* Languages and some great language learning tips

* Her Fastest Known Time (FKT) Record

* How friends and beers were all she needed when things got complicated

* The lessons she learned from those 200 km running around Lake Sevan

Some of her recommendations:

Races:

MIUT Madeira (Trail running)

IronKing (Triathlon around Lake Sevan)

Epic 110 (Trail Run Azores Sao Miguel)

Running books:

Can't Hurt Me and Never Finished by David Goggins

Eat & Run by Scott Jurek

Any book written by Kilian Jornet or Emelie Forstberg

Podcast she mentions:

Freetrail with host Dylan Bowman

You can follow Magdalena on Instagram (The Magdalorian) and, of course, on Strava.

Huge thank you to Magdalena for sharing her passion for ultra running and endurance sports with me.

If you want to find out how you can improve your English, listening or reading about running stories, visit my web page and hit the subscribe button: https://englishforthelongrun.com

Bye for now, and enjoy English for the long run!

Living Life by Scott Holmes Music

I "met" Ozkan Mehmet on Linkedin. He posted a photo with a pile of books I fell in love with.

I saw titles like "Chi Running", "The Science of Running" and was intrigued by them. I also liked something he wrote: A marathon is not a challenge. It is the way.

What we talk about:

* Leaving Cyprus for Australia at the age of 19

* Some great races in Australia

* At what age he started running

* The sunrise to sunset Marathon around Lake Hovsgol in Mongolia

* Why running slow marathons is the best

Huge Thank You to Ozkan for sharing his story with me.

If you want to find out how you can improve your English, listening or reading about running stories, visit my web page and hit the subscribe button: https://englishforthelongrun.com

Bye for now, and enjoy English for the long run!

Living Life by Scott Holmes Music

Gina Little is a 77 year-young runner from Greenwich, London. A couple of weeks ago she became the oldest female runner to finish all six Abott World Marathon Majors and earned the six-star finisher medal.

(FYI: the Abbott World Marathon Majors is a series of six of the largest and most renowned marathons in the world: Tokyo, Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago and New York City.)

Gina has run the Berlin Marathon 31 times and the London Marathon 38 times (the most ever by a British woman).

In 2021, she finished third in the 75 to 79 age category at the Abbott World Marathon Majors Wanda Age Group World Championships.

She ran her Personal Best (3.26) at the age of 48.

So far, she has run 602 marathons and on December 3 you'll find her on the starting line of the Lanzarote International Marathon.

What we talk about:

- What inspired her to run her first London marathon in 1983

- What running and the running community mean to her

- Her fitness routine (sooo much more than running)

- Marathon number 600

- Her goals and dreams for the future

Huge THANK YOU to Gina Little for sharing her passion and running wisdom with me.

She is not a big fan of social media, but you can find Gina (of course) on Strava.

If you want to find out how you can improve your English listening or reading about running stories, visit my web page and hit the subscribe button: https://englishforthelongrun.com

Bye for now, and enjoy English for the long run!

Living Life by Scott Holmes Music

Today's guest is Lola Guindal, a multipassionate woman, a so-called "jack of all trades". She is a translator, interpreter and English language trainer, but also a fervent Real Madrid fan, a loving wife and a mom of three.

BTW: she is the first guest on this podcast who is not a runner! She tried to get into running several times in the past but she just could not keep motivated.

So running maybe not her thing, but this doesn't stop her from talking about some fascinating similarities between running and language learning.

What we talk about:

- Messi vs Cristiano Ronaldo (from a language learning perspective)

- Similarities between running and language learning

- Motivation and the benefits of allowing yourself to be a beginner

- Conversation classes: why they don't work and why they are a waste of time

- Some powerful interpreter training techniques that actually do work

- Good Enough vs Perfection

- Lola's number 1 tip to improve your English that is, curiously, also American long-distance runner Des Linden's mantra while running!

The book Lola has on her night stand:

- "Beginners" by Tom Vanderbilt

The other books she recommends:

- "The Motivation Hacker" (Nick Winter)

- "Atomic Habits" (James Clear)

The TEDTalk she talks about:

- Your Body Language May Shape Who You Are (Amy Cuddy) - fake it till you make it

You can find Lola Guindal on

Twitter: @lapiedrarosetta

Web: www.lapiedrarosetta.com

HUGE THANK YOU to Lola Guindal for sharing her knowledge on language learning from an interpreter and lifelong learner's perspective.

If you want to find out how you can improve your English, listening or reading about running stories, visit my web page and hit the subscribe button: https://englishforthelongrun.com

Bye for now, and enjoy English for the long run!

Living Life by Scott Holmes Music

Today I have the pleasure to chat with Michael Crawley.

Michael is a social anthropologist from Scotland who spent 15 months living and training with Ethiopian athletes.

He wrote an insightful book about it called "Out Of Thin Air: Running Wisdom and Magic from Above the Clouds in Ethiopia" (Bloomsbury, 2020). It has already been translated into Japanese, Taiwanese, Italian, Hungarian and is about to be published in Czech as well.

"Out of thin air" is his brilliant account of living for 15 months in Addis Ababa with a group of Ethiopian athletes; he is there as a social anthropologist but also as an international-level runner.

Michael gets up at 4:30 am, 6 days a week, and runs with some of the best young athletes of Ethiopia.

He learns the Amharic language, hangs out with the runners after training and tries to get as much research done as possible. By doing this, he discovers a completely different approach towards running but also builds a strong bond with the group.

Some Ethiopian Running Wisdom Takeaways he shares in his book:

- Try to keep your running routine as creative and adventurous as possible

- Leave your GPS Watch at home more often. Don't depend too much on data

- Be patient and consistent

- Train with a group because energy is shared and seen as something trans-bodily

- Train on different surfaces, avoid asphalt as much as possible and get off the beaten track to keep things fun and enjoyable

You can find the book on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Out-Thin-Air-Running-Ethiopia/dp/1472975324

I read the kindle version but the printed version is a work of art. The cover is a wonderful drawing of artist Eliza Southwood (https://www.elizasouthwood.com/) and in the book you find great colour photos of Michael's time in Ethiopia.

You can find Michael Crawley on Strava, Instagram (Mikecrawl) and on Twitter (@mphcrawley).

Huge thank you to Michael Crawley for sharing his story with me!

If you want to find out how you can improve your English, listening or reading about running stories, visit my web page and hit the subscribe button: https://englishforthelongrun.com

Bye for now, and enjoy English for the long run!

Living Life by Scott Holmes Music

Today I'm joined by Claus Henning-Schulke, better known as Bottle Claus. He is a 56 year old German amateur triathlete who became famous last Sunday, September the 25th, during the BMW Berlin Marathon.

Claus took care of handing over Eliud Kipchoge's bottles at every aid station.

I'm sure you have seen videos of him, handing over the bottles to the flying Kenyan, celebrating the moment and then jumping on his bike to the next aid station.

Claus has provided this service for Kipchoge on three occasions, including during his previous 2018 world record.

We talk about what it means to be the official bottle hander for the Greatest of All Times (GOAT), how it actually works and what can go wrong (TONS of things).

Claus' enthusiasm is contagious and when you listen to our conversation I'm sure he will put a smile on your face!

We also talk about the triathlete and marathoner behind Bottle Claus and his own sports achievements and upcoming adventures.

Eliud Kipchoge said the following about Claus in 2018:

"My biggest remembrance of Berlin is the guy who was handing me my bottles, still my hero up to now. The way he was handling and acting and talking was unbelievable". Wow!

Huge thank you to Claus for giving a glimpse behind the scenes of how important and exhausting the job of a Bottle hander really is.

You can find Claus Henning-Schulke aka Bottle Claus on instagram: Bottle_Claus

And on Youtube there are several great videos of his performance, like this one "Best Moments of Bottle Claus": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MSoP4Z4z7o

If you want to find out how you can improve your English, listening or reading about running stories, visit my web page and hit the subscribe button: https://englishforthelongrun.com

Bye for now, and enjoy English for the long run!

Living Life by Scott Holmes Music

Veronika Haas (Vroni) is a 36-year-old competitive ultra runner, who grew up in Fels am Wagram in Lower Austria.

She holds two PhDs, one in Philosophy and one in Latin but, surprisingly, she made her student job, as an Aerobic and Fitness trainer, her main job.

She got married in 2021 and she became a mom, but this did not stop her from running and only 3 months after the birth of her daughter she ran her first half marathon!

She lives in Austria and Israel where she participated in several competitions and even won some of them this year.

Three words express her life pillars: Motivation, Movement and Goal setting.

We talk about language learning, Philosphy and running, her love for very long runs, the best races in Austria and Israel, her job as a fitness trainer and finding a balance between being a mom and an ultra runner.

The races she recommends in Austria:

Ötscher and Großglockner:

https://www.oetschermarathon.at/

https://www.ultratrail.at/

and another race in Austria, is the very traditional Wolfgangseelauf: http://www.wolfgangseelauf.at/

The races she recommends in Israel

https://www.marathonisrael.co.il/event_location/israel/

You can find Vroni on

Instagram: vroni.run

FB: Veronika Haas

homepage: www.vroni.run

Huge Thank You to Vroni for sharing her story with me!

If you want to find out how you can improve your English, listening or reading about running stories, visit my web page and hit the subscribe button: https://englishforthelongrun.com

Bye for now, and enjoy English for the long run!

Living Life by Scott Holmes Music

Mara Yamauchi (1973) is one of UK's fastest female marathon runners of all time, with a Personal Best of 2:23:12. She is also a two time Olympian.

She was born in Oxford but lived in Kenya until she was eight years old.

Mara joined the British Foreign Office in 1996, but she kept on running and won the English National Cross Country Championship in 1998.

From 2003 to 2006 she started working part-time as a diplomat, while doing serious training and trying to become a world class athlete.

In 2006, she became a full-time athlete at the age of 33, first in Japan, then in London.

After retiring, she has been working as a commentator, coach and writer.

This year her book came out: Marathon Wisdom, An Elite Athlete's Insights on Running and Life. I absolutely LOVED it and read it twice in one week!

Marathon Wisdom offers 42.195 valuable insights, all backed up by Mara's experiences as an elite marathon runner. It is also good read for non-native speakers of English: the chapters are short and the language is straightforward.

What we talk about:

- Mara's childhood in Nairobi (Kenya)

- Her childhood dream of becoming a world class athlete

- How she learned Japanese and the Japanese word "Gaman"

- Distance running in Japan and the lessons she learned from Japanese runners

- Her insightful book

- Her love for Parkrun

You can buy Marathon Wisdom, an Elite Athlete's Insights on Running and Life on Amazon, www.bookshop.org, Waterstones, Meyer and Meyer Sport and via Mara Yamauchi's website: https://www.marayamauchi.com

For more info on Mara Yamauchi:

https://www.marayamauchi.com

She is also on twitter, linkedin, instagram and facebook

Huge THANK YOU to Mara Yamauchi for sharing her remarkable story with me.

If you want to find out how you can improve your English, listening or reading about running stories, visit my web page and hit the subscribe button: https://englishforthelongrun.com

Bye for now, and enjoy English for the long run!

Living Life by Scott Holmes Music