Running Commentary

By Rob Deering and Paul Tonkinson

Sports & Recreation

What's Running Commentary about?

Comedians Paul Tonkinson and Rob Deering talk about life and comedy - but mainly running. Whilst running. Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/runningcommentary. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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LAST EPISODE

Brighton Briefing

03.30.2023

With Rob's Brighton Marathon coming up, Paul and Rob talk preparation - and execution. Featuring taper talk, pace plans, moderating mileage, curating carbs, Rob's reservations, finishing fine, multiple marathons in no more than a month, and a strange new take ...

Running Commentary episodes:

03.30.2023 Brighton Briefing With Rob's Brighton Marathon coming up, Paul and Rob talk preparation - and execution. Featuring taper talk, pace plans, moderating mileage, curating carbs, Rob's reservations, finishing fine, multiple marathons in no more than a month, and a strange new take ...
03.23.2023 Rob Down Rob's having a bit of a nightmare but Rudi's work search is going well on this muddy run round Finsbury Park and the reservoirs. Featuring a pet heron, a drop-and-roll, the Oscars, other comedians' trials and tribulations, gig-and-parkrun report, a ...
03.16.2023 More Things In Heaven And Earth... And Hampstead Rob and Paul take their new recorders for a freezing cold, snowy trot round Hampstead Heath, featuring little birds singing and small dogs yapping, runs up Norwegian mountains and around midlands parks - but not at events - Paul's adventures ...
03.09.2023 Trying Something ‘New’ There are some exciting trails between Crouch End and Highgate, apparently, and in this episode Paul and Rob head off up 'em. Featuring finding your people, Rob's son turning eighteen, Paul's son walking the creative road, gig report, the joy ...
03.02.2023 Q&A 2023 Part Two Our Q&A; special continues! In this instalment Rob and Paul talk about great advice, sub-20 parkruns, running in books and movies, medals and events, that pre-marathon long run, the perfect event and a potential Deering-Yelling jaw-off. Meanwhile, a woman runs ...
02.23.2023 Q&A 2023 Part One In the first part of our Q&A; special, Rob and Paul wrestle with all the big subjects: coming back after illness and injury, food - whether you're feasting or fuelling, drink - from electrolytes to two-bottle-Sundays, perfect places to run, ...
02.16.2023 Wanstead? Twicestead More Like Paul's back, and on a beautiful morning he and Rob head to Wanstead Park for a lovely turn through the woods and round the lakes there. Featuring Paul's trip to Ireland, Rob chasing mileage, the mirror-like lakes and grassy swards ...
02.09.2023 Catching Up With Kate Carter Paul is away having adventures, so runner extraordinaire, world record holder and erstwhile friend-of-the-show Kate Carter steps in for a sunny turn around beautiful Battersea Park. Featuring memories of running on an empty tank, gatecrashing a movie set, the blessing ...
02.02.2023 We Like Spike Paul and Rob take their monthly turn around Hampstead Heath, and talk about preparations for their 10k and Half Marathon in March - but only after they've covered spousal socials, Steven Spielberg, good and bad gigs, dogs and dinosaurs, Henry, ...
01.26.2023 Still January A classic Parkland Walk catch-up in the January chill. Featuring Rob's 10k report - and Paul's 10k plans - talking Ultras and Water Bras at the National Running Show, argumentative compadrés, dog grooming, winter underfoot, boiler trouble and the culture ...
01.19.2023 On The Frosty Marshes Sub-zero temperatures and winter sunshine as Paul and Rob take a turn through frost-covered Walthamstow and Hackney Marshes. Featuring icy beauty, all kinds of birds, gig, run and booze reports, 10k prep or the lack thereof, dramatic river scenes, Ultra ...
01.12.2023 A Journey Of 26.2 Miles Begins With The First Step Paul and Rob take advantage of a brief break in January's demoralising weather to take a turn round Finsbury Park. Featuring new shorts, Paul's Daughter's 10k, Rob's first parkrun of the year, that second-week-of-January feeling, new year, new projects, and ...
01.05.2023 New Year, Same Old Us As rain clouds gather, the slopes and woods of leafy North London see Paul and Rob's first run of the year. Featuring the full Christmas and New Year's Eve report - dinner, shopping, relatives, shows, cocktails, watching Happy Valley - ...
12.29.2022 There Goes ‘22, Here Comes ‘23 Happy New Year everyone! Thank you so much for listening, and for sharing your running lives with us in 2022; here's to more fantastic adventures ahead. In this episode Rob and Paul take a look back at all their wanderings, ...
12.22.2022 Decrepit at Christmas It's chriiistmaaas... and Rob and Paul are in a bit of a state in this seasonal slice of shenanigans. Featuring football fun, surprise celebrities, the long coach ride to Scotland, crowd control, in praise of The Holiday and other festive ...
12.15.2022 Snowmen With snow and ice underfoot and Paul nursing a back twinge, Rob and Paul take a very leisurely Jeff round Finsbury Park, the New River and Woodberry Wetlands; of course, walking rather than running means they can go where they ...
12.08.2022 Into Darkness As the Winter Solstice looms and the sun sets before 5pm, Paul and Rob head into the darkening woods. Featuring being seen at night, Rob's Wales running report, Paul's gigs for religious folk, various entertainingly interactive strangers, whether England will ...
12.01.2022 Birthday Thoughts From The Heath It's Rob's actual birthday, so Paul and he take to Hampstead Heath for their monthly state-of-things run a couple of days early - and are rewarded with glorious sunshine. Featuring far-away gigs, party report, Paul's present, slippery surfaces, wonderful wives, ...
11.24.2022 One Of Those Weeks Paul and Rob went to a brand new place, recorded a wonderful episode... and lost it, so it's back to the Parkland Walk and Queens Wood for a re-record that turns out to be a lot of fun. Featuring drinking ...
11.17.2022 Richmond Park With Gavin Boyter On a November morning to beat them all, Rob once again meets writer, runner and adventure-seeker Gavin Boyter, this time for a loop of beautiful Richmond Park. Featuring midlife madness, lockdown lunacy, turning fifty, mixing it up running-wise, inappropriate clothing, ...
11.10.2022 Rob's Marathon 2: Lost In New York Rob's New York City Marathon was tough, but what an adventure. Naturally, he and Paul take to Clissold Park's gentle woodchips for the debrief. Featuring late departures, early starts, pratfalls, celebrities, partial nudity, sore nipples and cheering - lots of ...
11.03.2022 November Begins On The Heath As November begins, Paul and Rob take to Hampstead Heath to review their current situation. Featuring the history of Halloween, what not to wear in Bahrain, art review and parkrun report combined, birds and trees and surprisingly nice weather, sundry ...
10.27.2022 That Monday Morning Feeling After various adventures, Paul and Rob are back on the Parkland Walk, somewhat hungover, like old times. Featuring fallen trees, gut stories, fast moving politics, deep tissue massage, Shake With Laughter for Parkinson's UK, moving in opposite directions, shaping up ...
10.20.2022 Rob Goes For Gold In Yorkshire Paul and Rob meet either side of the Yorkshire Marathon - but not the Scarborough 10k - for the predictions and then the debrief. Featuring antiques in Clissold Park, Paul's priorities, Rob's feeling of detachment, deer, magpies and jays, and ...
10.13.2022 Helping Out At Highbury At long last, Rob and Paul volunteer at a parkrun. On a beautiful autumn morning, they take on the heavy responsibility of counting down the start - and tailwalking - at Highbury Fields' 500th event. Featuring a dewy dawn, parkrunners ...
10.06.2022 October On The Heath Marathon stories and other news on Hampstead Heath as October begins. Featuring spectator emotions, the poop deck of the Cutty Sark, celebrating the final finishers, streamlining for Scarborough, Runner's World, dogs, daughters, drinking, eating, heating, gig reports and an incredible ...
09.29.2022 Helen Thorn Like a TV Drama after the watershed, Helen Thorn arrives with a compelling narrative - and strong language from the start. The Get Divorced - Be Happy author and one half of the Scummy Mummies is about to run her ...
09.22.2022 Falling With Style Paul has been caught up in the emotional moment as Her Majesty The Queen was laid to rest, while Rob's been having a few emotional moments of his own touring round the country. Featuring The Queue, a feline fatality, highs ...
09.15.2022 Thank You Marshal, Farewell Your Majesty With the nation in mourning - or at least limbo - Rob and a very hungover Paul return to Finsbury Park for their lightly hilly two-lap parkrun. Featuring sundry irreverence, the powers and limitations of social networks, being home alone, ...
09.08.2022 Debrief On The Heath It's time for the boys to get back out on Hampstead Heath and address the new month. Paul's done some classic gigs, Rob did the Big Half, and they've both watched their families dive into the new school term one ...
09.01.2022 A Sunday Run Paul and Rob are reunited in Finsbury Park on a sunny Sunday morning, and they talk parkrun, motivation, falling down and getting up again, knees, festivals, '90s music, Sunday league football and how there's always another wave. Thank you for ...
08.25.2022 In Nunhead With The Felix Project's Charlotte Hill Rob goes for a run in Nunhead, south-east London, with Charlotte Hill - CEO of The Felix Project - who's running in their relay team at The Big Half next month. They talk training, chat-running, walking the hills, and how ...
08.18.2022 The Boys Are Back In Town In the last hours of the heatwave - an extended, thundering deluge hit north London just hours after this run - Rob and Paul get back to the Walk and the Woods to catch up after a few weeks of ...
08.12.2022 In Edinburgh With Mark Watson Paul is in Canada - and Rob finds himself in Scotland - so polymath, friend-of-the-show and Edinburgh Festival legend Mark Watson stands in (well, runs in) for Paul in a special Caledonian edition. Featuring,all the classic stuff: banter, gig reports, ...
08.04.2022 Long Summer Run - Part Two Rob and Paul's long run continues on to beautiful Hampstead Heath, where thoughts and chat turn to the future, as a new month begins, kids come of age, and Rob heads for the half century. Thank you for sharing your ...
07.28.2022 Long Summer Run - Part One Refreshingly, Paul and Rob are both pretty fit, so they set off on a long run. Not Ultra Marathon-long, of course... Featuring adventures for Paul in Dubai and for Rob at the Podiatrist, treadmill tension as Rob questions some of ...
07.21.2022 Rob Runs On Once again safely on Clissold Park's soft surfaces, Rob gives Paul the full report on the second day of his Race To The Stones adventure. Featuring support teams, morris dancing, campsite rage, wet hats, Barack Obama, tears, indie rock, pasties, ...
07.13.2022 The Race To The Stones The excitement is palpable on the start line, but how will Rob and Paul's Race To The Stones adventures play out? Featuring early starts, picturesque woodland, beautiful birds, walking up the hills, walking down the hills, friends old and new, ...
07.07.2022 Preparations and Predictions Just days before the Race To The Stones, Paul and Rob take a traditional turn around Clissold Park's soft surfaces and discuss their readiness - or lack thereof. Featuring shoe review, how carrying is a carry-on, maranoia and other pre-event ...
06.30.2022 Longer Every Time A long run on the longest day of the year, as Paul and Rob reflect on and test their respective Race To The Stones readiness - and, along with Steve, realise the ramifications of recording such long runs! Featuring gig ...
06.23.2022 Midsummer Marshes Rob's already run many a mile and Paul's still favouring soft surfaces - how will this affect their Race To The Stones plans? Also featuring Tonks' yoga schedule, Rob's running adventures in Wales and parkrun report, Paul's Father-in-Law's blasé attitude ...
06.16.2022 Walk The Hills And Crawl The Rest On Rob and Paul's now-traditional monthly turn about Hampstead Heath, Rob describes his high-mileage, regular parkrun training schedule ahead of the Race to The Stones - and Paul lays out his radical plan. Also featuring parkrun report, bird lectures, and ...
06.09.2022 With More Fuel You Author Renee McGregor In the beautiful countryside around Bradford-On-Avon in Wiltshire, Rob runs with Renee McGregor, sports dietitian and author of More Fuel You: Understanding Your Body and How To Fuel Your Adventures. On a perfect day - and with perfect timing as ...
06.02.2022 An Unwelcome Return To Soft Surfaces Rob has stories to tell of high mileage and faraway parkruns, but Paul's legs are showing a bit of the old trouble, on a brief and ginger run/walk round - you've guessed it - Clissold Park. Featuring boozy taxi drivers, ...
05.26.2022 Long Run Hangin' Part Two Part two: with the Race To The Stones looming, Paul and Rob head out for a longer run on the closest routes to trails their locale can offer. Featuring sudden bad weather, ways to run fast when you're old, humanity ...
05.19.2022 Long Run Hangin' Part One With the Race To The Stones looming, Paul and Rob head out for a longer run on the closest routes to trails their locale can offer. Featuring inappropriate preparation, snack testing, parkrun report, tales from the road, Rob's many ailments, ...
05.12.2022 Natalie Haynes (It Rains) With Paul poorly, a game Natalie Haynes steps in for an extremely damp trot around Regents Park. Featuring Homer, waterfowl, beautiful trees, returning to live performance after lockdown, returning to running fitness after covid, and all kinds of journeys home, ...
05.05.2022 May The Third Be With You Rob and Paul's state-of-the-union run around Hampstead Heath on the first Tuesday of the month has become a Running Commentary tradition in 2022, although this is the first time the first point of business has been the state of Rob's ...
04.28.2022 A Run In The Sunshine, And A Place Where The Sun Doesn't Shine On an absolutely stunning morning for a turn round Ally Pally and Highgate-and-Queens Woods, Rob shares his... personal troubles. Featuring the age-old problem of where to keep your awards, parkrun report, maturity and whether Paul and Rob are ever likely ...
04.21.2022 A Marathon and a Reunion On an absolute stunner of a Spring morning, Paul and Rob pootle up the Parkland Walk to the wonderful woods. Featuring Paula and Steve - but not the real ones, unfortunately - Paul's holiday running, Rob's long-awaited return to parkrun, ...

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