Running on Joy

This is the second in-the-field episode of a series following the FareWays project, a collaboration between the Big Hoof, Running on Joy and the British Pilgrimage Trust. FareWays aims to connect people to the outdoors through long-distance journeys on foot and horse along the old ways of the UK for the benefits of their mental and physical health.

This July, our core team of four set out on a 200 mile adventure across St Columba’s Way in Scotland to raise money for the incredible work of the Venture Trust and specifically their new Outdoor Therapy Program, supporting the mental health of vulnerable 16 to 25 year-olds and ex service personnel. Our aim was to break down what a runner, rider or hiker should look like and to open conversations around the benefits of a reciprocal relationship to nature and mindful, slow travel. 

Over the next few months, Running on Joy will be bringing you some of these stories, along with personal reflections and interviews with patrons and collaborators. If you feel inspired, you can find out about future FareWays projects and how to support our fundraising efforts at www.thebighoof.com/fareways. 

In this episode, I connect with Gavin the head fundraiser of the Venture Trust, as well a some of the service users who joined us for a day on our journey. There are some simultaneously moving and hilarious reflections on what it means to truly walk alongside someone.

With thanks to: The Jeremy Willson Charitable Trust, Gravis Advisory, Fera GB and Firepot Food for their generous support of the journey across Scotland.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Running on Joy brings you the first in-the-field episode of a series following the FareWays project. A collaboration between the Big Hoof and the British Pilgrimage Trust, FareWays aims to connect people to the outdoors through long-distance journeys on foot and horse along the old ways of the UK for the benefits of their mental and physical health.

This July, a core team of four set out on a 200-mile adventure across St Columba’s Way in Scotland to raise money for the incredible work of the Venture Trust – specifically their new Outdoor Therapy Program, which supports the mental health of vulnerable 16 to 25 year-olds and ex-service personnel. The aim was to break down what a runner, rider or hiker should look like and to open conversations around the benefits of a reciprocal relationship to nature and mindful, slow travel. 

It was a life-affirming journey as we experienced the incredible kindness of strangers and, what became known as The Big Hoof Gang, changed and grew as people from all walks of life joined us, each with their own tales to tell. We were also able to witness the work of the Venture Trust first hand as a group of their staff and service users joined us for a memorable day which started with leading six horses through central Perth and finished with hugs, smiles, tears and soggy sandwiches in the rain after a morning of walking, laughing and exchanging stories along the river.

Over the next few months, Running on Joy will be bringing you some of these stories, along with personal reflections and interviews with patrons and collaborators. If you feel inspired, you can find out about future FareWays projects and how to support our fundraising efforts at www.thebighoof.com/fareways. 

In this episode, Francesca, Jake and Louis take a break from two days of pavement pounding and reflect on their experiences thus far; the challenges ahead; what it means to walk alongside others towards a common goal, and the relief and liberation that the comparative simplicity of putting one foot in front of the other brings. Some time is also dedicated to Jake choking on a sandwich, which has been retained for authentic effect.

With thanks to: The Jeremy Willson Charitable Trust, Gravis Advisory, Fera GB and Firepot Food for their generous support of the journey across Scotland.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Joy is...Passing the Baton.

What does running sound like to you? For Jimmy Watkins it’s cackling with laughter, pounding the trails to punk rock whilst waving around a GoPro and shouting like he's being pursued by a mad pack of hyenas. It’s certainly a far cry from the Kansas of treadmill running, but not out of character for someone who has formed a community for the people that ‘don’t fit in’ to the traditional assumptions of what a club runner should look and sound like. In 2006, Jimmy reached the 800m final in the World Indoor Athletics Championships and set a Welsh indoor record, only to leave the sport, join a band and tour the world. More recently, he's found his way back to running by combining it with his passion for punk rock. It is through this unlikely union that he has finally found an anarchic, joyful harmony that has brought him the freedom to truly use his talents to spread a mutual love of music, running, and being alive with the world.

There were moments of mad hyena cackling and moments of incredible poignancy in this conversation, which pretty much reflects Jimmy as person: he puts everything out there with a sincerity that is never contrived or derivative; it is simply Jimmy – all of it. We talked about the nature of competition; the joy and motivation of absurdity; navigating the grief of losing what you love and how creativity (and Kendrick Lamar) can teach us to love again; the philosophy of ‘flipping’, and why we should always, in the words of Joan Didion, ‘stay on nodding terms with the person we once were’.

Instagram: @nutbushjimmylimits

You Tube: @jimmywatkins800

Running Punks: www.runningpunks.com

Also mentioned:

Joyce (teaser)

Comedy Huel Review

Running Reviews

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Joy is...Your Heart Bursting.

This is the second episode of a series following the FareWays project, a collaboration between the Big Hoof, Running on Joy and The British Pilgrimage Trust, which aims to connect people to the outdoors through long distance journeys on foot and horse along the old pilgrims' routes of the UK, for the benefits of their mental and physical health. This July, our core team are setting out on our first 200-mile adventure along St Columba’s Way in Scotland, raising money for the incredible work of the Venture Trust and specifically their new Outdoor Therapy Programme for 16- to 25-year-old sand ex service personnel. We are inviting others to join us on our journey for however long and in whatever way they can in the hope of breaking down assumptions of what a runner, rider or hiker should look like and to open conversations around the benefits of our relationship to Nature and mindful slow travel. Details of how to financially support the project or join the journey and contribute to fundraising efforts can be found below. Every little that you can give really does count towards changing the lives of vulnerable young people, some of whom will also be joining us for two days on this first journey, thanks to your support.

Running on Joy will be following the adventure and there will be some incredible conversations and in-the-field storytelling emerging over the coming months, as well as interviews with patrons and collaborators connected to the project, each of whom have amazing stories and adventures of their own.

Dr. Guy Hayward is our first patron interview. He started off as a chorister at Cambridge University, where he took a PhD in music. However, eschewing an academic career, he decided to tread a more intersectional pathway, exploring the rich melting pot of spirituality, psychology, the arts, nature and religion. From this melting pot has emerged The British Pilgrimage Trust, of which Guy is the founder, a charity that works to open ancient pilgrimage routes around the UK and initiate conversations around how we engage with our Christian heritage, even if we are not traditional Christians. The BPT is about helping people to re-connect to and re-enchant the land in an accessible and multi-faceted manner. Guy has also worked on the revival of evensong in the UK, launching a website where people can find local evensong services near them, and go along and listen to the beautiful music, free of charge. 

Guy is someone who makes your mind crackle and we dug around in the weeds philosophically for this one, but this is ultimately a conversation about bringing light to people's eyes, about what heart-led intentional living truly means and about how we might learn to unthink, rewild, spend time, take breaths and fall into rhythm with each other and the magic of the landscape around us.

With thanks to sponsors and partners of the FareWays project: The Jeremy Willson Charitable Trust, Gravis Advisory, Fera GB, Firepot Food, and The British Pilgrimage Trust.

Donate to FareWays here.

Join the journey and fundraise here.

Find out more about Guy here and the British Pilgrimage Trust here.

Also mentioned: Bounder and Cad and Choral Evensong

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Joy is...A Noun.

There are a lot of misconceptions and misunderstandings when it comes to running and pregnancy. From the time a woman finds out she is pregnant to the postpartum period and beyond, her body goes through an intense array of changes and there is both limited and conflicting information about what activities are appropriate for her and when. It’s only really been the past few years that recommendations have evolved from being either too restrictive during pregnancy, to the exact opposite 6-weeks postpartum.

Rachel Selman is a Georgia-based physical therapist, specialising in pregnant and postpartum athletes, who is tackling this information and support gap head on. A mum and runner herself, she is the co-founder of the fitness app ‘Stirrups to Sit-ups’, which aims to help new mums heal in the right way without having to navigate the minefield of internet advice as they try to figure out how their running will be affected by pregnancy and childbirth. 

Rachel is generous with both her wisdom and her own personal story, bringing both heart and science in her mission to ensure that other women do not feel alone. This interview is not only rich in practical advice but is also a call to action for recognition that this is all part of a vital conversation around women’s bodies. It’s a conversation about ownership, autonomy and self-identity; it's about equipping women with the language and confidence to advocate for themselves. Please listen, please share because this is not just about running – it’s about freedom and it’s about choice and the freedom that choice brings when we feel fully seen and heard as a whole, multi-faceted human. Because being a woman isn’t about limitation, it’s about opportunity.

@synthesisphysicaltherapy

@stirrupstositups

stirrupstositups.com

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Joy is...Oscillations.

For this live episode Running on Joy went ‘on the road’ to link up with a group of very special people who have been of incredible support to the podcast the past year. Camino Ultra is a London-based ultra running and coaching crew that put on a unique series of 50k races within London. Since their founding, their mission has been to create and inspire runners to seek out trails in the city, to help skill runners to track and navigate away from the concrete, and to empower the belief that longer runs can help you open up to ways of self-discovery.

The Camino crew has been running ultramarathons around the globe for over a decade but they also appreciate how important it is to look for local-based events that don’t have the same impact on the planet we all love. Their intention has been to make it as easy as possible for people to join an ultra by staying local to their home city, with adventure, exploration, opportunity, and inclusivity at their core.

Running on Joy joined David Bone, Camino Co-Founder, and Patrick Insole, a regular Blueways runner and supporter, to explore one of their Blueways routes along London’s Historic Canals. In total, Camino have designed twelve trail routes that get emailed to challengers to complete in their own time. The routes cover all four areas of the city, giving the London Blueways subscribers a real opportunity to experience all the best that the city has to offer from a Blue perspective: think parks and green areas that are adjacent to rivers, lakes, ponds and canals. As an added bonus, they are collaborating with many of London's finest water spaces to also offer open water swimming opportunities on many of their monthly social runs.

So much went wrong in the course of making this episode: there was wind, there was drilling, there was the small incident of Francesca falling over a few minutes after meeting...somehow, however, all of these beautiful imperfections epitomised a lot of the equally beautiful conversations that unfolded over the course of the morning. It really gets to the heart of what Camino is about in the fact that, from the moment that the first smiles and hugs were shared, there was a sense of implicit trust, acceptance and belonging; there was never any question of not following where David led because, wherever he steered, felt safe.

During the 'walk, run, observe', this notion of safety came up a lot. What does it mean to feel safe enough to be vulnerable, to be open to connection, to let go of limiting assumptions, to challenge ourselves? Camino has a mantra of sorts: 'never do nothing'. With safety and with trust we can all take one small step on the path less travelled, one small step into the unknown, one small step into realising something new about ourselves and the world around us.

And so, as you immerse yourself in the full, imperfect soundscape of the Blueway (wind, drills, tumbles, children and all), see it as an opportunity: to slow down, to tune in, to pay attention and experience what it is to truly listen to what is being said.

Follow: @camino_ultra

Join: www.caminoultra.com

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Joy is...Trust.

This is the first of a special series from Running on Joy following the FareWays project.

A collaboration between The Big Hoof Charity and The British Pilgrimage Trust, FareWays aims to connect people to the outdoors through long distance journeys on foot and horse, for the benefits of their mental and physical health. The core team of four are therefore inviting others to join them, be it for a morning, a day, or a week and in whatever way is accessible to them: hiking, running, riding or cycling. The first adventure is along St Columba’s Way, raising money for the incredible work of the Venture Trust with their Outdoor Therapy Programme. 

There will be some incredible conversations and in-the-field storytelling emerging over the coming months but, with this first chapter, we start at the very beginning of the journey with the origins of the project, its aims and mission, and introduce Louis, Kiki and Francesca, their stories, motivations and vision.

You can find out more on how to join the St Columba's Way adventure and donate to the Big Hoof here: www.thebighoof.com/fareways

Follow along here: @thebighoof

With thanks to FareWays sponsors and partners The Jeremy Willson Charitable Trust, Gravis Advisory, Fera GB, Firepot Food and The British Pilgrimage Trust.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Brendan Leonard is a writer, illustrator, adventurer, filmmaker, and the creator of Semi-Rad.com, not so much a website but a channel for, in his own words: ‘things regular folks can do, adventures for the every-person. It’s a web site for those of us crushing it, kind of.’ 

Since a problematic relationship with alcohol led to a stint in rehab, at age 23, Brendan has gone on to get a master’s degree, cycle across America, author 11 (ish) books, create award winning short films, speak to international audiences, run 52 marathons in a year and multiple 100 mile ultramarathons. His editorial work has appeared in Alpinist, CNN, Outside, Men’s Journal, National Geographic Adventure, Backpacker, Adventure Cyclist and dozens of other publications, and his clients have included La Sportiva, Strava and Arc’teryx.

These are heady accolades; however, it is Brendan's wry, self-deprecating humour and relatability that has earned his essays, cartoons and infograms such a dedicated following. He makes you realise how ridiculous life is, not just his life but everyone’s life. Yes, he writes and draws about running, but he also writes about eggs and dog food and washing dishes, and perhaps all these things are metaphors for more fundamental reflections on life or, maybe, to quote his essay on the topic, they are in fact ‘just about cooking eggs and that’s enough’.  

The mark of a great conversation is that you sort of forget where it started, where it's heading and what you ate along the way. In this one, we talked a lot about humour, not a lot about running and perhaps too much about a raisin. I laughed so much to the point of tears throughout our time together and, at the point of tears, laughed too, because, well, you either laugh or quit – right? Brendan has this magical, understated, goofy way of talking about pizza whilst also making you realise that life comes down to some very simple choices: do we choose inaction or participation; anger or joy; laughter or quitting? He's worked a lot of that out by hating running, drawing some mediocre things (his words not mine) and continuing to fail at frying eggs. So it follows that the question we should then be asking ourselves is: if he can, surely we can too?

@semi_rad

www.semi-rad.com

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Joy is...Being Yourself.

Michael Doughty is a former professional footballer and co-founder of Hylo Athletics –– a brand on a mission to put considerations for the planet at the heart of the conversation around sport, starting with their renewable, carbon-negative and recyclable trainers.

A lot of our conversation was about communication itself: how we open ourselves to discomfort. hold ourselves accountable and speak from a place of objectivity and truth.

For Michael such communication starts with the love, gratitude and joy that can be found through embodied movement, allowing us to make the choices that determine who we are, how we represent ourselves and who we have the potential to be.

@michaeldoughty_

@hyloathletics

www.hyloathletics.com

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This episode is the first in a collaboration with Kendal Mountain Festival, the UK's main social gathering for outdoor enthusiasts, whose mission to 'inspire more people to explore, respect and represent mountains, wilderness and their cultures' is very much in keeping with the Running on Joy ethos.

Sophie Pavelle is a zoologist and science communicator, whose first book, Forget Me Not, explores the lesser-known species threatened by climate breakdown in the UK. With a down to earth, fresh writing style, Sophie takes the reader on a low-carbon journey, travelling the length and breadth of the British Isles to seek out ten animals and habitats threatened by climate change in the 21st century, ranging from seagrass and salmon to Mountain Hares. Forget Me Not is a simultaneously funny, accessible and thought-provoking, passionate call to action and a reminder that we all have a part to play in protecting the magic of the land around us; indeed, we really can’t afford not to.

Sophie is a sensitive and empathetic voice who makes you want to take time to be and breathe and reconnect with a less 'filtered' way of encountering the ancient wisdom of our day-to-day existence. We spoke a lot about love: the difference between true, unconditional love and romanticism and how the former is both a means and manifesto for living life with the kind of reciprocal compassion that will ultimately bring about long-term reparation and change in our relationship with the world.

Instagram: @sophiepavs

Website: www.sophiepavelle.com

www.kendalmountainfestival.com

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