He heckled me mid-run on the NDR, and eighteen months later he's here on the podcast.

Jake Mulholland (or Jacob, depending which side of the family you ask) is a Bridgwater runner who scrolled past one of my Instagram reels, felt a pang of guilt, laced up, and ran his first 10K in five years. Six months after that he was lining up for the Brighton Marathon after a drunken promise to his brother at Centre Parcs — no training plan, a £500 fundraising target for his late granddad, and a proposal planned for the finish line.

We talk about what actually gets you out the door when it's dark, cold and your bed is right there. The financial-guilt spiral of buying a £600 watch. Why the NDR might be the most psychologically punishing two kilometres in Somerset. Losing the streak — and the mojo — after three weeks in Thailand. The unglamorous reality of race-day fuelling (and what happens when you get it wrong). And yes, he did propose at the finish line, and yes, she said yes.

Jake's now nine weeks out from the Bridgwater Half Marathon, chasing a sub-two, and I'm pacing him. This one's a proper natter — England's World Cup nerves, radioactive waste engineering, Nando's carb-loading strategy, and why nobody ever really regrets a run.

If you've got a story like Jake's, get in touch — I'm looking for more people to put through the podcast wringer.