Paul catches up with Lucia, a friend from Watergate Studios gym in Bridgwater and fellow veteran of an accountability WhatsApp group that turned into far more than a weight-loss chat.

They open on the eternal struggle of having an unusual name (Lucia has been called everything from Lucinda to, memorably, "Lucifer" by an ex's grandparents) before getting into a genuinely candid conversation about body image — what it actually means to look in the mirror, see excess body fat, and hold that alongside the fact that you can run a marathon, lift heavy, and show up at start lines anyway.

Lucia's running story starts with hating PE at school and dropping out of her first-ever 10K entirely, watching everyone else collect their medal. Over a decade later — after having her son, discovering Couch to 5K with a hand-me-down running buggy, and years of CrossFit — she ran the London Marathon in 6 hours 58 for Parkinson's UK, her dad's condition. The unplanned highlight: spotting her father waiting at mile 4, a surprise he'd arranged himself. What follows is an unflinching account of the parts of marathon day nobody prepares you for — the walk from the finish line to your bag, sitting on a curb in Crocs you can't get back up from, and the brutal admin of getting home afterwards.

The heart of the episode, though, is Lucia's first triathlon: a 750m swim, 20K bike, and 5K run in Clevedon, the town she still calls home. The week before the race, she came off her bike three separate times — including once while stationary — leaving her, by her own account, genuinely afraid she might not survive the bike leg. She talks openly about that fear, the friend from her tri club who talked her through open-water panic in Marine Lake, and the decision to spend ten deliberate minutes in transition just to get her head back in the game before finishing the race smiling.

Funny, honest, and full of hard-earned perspective — this episode is about redefining what an athlete looks like, getting out the door even when you're terrified, and finding the version of exercise you'll actually keep coming back to.

The PKS Running Club Podcast is a running motivation podcast for everyday runners — real personal stories, honest conversations about health and fitness, and a growing community built around showing up, not chasing elite times. Hosted by Paul, it's a health & fitness podcast and community sports podcast for anyone running at their own pace, from first 5Ks to ultramarathons.

New episodes every Wednesday. Follow @thepksrunningclub on Instagram, subscribe on your podcast platform of choice, and share this episode with a friend who needs to hear it.

Paul sits down with Rebecca Harries, a market researcher of 20-plus years who's spent her career on the other side of the microphone — and for once finds herself being interviewed instead. Rebecca's running story starts with a first 10K she hated so much she swore off running entirely, until a friend talked her back into it years later. A reluctant Parkrun phase and a "why would we join a running club?" moment followed — and thirteen years on, she's a running club leader, seven marathons deep, and still chasing the next PB.

The conversation centres on the run-walk method that turned Rebecca's running upside down: a precisely tuned nine-minutes-and-seven-seconds run, one-minute walk structure that let her smash a half marathon PB she'd set over a decade earlier — without changing her training at all. She and Paul dig into the mental trick of only ever having to run nine minutes at a time, the men who show up mid-race with unsolicited "encouragement" for women pacing themselves, and why the sweetest revenge is simply overtaking them eight miles later. They also cover her seven marathons (London: euphoric; Brighton: relentless out-and-backs; Worcester: "hell on earth"), the twice-weekly 7am runs with the same three friends she hasn't missed in over four years, and the accidental ultra — Race to the Stones, 50K, signed up ten days before the start line.

The conversation also turns to bigger change: Rebecca was recently made redundant after two decades in market research, and is now launching Conkers and Thread, a business upcycling old denim and shirts into bags and clothing — built, fittingly, around the same make-it-yourself instinct that's carried her through running for over a decade.

Warm, funny, and full of hard-won running wisdom — this episode is about pacing yourself, showing up for the same four people every week, and reinventing what's already there.

The PKS Running Club Podcast is a running motivation podcast for everyday runners — real personal stories, honest conversations about health and fitness, and a growing community built around showing up, not chasing elite times. Hosted by Paul, it's a health & fitness podcast and community sports podcast for anyone running at their own pace, from first 5Ks to ultramarathons.

New episodes every Wednesday. Follow @thepksrunningclub on Instagram, subscribe on your podcast platform of choice, and share this episode with a friend who needs to hear it.

Paul catches up with Dan, a 19-year-old ultrarunner he first met in the French Alps in February, where Dan was volunteering with Altitude Mission... a Christian charity running free "Beer and Burgers" nights, refuge beds, and mountainside "Ski Angels" support for seasonal workers.

Six days before this conversation, Dan finished the Lakeland 50... 50 miles and 3,000 metres of elevation through his home turf in the Lake District, with barely any structured training behind him, two concussions, a knee injury, and a hip flexor strain picked up days before the start line.

What follows is a wide-ranging, genuinely moving conversation. Dan opens up about years of bullying, crushing social anxiety, and a suicidal crisis at fifteen that he faced almost entirely alone, and the faith journey that pulled him through it, now the foundation for the confidence and warmth Paul witnessed firsthand watching Dan work a ski resort full of strangers.

They talk honestly about the difference between physical pain and a genuine reason to stop, Courtney Dauwalter's "pain cave," and why showing up for people on a mountainside, at a bar, or fifty miles into a race matters more than any finish time.

The conversation also covers the mechanics of ultrarunning: why Dan skipped the marathon altogether and went straight to ultras, the running pedigree of a family where both parents have run the Lakeland 50 twice and his dad's completed the 100, aid station strategy (salty potatoes over gels, four and a half sandwiches, a hard no to sweets by mile 27), and why he's already eyeing the Lakeland 100 next year. Paul, naturally, asks to come suffer alongside him at a future race.

Funny, candid, and unexpectedly profound, this episode is about ultramarathons, faith, mental health, and what happens when you decide to keep going anyway.

The PKS Running Club Podcast is a running motivation podcast for everyday runners — real personal stories, honest conversations about health and fitness, and a growing community built around showing up, not chasing elite times. Hosted by Paul, it's a health & fitness podcast and community sports podcast for anyone running at their own pace, from first 5Ks to ultramarathons.

New episodes every Wednesday. Follow @thepksrunningclub on Instagram, subscribe on your podcast platform of choice, and share this episode with a friend who needs to hear it.

Paul sits down with Kate Hyland, a Nottinghamshire-based runner, run leader, and self-confessed extrovert, for a conversation that swings from cereal-mixing psychology to one of the most quietly powerful stories the podcast has covered. Kate started running in January 2023 not for fitness or fun, but to prepare her body for major surgery: donating a kidney to her husband Lee, who lives with end-stage kidney disease. Testing later revealed a rare condition that ruled her out as a donor — but weeks after that news, she was offered a charity place in the London Marathon for Kidney Care UK, and the running habit she'd built for an entirely different reason became the thing that carried her through.

Paul and Kate talk honestly about what marathon training actually looks like around a full-time job, two teenagers, and a husband managing dialysis at home — and how Kate's back-of-the-pack, coffee-after-a-long-run approach to running club life is just as valid as chasing PBs. They compare notes on London Marathon (crowded, overhyped, a hard pass for both of them) versus the low-key charm of a local 10K with a burger van at the finish, and Kate breaks down the 30-minute improvement between her London debut (6:15) and her Brighton follow-up (5:43).

The conversation also covers Kate's leap into triathlon with zero swimming or cycling experience, the run-leader trick that gets her out the door in torrential rain, training through perimenopause and anxiety, and a shared love of trifle-sized post-run treats — including the time Kate ate an entire family trifle solo after a brutal 30K training run.

Honest, funny, and quietly moving — this episode is about running for reasons bigger than a finish line, saying yes before you feel ready, and why community keeps you showing up when motivation won't.

Paul sits down for the first time with Simon, better known online as Egbert — a nickname born from a running joke about newborns being basically eggs, not (as suspected) a Narnia reference. What follows is a wide-ranging, genuinely funny conversation that somehow moves from Herodotus and the Roman legions to crème brûlée for six people to running seven miles home at 2am after missing a train stop.

Simon opens up about being "five stone heavier" as a teenager and the decades-long process of losing weight through weights, trial-and-error dieting, and eventually running — which he only picked up during COVID, running his first 5K past age 30. He and Paul dig into what actually makes weight loss sustainable (spoiler: rigid restriction isn't it), why consistency matters more than perfection, and how both of them frame training and eating around being present for their families rather than chasing extremes.

The conversation turns to the mechanics of the sport too: Simon's goal of a sub-3 marathon, the dangers of jumping into a marathon too soon, zone 2 training fads, the Maffetone method, and an honest debate about club running versus solo miles. Paul shares a story he's never told publicly — seven marathon-distance training runs in a single year, chasing a since-abandoned goal — and the two trade shoe opinions (Altra, New Balance, Nike) before agreeing to team up for a half marathon PB attempt.

Funny, candid, and unexpectedly reflective — this one covers running, food, family, and the occasional Roman Empire tangent.

From Devastated to Ironman: Danny's Story of Running for His Dad

Danny's had a six-pack since he was a "tubby toddler," ran a sub-3-hour marathon on his second attempt, but this episode isn't really about any of that.

In December 2023, Danny's dad Steve was diagnosed with motor neurone disease. Two and a half years later, in May this year, he passed away. In the middle of that, Danny signed up for Ironman Wales — a 2.4 mile sea swim (jellyfish and all), 112 miles on the bike, then a full marathon, all inside 17 hours - to raise money for the Motor Neurone Disease Association and show his dad exactly how much he loved him.

We talk about hitting the wall at mile 23 of his first marathon (nutrition lesson learned the hard way), training for an Ironman around a 9-day fortnight and family life, the doom-scrolling that eats more time than you'd think, and the work colleagues who are matching every pound raised and taking a Friday off to run or walk a full marathon along the Southeast Coast Path with him.

This one's honest, funny in places, and properly moving in others. Danny's monthly Instagram videos with his dad have had us in tears more than once — go and watch them, and if you can, throw a few quid at the JustGiving page linked below.

Support Danny's fundraiser for the Motor Neurone Disease Association

Follow his Ironman training and his dad's story on Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/dannysknight/

If you've got a running story worth telling, get in touch — I'm always looking for more people to put through the podcast wringer.

#running #podcast #ironman #motorneuronedisease #marathon #interview

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.

There’s nothing to finish. Just one more ordinary day.

As RED January comes to a close, this final reflection isn’t a send-off — it’s a soft exhale. There’s no challenge to complete, no emotion you need to feel, no final effort required. Today doesn’t need to tie the month together. It just needs to be whatever it is.

This episode invites you to let the structure go without clinging, to notice what remains once the rhythm quiets. No pressure. No ceremony. Just the quiet knowledge that you showed up — and that movement will still be there when you need it.

Thank you for being here. That was enough.

About the Host

The PKS Running Club is run by Paul (PKSRUNS) — a runner and creator who believes that running doesn’t have to be extreme, perfect, or impressive to matter.

Paul started running later in life and has built his way to a 2:45 marathon, not through shortcuts or hype, but through consistency, patience, and learning how to fit running around real life — work, family, tired legs, busy heads.

The PKSRUNS podcast is a space for honest reflections on running, training, discipline, doubt, and progress. Some episodes are practical. Some are reflective. Many are simply a reminder that short still counts, easy is allowed, and you don’t have to prove anything.

This isn’t about elite performance or rigid plans. It’s about showing up on ordinary days, building a relationship with running that lasts, and finding something steady in the middle of life being busy, noisy, and imperfect.

If you run for clarity, routine, mental health, or just because it helps you feel a bit more like yourself — you’ll feel at home here.

You can find PKSRUNS across platforms:

• Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@pksruns⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

• YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠PKSRUNS⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

• Strava: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠PKSRUNS⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

• Podcast: Search PKSRUNS wherever you listen

Follow along, run alongside the community, and take what you need from it — without pressure, ego, or expectation.

There’s almost nothing left to prove — and there probably never was.

As RED January nears its final day, it’s easy to feel like today should mean something. That it should be strong, satisfying, reflective, or somehow tie the whole month together. But this episode offers a gentler truth: you don’t need to prove anything — not today, not tomorrow, not ever.

You’ve already shown up. You’ve already made space for movement. Whether you ran every day or came back after breaks, the story has already been written — and it doesn’t need a perfect final chapter.

Let today be simple. Ordinary. Enough.

About the Host

The PKS Running Club is run by Paul (PKSRUNS) — a runner and creator who believes that running doesn’t have to be extreme, perfect, or impressive to matter.

Paul started running later in life and has built his way to a 2:45 marathon, not through shortcuts or hype, but through consistency, patience, and learning how to fit running around real life — work, family, tired legs, busy heads.

The PKSRUNS podcast is a space for honest reflections on running, training, discipline, doubt, and progress. Some episodes are practical. Some are reflective. Many are simply a reminder that short still counts, easy is allowed, and you don’t have to prove anything.

This isn’t about elite performance or rigid plans. It’s about showing up on ordinary days, building a relationship with running that lasts, and finding something steady in the middle of life being busy, noisy, and imperfect.

If you run for clarity, routine, mental health, or just because it helps you feel a bit more like yourself — you’ll feel at home here.

You can find PKSRUNS across platforms:

• Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@pksruns⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

• YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠PKSRUNS⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

• Strava: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠PKSRUNS⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

• Podcast: Search PKSRUNS wherever you listen

Follow along, run alongside the community, and take what you need from it — without pressure, ego, or expectation.

You don’t have to decide everything today. Just keep the door open.

As RED January nears its end, it’s tempting to jump ahead — to define what’s next, to make new rules, to pin down a plan. But today’s reflection invites you to pause. To resist that urge. To leave things a little unfinished, a little spacious.

This episode explores what it means to continue gently — not through rigid structure, but by keeping the door open. Not every day. Not with pressure. Just with possibility.

Let the next step come when it’s ready. For now, just keep moving.

About the Host

The PKS Running Club is run by Paul (PKSRUNS) — a runner and creator who believes that running doesn’t have to be extreme, perfect, or impressive to matter.

Paul started running later in life and has built his way to a 2:45 marathon, not through shortcuts or hype, but through consistency, patience, and learning how to fit running around real life — work, family, tired legs, busy heads.

The PKSRUNS podcast is a space for honest reflections on running, training, discipline, doubt, and progress. Some episodes are practical. Some are reflective. Many are simply a reminder that short still counts, easy is allowed, and you don’t have to prove anything.

This isn’t about elite performance or rigid plans. It’s about showing up on ordinary days, building a relationship with running that lasts, and finding something steady in the middle of life being busy, noisy, and imperfect.

If you run for clarity, routine, mental health, or just because it helps you feel a bit more like yourself — you’ll feel at home here.

You can find PKSRUNS across platforms:

• Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@pksruns⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

• YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠PKSRUNS⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

• Strava: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠PKSRUNS⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

• Podcast: Search PKSRUNS wherever you listen

Follow along, run alongside the community, and take what you need from it — without pressure, ego, or expectation.