The Run4It Podcast

This week Chris and Will talk about how to keep on running through winter. How to see, how to be seen, how to stay warm, how to stay dry, how to not fall over, and generally how to avoid being miserable.

Read more about being safe at night here. Learn more about the importance of being prepared with the right kit on the hills here. 

To get in touch, email: [email protected]. 

Chris and Will talk to Mandy Williams about mental health, running competitively on the track and up the sides of mountains in the masters category, photography, jumping out of aero planes, flying aero planes, and potentially, going into space. 

Mandy manages our Bridge of Allan store, and was diagnosed with Asperger's at the start of lockdown, having been an outlier at school and labelled for years as high energy. In this interview, Mandy talks about turning the page: striving to fly the flag for other people who think differently.

To get in touch, email: [email protected]. 

Chris sits down with Alan Risk, who reflects on his recent  finish at this year's Dragon's Back Race. Billed as the world's toughest mountain race, the Dragon runs for 380-kilometres with over 17,000-metres of climbing split over six days. This year's event boasted an aggressive 76-per cent DNF rate. 

Cue a lively conversation chocked full of insights into finishing one of the hardest ultra marathons on the UK calendar. Alan talks nutrition, kit, and the alterations in psychology a race like this can have from day-to-day and checkpoint-to-checkpoint. 

Working as a captain on ships, Alan can go through long periods without being able to run, so training can be inconsistent. Going into the Dragon's Back Race he had less than 900 miles in the bank for this calendar year, leaving himself worryingly underprepared. He also talks about the value of race and long day-experience over fitness and form in the multi-day ultra marathon format. 

To get in touch, email: [email protected]. 

Photo credit: copyright MyBibNumber Ltd. 

Over the last couple of months we've been putting some of the newer Garmin running watches through their paces, and on this week's episode we're getting our testers' verdicts...

In the first interview (21:12), Chris speaks to Gayle Hoy, the Run 4 It merchandising manager, about her experience of upgrading from the Forerunner 235 to the Forerunner 245 Music - the highly capable, feature-rich mid-range watch that's going to cater for 99 per cent of all runners' needs (and then some).

In the second interview (1:00:53), Chris gets Will's take on the new Garmin Enduro, that promises to be with you on every step of even the longest, most extreme ultra-marathons with its industry-leading battery performance.

Additionally, Will talks at length about his experience running the Ultra Trail Snowdonia 50K race, and Chris talks very little about his recent fate as a cyclist...

For more information on Garmin running watches, head over to The Run4It Journal.

Jason Kelly returns to the podcast to reflect on his superb 100k debut at the Anglo Celtic Plate home countries international race, where he claimed the silver medal to give the Scottish men all three podium spots and win the team competition.

In this episode Jason recounts what went right, what could have gone better, and gives an insight into the psychology of representing your country over such an extreme distance - both when it's going really well, and when it's seemingly all over...

If you're interested in hearing about how Jason went from struggling through 5ks on a journey to improve his fitness to representing Scotland over 100 grueling kilometres of fast asphalt, you can listen to the first episode we recorded with him here. 

To get in touch, email: [email protected]. 

Run4It's resident shoe guru Finlay McAndrew returns to the podcast to talk to Chris about all things carbon-plated: the history, the development, and the surprisingly long list of benefits this growing category of shoe can present to runners as they get fine-tuned through extensive research and development. 

Chris and Will are joined by guest host Amy Byrne - assistant manager at our Glasgow City store. The trio talk on Team Run4It's answers to the question: "If you could travel back in time to when you first started running, what key lessons would you impart to your past self?"

Cue a lively conversation packed full of advice - some learned at bitter costs - from the collective experience of all of Team Run4It, with something for everyone, no matter what stage of your running journey you're at. 

Less specifically, Will shares his salvaged race calendar for the rest of 2021, and Chris bemoans his unfocused and poorly executed marathon preparation...

To get in touch, email: [email protected]

Chris and Will talk to Commonwealth Games medalist Robbie Simpson.

Cue a lively discussion around his varied and storied running career so far across the marathon and mountain running, his recent foray into ultra-distance events as he prepares for the OCC in Chamonix, Adidas Terrex, and Hidden Peak Running - the coaching group he co-owns with Fraser Clyne. 

To get in touch, email [email protected]

Chris and Will speak to Ian Stewart, founder of Trail Running Scotland - a company offering various skills courses between off-road running and mountaineering, as well as a range of guided runs across Scotland.

Cue a lively conversation about running a Bob Graham Round for a stag do, staying safe and running smart in the mountains, and Ian's monstrous "Cairngorm Parkrun" completion - a single continuous round of every Munro in the Cairngorms totaling over 400 kilometres in length and achieving over 20,000 metres of vertical gain. This is one to listen to if you're keen to get into mountain and trail running but you're not sure where to start.

Less pressingly, the boys discuss Western States, and Chris finally has his answer to last week's "big hitter" question...

To get in touch, email: [email protected].

Chris and Will talk to Jason Kelly as he prepares to represent Scotland for the first time at the Anglo-Celtic Plate 100K. Jason, who is also the assistant manager at our Aberdeen store, talks about his whole running journey, from struggling through 5Ks to get a little fitter, to finding himself on the podium at ultras and trail races - all paired with the boys' now internationally appreciated flair and repartee.

To get in touch, email: [email protected].