WHY DO WE RUN?
Award-winning author Adharanand Finn interviews an eclectic mix of runners to try to uncover what it really is that gets us out there running around in big, pointless circles. And why we love it so much.
Listen to the latest episode here…
Interview with Irish running legend John Treacy:
All episodes…
Ireland’s John Treacy won two world cross country titles and a silver medal in the marathon at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. Over breakfast in his house just outside Dublin, he reminisces on a golden era of track and field for Ireland, talks about the state of doping in the sport, and ponders what he would do differently if he was training and competing today.
Author Adharanand Finn chats with the founder of the Sanctuary Runners, Graham Clifford, about the highs and lows of his 10-week run around Ireland, which will form the basis of his next book.
Adharanand Finn chats with She Races founder and record-breaking ultra runner Sophie Power about how jam tortillas fuelled a Guinness World Record run across Ireland, the joy of hallucinations, and how there is still much work to do to make sports such as ultra running more accessible to women.
Adharanand Finn chats with Running Punks founder and viral video sensation Jimmy Watkins about racing his idols in the final of the World Athletics Championships, giving up the sport to form a band, and then rediscovering the joy of running many years later. Regrets? He’s had a few, but he has certainly lived a life too. And he is still adventuring to the limit.
Adharanand Finn chats with Rose Harvey, who has just been selected to run for Great Britain at the Paris Olympics, despite only taking up running seriously in lockdown four years ago. Rose recounts her incredible rise from decent club runner to Olympian.
Adharanand Finn chats with BBC newsreader, Runner's World columnist and marathon runner Sophie Raworth about why she loves running, why a scientist told her she had 'good-looking' knees, and how she made a deal with her dog so it would run with her.
Adharanand Finn chats with Irish ultra runner, coach and form expert Paul Tierney about running extremely long races, once hallucinating that he was running next to himself, finding the best tasting polenta in the world, and why if you want to have good running form, you need to feel it.
Adharanand Finn chats with world trail running champion, multiple world Skyrunning champion and obstacle racing superstar Jon Albon. Despite hailing from the flatlands of Essex, Albon has won some of the world’s biggest mountain races and has his eyes set on even bigger goals. Here he talks about finding a flow state, the benefits of cross training, the joy of Coke, and why he hopes that trail running never makes it into the Olympics.
Adharanand Finn chats with Calli Thackery after she ran the second-fastest marathon ever by a British woman, in her first ever marathon. Calli tells us about her unusual route to the top of the running world, via a scholarship to New Mexico in the US, to training with a Kenyan coach in Virginia, a stint back home in Sheffield working full time, to getting locked down in Australia for three years during the Covid-19 pandemic. And now she has a medal at the world half marathon championships and a 2:22 marathon to her name. How did she do it?
Adharanand Finn chats with Iliass Aouani, who recently broke the Italian marathon record, running 2:07 in only his third marathon. The former Syracuse University standout talks about his Moroccan heritage, running in super shoes, missing his training group and his plans to take on the Kenyans. Ultra runner Damian Hall also joins us to talk about his recent efforts in the 330km Tor des Géants.
Adharanand Finn speaks to Nick Tiller, exercise scientist at Harbor-UCLA and author of The Skeptics Guide to Sports Science. They examine the value of scientific consensus, the power of the placebo, and take a deep dive into running trends such as nasal breathing, barefoot running, paleo diets and ice baths. Nick also answers the question: is ultra running bad for you?
Adharanand Finn chats with the double World Mountain Running Champion Grayson Murphy about how she learned to trail run by playing football, what it feels like to run away from a world class field, and how she deals with the comedown after a big win.
Adharanand Finn shares stories from his recent six-day race around a 1km loop in France, including recordings he made during the race. He also talks to the race winner, Bob Hearn, from the US, to get another perspective on the madness of six-day running.
Adharanand Finn talks to three finishers of the world's longest race: the Self-Transcendence 3100. Kobi Oren, William Sichel and Susan Marshall recall the pain and ecstasy of running 3,100 miles around one block in New York City.
Adharanand Finn chats with ultra runner Tom Evans about recovering from a bad injury, finishing third at the UTMB, and how he copes with the pain cave.
Host Adharanand Finn chats to award-winning author and runner Richard Askwith about his new book The Race Against Time: Adventures in Late-Life Running.
Adharanand Finn chats with five-time Olympian and European 10,000m champion Jo Pavey about training for big races with two kids in tow, racing against drug cheats, and running with kangaroos.
Adharanand Finn, author of Running with the Kenyans, chats with the greatest marathon runner in history about his diet, why the East Africans are such strong distance runners, and what goes through his mind while he's running.
Running authors Sabrina Pace-Humphreys and Hannah Phillips talk live at the Love Trails festival, while host Adharanand Finn recounts his 100km run around Mont Blanc.
Adharanand Finn talks to punk rocker, fell runner and theatre performer Boff Whalley about tumbling down mountains, mass trespassing and his latest book, Faster! Louder! Top ultra runner Damian Hall also joins the show to talk about The Green Runners and why everyone should sign up.
Adharanand Finn talks to young British half marathon sensation Jake Smith about accidentally running his first marathon, training in Uganda and gunning for an Olympic medal in the marathon.
Adharanand Finn talks to record-breaking ultra athlete Dan Lawson about running the length of the UK, designing running shoes from the waste scraps of old ones, and embracing the wonderful power of the universe.
Adharanand Finn talks to Olympic athlete and 59-minute half marathon runner Zane Roberston about moving to Kenya age 17, beating the best in the world, and getting one back over his critics.
Adharanand Finn talks to multiple world-record breaking ultra runner Camille Herron, and also to Abichal Sherrington, one of the few British runners ever to complete the world's longest race.
Host Adharanand Finn has some big news to share about his next book, which leads him to take on a 24-hour track race, with some help from top ultra runner and coach Robbie Britton.
Rosie Swale-Pope MBE talks to Adharanand Finn about her many running adventures, including her record-breaking run around the entire world.
Adharanand Finn talks to one of the greatest track runners of all-time Sonia O’Sullivan.
Adharanand Finn talks FKTs, being an inspiring parent, the hero complex and writing books about running with one of the world’s toughest ultra runners, Damian Hall.
Adharanand Finn talks barefoot running, epic challenges and dung beetles with comedian Eddie Izzard, while Jae Gruenke teaches us how Feldenkrais can help you to run better.
Michael Crawley is the author of the brilliant new book on Ethiopian running, Out of Thin Air. A 2:20 marathon runner and an anthropologist, Michael spent 15 months embedded with a group of top Ethiopian athletes, running with them, eating their food and sleeping in their lodgings. Out of Thin Air is a fascinating exploration of one of the world’s most incredible, yet largely unknown, sporting cultures. As the author of Running with the Kenyans, Adharanand is in a unique position to interview Michael, and the two compare the differences and remarkable similarities between the world’s two greatest distance running powerhouses.
Jasmin Paris shot to global attention in January 2019 when she beat the first male finisher by almost 15 hours in the brutal 268-mile Spine ultramarathon. She has also set records on the Bob Graham Round, The Paddy Buckley Round and the Ramsay Round, won the World Sky Running Series and twice won the British hill running championships. She talks about dealing with all the media attention after winning the Spine race, about the joy of moving light and fast in the mountains, and about her plans for the future.
Jon Ronson is the author of numerous bestselling books, and was played by Ewan McGregor in the film of his book The Men Who Stare At Goats. He started running 10 years ago when he saw a picture of himself standing next to George Clooney and thought he needed to get in shape. Barely a day has past since that he hasn’t gone out running. He tells us why he can’t stop, why he will never run a race, and how running feeds into his creative process.
Zach Miller is one of the world’s best and most exciting ultra runners with a string of impressive victories under his belt. But he is most loved for his all-out, no-holds-barred style of running, setting off in ultra marathons like they’re 5K burn-ups, leading from the front, sometimes winning, and sometimes failing - but always spectacularly. Here Zach talks to Adharanand about making his ultra running breakthrough while working on a cruise ship, living for five years off-grid halfway up a mountain in Colorado, and the appeal of pushing yourself into oblivion - and beyond.
Part two of our conversation with 2:06 marathon runner Abdi Nageeye, in which he talks about the best piece of advice Eliud Kipchoge ever gave him, the reason why doping is such a big problem in Kenya, and his love of blues music.
Abdi Nageeye, born in Mogadishu in Somalia, not once, but twice escaped civil war to seek a new life in the Netherlands, the first time when he was just six years old. He now lives and trains with the great Eliud Kipchoge in Kenya and is the Dutch record holder in the half marathon and marathon, with a best time of 2hrs 6mins. Here he tells of his traumatic early life, how it made him who is today, and how he discovered his running talent by accident as an 18-year-old soccer player trying to stay in shape over the summer.
Part two of our conversation with top ultra runner Beth Pascall, in which she talks about the joy of running hundreds of miles at a time, how she accidentally made the British team for the world 24- hour championships, and the amazing restorative power of a one-minute nap.
Beth Pascall has finished in the top four in both of the world’s most prestigious trail ultra marathons, the Western States 100 in the US, and the UTMB in Europe. She is also a doctor, but this year is taking some time out from work to concentrate on her running. Here she talks about training with her dog, how she started out in ultra running and her childhood obsession with hiking across Dartmoor.
Part two of our conversation with four-time world Ironman champion Chrissie Wellington, in which she tells us about life after retirement, missing the intensity and the highs of elite-level sport, and of her recent and intriguing foray into ultra running.
A genuine legend in the world of endurance sport, Chrissie Wellington became Ironman world champion on her first attempt just eight months after taking up the sport of triathlon. She went on to win every Ironman she ever competed, including three further world titles. And always with a beaming smile across her face. We find out how she got started in the sport, and how she dealt with doubt, pain and setbacks during races.
Not a lot of people know it, but snooker legend Ronnie ‘the Rocket’ O’Sullivan is a seriously fast runner. He tells Adharanand about the difference between the buzz from snooker and the buzz from running, about how the running club is his church, and about his dream to train in Kenya and to run a marathon.
Adharanand introduces the all-new The Way of the Runner podcast series in a short chat with his producer Dave Clarke on a wet morning in south Devon. He explains how the podcast is an extension of his books, and talks about some of the guests lined up for future episodes. He also explains the show’s tie-in with TRIBE, who are generously sponsoring the series.