3 podcasts

There are 3 podcasts that come along with me on my Sunday long run.

I am a very slow runner so it takes me around 2 and a half hours to do a 21 kilometre run. This mean that I need a fairly substantial chunk of podcasting to see me through.

My first choice was Bad Boy Running. This varies in length quite a bit and is often around 1 and 3 quarters of an hour long. This is fine for the shorter runs but the Sunday long run leaves me plodding around for much longer than that.

My second choice was, Running Commentary, suggested by fellow Cambridge runner Elidh Nicol. She was full of enthusiasm for this podcast and told me that it was the best thing ever. I downloaded it and absolutely hated it. This created a difficult situation. I faced this situation squarely, as any Englishman would, and just never ever mentioned it again.

I’m not quite sure what changed but only 2 episodes later I had warmed to Running Commentary and became a regular listener. I think it may have something to do with getting to know the two comedian/runners Rob Deering and Paul Tonkinson, through the podcast, and slowly growing to like them. They talk about their careers as comedians on the edge of fame and fortune and as runners trying to slot in their running into a ridiculously busy schedule. There is a delightful sincerity to this that I find quite beguiling. Sincerity is an incredibly rare commodity in all forms of entertainment.

I have grown to love Running Commentary and all the callback features such as saying hello to any single magpies and the joy and pain of being the parent of a teenager. I really do love this podcast and thank Elidh for introducing me to it.

The final one in the trilogy is ‘Free, weekly and timed’. This one causes the most inner turnoil in that it is about Parkrun and I love Parkrun but there are times when this one is just too nicey nicey and I start feeling physically ill at the preponderance of icing without enough cake to support it. I am all in favour of optimism but so often in running there are times when it’s all pain, shit, blood and breakdown. We don’t smile all the time and it can feel a little false to imply that we do. Admittedly there are episodes in this podcast that accept that running can be painful and horrible so it is not so 1 dimensional as it first appeared. I wasn’t sure about this one at first but I shall stick with it for now.

So, back to the first one which was my first running podcast and is still my favourite. It is a very odd thing. It has been described as 2 posh boys laughing at each other’s jokes. This sounds hugely derogotary and of course it is. However, it does give the potential listener a fine preview of what they are going to hear.

The hosts of Bad Boy Running are Jody Rainsford and David Hellard. One is a speed merchant and the other is an ultra runner. They antagonise each other as they run through recent events in running and also bring on some amazing guests such as Dean Karnazes (has run and won many ultra marathons and wrote ‘Ultra Marathon Man) and Lazarus Lake (creator of the Barkley Marathon and all round ultra running genius).

Being also a fan of 1980’s reggae I am particularly pleased with the coup Bad Boy Running achieved of getting Pato Banton to agree for them to use his song ‘Baby Come Back’ as their theme song. Just shows what you can achieve if you have the cheek to ask for it.

It is a weird paradox that Bad Boy Running make such a big deal of their being just a fun and silly podcast and yet they are by far the most serious of these three. They have serious guests on the show that have done serious things. There is blood and pain and very sincere reactions to the suffering that their guests have gone through. This is a seriously good running podcast. I find it hard to visualise how any others could better this one.