The Extra Mile REVAMP: GNR's Sir Brendan & more!

0:00This is a global production. Was there a moment when it went from being that fun run to being this huge kind of like beast that you're suddenly like, this belongs to the region? We had no plans for the second great North Run because we didn't know, we didn't know what would happen. It's much easier to be supportive of others than it is to be supportive of yourself. You're never going to be able to support everyone as much as you could unless you support yourself as much as you should. Kevin Keegan, who was the England captain at the time, ran in the first great North Run. I think he was probably the first celebrity runner. But with this year, sadly, Kevin passed away. So we're going to recognize at the start, Kevin's love and support of the great North Run from day one. Hello there. Welcome to the all new extra mile. I'm Jenny Folkner. And in this episode, what we're going to cover a lot of ground.

1:01It's like an interval session. There will be highs, lows, periods of excitement, moments to take a breather, and then a sprint finish kind of. And coming up for you in this episode, we gear up for the great North Run weekend and catch up with the main man, Sir Brendan Foster. I've got the running run down for you, all the latest news in the running world. And we hear from you members of the Rumpod Run Club. It's a patch, you know, and I hope that you love the new sound run pod extra mile. I'd love to hear from you too. So see Rumpod as your running companion. It's designed to motivate and inspire you. And so I want to know where you are in your running journey. If you're on a run right now and you feel amazing, send me a voice note. Tell me what you've done, how you feel, and by doing that, you can motivate others to get out there for a run too. Maybe you want semi-a voice note to share your training, what you're working towards, how it's going.

2:02Perhaps you want to ask me a question, or you'd like to know about something running related. Maybe you have a story, you think the Rumpod Run Club needs to hear about. Well, you can email us at RumpodRunClub at global.com. So please do get in touch. First though, it's time for the running run down. We're chatting Sydney and their 2026 marathon medal. The one 40,000 runners picked up after finishing 26.2 miles. Now, it had a little bit of a full pan. Along with the opera house and the harbor bridge on the metal, there is a stadium etched in there, except it is not a Sydney stadium. No, it's the Allianz Arena in Munich in Germany. Oops. In a nutshell, the designer Googled the wrong stadium and put it on the metal. Organizers of the Kima owned it straight away. They said, a little too much international flavor found its way onto the metal were not going to run from it. They said it obviously in an Australian accent.

3:03Then they handed them out as plans. It went viral, it was all in good humor. Anyway, it sounds a little bit like our own great North Run medal fath last year. Maybe a little more on that later. These things happen even at the biggest races. Right, time now to hear from you, the Rampod Rampod. Hi, Jenny, Adam here. A long time listener of the Rampod. And I'm just getting in touch today to share with the community as I'm out on a run, a 6 kilometer run after work. The sun is setting just behind the clouds. I'm on the 10th path on the Surrey London border. We've got people out on row boats on the water. They're just shouting in the background there. And we've got people on their evening walks after work. And I just wanted to share with the community. It's a little bit of advice that's helped me in the past. And that's to set your intentions. Do you need to go on a little run to clear your mind after work today?

4:04Do you need to go on a little social run club with some friends and meet for a coffee afterwards? Really think about why you're putting your shoes on today. And getting out of the house and setting off. Thanks, Jenny. Thanks for all the work you do for our running community. And see everybody out there on the roads. Bye. Okay, well, look, my guest today needs well, almost no introduction really. If you've ever run, watched or even heard of the great North Run because he is the reason it exists. Sir Brendan Foster, welcome back to Rampod. It's lovely to see you. Thank you very much, Jenny. Nice to see you. I know that. Look, I can't believe that it's the 45th great North Run this year. Well, you're supposed to say you must have been a young man. I will. I was going to then lead on to it. I can't believe that you were there at the start. That's right. Yeah, it was a it was a long time ago. I just finished training for the Olympics in New Zealand

5:08with Dave Moorcroft who went on to become World Record Hall Earth for the 5,000 meters. We ran this random race in in Auckland, which started in the city centre, finished at the seaside. And it had 12,000 runners in it. We in the UK at the time, the biggest running event of the country was the National Cross-Country Championships, which had 1,300 runners. Here we were with 10,000. And we just didn't know we really didn't understand what we're doing. What was happening. And when we finished the race, I said to Dave, we were both I was going to retire after the 1980 Olympics. And I said to Dave, when I get back home, I'm going to organise an event like this, starting in the middle of the city, finishing at the seaside, like this one in the UK, in Newcastle. And he said, good luck. And the nice thing is, he did say good luck. He said, yeah, I think you should, it sounds great. Could be great. And he's coming to join us on the weekend, 45 years on. So yeah, it's good. I mean, when you first started as well, I mean, it wasn't even like

6:10there were proper road closures, like, I mean, now it's a completely different thing. What was that first one like? Well, the first one, we had the idea, and then I wrote a letter to the police saying, we're thinking of organising a fun run, which may include, closing a few roads, including the time bridge. Well, the time bridge had never ever been closed since it was opened by King George the sixth. And I got it back from the chief constable saying, it is not our policy to organise events like this on the highway. That's the pay-but-trail for the event. So we don't really remember what happened between him telling me no, and us having the great and all, first great and all, so that's the mystery. That's the mystery, but the thing is, 45 years later, it's bigger than ever, which is, that in itself is amazing. 63,000 entries is staggering. And the exciting thing this year, though, the day before, on the Saturday, on the key side in Newcastle,

7:12we've got the junior and mini great north run, which has 13,000 kids in it, and it's the 40th junior run. So that's an exciting landmark, too. So there are lots of people running on the streets, and what do you reckon? A couple of hundred thousand spectators down the sides? A couple of hundred thousand spectators, plus the 60,000 runners yet, it's going to be a busy weekend. So if you're trying to travel through the northeast, I think you'll leave it on Monday. I've got to say, I was there. I saw you at the start line there last year. I loved it. The crowd support is phenomenal, and it's a racket the entire way. People are screaming and shouting and bands are playing, and it is honestly joyous, the whole, whole experience. What's there a moment when it went from being that fun run to being this huge kind of like beast that you're suddenly like, this belongs to the region? Well, to be honest, it has become a beast, and the first one we actually organised the first one, we organised the event, got some road closures,

8:16got some professionalism around it, because there wasn't anywhere else where you could learn how to do these things, so we had to do it from scratch. When we had the day, when the day came, we had 12,000 runners, which was the biggest mass participation event ever held in the UK, and from then on it was always the biggest event of its kind in the country, and the biggest half marathon in the world, but we organised the first one, but the public response came, and there's an interview online somewhere where people are saying to me, so are you going to do it again? Because we had no plans for the second great north run, genuinely, we didn't know, because we didn't know, we didn't know what would happen, and the streets were full of people, the roads were full of runners, 12,000 people was like we'd never seen before, we didn't have modern day communications, the true story, the guy that were organising the start agreed that when the race, we didn't have moved my forms, there were like bricks those days, and the signals weren't very good,

9:18so the guy that organised the start said that the guy that was going to organise the finish, is as soon as they set off, I'll ring you to tell you, and he went to a phone box near the finish line, and he rang him from the police phone at the start to tell him they're on their way, so things have changed. Oh my goodness, there's some amazing, isn't it? What we did without technology, the kids that today would be stuck without it, but this year, am I right in saying as well that you've got, is it 193 runners from different UN countries? That's right, and also the television coverage goes into 160 countries around the world, so we started off on BBC Look North, and I'll happy to plug them, because they saw the idea, they saw the vision, and local TV in those days was a major, so they supported us, now local present, I was very famous at the time Mike Neville became the official starter, and that was where fell into people's hearts, you know, it was a local thing,

10:20local TV, local celebrity, and in the first great Norse run, we're recognising it this year, Kevin Keegan, who was the England captain at the time, ran in the first great Norse, and I think he was probably the first celebrity runner, because you know, there wasn't such a thing in those days, but he was England captain, and he ran the great Norse run in one hour, 20 minutes, which was amazing, really, because he was a good runner, but this year, sadly, Kevin passed away, so we're going to recognise at the start, Kevin's love and support of the great Norse run from day one, so it's a bit of a double edged soul on Sunday when we recognised Kevin Lee, then came to the north-east, and as such an influence in the region, the people love him, and love him, he got an amazing send off at the football a few weeks ago, and we're going to pay tribute to him on Sunday. Oh, that's going to be, it's going to be very moving, as well, I know that he's a complete hero, isn't he, in the north-east, so for anyone lining up on Sunday at that start line,

11:21they've never run a half marathon before, what's in store for them? Well, what's in store for them is hopefully they've prepared for it, so hope for the they'll take it easy at the start, and enjoy a great day out, they'll be very welcomed, they will be very much cheer, they've got their names on their shirts, and they'll go, a great day ahead of them. And metals looking good this year, is it? Yeah, we had an incident last year with the middle-east, which actually became famous, and the metal itself became a collector's item, you know, it's, I said then, it was a rareer than a penny black, but this year we've got a local graffiti artist, Mule, who's from Newcastle, who spent his early career painting obscene signs on bus shelters, he's now become official, he's designed our t-shirt and our metal, and it's a caricature of the great of the time bridge on the north-east, and it's 45 years with a beating hour of the north-east, it's a neat little

12:23tribute, and it's a neat little metal, and it's accurate. Oh, that sounds amazing, I guess it's a good one, I've got that collector's metal, I'm very proud of it, and by the way, we should also mention the ballot is now open, and it's open right until Sunday, is it 20th of September? Yeah, the ballot's opened this morning for two weeks, because last year the ballot was like much oversubscribed, there's a big running movement happening, and it's happening excitingly for us, and for everybody, it's youth propelled, which is brilliant, you know, our average age, 20th is getting towards 25 to 35, it used to be nudging up, and we've got loads of runners in that, in that 25, 35-age group, and there seem to be taking, running to heart, there's running clubs, there's shakeout runs, there's all kinds of things going on, and we are thrilled that we're part of it. Oh, I know, it's great, my god, 25 to 35th of the average, I'm late in the geriatric group now.

13:24Well, I didn't dare to say that, I'm kidding. And it has been lovely to chat you, thank you for giving us some time, hope it goes brilliantly on Sunday, and it's going to be on the telly from 10 o'clock, as normal, so people can watch it if they are not in Newcastle itself. That's right, Teleclub, BBC1, join us, and next year Jenny will want you doing this interview on the start line. And by the way, if you are one of the thousands of people heading to Newcastle this weekend, good luck in the great North Run, why don't you send me a voice note after the race? Let me know how it was for you, send it to rumpodrunclub at global.com. Now last week, our guest on rumpod was the Nike Global Head Run Coach. That's a very full coach Bennett. He was absolutely amazing. If you haven't heard his episode, you really need to have a listen. You sent in a few questions for him, so here is the Q&A with coach Bennett.

14:30Chris, in one sentence, what's the one thing you would like every single Nike Run Club member to know? That there is room on the starting line for you. See, that's a great answer. I can actually keep my answer short. That's incredible. That's good. It's dangerous to know I can do that. Wow. It's good. I also feel that wherever you go, there is a coach Bennett answer in there. Somewhere, it's just usually hidden in about eight paragraphs, but yeah, there is usually one sentence that I could keep it or narrow it down to. I'd like to take you out of a running environment and see if you're still coaching in those situations. I think so. I think so. We'll see. Just there. Your book title, it's kind of a bit of a riddle. This is about running. This is not about running. Can you sum up what that means? Can you sum it up for us? Yeah. It actually came from when I first started coaching. It was back in 2007, and I coached at the high school level in the United States. That's 14 to 18 year olds. I realized I had about two to three hours with these kids every single day. If they ended that time with me and they were only faster and could only go further, basically they were only better as runners than I had failed

15:34as a coach. My responsibility to them was to give them a safe environment so they could grow, grow into who they could potentially be and to be able to have the endurance and the strength to handle the things outside of practice better. Everything I did was to make sure that as they improved as runners, they improved as people. Every lesson, every workout, there had to be something in it that yes, it was about running, but was maybe more importantly not about running. You see if it is true, isn't there? There is so much you can take away from running that helps you in every way life. This is a quick question for Rumpord Run Club. What is the single best piece of advice you've given someone who's like lacing up, maybe preparing for their first run? Be your own best coach and I think if you hold yourself to that standard, again, I should say be the coach you deserve and because when athletes do that, one, they're kinder to themselves, which shouldn't be a surprise that we deserve kindness, but they're also much smarter because they

16:40will ask themselves questions like how am I doing and they'll pay attention to it and they'll make adjustments and I think a lot of athletes don't give themselves the credit they already deserve. Be your own best coach out there on the run. I think you do forget things like that, don't you? Absolutely. You really do. Final question. What is a lesson that you actually really need to pay attention to as well? That's a lesson that even a Nike global head coach still has to remind himself on when it comes to running? I think I need to be my own biggest fan and I think I need to have confidence in the work that I've done a lot of times, which I think is a very human thing to do. We try to beat people to the punch. You'll hear runners especially say, I run, but I'm slow, or I run and I've only run one marathon and you start thinking, why are you? Who's asking you to diminish what you've done? I find myself doing that sometimes. I get nervous because a lot of times I want things to work and I even catch myself on this book tour saying, I really hope you love it

17:42and I think you are going to love it. I think it's a great book. Why am I suddenly being so self-deprecating and I think that would be something I need to continue to understand as a human being. I'm much better at coaching people to kind of take the flowers that they deserve. I have to do that myself sometimes as well. I think we all do that. We do. Absolutely. I hope you like it. You're liaised. Yeah. Or what I do isn't that much and it's like, no, you put a lot of work in this. Be proud of it. Again, I think it's a very human thing to do, but I think it's also a very human thing to be supportive and it's much easier to be supportive of others than it is to be a supportive of yourself. But you should, you're never going to be able to support everyone as much as you could unless you support yourself as much as you should. At final question for anyone listening, because there's so many amazing races everywhere around the world. I know you've run quite a few, which is the one for you that is the number one, the most iconic, the best, the one we should all

18:42say not for if we could. Oh, wow. That's that's a really tough question because yes, I've been in a lot of places. I would say if you have the opportunity, I'm not going to pick a specific race, but I'm going to go a little crazy here and even because I don't think it's crazy, I think everyone should run cross country. Absolutely. I think a lot of adults when they're brought into the sport for the first time, it's on the roads and it gets very difficult to get people off the roads when they started on the roads, even to do trail runs. But I think if you have an opportunity to do cross country and get muddy and dirty and slip and buy some spikes, I mean, go do it too often we think that certain parts of the sport are not open to us and they are. You can run track. Yes, you can. You are fast enough to run track because anyone who runs is already fast enough, but I would start with cross country, go get dirty. I love that right. That's what we'll put on our to-do

19:42list there. Yes, that's right. Go get dirty. Thank you so much. Thank you very much for joining us. Listen, that was just a little taster. The full episode of Rampord with Chris with coach Bennett, including how he built all his own training plans and lots of top tips in there as well for you. They are all out on Rampord now. Chris, thank you very much. Thank you for having me. Right, that's it. That is the extra mile for this week. We'll be back with a full episode on Friday with two very, very special guests. You do not want to miss this episode. All that's left for me to say is thank you for listening and happy running. This has been a global production.