Running Commentary

With Paul still wending his way home from the desert, Rob popped down to Hove to run with a great guest - British acting royalty Craig Parkinson, new to running and doing his first marathon next week. Featuring wrestling with the wall in your long training run, what things are going to feel like on the day, the rolling wave of readiness, memories of Two Shot Pod Craig's great acting podcast, Adriene and other lockdown memories, Pau...

Paul and George take to the Parkland Walk for Paul's last run before the MDS - and one of George's last runs before the Manchester Marathon. Featuring Paul's kit, George's training, Rachel's tips, what to do and what not to do before their runs, spag bol, Ned's Mum, fundraising, hallucinating, playing football, aspirational young runners vs old school athletics, training plans, Rob's ribs, getting overtaken - and letting it go, Pau...

Paul is just hours away from the Marathon Des Sables and Rob's just talked to the doctor about his probably-fractured ribs as they start April on Hampstead Heath. Featuring Paul's plan - or lack of, new shoes and backpack, cooking kit, lazing and eating vs running and fasting, sexy spreadsheets, late night security issues, a doofus in the desert, the old clché: don't go off too fast, life without running, gig report, emotion boxes ...

Rob and Paul take a turn around Finsbury Park at a cuspal moment. Featuring Rachel's Birthday and other family fun, Paul's murky MDS medical, shoes and saunas, Rob's ribs, final training runs and the value of stopping and starting, the London Marathon start line, gig report, a poignant postcard from a parent, a bit of reading and writing, and some Tonkinson train etiquette.

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The final leg of Paul and Rob's long - but not as long as hoped - trail training run. Featuring Rob running on post-tumble, some drama in Paul's community, one man's comedy is another man's content, yogic breathing, a Race To The King overview, animals wild and domestic, Birmingham thoughts, possible parkruns, self care on the trail, the power of the youth, fading a little down Herbert's Hole, gig report, a bit of poetry, a moment ...

Thwarted in their efforts to reach the obelisk on Coombe Hill, the boys turn back in Wendover and start the journey back to Chesham. Featuring the beverages in Rob's bag, Paul's Red Kite confusion cleared up, what they've both been watching, what they're both writing, walking the hills, finding the 'why', wiping out and running on, singing, football, and returning to Lee Common.

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We join Paul and Rob an hour into their long, wintry run from Chesham. Featuring an appropriately named pub, replacing salts on the trail, removing contact lenses in the desert, reaching one's limit in training - and running on, 'I am not my body / I am not my mind' and other useful ways of thinking, foot business, festivals, anticipating the Brighton Marathon, werewolves and deer, marathon tips in general, and arriving in Wendover...

Paul and Rob start a long run from Chesham to the monument on Coombe Hill and back on a freezing cold Monday morning. Featuring a Sunday of preparation and a morning of vaseline application, backpacks and muddy tracks, opening chapters and wheeling raptors, countryside sights and electrolytes, stress dreams and what they might mean, George's run and Rudy's fun, 'every day is a life' = drinking with your wife, a bear-carrying bloke ...

After the warm sunshine of Sunday's Cambridge Half Marathon, Clissold Park is pretty nippy for the debrief. Featuring Paul's lost glove, starter-pen shenanigans, MDS training on the moors, customising training plans, running before a race - or not, other weekend adventures, Rob's friends' on-message dog, belated predictions, mile-by-mile report, a missing finish line, gait analysis, future plans and some other runners' weekends.

Paul and Rob kick March off on the Heath, and the weather doesn't disappoint. Featuring Paul's MDS prep - or lack of, both boys running on tour, Rob feeling like an Ultra runner again, gig-and-parkrun report, fictional towns, what Top Gear would be like if Rob hosted, catching up with a RTTS 2022 legend, Paul - and Rob's daughter - having to do the work, cold-water swimming - but not for us, Paul's book title quest, and trapping of...

We join Paul and Rob in Leyton, in the middle of their long runs. Featuring no maps only camels on the Marathon Des Sables, Hackney Marsh memories, Rob's training plan kicking off in Cambridge, Paul's pack procrastination, food-and-exercise report, touring schedules, when athletics become ascetic, new sights and old memories in Stamford Hill, terrible ideas for the night before a marathon, a surprise cemetery, and the final return ...

On the first half of a long run, Rob and Paul pick their way through muddy Wanstead Park. Featuring Rob's steps towards a sneaky sixteen, Paul's pasta pack, parkrun report, cross country vibes, the Last Rodeo, a sad weekend for Paul, Rob's firstborn living his best life, MDS anticipation - and its attendant literary responsibilities, breaking the contract of a run, the benefits of compound exercise - and yoga, 'this is what we do',...

Signs of Spring in the woods despite the grey chill as Paul and Rob head up to Highgate. Featuring Paul's ongoing training, Rob's slightly speedy parkrun, gig report, the aforementioned first snowdrops, the putative last rodeo, exciting projects for the younger generation, joining the club, training, yoga and booze, fuelling, bodyweight and some truly dreadful French.

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Rob and Paul see February in on Hampstead Heath. Featuring early-run motivation - or lack-of, Paul's news - dogs-and-backpack related: Love don't live here anymore, embracing your reality - whatever that might be, staying up in the mud, gig report, Rob's Ultra mantra, the power of changing things up - and positive visualisation, when running is training, putting it all out there - or not - at parkrun, and later-life options for com...

Paul and Rob set off from Newington Green into some stormy weather - just as they did nine years and four hundred and ninety-nine episodes ago. Featuring memories of a different world, how fast they used to be - as podcasters rather than racers, other anniversaries, where Paul and Rob were at in 2016, Rob's parkrun report, the swan police, the price of chocolate, what Paul did instead of parkrun, wonderful wives, troublesome taxes,...

A beautiful winter trot along the north London escarpment. Featuring a full-on weekend for Rob, Blue Monday, baked goods to tempt Paul, how stand-up has changed, TV report, the shoe or the tattoo?, a potential new pup, woodpeckers a-rattlin', barcode beef, building bridges, celeb audience members, Rob's training plan, Paul's 'socials', and some solid signs of Spring.

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Rob & Paul head down to Woodberry Wetlands on a gloomy but slightly warmer day. Featuring a theatre visit or two, the culture and geography of north London, Rob's running coalescing into training, parkrun report - and a parkrun plan, the Marathon des Sables looming over Paul once more - and an alternative book idea, worrying about the progeny, gin, taxes and death.

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Rob and Paul's first run of 2025 finds them on a chilly Hampstead Heath. Featuring delayed abstemiousness, new and returning runners, New Year's Eve adventures in Hackney, the first gigs of the year, trouble with gates and gorse, running-related Christmas presents, offloading old stuff, big new exercise plans - particularly pertaining to press-ups - avoiding photoshoots, and dogs, and keeping on running.

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It's our HOLIDAY SPECIAL! ...part two - the long run to the supermarket continues. Striking out across Hackney Marshes, up the hill in Springfield Park and through the sprawling metropolis that is South Tottenham, Rob and Paul look ahead to 2025.

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