Running on Joy

Joy is... Realising What Matters.Darren Evans is someone who epitomises what it means to run for a ‘why’. He is the co-founder of the Green Runners, a running community making changes for a fitter planet; the co-founder of Pair-Ups, a process and kit to help runners extend the life of the trainers, and race director of the Longbridge Backyard Ultra, a running event with sustainability at its core, aiming to use business as a tool for regeneration. In addition, Darren is an experienced trail running coach and, under the handle 3Wordruns, the creative mind behind Running Greener odes – poems that aim to inspire others to join the voices calling for systemic change in our relationship with the natural world. Follow: @3wordrunsA Runner's Ode to Climate Changewww.3wordruns.ukwww.pairups.co.ukwww.thegreenrunners.com

Joy is... Experiencing.Ivan Kashdan is an interdisciplinary artist with a passion for the environment and a drive to use his skills to change how we perceive and interact with nature. He is one of the three founders of Hermit House Games (previously known as, and referred to in this episode, as Kash & Germ), a family studio based in London who are on a mission to change how nature is portrayed and interacted with in games, telling researched stories from non-human perspectives. The trio are currently working on 'A Home Below', a 3D third-person adventure where you play as a hermit crab exploring the ruins of a house lost to sea-level rise. Ivan is also a keen runner and recently participated in the Climate Relay, running alongside ultra trail running legend, Damian Hall.  Follow: @ivankashdan @hermithousegamesPatreon: Hermit House GamesMentionedHurricane Lizards and Plastic Squid: The Fraught and Fascinating Biology of Climate Change - Thor Hanson (2021)Playing Nature: Ecology in Video Games - Alenda Y. Chang (2019)Otherlands: A World In The Making - Thomas Halliday (2022)

Joy is... Running!Dan Thompson is a life-long runner and the co-founder of the Running Out of Time Climate Relay. Dan has a background as a successful executive, investor and adviser in the music, computer games, and internet sectors. His involvement in running relay races dates back more than a decade; however, it was in 2022 that he first came on my radar with the world’s first and longest climate relay race called Running Out of Time. The Relay, which, this year, spanned 2,436km encourages people to run, walk, cycle, kayak, climb, wheel, swim and surf the baton across Britain for 29 days to supercharge awareness, celebrate great climate work and inspire action. Launching on June 6th at Ben Nevis, the baton arrived in Parliament Square, London on July 4th, having travelled along 210 stages, including over 80 visits to climate & nature projects, sporting bodies & venues, schools, events and iconic locations.   Running out of TimeFollow: @dtruntheworld @climaterelay

Joy is... Surrender.Jon Bilbrough (aka Wilderthorn) is known for secret gigs in disused and abandoned spaces, turning forgotten places of history and atmosphere into wild and magical ‘Wilderthorn-experiences’. Having begun his musical journey in Asia, touring his earliest gigs in Sri Lanka, Malasia, Singapore and India, he then returned to Chennai, India, to create demo recordings with local Bollywood musicians, famous for their work with award-winning Indian composer, A.R. Rahman. Out of those experiences would emerge the sounds and textures of his debut recordings and idiosyncratic performances that sway between song and improvised territory, driven by Jon’s powerful, emotive voice, tinged with dark operatic tones and folk-style flourishes. In intimate settings, he can be found backed only by his acoustic guitar and in larger venues by a wave of primal rhythms, clanging dulcimers, electric guitar swells and haunting violin textures. Instagram: @wilderthornmusicYouTube: @wilderthornwww.wilderthorn.com

Joy is... Being Heard.Immy Sykes is not sure if she qualifies as a cyclist, but she certainly does a lot of it. Immy, who is based in the North-West of England and goes by the handle of Immy Cycles on Instagram, talks a lot online about her experiences on the bike and the way that it connects her to the people and world around her. She is a passionate environmentalist, with an MSc in Environmental Sustainability and is also a shining light in opening conversations in navigating the curve balls that mental and physical health can throw us.  Follow: @immycycleswww.immycycles.comMentioned:The Lost Paths, Jack CornishGhost Mountain, Ronan HessionDoppelgänger: Naomi KleinElle KlatschBikes and BirdhidesHelsby Running ClubSisters in the WildTemple Cycles

Service update: It's been a little while since the last episode due to life, work and other projects requiring energy. The podcast is a labour of love, and I am giving myself the grace that I would grant others to produce content in a way that is sustainable and uplifting for them. The things we love should be a pleasure, not a chore. I am so grateful to the podcast for the amazing connections, friendships and community that it has given me and so, as a thank you to listeners, here is a very special episode that I bring to you as a placeholder before releasing another mini series in the autumn.Joy is...Tiny Little Moments.Matt Pycroft specialises in working in remote and hostile environments as a highly experienced filmmaker and photographer. Having begun his career creating short research-based films for the United Nations and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, he fell in love with life on the road and expedition filmmaking. He holds a few strings to his bow and is the host of The Adventure Podcast, an ongoing series of long-form conversations with pioneers of exploration and discovery. He is also Creative Director of Coldhouse, a content agency and platform for authentic storytelling. Coldhouse reflects Matt’s passion for seeking out untold stories and learning from working in extreme environments. No concept is too complex or location too remote.  It might be because we quickly discovered that our brains and emotions work in a similar manner, but there is very little in this conversation about what people might instinctively think of when they hear the word ‘adventure’: the mountains, the oceans, the bravado, the danger. Instead, what quickly becomes the heart of this conversation, is a much deeper and profound adventure: the adventure that comes from being truly vulnerable with ourselves, when we are broken open and have to find a way to put the pieces back together. We talk about masculinity and the difficulties of finding an emotional vocabulary in a society that conditions, men in particular, towards anger; the discomfort of stopping when our brains are wired for being constantly occupied; what success and betterment actually look like; how we can evolve and learn through celebrating and supporting others, and the power of human experience and connection. I am so grateful for Matt’s openness and trust in sharing his personal reflections, and I urge you to listen to him over on the Adventure Podcast for more insightful conversations, alongside some practical specialist episodes on planning your own adventures.Follow: @mattpycroft @coldhouse_ @theadventurepodcastwww.coldhousecollective.comwww.theadventurepodcast.co.uk

Joy is...Feeling Known.Lindsey Freeman is a writer and sociologist interested in endurance, hapticality, atomic and nuclear cultures, and poetics. Her most recent book, Running, is about practice, love, queerness, and long-distance running, published by Duke University Press. Although described as a feminist and queer handbook of running, it’s a book for all runners.  It’s a book that celebrates the freedom and opportunity for self-discovery that running offers, whilst untangling identity, the body, failure, friendship...in fact the whole spectrum of what it means to lace up our shoes. Lindsey is at once both an intensely astute social and cultural observer and an incredibly gentle and empathetic soul, who embodies and explores what feeling, physically and emotionally, as well as thinking about, the world around us might mean for us individually and collectively. Running is the pivot point, both for Lindsey's book and for this conversation, but this is really about how we can create spaces from a place of deep understanding of our thinking, breathing, feeling bodies that are welcoming for all people who think and breathe and feel. In other words. /www.lindseyfreeman.net@atomic_lindsey_freeman

Joy is...Shared Humanity.Christine Yu is a New York-based, life-long athlete and award-winning journalist, who writes about sports, science and health. Her interest in the intersection between sports science and women athletes led her to her first book UP TO SPEED: The Groundbreaking Science of Women Athletes, which disentangles myth and gender bias from real science in order to address the huge research gap in supporting women athletes to excel at every stage of life. Ultimately, this is book that is not just a road map for women and girls but an examination of the systemic injustices in sports and science that affect all people in the hope of uncovering ways to make the system more equitable for everyone.  Running is so much more complex than simply lacing up your shoes; it is embedded within the cultural, political and social web that means that our bodies, particularly female and non-binary bodies, are never just, and should never be limited to, being 'one thing'. Over the course of this conversation, we unpick the assumptions and beliefs that have contributed to these limitations and explore how, by embracing the multi-faceted nature of identity in how we both conduct, interpret and act upon research, we might create spaces that feel equitable for all people.Christine is an incredibly informed and insightful person and there are so many 'a-ha' moments in this interview that I hope will speak to anyone who feels that they are being forced into a pre-existing jigsaw puzzle that doesn't fit their needs.www.christinemyu.com@cyu888 

Joy is...Watching Football (with a Dog).Stef Mcloughlin is the Commercial Manager for Lewes FC, a football club that is not only committed to gender equality but is really showcasing how, with the right approach, sport can be a catalyst for societal change. There are infinite creative ways that the 100% fan owned club is doing this, but perhaps the most remarkable achievement is that Lewes FC became the first team across the globe to both pay and resource the men’s and women’s teams equally. Since this move in 2017, attendance and sponsorship have surged, which is testimony to the power of commitment, passion and innovation in driving real change. Stef is a brilliant advocate for the meaningful work that Lewes FC is doing, not just on a local level but on the world stage, in terms of championing women's sport. Talking to her, it is soon clear how what Lewes is doing is not just about football but how we can live, work and play in a more connected, compassionate and equitable way in all aspects of our lives. Lewes is a team but it's also a community and one that more and more people, across the world, want to be a part of.Follow: @stefmic@lewesfcwomenwww.lewesfc.com