#163 - Gravel Running is Bullshit

Amy had a close encounter of the rural kind, while Stu had a shit race and then a nice race. There is talk of rare pheasants, mysteriously intentioned portaloos, race mayonnaise, the Lincoln Showground (IYKYK), a TV show we've never heard of, and Amy loses her mind because someone jumped.

An all-time classic rant from us as Salomon invent a new genre of running that no one asked for. Stu attends his first Barkrun, Amy isn't keen on sexy pace, and our listeners have some spectacular levels of bullshit ranging from the miraculous to the miserable.

Amy moved house, so the delayed episode was all her fault. She uses it as an excuse to not run, which is actually pretty reasonable compared to some of the others we've heard... Stu is very much back at it, racing silly races, getting wet and miserable and competing with children at parkrun. Our listeners chime in with stories of epic failure, being heckled (maybe), making other runners cry and one of them gets just the tip.

Roll up, roll up and slag off geographical features right here! Got a hill that's a bit too steep? A trail that's a bit too fiddly? A forest that looked at you a bit funny? We want to hear about them. We get some top listener advice on making women feel safe when running, Stu didn't have enough blood to run, and Amy isn't completely appalled at the idea of running the world's deepest marathon.

Men being creepy is obviously bad, but it really does make good entertainment as Amy gets all riled up. She also encounters a closed trail, runs down it, and realises it was closed for a reason.  Stu claims vengeance, ponders racelessness, swears at a hill, but wants to go to an even bigger hill in Colorado.

Amy has another animal encounter, but this one is a lot more mythical than usual, and we're pretty sure it was totally real. We talk about repairing shoes, and hope this will turn out to be a good idea. Our listeners get poisoned, look at some puffins, get cramp and  get stung in the foot. Hot, isn't it?

Some big questions in this episode: How do you let pedestrians know you want to get past? Can men be mega-babes? And, is trail running gay? We answer some of these and more, as well as details of Stewart having the shits and Amy's fond memories of norovirus, our listeners cry, get stung, and listen to this podcast in the wrong order. We also talk about some actual running news, but focus on the nonsense in the comments.

Stewart has an important yet stupid announcement to make, and Amy ran on a road. Our listeners fall over, get stopped by the police, get spat on, rant about t-shirts, and apparently one of you was a monk! A classic episode in many ways. Also, Amy gets all the hard names and Stewart doesn't edit out any of attempts, you're welcome.

Only we could have an episode title like this, surely? Stu is coming in hot with a rant that will definitely backfire, and Amy has forgotten what she's ranted about. There's talk of coughing, being unprepared for the elements, eggs, a parkrun nun, the cursed Edinburgh marathon, and a story that could only have come from Lisa Gibbon.

Amy gets good and wound up about things that do not affect her life in any way, while Stewart uncovers a conspiracy theory. We talk about squirting, tea experimentation, losing the will to live from running on a flat road, What 3 Words, and the London marathon continues to live rent-free in our heads.