Keen, not talented runner getting bitten by the ultra bug. I love running but am all about the banter – hence the raccoon costume! I completed my first 100-Miler in November 18 and am always looking for a new challenge.

Hi I am Charlotte, I have an addiction not only to running but also spending a lot of money on new kit, and adding medals to a wall I have yet to find!

I have been running for around two years, ish. I say ish because it was not a fast nor constant transition. I started running in little bits, going for long walks and adding the running in bit by bit.

The idea of using an app or a plan has never really appealed to me and if I am completely honest it would very much have put me off in the early stages of my running life. I took a more, listen to your body kind of approach, and it seems to have worked. Don’t get me wrong I have read a lot since the start and changed the things that I do but the core of the way I run is to listen to what my  body is telling me. Some days are good, others are not.

I run for me, for the moments when I need a clear head, for the feeling of freedom it brings, for the peace that it gives me like nothing else I have found can.

I finished my first Half Marathon in June this year and it was slow! I got to the end of it and cried swearing that I would NEVER do it again… one hour later I had already agreed to run a 10k race.

Fast forwards to today and I am in the middle of 5 Half Marathons in 5 weekends!

I am incredibly lucky that I have an amazing family that have become my support team, inspiration and are crazy enough to say yes to getting up at stupid times in the morning over the weekend just so that I am able to race/train.

I am loving every new thing I learn about running and I am loving being able to share it with other people who maybe just maybe are as crazy as I am! Most of all I love the conversation it brings out in everyone and the inspirational community that I am part of.

If you want to see how I get along, come and join my journey!

I started running in July 2016 having been inspired by meeting the running great, Sally Gunnell, and wanting to tackle a half marathon before turning 40. I completed Cardiff half marathon in October 2016 taking me 2hrs 31 mins and I haven’t looked back.

Since then I’ve become a member of Weston Athletics Club, and RunMummyRun. I am now completing a half marathon a month this year to raise money for charity, as I chase after that 2 hour time.

April 2017 sees me adventuring into trail running, learning how to fuel correctly (nutrition) and introducing double runs into my training.

I am no stranger to running having grown up with an athletics coach as a dad, but its only now in my older years I value the freedom, the fight, and the passion running gives me.

I’m an enthusiastic runner, although a very average one! I’ve been running for about 9 years and in the last few years I have been running with a club, Bournville Harriers in Birmingham, where I also joined the committee first as Social Secretary and I am now the Chairperson.

I love being part of a running club; I’ve made so many friends and taken part in some amazing team races, like the Cross Country and Road Relays, and team trips like the 24-hour Thunder Run; the Ljubljana Marathon and Half-Marathon in Slovenia and a forthcoming visit to Ireland. As Chairperson I also get to be involved in organising our club events and races, as well as taking an active role in promoting the club in the wider community.

I’m a very keen parkrunner, having run over 150 parkruns at a number of different events; I also love volunteering at my local Cannon Hill parkrun and junior parkrun.

I have recently started a book club for runners; The Runner’s Bookshelf, on Facebook, since like many runners I spend my free time when I’m not pounding the pavements, reading biographies of runners, training guides and other books on the subject!

I’m passionate about the benefits of running for health, particularly mental health, and for the social benefits that running in a group can bring. If I can encourage or persuade someone to lace up their trainers I jump at the chance! I have successfully converted both my parents and my husband into runners (although they’re not as obsessed as I am!)

I think the sense of achievement of completing a major distance challenge or getting a new PB is amazing, but I also enjoy running for its own sake and nothing beats a long Sunday run along our local canal towpaths chatting away the miles in a group. I’ve gained so much from running personally that promoting it comes naturally to me. Being part of the growing Birmingham running scene is brilliant and having the National Running Show in my home city is so exciting; I can’t wait!

Hello fellow runners/aspiring runners! My name is Amy and I have been a “runner” now for around 5 years after completing my first half marathon for charity in 2012 in 2:10! Having completed the race the words “never again” left my mouth… to then find me 24 hours searching for my next race!! Yes, I have the “running bug”!

Since then I found a love for running, health and fitness, and have now completed 16 Half Marathons and 2 full marathons where I have now qualified for a good for age place in VLM 2018.

Running is now a huge part of my life, whether it’s 7am before work, a weekend or if I’m on holiday; I find joy in running and exploring. I enjoy sharing this passion with my friends, family and helping people start their running journey.

I love running because it’s simple. You can put on your shoes and go. Wherever you are. Whatever the time.

While running is a simple act, it also introduces so many complex things into life. It introduces a routine; purpose and structure–everything from meal times to bed time. If you’ve got a long run to do at 6am, 9pm bedtimes are a good idea!

Another OBVIOUS for most, is that it burns calories. If you love to eat (or love cake like me!!), running is the best!

Those are all internal reasons;

However, the external reasons are the most sentimental to me… Running connects us to nature and to the community. You’ll be amazed by the truly wonderful people running can bring into your life, and you can find yourself on runs, in the middle of nowhere, just you and the world. This amazing world we live in, sometimes it’s amazing just to breathe deeply and truly admire nature.

Finally, the most enduring connection of all. Running connects our minds with places you may have never been before. Pushing yourself to run 26.2 miles, when by mile 18 your body is screaming stop, but you have to just keep going. Training your brain and realising what you’re truly capable is amazing. I remember training for my first marathon and completing a 20 mile run (the furthest run I had done at the time) – I felt on cloud 9 and on top of the world, I will never forget someone saying “alright, you haven’t won the olympics” – it hurt me a lot, I was so proud and no one would take that away!

Believing in yourself and what your body can do is amazing, and has taught me a new way of living and to overcome daily stresses.

I cannot wait for this wonderful expo to meet like minded individuals and celebrate running!

Asthmatic since childhood, a heavy drinker & smoker since his early teens, Pete began running as a way of losing weight, getting fitter, and combatting his mental health problems.

Starting out as somebody who couldn’t run a mile without stopping to get his breath back, Pete shed pounds whilst increasing his stamina, & ran the 2007 London Marathon in just under 5 hours, vowing to never run another marathon again.

However, as he grew stronger & fitter, Pete joined a local running club, gave up smoking, cut down on his alcohol consumption, and became addicted to the ‘runners high’. After following an online training programme, he crossed the finish line of the inaugural Brighton Marathon in under the 3:30 barrier – over 90 minutes faster than his previous marathon finishing time.

Vowing to break sub-3 hours for a marathon, Pete ran in many races, over all distances from 1 mile to 26.2, both in the UK & in his beloved Italy, improving his personal best times along the way, before finally, 6 years after his debut over the ‘classic distance’, he returned to London & achieved his dream, crossing the line in 2:54.

For the past decade Pete has been very actively involved with the local running scene in both the West Country & Midlands, being both Captain & Chairman of one club, and in the last few years has turned his attention to taking part in several Masters/Veterans events.

Now a shadow of his former self and a veteran of over 28 Marathons, including a marathon a month in 2015, Pete races across all distances, is a staunch advocate of the importance of exercise, especially parkrun, for all generations, and still occasionally finds time to coach/mentor others who wish to run, whatever the distance.

All in all, not bad for somebody who watched the television coverage of the very first London marathon and thought, “I wouldn’t mind having a go at doing that…”

Inspired by watching the very first London marathon, I discovered running relatively late in life as I approached my mid-30s. Initially it was just a means of getting fitter but I was soon hooked and ran my first marathon within a year of my first one mile run.

After several city marathons, and an 80-mile ultra along the South Downs, a holiday run in the USA triggered a desire for combining running and travel and this has led me to all corners of the planet. To celebrate my 50^th birthday, I completed the Marathon des Sables, the self-sufficient 140 plus mile run in the Sahara desert over 6 days.

Since then I have run multi-stage events in various locations around China and Sri Lanka, as well as trail races in Siberia, Myanmar and Jordan. I have run in a game reserve in South Africa, where nothing separated the athletes from the wildlife, and I have run on the one mile thick polar ice-cap in Greenland. During the course of the next year, I plan to run in the Australian Outback and then, to celebrate the year of my 70^th birthday, I will run in Antarctica in March 2018, thus completing runs of at least a half marathon on each continent, as well as both ice-caps.

It hasn’t always been a straightforward journey and at various points in my life I have suffered severe bouts of anxiety and depression. I cannot overstate how much my running has helped me to deal with these episodes and I am privileged to now be both a Run Leader and an England Athletics Mental Health Ambassador to help others discover the benefits that running can bring to both physical and mental wellbeing.

When I retired just over 5 years ago, I was encouraged to write about my running experiences and the way it had helped me overcome personal health difficulties. Feedback from people who had read passages  of my story led to what had initially started out as a personal record for my family, soon becoming a best-selling book ‘Running Hot & Cold’ that, I am proud to say, won the silver award at the 2016 Running Awards in London. At the request of my publisher, a second book is now in preparation as I look forward to further adventures ahead.

Hello, my name is Emma and I am a 28 year old running enthusiast!

I found my love of running a year and a half ago when my Fiance suggested  we try using the C25K app as part of our weight loss program to help us get into running. Before this I was extremely overweight and I could barely run for 15 seconds without having to stop for a breather.

In just a matter of a few weeks I had gone from someone who would struggle with just a few seconds into someone who could run for longer than a few minutes. I was so motivated and impressed that the app was helping me I couldn’t wait to start the next week.

Since then I have continued to progress with my running – by all means I am not the quickest or able to run the furthest but I have found a love in something I used to dread. In October of 2016 I ran my first half marathon in Bournemouth. This was one of the toughest but most rewarding things I have ever completed in my life. The feeling of crossing that finish line was one I will never forget. That itself has encouraged me to continue with my fairly new found love of running by joining at least two half marathons this year – Salisbury and again Bournemouth.

Until early 2015 I was one of those people who genuinely thought they couldn’t run, not even for a bus!

A good friend persuaded me to join a ladies beginners running group where I discovered that actually I could! Not only that but I love it which is an even bigger surprise. I now run 4 to 5 times a week either in a group or on my own. Running off-road is my absolute favourite.

This year I am aiming to run 1000 miles as well as completing a range of distance events up to half marathon. I am part of a great group of runners as well as on the core team for our local parkrun and coach U11s at our club. Having been vegan for over 20 years I am also part of Vegan Runners UK. I love to share my passion of running and support new runners to achieve their goals and believe in themselves. Running has definitely changed my life.

Richard has been running 8 years and completed multiple marathons and half marathon races.

Having taken on some of the worlds hardest races like China’s Great Wall Marathon he knows what it takes to train and prepare for any race and how to reach that finish line. His highlights include that he carried the London 2012 Olympic Torch, broke a Guinness World Record for the fastest half marathon dressed as an animal and was part of a team of 5 men who have taken the Cotswold 24 Hour Relay title twice consecutively.

Richard gives back to his running community by volunteering for parkrun, and is often seen at races wearing a pacing flag helping others attain a new PB. His YouTube channel showcases many of the races he has done with in race videos.

I previously ran a lot in my younger days, when I was in my mid twenties around 1987 I ran in a number of Half Marathons, including Swindon, Bracknell and Reading. However due to work I drifted away from running and only really found it again in 2013.

Rapidly approaching my 50th Birthday, I realised how unfit and out of shape I had become from my non active lifestyle. In may 2013 I turned up at my local parkrun and huffed and puffed my way around the 5km’s in 38 minutes. My Asthma meant I had to stop and take some puffs of my Inhaler on a number of occasions. That convinced me that my 16.5 stone body needed to get back into some sort of state.

Now almost 3 stone lighter and now heading for my 52nd Birthday, my parkrun PB is 23 minutes, I have ran 3 Marathons, countless Half marathons and often get asked to be an official race pacer at events around the country.

Running has not only helped me to lose weight, but it has improved my health over a wider spectrum, my Asthma is now under control, and I am a fundraiser and social media contributor for the charity Asthma UK. I am also on their grant review panel to assess funding requests from researchers and scientists.

I now try to encourage others with the same condition as myself to get active, and improve their health, one of the most enjoyable aspects of my running these days is when I am acting as a Pacer to help runners achieve their goals and ambitions and hit new PB targets, a big boost for me.

I am running in the 2018 London Marathon once more for Asthma UK.

A family man who loves to run, and share the experience. Pacing has revived my love of running, and would sooner pace others to reach their goals, then race for my own. Pacing this year includes London and Berlin marathons, amongst a list of 18 events. Personal challenges include race to the stones 100k, and Kalmar Ironman. This is only the beginning… enjoy running, embrace it, and get out there.