G’day! I’m Zeph, aka nuttyrunr, originally from Australia but have resided in the UK since 2010.
My journey into the running world started with treadmill running after losing my Mum to lung and brain cancer in 2007 at the age of 28, but it wasn’t until I moved to the UK in 2010 and after spending 1.5 years on holiday and gaining a LOT of weight that I started to take this running gig more seriously.
As a kid I was always a sprinter, never a long distance or endurance runner so swapping disciplines whilst also being excessively overweight posed to be quite the challenge.
My first race was the Race for Life 5K which I completed in around 50 mins – it nearly killed me and I couldn’t walk properly for a week after. Then I signed up for the Great North Run as a laugh thinking I wouldn’t get in, but did, so the training for my first half marathon began. I deferred for a few years due to either not being ready or an injury such as breaking my 5th metatarsal in 2012; but in 2016 I finally completed the GNR in an atrocious time of 2:50! The following year (2017), I finished in 2:04, smashing my time by 46 mins and in 2019 I finished in 2:00:01 which was slightly disappointing as I was aiming for a sub 2 hour half but it was a PB nonetheless.
The first 2 Great North Runs I ran for Cancer Research and Macmillan Cancer Support respectively, raising around £2000.
In 2019 I ran 3 half marathons all within 5 weeks of each other; the GNR mentioned above, Ealing half in 1:58 which finally got me to my sub 2 goal then the Oxford half where I achieved a PB of 1:54
Since then my running journey has progressed to crewing at the 2022 Badwater 135 race in Death Valley and in 2021 I was hired by my beloved HOKA as an Events Assistant where I get represent my favourite running brand at major running events around the UK and Europe such as the UTMB® World Series, London Marathon Expo and IRONMAN events.
My A race for 2024 is my first Ultra, the Kullamannen by UTMB® Seventh Seal 50KM in November.