Everyday Runners

EDR #2.11 /Running Media/: Annemerel de Jongh: running writer and podcaster

Annemerel de Jongh's life story is inextricably linked to her life as a runner. She is the author of three books on running, runs a popular running blog and of course is active on Instagram as an influencer. Annemerel is also the host of a (Dutch language) podcast, Have a Good Run, in which she shares her stories of her preparation for the upcoming Rotterdam Marathon with EDR regular, Anne Luijten. 
I also provide a brief update regarding my Rotterdam-marathon build, which has had a nasty interruption thanks to a poorly timed virus. 
The beautiful music at the beginning of this is episode is by Jeroen Rondeel (of Cymbaline). The music was specifically composed for this podcast: so, a massive thanks to Jeroen. 
If you are interested in supporting this podcast, as a sign of appreciation, you can do so via the Buy Me a Coffee platform. 
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Links: 
Andy Fuller/Reading Sideways Press
Strava: Andy Fuller
Instagram: Everyday Runners Leiden
Email: everydayrunnerspodcast@gmail.com
Support the Podcast: Buy Me a Coffee

EDR #2.10 /Race Review/ Anne Luijten on her CPC and Rotterdam Build

Anne Luijten reflects on her CPC, which didn't really go to plan. Even pros have bad days. But no problem. The marathon waits for no-one and Anne is taking stock and preparing for Rotterdam, which is happening in a little under a month. Anne also asks Andy about his training and what his approach was for the CPC. They also discuss Anne's podcast with Annemerel de Jongh, Have a Good Run. 
Thank you to the recent supporters of the podcast: Joao, Bob and Gianluca. If you would like to show your support for this podcast, please click on the Buy Me a Coffee link below. 
I hope your running and training is going well. 
Doi doi :) 
 
Links: 
Andy Fuller/Reading Sideways Press
Strava: Andy Fuller
Instagram: Everyday Runners Leiden
Email: everydayrunnerspodcast@gmail.com
Support the Podcast: Buy Me a Coffee

EDR #2.9 /Running Plus/ The Waye of the Plogger: interview with Paul Waye of Haarlem, elite-level plogger

How much rubbish do you see when you go for a run? Red Bull cans, cigarette packets, CapriSun packages, beer bottles, cigarette butts, coffee cups and lids litter our footpaths and urban spaces. Most of the time we leave them on the ground and wait for someone else to tidy things up. 
Paul Waye, he of the Banana Suit and the aluminium-can mini-skirt, is a runner and someone who picks up rubbish on his runs. Of course there is a Swedish word for this practice: to plog. Paul, an Englishman in Haarlem, has gone-pro with his plogging over recent months, and in this interview he shares his process of transitioning from everyday runner to absolute legendary plogger with an indefatiguable appetite for cleaning up the Dutch landscape. 
Soon, he'll be undertaking the Twelf Steden Plog - where he will run to the twelve regional capitals of the Netherlands - throughout the month of May. He's most likely to be passing close to where you live, so, if you see him, give him a shout out, but more importantly, help him out through picking up a piece of rubbish. 
Thank you to Joao Seixas, Bob van Hesse and Gianluca Bonaccorso for supporting this podcast via the Buy Me a Coffee platform. You can do it too. These contributions help cover the costs of running the podcast. All contributors will be acknowledged in a future episode (or episodes). 
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Links: 
Andy Fuller/Reading Sideways Press
Strava: Andy Fuller
Instagram: Everyday Runners Leiden
Email: everydayrunnerspodcast@gmail.com
Support the Podcast: Buy Me a Coffee
 
 

EDR #2.8 /Athlete Profile/ Max Polak: "I had no clue. I just did it. It was just sport."

Hey! Max Polak, from Papendrecht, went to the US when he was 20 to pursue his running career: running at both Boise State University and Miami University. After a few ups and downs he is now back in the Netherlands and getting stronger in the half-marathon while also putting in some solid performances on the track. Max trains under Bram Wassenaar at Leiden Atletiek. 
We recorded this interview while Max was at a training camp in Portugal, in the lead up to the CPC Half-Marathon in Den Haag. Max was very candid about what running means to him and how he has used running as a means to further his education and explore new opportunities. He tells of his racing tactics and what motivates him. He's recently also been having some very nice battles with Everyday Runner regular, Dominic Bersee. 
This episode opens with a 'listener question' regarding what to do in case of having a long-term injury. I briefly share my thoughts. 
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Links: 
Andy Fuller/Reading Sideways Press
Strava: Andy Fuller
Instagram: Everyday Runners Leiden
Email: everydayrunnerspodcast@gmail.com
Support the Podcast via Buy Me a Coffee

EDR #2.7 /Athlete Profile/ Lysanne Wilkens, 2:38 on debut and on doing running her own way

Hey, hello! In this episode, Lysanne Wilkens, a freelance journalist and photographer based in Utrecht, joins EDR for a conversation about her running and running life. Lysanne, unexpectedly (for herself) ran 2:38 in the Taipei marathon last year while travelling throughout Asia. Lysanne crossed the finish line looking as if she could have kept going for another lap of the course. So, in this conversation we talk about her running background and her approach to running in general: part of which is to make sure that it fits well into her own schedule and that she has a great degree of agency over her training. 
In the first segment of this episode, I respond to a question from Emma, a fellow Leiden-based runner, about 'hilly marathon majors'. In short, I express my ambivalence over 'world marathon majors', while loving the idea of hilly marathons - from a spectators point of view. I'm yet to do one, and while not really deliberately avoiding them, I'm also not really going out of my way to do one. :) 
If you would like to ask a question or for us (yes, there will be a co-host, soon!) please send your thoughts via email or a DM on IG. 
As always: i hope you're enjoying your running. Until next time. Doi doi. 
Links: 
Andy Fuller/Reading Sideways Press
Strava: Andy Fuller
Instagram: Everyday Runners Leiden
Email: everydayrunnerspodcast@gmail.com
Support the Podcast:  Patreon 

EDR #2.6 /Running Media/ Brady Threlfall of Inside Running Podcast

Yo! Hello! Brady Threlfall loves a good yarn. He's the founder of Inside Running Podcast which has become, probably, the most respected running podcast in Australia. Brady (and his numerous co-hosts, but mainly Croker and Moose) have churned out 381 episodes in a row since 2017. Talk about streaks. Brady also has some pretty handy PBs to his name: 14:10 in the 5km and 2:19 in the mara. 
I loved having this conversation with Brady. He's a ripping bloke who speaks genuinely, passionately and has decades of experience in long-distance running. There's a lot of running podcasts out there (mine being just another one), but IRP always has something new and insightful to add. 
Topics/themes/issues we covered included:
running during Covid
training in regional Victoria
doing handicap races (and winning the Stawell Gift);
the origins of Inside Running Podcast
the drama over the selection of the Australian women's representatives at the Paris Olympics
Steve Moneghetti and the Ballarat Marathon
the awesomeness of Sifan Hassan (impossible to do an episode without mentioning her)
Links: 
Andy Fuller/Reading Sideways Press
Strava: Andy Fuller
Instagram: Everyday Runners Leiden
Email: everydayrunnerspodcast@gmail.com
Subscription:  Patreon 
 

EDR #2.5: Live in Schoorl: "Don't let your watch hold you back."

Yo! Welcome to Schoorl! In this episode, EDR regular Niels Esmeijer and a few of us Pink Hippos discuss our experiences of a training camp we recently had in Schoorl. Conditions were perfect: nice and cool, no rain and no wind. We didn't even have to fly far to get there. Yes, it wasn't at altitude. But it was a very pleasant time outside of normal routines where we could about running, running and a bit about the rules of Padel and the virtues of air-fryers (and different kinds of coffee-makers). 
We share our experiences as runners and what it feels like when we know that others are faster and how that plays on our minds. Are we too hard on ourselves perhaps? 
I was a little greedy and the conversation was at different points focused on the Schoorl 10km (9th Feb), so Niels generously shared his thoughts. My favourite was: 'don't let your watch hold you back'. He expressed how need to focus on how we are feeling rather than being freaked out by whatever our watch is saying. The race is a time to cut loose and break the shackles. I find it hard to do too much forecasting before the race, but I'm looking forward to it. 
If you're new to the podcast, please give it a rating :) And, if you're feeling like this podcast is bringing you some kind of value, you're welcome to head on over to the Patreon page (link below). 
Until next time, doi doi - 
(Accompanying photo by Niels Esmeijer)
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Andy Fuller/Reading Sideways Press
Strava: Andy Fuller
Instagram: Everyday Runners Leiden
Email: everydayrunnerspodcast@gmail.com
Subscription:  Patreon 

EDR #2.4: Addicted to running? How and why we become addicted to running with Toomas Gross

Hey! We runners often talk about being 'addicted to running'. Sometimes this feels like a bit of an exaggeration: but probably it's true. Running gives us a dopamine hit. We gain 'tolerance' for it, which means we need more for the same hit and then we suffer from withdrawal symptoms when we can't get a score. I discussed this matter of 'running addiction' with Toomas Gross, a social-cultural anthropologist based at the University of Helsinki in Finland. I also spoke with Toomas about what running 'looks like' in Estonia (where he lives) and Finland (where he works). 
 
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Links: 
Andy Fuller/Reading Sideways Press
Strava: Andy Fuller
Instagram: Everyday Runners Leiden
Email: everydayrunnerspodcast@gmail.com
Subscription:  Patreon 
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EDR #2.3 The Aesthetics of Athletics: Interview with Erik van Leeuwen, photographer

Erik van Leeuwen is one of the most prominent and beloved photographers in the Netherlands. If you are a runner and participate in any events, no doubt he has already taken your photograph. Most likely, you are looking in great shape and like the complete package. Erik always makes us look like better runners than what we might actually be. His photographs create and tell compelling stories. And thus, since he is also a fellow-Leiden Atletiek athlete, I wanted to get to know his own story better. How did he become a photographer, what are the logistics involved and what are his aesthetic considerations when taking photographs. He's followed Sifan Hassan's and Femke Bol's careers right from their very beginnings. So yeah: of course we talk about them both. 
I hope you enjoy this episode. I enjoyed making it. Let the good times roll. 
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Episode Overview: 
Introduction: Erik van Leeuwen, of Wassenaar
IT worker, runner photographer
AF: What enabled you to go down the path of becoming a photographer? 
EvL: “I started taking photographs in 2005 and then one thing led to another The first camera I bought was a Sony Digital … slightly better than the average. It cost around 1,200 euros.” 
“In the beginning the pictures I made were lucky shots. I didn’t really know what I was doing. I did a course … You try and learn from others.” 
AF “I think it is possible, nowadays, to downplay the skill involved in photography, now that the cameras are so advanced. How do you focus on composition?”
Being a photographer or being a person with a camera. “There is a difference between taking a snapshot and a good photograph.” 
Taking photographs in stadia and along marathon courses: every race has different options. 
The logistics of taking photographs during a marathon 
Light and angles: too much is a problem; avoiding taking photographs at standing height
The labour of taking photographs in all conditions
Hollandse licht and clouds
“After a marathon, I’ll be editing for two or three hours … making the day of work pretty long. I’ll cut down from about 1000 photographs to 100 and then edit and name each photograph.”
Daphne Schippers’s image on the milk carton
Taking photographs which tell the story: Femke Bol in tears after falling. 
What EvL is looking forward to in 2025
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Links: 
Andy Fuller/Reading Sideways Press
Strava: Andy Fuller
Instagram: Everyday Runners Leiden
Email: everydayrunnerspodcast@gmail.com
Subscription:  Patreon 
 

EDR #2.2: From living the basketball dream to becoming a proper runner: Britt Zappeij on her concussions and sporting transitions

Hello! Welcome back to Everyday Runners. Britt Zappeij was playing high level basketball - in the Dutch national team and playing college basketball in the States - before a bad run of injuries (concussions and others) brought her basketballing trajectory to an unexpected end. Britt studied hard and got her dentistry degree all the while transitioning to marathon running. She barely did a 5km or 10km race before going straight to that mythical distance. 
This conversation explores the impact of her concussions (and the bad decision of a coach) and how she now perceives herself as being somewhere in between a non-runner and runner. (I think she is well and truly a proper runner.) Britt says, "I'm not the most talented, but I make good decisions." She talks about how running fits in with her busy professional life and what her dreams are for her 2025 year in running. 
Episode Overview
Concussions: “I could go to the grocery store and that was my entire day.” 
Talent: I’m not the most talented, but I work hard. I’ve made good decisions along the way.” 
Britt: “how is the noise at the Rotterdam for you? When your race is not going well, you get agitated by everything.”
Andy: “you said you are a perfectionist, how does that relate to you doing sport?” Britt: “it’s hard for me to say that I did well.” 
“Having to quit a marathon that you have trained for, that’s not nice.” 
“After my first marathon, I felt terrible, but I was so happy. I started crying to my mum and I said to her, I had so much pain but I want to go again.” 
Why do you run everyday? “Because I like it. I need to put my energy somewhere.”
On Winning the Katwijk Half-Marathon: “it was special to me because at the finishing line, there was this guy who came to interview me. And he was my first national team coach. So, he said to me, ‘Britt! What are you doing here?”’ 
"I'm not sure if I'm a real runner.  Some people also think that I don't look like a runner." 
“I like this photo because it reminds me about the bad time … when I wasn’t feeling well and I had to quit a race.” 
On Valencia: “at 7km, there was a turn, and because there was so many people doing the race, we came to a stand still. It was that crowded.”
"My running dream for this year is to run without injury or interruption and just let the times come by themselves." 
Britt Zappeij on Instagram
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Andy Fuller/Reading Sideways Press
Strava: Andy Fuller
Instagram: Everyday Runners Leiden
Email: everydayrunnerspodcast@gmail.com
Subscription: Patreon