Running is BS

SPOILER ALERT - we will be talking about films from the 1970s you've never heard of and will never watch.

We watch some wildly different films to see what they get right and wrong about running, and just how racist they are.

Stories of poo that did and didn't happen, though this is more fun to talk about because they happened to other people.

Stu is feeling old, and as an old man, wants to complain about it.

Amy is still young and foolish enough to believe the myth that a gym will help her running.

Are run clubs bullshit, or is it just an easy subject to bash on social media?

We rob content from Reddit and give our opinions on it.

Amy does not roundhouse a sheep off a cliff.

Stu doesn't win a race, and Amy goes on a charming, craft-filled, pilgrimage run experiencing joy, sorrow, and tribulations.

We (sort of) finally learn Amy's blood type but still don't know why we need to, ask for fancy dress ideas, and ponder humanity's downfall at the hands of the robots.

Piss, gloves, organ harvesting, minor treason, running on the road like a twat, catheters, racism, hamsters, and Kim Kardashian.

Your basic, run-of-the-mill running podcast.

So much racing to catch up on! A couple of epic run reports and neither of them from Amy, though the running world is still in shock that she went to a parkrun.

Our listeners ignore silly foreign warnings, wonder what happens to all the safety pins, have witchcraft related injuries, and get pissed on. And you say we're the strange ones.

It's medals galore for the Extended BS universe, as Stu became a champion and Amy became sick on a boat.

We have a parkrun revelation, tiny pins, frogs, more nonsense marathons, mansplaining, and proof that paranoia about your friend being in the rescue helicopter is not always unfounded... 

Amy is the consistent runner this week, while Stu fails and then quits for a while. 

We also have a listener story that perfectly fits the Running is BS story algorithm, some tips on how not to handle accidentally trespassing in a race, brambles, being saved by an e-scooter, and, as ever, falling over. 

We enjoy some of your quickfire bullshit and accidentally stumble into our favourite talking points of the episode!

Once again you are offered completely amateur uninformed medical advice, a load of bollocks about the Enhanced Games, Amy visits a church, and Stu nearly forgets to tell a horrible story.

The Great Fall of 2026 has happened, but to the wrong host.

We talk quite a lot about AI and how stupid and annoying it is to use, as well as how useful it can be.

We've got plenty of listeners getting injured, a good few sensibly ignoring them, and our one-woman bullshit generator is very much back on form.

It's time to review the greatest and most important race of the year. No, not the London marathon, the Beijing Robot Half Marathon!

Even Amy gets caught up in the excitement of race season and nearly does a 5k race, whilst Stu's got Lidl to thank for another PB.

We also decide which injuries are the best to run through, discuss some of the worst chafing we've ever seen, and finish with a story that isn't about running in the slightest but somehow the most relevant subject to us.

Your complete holistic running companion podcast is back with more gear reviews, route recommendations, and mindset shifts that will really boost your running.

That's what a normal podcast would say. 

We say that we talked about bats, getting into a flow state in a nightmareish tunnel, penis issues, running around Tesco, and what if the next Speed movie was about an elderly lady who couldn't stop at parkrun?

That's more fun, right?

Stu has finally succumbed to carbon running shoes, although he still does not give a shit about them. Amy has successfully #builtuphermileage but now thinks that may be her downfall.

We also talk runfluencers yet again, race companies collapsing again, the worst time to wear a running vest again, and creepy post-parkrun comments (again?).

We learn about Amy's fear of new technology and Stu wins an entire cross country division all on his own, or at least in his mind.

We have some brand new long run nightmare fuel, two toe tales, physio banter, something about the pigeon lady from Home Alone, and why we all need to build up another fuck bucket.

Stu and Amy give their top date advice in this episode, encourage listeners to glory in their mediocrity, and, above all, treat physios as the quacks and charlatans that they are. We also issue a stark warning to volunteer race marshals everywhere.

Also features one of the most niche Ramadan conversations you'll ever hear, but one Stu is absolutely obsessed with.

Cover photo of very good very brave boy Mitch.

Climber survives 1,500ft fall before running four miles for help

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Amy just will not learn, as she embarks on yet another ill-fated route, but this time somehow enters a horse race.

Stewart gets filthy and worries about where to put his knob.

There is a lot of chat about whether or not you should wear a race t-shirt for a race you did not enter, or maybe finish, or maybe volunteered for. The conclusion will leave you underwhelmed.

Why It’s OK to Wear a Finisher’s Shirt for a Race You Didn’t Finish

Stop dressing like a 'runner' on your r...

Stu adds to his impressive tally of losing a race and legitimately winning a medal for it. Amy went for a run.

We chat shit about Taylor Swift, ponder future plans for immersive running experiences, badly transition between news stories, and ask how far is ok to race with a baby strapped to your chest?

Stories of fire and ice in this episode, but also falling over and running into traffic.

Stewart isn't proud of what he did, and Amy isn't proud of her first race result of the year.

Want a free ultra place? Listen and find out how!

Another year, another year-end podcast detailing why that year was bullshit.

We share our high-, but mainly, low-lights, as well as some top content from our listeners who are generally as miserable as we are.

We also reveal alarmingly different race stats for the year, and inevitably not talk about running as much as we can.

Episode dedicated to Rain 🐾

We've got a guest! Local runner to us, different point of view, setting up something for a particular group that we don't know much about? You know we love that kind of thing.

Stu loves talking about canicross and Amy loves ignoring signs which may have prevented her having a bad time. We refuse to learn from our mistakes.

This might have been the Halloween episode, but it isn't.

Amy gets judged by local shopkeepers, didn't lose her dog, and her mum runs a bit.

Stu goes for a walk, watches some runners, and reflects on post-industrial decline across the UK’s marginalised communities, citing how political choices have dismantled local economies and hollowed out the sense of civic pride and cultural belonging.

Welcome to the Number 1 Pheasant podcast, with more phun phacts than anyone else,  maybe.

We also talk about running for a bit as Stewart gets injured and ignores it (LIKE A MAN) and Amy has another tale that could have only happened to her. 

PinSkinMan IRL, arses, gout, and we want to sue Garmin for some reason

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.

Amy starts spooooky season early this year risking the most heinous curse imaginable, while Stu has become the greatest runner in history and is playing it super cool.

We also possibly quite badly insult 0.004% of our audience, Amy doesn't understand dimensions, we talk about the worst way to power through a night shift, when a marathon isn't a marathon, and have the annual worst London Marathon costume record discussion. 

Another mostly unfocussed scattergun of a podcast where Stu has done another bloody race and is all full of himself and Amy hasn't done a race and doesn't give a shit.

We talk head injuries, Weird Al Yankovic, the start of silly costume season, races that don't exist, and have serous worries about our audience.

Amy grabbed a little lamb, it's fleece was white as snow, and when she lobbed it over the fence, on her merry way she did go.

There are tales of personal growth, colonialism, getting lost in a field, public rights of way and when they should be destroyed, and we accidentally convince ourselves that £140 shorts are a fair deal.

Oops Stu did it again, got lost in the woods, endangered his friends...

There's also plenty of running icks in this episode, Amy scales a mountain and wishes she hadn't, and we shit all over the Lisbon half, which by the sound of things is certainly not the first time.

Our 150th episode spectacular doesn't feature AMAZING guests, WILD stories, or HUGE competitions, it's just the same old nonsense.

Stu has been questioning his sanity, nearly drowning in mud, learnt how to do CPR, and actually went to the gym while Amy went for a run.

There's also another thrilling religious running update. 

We're joined by the Feminist Sociologist of Sport Bethan Taylor-Swaine who is right up our street doing research into all the awful things about running we love talking about.

Meanwhile, we discuss an alternative fuelling method, running with the Mafia, Stewart's ego, and Amy talks for a long time about shoe colours insisting she doesn't care about them.

We're sorry about the title of the episode, and yes the story is pretty bad, even by our standards.

Amy is being gaslit by social media, but in a very specific way, and Stu accidentally invents a new form of age grading at races.

Why is everyone doing shakeout runs all of a sudden,  and what happened to recovery runs? We don't answer these questions and more in this episode.

We talk about our own fairly reasonable plans for 2025 and many of your stupid plans for 2025, and look forward when we hear the tale of how they inevitably go wrong.