EDR #44: "I'm a runner who is in search of a feeling" - Running and making Everyday Runners podcast. Leon interviews Andy

Bring it on.  Welcome back to Everyday Runners podcast. This is a special episode for the start of Season 2.This episode features Leon Huiszoon (of Leiden Atletiek) interviewing myself (Andy) about how and why I started Everyday Runners. 

Leon asks me all the big questions: isn't running just essentially meaningless? Why have you started coaching? Aren't you too old to be expecting to improve in your running? Why don't you interview folks from the natural sciences? Why don't you care about 'data'?  

This episode is based spontaneity and candidness in thinking about running. 

Some of the key points discussed: 

• Starting Reading Sideways Press and Everyday Runners Podcast
• Being an introvert; not enjoying speaking. “I don’t like talking.” 
• Making a podcast: is it a part of the process of ‘leaving something behind’? 
• Creativity versus Nihilism
• Leon says: “running is a lost in time thing” … “it is an anonymous thing.” “You can go out for a run, and nobody will remember it in a way.” 
• Doing running and making a podcast as part of being ‘productive’. 
• One of our ways of being productive in running is through uploading our runs to Strava.
• “Running is a personal [corporal] experience which you can gain a good feeling from but this good feeling is something that you bring into your experiences with other people.” 
• “You’re never really running alone … My running is enabled by and implicates others.” 
• Running and competition: with whom do you compete the most? 
• “I generally think of myself as a runner who is after a feeling.” 
• Playing table tennis and being competitive 
• How can I use other running competitors to mobilise a better running performance from within myself? 
• Leon: “with running, you just got to run on any fuel you can find.” 
• Leon: “You have switched to a new coach, does that involve a switch to a new mindset?” 
• “I think Niels is wanting to create a mindset where I am hungry on race day.” 
• Leon: “you have been performing well, especially considering your age. Yeah, let’s just address that elephant in the room.” 
• How will you be getting faster when you are getting older? 
• Leon: Has getting older affected your decision in becoming a coach yourself? 
• “I want to enable the running ecosystem at Leiden Atletiek to continue to function well.” 
• “I want to create a group which is diverse and respectful. And which is accommodating of runners at different stages in their running career.”
• Andy: “There are three things that I want to focus on in my running/coaching philosophy: Agency; Chance and Play.” 
• Leon: why do you mainly interview people from the humanities and social sciences? 
• Love-hate relationship with tracking devices

Photo by Harry van t' Veld

Links: 

Andy Fuller/Reading Sideways Press

Strava: Andy Fuller

Instagram: Everyday Runners Leiden

Email: everydayrunnerspodcast@gmail.com

Subscription:  Patreon

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I hope you are finding Everyday Runners podcast valuable. 

This year, I’m seeking to make EDR more sustainable. One way that you can help support EDR is through subscribing via Patreon. 

Subscriptions are possible for as little as 5euros per month. Each tier of subscription has its own means of recognising your contribution to making this podcast sustainable. 

The subscriber model is an alternative to having advertisements from running or non-running related sources. If you enjoy this podcast, subscribing is one means to show your appreciation for my work. 

Best wishes, 

Andy