Running get so I don’t car
whose first TV appearance was as a contestant on Blind Date in 1994 just two months before she started her first presenting job, said: “I’ve always been enthusiastic about all sports and it never mattered that I wasn’t the best. I’m very good at not winning.
“I started running when I was still living in Glasgow.
“I was working on the TV show Big Country at the time.
“Truth be told, I was enjoying the good life a little bit too much and started putting on weight.
“My mum took me aside and said ‘Jenni, I’m the only person that can tell you this, but you’ve put on a bit of weight and I know you’d be annoyed if I didn’t tell you’.
“I decided I would try running. All I wanted to do was be able to run around the outside of the Botanic Gardens without stopping, as I lived just round the corner.
“It was so hard to do when I first started but I loved the buzz I got although not the blotchy, bright red legs or the tomato coloured face.”
As Jenni ran more often, she started to increase the distance she would cover.
Now she has run seven marathons and plans to run this year’s London Marathon, which was postponed from April until October because of the coronavirus pandemic.
She said: “If I’m getting stressed, I go for a run and it’s almost like a therapy. My running time is like my meditation time.
“And when I run, I tend to smile. Someone sent me a message the other day thanking me for smiling when we ran past each other – but the truth is I often just smile when I run.
“Running lifts my mood. It takes a weight off my shoulders. I can see things more clearly.” While running pleases Jenni, it doesn’t always please nine-year-old daughter, Ella.
She said: “Ella hates it when I turn up to her school in my running gear, all sweaty.
“Then again, there have been occasions when I’ve been at a work thing and I might turn up with make-up that is over the top, all dressed up – and that’s just as bad.”
For the past year, Jenni has been hosting her podcast show, RunPod, in which she interviews famous people about their love of running.
Guests on her show range from Calum Best and Katie Piper, to Paula Radcliffe and former SAS hero Olly Ollerton.
She has also recently launched a new running app, Start 2 Run, which is designed to help everyone from non-runners wanting to train for their first 5km, to those who are more advanced and looking for help in running their first 10km or even a half marathon.
Jenni, who is married to actor James Midgley, said: “So many people have taken up running during lockdown, which is great – even my own husband whose always told me where to go when I’ve suggested running to him in the past.
“It’s such a great time to get out there and give it a try.
“I always say you never regret going for a run but you do regret it when you don’t go.”