EDITOR’S LETTER

BECOMING A PARENT HAS

completely changed my perspective on life, and it has also reset my running habits. Perhaps the most valuable skill being a running parent teaches you is how to be adaptable. Weekends now revolve around spending quality time with our 28-month-old daughter, and disappearing for a two-hour-plus long run has come to feel a bit self-indulgent. So now I try to fit runs in during her nap time and squeeze more miles into my working week, including more run-commutes. Running slots more easily into the time demands of family life than most activities, but it can still be tricky to find a balance, something ultrarunner and father of two Damian Hall explores in our feature on page 38.

I don’t imagine the exponents of the late18th-century craze of pedestrianism had much of a life balance, apt as they were to run, walk or shuffle hundreds of miles to win wagers and prizes, entertaining thousands of spectators as they did so (they didn’t have Netflix back then). Crazy people, crazy story – read it on page 56.

Finally, a word in your ear about the new RW podcast, in which we bring the magazine to wonderful auditory life with stories, special guests and a little of what is these days called #bantz. It’s well worth a listen, but of course I would say that. (But it genuinely is.) Find it on itunes and let us know what you think.