I’m A Runner
Radio presenter Vassos Alexander
THE SPORTS BROADCASTER ON SHOES WITH SPRINGS AND RUNNING TO CHANGE LIVES
MINE IS THE TRADITIONAL STORY OF THE BLOKE IN HIS 30S who starts to expand and thinks, ‘Let me try exercise.’ I started with the gym and hated it, but the first time I laced up a pair of trainers, I knew this was for me.
I USUALLY RUN TO OR FROM WORK. If I’m in marathon training, I’ll sometimes do both. It’s just over 10 miles along the Thames Path. I use that for most of my training: long runs, tempos, five-minute intervals.
MY GREEK HERITAGE DREW ME TO THE MARATHON DISTANCE. I’ve always been aware of the Greek messengers, such as Pheidippides, who inspired the marathon, and it was a big reason I ran the Spartathlon. When you arrive in Sparta, children run with you through the streets. There was this one kid who looked up to me and said, ‘Why are you running so slowly?’ I said, ‘I’ve just run here from Athens.’ He thought about it and said, ‘Yeah, but still.’ I cherish that moment.
I GOT THE SPARTATHLON LOGO TATTOOED ON MY ANKLE. I never thought I’d be the kind of guy to get a running tattoo, but I am. The first time I showed it to my Barnes Runners clubmates, they told me it looked like the Interflora logo – and it does!
I WATCHED ELIUD KIPCHOGE BREAK THE TWO-HOUR MARATHON while I was doing parkrun with my kids. I had it on my phone and loads of runners were watching. I love the fact we were running as a family as it happened; it’s the closest we’re going to get in our lifetime to a Roger Bannister moment.
I’M A BIT DUBIOUS ABOUT THE NIKE 4% SHOES. If they really are a spring and a shoe, rather than just a shoe, is it the equivalent of the [now banned] swimming wetsuits? What I love about running is the simplicity. If you’ve got a spring on the bottom of your foot, what do the records of old mean any more? I think this wonderful sport, which I love so much, might be selling its soul if this is the way we’re going.
I’VE BEEN LUCKY ENOUGH TO REPORT ON SIX OLYMPICS. The standout moment for me has to be Usain Bolt’s 100m win at Beijing 2008. The athletics landscape changed forever in nine and a bit seconds.
CHRIS EVANS SAYS MY RUNNING RUBBED OFF ON HIM. He ran his first London in 2015 without telling anyone. He’s done seven or eight marathons now. He’s a good runner. He’s got Tokyo and London coming up next year.
CHRIS AND I CAME UP WITH THE IDEA OF RUNFESTRUN as a way of bottling some of the positive energy at the end of a marathon. The first one was in Wiltshire in 2018, and it was everything we’d hoped it would be. It’s a great big party: music in the evening, running in the day.
THIS YEAR, I’M CONCENTRATING ON THE LONG STUFF. I’m in the Comrades Marathon, I’m going to give UTMB a little tickle and I’m going to do the Arch to Arc, which involves running from Marble Arc to Dover, swimming the Channel and then cycling to Paris. Wish me luck!