I’m A Runner
THE FOLK-PUNK MUSICIAN, 39, ON TREADMILLS AND RUNNING IN HIS PANTS
Folk-punk musician Frank Turner tells RW why he sometimes runs in his pants
I STARTED RUNNING about four years ago. For a long time, doing no exercise was fine because the shows I do are incredibly physical, so they kept me in shape. My tour schedule used to be demented but has calmed down a bit as I’ve grown older, so I needed something else to keep me going.
I WAS STILL A SMOKER when I started. I was doing the Couch to 5K app, coming home from my run and puffing on a cigarette before I had a shower, which was ridiculous. It was like I was pursuing two conflicting goals – not that smoking is a goal.
I COME FROM A FAMILY of smokers, so I’ve smoked on and off since I was 10. I have battled substance abuse issues, as well, which I’m pleased to say are in the past now.
A LOT OF EX-HEROIN ADDICTS are into running and weights and such, because that physicality gives you an endorphin rush that fills a hole. I don’t have direct experience of this, but one of the terrible things about heroin is that it makes a hole in you that never quite goes away.
I BOUGHT A running machine just before lockdown kicked in. I wanted something to focus on, fitness-wise, and found this Conqueror app with virtual challenges. I picked the Grand Canyon because it’s a nice place and it seemed like a reasonable length to run. It took me five months to do the 450km, and they sent this chunky medal, which I’m quite proud of.
THE NICE THING about having a treadmill is you can’t make excuses about the weather. I often run in my underwear, because you can. I tend to wake up before my wife, get on the treadmill, do five or six kilometres before breakfast and then I feel really zingy and ready for my day.
I FIND THAT running is a focused way of listening to music. We live in this distracted age where, if you try to listen to something at home, you find yourself checking Facebook and dealing with emails. When you’re running, there’s nothing else to do. I’m enjoying albums a lot more.
WHEN I WAS at school [at Eton], there were the sporty kids and then there were the punks. It was part of our identity that we didn’t engage with sport in a serious fashion.
I SAW A PHYSIO for a back problem. He watched some footage of me playing live, found out I had no stretching regime and said, ‘If you’re doing this for 90 minutes to two hours, 200 times a year, it’s no wonder you’ve injured your back, you idiot.’
A LOT OF MUSICIANS have issues with moderation. There are a lot of addictive personalities in this world. I’ve enjoyed the challenge of running from that point of view. It’s better than most of my other addictions.