Last year I remember having a conversation with Mike (Head Honcho from the National Running Show) about Ultra Running. I was pretty disappointed that I’d been at the show with the Bad Boy Running lot and had neither bought anything or been interested in anything, because it all seemed to be clubs, marathons and road running. I felt like everyone there was missing out on the joy of Ultras. I can’t remember the ins and outs of it, but I know that Mike was worried there wasn’t a market for a whole ultra area. If I am honest, I had the same doubts. But I wanted to be able to buy shoes, so a plan was born.
Mike asked myself, David and Jody if we would “do” the Ultra Zone – that means book the guests, work out the logistics, design the area and do the interviews over the weekend. All in true BBR style but without the swearing (Fuck that’s going to be hard, I thought). We would have our own “little stage” and a stand, and we could get our mates to come along and be interviewed and maybe some people would be interested. Maybe. I was worried nobody would turn up Saturday morning because of parkrun and Linford Christie. How fucking wrong was I?
9.15 am, Saturday Morning, the Ultra Zone. That is a LOT of people. And no celebs yet. Photo: Spikes iPhone.
When I got to the NEC on Friday afternoon and saw our little area, I honestly almost burst into tears. It was EXACTLY how I had envisioned it. I wanted the stage low and cosy so the audience would feel like they were in a pub or living room with the people that we were chatting to. I didn’t want presentations, I wanted conversations. I’d asked for sofas and arm- chairs and a table and a fake fireplace to make it feel homely, and seating done in a way that meant we could walk the guests down the middle of the audience before they went on stage. This is great for the guests but also for the audience to feel like they are getting properly up close and personal with their heroes. Plus, it gives us time to faff.
I wanted the stage to represent the community that it was talking to. Close, cosy, supportive and fun. And it did.
Love this picture. This is what it’s all about. Photo: James Appleton.
Friday night we briefed the Do-Badders that would be helping us over the weekend. I had 15 of them turn up which was amazing. We also had James Appleton taking photos and video – which is why this blog looks so pretty. That man is a bond fide legend and I can’t thank him enough.
Saturday was a big day for us. This was where we would be proven right or wrong. I am glad we were proven wrong. Very, very wrong. I was on first, mainly as a filler between Parkrun and people actually turning up (or so I thought), then we had James Elson, Renee McGregror, Laz Lake, Lowri Morgan, Rob Pope, Greg Whyte, John Kelly and finally the three horsemen of the race director apocalypse – Laz Lake, Andy Palmer and James Elson on a panel talking about how to organise and ultra. Just take a minute to read that again. It’s a pretty fucking mental line up.
Some Saturday legends. Amazing photos thanks to James Appleton.
All but a couple of our guests had been on the podcast previously and I like to think it’s because we are a little bit different, we made them laugh a bit, and we made them feel comfortable etc that they agreed to come to the show in the first place. But really, that line up is insane. Massive props to Hellard for persuading everyone to turn up. I don’t know how he does it and to be fair I really don’t want to know.
Some more of our Saturday line up. I still can’t believe it. Photos: James Appleton
A few people turned up for Laz…… Photo: James Appleton
Laz of course was the star of the show in everyone’s eyes. He’s never been to the UK before. He’s the guy from the Netflix show – the sadist race director that nobody really knows. And he met every single expectation I had. The man is a legend but also wonderful in every way. He met people, had selfies taken and talked to everyone as well as being brilliant on stage and off it. But as wonderful as Laz is, it turned out he was not the only star at all. Every single other person on that stage had a huge audience that spilled out into the surrounding areas, blocking the walkways and fire exits, causing a health and safety nightmare (that’s the BBR way) but hanging on every single word that those guests said. I’ve thought a lot about why people hung about all day, and believe me, they did hang about all day. It’s because Ultra Runners and wannabe Ultra Runners are different from your average road or marathon runner.
That Laz crowd from the back. Photo: James Appleton
Ultrarunners are not looking for the quick fix couch to 5K in 3 weeks or the answers to how to get a PB at parkrun with a weeks training or how to lose 2 stone in a day. We know that what we do, or what we want to do, takes time, patience and, a lot of the time, repeated failure to get right. So we want to know everything. We want to know about success, failure and everything in between. We want to know about nutrition and hydration and shoes and bags and what drives people. Everything that our guests had to say was interesting and valid to that audience and they soaked all of it up. That’s what makes ultrarunners a different breed.
Renee talks nutrition on the Ultra Zone stage. Photo James Appleton.
The whole day was insanely mental. I spent a lot of it interviewing and that is fucking knackering. Its endurance training in itself. We swapped presenters over during the day so we could all have a break, but even on the breaks it was cray cray how many people wanted to talk to us, get advice, in some very weird scenarios get selfies (WHY??). The BBR stand ran out of merch in a matter of hours. Security and Health and Safety were having a breakdown (sorry Matt), about the amount of people that were there. And I was going to have to interview Laz Lake, possibly the most famous man in Ultra Running. Standard Saturday really.
Fun stuff from Saturday. Photos: James Appleton.
Sunday was the same. The doors opened at 9 am people literally RAN into the hall to get a seat at the Ultra Zone. By 9.02 all 50 seats were taken. By 9.15 it was standing room only just, and by the time Nicky Spinks came on at 9.30, it was bedlam once again. The line-up for Sunday was just as good as Saturday. We had Nicky, Gary House, Camille Herron, Dan Lawson, Jamie from Precision Hydration, Joe Dale, Pam Chapman-Markle, Jon Albon and Dean Karnazes. Yeah. I know. Ridiculous. And I had the hangover from hell courtesy of the Barclays Marathons the night before which saw 70 people descend on the Wetherspoons in Birmingham and then proceed to try and get a selfie outside every Barclays cash point in the city in an hour by running around them. The best fun ever. Until the next day.
Sunday morning. 9.30am. Nicky Spinks draws an epic crowd on the Ultra Stage. Photo: James Appleton.
Some of our Sunday Legends. Photos: James Appleton
There were so many stand out moments on Sunday; Gary House basically admitting to having a porn stash under his bed, Camille Herron making me and Hellard bust open a can of brewdog each during her interview at 10.50am, the Dan Lawson and Camille double act on the sofa, Pam inspiring literally every single person in the room to run Badwater and Dean being Dean – the godfather of ultrarunning. When Hellard asked anyone who had been inspired by Deans books to put their hand up literally every single person in the room did. It was magical. Although his not sitting down thing make me extremely anxious.
The Dan and Camille show. Best ever. Photo: James Appleton
All the LOLS Sunday. Photos: James Appleton
And then just like that it was done.
I didn’t want to write a massive long blog about it so I will keep it short. But the experience has left me on such a high. The community that we have forged not only with Bad Boy Running but also as ultrarunners in general, is amazing. It’s non-judgemental, its welcoming, its humble even in it’s most huge triumphs, and its so, so supportive. I am so pleased that we get to do this all again next year but bigger (three times bigger) and better and with more amazing people (and of course some of the same). I just want to thank (again) from the bottom of my heart the following people for making it possible. Mike Seamen for believing in us, Becky, Verity and Ashley for helping us out so much, Matt for not shutting down the stage when it all went mentile, Jody and David for starting the stupid fucking cult, James for button pressing skills, my Do-Badder family who worked their arses off all weekend and were a pleasure to be with, all the guests who came and embraced the stage, told truths and made us laugh, and finally you lot – the audience, who came, listened, shared, talked, were vulnerable, asked questions and hopefully met some amazing people that will inspire you on to the next thing. Without you, it would have been bobbins. Here are some more pictures that I just love of you lot and our epic guests.
Legendary Pictures thanks to James Appleton (again).
If you have any suggestions for people you would like to see next year then head over to the Bad Boy Running facebook page and leave them there, and Hellard will go on the stalk for you.
Next up for me? Two weeks in Mongolia. Why two weeks not one? All will be revealed friends….
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