10,000 miles, 16 countries and over £1 million raised for charity. Russ Cook (aka "Hardest Geezer") pushed himself to the limit to become the first person to run the length of Africa. He's distilled the adventure into an amazing new book, Hardest Geezer: Mind Over Miles, and comes on the podcast to discuss some of the highlight and lowlights of his African odyssey.

Follow Russ on Instagram: @hardestgeezer

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Over the past few years, Jonny Davies has amassed a huge online following by documenting his running and setting himself a series of increasingly difficult running challenges. His latest, Run the Capitals, saw him run to the capitals of the UK and Ireland – a distance of 960km that he completed in just over 11 days.

Here him talk about his training, injury-prevention routine and what motivates him to keep testing his limits.

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We entered into the rarified air of the Altitude Centre in London to talk to lead performance specialist James Barber about altitude training and why it's not just for those who want to run up mountains (but it does help with that too) and heat adaptation and why that's relevant to racing in the UK as well as abroad.

Then Ben spoke to Montane adventurer and ultrarunner Katy Parrott about her experience of racing very far, her training, recovering from anemia and being sick at the finish line of Race for Life.

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Imagine running more than 30 miles a day for two months. That's what this week's guest did on his Big Tour of England, which saw him visit every cathedral city in the country. In the process, Frank raised thousands for children's charity The Brathay Trust. Hear him talk about the challenge and the advice he has for other people looking to run seriously long distances.

Useful links:

Frank's JustGiving page: justgiving.com/page/frank-wainwright-bigtoerunner

Frank's website: frankpublishing.com

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On this week's episode of the Runner's World podcast, we speak with author and 2:20 marathoner Michael Crawley about his new book, To the Limit, which explores what endurance means in cultures around the world. Listen to Crawley talk about the importance of playfulness, running to feel and the lessons he learned running with everyone from the Raramuri in the Copper Canyons of Mexico to ultrarunners in the UK.

Pick up a copy of To the Limit at Waterstones, Amazon or any good bookshop:

waterstones.com/book/to-the-limit

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Endurance athlete, social media star and recent author Josh Patterson is on the front cover of the latest issue of Runner's World's, which focuses on mental health.

In his new book, Fortune Favours the Brave, Patterson opens up about his own mental health challenges and offers advice to others who may be going through something similar.

As you'd expect from a man who once ran 76 marathons in 76 days, there's plenty of running chat too, but the conversation does cover topics such as suicidal thoughts and self-harm that some listeners may find distressing.

If you have been affected by some of the topics discussed in this podcast, Samaritans' training volunteers are available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Calls are free and confidential. Just call 116 123.

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Running is so hot rn.

The popularity of running is soaring like never before, so Rick and Ben are joined by Andy and Ali to discuss what might have been the cause of this increase in popularity for our favourite past time.

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We spoke to the female winner of the UTMB this year, Katie Schide.

She's had an incredible year, not just winning the UTMB but also the Western States 100, so we wanted to find out all her secrets to success.

She also told us the truth about running poles.

Thanks for listening.

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Unless you, too, have spent the past month in the glorious isolation of the Jordanian desert, you're probably aware that Spencer Matthews recently completed an epic running challenge. The former Made in Chelsea man has become the first person to run 30 marathons in 30 days in the desert. In the process, he's raised more than £600,000 for Global's Make Some Noise charities. On this episode, he talks heat chambers, eating a 1kg of rice a day and almost treading on a horned viper.

Spencer is raising money for Global's Make Some Noise: makesomenoise.com/spencer-matthews-desert-challenge/

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Two-thousand five-hundred kilometres, 110,000 metres of elevation and no days off for a month and a half – Jake Catterall's crossing of the Alps is epic in every sense. On this episode, he talks about how he trained for it, the highlights and why he thinks people are often capable of much more than they think.

For more on Jake, check out the links below:

Instagram: @jakecatterall

Website: jakecatterall.com

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In 2022, Imo Boddy became the youngest woman to run from John O' Groats to Land's End, aged 22. This year, she backed that up by breaking the long-standing Three Peaks record, becoming the fastest female to run up – and between – the three highest peaks in England, Scotland and Wales. She offers advice to others looking to take on ultra-distance challenges, and tells us what she hopes to do next.

Follow Imo's running on Instagram: @imoboddy

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