This is a Global Player original podcast.

Hello there and welcome to another gathering of the Run Pod Run Club.

I'm Jenny Faulkner and today we've got a new member joining someone who's based in London

but is known less for running around it and more for just running it.

He essentially is the man in charge. I think that's fair to say.

Thrilled to have on Rompot today, the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan.

Janis, good to be up running just to be in your podcast.

Let me just be frank about that and stuff.

But it's great to be on. And yeah, I'm a keen runner in addition to trying to run London as well. And although, is it true that you started running because you'd signed up for the London Marathon? Yes, I've always loved sports. You know, I used to play a lot of cricket and football and tennis and squash. I never really enjoyed running. So at school, it sounds horrible to say, but if you weren't good at sports, you did run in cross-country and stuff, right. So I never really got into running. And in 2014, well, in 2014, I agreed to run the other marathon. The most I'd run before then is about 5K, probably, 6, 7K maximum. And so I agreed to run the London Marathon about eight to ten weeks before the marathon date.

Basically, the Even Standard asked Ed Bulls to run it. Ed Bulls were running for another charity. They asked me to run it for their charity. I was trying to suck up to the standard because I wanted to run to be the mayor. And so I agreed to run the marathon. We raised more than £20,000 for this charity. And I fell in love with running. and you know I think once you get the bug once you you know can run a decent distance you fall in love and I fail in love

yeah and I fell in love with running. And, you know, I think once you get the bug, once you, you know, can run a decent distance,

you fall in love.

And I fail in love.

Yeah.

Although the thing is, right, okay, you see you fall in love.

But everyone has that first run where they're like, I mean, how hard can this be?

And they go out and they're like, oh.

Oh, no, no.

I mean, so I talk about it in the book because there's the arrogance because you're a sports person, right? You sort of failing to warm up, failing to, you know, cool down. There's this thing I discovered which, you know, I can share this with your listeners, you know, runner's nipple. I mean, oh my God. And then there's all sorts of tricks. I still use Vaseline now. That's the trick for me. But there's, you know, being really stiff. But also, don't forget, if you're not used to running, the next day, because you're using muscles you don't normally use, it is so painful. So the next day outside, the first big run was on a Sunday. I was in Parliament on Monday. I was an MP then. And when you're an MP, basically, when the bell goes, there's a vote. You've got eight minutes to go from your office to the chamber to vote. And there were times during that Monday where I thought I wouldn't make it because I was just limping and I was a sight to see. But you soon learn that actually there are things you can do to you warm up properly, you cool down properly. You try and incrementally build up your distance, don't try and be a hero on day one and stuff. And so, yeah, I mean, the first time was, I mean, I still now thinking about it, I grimace because it was bad. Yeah, I love the fact that you had to get up and do that vote because everyone's been there, if they've done a long run of any sort, even at the longest run they've ever done've ever done going downstairs standing and sitting there's no graceful way to do it right it's really not it's like stairs are hard going down as hard for me but also you walk in a weird way because you've got these you know the hamstrings the glutes they're hurting you and stuff and also because i'm not told anybody at that stage that i was training for a marathon you know couldn't really say the reason why i'm walking funny is because I may do the marathon and stuff. And also because I'm not told anybody at that stage that I was training for a marathon,

I couldn't really say the reason why I'm walking funny is because I may do the marathon and stuff. Because you'll know this, but it comes a stage where you're first not sure whether you can do it, right? And so you don't want to tell anybody in case you pull out, it's embarrassing. And there comes a stage where you think you are going to do it. And so I was at the stage where I wasn't sure if I was going to do it until about two three weeks later I was at I was at a fundraising dinner and had bloody balls

in front of 200 people said you know I'm running the marathon again you know my third one

big round of applause and by the way so is Sadiq and whoa he's outed me as running the marathon right

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