Eight months of training. Six and a half hours of running. Three seconds to spare.

After 14 years battling ulcerative colitis, repeated hospitalisations and debilitating illness, Jordan had finally found something that made him feel good in his own body again: running.

But his first marathon was anything but straightforward.

Cramping from kilometre three, aid stations closing around him and officials directing him off the road at 20km left Jordan fighting just to reach the finish line.

He'd faced worse battles before. But this one would come down to the final seconds.

In this episode, Jordan challenges assumptions about back-of-the-pack runners, shares how running helped rebuild his confidence and reveals why a finishing time never tells the whole story.

In this episode:

• Fourteen years battling chronic illness and finding running
• Cramping from kilometre three and being directed off the course
• Eight months of training for his first marathon
• Why slower runners may be working harder than we think
• Inspiring people who don't see themselves as runners

🌏 Episodes, community, and all things Runbelievable:

http://runbelievable.au

🎧 New episodes drop every Wednesday; hit follow so you don't miss a lap!

☕ Enjoying Runbelievable?

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About Runbelievable

Runbelievable is the podcast for every runner. From your first parkrun to your 100th marathon, from walk-run intervals to dabbling in trail running, every runner has a story worth telling. Through honest conversations with runners from all walks of life, Runbelievable explores the challenges, achievements, setbacks, and experiences that connect us through running and shape who we become.

What happens when the thing that makes you feel strongest becomes one of the hardest things to keep doing?

For Fiona Mobbs, running has been a lifeline through single motherhood, personal challenges and years of unexplained symptoms. Eventually diagnosed with narcolepsy with cataplexy, Fiona has had to navigate a condition that can cause sudden muscle weakness, overwhelming sleepiness and unpredictable episodes ... including whilst running.

She's lost opportunities, friendships and much of the life she'd imagined. But she's also completed countless half marathons and, more recently, her first marathon!!

Now facing another serious health challenge, Fiona is learning once again what it means to adapt. This is a conversation about invisible illness, finding strength in movement and refusing to tie self-worth to what your body can no longer do.

In this episode:

• How a second-hand treadmill became Fiona's lifeline as a single mum
• The frightening symptoms that preceded her narcolepsy diagnosis
• What living with narcolepsy and cataplexy actually feels like
• Why an invisible condition can lead to isolation and misunderstanding
• The emotional story behind her first marathon
• Learning to adapt when another health challenge threatens her running

In this episode, we briefly discuss a letter that Fiona wrote for World Narcolepsy Day 2020. With Fiona's permission, the full letter has been included here.

🌏 Episodes, community, and all things Runbelievable:

http://runbelievable.au

🎧 New episodes drop every Wednesday; hit follow so you don't miss a lap!

☕ Enjoying Runbelievable?

If the show has kept you company on a run, you can help keep the stories coming:

https://buymeacoffee.com/runbelievable

About Runbelievable

Runbelievable is the podcast for every runner. From your first parkrun to your 100th marathon, from walk-run intervals to dabbling in trail running, every runner has a story worth telling. Through honest conversations with runners from all walks of life, Runbelievable explores the challenges, achievements, setbacks, and experiences that connect us through running and shape who we become.

What if one of the best ways to help girls keep running is to tell them it's okay not to run?

As a teenager, Amy Kline gradually stopped feeling like sport was somewhere she belonged. It wasn't until she discovered recreational running as an adult that she realised movement didn't need to be about winning, competing or proving you were good enough.

Years later, an experience at the New York Marathon planted the seed for Girls Run Club... an inclusive, low-pressure running community designed to help young girls move, connect and discover how good physical activity can make them feel.

This is a conversation about running without pressure, creating belonging and giving girls a relationship with movement they might carry with them for life.

In this episode:

• The New York Marathon experience that planted a seven-year seed
• Why Girls Run Club deliberately removes competition
• Creating a place where girls feel they belong
• The unexpected things girls love most about Run Club
• Helping girls challenge themselves without comparing themselves
• Amy's dream of taking Girls Run Club across Australia

🌏 Episodes, community, and all things Runbelievable:

http://runbelievable.au

🎧 New episodes drop every Wednesday; hit follow so you don't miss a lap!

☕ Enjoying Runbelievable?

If the show has kept you company on a run, you can help keep the stories coming:

https://buymeacoffee.com/runbelievable

About Runbelievable

Runbelievable is the podcast for every runner. From your first parkrun to your 100th marathon, from walk-run intervals to dabbling in trail running, every runner has a story worth telling. Through honest conversations with runners from all walks of life, Runbelievable explores the challenges, achievements, setbacks, and experiences that connect us through running and shape who we become.