Welcome to episode 247 of the Women’s Running podcast. I’m your host Esther Newman and she’s your other host Holly Taylor. On this podcast we talk about health, politics, stuff on TV and what we ate last night. Occasionally, we talk about running.

This is it. This is our review of the biggest race of our lives (so far). We start from the start; the night before in the hotel, and we talk through every experience, every up and every single down, of which – spoiler alert – there were many. I don’t want to give away too much here, but as Hol says at the beginning we might need to add a little trigger warning: we are painfully aware that we are still in marathon season and if you’ve got one coming up, please don’t think that our experience is indicative of every marathon runner. We all run our own race, right? Yours will be incredible. I’ll shut up now and let you get on and listen to it.

As ever, come and join the gang on Discord for chats, support and new running friends. To find your way on to Discord, join us over on Patreon. You can now join our official Inner Circle for just £6 to shape what we talk about. Go to patreon.com/womensrunnning to find out more.

We picked up our lovely hotel rooms through Marathon Tours: you can pick up hotel rooms for the Marathon here: TCS London Marathon 2025 | Marathon Tours & Travel UK

• Subscribe to Women’s Running – and you can pick up 6 issues for £6
• Get tickets to our live event ahead of the Bath Half 2026!
• Setting up your own podcast? Try Zencastr – we’ve been using it for ages and LOVE IT
• Do join us on Patreon so you can come and chat in our new Pod Squad community on Discord! Go to patreon.co.uk/womensrunning
• Email us at wrpodcast@anthem.co.uk with any questions or running stories

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to episode 246 of the Women’s Running podcast. I’m your host Esther Newman and she’s your other host Holly Taylor. On this podcast we talk about health, politics, stuff on TV and what we ate last night. Occasionally, we talk about running.

This is a bit of an extra little treat this week. We were going to do one big podcast with all our marathon thoughts, but instead first of all we’re going to bring you this live podcast we recorded on Saturday, at the London Marathon Expo, the day before the marathon. Later on this week, we’ve got a full and frank debrief of the day itself. Before we get to that, though, here we are talking to Jordan from Coopah on stage about pre-race nerves, last minute prep, and all the things to get excited about on the day of the race.

As ever, come and join the gang on Discord for chats, support and new running friends. To find your way on to Discord, join us over on Patreon. You can now join our official Inner Circle for just £6 to shape what we talk about. Go to patreon.com/womensrunnning to find out more.

This episode is sponsored by Coopah. Coopah are offering all pod squadders a 2-week free trial of their app and then giving 20% off their standard annual subscription price. Just download the Coopah app and use the code WOMENSRUNNING when you sign up. Or visit coopah.com/womensrunning where you can find all of these details.

We picked up our lovely hotel rooms through Marathon Tours: you can pick up hotel rooms for the Marathon here: TCS London Marathon 2025 | Marathon Tours & Travel UK

• Subscribe to Women’s Running – and you can pick up 6 issues for £6
• Get tickets to our live event ahead of the Bath Half 2026!
• Setting up your own podcast? Try Zencastr – we’ve been using it for ages and LOVE IT
• Do join us on Patreon so you can come and chat in our new Pod Squad community on Discord! Go to patreon.co.uk/womensrunning
• Email us at wrpodcast@anthem.co.uk with any questions or running stories

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to episode 245 of the Women’s Running podcast. I’m your host Esther Newman and she’s your other host Holly Taylor. On this podcast we talk about health, politics, stuff on TV and what we ate last night. Occasionally, we talk about running.

Cards on the table, we’re worried this is going to be the most boring episode in the world, as we can’t talk about anything other than marathon. It’s this weekend, so we talk about being excited, being nervous, what we’re going to wear and what we’re going to do. There’s also a lot of chat on the prep – from acupuncture to bikini waxes, we’ve got a long to-do list to check off.

At the end, we also circle back to the chat about finish line proposals with a few more experiences and thoughts from you lot.

In the meantime, for everyone running a race this weekend, all the best of luck from us both – do let us know how you got on, we can’t wait to see your medals, and I personally can’t wait to burst into tears when I see Hol crossing the finish line.

Before I forget to say, come and join the gang on Discord for chats, support and new running friends. To find your way on to Discord, join us over on Patreon. You can now join our official Inner Circle for just £6 to shape what we talk about. Go to patreon.com/womensrunnning to find out more.

This episode is sponsored by Coopah. Coopah are offering all pod squadders a 2-week free trial of their app and then giving 20% off their standard annual subscription price. Just download the Coopah app and use the code WOMENSRUNNING when you sign up. Or visit coopah.com/womensrunning where you can find all of these details.

We picked up our lovely hotel rooms through Marathon Tours: you can pick up hotel rooms for the Marathon here: TCS London Marathon 2025 | Marathon Tours & Travel UK

• Subscribe to Women’s Running – and you’ll save 50%
• Get tickets to our live event ahead of the Bath Half 2026!
• Setting up your own podcast? Try Zencastr – we’ve been using it for ages and LOVE IT
• Do join us on Patreon so you can come and chat in our new Pod Squad community on Discord! Go to patreon.co.uk/womensrunning
• Email us at wrpodcast@anthem.co.uk with any questions or running stories

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to episode 244 of the Women’s Running podcast. I’m your host Esther Newman and she’s your other host Holly Taylor. On this podcast we talk about health, politics, stuff on TV and what we ate last night. Occasionally, we talk about running.

We are joined, from start to finish, by Jordan, as this is our penultimate episode before the London Marathon, and we have every fear known to woman. Jordan, as you’ll know by now, is from Coopah, the training app, and she has been supporting us through this marathon training block.

First things first, we talk about the last long runs we had completed – we’d been bags of nerves beforehand, so now it’s time to unpick them and see how we did.

We then get on to our goals: what do we actually want to achieve at this marathon? Is it the time, or something different? We also talk about all the last minute prep we’ve not considered yet – the carb loading, the hydration, and how on earth we’re going to cope on the day without having lunch. Please join us in a group hug before we run the big race! And if you’re running too, and you’re in London, do come to the Expo on Saturday 26th April, as me and Hol will be joining Jordan on stage to chat pre-race nerves and to pick up a few confidence tricks (and some more hugs).

Before I forget to say, come and join the gang on Discord for chats, support and new running friends. To find your way on to Discord, join us over on Patreon. You can now join our official Inner Circle for just £6 to shape what we talk about. Go to patreon.com/womensrunnning to find out more.

This episode is sponsored by Coopah. Coopah are offering all pod squadders a 2-week free trial of their app and then giving 20% off their standard annual subscription price. Just download the Coopah app and use the code WOMENSRUNNING when you sign up. Or visit coopah.com/womensrunning where you can find all of these details.

We picked up our lovely hotel rooms through Marathon Tours: you can pick up hotel rooms for the Marathon here: TCS London Marathon 2025 | Marathon Tours & Travel UK

• Subscribe to Women’s Running – and you’ll save 50%
• Get tickets to our live event ahead of the Bath Half 2026!
• Follow Shakira on Instagram
• Setting up your own podcast? Try Zencastr – we’ve been using it for ages and LOVE IT
• Do join us on Patreon so you can come and chat in our new Pod Squad community on Discord! Go to patreon.co.uk/womensrunning
• Email us at wrpodcast@anthem.co.uk with any questions or running stories

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to episode 243 of the Women’s Running podcast. I’m your host Esther Newman and she’s your other host Holly Taylor. On this podcast we talk about health, politics, stuff on TV and what we ate last night. Occasionally, we talk about running.

In this episode, we talk about freaking out ahead of our last long runs, which are staring us in the face. Have we run long enough? Are these mental demons going to disappear? Should we be aiming to go all out? Or should we be aiming to feel comfortable at the end?

We also talk about an event we’re holding before the Bath Half in 2026. We’d love to see you there! Tickets are just £10 and you can get them here. It’ll be a live pod and a great way to meet lots of friendly runners before running the Half.

We’re joined by a special guest, Shakira Akabusi, who is an expert on women’s health and fitness. Among other things, we have lots of chat about pelvic floor exercises, and training to our cycles.

We come back after to talk about uncomfortable things that happen on a run – Hol has a grim story to tell. As ever, do please share your thoughts and experiences over on Discord.

To find your way on to Discord, join us over on Patreon. You can now join our official Inner Circle for just £6 to shape what we talk about. Go to patreon.com/womensrunnning to find out more.

Lovely extra bits

This episode is sponsored by Coopah. Coopah are offering all pod squadders a 2-week free trial of their app and then giving 20% off their standard annual subscription price. Just download the Coopah app and use the code WOMENSRUNNING when you sign up. Or visit coopah.com/womensrunning where you can find all of these details.

We picked up our lovely hotel rooms through Marathon Tours: you can pick up hotel rooms for the Marathon here: TCS London Marathon 2025 | Marathon Tours & Travel UK

• Subscribe to Women’s Running – and you’ll save 50%
• Get tickets to our live event ahead of the Bath Half 2026!
• Follow Shakira on Instagram
• Setting up your own podcast? Try Zencastr – we’ve been using it for ages and LOVE IT
• Do join us on Patreon so you can come and chat in our new Pod Squad community on Discord! Go to patreon.co.uk/womensrunning
• Email us at wrpodcast@anthem.co.uk with any questions or running stories

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to episode 242 of the Women’s Running podcast. I’m your host Esther Newman and she’s your other host Holly Taylor. On this podcast we talk about health, politics, stuff on TV and what we ate last night. Occasionally, we talk about running.

As we get closer to Marathon Day, our maranoia has reached epic proportions. We talk about comparing ourselves to other runners on social media, about not matching our training plans, and about the fear of the last long runs.

We have Jordan with us today, thankfully, so after 20 minutes of pure waffle, she stands in as Agony Aunt to give us a much-needed dose of reality in the face of our raging maranoia. Have we done enough mileage? Have we actually run enough? Have we eaten the things we should have eaten? Have we rested enough? We talk about logistics, we talk about crying, and the wobbles we have about those last long runs.

After we chat to Jordan, we are back to talk about another controversy – and we would love to hear your thoughts. This isn’t Lisbon this time, this is the practice of finish line proposals. What do you think?! Email us as ever at wrpodcast@anthem.co.uk.

Do come and see us at the London Marathon Expo on Sat April 26th at 10:15am: you'll hear our live pod up close and personal, it’ll be lovely to see you.

And before we forget to mention it, come on to Patreon NOW cos changes are afoot. You can now join our official Inner Circle for just £6 to shape what we talk about, and to hear about the Big Exciting Thing that we’re doing in March 2026 first. And from there, jump into Discord to talk about it all with a bunch of lovely women. It’s ace! Go to patreon.com/womensrunnning to find out more.

Lovely extra bits

This episode is sponsored by Coopah. Coopah are offering all pod squadders a 2-week free trial of their app and then giving 20% off their standard annual subscription price. Download the Coopah app and use the code WOMENSRUNNING when you sign up. Or visit coopah.com/womensrunning.

We picked up our lovely hotel rooms through Marathon Tours: you can pick up hotel rooms for the Marathon here: TCS London Marathon 2025 | Marathon Tours & Travel UK. Do also check them out if you’re eyeing up one of the other marathon majors.@marathontours_uk on Instagram

· Subscribe to Women’s Running – and you’ll save 50%

• Setting up your own podcast? Try Zencastr – we’ve been using it for ages and LOVE IT
• Download a FREE mini mag to help you run 5K! Go to womensrunning.co.uk/run
• Buy a Pod Squad t-shirt!
• Do join us on Patreon so you can come and chat in our new Pod Squad community on Discord! Go to patreon.co.uk/womensrunning
• Email us at wrpodcast@anthem.co.uk with any questions or running stories

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to episode 241 of the Women’s Running podcast. I’m your host Esther Newman and she’s your other host Holly Taylor. On this podcast we talk about health, politics, stuff on TV and what we ate last night. Occasionally, we talk about running.

We begin this normally controversy-free podcast to talk to you all about blisters – specifically Holly’s blister on her big toe, which is so enormous it has defied the experience of actual medics. So bit of a trigger warning, cos there’s a lot of gross foot content ahoy.

Plus, we’ve got more on the Lisbon Half from a couple of listeners who also had negative experiences at the Super Half. Do please get in touch with your experience of either this or other races that should be doing better – they’ll only get better if we hold them to account, right? Email us at wrpodcast@anthem.co.uk with your thoughts.

And before we forget to mention it, come on to Patreon NOW cos changes are afoot. From this week, you can join our official Inner Circle for just £6 to shape what we talk about, and to hear about the Big Exciting Thing that we’re doing in March 2026 first. And from there, jump into Discord to talk about it all with a bunch of lovely women who support each other and our running. It’s ace! Go to patreon.com/womensrunnning to find out more.

This episode is sponsored by Coopah. Coopah are offering all pod squadders a 2-week free trial of their app and then giving 20% off their standard annual subscription price. Just download the Coopah app and use the code WOMENSRUNNING when you sign up. Or visit coopah.com/womensrunning where you can find all of these details.

We picked up our lovely hotel rooms through Marathon Tours: you can pick up hotel rooms for the Marathon here: TCS London Marathon 2025 | Marathon Tours & Travel UK

Do also check them out if you’re eyeing up one of the other marathon majors.@marathontours_uk on Instagram

· Subscribe to Women’s Running – and you’ll save 50%

• Setting up your own podcast? Try Zencastr – we’ve been using it for ages and LOVE IT
• Download a FREE mini mag to help you run 5K! Go to womensrunning.co.uk/run
• Buy a Pod Squad t-shirt!
• Do join us on Patreon so you can come and chat in our new Pod Squad community on Discord! Go to patreon.co.uk/womensrunning
• Email us at wrpodcast@anthem.co.uk with any questions or running stories

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to episode 240 of the Women’s Running podcast. I’m your host Esther Newman and she’s your other host Holly Taylor. On this podcast we talk about health, politics, stuff on TV and what we ate last night. Occasionally, we talk about running.

It’s the week after the Bath Half and we have had lots of thoughts, not least about the roast we celebrated with afterwards. After a bit of nonsense about Holly’s verbal diarrhea on whatsapp voicenotes (which I really think is the Podcast Moment of the Year).

We talk to Jordan about our race day experiences at the Bath Half – no spoilers but there is a LOT to discuss; from the race village to the run itself, how we’ve recovered since, and how drunk we got in the pub. As I say: lots to discuss.

And then on to a HUGE controversy which we dive into, which is all about the experiences of runners at the Lisbon Half. Listen in for big gasp moments, and let us know your thoughts and experiences if you were there too! Email us at wrpodcast@anthem.co.uk

Before I forget to mention it, did you know about our Discord channel? This is an exclusive forum for you, our gorgeous Pod Squad, to meet up, chat about running, TV, books, menopause, and anything else you like. To get a ton of support from new friends just like you, all you need to do is head to patreon.com/womensrunning and join us for just £2 a month. It’s worth every penny.

This episode is sponsored by Coopah. Coopah are offering all pod squadders a 2-week free trial of their app and then giving 20% off their standard annual subscription price. Just download the Coopah app and use the code WOMENSRUNNING when you sign up. Or visit coopah.com/womensrunning where you can find all of these details.

We picked up our lovely hotel rooms through Marathon Tours: you can pick up hotel rooms for the Marathon here: TCS London Marathon 2025 | Marathon Tours & Travel UK

Do also check them out if you’re eyeing up one of the other marathon majors.@marathontours_uk on Instagram

· Subscribe to Women’s Running – and you’ll save 50%

• Setting up your own podcast? Try Zencastr – we’ve been using it for ages and LOVE IT
• Download a FREE mini mag to help you run 5K! Go to womensrunning.co.uk/run
• Buy a Pod Squad t-shirt!
• Do join us on Patreon so you can come and chat in our new Pod Squad community on Discord! Go to patreon.co.uk/womensrunning
• Email us at wrpodcast@anthem.co.uk with any questions or running stories

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.