Welcome to episode 266 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 debriefing our half marathon at Westonbirt with Relish Running. I’d started my race weekend on the wrong foot, by going to a beer festival the night before, which might have had a slight impact on my performance.

We talk about that and all our little mishaps en route to the start line. But from that slightly ropey start, we’re then on to the race itself, how we had prepared for it (very differently) and how it felt along the way. Hol fesses up about her actual race goal.

Also – big question: do you stop your watch when you reach the end of the race, or when your watch tells you you’ve run the distance? Big old controversy ahead here!

If you aren’t a patron yet do join us on Patreon for just £2 a month, through which you can join Discord, our forum just for you, our gorgeous Pod Squad, to meet up, chat about running, TV, books, menopause, and anything else you like. You also get to come along to our Live Pods! To get access to Discord, all you need to do is head to patreon.com/womensrunning and join us for just £2 a month.

· Get your tickets to the Get the Baton conference, so you can witness Holly chatting to the legendary Kathrine Switzer on 13th September

· Check out the races on offer from Relish Running

· I’m going to be running the Circuit of Bath for Julian House

· I’m also going to be running the Trail Escape Bristol to Bath

• Subscribe to Women’s Running – and you can 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.