Loving Every Stride Podcast

How We Started Loving Every Stride

September 22, 2021 Paul Laslett and Marie Droniou -Bordry Season 1 Episode 2
Loving Every Stride Podcast
How We Started Loving Every Stride
Show Notes Transcript

In this episode of the Loving Every Stride podcast, host Paul Laslett welcomes special guest Marie Droniou-Bordry to the show.

Paul discusses his own history of running since childhood, and how it took him on a fascinating journey living out his passion as a runner. It's taught him how to be the best that he can be, but also brought a closely-knit social bond, as well as creating a like-minded community.

Marie has been one of the inspirations behind Brightside PT launching recent successful products, and she talks about how she started her running adventure at the age of 27. She elaborates on the social side, the ways in which she started running faster and why a sense of community is so crucial.

So tune in and get inspired!

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Paul Laslett can be found here:
LinkedIn
Website
Facebook Group
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Marie Droniou-Bordry can be found here:
LinkedIn
Instagram

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Download your running pace calculator here:
https://www.brightsidept.com/running-faster-formula

Paul Laslett  0:02  
Welcome to loving every stride the podcast that will help make your running easier brought to you by ex national athlete and UK record holder all of laslett powered by the bright side pte community. For more information and access to your very own running faster formula which will make your running easier. Click on the link in the show notes. Enjoy the show and see you on the bright side Welcome to loving every stride the podcast that is for runners who want to make their running feel easier. My name is Paul and I love running I've always loved running is Julius now, in this first podcast, I want to kind of talk to you about where I've got my love for running from the fact that I was good at it obviously helped. But what lessons I've learned what it's taught me and also how it's helped me make some friends because most of my friends are runners and I'm I'm pretty sure that if I didn't find running early on in life, I wouldn't have any mates at all. Maybe you guys will be my friends as well if you love running to. So during this podcast what I want to do, I want to talk to you guys a bit about some of the lessons I've learned over the last 2025 years from running you find out a bit about me a bit about my story about a British record I set where I finished last in a race. But that's probably one of my proudest moments. And I want to talk to you a bit about that as well. So buckle in, get your running shoes on if you're popping out for a run, or make yourself a cup of coffee, and I hope that you enjoy what I'm about to talk to you about. So I believe it or not, I was very very, very, very shy as a kid. I didn't want to talk to anyone too much. I was always hiding behind my mom and dad if we're meeting new people. I was very, very shy. Now. Anyone who knows me now would just think that is mental because I have quite a lot of energy. I have a lot of confidence. I love talking to new people. But they weren't that wasn't always the case. I can remember my first school sports day and I was just this skinny, gangly, kind of uncoordinated goofy looking kind of child that could run a bit. We did a sports stain. And I,

Paul Laslett  2:29  
I won. I won the sports day, I couldn't believe it. I must have been I think I was about nine or 10. It was one of my first kind of memories and people started to take notice of me people started to believe me a little bit less because I found something that I was good at. And as I found something I was good at, I started to get a little bit more confident. Now I've started to play loads of other sports. But any sport that I played, I played rugby until everybody kind of hit puberty and I hit puberty and nothing really changed in my body. So rugby definitely was not the sport for me. But I was put on the wing because I was fast. I played football. I was okay at football. But I was put on the wing because I was fast. So obviously I was kind of aware that I had this ability and had this skill. But that was starting to build my character because I was becoming known as a kid who was fast that have really, really helped me focus on thinking well you know what, maybe I'm half decent at this running malarkey. So I went in very lucky and I had my school running club. As I was getting more confident I was probably getting a little bit more. I don't want to say cocky, but maybe a little bit more cocky. You know, I found something that was good. And I wanted to kind of share it and see what I could do. My head of PE put me in sports day in with the older boys. So I was 11 or 12 They must have been 1415. So quite a big gap. I I beat them all. I can remember waving at their girlfriends down the home straight and blowing them kisses. As I was finishing which in hindsight was a massive mistake because those boys found me and gave me one hell of a wedgie. I'll always remember that. So maybe there's a few lessons of humility and modesty I needed to learn quite early as well. But for me running was always an expression of my character. It was fun. I can remember doing a race I had an Austin Powers watch on and every I set it to every kind of minute it would say like groovy baby or something like Austin Powers he, I was in a race and with about 200 meters to go Sure enough, the watch goes off groovy baby. And everyone's looking around them. And I'm just trying to come straight and we're racing but I want you to run in to always have that fun element to it. And I didn't want to take it too seriously even though I was even though I was discovering the I was getting quite good at it. At age 14, I made my first national final. And that was, that was amazing. I was we're competing at the Birmingham, Alexander stadium, big stadium light for a small lad like me to be running. And I remember getting getting to the stadium just looking about and thinking, wow, this is pretty cool. But I was also very, very shy, very nervous, I didn't really know how these things worked. So I just did what I usually do, and just ran as hard as I could for as long as I could. And I finished the race and managed to make the final I finished last in the final, but I didn't care, there would been a big shift in my head at 14 years old from going from kind of two years of just running and winning, to, I got beat by seven other guys are labeled, like seven are the best 14 year olds in the country. But I wasn't bothered that I came last at all, because I was doing something I loved. And I was just seeing what I could do as a human being what I could do as an individual. And that again, was giving me a load of confidence to then see what what else what else can I do. And I definitely think that that has helped me in lots of other aspects of life. So throughout, from the ages of kind of 14 to 20, I was very, very lucky in that I met some amazing people at my running club, some of which I'm still best mates with. Now some of them still run, some of them don't. But we are a very, very tight and very tight friendship group. I think between the ages of kind of 14 and 20, you learn a lot about yourself and the type of human being you want to become. And obviously the people you surround yourself with, becomes really, really important. And I was very, very lucky, I had amazing guys and gals around me. And we're all working towards the same thing. Just do the best that we could do. And it just so happened. One of the guys that I was training with at the time, you know, he's off to the Olympics this year, he was at London 2012. You know, he's still one of my best mates now. And because he was doing so well, it raised everyone else's game, we were just doing what we love doing, we were just our social was our training. And for me, I've wanted to keep that throughout running is that social aspect to it, that community aspect to it, that everyone working together to get that common goal celebrating each other's wins the understanding when you have a bad race, or when you're injured because someone else knows how that feels. that stayed with me for Well, I'm 41 now and that stay with me for many, many, many years. But going back to the kind of the racing stuff, I love just seeing what my body could do. But I never want anything. I think I got a silver medal one year at the south of England championships. But again, I didn't didn't care. You know, it was just good fun to compete and see, see what I could do. And I think that attitude kind of comes comes through when I ran my fastest ever 800 meter time. And I turned up to this to this race. And one of the race organizers actually said to me before I started this, I'm not sure how you got into this race pool. You're not fast enough. So huh, cool. Thanks, mate. That's, that's gonna give me a load of confidence, isn't it? So I turned up to the race. I finished last in the race, I ran a huge PB. And at the time, it's just recently being beaten. But that was a British record for the fastest ever last place, and then all British 800 meter race. And I was immensely proud of that. Because again, it's not about not about where I finished in a race. It was about what I could do as a human being what am I fulfilling my potential? What else can I achieve? Because of the friends I had around me because of the groups of people I was I was with it was never ever about the, you know, you've got to win, you've got to win. It was always what can we do? How do we get better. And that for me is just still what it's about. Now, I'm never going to run a PB at 41. But I still love running. I still love the training. I'll still love the social side of running as well. And that for me is really important to do it as a team because running can be quite a lonely sport. If you've got other people around you that you can share the experiences with that you can learn from that can pick you up when you're down and can celebrate your wins together. Then that for me is that is the fundamentals have a good experience with running and running has given me sunlight. It's given me so much been able to travel all over Europe into the states to race and train. And I just want to share my my love and my passion for running with as many people who will want to listen to me as possible. And hopefully that you guys are listening in on the podcast right

Paul Laslett  10:18  
now, you know. And I'd like you to be able to learn more about the best ways of training. And I've had a fitness business now for the last, oh, 11 years. I'm very, very fortunate that again, I've surrounded myself with a fantastic team of coaches and trainers that all support the common goal that we've got together. And, you know, we've been helping runners for years and years and years and years, when lockdown kicked in, whenever that was when feels like about 27 million years ago now. But it was only about 18 months ago, I think, one of my team members who I'll introduce you to in a minute, Marie, she'd be on the team with me for about a year. And she has her knowledge of of running and a passion again, for helping people meant that we would work really, really well as a team together. And we knew we wanted to do something together. So she started, she joined my team. But then I had been sat on a running product for about two or three years plus, and it was actually Marie was the inspiration ready to go, we got to launch this, we've got to we've got to do something about it now. And we we did, we launched our braking, 30 braking, 60 braking to our programs, we've helped over 160 people in the last nine months smash their PVS. But most importantly, enjoy their running again. So I'm just gonna bring marina on this as well. Now, she is clearly the brains of this operation. So Marie, I'd love to know from you kind of a bit of background about your own running and why you run and why you wanted to kind of get involved with this project as well.

Marie Droniou-Bordry  12:06  
Thank you for so my history of running is not as exciting as yours. I started to run when I was 27. I had just moved to this country, and I had nothing else to do. So I started to run. And for a very long time, I was happily running every day for 30 or 45 minutes. And it's probably only 10 or 12 years down the line. My next door neighbor said to me, she had joined a running club did I want to go with her. And I said to her well, I'm quite happy running on my own, but I'll give it a shot. And I did. And for me that was a big corner. Because I started to run with people. I started to run a different paces. And I started to get really, really quicker as well. And I started to understand the social side of running. And for me, that was absolutely amazing. And I've got my best friend who I met at the running club, she seemed my best friend. An enormous amount of people like minded absolutely love the running community. And this breaking 30 is almost like a baby community. And it's absolutely amazing seeing these people coming along. And a lot of them they don't they've lost their motivation. They don't know how they can get better. And all of a sudden they follow our program and and they just love it. They get faster, they get stronger. And as someone who I love running for for many reasons, but I love helping people loving their running even more. And that's what this this, this program is about. And it's absolutely, absolutely fantastic. You can't you can't go wrong if you if you follow the program. And if you feel you're going wrong, then we're here to help. And it's just just amazing. There's no other word to describe it.

Paul Laslett  13:55  
You're absolutely right. Very, is amazing. I tend to get carried away and Murray kind of keeps everything on on track. It's like having someone pacing your race, I'd be that that crazy person at the front of the London marathon running as fast as I could for the first marks I was so excited to be there. But Murray would be like well, we'll slow down Come Come back here laslett Come back. So yeah, we work very well as a as a team together. And I'll say like in terms of what you've just said, they're like you're running change a lot. I mean, a lot of people when they start running just go out and just just run because you don't know any different. But like you said when you started changing the speed you're running and understanding your training a bit more you not only improved but you enjoyed your running again. You know I've never done that. From a young kid it's always been ingrained in me now doing sessions you do this you do that so I've never not not train like that. But we see all the time don't wait with with people who are running at the same speed all the time and running starts to feel really really hard and running should be an absolute joy, an absolute pleasure to do most of the time. Obviously, you have you have days, we will have days where it's harder than it needs to be. But I think as long as you understand why, then, you know, you're, you're okay, you're, you're good, you're good to kind of go go again for the next day or the next few days. Because do you understand why it was tougher than it, then it shouldn't be coming to the end of this, our first, our first show, if you like, just to kind of summarize a little bit for for anyone who's still tuned in and listening all the way to the end. And thank you, if you've done that it's appreciated. Number one, you've got to love your running, you've got to enjoy it. Like Marie said, it is a gift to be able to get out and run when you have an a day where you don't feel motivated. Remember the days that you've been injured. Remember the days that you've been ill that you've wanted to go out and run remember when you I always if I'm unwell or if I'm injured, I can't run and I'm driving around in the car, and I'll see a million people out running. And I am envious that are out running and I can't get out. Remember that feeling that should motivate you to get out the door. Okay, and that is always the hardest step is going to have done it. You don't have to run fast, you just need to get out and do something. The second thing, changing how you train slightly if you can, if you're running at the same speed all of the time, then sooner or later, you're going to burn out runnings always going to feel hard. And we don't want that for you. We want to make your running feel easier. And coming up on the on podcast calm, we'll be sharing more tips, more insights into how you can make that running process easier, more enjoyable and keep your motivation sky high. So thank you very much for tuning in to our first one. And I hope that you will listen to many, many more. Thank you for listening to loving every stripe. If like us you absolutely love running. We'd love to have you in our community and help make your running faster. You can join our Facebook group and get your very own running faster formula by visiting the link in the show notes and there will be happy days ahead. Please also remember to subscribe and review so we can spread our love for running. Thank you for listening and we will see you on the bright side.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai