Inspiring striding - Luke Carter

We have so much love for our happystride community ❤️ You guys are so inspiring and we want to get to know you a little better...and we know others would like to as well.

SO we bring you to....the next post in our blog series ..."Inspiring striding"!!! We have the brilliant Luke Carter join us!🖊

We are sooo pleased to have Luke as our guest! Luke got into running in 2017 and has run 5 x sub 3 hour marathons! 

If you want to know Luke's greatest running achievement and what his dream race is then read on!

Thanks so much Luke for joining in with our blog ❤️

How long have you been running for and how did you originally get into it?

I've been running since 2017 and originally got into it as a distraction from a breakup and to lose weight/get fit though I continued because of how good it was for my brain.

Where is your favourite place to run?

My favourite place to run is probably along the South Downs Way, a nice mix of beautiful views and runnable ground.

Tell us a bit about your running experience? PBs, etc?

I started out focusing on speed a bit more than I do now, I have run 5 sub 3 hour marathons (PB 2:57.26) and twice ran a sub 20 hour 100 miles at the Autumn 100 (PB 19:39:41). More recently though I've been more interested in backyard ultras and trying to go as far as possible, I've won Portland Pig backyard ultra twice and was the assist at God's Own Backyard Ultra, my current PB for backyard ultras is 36 yards/150 miles.

What are your top tips?

My top tips would be to be consistent, do a lot of slow miles, do some strength training and have fun!

What’s your greatest running achievement?

I think winning Portland Pig BYU is probably my biggest achievemen.

What does your running schedule typically look like and how do you fit it into your life?

I have rest days on Monday and Friday, running and cycling throughout the week (not a fan of cycling but my coach makes me do it 😜) with a workout on Wednesday generally and a longer thing on Sunday. It's fairly easy to fit in as I have no real commitments though I do like to get up early and run when possible because it sets me up for the day.

What’s your dream race?

My dream race would be a pancake flat backyard ultramarathon (except one small hill to mix it up for my muscles) at a constant 16 degrees celsius on mostly tarmac

What’s your favourite running trainer and why?

Nike Alphaflys, the first version. Though I do like the first version of Nike Invincibles too, for training and dancing (makes bouncing easier).

How do you like to celebrate after a race?

Beer, pizza and a bath

Who are your running inspirations and why?

Jess Robson is a big running inspiration of mine, she started Run Talk Run and it perfectly blends 2 very important things to me which are running and mental health. Courtney Dauwalter, who is an amazing ultra runner but doesn't seem to take it too seriously. Beth Male for similar reasons, she's also my coach which is fab! And Eliud Kipchoge of course, who I went to Vienna to see smash the 2 hour marathon barrier.

What’s your favourite happystride pattern and why?

My favourite pattern is the bananas, I like the colours and the silliness.

If you could design the next pair of happystride shorts, what pattern would you choose and why?

Cats, lots of cats doing cool things.