Inspiring striding - Oliver Cannon

We have so much love for our happystride community ❤️ You guys are so inspiring and we want to get to know you guys 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 Oliver join us! 🖊

We are so pleased to have Oli as our guest! He has been running for 5 years and is a member of the Midnight Runners Club and a National Running Show ambassador!

Thank you so much for joining us Oli... and over to you to answer this weeks questions and inspire us!

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

I have been running for 5 years. I started by doing a dress up run in Regents Park after I had started losing weight. I was Batman. Afterwards, I was told I would now be addicted and it was true. 

What’s your greatest running achievement?

I would say completing the London Marathon and London Triathlon last year. They were both firsts.

What are your top 3 running tips?

1) Do it for the enjoyment and for yourself.

2) Don't compare yourself/ability to others.

3) Join in with events, clubs and community groups.

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

I run 3 or 4 times a week. It's usually with my clubs in the evening but I do go for the occasional lunch run. At the weekend I might do Parkrun or a long run. I also cycle to work a couple of times a week.

What’s your dream race? 

London Marathon was the dream race and I completed it last year. I also have places in the Tokyo and Chicago marathons. 

What do you eat for breakfast before a race and why? 

I don't always eat if it's a morning race as I get acid reflux but have found porridge isn't too bad or a protein shake.

How do you like to celebrate a PB?

Beers and pizza

We understand you’re a member of the ‘’Midnight runners group’’ – please tell us a bit more about that?

The Midnight Runners is a fantastic community of people that love to run. There are groups in 15 locations around the world. Runs are on Tuesdays which is the main night and gets over 100 people every week. They also do a Thursday track session and Sunday long runs. I tend to join the Tuesday nights which is a 8km run with four stops for bootcamp exercises, this allows the whole group catch up exercise together and then go again all as one group. This means no one gets left behind, there are no separate pacing groups and it's very very inclusive. The great thing about it is that all the captain's are carrying bluetooth speakers so you get to run with music and chat with the person you're running with which makes it even more good fun and sociable. You get to meet lots of new people especially at the beginning of every run where they make a point of stating that it's not an athletics club but very much a community. They also tell everyone at the beginning to turn around and say hello to two people that you've not met before. We start and finish at a pub where the bags can be dropped and we have a few beers and a good chat afterwards. I would recommend it to anyone! 

You’re also an ambassador of the ‘’National Running Show’’, what is your involvement and why do you love the show?

My involvement is to help to advertise the National Running Show through social media in the lead up to the show and this involves promoting our code which gives a free entry telling people all about the amazing exhibitors and talks that are available. At the show and on the day we help out with anything that is needed which could be helping to give microphones at the Q&A or helping on the merchandise store. We also get to enjoy the day as well which is great as you get to meet lots of people from the community. Last year I got to meet Mo Farah which was amazing.

What’s your favourite happystride pattern and why? 

Bananas as they are bright and fun. Always get a good response and bananas help you run faster 😂

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

I would love a matching banana and/or tie dye t-shirt.

Wow, thank you so much Oliver for joining us and answering our questions! Stay tuned for our next 'inspiring striding' blog in our series where we will have another inspiring guest!