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Speaker 1: The fact that we are at episode eighty one just

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Speaker 1: blows my mind. Episode eighty one of Hurdle, a podcast

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Speaker 1: that talks to everyone from entrepreneurs to top CEOs and

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Speaker 1: athletes about how they've gotten through tough times hurdles of

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Speaker 1: sorts by leaning into wellness. My name is Emily Abadi

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Speaker 1: and today I am so amped to bring you my

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Speaker 1: super special live conversation with Charlie Dark. He is a DJ,

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Speaker 1: a poet and the founder of the London based running

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Speaker 1: collective run dem Crew, And this episode's really special. We

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Speaker 1: did it live, as I said, at the Lululemon Repair

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Speaker 1: Lab for the month of October. The company popped up

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Speaker 1: down in Soho on Prince Street and put together a

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Speaker 1: really awesome experience for runners gearing up for the New

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Speaker 1: York City Marathon to do things like sit in Norma

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Speaker 1: tech boots, use hyperbolts, and just get a little TLLC

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Speaker 1: for their body leading up to the big day. Now, obviously,

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Speaker 1: if this episode is going live on Monday, the marathon

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Speaker 1: on Sunday, so a huge congratulations to all of the

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Speaker 1: runners who went out there, who did the thing. The

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Speaker 1: New York City Marathon is my favorite day to be

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Speaker 1: a New Yorker. Whether or not I'm actually towing the

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Speaker 1: starting line, it is just so full of magic. So

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Speaker 1: to all of you who went out there and crushed it, congratulations.

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Speaker 1: Before we get to it, quick shout out to my

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Speaker 1: Things that I do absolutely every single day. Of course,

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Speaker 1: that's Athleticgreens dot com slash Hurdle to get yours today,

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Speaker 1: No code necessary. All right, Charlie Dark, I'm gonna make

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Speaker 1: a bold statement. This might be one of my favorite

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Speaker 1: episodes of Hurdle to date.

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Speaker 2: I'm going to say that again. Favorite episode.

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Speaker 1: We talk about his life growing up in London and

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Speaker 1: how he really had a passion for music and that

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Speaker 1: passion led him to being a signed artist, but with

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Speaker 1: time in the music industry, he realized that he really

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Speaker 1: wasn't giving his body any bit of love. He recalls

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Speaker 1: looking in the mirror one day and just seeing nothing there,

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Speaker 1: just seeing a dull light in his eyes. He accumulated

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Speaker 1: all of these material things. He had a Mercedes g Wagon,

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Speaker 1: four hundred pairs of Sneakers forty thousand records, but still

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Speaker 1: just wasn't happy. So he started running on Christmas Day actually,

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Speaker 1: and it started slow, about a mile, and soon enough,

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Speaker 1: after a little bit of time, his friends noticed that

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Speaker 1: something was up, that he looked different, that he was happier,

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Speaker 1: and he shared his experience with them. A group of

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Speaker 1: them would get together every Friday night and run about

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Speaker 1: a mile and then go grab something to eat, and

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Speaker 1: that little group soon became Run Dem Crew.

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Speaker 2: Now Run Dem Crew is not a running club.

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Speaker 1: Instead, it's a collective of runners, as he likes to

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Speaker 1: call it, people that are like minded and want to

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Speaker 1: go after great things.

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Speaker 2: There's also so many takeaways in this episode.

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Speaker 1: I love what Charlie has to say about finding your

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Speaker 1: tribe and just really locking in with the people that

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Speaker 1: you love, as well as going after your goals and

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Speaker 1: just chasing after dreams even when they feel just a

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Speaker 1: little bit crazy. As always, you guys know the drill

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Speaker 1: at Emily a Body at Hurdle podcast. If you have

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Speaker 1: a hurdle moment of your own to share or just

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Speaker 1: want to say hi, it's Emily at Hurdle dot Us

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Speaker 1: over email. I love when you guys send me suggestions

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Speaker 1: of who you want to listen to on the podcast.

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Speaker 1: So while you're listening today, I'm going to ask you

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Speaker 1: with this one thing, think of one person who you

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Speaker 1: want to hear from on a hurdle and shoot me

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Speaker 1: a message.

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Speaker 2: I'm always looking for new talent.

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Speaker 1: I'm always looking to sit down with new people and

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Speaker 1: hear new stories, and I would love to know what

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Speaker 1: you're looking for. Don't forget to rate and review Hurdle

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Speaker 1: in the iTunes store. It helps us get up the charts.

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Speaker 1: And I think that's it for now. With that, let's

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Speaker 1: get to hurdling.

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Speaker 3: Thank you all so much for coming today.

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Speaker 2: Here.

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Speaker 3: I am with Charlie Dark.

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Speaker 1: He is the mastermind behind Run Dem Crew, and we'll

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Speaker 1: get into what that is and just a little bit.

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Speaker 1: It's also a DJ, a poet, a Lulaming Global run ambassador,

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Speaker 1: a community builder, a public speaker. I love listening things

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Speaker 1: as people do this when I sit down with them,

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Speaker 1: and it never is not awkward when someone describes you

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Speaker 1: in twelve ways before you even say one single word.

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Speaker 1: But before we really get going important first off, happy birthday.

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Speaker 4: Thank you very much in date.

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Speaker 3: Why did you to celebrate I've.

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Speaker 4: Been running with the crew.

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Speaker 5: Was running with the crew in London, and then we

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Speaker 5: came home and got on a plane and then we

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Speaker 5: came here.

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Speaker 3: Perfect.

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Speaker 1: That's pretty fastive to me, it's good. Also, you and

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Speaker 1: I have something in common which I'm going to just

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Speaker 1: launch off with, is that we both like to run

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Speaker 1: when many other people aren't doing much of anything.

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Speaker 3: Of course, talk to me about that.

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Speaker 5: I started running in the nighttime because it was embarrassed

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Speaker 5: to be seen running in a day I was working

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Speaker 5: as in schools, teaching poetry creative writing in schools in

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Speaker 5: London with kids who are kind of from particularly tough backgrounds,

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Speaker 5: and I didn't want them to see me failing, and

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Speaker 5: so it was so hard to get their respect in

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Speaker 5: the classroom. They thought, if any of these kids see

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Speaker 5: me sweating and walking and berating myself in the daytime,

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Speaker 5: then basically you know, it's going to be really hard

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Speaker 5: to get them through the course.

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Speaker 4: So I started running at night.

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Speaker 3: Okay, what time and night are we talking here?

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Speaker 4: We're talking one, two, three o'clock in the morning.

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Speaker 1: How do you stay safe between one and three am running?

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Speaker 5: Well, generally around that time I would have been coming

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Speaker 5: out of a recording studio and so I would have

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Speaker 5: been running home in my neighborhood. And I think generally,

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Speaker 5: when you're you know, when you've lived in the neighborhood

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Speaker 5: for a long time and you know a lot of

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Speaker 5: the characters that you see, and maybe you know the

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Speaker 5: people who might be causing you harm, you're kind of okay.

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Speaker 1: So you're saying, I just need to learn all the

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Speaker 1: questionable people in my neighborhood and it'll be good.

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Speaker 4: You know. It's a really strange thing. I just growing

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Speaker 4: up in London.

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Speaker 5: It's kind of London is such a multicultural melting pot

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Speaker 5: of different types of people. One of the biggest lessons

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Speaker 5: that I learned is that when you move into a

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Speaker 5: new neighborhood, introduce yourself to as many people in that

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Speaker 5: neighborhood as you can, including the criminals, because they will

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Speaker 5: keep you safe.

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Speaker 3: I like it. I like it.

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Speaker 1: There's a guy that lives downstairs, well he doesn't live downstairs,

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Speaker 1: but he feels like he lives downstairs. And he always

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Speaker 1: sits on the bench in front of the laundromat, and

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Speaker 1: every morning when I go outside at five fifty to

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Speaker 1: go running, he is there and I say hi, and

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Speaker 1: he says, have a sap run and then I come

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Speaker 1: back and he says, how was it all the time?

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Speaker 3: And it's nice because it's like someone's waiting for me.

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Speaker 4: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: Okay, so not all that long ago.

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Speaker 1: On your Instagram you said, hold on, you mean the

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Speaker 1: life I dreamt about when I was a kid is

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Speaker 1: actually happening right now. So let's rewind it back, because

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Speaker 1: it wasn't like all of a sudden one day you

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Speaker 1: decided to start running at one thirty in the morning,

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Speaker 1: and you were a DJ and you were a poet

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Speaker 1: and you were doing all these things. So I want

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Speaker 1: to remind it back and bring you back to your

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Speaker 1: humble beginning. Talk to me about what life was like

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Speaker 1: growing up for you.

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Speaker 5: I always tell people that growing up for me was

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Speaker 5: a bit like living I call it the Bermuda Triangle

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Speaker 5: because my parents are from Gharaner in West Africa. I

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Speaker 5: grew up in a neighborhood that was predominantly West Indian

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Speaker 5: and I went to very well to do posh private

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Speaker 5: school in London. I managed to get myself an assisted place.

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Speaker 5: In the early eighties, they basically decided to start diversifying

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Speaker 5: private school education. So what they would do is essentially

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Speaker 5: bust kids in from the hood, and my mum basically

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Speaker 5: said to me, I know, you want to go to

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Speaker 5: the local comprehensive where all of the bad boys go,

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Speaker 5: but you can't go there. So you're going to go

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Speaker 5: to Alaine's and you're going to study, and we're going

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Speaker 5: to get your tutor and you're going to go there

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Speaker 5: because that's basically going to just open up the avenues

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Speaker 5: of what you can achieve because at that time, kind

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Speaker 5: of growing up in London, there weren't very many avenues

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Speaker 5: for you. The unfortunate thing about that is that basically

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Speaker 5: you then feel very displaced because you're you're in a school,

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Speaker 5: you know, as one of only four black kids in

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Speaker 5: my school in the whole time I was there, it's

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Speaker 5: over a thousand children in school. Jude Law is in

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Speaker 5: you below me, actor dude. The school is basically filled

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Speaker 5: with people who've got lots of money and privilege, and

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Speaker 5: then there's me just feeling really out of place and

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Speaker 5: trying to find myself. And growing up was just a

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Speaker 5: struggle just trying to find, you know, just to have

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Speaker 5: a voice. And that's really essentially why I kind of

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Speaker 5: fell in love with DJing because it was the first

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Speaker 5: thing that I discovered in life that gave me power

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Speaker 5: and gave me status, you know, both in my neighborhood

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Speaker 5: and more importantly in my school, you know. And so

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Speaker 5: there's a very significant moment where I had where I

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Speaker 5: picked up the needle of the record that was playing,

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Speaker 5: and five hundred people just stopped and stared at me,

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Speaker 5: and I was like, wow, man, Like, you know, no

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Speaker 5: one's ever listened to anything that's ever come out of

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Speaker 5: my mouth before, no one's.

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Speaker 4: Ever really noticed me.

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Speaker 5: But this whole room, for the people that noticing me

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Speaker 5: right now, I think I'm going to continue doing this thing.

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Speaker 1: Was it intimidating to have that kind of power, for

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Speaker 1: lack of a better word, not really.

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Speaker 5: If anything, it was intimidating to just to scope with

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Speaker 5: the amount of pressure that was being placed upon me.

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Speaker 4: My mom wanted me to go to Oxford.

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Speaker 5: You know, many of young African kids growing up in

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Speaker 5: London at the time, you were kind of being forced

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Speaker 5: in a very traditional form of employment. So lawyer, doctor,

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Speaker 5: those were the only two professions that are available to you.

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Speaker 5: And want to hear about you being a DJ or

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Speaker 5: being a creative. That just wasn't the thing that you did. Yeah,

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Speaker 5: So there was just this expectation like, you're going to

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Speaker 5: go to Oxford University, You're going to go to talk

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Speaker 5: to the university, You're going to continue to the tradition

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Speaker 5: of people in our family going to Oxford University. And

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Speaker 5: I suddenly just woke up one day and was like,

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Speaker 5: I don't want to go.

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Speaker 3: What happened when you told her that, Oh all.

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Speaker 4: Hell broke loose?

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, I listened to NWA in public enemy in my

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Speaker 5: room and it wasn't going there very well. I actually

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Speaker 5: got sent back to Ghana three times in the eighties.

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Speaker 5: Oh as a way, but obviously what happens. You know,

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Speaker 5: you arride back in Ghana and you've got all the

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Speaker 5: freshest trainers and all the freshest gear, and you all

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Speaker 5: this music that you know about, and you're from London

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Speaker 5: and everyone thinks you're a millionaire, and suddenly it was

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Speaker 5: like really cool. So then I got sent back to

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Speaker 5: London and then got sent back again, and then spent

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Speaker 5: like some time just going backwards forwards, and eventually they

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Speaker 5: this gave up and said, I guess if this music

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Speaker 5: thing is something you really want to do, just make

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Speaker 5: sure that you're the best at it that you can

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Speaker 5: possibly be.

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Speaker 3: I think that's probably pretty applicable.

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Speaker 1: I mean even to your philosophy now, in that whatever

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Speaker 1: you're doing, in whichever way you're doing it, your goal

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Speaker 1: is to really give it everything you have.

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Speaker 5: I just think that if you're going to do something,

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Speaker 5: step into your light and give it one hundred and

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Speaker 5: ten percent of your effort, because there's nothing like regret

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Speaker 5: when you look back in your life and you think,

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Speaker 5: you know what I really wish I tried a bit harder.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, for sure.

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Speaker 1: So you knew that you wanted to make DJing music

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Speaker 1: your full time schick Oxford was not happening.

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Speaker 5: It was not happening. But I you know, I did

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Speaker 5: go to university, you know, just to keep my mum happy.

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Speaker 5: But more importantly I went because at that time you

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Speaker 5: got a student grant. I think they gave you three

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Speaker 5: thousand pounds a year to basically go to university, and

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Speaker 5: I spent most of that in the first week on records.

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Speaker 3: So there's no way to control what you stand that on.

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Speaker 5: No, they basically just gave you the money you're supposed

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Speaker 5: to spend it on food and accommodation, and I just

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Speaker 5: I just spent it.

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Speaker 1: On music, okay, And so what happened when you needed

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Speaker 1: the money for all the things that you were.

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Speaker 3: Supposed to use the money for.

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Speaker 5: Well, by that time I was kind of making money

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Speaker 5: from the djingh perfect, So basically, so yeah, it was

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Speaker 5: all fueling itself.

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Speaker 1: So when's the moment that you realize that you're actually

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Speaker 1: truly really good at this DJ thing? Because I'm sure

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Speaker 1: it's not when you get signed.

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Speaker 4: No, it's not at all.

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Speaker 5: I think when I got to dj in the club

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Speaker 5: in London called the White Club that was kind of

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Speaker 5: quite a seminal kind of space, and once you got

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Speaker 5: to play there, that was kind of like your status

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Speaker 5: and the DJ rankings kind of went up. I think

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Speaker 5: for me really going into black market records and not

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Speaker 5: having to wait to be served, like when you walk

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Speaker 5: into the record shop and then they're like, we've got

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Speaker 5: your bag here for you, Charlie, and we've selected all

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Speaker 5: these like tunes for you and your name was on it.

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Speaker 5: It's really weird now when you tell people about this,

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Speaker 5: because obviously the way people consume and buy music is

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Speaker 5: very different. Time there was kind of you know, you

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Speaker 5: went to the shop and you waited until the super

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Speaker 5: DJs had basically you know, taken what they wanted, and

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Speaker 5: you picked up the scraps.

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Speaker 4: And I think also what happened.

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Speaker 5: I remember coming home one day and my mom was like,

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Speaker 5: someone called you from Germany and they want you to

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Speaker 5: come to DJ And she was just like, I can't

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Speaker 5: believe that someone's actually going to pay to fly you

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Speaker 5: to another country to play records.

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Speaker 4: It was like, you know, really alien to her.

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Speaker 3: Do you think that she started to come around?

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Speaker 5: Then she came around when she asked for microwave microwaves

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Speaker 5: of five hundred pounds. At that time, they were really

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Speaker 5: expensive and if you went to someone's house and then

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Speaker 5: a microwave, you were like, wow, you must be doing

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Speaker 5: really well. And she and she mentioned that she wanted

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Speaker 5: a microwave, and I bought her a microwave the next

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Speaker 5: day with my DJ money. And after that she was like,

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Speaker 5: whatever this thing is you're doing, it's a missing carry on.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm in Okay, So spoiler alert, as I already said,

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Speaker 1: you get signed.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, I got signed to a label, independent label called

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Speaker 5: MOA's Records around about ninety.

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Speaker 4: Three, I think.

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Speaker 5: And I've always been one of those people that basically

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Speaker 5: fakes it to you make it and basically, if an

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Speaker 5: opportunity comes up, I grab and then learn how to

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Speaker 5: work it out along the way.

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Speaker 4: So I met this guy called Maca McLaren.

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Speaker 5: Ran about nineteen eighty nine, and he was the manager

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Speaker 5: of a bank called the Sex Pistols, and he gave

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Speaker 5: me some amazing advice. He said, if you ever want

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Speaker 5: to do anything in your life, do it yourself. Do

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Speaker 5: it as much as you can yourself until you need help.

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Speaker 5: And then when you ask someone for help, make sure

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Speaker 5: they're helping you to do something that you can't already

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Speaker 5: do by yourself. So happened to be in a record

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Speaker 5: shop in labrit Grove. I meet this guy called James Leavell.

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Speaker 5: He looks me up and down. He's sixteen years old

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Speaker 5: and he's trying to break the stronghold of the UK

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Speaker 5: music industry because at that time it's kind of very

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Speaker 5: old guard and it's kind of old dude's have been

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Speaker 5: in the industry for a long time. And he says

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Speaker 5: to me, look, you look like you're into hip hop?

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Speaker 5: Can you make me some records? I'm starting this record

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Speaker 5: company and you look like you can You know, you

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Speaker 5: look the part can you make records?

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Speaker 4: And I just lied.

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Speaker 5: I was just like, yeah, man, youin I make records

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Speaker 5: all the time. Yeah, like you know, I've got studio

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Speaker 5: at home, like yeah, yeah, no worries. And I literally

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Speaker 5: then was like, right, I need to find someone to

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Speaker 5: help me make this music. And I went, you know,

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Speaker 5: and I went and did that, and then it all

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Speaker 5: started from there.

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Speaker 3: It all started from there.

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Speaker 4: Yeah.

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Speaker 1: So you get signed, and what is the shift in

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Speaker 1: life at this point? Like what was? And then what

351
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Speaker 1: becomes with this change in your career?

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Speaker 5: The changes You start making money and you start getting recognized.

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Speaker 5: And it's a very weird thing when you go from

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Speaker 5: I've got absolutely no money in my bank account whatsoever,

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Speaker 5: and now I'm getting paid cash in hand and I'm

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Speaker 5: making so much money from the because I think, you know,

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Speaker 5: in the early nineties that was kind of like the

358
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Speaker 5: big DJ explosion and you know something, You're walking into

359
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Speaker 5: the bank with fifteen pounds, the bank managers looking at

360
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Speaker 5: you like if you just robbed the banking No, no,

361
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Speaker 5: it's honest money.

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Speaker 4: I made it from djaying.

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Speaker 5: You know, it's all very new, and it was just

364
00:17:03,800 --> 00:17:07,800
Speaker 5: a really amazing, you know, part of cultures to be

365
00:17:07,840 --> 00:17:09,840
Speaker 5: evolved in. But I think the most amazing thing is

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Speaker 5: when you hold your record in your hand for the

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Speaker 5: first time, Like when you physically are holding the thing

368
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Speaker 5: that you made and you play it. I remember ringing

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Speaker 5: my friend up and it's like and I played the

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Speaker 5: record and I stopped it on the record player and

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Speaker 5: he's like, you can hear the scream in the background.

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Speaker 4: Oh my god, he made a record and it's real,

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Speaker 4: you know, And that was really cool.

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Speaker 5: And then you know, the thing is the whirl wind

375
00:17:31,160 --> 00:17:33,920
Speaker 5: starts and suddenly people start writing about you, and you're

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Speaker 5: flying around the world and you're going to different countries,

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Speaker 5: and you're making this kind of disposable money, and you're

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Speaker 5: meeting lots of really interesting people around the world, and

379
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Speaker 5: you're having all these experiences with people that kind of

380
00:17:45,720 --> 00:17:50,159
Speaker 5: seem slightly unreal, but you don't want to admit to

381
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Speaker 5: the fact that you maybe you're swimming slightly out of

382
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Speaker 5: your depth. I went on tour with like the Foo

383
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Speaker 5: Fighters and the Beastie Boys and Buork and I just

384
00:17:57,359 --> 00:17:59,680
Speaker 5: remember sitting there in the lift thinking, man, like if

385
00:17:59,680 --> 00:18:03,359
Speaker 5: the crashes now, like you know, there's going to be

386
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Speaker 5: this cultural musical shift, right now, but just kind of,

387
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Speaker 5: you know, it's weird. It's one of those weird things.

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Speaker 5: I think when you're with people who kind of you've

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Speaker 5: admired and then suddenly you're kind of hanging out with them,

390
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Speaker 5: you just kind of just like, yeah, you know, you

391
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Speaker 5: just try and be cool, and really you're in the

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Speaker 5: toilet like freaking out.

393
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Speaker 4: Like, oh my god, Buork just spoke to me. Oh

394
00:18:21,240 --> 00:18:22,400
Speaker 4: my god, that's that's so amazing.

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Speaker 3: What is Buorke doing now?

396
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Speaker 5: Valid question Byork is probably being super creative somewhere, because

397
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Speaker 5: she's a super creative person.

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Speaker 4: You know.

399
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Speaker 3: I dealt with impastor syndrome what you're talking about a lot.

400
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Speaker 1: When I first got into what I felt was like

401
00:18:40,440 --> 00:18:44,119
Speaker 1: the major leagues of my industry, and I was the

402
00:18:44,119 --> 00:18:46,520
Speaker 1: fitness editor itself, and it was at the time my

403
00:18:46,680 --> 00:18:50,960
Speaker 1: dream opportunity and a Good Morning America had called and

404
00:18:51,000 --> 00:18:54,119
Speaker 1: they wanted me to come on and lead this fitness segment.

405
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Speaker 1: And I remember sitting down with a friend of mine,

406
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Speaker 1: another trainer, and I said, this is just crazy that

407
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Speaker 1: they want me to do this, and he was like,

408
00:19:01,760 --> 00:19:02,879
Speaker 1: are you a certified trainer?

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Speaker 3: And I was like yes.

410
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Speaker 1: He's like, are you the fitness editor Itself magazine. I

411
00:19:05,800 --> 00:19:07,640
Speaker 1: was like, yes, He's like, then you are the only

412
00:19:07,720 --> 00:19:10,280
Speaker 1: things standing in your way right now. So whatever in

413
00:19:10,440 --> 00:19:14,000
Speaker 1: pastor syndrome situation you're dealing with, shut that to the side,

414
00:19:14,440 --> 00:19:17,560
Speaker 1: appreciate your skill set and go out there and be

415
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Speaker 1: your best self because no one is going to just

416
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Speaker 1: wait for you to show up.

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Speaker 3: You have to show up.

418
00:19:21,680 --> 00:19:21,960
Speaker 4: Yeah.

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Speaker 3: I thought that was really to suck with me ever since.

420
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Speaker 4: I think everyone has some imposter syndrome.

421
00:19:27,400 --> 00:19:30,680
Speaker 5: Every person I've ever met, regardless of what level they are.

422
00:19:31,040 --> 00:19:33,680
Speaker 5: At some point you have the conversation about it's pretty

423
00:19:33,720 --> 00:19:35,639
Speaker 5: strange that we're doing this. I did a program for

424
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Speaker 5: the BBC with a royal family, Prince Harry, Prince William,

425
00:19:38,840 --> 00:19:41,879
Speaker 5: Kate Midlerton, and we're hanging out and you know the

426
00:19:42,040 --> 00:19:47,720
Speaker 5: sas my weird wonderful life. You know, the essays are there,

427
00:19:47,720 --> 00:19:50,000
Speaker 5: the secret services are there, and I remember having this

428
00:19:50,000 --> 00:19:55,040
Speaker 5: conversation with Harry and he's just like, it's so crazy

429
00:19:55,080 --> 00:19:58,800
Speaker 5: that this is my job and he's talking We're talking

430
00:19:58,800 --> 00:20:01,560
Speaker 5: about imposter syndrome, really really weird. Yeah, it just happens

431
00:20:01,560 --> 00:20:03,920
Speaker 5: at every level. I think in some ways it's quite

432
00:20:03,960 --> 00:20:06,000
Speaker 5: a nice thing. Yeah, because it kind of keeps you

433
00:20:06,000 --> 00:20:08,600
Speaker 5: a bit grounded, because when you lose that, that's when

434
00:20:08,680 --> 00:20:11,679
Speaker 5: things start going a bit out of control. You know,

435
00:20:11,840 --> 00:20:13,639
Speaker 5: the record happen gets a bit too much.

436
00:20:13,880 --> 00:20:16,080
Speaker 1: So what happens for you now is that you do

437
00:20:16,160 --> 00:20:18,400
Speaker 1: start to get a little caught up and everything that's happening.

438
00:20:18,520 --> 00:20:20,480
Speaker 3: Yeah, definitely, I was listening.

439
00:20:20,560 --> 00:20:23,640
Speaker 1: I told Charlie before we started that I was doing

440
00:20:23,680 --> 00:20:26,239
Speaker 1: some background research aka like listening to at least two

441
00:20:26,320 --> 00:20:29,000
Speaker 1: or three podcasts that he had been on, and on

442
00:20:29,000 --> 00:20:32,159
Speaker 1: one of them, you said that you had a Mercedes

443
00:20:32,200 --> 00:20:35,080
Speaker 1: G wagon. Yep, you had four hundred pairs of sneakers, yep,

444
00:20:35,359 --> 00:20:39,040
Speaker 1: you had forty thousand records, yep. You'd accumulated all of

445
00:20:39,080 --> 00:20:41,919
Speaker 1: the material things and you woke up one day and

446
00:20:41,920 --> 00:20:44,800
Speaker 1: you were like, what am I doing? So tell me

447
00:20:44,800 --> 00:20:46,399
Speaker 1: about that day. Tell me what it was like to

448
00:20:46,440 --> 00:20:50,480
Speaker 1: wake up this day and be like, bro, I.

449
00:20:50,359 --> 00:20:53,240
Speaker 5: Think there's a really strange thing where you kind of

450
00:20:53,240 --> 00:20:57,600
Speaker 5: buy into the thing where society determines your worth and

451
00:20:57,640 --> 00:21:01,760
Speaker 5: your social status by the stuff you had, and you know,

452
00:21:02,119 --> 00:21:07,240
Speaker 5: and you publicly showing people that you've got stuff, you

453
00:21:07,240 --> 00:21:09,280
Speaker 5: don't need to be driving a g wagon around in London,

454
00:21:09,440 --> 00:21:12,200
Speaker 5: the roads are not big enough. You know, as soon

455
00:21:12,200 --> 00:21:14,560
Speaker 5: as you move the thing, the petrol gage just goes

456
00:21:15,960 --> 00:21:18,000
Speaker 5: straight away, you know. You take it to Mercedes, they

457
00:21:18,040 --> 00:21:19,520
Speaker 5: charge you a big load of money. But there's kind of,

458
00:21:19,560 --> 00:21:21,719
Speaker 5: you know, there was something cool about that. I just

459
00:21:22,320 --> 00:21:25,920
Speaker 5: I think that actually, you know, all my life, I've

460
00:21:25,920 --> 00:21:28,399
Speaker 5: been told that, you know, you are nothing unless you

461
00:21:28,400 --> 00:21:30,640
Speaker 5: have stuff. And you've gone to school with people who've

462
00:21:30,680 --> 00:21:33,960
Speaker 5: got stuff, you know, and they've got all this stuff

463
00:21:34,040 --> 00:21:37,280
Speaker 5: that you don't have, and so there's all this comparison thing.

464
00:21:37,440 --> 00:21:40,760
Speaker 5: So you try and level yourself up by competing, you know,

465
00:21:41,280 --> 00:21:42,840
Speaker 5: with the trainers, with the you know, who's got the

466
00:21:42,920 --> 00:21:46,160
Speaker 5: rarest records. I don't need four hundred pairs of trainings.

467
00:21:46,160 --> 00:21:49,240
Speaker 5: I'm not a millipede that just don't need that amount

468
00:21:49,240 --> 00:21:50,639
Speaker 5: of footwear, you know.

469
00:21:50,720 --> 00:21:51,720
Speaker 4: So I think there was just.

470
00:21:51,640 --> 00:21:53,280
Speaker 5: A moment where I just remember looking in the mirror

471
00:21:53,400 --> 00:21:57,640
Speaker 5: just thinking, what are you doing? This is not you.

472
00:21:58,440 --> 00:22:00,360
Speaker 5: And I think lots of us when we're growing up,

473
00:22:00,760 --> 00:22:05,119
Speaker 5: we adopt these personas and characters and personalities just to

474
00:22:05,240 --> 00:22:08,040
Speaker 5: kind of get us full school life, and it then

475
00:22:08,119 --> 00:22:12,440
Speaker 5: trickles down into university life and then into adult life.

476
00:22:12,480 --> 00:22:14,440
Speaker 5: And then before you know, you're like, you know, thirty,

477
00:22:14,480 --> 00:22:16,119
Speaker 5: and you're still pretending to be someone that you're not.

478
00:22:18,320 --> 00:22:19,960
Speaker 5: So I think, yeah, that was kind of like a

479
00:22:20,040 --> 00:22:24,960
Speaker 5: really big moment for me, and I was just tremendously unhappy.

480
00:22:25,280 --> 00:22:26,959
Speaker 3: And when is this.

481
00:22:26,960 --> 00:22:30,439
Speaker 5: This is kind of around two thousand and one and

482
00:22:30,480 --> 00:22:33,040
Speaker 5: we got dropped as well. So when you find you know,

483
00:22:33,200 --> 00:22:37,040
Speaker 5: when you're making music, you're you're constantly thinking about the future,

484
00:22:37,560 --> 00:22:39,679
Speaker 5: and you're constantly trying to get the big deal, and

485
00:22:39,680 --> 00:22:42,479
Speaker 5: then finally you get the big deal, you know, and

486
00:22:42,480 --> 00:22:45,040
Speaker 5: getting signed to Sony Records at that moment time, you know,

487
00:22:45,080 --> 00:22:47,520
Speaker 5: that was a big deal, a lot of cash, there's

488
00:22:47,520 --> 00:22:51,280
Speaker 5: a lot of expectation on you, but ultimately the stakes

489
00:22:51,280 --> 00:22:53,080
Speaker 5: are so much higher. And I remember what happened with

490
00:22:53,160 --> 00:22:59,439
Speaker 5: Charda decided either someone broke Chardet's heart or she basically

491
00:23:00,440 --> 00:23:02,960
Speaker 5: for some reason, her album got delayed, and it just

492
00:23:03,040 --> 00:23:06,439
Speaker 5: threw the whole of Sony Records into panic because they're like,

493
00:23:06,520 --> 00:23:09,119
Speaker 5: you know, Chardy's like the Golden Goose Goose, and all

494
00:23:09,119 --> 00:23:10,560
Speaker 5: of a sudden they start getting rid of all of

495
00:23:10,600 --> 00:23:12,720
Speaker 5: the smaller subsidiary labels. And I remember being on the

496
00:23:12,760 --> 00:23:16,280
Speaker 5: beach in Saint Lucia, and you know, my A and

497
00:23:16,359 --> 00:23:19,320
Speaker 5: R man is not returning my cause. And you always

498
00:23:19,359 --> 00:23:21,359
Speaker 5: notice something up when the people who are kind of

499
00:23:21,440 --> 00:23:25,359
Speaker 5: like would do anything for you suddenly stop. You can't

500
00:23:25,359 --> 00:23:28,359
Speaker 5: get hold of them. And I'm just saying to the

501
00:23:28,400 --> 00:23:29,560
Speaker 5: rest of the band and like we're gonna.

502
00:23:29,359 --> 00:23:31,080
Speaker 4: Get dropped, and everybody's.

503
00:23:30,680 --> 00:23:32,440
Speaker 5: Like, no, no, it's fine, let's go and buy another

504
00:23:32,480 --> 00:23:35,680
Speaker 5: g wagon. I'm like, no, no, no, let's not do that. No,

505
00:23:36,359 --> 00:23:38,679
Speaker 5: And and it happened, And so you know, you kind

506
00:23:38,720 --> 00:23:40,399
Speaker 5: of come home and you've got all the stuff, but

507
00:23:40,520 --> 00:23:43,680
Speaker 5: you you know, you kind of like you're just looking

508
00:23:43,760 --> 00:23:45,399
Speaker 5: in the mirror and your eyes are a bit dead,

509
00:23:45,480 --> 00:23:47,760
Speaker 5: and you just kind of you've just lost that zest

510
00:23:47,800 --> 00:23:50,560
Speaker 5: for life. You know that in few there's a weird

511
00:23:50,600 --> 00:23:54,760
Speaker 5: thing when you basically the thing that's your passion, that

512
00:23:54,880 --> 00:23:57,760
Speaker 5: you've always wanted to do suddenly becomes the thing that

513
00:23:57,800 --> 00:24:01,560
Speaker 5: feeds you. And then all of a sudden and you

514
00:24:01,560 --> 00:24:04,200
Speaker 5: start getting this anxiety in your body, you know, because

515
00:24:04,520 --> 00:24:06,520
Speaker 5: now it's really important and you're not just dejaying in

516
00:24:06,600 --> 00:24:09,280
Speaker 5: your bedroom to your teddy bears, but now you you know,

517
00:24:09,359 --> 00:24:11,760
Speaker 5: your main stage in the festival and there's fifteen thousand

518
00:24:11,760 --> 00:24:13,960
Speaker 5: people looking at and you like, you better be good

519
00:24:13,960 --> 00:24:16,440
Speaker 5: because I've had a really terrible week and you're responsible

520
00:24:16,440 --> 00:24:18,399
Speaker 5: for my happiness for the next two hours.

521
00:24:19,920 --> 00:24:21,560
Speaker 3: Dead stare, yeah, yeah, stare.

522
00:24:21,640 --> 00:24:24,720
Speaker 5: And suddenly it's like, you know, you're hiding under the

523
00:24:24,720 --> 00:24:26,879
Speaker 5: table and your mind's gone blank, and it's kind of

524
00:24:26,960 --> 00:24:28,960
Speaker 5: it's all getting on top and you can't go and

525
00:24:28,960 --> 00:24:31,639
Speaker 5: talk to anyone because no one wants to talk about

526
00:24:31,640 --> 00:24:32,240
Speaker 5: mental health.

527
00:24:33,200 --> 00:24:35,040
Speaker 4: It's not cool to talk about me. You know, you've

528
00:24:35,040 --> 00:24:35,720
Speaker 4: got to be strong.

529
00:24:35,800 --> 00:24:37,760
Speaker 5: You gotta be your man, you got you know, you've

530
00:24:37,760 --> 00:24:39,840
Speaker 5: got a soldier through it was hard.

531
00:24:39,960 --> 00:24:42,560
Speaker 3: Well, at least in England they recognize that that's an issue.

532
00:24:42,760 --> 00:24:46,520
Speaker 1: They do now don't recognize here yet that it's an issue,

533
00:24:46,600 --> 00:24:48,920
Speaker 1: at least not you know, in the government.

534
00:24:49,240 --> 00:24:50,760
Speaker 3: But at least your government is like, we got to

535
00:24:50,800 --> 00:24:51,480
Speaker 3: do something about this.

536
00:24:51,720 --> 00:24:53,240
Speaker 4: Well, they got to do something about something.

537
00:24:54,840 --> 00:24:55,199
Speaker 3: Okay.

538
00:24:55,240 --> 00:24:59,240
Speaker 1: So you have this realization that something's messed up and

539
00:24:59,400 --> 00:25:01,919
Speaker 1: this is a pri and you're dropped and you're like,

540
00:25:02,000 --> 00:25:02,639
Speaker 1: what's next?

541
00:25:02,640 --> 00:25:05,240
Speaker 3: So how do you proceed from there?

542
00:25:05,960 --> 00:25:09,639
Speaker 5: I start teaching poetry and creative writing and always I

543
00:25:09,640 --> 00:25:11,119
Speaker 5: had an English teacher when I was at school and

544
00:25:11,119 --> 00:25:14,800
Speaker 5: I think thirteen or fourteen saw me crying in the playground.

545
00:25:15,000 --> 00:25:18,440
Speaker 5: It was a Canadian dude, Actually love my Canadians, and

546
00:25:18,520 --> 00:25:21,520
Speaker 5: he said to me, I'm going to give you this

547
00:25:21,600 --> 00:25:24,639
Speaker 5: blank notebook and the pen, and the pen is going

548
00:25:24,680 --> 00:25:26,480
Speaker 5: to be a weapon, and the notebook's going to be

549
00:25:26,520 --> 00:25:28,480
Speaker 5: your best friend. And I know you're having a really

550
00:25:28,520 --> 00:25:30,160
Speaker 5: hard time at school, and I know it's hard for you.

551
00:25:30,920 --> 00:25:33,000
Speaker 5: So what I need you to do is to start

552
00:25:33,000 --> 00:25:35,920
Speaker 5: expressing your feelings into this book. So I start writing

553
00:25:36,320 --> 00:25:40,119
Speaker 5: a lot of poetry and spoken word. And when I

554
00:25:40,240 --> 00:25:43,560
Speaker 5: left Uni, you know, the DJ bug had got me.

555
00:25:43,600 --> 00:25:47,320
Speaker 5: But really I wanted to rap, but no one was

556
00:25:47,359 --> 00:25:49,280
Speaker 5: trying to rap with an English accent at that time.

557
00:25:49,359 --> 00:25:51,560
Speaker 1: It's like, when you rap with an English accent, do

558
00:25:51,560 --> 00:25:53,239
Speaker 1: you have an English accent? Or is that only when

559
00:25:53,280 --> 00:25:55,359
Speaker 1: you sing that you don't have an English accent. This

560
00:25:55,400 --> 00:25:56,080
Speaker 1: is a real question.

561
00:25:56,160 --> 00:25:58,240
Speaker 5: Now you have a super English accent because the music's

562
00:25:58,240 --> 00:25:59,920
Speaker 5: all changed. But back in the you know, early nine,

563
00:26:00,200 --> 00:26:00,720
Speaker 5: you were trying to.

564
00:26:00,720 --> 00:26:01,920
Speaker 3: Be as American as well.

565
00:26:01,960 --> 00:26:06,200
Speaker 4: Yeah, you're trying to pretend you're from the Bronx, Like definitely.

566
00:26:05,160 --> 00:26:07,119
Speaker 1: Just wanted to make sure you're on the same, So

567
00:26:07,480 --> 00:26:09,720
Speaker 1: do you have anything to drop at any time during

568
00:26:09,720 --> 00:26:14,000
Speaker 1: this podcast, Like, please feel free, you never know, Okay, continue.

569
00:26:13,680 --> 00:26:18,920
Speaker 4: My girlfriends like me. So yeah.

570
00:26:18,960 --> 00:26:25,080
Speaker 5: So I returned to writing poetry and performing, and then

571
00:26:25,119 --> 00:26:27,600
Speaker 5: I started teaching in schools and that was a real

572
00:26:27,640 --> 00:26:29,359
Speaker 5: outlet for me. It was kind of like, you know,

573
00:26:29,560 --> 00:26:34,959
Speaker 5: I wanted to kind of what I realized is you

574
00:26:35,040 --> 00:26:37,160
Speaker 5: can't just tell half the story. A lot of times

575
00:26:37,160 --> 00:26:39,000
Speaker 5: what people do is like they become musicians and are

576
00:26:39,080 --> 00:26:40,960
Speaker 5: like just about.

577
00:26:40,680 --> 00:26:41,480
Speaker 4: The music man.

578
00:26:41,680 --> 00:26:43,680
Speaker 5: You know, it's like I don't care about the press

579
00:26:43,800 --> 00:26:45,680
Speaker 5: or anything, like, I just want to make music. And

580
00:26:45,840 --> 00:26:48,159
Speaker 5: suddenly you're giving all this responsibility to this stuff that

581
00:26:48,200 --> 00:26:51,000
Speaker 5: you've created to other people who don't really understand what

582
00:26:51,040 --> 00:26:53,280
Speaker 5: you do or know your life. So this time around,

583
00:26:53,320 --> 00:26:55,000
Speaker 5: I thought, I've got a second bite of the cherry,

584
00:26:55,600 --> 00:26:57,359
Speaker 5: and I want to make sure that I'm in control.

585
00:26:58,119 --> 00:27:01,080
Speaker 5: So I start writing the poetry and creative writing, and

586
00:27:01,240 --> 00:27:03,719
Speaker 5: you know, I'm doing really well in schools and you know,

587
00:27:03,840 --> 00:27:07,320
Speaker 5: start performing and then that school going really superwoll and

588
00:27:07,320 --> 00:27:10,639
Speaker 5: that kind of just helped me get my life back together.

589
00:27:11,600 --> 00:27:13,239
Speaker 5: The running thing came in, and I don't know if

590
00:27:13,240 --> 00:27:15,080
Speaker 5: I'm preempting the question before you ask it.

591
00:27:15,440 --> 00:27:18,919
Speaker 3: No, you're leading me into where I'm going, so please continue.

592
00:27:19,880 --> 00:27:22,240
Speaker 5: But essentially what happens is I get known as a

593
00:27:22,240 --> 00:27:24,280
Speaker 5: performance poet and then I get asked to write a

594
00:27:24,320 --> 00:27:26,760
Speaker 5: one man show about my DJ career.

595
00:27:27,200 --> 00:27:29,280
Speaker 4: And the show is called Have Box Wall Travel and.

596
00:27:29,200 --> 00:27:31,280
Speaker 5: I'm playing like, you know, my mom, and I'm playing

597
00:27:31,320 --> 00:27:33,880
Speaker 5: like thirty six different characters in it. But I'm really

598
00:27:34,000 --> 00:27:35,719
Speaker 5: unfit because I've been in the music industry for all

599
00:27:35,760 --> 00:27:38,080
Speaker 5: this time and you know, we're just fitness is not

600
00:27:38,160 --> 00:27:41,680
Speaker 5: a thing that was cool at the time. And my director,

601
00:27:41,720 --> 00:27:45,080
Speaker 5: and this guy called Benji Read Amazing dude, says to me,

602
00:27:46,280 --> 00:27:50,080
Speaker 5: you know, you can't take this show on the UK

603
00:27:50,240 --> 00:27:52,399
Speaker 5: tour with the level of fitness that you have.

604
00:27:53,720 --> 00:27:55,879
Speaker 4: In fact, what he said to me was, you're looking

605
00:27:55,880 --> 00:27:56,880
Speaker 4: a bit portly.

606
00:27:56,640 --> 00:28:01,000
Speaker 5: Charlie, And I was just like wow, man, Like you're

607
00:28:01,040 --> 00:28:02,760
Speaker 5: like the first person that's really ever.

608
00:28:02,680 --> 00:28:03,879
Speaker 4: Called me out.

609
00:28:04,240 --> 00:28:06,080
Speaker 5: Because when you're in the music industry, most people are

610
00:28:06,119 --> 00:28:07,960
Speaker 5: just kind of trying to massage your ego for as

611
00:28:08,040 --> 00:28:10,000
Speaker 5: much as possible. So when you finally have someone who's

612
00:28:10,040 --> 00:28:12,360
Speaker 5: known you quite a long time and knows you pre

613
00:28:13,200 --> 00:28:15,680
Speaker 5: you know, when you were to DJing in your bedroom

614
00:28:15,720 --> 00:28:18,720
Speaker 5: to your teddy bears and suddenly's like, actually, Charlie, you

615
00:28:18,760 --> 00:28:21,520
Speaker 5: need to fix up. You're not giving one hundred ten percent.

616
00:28:21,560 --> 00:28:23,920
Speaker 5: You're not stepping into your light. And I can't work

617
00:28:23,960 --> 00:28:27,160
Speaker 5: with you unless you meet me. You know, I'm giving

618
00:28:27,160 --> 00:28:29,520
Speaker 5: my one hundred and ten percent and you're giving me fifty.

619
00:28:30,040 --> 00:28:31,760
Speaker 5: So you need to step up. And that's why I

620
00:28:31,760 --> 00:28:34,120
Speaker 5: started running, you know, That's how the running came in.

621
00:28:34,680 --> 00:28:38,520
Speaker 1: So where is the Christmas Day hurdle moment that we're going.

622
00:28:38,440 --> 00:28:38,760
Speaker 3: To get to?

623
00:28:39,480 --> 00:28:42,200
Speaker 4: The Christmas Day moment is two thousand and six.

624
00:28:42,280 --> 00:28:44,000
Speaker 1: Okay, so we're in two thousand and six and it's

625
00:28:44,080 --> 00:28:47,920
Speaker 1: Christmas Day, yes, and you look in the mirror again

626
00:28:47,960 --> 00:28:49,560
Speaker 1: and you say to yourself.

627
00:28:49,200 --> 00:28:50,520
Speaker 4: Today's day. I'm going out.

628
00:28:50,640 --> 00:28:53,200
Speaker 3: I'm going out, going out, It's Christmas daily.

629
00:28:53,200 --> 00:28:59,200
Speaker 5: Thompson he was a really famous British athlete and he

630
00:28:59,280 --> 00:29:03,479
Speaker 5: basically that he always trained on Christmas Day because if

631
00:29:03,480 --> 00:29:05,800
Speaker 5: you could train on Christmas Day, then you can train

632
00:29:05,840 --> 00:29:08,640
Speaker 5: on any day. And I you know, till this day,

633
00:29:08,680 --> 00:29:10,720
Speaker 5: there's still this room and like, did he really train

634
00:29:10,800 --> 00:29:12,840
Speaker 5: on Christmas Day or was he just trying to wind

635
00:29:12,880 --> 00:29:15,160
Speaker 5: his rivals up, but I think there was something about

636
00:29:15,520 --> 00:29:17,760
Speaker 5: today's day, Christmas Day, and I went out and it

637
00:29:17,840 --> 00:29:22,200
Speaker 5: was a complete and utter failure, but there was just

638
00:29:22,240 --> 00:29:26,040
Speaker 5: something about it, like seeing the look some people where

639
00:29:26,040 --> 00:29:29,680
Speaker 5: they're like, you're running on Christmas Day? Like and again,

640
00:29:29,720 --> 00:29:31,160
Speaker 5: it was a bit like that DJ moment where I

641
00:29:31,160 --> 00:29:33,680
Speaker 5: picked up the needle. But suddenly I felt powerful again,

642
00:29:34,280 --> 00:29:36,400
Speaker 5: you know, because I was doing something that other people

643
00:29:36,440 --> 00:29:37,239
Speaker 5: weren't prepared to do.

644
00:29:44,200 --> 00:29:46,920
Speaker 1: Taking a break from today's episode to give my sponsor,

645
00:29:47,160 --> 00:29:50,640
Speaker 1: Athletic Greens a little bit of love. Let me tell

646
00:29:50,680 --> 00:29:53,880
Speaker 1: you I had a girlfriend who just started using Athletic

647
00:29:53,880 --> 00:29:55,960
Speaker 1: Greens for the first time, and right before she did,

648
00:29:56,200 --> 00:29:58,560
Speaker 1: she tagged me on Instagram post and she said, Emily,

649
00:29:58,720 --> 00:30:01,160
Speaker 1: I'm excited to see what that's all about. Well, we

650
00:30:01,160 --> 00:30:02,800
Speaker 1: were catching up yesterday and she looked at me and

651
00:30:02,800 --> 00:30:04,640
Speaker 1: she's like, I've been meaning to talk to you about

652
00:30:04,680 --> 00:30:06,520
Speaker 1: this Athletic Greens thing. And I was like, yeah, what

653
00:30:06,520 --> 00:30:08,280
Speaker 1: do you think? And she was like, you know, I

654
00:30:08,400 --> 00:30:12,000
Speaker 1: was really skeptical. She was like, but it is amazing.

655
00:30:13,440 --> 00:30:15,280
Speaker 1: I asked her why she thought that, and she said,

656
00:30:15,520 --> 00:30:18,600
Speaker 1: as someone who recently tried to stop drinking so much coffee,

657
00:30:18,600 --> 00:30:21,680
Speaker 1: Athleticgreens is a really nice ritual part of her morning

658
00:30:21,720 --> 00:30:24,240
Speaker 1: that makes her feel like she's doing something good for

659
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664
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665
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666
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667
00:30:52,680 --> 00:30:53,680
Speaker 2: Let's get back to.

668
00:30:53,560 --> 00:31:04,040
Speaker 1: It about how that first run felt because you declared

669
00:31:04,120 --> 00:31:04,840
Speaker 1: it a failure.

670
00:31:04,880 --> 00:31:06,720
Speaker 3: But what made it a failure?

671
00:31:06,800 --> 00:31:08,920
Speaker 1: Because I think in the long term it was probably

672
00:31:09,000 --> 00:31:10,120
Speaker 1: anything but that.

673
00:31:10,600 --> 00:31:11,400
Speaker 4: I think when you.

674
00:31:13,240 --> 00:31:16,360
Speaker 5: Had been away from fitness for a while, you often

675
00:31:16,400 --> 00:31:18,760
Speaker 5: make the mistake to try and recapture the fitness that

676
00:31:18,800 --> 00:31:22,760
Speaker 5: you had when you previously were fit. I'm trying to

677
00:31:22,840 --> 00:31:25,600
Speaker 5: using lots of things. So I ran at school, I

678
00:31:25,680 --> 00:31:28,200
Speaker 5: ran for the school, I ran for the borough I held,

679
00:31:28,360 --> 00:31:31,320
Speaker 5: you know, as part of the four hundred meter relay team.

680
00:31:31,760 --> 00:31:32,720
Speaker 4: We had the record.

681
00:31:33,000 --> 00:31:34,920
Speaker 5: It's like, so I went out on that Christmas Day

682
00:31:34,920 --> 00:31:36,320
Speaker 5: and for I'm just gonna come out of my house.

683
00:31:36,560 --> 00:31:38,400
Speaker 5: I'm going to go to the park because if I

684
00:31:38,520 --> 00:31:40,400
Speaker 5: tell people that I ran around the park, they're going

685
00:31:40,480 --> 00:31:42,440
Speaker 5: to be impressed because that kind of sounds like a

686
00:31:42,480 --> 00:31:44,720
Speaker 5: distance they know. And I'm going to run around it

687
00:31:44,760 --> 00:31:46,560
Speaker 5: as fast as I can. And I'm obviously going to

688
00:31:46,600 --> 00:31:48,080
Speaker 5: be as fast as I was when I was sixteen,

689
00:31:48,440 --> 00:31:53,200
Speaker 5: and let's go get it up. And it was painfully,

690
00:31:53,320 --> 00:31:54,640
Speaker 5: humbly embarrassing.

691
00:31:54,840 --> 00:31:56,800
Speaker 3: How long is that? Like park situation?

692
00:31:57,080 --> 00:31:59,080
Speaker 4: Oh, the park is a big park, okay, and it's

693
00:31:59,480 --> 00:31:59,760
Speaker 4: and young.

694
00:31:59,800 --> 00:32:02,040
Speaker 5: Four thing is if you are running in Christmas Day,

695
00:32:02,560 --> 00:32:03,920
Speaker 5: everyone thinks you know what you're doing.

696
00:32:05,080 --> 00:32:06,240
Speaker 4: So then they watching you.

697
00:32:06,280 --> 00:32:08,680
Speaker 5: Like, oh my god, you're going out, he's going he's

698
00:32:08,840 --> 00:32:09,840
Speaker 5: oh he's slowing down.

699
00:32:09,960 --> 00:32:12,640
Speaker 4: Oh he stopped. Oh he's being sick. Oh hold them minute.

700
00:32:13,480 --> 00:32:14,960
Speaker 5: And that was, you know, that was a meford And

701
00:32:15,000 --> 00:32:18,760
Speaker 5: I remember coming back into my house and just thinking, wow, man,

702
00:32:18,800 --> 00:32:23,680
Speaker 5: you know, like there's got to be another way. And

703
00:32:23,720 --> 00:32:26,320
Speaker 5: then so that's kind of how the nighttime came about.

704
00:32:26,440 --> 00:32:29,440
Speaker 5: Was like, Okay, I can't run in the daytime because

705
00:32:29,680 --> 00:32:32,160
Speaker 5: I'm not very good and I can't let any of

706
00:32:32,160 --> 00:32:35,040
Speaker 5: the kids in my neighborhood see me failing at something.

707
00:32:35,640 --> 00:32:36,920
Speaker 4: They need to think that I'm.

708
00:32:36,800 --> 00:32:39,680
Speaker 1: Like here, So you start running, and you're doing it

709
00:32:39,720 --> 00:32:42,400
Speaker 1: for a little while before you let on to anyone

710
00:32:42,440 --> 00:32:43,720
Speaker 1: else that you're running.

711
00:32:43,960 --> 00:32:44,320
Speaker 4: Yeah.

712
00:32:44,480 --> 00:32:47,400
Speaker 5: One of my friends was just like, what are you doing?

713
00:32:48,040 --> 00:32:49,880
Speaker 5: He was convinced I was on some crazy drugs. He

714
00:32:49,920 --> 00:32:51,560
Speaker 5: was just like, Okay, what drugs are you on?

715
00:32:52,560 --> 00:32:53,120
Speaker 4: Hook me up?

716
00:32:53,320 --> 00:32:53,600
Speaker 3: Why?

717
00:32:54,160 --> 00:32:58,000
Speaker 5: Because because my whole demeanor change, my body's changed. I lost,

718
00:32:58,120 --> 00:33:01,120
Speaker 5: Like I think I was like free stone, heavier than

719
00:33:01,160 --> 00:33:01,320
Speaker 5: I am.

720
00:33:01,400 --> 00:33:04,880
Speaker 3: Now I lost me with the translation here, okay.

721
00:33:04,800 --> 00:33:07,760
Speaker 4: So free stone is a stone is fourteen pounds?

722
00:33:08,520 --> 00:33:09,720
Speaker 3: Oh you lost a lot of weight?

723
00:33:09,800 --> 00:33:11,800
Speaker 4: Yeah yeah, yeah, okay, yeah yeah I was. I was.

724
00:33:12,080 --> 00:33:12,760
Speaker 4: I was a hefty guy.

725
00:33:12,840 --> 00:33:13,880
Speaker 3: We have this thing come into that.

726
00:33:14,200 --> 00:33:15,360
Speaker 4: Do you work for that phrase as well.

727
00:33:15,440 --> 00:33:18,000
Speaker 1: I don't have stone equivalents, but I lost seventy pounds

728
00:33:18,040 --> 00:33:18,560
Speaker 1: in college.

729
00:33:18,640 --> 00:33:19,600
Speaker 4: Yeah, okay, well there you go.

730
00:33:19,680 --> 00:33:22,320
Speaker 3: Okay, so running, yeah it is good for the bar.

731
00:33:22,600 --> 00:33:25,040
Speaker 3: Yeah okay, so lose the stone.

732
00:33:25,160 --> 00:33:26,040
Speaker 4: I lose the stones.

733
00:33:26,480 --> 00:33:29,520
Speaker 5: My face starts, my eyes get sparkly again, and I

734
00:33:29,560 --> 00:33:32,520
Speaker 5: just suddenly developed this zest for life and then more importantly,

735
00:33:33,000 --> 00:33:36,280
Speaker 5: I fall back in love with making music again because

736
00:33:36,280 --> 00:33:38,880
Speaker 5: I remember running. You know, I'm living in East London,

737
00:33:39,800 --> 00:33:42,720
Speaker 5: and I start thinking to myself, I'm making all this

738
00:33:42,840 --> 00:33:45,200
Speaker 5: music for the dance floor, but what would happen if

739
00:33:45,200 --> 00:33:49,120
Speaker 5: I made music for my run, Like I started making

740
00:33:49,160 --> 00:33:51,040
Speaker 5: my own bespoke music to run to.

741
00:33:51,960 --> 00:33:53,600
Speaker 4: That'd be pretty cool, you know.

742
00:33:54,040 --> 00:33:56,719
Speaker 5: And so I started doing that, I started soundtracking and

743
00:33:56,800 --> 00:33:59,760
Speaker 5: kind of getting into recordings, and like, you know, I

744
00:33:59,800 --> 00:34:01,600
Speaker 5: just fell back in love with making music again. It

745
00:34:01,640 --> 00:34:04,000
Speaker 5: was one of the best things that I ever did,

746
00:34:04,680 --> 00:34:07,200
Speaker 5: and it taught me how to listen, and in fact,

747
00:34:07,280 --> 00:34:10,880
Speaker 5: it reconnected me in my senses, you know, because I

748
00:34:10,920 --> 00:34:13,640
Speaker 5: think what happened is I kind of my foot was

749
00:34:13,680 --> 00:34:16,520
Speaker 5: the soft accelerator and that was back on again, and

750
00:34:16,560 --> 00:34:18,560
Speaker 5: I was doing something that no one else was doing

751
00:34:18,920 --> 00:34:20,920
Speaker 5: and that was really exciting. And that kind of reminded

752
00:34:20,960 --> 00:34:23,000
Speaker 5: me again about when I first started making music, Because

753
00:34:23,040 --> 00:34:24,960
Speaker 5: when I first started making music, if I first started djaying,

754
00:34:25,160 --> 00:34:27,759
Speaker 5: I was the only DJ in my road. Now, when

755
00:34:27,800 --> 00:34:30,560
Speaker 5: I go to my mum's house and in sometime every

756
00:34:30,600 --> 00:34:32,719
Speaker 5: house you walk past, when the windows open, you can

757
00:34:32,760 --> 00:34:35,160
Speaker 5: hear someone making the track stopping going back to the

758
00:34:35,160 --> 00:34:36,319
Speaker 5: beginning and starting again.

759
00:34:36,360 --> 00:34:37,480
Speaker 4: You're not cool because you DJ.

760
00:34:37,600 --> 00:34:39,960
Speaker 5: You're not cool because you're into music or collect records

761
00:34:40,040 --> 00:34:42,480
Speaker 5: or trainers or any of that stuff anymore. So it

762
00:34:42,520 --> 00:34:44,680
Speaker 5: was like this little thing that I had that was mine.

763
00:34:45,040 --> 00:34:47,359
Speaker 5: And then my friends started finding out. And then one

764
00:34:47,400 --> 00:34:50,360
Speaker 5: of my friends died in his sleep, and that was

765
00:34:50,400 --> 00:34:53,279
Speaker 5: the catalyst for me. I was like, right, all of

766
00:34:53,320 --> 00:34:56,080
Speaker 5: these people that I've grown up with, you know, we've

767
00:34:56,120 --> 00:34:58,000
Speaker 5: all got into music industry together at the same around

768
00:34:58,040 --> 00:34:58,600
Speaker 5: the same time.

769
00:35:00,200 --> 00:35:02,120
Speaker 4: But now various different people are.

770
00:35:02,040 --> 00:35:06,680
Speaker 5: Getting ill, you know, and I like them and I

771
00:35:06,840 --> 00:35:08,759
Speaker 5: like the things that they create, So what can I

772
00:35:08,800 --> 00:35:11,480
Speaker 5: do to keep them around for longer? And then Facebook

773
00:35:11,800 --> 00:35:15,799
Speaker 5: basically became a thing that people started using. I've been

774
00:35:15,840 --> 00:35:17,680
Speaker 5: on this DJ tour and I went to Philadelphia. I

775
00:35:17,719 --> 00:35:19,839
Speaker 5: met this guy called King brit and he was telling

776
00:35:19,840 --> 00:35:21,719
Speaker 5: me about this cye called Friends Star. He was like,

777
00:35:22,080 --> 00:35:24,640
Speaker 5: it's really amazing. It's this thing and you can keep

778
00:35:24,640 --> 00:35:27,760
Speaker 5: in touch with your friends when you're flying around the world.

779
00:35:28,120 --> 00:35:29,839
Speaker 5: And I was like, why wouldn't you just call them

780
00:35:29,880 --> 00:35:32,160
Speaker 5: up on the telephone. He was just like, no, no, no,

781
00:35:32,200 --> 00:35:33,800
Speaker 5: that's not what you do. You just sit your keyboard

782
00:35:33,840 --> 00:35:36,279
Speaker 5: with your laptop and then you send an email and

783
00:35:36,320 --> 00:35:38,640
Speaker 5: it's like this social media thing and you do that,

784
00:35:38,760 --> 00:35:40,120
Speaker 5: and I was like, okay, that's really cool.

785
00:35:39,960 --> 00:35:44,240
Speaker 4: And that's pre space, right yeah, yeah, and the friends

786
00:35:44,239 --> 00:35:45,120
Speaker 4: that goes into Facebook.

787
00:35:45,120 --> 00:35:48,279
Speaker 5: And then what happens is everyone, you know, we're now

788
00:35:48,320 --> 00:35:52,480
Speaker 5: making money and were flying around the world and laptops

789
00:35:52,520 --> 00:35:57,879
Speaker 5: get really powerful. When technology gets powerful, something's got to give.

790
00:35:58,320 --> 00:36:00,319
Speaker 5: And what gave in the music industry is now you

791
00:36:00,320 --> 00:36:03,320
Speaker 5: don't need these big studios because you can make records

792
00:36:03,320 --> 00:36:05,440
Speaker 5: in your bedroom. In fact, people are now making records

793
00:36:05,560 --> 00:36:09,160
Speaker 5: on PlayStations, you know. And so this whole really tight

794
00:36:09,280 --> 00:36:13,040
Speaker 5: music community that was based around studios is now kind

795
00:36:13,080 --> 00:36:17,319
Speaker 5: of dissipating, like you know, like that scene in Star

796
00:36:17,360 --> 00:36:19,680
Speaker 5: Wars when the asteroids kind of like you know, the

797
00:36:19,800 --> 00:36:22,680
Speaker 5: hiding the Millennium Fork. I'm getting geeky now, but if

798
00:36:22,719 --> 00:36:24,200
Speaker 5: you know Star Wars, you know there's that bit where

799
00:36:24,200 --> 00:36:26,120
Speaker 5: they kind of chuck the rubbish out of the Death

800
00:36:26,120 --> 00:36:28,920
Speaker 5: Star and then the Millennium Fork and kind of drifts away,

801
00:36:29,000 --> 00:36:31,920
Speaker 5: and that what was happening. And so I was just like, right,

802
00:36:32,080 --> 00:36:34,359
Speaker 5: I don't get to see my friends anymore. I get

803
00:36:34,400 --> 00:36:38,879
Speaker 5: to see their names in dressing rooms around the world,

804
00:36:39,040 --> 00:36:42,920
Speaker 5: but I actually want to see them physically. So that happened,

805
00:36:42,920 --> 00:36:43,640
Speaker 5: and then I started.

806
00:36:43,719 --> 00:36:44,040
Speaker 4: One day.

807
00:36:44,040 --> 00:36:47,239
Speaker 5: I was running late at night, and it was hard,

808
00:36:48,440 --> 00:36:50,160
Speaker 5: you know, because it's hard when you're running by yourself

809
00:36:50,160 --> 00:36:52,120
Speaker 5: and you can't really tell anyone, so you've got no

810
00:36:52,160 --> 00:36:55,400
Speaker 5: one to train with, so you're really having to motivate yourself.

811
00:36:55,920 --> 00:36:57,799
Speaker 5: So I made up all these imaginary characters in my

812
00:36:57,800 --> 00:37:01,440
Speaker 5: head and that was the That was the genesis of.

813
00:37:01,440 --> 00:37:03,680
Speaker 3: Rundom Crew, the imaginary character.

814
00:37:03,840 --> 00:37:06,359
Speaker 5: Imaginary characters, made up all these nicknames for all these

815
00:37:06,440 --> 00:37:10,040
Speaker 5: various different people who would come literally like they would come.

816
00:37:10,000 --> 00:37:10,520
Speaker 4: Running with me.

817
00:37:10,760 --> 00:37:12,760
Speaker 3: So when does the real crew start?

818
00:37:13,000 --> 00:37:18,359
Speaker 5: The real crew comes with My friend Morgan, producer, says

819
00:37:18,400 --> 00:37:22,920
Speaker 5: to me, dude, whatever you're doing, I want to do

820
00:37:22,960 --> 00:37:25,759
Speaker 5: it with you. And I was like, right, wicked great.

821
00:37:25,840 --> 00:37:27,960
Speaker 5: So Friday night we're going to go for run and

822
00:37:28,000 --> 00:37:29,400
Speaker 5: he's like, how far we're going to go. I'm like,

823
00:37:29,400 --> 00:37:32,360
Speaker 5: we're going to run a mile and we're like and

824
00:37:32,360 --> 00:37:34,560
Speaker 5: I'm like, we're gonna put it on Facebook. And then

825
00:37:34,600 --> 00:37:37,279
Speaker 5: so we started running together and then we thought to ourselves, well,

826
00:37:37,320 --> 00:37:39,279
Speaker 5: we need to get a photographer in because no one's

827
00:37:39,280 --> 00:37:40,719
Speaker 5: going to believe that we're doing this, so we've got

828
00:37:40,760 --> 00:37:43,319
Speaker 5: to start taking pictures. And then we didn't know about

829
00:37:43,320 --> 00:37:45,239
Speaker 5: stretching or any of that stuff. So we got one

830
00:37:45,239 --> 00:37:46,920
Speaker 5: of my dancer friends who kind of he was like

831
00:37:46,960 --> 00:37:49,080
Speaker 5: the only person I knew who knew about a body,

832
00:37:49,640 --> 00:37:51,839
Speaker 5: you know, because up en to that point, I'm just like,

833
00:37:52,040 --> 00:37:54,080
Speaker 5: I'm treating my body like a spacesuit that's been loaned

834
00:37:54,120 --> 00:37:56,920
Speaker 5: to me. I don't really know what it does or

835
00:37:56,960 --> 00:37:59,520
Speaker 5: it's full potential, so I'm only just finding out now,

836
00:37:59,760 --> 00:38:02,640
Speaker 5: you know. So and then I'm and my good friend

837
00:38:02,680 --> 00:38:06,160
Speaker 5: Andrew missing him. We actually came to New York to

838
00:38:06,200 --> 00:38:08,480
Speaker 5: do some work with the Studiom's in Harlem, and we

839
00:38:08,520 --> 00:38:10,759
Speaker 5: had this meeting and then he's I'm like, what are

840
00:38:10,760 --> 00:38:12,080
Speaker 5: you doing now? I'm like, let's go to the record

841
00:38:12,080 --> 00:38:14,080
Speaker 5: shop and he's like, oh no, I've got to go

842
00:38:14,080 --> 00:38:17,480
Speaker 5: and do a twenty mile training run. I'm like, what

843
00:38:17,520 --> 00:38:19,279
Speaker 5: do you mean. He's like, oh, yeah, yeah, I'm training

844
00:38:19,280 --> 00:38:20,799
Speaker 5: for the New York Merathon. So I got go and

845
00:38:20,840 --> 00:38:23,520
Speaker 5: run twenty miles And at that point, I was like,

846
00:38:23,680 --> 00:38:28,000
Speaker 5: twenty miles just seemed like so far to me. Was

847
00:38:28,040 --> 00:38:31,880
Speaker 5: just like unfathomable. And then he became the you know,

848
00:38:31,880 --> 00:38:34,360
Speaker 5: one of the final people. And every Friday night for

849
00:38:34,360 --> 00:38:36,719
Speaker 5: about six months, we would go out and we'd run

850
00:38:36,760 --> 00:38:38,320
Speaker 5: a mile, and then the mile became a mile and

851
00:38:38,360 --> 00:38:41,040
Speaker 5: a half, and then we'd go and eat food afterwards.

852
00:38:41,400 --> 00:38:44,440
Speaker 5: And it was just a small thing that we were doing,

853
00:38:45,200 --> 00:38:50,480
Speaker 5: and it was tundling along, and then a big thing happened, and.

854
00:38:50,400 --> 00:38:52,520
Speaker 1: Then a big thing happened. This is another thing we

855
00:38:52,560 --> 00:38:54,680
Speaker 1: have in coming. This is blowing my mind. It's really

856
00:38:54,680 --> 00:38:58,840
Speaker 1: starting to get crazy. When I started running every day around.

857
00:38:58,480 --> 00:39:01,000
Speaker 3: One mile, yeah, just one yeah, yeah, that's it.

858
00:39:01,000 --> 00:39:04,680
Speaker 1: That's all tics. Okay, So you have a crew. I've

859
00:39:04,719 --> 00:39:07,440
Speaker 1: got a little crew, little crew, yep, and you're running.

860
00:39:07,960 --> 00:39:10,240
Speaker 4: I've got a little crew. I'm on it. We're running around.

861
00:39:10,360 --> 00:39:12,960
Speaker 5: And then this group of kids that are taught in

862
00:39:13,040 --> 00:39:18,480
Speaker 5: East London, they won the London School's Poetry Slam competition

863
00:39:18,520 --> 00:39:21,320
Speaker 5: and they got to go on the school exchange to Chicago.

864
00:39:22,640 --> 00:39:26,200
Speaker 5: And these kids, like their lives were transformed. They'd literally

865
00:39:26,200 --> 00:39:30,960
Speaker 5: gone from the lowest of self esteems, very inarticulate, not

866
00:39:31,040 --> 00:39:33,120
Speaker 5: being able to look you in the eye, you know,

867
00:39:34,040 --> 00:39:36,760
Speaker 5: getting into all types of trouble they all become poets.

868
00:39:36,760 --> 00:39:38,320
Speaker 5: We go and do this amazing competition. It was a

869
00:39:38,360 --> 00:39:40,200
Speaker 5: bit like a movie. In fact, it's kind of we

870
00:39:40,280 --> 00:39:43,520
Speaker 5: go to Chicago and we have this amazing time, and

871
00:39:43,560 --> 00:39:46,360
Speaker 5: then they come back, and then the money for the

872
00:39:46,400 --> 00:39:50,960
Speaker 5: project drives up, and then gradually this type group of

873
00:39:51,040 --> 00:39:53,920
Speaker 5: kids start going back into their old ways, and then

874
00:39:53,960 --> 00:39:57,719
Speaker 5: some of them getting into some real serious trouble. And

875
00:39:57,760 --> 00:40:01,120
Speaker 5: I just think to myself, this running thing that I'm

876
00:40:01,120 --> 00:40:06,440
Speaker 5: doing maybe the thing that can help these kids. We

877
00:40:06,520 --> 00:40:09,560
Speaker 5: had a thing in London called postcode Wars where you

878
00:40:09,600 --> 00:40:12,760
Speaker 5: had certain kids who you know, they maybe lived in

879
00:40:13,040 --> 00:40:16,319
Speaker 5: Peckham and they could never go to Campbell even though

880
00:40:16,320 --> 00:40:21,040
Speaker 5: they're literally five streets away. So my idea is like, right,

881
00:40:21,280 --> 00:40:23,480
Speaker 5: how can I safely get these kids from this area

882
00:40:23,920 --> 00:40:26,920
Speaker 5: to this area? In fact, how can I get kids

883
00:40:26,960 --> 00:40:29,719
Speaker 5: who basically have never been outside of their neighborhood to

884
00:40:29,800 --> 00:40:34,040
Speaker 5: actually start exploring their city? And I thought to myself, well,

885
00:40:35,200 --> 00:40:38,160
Speaker 5: you see twenty kids coming to you in hoodies, You're

886
00:40:38,200 --> 00:40:41,080
Speaker 5: going to cross the road. You might be scared. They

887
00:40:41,080 --> 00:40:43,080
Speaker 5: come past you and running kit, You're probably going to

888
00:40:43,120 --> 00:40:46,479
Speaker 5: start applauding. And so I just put them in running

889
00:40:46,560 --> 00:40:48,880
Speaker 5: kit and was just like, right, I've got this running

890
00:40:48,920 --> 00:40:51,640
Speaker 5: thing that I'm doing, come on down. And then so

891
00:40:51,680 --> 00:40:54,839
Speaker 5: they joined us. And then what I realized is one

892
00:40:54,880 --> 00:40:56,560
Speaker 5: of the biggest problems that young people have and at

893
00:40:56,600 --> 00:40:59,640
Speaker 5: the moment is there's nothing that they can do that's intergenerational.

894
00:41:00,280 --> 00:41:03,520
Speaker 5: So it's very hard for young person to learn wisdom

895
00:41:03,680 --> 00:41:07,080
Speaker 5: from someone who's older than them because there's no spaces.

896
00:41:06,719 --> 00:41:09,120
Speaker 4: Where they get to meet.

897
00:41:08,760 --> 00:41:10,759
Speaker 5: You know, especially now that you know a lot of

898
00:41:10,760 --> 00:41:13,480
Speaker 5: the nightclubs have closed down and so you don't have

899
00:41:13,520 --> 00:41:15,960
Speaker 5: these public spaces where you know, different types of people

900
00:41:15,960 --> 00:41:19,080
Speaker 5: can come together. So it started with trying to introduce

901
00:41:19,160 --> 00:41:21,399
Speaker 5: kids to people who are older themselves who could maybe

902
00:41:21,440 --> 00:41:23,600
Speaker 5: mentor them and help them and just give them a

903
00:41:23,600 --> 00:41:26,440
Speaker 5: little perspective on life. And then it suddenly was like,

904
00:41:26,960 --> 00:41:28,640
Speaker 5: there are all these people I know who are moving

905
00:41:28,680 --> 00:41:32,600
Speaker 5: into areas that are going through gentrification, who are feeling

906
00:41:32,640 --> 00:41:36,399
Speaker 5: slightly guilty because they've brought the gentrification and they want

907
00:41:36,400 --> 00:41:38,960
Speaker 5: to connect with the members of the community and they

908
00:41:38,960 --> 00:41:41,920
Speaker 5: don't know how to. So suddenly this Rundom Crew thing

909
00:41:42,000 --> 00:41:46,440
Speaker 5: started taking on all these really different angles. And then

910
00:41:46,440 --> 00:41:48,680
Speaker 5: the Olympics kind of loomed up on the horizon. And

911
00:41:48,680 --> 00:41:50,359
Speaker 5: then that was the kind of that was the real

912
00:41:50,400 --> 00:41:55,000
Speaker 5: final part. Why when they announced Olympics that coming to London,

913
00:41:55,280 --> 00:41:58,560
Speaker 5: Suddenly all you're thinking is that's a large amount of

914
00:41:58,560 --> 00:42:02,040
Speaker 5: money that's about to be spent, and that money's got

915
00:42:02,040 --> 00:42:04,280
Speaker 5: to come from somewhere, and they're gonna take it from somewhere.

916
00:42:04,880 --> 00:42:07,799
Speaker 5: And I was living in the area where the Olympics were.

917
00:42:07,840 --> 00:42:09,960
Speaker 5: It was like a spaceship had just been landed. Like

918
00:42:10,160 --> 00:42:12,640
Speaker 5: in four years time, you're gonna have the Olympics. And

919
00:42:13,160 --> 00:42:15,120
Speaker 5: if you lived in East London at that time, you

920
00:42:15,160 --> 00:42:20,480
Speaker 5: were like, what, they're gonna put an Olympic stadium there? No,

921
00:42:20,520 --> 00:42:23,680
Speaker 5: they're not, Like you just couldn't You just couldn't fathom

922
00:42:23,800 --> 00:42:26,839
Speaker 5: because it was like the ars end of London, Like

923
00:42:26,960 --> 00:42:29,040
Speaker 5: no one wanted to live in yeast, you know, and

924
00:42:29,040 --> 00:42:31,879
Speaker 5: straight it was a dumping ground. And suddenly you're seeing these,

925
00:42:31,960 --> 00:42:34,120
Speaker 5: you know, plans are like we're gonna make this amazing

926
00:42:34,120 --> 00:42:37,000
Speaker 5: Olympic park and an aquatic center and there's gonna be

927
00:42:37,360 --> 00:42:40,640
Speaker 5: a running track and this, and then the whole community

928
00:42:40,719 --> 00:42:42,920
Speaker 5: is gonna come out and use it. And I was

929
00:42:42,960 --> 00:42:47,719
Speaker 5: just like, you don't see people moving in London it's

930
00:42:47,760 --> 00:42:51,560
Speaker 5: not la. You go on DJ trips and people be

931
00:42:51,560 --> 00:42:53,680
Speaker 5: like would be like going to the gym, and you'd

932
00:42:53,719 --> 00:42:54,880
Speaker 5: be like, what's wrong with you?

933
00:42:54,960 --> 00:42:57,200
Speaker 4: Like why are you going to the gym? Like you

934
00:42:57,239 --> 00:42:58,439
Speaker 4: know you're not on state.

935
00:42:58,520 --> 00:43:00,080
Speaker 5: You know you're not on MC, you're not trying to

936
00:43:00,120 --> 00:43:02,480
Speaker 5: grow like esthetic stage muscles.

937
00:43:03,200 --> 00:43:04,760
Speaker 3: So we don't want to look good on stage.

938
00:43:05,880 --> 00:43:07,440
Speaker 5: Well DJs do want to look at and say, but

939
00:43:07,480 --> 00:43:09,880
Speaker 5: most DJ's at that time we're a bit nerdy, you know,

940
00:43:10,040 --> 00:43:13,399
Speaker 5: so they're not boxing off the top and like pyrotechnics flight.

941
00:43:13,480 --> 00:43:15,960
Speaker 5: It wasn't that time, you know, so you were just

942
00:43:16,000 --> 00:43:17,640
Speaker 5: a bit like what you're doing in the gym?

943
00:43:17,800 --> 00:43:18,040
Speaker 4: Why?

944
00:43:19,440 --> 00:43:21,200
Speaker 5: And so my thing was like I don't want to

945
00:43:21,200 --> 00:43:22,640
Speaker 5: live in an area where they're going to go and

946
00:43:22,680 --> 00:43:24,840
Speaker 5: spend all of this money and then it's going to

947
00:43:24,840 --> 00:43:27,200
Speaker 5: become a ghost town afterwards and we've got all these

948
00:43:27,200 --> 00:43:28,200
Speaker 5: empty facilities that.

949
00:43:28,160 --> 00:43:28,759
Speaker 4: No one's using.

950
00:43:29,360 --> 00:43:31,359
Speaker 5: So I was just like, right, I'm going to build

951
00:43:31,360 --> 00:43:34,479
Speaker 5: a fitness community in East London so that at least

952
00:43:34,480 --> 00:43:37,320
Speaker 5: when the Olympics go, there's going to be a group

953
00:43:37,360 --> 00:43:40,879
Speaker 5: of people who will basically be using the facilities and

954
00:43:40,920 --> 00:43:43,520
Speaker 5: hopefully that will spark a bit of a catalyst for

955
00:43:43,640 --> 00:43:47,520
Speaker 5: other people to you know, to also use these facilities.

956
00:43:47,880 --> 00:43:50,680
Speaker 3: Did it happen how you envisioned it to happen.

957
00:43:51,080 --> 00:43:53,960
Speaker 5: Definitely not. No, no, definitely not. It grew much much

958
00:43:54,000 --> 00:43:57,080
Speaker 5: bigger than I thought it was going to go. Because

959
00:43:57,080 --> 00:44:00,200
Speaker 5: we're doing our thing in London, and then we hear

960
00:44:00,200 --> 00:44:03,240
Speaker 5: about this group in New York called the Bridge Runners,

961
00:44:04,320 --> 00:44:07,240
Speaker 5: and I was like, okay, And what was really interesting

962
00:44:07,280 --> 00:44:09,920
Speaker 5: about it is the guy who runs the Bridge Runners.

963
00:44:09,920 --> 00:44:12,480
Speaker 5: Mike says when the founders of Bridge Runners, I knew

964
00:44:13,000 --> 00:44:15,759
Speaker 5: for music days, you know, and I knew him he

965
00:44:16,440 --> 00:44:19,480
Speaker 5: used to curate a hip hop museum, and so I

966
00:44:19,520 --> 00:44:22,799
Speaker 5: was just thinking it can't be the same guy, like

967
00:44:22,840 --> 00:44:26,480
Speaker 5: who used to basically be the hip hop museum guy.

968
00:44:26,960 --> 00:44:29,480
Speaker 5: And then I was reading he sent me a list

969
00:44:30,160 --> 00:44:33,440
Speaker 5: of ten of their fastest runners from Bridge Runners, and

970
00:44:33,480 --> 00:44:35,320
Speaker 5: there was a name in there and it said NX Robinson,

971
00:44:35,440 --> 00:44:37,880
Speaker 5: and I was like, what the dude who was the

972
00:44:37,960 --> 00:44:40,160
Speaker 5: editor from Fader magazine. I've never seen him run a

973
00:44:40,239 --> 00:44:43,280
Speaker 5: mile in my life. And so suddenly I'm suddenly hearing

974
00:44:43,400 --> 00:44:45,279
Speaker 5: like there are these other people that I know for

975
00:44:45,400 --> 00:44:49,960
Speaker 5: my former life who were also you know, getting into

976
00:44:49,960 --> 00:44:52,279
Speaker 5: fitness and moving and that was really exciting. And then

977
00:44:52,280 --> 00:44:54,919
Speaker 5: we hear about these guys in Paris Paris Run Club,

978
00:44:54,960 --> 00:44:58,760
Speaker 5: and then the Amsterdam guys from Pasar and suddenly I realized,

979
00:44:58,760 --> 00:45:01,680
Speaker 5: it's like this little thing that you started, there's other

980
00:45:01,719 --> 00:45:04,239
Speaker 5: people doing it all around the world. We need to

981
00:45:04,239 --> 00:45:06,040
Speaker 5: connect with them and find out how to do it,

982
00:45:06,239 --> 00:45:08,720
Speaker 5: because I hadn't. You know, when you go from running

983
00:45:08,719 --> 00:45:10,799
Speaker 5: by yourself to running with five of your friends, there's

984
00:45:10,840 --> 00:45:12,480
Speaker 5: still a very big leap who and suddenly you look

985
00:45:12,520 --> 00:45:14,680
Speaker 5: behind you and there's one hundred people and you don't

986
00:45:14,719 --> 00:45:17,239
Speaker 5: know what you're doing, and they're all looking at you

987
00:45:17,320 --> 00:45:19,560
Speaker 5: like you think you like you know that you know

988
00:45:19,600 --> 00:45:22,200
Speaker 5: what you're doing, and you're making it up as you

989
00:45:22,280 --> 00:45:24,920
Speaker 5: go along. The first guy we met in run Them

990
00:45:24,920 --> 00:45:26,200
Speaker 5: who like had run a math and I think you

991
00:45:26,239 --> 00:45:27,759
Speaker 5: ran it in five and a half hours. We thought

992
00:45:27,800 --> 00:45:29,640
Speaker 5: he was a god. We were like, man, dude, like

993
00:45:30,040 --> 00:45:32,319
Speaker 5: you can do whatever you want, Like, man, you ran

994
00:45:32,360 --> 00:45:33,200
Speaker 5: twenty six miles.

995
00:45:33,200 --> 00:45:35,640
Speaker 4: Wow, you running It was like 'un believable.

996
00:45:35,680 --> 00:45:38,560
Speaker 5: But there was this kind of innocence to it which

997
00:45:38,640 --> 00:45:41,800
Speaker 5: just reminded me of being a teenager and discovering music.

998
00:45:42,000 --> 00:45:44,839
Speaker 5: And it was really, really exciting, and it was really

999
00:45:44,920 --> 00:45:49,600
Speaker 5: exciting to be around new people who weren't looking at

1000
00:45:49,600 --> 00:45:52,319
Speaker 5: me as like, oh you're Charlie's up the DJ. They

1001
00:45:52,360 --> 00:45:57,600
Speaker 5: were just like, oh you're Charlie Dark.

1002
00:45:58,680 --> 00:46:02,960
Speaker 1: Taking a break from today's episode to shout out my sponsor, Whoop.

1003
00:46:03,239 --> 00:46:03,400
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1004
00:46:03,400 --> 00:46:06,120
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1005
00:46:06,200 --> 00:46:08,680
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1006
00:46:09,160 --> 00:46:11,960
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1007
00:46:12,080 --> 00:46:15,359
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1008
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1009
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1010
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1011
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1012
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1013
00:46:34,680 --> 00:46:37,080
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1014
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1015
00:46:39,480 --> 00:46:42,320
Speaker 1: my recovery. It just gives me the data I need

1016
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1017
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1020
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1022
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1023
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1024
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1025
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Speaker 1: code hurdle at checkout. To optimize the way you train,

1026
00:47:21,960 --> 00:47:24,160
Speaker 1: you once said in an interview. You said, the road

1027
00:47:24,200 --> 00:47:27,160
Speaker 1: does not care if you're a CEO or unemployed, rich

1028
00:47:27,280 --> 00:47:27,760
Speaker 1: or poor.

1029
00:47:27,800 --> 00:47:28,600
Speaker 3: If you train for the.

1030
00:47:28,680 --> 00:47:32,440
Speaker 1: Road, it will reward you in ways you could never imagine.

1031
00:47:32,719 --> 00:47:36,080
Speaker 1: But if you underestimate its power, it will break you

1032
00:47:36,200 --> 00:47:41,760
Speaker 1: in ways you never thought possible. You've run seven plus

1033
00:47:41,800 --> 00:47:46,400
Speaker 1: marathons Copenhagen, Paris, Chicago, Yeah.

1034
00:47:46,239 --> 00:47:50,400
Speaker 4: I on Chicago, New York, Blin London a few times.

1035
00:47:50,440 --> 00:47:52,440
Speaker 3: Did any of those truly break you?

1036
00:47:53,080 --> 00:47:55,880
Speaker 5: Paris Marathon was the first one I did that broke me.

1037
00:47:56,239 --> 00:47:59,920
Speaker 5: I mean in ways like I ran behind this one

1038
00:48:00,080 --> 00:48:03,640
Speaker 5: and for sixteen miles. I don't know if you know.

1039
00:48:03,719 --> 00:48:08,080
Speaker 5: Like basically, sometimes when you run long distances, you can

1040
00:48:08,120 --> 00:48:11,359
Speaker 5: find that you want to go to the toilet, and

1041
00:48:11,400 --> 00:48:13,160
Speaker 5: if you're going for a time, you might not want

1042
00:48:13,160 --> 00:48:15,160
Speaker 5: to stop to run off to the toilet. So you

1043
00:48:15,239 --> 00:48:17,880
Speaker 5: might just do it as you're running along. Oh, and

1044
00:48:17,920 --> 00:48:20,120
Speaker 5: so I was running behind her. You can edit this

1045
00:48:20,200 --> 00:48:25,200
Speaker 5: bit out for about sixteen miles and then basically she

1046
00:48:25,280 --> 00:48:27,480
Speaker 5: decided to go to the toilet in front of me

1047
00:48:27,560 --> 00:48:28,360
Speaker 5: and kept her running.

1048
00:48:28,800 --> 00:48:31,240
Speaker 4: That was quite interesting. You're looking at me in disbelief

1049
00:48:31,280 --> 00:48:31,759
Speaker 4: it does happen.

1050
00:48:32,000 --> 00:48:34,480
Speaker 5: Yeah, So that was like that was like I was like, wow, man,

1051
00:48:34,520 --> 00:48:36,520
Speaker 5: you guys are really so obsessed by the time that

1052
00:48:36,560 --> 00:48:41,680
Speaker 5: you would do that. Secondly, got cramps. I just underestimated

1053
00:48:41,719 --> 00:48:44,279
Speaker 5: the distance. I just turned up and thought, well, you know,

1054
00:48:46,160 --> 00:48:48,160
Speaker 5: I'll be fine. It was just really it was weird.

1055
00:48:48,200 --> 00:48:49,520
Speaker 5: It was just kind of one of those things where

1056
00:48:49,520 --> 00:48:54,120
Speaker 5: I was winging it and that broke me hood to coast.

1057
00:48:55,320 --> 00:48:58,560
Speaker 5: That definitely did some things to my body that are still,

1058
00:48:58,719 --> 00:49:01,239
Speaker 5: you know, being repaired right now. I think you learn

1059
00:49:01,320 --> 00:49:03,040
Speaker 5: lessons every time that you run, but I think when

1060
00:49:03,040 --> 00:49:05,080
Speaker 5: you go and run a marathon you definitely learn some

1061
00:49:05,160 --> 00:49:07,839
Speaker 5: lessons because I think the problem is like a bit

1062
00:49:07,920 --> 00:49:11,600
Speaker 5: like fighting. Most people learn how to fight from watching TV,

1063
00:49:12,480 --> 00:49:14,879
Speaker 5: so they think that actually, when they punt someone, there's

1064
00:49:14,920 --> 00:49:17,719
Speaker 5: going to be that batman sound like wow, and then

1065
00:49:17,760 --> 00:49:19,759
Speaker 5: the person's going to fall down to the floor. And

1066
00:49:19,840 --> 00:49:24,279
Speaker 5: so if you watch marathons on the TV, really all

1067
00:49:24,360 --> 00:49:27,960
Speaker 5: you really see are kind of, you know, the elite athletes,

1068
00:49:28,000 --> 00:49:30,719
Speaker 5: that's all the story is all about. So you kind

1069
00:49:30,719 --> 00:49:33,640
Speaker 5: of just think that basically it's this constant like once

1070
00:49:33,680 --> 00:49:35,839
Speaker 5: you start, it's just this constant journey all the way.

1071
00:49:36,280 --> 00:49:38,759
Speaker 5: And then you run a marathon and you get to

1072
00:49:38,760 --> 00:49:41,799
Speaker 5: the first water station and it's like chaos. People elbowing you,

1073
00:49:41,880 --> 00:49:44,800
Speaker 5: like there's all this weird stuff that you've never even

1074
00:49:45,000 --> 00:49:49,520
Speaker 5: thought would happen. People start collapsing, like they get all

1075
00:49:49,560 --> 00:49:53,279
Speaker 5: this weird things that happened to you. And I just

1076
00:49:53,360 --> 00:49:56,080
Speaker 5: underestimated it and I had to go almost have to

1077
00:49:56,120 --> 00:49:58,960
Speaker 5: go back, and really it was a really humbling experience

1078
00:49:59,000 --> 00:50:00,560
Speaker 5: my first couple of marathons.

1079
00:50:00,600 --> 00:50:04,719
Speaker 3: Do you remember the finish line moment from the first one, Yeah.

1080
00:50:04,560 --> 00:50:09,439
Speaker 5: Definitely, The tears were so real. And also at the time,

1081
00:50:09,480 --> 00:50:12,680
Speaker 5: I was, you know when I first oh wow, I

1082
00:50:12,680 --> 00:50:15,080
Speaker 5: mean I must have been around two two thousand and seven.

1083
00:50:15,120 --> 00:50:16,040
Speaker 4: I think I did the first one.

1084
00:50:16,160 --> 00:50:18,200
Speaker 3: Oh wow, pretty quick, and yeah, run journey.

1085
00:50:18,280 --> 00:50:21,640
Speaker 5: Yeah we wanted to because also what's happening is people

1086
00:50:21,680 --> 00:50:26,239
Speaker 5: are like, why are you running? What happens in your

1087
00:50:26,239 --> 00:50:29,239
Speaker 5: friendship circle when you start getting fit, is everyone in

1088
00:50:29,280 --> 00:50:32,080
Speaker 5: your circle starts to having to start look at themselves.

1089
00:50:32,600 --> 00:50:34,520
Speaker 5: So there were the people who were very supportive of

1090
00:50:34,560 --> 00:50:36,680
Speaker 5: your journey, but then they were the people who want

1091
00:50:36,680 --> 00:50:40,480
Speaker 5: you to fail because ultimately, if you get fit, then

1092
00:50:40,520 --> 00:50:43,239
Speaker 5: they have to get fit. You know, suddenly you don't

1093
00:50:43,280 --> 00:50:44,400
Speaker 5: want to be in the club you want to be

1094
00:50:44,560 --> 00:50:46,480
Speaker 5: You're like, I need the early set because I got

1095
00:50:46,600 --> 00:50:49,440
Speaker 5: to run, you know, fifteen miles in the morning. Promoters

1096
00:50:49,480 --> 00:50:52,080
Speaker 5: looking at you like you're crazy, and so my whole

1097
00:50:52,080 --> 00:50:55,520
Speaker 5: friendship circle is starting to change. And so I was like, right,

1098
00:50:55,520 --> 00:50:56,960
Speaker 5: I'm gonna run a marathons because if I run a

1099
00:50:56,960 --> 00:51:00,520
Speaker 5: marathon and that proves I'm really a runner. And I'm

1100
00:51:00,520 --> 00:51:03,120
Speaker 5: going to gonna pluck this number from finn Air that's

1101
00:51:03,120 --> 00:51:06,080
Speaker 5: gonna sound good to people who don't run. And that

1102
00:51:06,160 --> 00:51:08,480
Speaker 5: number is traditionally sub four.

1103
00:51:08,320 --> 00:51:12,879
Speaker 1: Hours, the mystical waves, the hand in the air, sub

1104
00:51:12,960 --> 00:51:13,439
Speaker 1: four hours.

1105
00:51:13,480 --> 00:51:17,080
Speaker 4: I'm gonna run sub four. Yeah, and I didn't run

1106
00:51:17,080 --> 00:51:17,399
Speaker 4: some four.

1107
00:51:17,400 --> 00:51:21,279
Speaker 5: I think I ran four forty seven or something like that,

1108
00:51:22,160 --> 00:51:24,120
Speaker 5: you know, and you know, that was quite humbling to

1109
00:51:24,120 --> 00:51:26,160
Speaker 5: come back and people were like, so you ran sub

1110
00:51:26,200 --> 00:51:29,640
Speaker 5: four And I remember saying no, I ran four hours

1111
00:51:29,680 --> 00:51:30,560
Speaker 5: forty seven.

1112
00:51:30,400 --> 00:51:32,000
Speaker 4: And they were like, what do you do? Do you

1113
00:51:32,040 --> 00:51:36,759
Speaker 4: walk around? And I was like, I just one one

1114
00:51:36,800 --> 00:51:38,320
Speaker 4: of the hardest things that I've ever done in my life.

1115
00:51:39,719 --> 00:51:41,240
Speaker 3: No shade, no shade, exactly.

1116
00:51:41,360 --> 00:51:42,880
Speaker 5: Yeah, And then we went through this phase with just

1117
00:51:43,200 --> 00:51:45,080
Speaker 5: you know, you don't get the time you want, so

1118
00:51:45,080 --> 00:51:48,520
Speaker 5: you just start signing up to anything. You just any race,

1119
00:51:49,280 --> 00:51:50,640
Speaker 5: you know, and it's just so you can look like

1120
00:51:50,680 --> 00:51:53,839
Speaker 5: mister t and have loads of medals around and kind

1121
00:51:53,880 --> 00:51:57,719
Speaker 5: of yeah, I made every marathon mistake that you possibly

1122
00:51:57,840 --> 00:51:58,319
Speaker 5: could make.

1123
00:51:59,200 --> 00:52:03,719
Speaker 1: Obviously, there are some potential soon to be New York

1124
00:52:03,760 --> 00:52:05,000
Speaker 1: City of marathons in the room.

1125
00:52:05,040 --> 00:52:07,879
Speaker 3: By the time of episode airs, they will have done it. Yes,

1126
00:52:07,920 --> 00:52:08,719
Speaker 3: so congrats.

1127
00:52:11,560 --> 00:52:14,040
Speaker 5: That was a really kind of like BBC polite, we're

1128
00:52:14,040 --> 00:52:16,640
Speaker 5: having to clap because we have to clap and not

1129
00:52:16,680 --> 00:52:19,640
Speaker 5: a real kind of like make noise for the marathon people.

1130
00:52:19,680 --> 00:52:23,640
Speaker 4: Name. Thank you mean a lot to the world.

1131
00:52:23,640 --> 00:52:24,640
Speaker 3: We needed that. We needed that.

1132
00:52:24,719 --> 00:52:28,040
Speaker 1: Okay, sos, some marathoners in the room. You just mentioned

1133
00:52:28,040 --> 00:52:35,000
Speaker 1: marathon mistakes. Yes, number one mistake you have made running

1134
00:52:35,000 --> 00:52:35,520
Speaker 1: a marathon.

1135
00:52:37,320 --> 00:52:43,000
Speaker 5: Okay, So you arrive and there's water everywhere, and so

1136
00:52:43,200 --> 00:52:48,120
Speaker 5: because there's water everywhere and it's free. You just start

1137
00:52:48,239 --> 00:52:50,759
Speaker 5: drinking as much water as you can because it's the

1138
00:52:50,800 --> 00:52:51,719
Speaker 5: thing to do.

1139
00:52:51,800 --> 00:52:53,719
Speaker 4: Nervous energy. And then, of course what happens. You need

1140
00:52:53,760 --> 00:52:55,480
Speaker 4: to go to the toilet, but the toilet queue is

1141
00:52:55,520 --> 00:52:58,160
Speaker 4: three miles long. That's one of the big mistakes. Okay,

1142
00:52:58,360 --> 00:52:59,399
Speaker 4: Oh second one.

1143
00:53:00,040 --> 00:53:03,040
Speaker 5: Don't go to your mum's house to go and eat

1144
00:53:03,080 --> 00:53:06,840
Speaker 5: some crazy food that you've never had before two days

1145
00:53:06,880 --> 00:53:10,600
Speaker 5: before your marathon. Because that also, don't buy, don't wear

1146
00:53:10,680 --> 00:53:13,160
Speaker 5: new shoes, don't go and buy new socks.

1147
00:53:13,440 --> 00:53:15,319
Speaker 4: I've done all of the I'm.

1148
00:53:15,239 --> 00:53:17,120
Speaker 5: Want to look fresh to death when I line up

1149
00:53:17,120 --> 00:53:19,880
Speaker 5: on the thing. I got brand new trainer's, brand new socks,

1150
00:53:19,960 --> 00:53:22,360
Speaker 5: brand new kit. Oh my god, why my nipples bleeding?

1151
00:53:22,400 --> 00:53:25,359
Speaker 5: I don't understand what's going on. And the most important thing,

1152
00:53:25,600 --> 00:53:29,200
Speaker 5: you know, for me is when I first started running marathons,

1153
00:53:29,200 --> 00:53:31,400
Speaker 5: in particular, there weren't loads of people of color running,

1154
00:53:32,640 --> 00:53:35,000
Speaker 5: and so people would be looking at you like, well,

1155
00:53:35,040 --> 00:53:37,640
Speaker 5: he's not Kenyan, you know.

1156
00:53:37,760 --> 00:53:39,719
Speaker 4: And that was the thing, like people be like, you're

1157
00:53:39,760 --> 00:53:42,880
Speaker 4: not Kenyan, why are you running? You know?

1158
00:53:43,760 --> 00:53:46,239
Speaker 5: And and it was a real thing and I and

1159
00:53:46,320 --> 00:53:48,920
Speaker 5: I really felt like I was being looked at. And

1160
00:53:48,960 --> 00:53:53,320
Speaker 5: also I didn't you know, I ran my first marathon

1161
00:53:53,320 --> 00:53:55,560
Speaker 5: in like basketball shorts.

1162
00:53:56,520 --> 00:54:00,359
Speaker 3: I wor Catton likings from Target for my first marathon up.

1163
00:54:00,280 --> 00:54:03,200
Speaker 5: In my first you know race, added like a Renom

1164
00:54:03,239 --> 00:54:06,320
Speaker 5: five turbo some of another crazy carboys been into mad cars,

1165
00:54:06,560 --> 00:54:09,399
Speaker 5: the windows down, the blasting the music out. I get

1166
00:54:09,400 --> 00:54:12,200
Speaker 5: out kind of coolly walk over to the start line

1167
00:54:12,280 --> 00:54:15,160
Speaker 5: and they're just looking at me like, dude, like the

1168
00:54:15,200 --> 00:54:17,600
Speaker 5: football pitch is over here, like you come to the

1169
00:54:17,640 --> 00:54:20,040
Speaker 5: wrong sport. And it kind of spurred me on the

1170
00:54:20,080 --> 00:54:21,880
Speaker 5: way in a way, you know, because a lot of

1171
00:54:21,920 --> 00:54:23,720
Speaker 5: times as well, it's like when you run these marathons,

1172
00:54:23,760 --> 00:54:27,239
Speaker 5: particularly you run London, you're running through the hood, you know,

1173
00:54:27,800 --> 00:54:29,640
Speaker 5: and the hood guys are looking at you like and

1174
00:54:29,680 --> 00:54:32,520
Speaker 5: they're just waiting, you know, after all the hot girls

1175
00:54:32,560 --> 00:54:34,359
Speaker 5: have gone past. Then they start getting a bit bored

1176
00:54:34,400 --> 00:54:38,640
Speaker 5: and then they're like looking at you like and they're

1177
00:54:38,760 --> 00:54:42,000
Speaker 5: really looking at you, like what you're doing. And my

1178
00:54:42,080 --> 00:54:44,799
Speaker 5: thing is you can't be what you can't see, you know,

1179
00:54:44,960 --> 00:54:47,600
Speaker 5: And so that's the reason why, you know, I encourage

1180
00:54:47,600 --> 00:54:51,440
Speaker 5: the most unlikely people to get out there and get running.

1181
00:54:51,480 --> 00:54:54,680
Speaker 5: Whether you're running a mile, running five minutes, fifty minth whatever,

1182
00:54:54,800 --> 00:54:58,400
Speaker 5: because you never know who you're inspiring. And that's one

1183
00:54:58,440 --> 00:55:00,000
Speaker 5: thing I've learned from run them is like the message

1184
00:55:00,120 --> 00:55:03,080
Speaker 5: is that we get daily from people who are just like,

1185
00:55:03,520 --> 00:55:07,479
Speaker 5: thank you, physic existing. You know, my running club isn't

1186
00:55:07,520 --> 00:55:09,399
Speaker 5: really you know, I don't really feel like I fit

1187
00:55:09,480 --> 00:55:12,440
Speaker 5: in there, But what you do I can really resonate with.

1188
00:55:12,760 --> 00:55:15,160
Speaker 5: And because you ran a marathon or you started running,

1189
00:55:15,280 --> 00:55:17,680
Speaker 5: I started running. Because I started running, My husband started running,

1190
00:55:17,680 --> 00:55:19,360
Speaker 5: and now the kids are running, and now you know,

1191
00:55:19,440 --> 00:55:21,520
Speaker 5: the whole family's running and the next door neighbors. And

1192
00:55:21,600 --> 00:55:24,840
Speaker 5: I just feel one of my big missions is to

1193
00:55:24,880 --> 00:55:30,240
Speaker 5: try and place leaders back in communities, you know, people

1194
00:55:30,239 --> 00:55:34,719
Speaker 5: who can bring change, who are inspirational and inspiring. And

1195
00:55:34,760 --> 00:55:36,640
Speaker 5: this is my thing with running, is like when i'm

1196
00:55:36,680 --> 00:55:38,799
Speaker 5: you know, I'm not running for times, I'm running to

1197
00:55:38,840 --> 00:55:41,080
Speaker 5: inspire people to get off the sofa and get moving

1198
00:55:41,440 --> 00:55:45,040
Speaker 5: because I just I know that, you know, there's something

1199
00:55:45,080 --> 00:55:49,799
Speaker 5: that running gives you. This sense of confidence, this sense

1200
00:55:49,840 --> 00:55:53,520
Speaker 5: of power, this sense of strength, this sense of self belief,

1201
00:55:53,920 --> 00:55:57,359
Speaker 5: this sense of structure that it's very hard to find

1202
00:55:57,400 --> 00:56:01,960
Speaker 5: anywhere else. And there's something so empower worrying about running

1203
00:56:02,000 --> 00:56:05,439
Speaker 5: a marathon and you know, going for that journey because

1204
00:56:05,440 --> 00:56:07,520
Speaker 5: it is an up and down journey and the parts

1205
00:56:07,520 --> 00:56:09,480
Speaker 5: where you loving it and bits where you like, I

1206
00:56:09,560 --> 00:56:10,640
Speaker 5: just want to stop right now.

1207
00:56:10,680 --> 00:56:12,640
Speaker 4: But there's something that you get.

1208
00:56:12,480 --> 00:56:15,319
Speaker 5: When you kind of like run a marathon, especially those

1209
00:56:15,360 --> 00:56:20,920
Speaker 5: big city marathons with people that you can't like, I

1210
00:56:20,960 --> 00:56:25,000
Speaker 5: can't find anything else that you can replicate it. It's

1211
00:56:25,040 --> 00:56:30,600
Speaker 5: the equivalent for me of playing the record and the

1212
00:56:30,640 --> 00:56:33,600
Speaker 5: crowd goes wild, but you know, in two records time,

1213
00:56:34,200 --> 00:56:37,120
Speaker 5: you're about to play the real banger that's about to

1214
00:56:37,200 --> 00:56:38,839
Speaker 5: kind of send it into overdrive.

1215
00:56:40,040 --> 00:56:41,440
Speaker 4: That's what marathon running is for me.

1216
00:56:41,760 --> 00:56:45,520
Speaker 1: And that's why you don't want people to talk about

1217
00:56:45,640 --> 00:56:48,040
Speaker 1: run dem Crew like it's just a run club.

1218
00:56:48,480 --> 00:56:51,480
Speaker 5: I mean, it's like the day that basically people talk

1219
00:56:51,520 --> 00:56:53,040
Speaker 5: about is a run club is the day I close

1220
00:56:53,080 --> 00:56:55,799
Speaker 5: it down. I'm not interested in running and running club

1221
00:56:55,960 --> 00:57:01,040
Speaker 5: because I'm not interested in your time. I'm not interested

1222
00:57:01,080 --> 00:57:05,360
Speaker 5: in the distance. I'm interested in what have you learned?

1223
00:57:05,440 --> 00:57:08,399
Speaker 5: What has the run taught you? What have you learned

1224
00:57:08,400 --> 00:57:13,239
Speaker 5: about yourself? Who have you shared that information with? Who

1225
00:57:13,280 --> 00:57:14,080
Speaker 5: have you inspired?

1226
00:57:15,280 --> 00:57:15,520
Speaker 4: You know?

1227
00:57:16,400 --> 00:57:18,960
Speaker 5: And because I just feel like, you know, we're in

1228
00:57:19,000 --> 00:57:21,880
Speaker 5: this thing where basically it's all about time and distance,

1229
00:57:21,920 --> 00:57:24,000
Speaker 5: and you're a good runner because you run it in

1230
00:57:24,040 --> 00:57:26,920
Speaker 5: a certain time. Some of the quickest runners I know

1231
00:57:27,000 --> 00:57:31,320
Speaker 5: in my crew cannot lift their own shopping up, you know.

1232
00:57:31,880 --> 00:57:35,040
Speaker 5: And some of the people who deem themselves to be

1233
00:57:35,240 --> 00:57:38,920
Speaker 5: slow have some of the strongest, most resilient personalities I've

1234
00:57:38,960 --> 00:57:42,200
Speaker 5: ever met. Because Mofawa doesn't want to go and run

1235
00:57:42,240 --> 00:57:44,280
Speaker 5: the marathon in seven hours. He doesn't want to be

1236
00:57:44,320 --> 00:57:46,120
Speaker 5: on the road for seven hours. His body can't take it.

1237
00:57:46,120 --> 00:57:48,720
Speaker 5: He'll probably breaking half. He can't do it. So when

1238
00:57:48,760 --> 00:57:51,320
Speaker 5: you meet those people who they're running and they know

1239
00:57:51,440 --> 00:57:54,920
Speaker 5: that everyone's looking at them, and everyone's like, oh, look

1240
00:57:55,000 --> 00:57:55,800
Speaker 5: how slow you are.

1241
00:57:56,520 --> 00:57:58,000
Speaker 4: Like we had the thing in London Marathon.

1242
00:57:57,760 --> 00:58:00,160
Speaker 5: This year where kind of like the eight hour guy is,

1243
00:58:00,200 --> 00:58:02,560
Speaker 5: you know, they you know, they're taking the barriers away

1244
00:58:02,680 --> 00:58:04,880
Speaker 5: and there, you know, the trucks are there and the

1245
00:58:04,920 --> 00:58:06,560
Speaker 5: guys are trying to clean up the street and they're

1246
00:58:06,640 --> 00:58:08,560
Speaker 5: kind of telling them to get off the road. You've

1247
00:58:08,560 --> 00:58:10,920
Speaker 5: got to have some real conviction to be on the

1248
00:58:11,000 --> 00:58:16,560
Speaker 5: road six seven eight hours still going, knowing that you

1249
00:58:16,640 --> 00:58:19,480
Speaker 5: don't look like a runner or what the world thinks

1250
00:58:19,480 --> 00:58:22,000
Speaker 5: to be a runner, because those type of people they're

1251
00:58:22,000 --> 00:58:24,960
Speaker 5: never in the magazines, they're not in the ads. It's

1252
00:58:25,000 --> 00:58:28,400
Speaker 5: like they don't exist. But they're the most important people

1253
00:58:28,960 --> 00:58:29,560
Speaker 5: that there is.

1254
00:58:29,800 --> 00:58:31,880
Speaker 1: And that's why it's special that you guys pop up

1255
00:58:31,920 --> 00:58:33,520
Speaker 1: at twenty one in the marathon.

1256
00:58:33,840 --> 00:58:35,800
Speaker 4: Yeah, because that's where the wheels fell off for me.

1257
00:58:35,960 --> 00:58:36,480
Speaker 3: I've seen it.

1258
00:58:36,840 --> 00:58:38,720
Speaker 1: I've seen I went to London this year and I

1259
00:58:39,040 --> 00:58:42,080
Speaker 1: watched and I saw you guys, and it was something.

1260
00:58:42,080 --> 00:58:42,720
Speaker 4: Well we try.

1261
00:58:42,920 --> 00:58:45,200
Speaker 5: Our thing is if you can get people to come

1262
00:58:45,240 --> 00:58:50,680
Speaker 5: down and see a marathon unfold in the flesh, they're

1263
00:58:50,680 --> 00:58:52,720
Speaker 5: more likely to sign up to do it next year.

1264
00:58:52,960 --> 00:58:55,240
Speaker 5: Because what you realize, the TV just shows you the

1265
00:58:55,320 --> 00:58:58,160
Speaker 5: highlight reel. The TV marathon coverage is a bit like Instagram.

1266
00:58:58,240 --> 00:58:59,400
Speaker 3: It's totally like Instagram.

1267
00:58:59,480 --> 00:59:01,880
Speaker 5: You know, it's just the like real But actually when

1268
00:59:01,920 --> 00:59:06,160
Speaker 5: you see like, you know, people who it should be

1269
00:59:06,200 --> 00:59:10,000
Speaker 5: easy for crumpling in tears, and then you see all

1270
00:59:10,000 --> 00:59:11,320
Speaker 5: these you know, you see the person with the fridge

1271
00:59:11,320 --> 00:59:13,360
Speaker 5: on their back come past, and the guy in the

1272
00:59:13,400 --> 00:59:16,320
Speaker 5: rhino costume, and it's just an amazing And again, as

1273
00:59:16,320 --> 00:59:18,200
Speaker 5: I always saying, I've said this in so many interviews,

1274
00:59:18,200 --> 00:59:21,200
Speaker 5: but it's the only time that strangers will come out

1275
00:59:21,240 --> 00:59:25,320
Speaker 5: of their house and will you to succeed. No one

1276
00:59:25,360 --> 00:59:27,360
Speaker 5: who's watching you, you know. And then this is for

1277
00:59:27,360 --> 00:59:29,840
Speaker 5: anyone who's running on Sunday. There's no one who's watching

1278
00:59:29,840 --> 00:59:32,720
Speaker 5: you who wants you to fail. Everybody wants you to succeed.

1279
00:59:33,080 --> 00:59:35,120
Speaker 5: So if it gets hard, just collapse to the floor

1280
00:59:35,400 --> 00:59:37,360
Speaker 5: and someone will probably come and pick you up and

1281
00:59:37,440 --> 00:59:40,280
Speaker 5: carry you to the end, you know. And for the

1282
00:59:40,280 --> 00:59:42,520
Speaker 5: young people I work with, it, it's really important for

1283
00:59:42,560 --> 00:59:46,360
Speaker 5: them to see that, you know. And I love it when,

1284
00:59:46,440 --> 00:59:48,840
Speaker 5: you know, the sixteen seventeen, eighteen year olds come out

1285
00:59:48,880 --> 00:59:50,360
Speaker 5: and you know, they go and run a marathon and

1286
00:59:50,400 --> 00:59:52,520
Speaker 5: they suddenly get into it, and then they become good

1287
00:59:52,520 --> 00:59:54,240
Speaker 5: at it, and it becomes a thing that they do,

1288
00:59:55,000 --> 00:59:56,960
Speaker 5: you know. And my thing is, I'm just trying to

1289
00:59:57,040 --> 01:00:00,520
Speaker 5: change the perception because I just think that if more

1290
01:00:00,600 --> 01:00:05,760
Speaker 5: people realized that there is no one cookie cutter type runner,

1291
01:00:07,360 --> 01:00:10,040
Speaker 5: and people realize how beneficial it could be for their

1292
01:00:10,080 --> 01:00:13,120
Speaker 5: mental health, for their physical health, for their spiritual health,

1293
01:00:13,440 --> 01:00:17,000
Speaker 5: for their community health, you know, their relationship health, the

1294
01:00:17,040 --> 01:00:18,160
Speaker 5: more people would do it.

1295
01:00:18,800 --> 01:00:22,160
Speaker 1: You're out there inspiring a lot of people, and you know,

1296
01:00:22,240 --> 01:00:25,000
Speaker 1: they go to your Instagram feed or wherever they might

1297
01:00:25,040 --> 01:00:29,080
Speaker 1: come across you, and they see a man who is

1298
01:00:29,240 --> 01:00:35,040
Speaker 1: humble and strong willed and excited to hopefully help others

1299
01:00:36,000 --> 01:00:42,400
Speaker 1: and also aesthetically a runner. When you stand in front

1300
01:00:42,440 --> 01:00:44,480
Speaker 1: of a mirror and you look at the mirror, what

1301
01:00:44,680 --> 01:00:47,000
Speaker 1: is it that you see looking back at you.

1302
01:00:48,080 --> 01:00:52,520
Speaker 5: I see sunshine smiling back at me, you know, and

1303
01:00:52,560 --> 01:00:54,920
Speaker 5: it hasn't always been that way, but I'm really happy

1304
01:00:54,960 --> 01:00:56,400
Speaker 5: with the person that I've seen in the mirror now

1305
01:00:56,760 --> 01:01:00,760
Speaker 5: because he's chilled out and he's being himself. And you know,

1306
01:01:02,000 --> 01:01:03,440
Speaker 5: I'm not one of these people who like wakes up

1307
01:01:03,440 --> 01:01:05,320
Speaker 5: in the morning and be like, oh, I'm super inspirational

1308
01:01:05,400 --> 01:01:07,600
Speaker 5: and I'm out to inspire people. I do call myself

1309
01:01:07,760 --> 01:01:10,840
Speaker 5: Mister Encouragement at times, because I like encouraging people. But

1310
01:01:10,880 --> 01:01:13,440
Speaker 5: I just realized that, you know, there are certain people

1311
01:01:13,440 --> 01:01:15,360
Speaker 5: that I've met in my life who if I hadn't

1312
01:01:15,360 --> 01:01:17,440
Speaker 5: met them, my life would be very different. So my

1313
01:01:17,920 --> 01:01:21,720
Speaker 5: English teacher, who was like, I know, I see you, Charlie,

1314
01:01:21,760 --> 01:01:25,760
Speaker 5: I see you. There's something very powerful when someone tells

1315
01:01:25,760 --> 01:01:28,160
Speaker 5: you that they see you and they accept you for

1316
01:01:28,160 --> 01:01:31,040
Speaker 5: who you are and they're going to help you. So

1317
01:01:31,160 --> 01:01:34,200
Speaker 5: that given me the power, you know, the pen and

1318
01:01:34,240 --> 01:01:37,640
Speaker 5: the book, the weapon, and the best friend that was

1319
01:01:37,680 --> 01:01:38,600
Speaker 5: really important for me.

1320
01:01:39,440 --> 01:01:43,560
Speaker 4: People who helped me, you know, you know, who've helped me.

1321
01:01:43,520 --> 01:01:45,480
Speaker 5: Buy food when I didn't have money for food, or

1322
01:01:45,840 --> 01:01:47,800
Speaker 5: given me records to DJ with when I didn't have

1323
01:01:47,840 --> 01:01:50,400
Speaker 5: records DJO with, or given me opportunities in life. And

1324
01:01:50,480 --> 01:01:53,080
Speaker 5: I just want to pay it back to people because

1325
01:01:53,080 --> 01:01:55,000
Speaker 5: I don't buy into the myth that people who kind

1326
01:01:55,000 --> 01:01:57,439
Speaker 5: of which we have now where it's like I made

1327
01:01:57,440 --> 01:02:00,440
Speaker 5: it all by myself. Nah, there was a big team people.

1328
01:02:00,720 --> 01:02:03,520
Speaker 5: So I'm just trying to pay it back to people.

1329
01:02:03,680 --> 01:02:06,640
Speaker 5: And you know, I think lots of people think that

1330
01:02:06,680 --> 01:02:10,680
Speaker 5: you're weak if you help other people or put other

1331
01:02:10,720 --> 01:02:13,880
Speaker 5: people before yourself, but I actually really do feel like

1332
01:02:13,920 --> 01:02:20,400
Speaker 5: it's a superpower. I think there's something really super about

1333
01:02:20,800 --> 01:02:23,760
Speaker 5: pressing the button for the lift, waiting for the doors

1334
01:02:23,760 --> 01:02:26,040
Speaker 5: to open and allowing everyone else to get back in

1335
01:02:26,520 --> 01:02:29,880
Speaker 5: front of you, and then when you get there, send

1336
01:02:29,960 --> 01:02:32,360
Speaker 5: the lift back down to the bottom so that more

1337
01:02:32,360 --> 01:02:34,360
Speaker 5: people can get in the lift to come and join you.

1338
01:02:34,520 --> 01:02:36,680
Speaker 5: Because the one thing I do know about kind of

1339
01:02:36,800 --> 01:02:39,960
Speaker 5: you know, my time in the music industry. It's not

1340
01:02:40,240 --> 01:02:43,880
Speaker 5: cool to be in the penthouse or the VIP party

1341
01:02:44,200 --> 01:02:47,960
Speaker 5: by yourself with none of your friends. It's a bit boring,

1342
01:02:49,400 --> 01:02:51,760
Speaker 5: you know, and it's a bit lonely. There's something really

1343
01:02:51,800 --> 01:02:54,960
Speaker 5: weird about kind of like achieving these really amazing things

1344
01:02:55,280 --> 01:02:58,480
Speaker 5: and then sitting in the hotel room by yourself or

1345
01:02:58,520 --> 01:03:01,200
Speaker 5: your friends are asleep. So I actually like to bring

1346
01:03:01,240 --> 01:03:04,000
Speaker 5: as many of my people with me and different types

1347
01:03:04,040 --> 01:03:04,800
Speaker 5: of people as well.

1348
01:03:04,880 --> 01:03:08,400
Speaker 1: And that's why now the crew is over five hundred strong, right.

1349
01:03:08,320 --> 01:03:11,920
Speaker 4: Deep right now beautiful, you know. And yeah, and we

1350
01:03:12,040 --> 01:03:12,520
Speaker 4: just moved.

1351
01:03:12,560 --> 01:03:15,400
Speaker 5: We were based in East London for thirteen years and

1352
01:03:15,400 --> 01:03:18,320
Speaker 5: we've just moved to South London to Brixton. And what

1353
01:03:18,320 --> 01:03:22,920
Speaker 5: we've realized is, you know, the powers social impact and

1354
01:03:22,960 --> 01:03:25,760
Speaker 5: how we can impact and help other people, you know.

1355
01:03:26,360 --> 01:03:28,439
Speaker 5: And so we've got this scheme at the moment where

1356
01:03:28,480 --> 01:03:31,600
Speaker 5: basically you can come to run them, or you can

1357
01:03:31,640 --> 01:03:34,720
Speaker 5: pay for someone else to also come to run them,

1358
01:03:34,880 --> 01:03:38,560
Speaker 5: you know, a younger person in the community and you know,

1359
01:03:38,720 --> 01:03:41,040
Speaker 5: they've got a public library, and just there's so much

1360
01:03:41,080 --> 01:03:42,760
Speaker 5: more that we can be doing in this running around

1361
01:03:42,840 --> 01:03:43,440
Speaker 5: the streets.

1362
01:03:43,760 --> 01:03:45,000
Speaker 3: I'm going to close this out here.

1363
01:03:45,200 --> 01:03:49,400
Speaker 1: You have an opportunity right now to offer the Charlie

1364
01:03:50,240 --> 01:03:53,480
Speaker 1: who is hanging out on Christmas Day deciding he's going

1365
01:03:53,520 --> 01:03:55,360
Speaker 1: to go for that run, or maybe even the Charlie

1366
01:03:55,400 --> 01:03:57,840
Speaker 1: who looks in the mirror and just sees such a

1367
01:03:58,000 --> 01:04:01,440
Speaker 1: dull you know he's looking back at him. You have

1368
01:04:01,440 --> 01:04:04,520
Speaker 1: the opportunity right now to offer him one piece of

1369
01:04:04,560 --> 01:04:07,360
Speaker 1: advice looking back on that Hurdle moment right now.

1370
01:04:07,440 --> 01:04:08,960
Speaker 3: Wow, what do you tell him?

1371
01:04:09,200 --> 01:04:11,760
Speaker 4: You're good man? That's a good question. What do I

1372
01:04:11,800 --> 01:04:16,040
Speaker 4: tell him? Wow?

1373
01:04:16,960 --> 01:04:23,160
Speaker 5: Don't fake it. I had a friend defence, good friend

1374
01:04:23,200 --> 01:04:25,000
Speaker 5: mine from New York. He actually gave me the name

1375
01:04:25,080 --> 01:04:29,680
Speaker 5: Charlie Dark and he always used to say, don't fake it.

1376
01:04:29,760 --> 01:04:32,880
Speaker 5: So just be true to yourself, you know, don't apologize

1377
01:04:32,920 --> 01:04:36,480
Speaker 5: for who you are. Just be you find your tribe.

1378
01:04:36,880 --> 01:04:38,600
Speaker 1: Thanks so much for hanging out with me tonight. Let's

1379
01:04:38,600 --> 01:04:44,480
Speaker 1: hear it for Charlie. What what an episode?

1380
01:04:44,680 --> 01:04:44,880
Speaker 2: Right?

1381
01:04:45,320 --> 01:04:49,080
Speaker 1: You guys know how this goes. Everyone has hurdles in life.

1382
01:04:49,360 --> 01:04:51,400
Speaker 1: I want to hear about yours. Reach out to me

1383
01:04:51,560 --> 01:04:55,080
Speaker 1: at Emily at Hurdle dot us. Connect with the podcast

1384
01:04:55,120 --> 01:04:59,200
Speaker 1: on Instagram and Twitter at Hurdle Podcast. Charlie can be

1385
01:04:59,280 --> 01:05:04,920
Speaker 1: found at Daddy Dark r DC on Instagram, I am

1386
01:05:04,960 --> 01:05:07,920
Speaker 1: at Emily Abadi, another hurdle conquered.

1387
01:05:08,440 --> 01:05:09,560
Speaker 2: Catch you guys next time.