The Life Of Bryony - The Life of You – Emma Kirk-Odunubi on Showing Up for Yourself (On and Off the Road)

Episode Date: February 6, 2026

Today, the wonderful Emma Kirk-Odunubi is back with us. If you heard her main episode, you’ll know she’s a 15-time marathon runner, coach and all‑round running legend – but today, we’re finding out the three things she simply cannot live without.​ We talk about why the most important part of running might happen when you’re not running at all, why it’s sometimes not just okay but wise to skip a run, and how “forwards is a pace” became Emma’s mantra on and off the road. This is a gorgeous, grounding conversation for anyone who needs permission to slow down, be kinder to themselves, and still call themselves a runner.BOOKS DISCUSSED IN THIS EPISODEEmma’s book, Find Your Pace, is available from 5th February 2026.WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOUGot something to share? Message us on @lifeofbryonypod on Instagram.If this episode resonated with you, please share it with someone who might need it – it really helps! Bryony xxCREDITS:Host: Bryony GordonGuest: Emma Kirk-OdunubiProducer: Laura Elwood-CraigAssistant Producer: Sam RhodesStudio Manager: Sam ChisholmEditor: Luke ShelleyExec Producer: Jamie East  A Daily Mail production. Seriously Popular. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello, gorgeous ones, and welcome to the bonus edition of The Life of Briney. Today, Emma Kirk Odenubi is sharing the three things that are absolutely non-negotiable for her as a 15-time marathon runner and coach. It's a gorgeous and reaffirming peek behind the curtain of what truly sustains long-term runners. Towards is a pace. That could be a barrier for people starting. Well, I'm not going to be quick. Yeah.

It doesn't matter. Just starting is everything. My chat with Emma, coming up right after this. Emma, welcome back to the life of you. We are going to hear about the three things that are crucial to your flourishing running career and to keep it going. Tell us, what's the first thing that, because you must be running quite a lot,

like quite a high mileage each week. So what do you do to kind of look after yourself? It's a really boring one, but trying to sleep. Okay, no, I think this is a lot. really great. And this is quite, I think this is also quite comforting for a lot of people who might be getting into their running journey to be told that actually the most important thing about running is resting. Yeah. And it's such, uh, whenever I work with people, so sometimes I work with people online in person, whatever. And they're like, oh, this isn't working. I'm doing all these runs.

I've added in an extra run and why I might have just not getting better. And I'm like, you need to rest more. And there's so many people. that I've worked with where I've taken runs out of their training programs, they have an extra day to rest. Maybe instead of their run that they would do, they have a nap or something like that. And it's made them better. So I think, yeah, this idea that we must continue to go, go, go, go. You don't need to. To get better at something, you have to let your body adapt. You have to let your body find a way to repair. And when we sleep, our muscles repair during that sleep. So for me, it's making sure if I'm trying to head towards a training goal or a marathon or a half marathon,

is my sleep going to be impacted that week? If so, do I need to tweak my training to allow for that fact? So maybe I won't do that speed, hard session because I know I'm not going to get the recovery in the sleep. Right. So I'm going to change that hard run, maybe for an easy run or actually go and do a strength session instead. Can I just say to you, I've never done, like, all of my runs are easy runs. You know, there's this new trend, isn't there, that I see all over social media. They're like, Zone 2 training.

Stay in, you know, that's an, and everyone's like, I can't do Zone 2 training. It's too like, my heart rate just goes out really quickly. I can only run in Zone 2 according to the analysis on my thing. I'm like, and I don't know whether that's because I do have a heart condition, so I have to take medication for it, which keeps it low. But I am just like, I'm imagining bouncing along. Just bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce. Just let's have a gentle jog.

And so when you look at a training plan, if you do, and when you do go to running like further distances, they'll be like easy run, hard run. And I'm like, but all runs are hard to me, basically. But all of them happen at an easy pace, so to speak. Like, I only run at one pace. Yeah. And that is fine.

Party pace. Party pace. Can we talk about party pace? because I do love that idea as well that actually us lot at the back are the real legends because we're out there for longer. Facts.

I remember hearing an interview from Eliuk Chogi. Okay, Kipchogi is like the fastest man on the planet just in case anyone doesn't know who he is. Yeah. Yeah. And he said that he had, he could never see himself running for that length of time.

He said he had the utmost respect for anyone running six hour plus marathons. He said to him, they're the real running heroes. So there you have it. The fastest man on the planet has respect for me. Yeah. Me, because it takes me six hours to run a marathon.

On a good day. Yeah. Unreal. What's the next thing? The next one is maybe controversial because you don't see people talking about it. It's okay to skip a run. Okay.

Just actually, if you don't want to do it, like it's not a gun to your head. Yeah, hopefully not. Hopefully not. But you can not run. And I, in my last, Yeah. It sounds almost counterintuitive, but you can, you don't have to do it if you really, really don't want to and it's not going to be good for you. Okay. That sounds really counterintuitive sometimes. But I think if you're someone who's in maybe a training plan and you're just going relentlessly, it's kind of a little bit linked to the sleep idea. You're going relentlessly and going and you've got all this stress at work. And then you've got home life issues having to juggle kids and all these other things. And you're going.

adding that run in is just going to spike your cortisol even higher already because you're stressing about what's going to happen after it and you're not going to be it. You can miss a run. You're actually giving yourself a gift. Yes. Give yourself grace. Take the pressure off. Take the pressure off.

You're not going to become an awful runner by skipping one run. It's okay. Also, I hear so often people go, oh, I've tried to run, but I just hate it. I hate it. When do I start to like it? And I'm like, well, maybe you don't like running then. Maybe do something different. Go swimming.

Go do, you know, any number of things that, you know, like if you're trying to do it and you don't like it, go easy on yourself. Okay. Try something else. Yeah. You don't have to. Sure.

I'm obsessed with it. I love it. If you don't, that's fine. Yeah. Okay. So tip number three to turn us into those Olympic runners. Forward's a pace. What?

Forward. is a pace. Okay, I like this. So this is presumably stop beating yourself up about how quote unquote slow you are. Yeah. So one of the big things to say, like, it's not a secret, but I, when I first got into the running space, having had a athletic background as a child, so I mentioned I've thrown discs and shock put actually to national standards.

So I used to travel all over with my county and, you know, got that opportunity to represent at almost the top level in this country for it. When I got into running, I was like, well, I've got to be the best, got to be the fastest. And as I was going down my coaching route and becoming a running coach, I was like, I'm not going to be taken seriously because I can't run a marathon under four hours. And in my head, my worth as a coach was fixated on the fact that I needed to run that marathon under four hours to be a good coach. And until actually through the help of running,

I kind of addressed myself, also the help of therapy, and kind of realized it's just a number. It doesn't make me who I am. It doesn't make me a better coach. It doesn't make me a worse coach. It's just a number that arbitrary we've gone, yeah. That's the thing that everyone should try and become. And, you know, through everything that I went through

and strengthen the grief and all these things. What's having a marathon that's under four hours? Under five hours, under six hours, you know? I would dream of such a thing. Yeah. What does it mean, though? Also, like, it's not even like just take the marathon pace out, you know, again, I always remember, Strava, which I follow you on.

And, but I was always put off going on there because I don't like showing people my pace, which is my own, you know. But then someone said to me, well, you can just hide that information. I want to make it trendy to just hide your pace. I agree. Forward's is a pace. Like, I do not need to see that you run four minute kilometers or whatever. Like, good for you.

Yeah, great for you. And that's where even there were times when I would do what for me was a slower pace for my run. So, message me and be like, oh, that was slow. And? What the fuck? Who was these people? And? Get rid of them.

I, when men frequently, I did the other few months ago, I did, I ran repeated laps around Goodwood, which I'd never done before. You did, I was continuously overtaken by very fast men. And to be, their credit, they were really lovely. They were like, come on, you can do it. But I was like, you don't have these strapped to your chest, boys. Do you know what I mean? Like, you try running really fast. a pair of massive tics or just, you know, like our bodies are different. And if you're out there

and you're doing it, you're a legend. I don't care what your pace is, not interested. What I'm interested is the fact that you started. Exactly. And just starting is everything. And that's where I think that forwards is a pace comes into its own because that could be a barrier for people starting. Well, I'm not going to be quick. Yeah. Doesn't matter. I'm going to get that tattooed on my wrist. Fords is a pace. Thank you so. much, Emma. Oh, delight. And there you have it.

That's how Emma shows up for herself on and off the road. I'd love to know what your essentials are for looking after your body and brain. Mine, funnily enough, is listening to podcasts like this and pizza. Lots of pizza. Come and share yours with me over on Instagram at Life of Briny Pod. If this bonus episode gave you a little nudge of motivation or just a desire to eat some pizza. Why not give us a follow or leave a quick review?

It makes such a difference in helping other people find the podcast. Most importantly, take a deep breath, do one kind thing for yourself today, and I'll see you on the next episode of The Life of Bryony.