Jen Scotney boasts an impressive record as an ultrarunner with podium finishes in the 108-mile Montane Winter Spine Challenger South and the 190-mile Northern Traverse. She is host of the Resilience Rising Podcast, a running coach, writer, Mountain Leader and yoga teacher, which have followed her career as a human rights lawyer.
Jen has appeared in magazine features for Runner’s World, Trail Running and Women’s Running. She has been a guest host on the Wild Ginger Running YouTube channel, and a previous guest on the Tough Girl Podcast.
Jen crewed for John Kelly’s successful Pennine Way fastest known time as well as for his Wainwrights Round in the Lake District. She grew up in the Peak District and now lives in the Scottish mountains with her husband Marcus and Sherlock the beagle. Running Through the Dark is her first book.
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Show notes
Who is Jen Scotney
Intro from 2018 TGP episode
So much has changed in 6 years
A new introduction for now
Being based in the Scottish Highlands
Not running anymore and what happened
Chatting with Mimi Anderson
No longer clinging onto the identity of being a runner
Self worth in relation to challenges and big runs
Using writing as a tool to help process
Her dream of wanting to run the Pennine Way
Getting a book deal and starting to write stories of runners
Going through a period of chronic illness
Wanting to share her story and get it out of her head
500 words a day
Relief and fear of finishing the book
Grief and loss
Handing over control
Recovering from chronic illness
Resilience
Starting the Resilience Rising Podcasts
Why messiness is part of resilience.
Taking the time to process and accept what’s happened
Not signing up for the suffering
Having a good time while running
Why low points in a race are not comparable to real life challenges
External validation
What bring joy and happiness today
Teaching yoga and growing fruit and veg
Making changes in her life and doing a pivot
Getting ok with uncertainty and change
Choosing the uncertainty and being open to what comes up
Advice for letting go of control
Joining the local mountain rescue team in Scotland
Working through a skill list and having monthly training
Managing negative thoughts
Dealing with 2 knee replacements
Looking for her limit and finding out what she can do
Start where you are
Plans for 2025 - goal setting or going with the flow
Practicing yoga for 15+ years
Being a qualified Yin Yoga teacher
Yoga Nidra and permission to rest
Pushing back again busyness and perfection
Relax and do more yoga
Stop trying to be productive
What needs to be let go off
Being in the moment
Keep connected to Jen
Final words of advice
Social Media
Website: www.jenscotney.com
Instagram: @jenscotney
X/Twitter: @jenscotney
Vertebrate Publishing Books to inspire your next adventure. Based in Sheffield, the Outdoor City.
Instagram @vertebrate_publishing
X/Twitter: @VertebratePub
Ultrarunner Jen Scotney has achieved podium finishes in some of the UK’s toughest races and now has her sights firmly set on the Pennine Way. In Running Through the Dark, Jen talks about her ambitions, not just to run the 268-mile Pennine Way but to take the record as the fastest woman to do so. But that didn’t happen. Nothing went according to plan.
The Jen the world knew was a successful lawyer and running coach – all photoshoots and finish-line smiles – but the truth was much darker. The real Jen Scotney, the one she hid from everybody, suffered with chronic fatigue, debilitating injuries, tragedy, grief and at times had a will so beaten down by setbacks that there just didn’t seem any point in going on.
But she did go on. Running Through the Dark is Jen’s account of her ultra-journey. Playing out on the moors of the Pennines, the fells of the Lake District and the mountains of Wales and Scotland, this is much more than a running book, it is a story about resilience, about never giving up, and about battling through the night and always believing that there will be a new dawn.
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