James McDiarmid: Joggling to success, finding joy in running

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In Episode 16 of the Running Tales podcast, in collaboration with Run Tri Bike, Craig Lewis caught up with Joggler James McDiarmid.

For most people running a marathon is enough of a challenge, but James decided to take things one step further when he added juggling into the mix.

Growing up in the Scottish Highlands, James learned to juggle while working in a nursery and had soon started a full-blown family entertainment business.

The running side of things was very much secondary but, inspired by his life-long runner father, James began to develop a love for the sport. Things really changed when he decided to combine his love of juggling with running at a local parkrun.

That day saw James register around 12 drops during the 5km route, but something had been sparked in him.

Before long, he had discovered a community of online runner jugglers, known as 'jogglers', and every training session had become a juggling practice run.

Marathons followed, with James finding juggling to be a meditative experience as he became more and more focused on it. His current marathon PB is three hours 19 minutes - impressive for anyone, let alone someone juggling at the same time - and he has a sub-three goal in mind.

Long-term, James hopes to bring his run-juggle skills to the ultra marathon distance, with the Glasgow to Edinburgh Ultra Marathon top of his wish list.

Most of all, he hopes that by taking away some of the seriousness that can become all too apparent in lost-distance races, he can encourage more people to take up - and enjoy - running.