When Lucja Leonard hit nearly 16 stone, she knew she had to do something to turn her lifestyle around. Despite hating running as a kid, she was determined it could help her make the changes she craved and now she’s preparing for her fifth marathon...

Six years ago, Michael Roberts was diagnosed with an enlarged heart, caused by undetected high blood pressure. This is his story of how running has helped him live his life. I had just moved back to the village where I grew up and, whilst re-registering...

Running helped Sam Attwater, 44, lose 4st and deal with the terrible grief of losing her brother. When she started 18 months ago she could manage 30 seconds of running, now she’s training for her first marathon! This is Sam's Story. Five...

After Kate Giles, CEO of endurance sports clothing company Crewroom , stopped competitive rowing, it left a void. This is how running has helped her overcome that empty feeling. We all have our reasons for taking up running. A relatively small number...

Lisa Dobriskey has had some incredible highs and lows in her career. The 28-year-old 1,500m runner won silver at the 2009 Worlds, came fourth at the Beijing Olympics and took gold at the 2006 Commonwealth Game . However, at the World Championships...

Age: 28 (9 th February 1983) Club: Blackheath & Bromley Coach: Robert Chapman Website: Scott Overall Event: Marathon Career Highlights: Scott Overall is one of those Olympic heroes we love. He was the surprise success story...

Age: 32 (born 30/12/1978) Club: Belgrave Harriers Coach: Aston Moore Website: Phillips Idowu Event: Triple Jump Career Highlights : Phillips Idowu is the current leader of the Diamond League triple jump rankings and second...

Age: 38 (13 August 1973) Club: Harrow AC Coach: Shige Yamauchi Website: Mara Yamauchi Event: Marathon Career Highlights: After a number of setbacks Mara Yamauchi clocked 2:27:24 in the November 2011 Yokohama marathon, which meant...

Age: 30 (Born 17/04/81) Club: Wigan & District Coach: Trevor Painter Website: Jenny Meadows Event: 800m Career highlights: Jenny had a successful career as schoolgirl winning the English Schools and AAA's National titles...

Age: 38 (20/9/1973) Club: Exeter Coach: Gavin Pavey Website: Jo Pavey Event: Marathon Career Highlights: Jo Pavey has been setting records and stretching herself as a runner for more than 20 years. Injury set-backs started when...

Age : 31 (born 19 September 1989) Club : Sale Harriers Manchester/Notts Coach : Lloyd Cowan Event : 110m Hurdles (100 and 200m and long jump) Career Highlights : Like fellow hurdler Dai Greene, Andy's a natural sportsman. As well as...

Age: 18 (born 28 September 1993) Club: Herts Phoenix Coach: Mike McFarlane Event: 100m and 200m Career Highlights: The 2009 IAAF World Youth Championships Gold medalist (100m and 200m), Jodie Williams is another protégé...

Age: 28 (23/03/1983) Club: Newham & Essex Beagles Coach: Alberto Salzar Website: Mo Farah Event: 5,000m and 10,000m Career highlights: After a superb year, Mo's been nominated as BBC's Sports Personality of the Year...

Age: 25 (Born 28/1/1986) Club: City of Sheffield Coach: Toni Minichello Website: www.jessicaennis.net Event: Pentathlon and Heptathlon, and 100m hurdles Career highlights: Jessica Ennis is a world champion...

Age: 25 (born 11 April 1986) Club: Swansea Harriers Coach: Malcolm Arnold Website: Wells Sports Foundation Event: 400m Hurdles Career Highlights: At just 25, Dai Greene's career has glittered - he's won gold at three of...

Edna Kiplagat, the current 2011 IAAF World Champion of the women's marathon, speaks to Justin Kiptoo Lagat. Having spoken to a number of Kenya's top long distance athletes recently, one question has begun to puzzle me: Is it their politeness,...

Stefanie Reid is one of Great Britain's brightest hopes for at least one medal in the 2012 Paralympic Games. Competing in the 100m, 200m and long jump, she already has a bronze medal under her belt from the Beijing Paralympics in 2008. 2012 would...

Ultra-runner Stephen Pyke (aka Spyke) lives in Hathersage in the Peak District and works at Sheffield University. Starting on April 25th last year with Ben More on Mull, Stephen set himself the challenge of climbing all Scotland's 3,000 ft hills,...

Every month we'll be highlighting the acheivements of members of The Running Bug in our Member of the Month slot. Who better to kick it off than Teresa Griffiths AKA Runaway Nan? "I’m still relatively new to running, my first 10K race...

75-year-old Jack Denness, AKA Death Valley Jack, prepares to tackle 135-miles in shoe-melting, hallucination-inducing heat as he takes on his 14th Badwater Ultra-marathon. Think old age is the time to put your feet up? No such luck for Jack Denness...

Four years ago Maija Bisset was obese, unhappy and barely left the house. Now, 10 dress sizes smaller, she's fit, full of confidence and planning to run 250km… Even as I was scooping my microwave lasagne onto a plate already piled high with...

Three-times world duathlon champion, Catriona Morrison shares her thoughts on training, going barefoot and beating the guys. With a world record debut Ironman time, along with several other multisport titles under her belt, Catriona Morrison has...

Actress Phoebe Thomas tells The Running Bug how running gave her the confidence to bare all as Lady Godiva. Phoebe Thomas is familiar to fans of Holby City as nurse Maria Kendal, but what most people don't know about the flame-haired 27-year-old...

Latest vacancy: Online Content and Marketing Executive The Running Bug is rapidly becoming ‘the’ destination social media site for all things running and we are now looking to expand our team. You’d be working in a small...