Esmée Gummer has just spent 99 consecutive days running across the UK and Ireland in an incredible challenge: The Nation’s 5K. She covered 5,000KM – the equivalent of 118 marathons. And that’s not all; along the way, she hosted free 5K run clubs in 77 cities, including Dublin. Almost 6,700 people joined her along her route, from seasoned marathoners to people moving for the first time in years. On 3 October, she completed The Nation’s 5K with a finish at Buckingham Palace, before being presented with a Guinness World Record at Hyde Park for the most run clubs hosted in different cities by an individual.

It was a remarkable achievement for someone who was told she might never walk again after being paralysed by complications during a routine operation at 18. Having relearned to walk, dance and run, Esmée went on to complete marathons and ultramarathons. Her latest challenge was about something bigger than endurance. Here, she tells us about overcoming her fear of running, the physical and mental toll of the challenge, and why she wants to make running more welcoming for everyone…

Esmée Gummer interview

How did you first start running?.

Running was always a part of my life growing up, until the paralysis. Then I didn’t start running again for six years. I remember saying that I would never run again. I think I had a massive superstition that if I ran, I would get paralysed again. Over those six years, I did have problems with my legs going limp twice. Those episodes were never linked to running, but I just didn’t trust my body anymore to do it.

I remember in those six years genuinely being lovesick for running. Then in 2018 I got offered a London marathon charity spot with my friend Hannah. I remember thinking to myself this could be the opportunity to finally run again. I had 16 weeks, and I was fit and active and strong. I’d done a lot of strength training and HIIT training and boxing. I was a fitness instructor, so I had all the right things to be able to do it. I remember thinking, “If I don’t do this now, I don’t think I’ll ever run again”. And so I said yes.

What happened next?

It absolutely rollercoastered from there. I had some problems during the training when my leg would go limp – it’s an ongoing problem due to a brain injury from what happened. But I did the training and just fell in love with it again.

It was the best day of my life. I didn’t wear a watch and I didn’t know what pace was. To be honest,  I didn’t know that people ran a marathon for a time – I thought people ran a marathon to say ‘I’ve run a marathon’! Afterwards, I remember thinking that I didn’t ever want to stop running again. I looked for what else I could do and I very quickly got into ultra running.

I suppose if someone was to ask me what kind of runner I was before this challenge, it was just a runner who loves running. I’m so happy to be able to run and I love running so much I’ve never really gone for the performance side of it.

How did The Nation’s 5K come about?

I started my own run club about three years ago in London because every single run club I’d been to was based on 30-minute 5Ks. It felt like there was nothing out there for me. I can’t always continuously run 5K because of my history. It meant I couldn’t go and enjoy running with other people. I thought that barrier to entry was absolutely heartbreaking. I want to create a running space where people will hear that it’s OK to walk sometimes!

So,I launched The Say Yes Club and it ended up being really successful. I used to get messages from people saying that I changed their life – though that wasn’t me, it was the run club! But I wasn’t comfortable with the social media part; sitting there on my phone telling people to go and run. I wanted to be there in person and show up for people. And that’s when the idea came around of wanting to take this to every single city in the UK – and why drive between them when you can run?

A big motto of the Say Yes Club, and the way I live, is that if you can, do, and if you can’t, don’t. It’s as simple as that. If you can, you should. During the two-year planning process, there were lot of men who were doing lots of endurance challenges. There were no women represented in the space, and I didn’t like that. I needed to do this for the girls.

What was it like setting off on that first day?

I was absolutely terrified! You spend so much time imagining it, but you can’t predict what it’ll be like. I knew from the minute I pressed start on my watch and took that first step that I was in it for three and a half months.

I’ll remember that first day forever. As we left the city,  I remember Chris Taylor [run coach and logistically-tricky expeditions expert] telling me to cross a roundabout and get onto an A-road – with no pavement. I remember thinking how crazy it was. I got onto this white line on the side of the road, with Taylor behind me on his bike. The cars were going past me at 70 miles an hour, and I remember my body was shaking, my heart was racing, and at times I felt like I was going to faint.

When I imagined this challenge, it was all beautiful countryside. I didn’t for one second think about running on A-roads! I got to the checkpoint and I asked Taylor how much of the challenge was A-roads. He said something like 40%. I immediately panicked that I couldn’t do it.

Weirdly, by the end of the challenge, I could go into this meditative state on an A-road. My brain would just block out the cars, and half an hour would pass.

How did you keep track of your mileage as you went?

I had a brilliant watch – the Amazfit Active 3 Premium. It was so good for tracking my activity and keep an eye on my performance day by day. I loved having all my key stats on my wrist, helping me understand my effort and progress as I pushed through each stage of the challenge. It was also great to have a watch that felt comfortable enough to wear throughout the day, without having to worry about charging it constantly.

What was your lowest point?

Oh, God, the hogweed – that was a tough time. I’ve got quite a lot of health anxiety from what happened to me. A hernia repair operation is not supposed to leave you paralysed! I was told that I was allergic to anaesthetic and sedatives. Being allergic to something that people get given to them every second of the day makes you scared of everything. If I’m allergic to something that’s so common, I could be allergic to anything.

So when I reacted badly to the hogweed burns, it was so much more than the pain of the burns that I was going through. I woke up one morning and I had welts all over my knees. The day went on and the pain got worse. I felt like I was cooking alive, like my knees were just burning. Later on that day, the burns started leaking this yellow stuff, constantly running down my legs. I went to bed and I woke up at 1am in absolute agony. I was like screaming in pain. We turned the light on and I had a golf ball-sized blister on my knee. By the morning, they were all over my knees.

So then I had to run wearing tracksuit bottoms [because you need to keep hogweed burns out of sunlight] with golf ball-sized blisters that were weeping. The pain was horrendous, the swellings were huge and the toll it took on my mental state was horrible. I was only 10 days in, with 89 days ahead of me.

And that went on for another 10 days. I wasn’t eating. I wasn’t sleeping because there’s just so much pain. It was a ripple effect of I couldn’t sleep because of the pain and then I couldn’t eat because I felt sick because I hadn’t slept. And then I’d run an ultra.

I remember making a decision to trust my body at that moment. It was the hogweed or the anaesthetic [that did the bad things to me]. It wasn’t my body. And I think it’s the first time I reconnected with my body saying, “Oh, I trust you. I’m sorry. I never doubted you.” It was a big switch because from then on in the challenge, things were going to come up and I was prepared to trust my body to get through it because it was amazing.

What kept you going through the difficult times?

I won’t lie: there was discomfort and sadness in every day of the challenge. But I can hand on heart say there was more happiness in every single day. Even with the hogweed burns, there was a bit of happiness in those days. Happiness came from the views, being outdoors, the solitude. It came from laughs with the crew, and the camaraderie of working together. And then there were the run clubs. Happiness was the people.

It was turning the corner and walking into a park and seeing people standing there waiting. There were people who had this in their diary from January, and they were waiting for me to turn that corner. When you’re running every day and you feel tired, but you remember that there’s someone standing there waiting for this moment – it keeps you going.  I had one woman tell me that this was the first run since she lost her husband. That’s one person. But thousands ran with me this summer, and they all had a reason to put it in their diary and run.

I had a woman who hadn’t run for 50 years, since she played netball at school. And when we finished, I pulled her out and told everyone she’d run her first 5K, and everyone clapped and she sobbed. She was so overwhelmed, and messaged me afterwards to say she would cherish it forever. I can’t tell you how amazing that felt. The highlights were the people.

How did it feel to cross the finish line? Do you miss the challenge?

Yes! I’m honestly lovesick. My heart is aching. But I think that it’s amazing to miss something so much. I’m so lucky and grateful to have found something that I love so deeply.

I remember running to the finish, smiling but also breaking down. In the video you can see someone so proud, but also someone who knows that it’s over. You can see the heartbreak in it.

I’m so proud of the achievement. It had to come to an end, but I do feel so excited that I know this is my calling. This is what I’m meant to do. I don’t need to run 50K a day to get people moving. Now it’s all about how can I keep this message going and keep people moving. How do I create the space that I created this summer? I think there’s a lot more 5Ks. I don’t think we celebrate the 5K distance enough – I want to bring it back. It’s the most brilliant distance, it’s so versatile. Everyone can get a sense of achievement out of a 5K. I want to be the poster girl for the 5K!

What do you want people to take away from The Nation’s 5K?

I want people to know the impact that they can have on other people and how great it is. You’re never too small. There are so many ways you can help yourself and other people – through running, or not through running. Inviting people to come and move with you, or hosting a run club, or a space for people.

I think we have a divide between people who are confident in running, and people who aren’t. I think if the people who are confident in running could help the people who aren’t, and if the people who aren’t confident could be open to being helped and supported, we’d be in a really good space.

Our runs were truly inclusive – I would start at the front and would finish at the back. I have come into contact with every single type of person you can imagine in the running space. And if you don’t think you belong, I can tell you now that you do, because I’ve seen every single person like you. My mission is to showcase all runners because I want everyone to see themselves in my content. I want people to feel seen.