What if running in beautiful places was paradoxically contributing to the destruction of those precious environments and causing irreversible global harm to people and animals too? In We Can’t Run Away From This , ultrarunner Damian Hall examines the impact of running in our climate and ecological emergency. Packed with insights from experts, it is an enlightening read which will prompt us all to really think about our kit, food and travel, and to identify simple changes we can make to our running and wider lives. But Damian also asks if concentrating on our individual footprints (pun unintended) is really the answer. We can’t run away from this any more, and this book will give every runner ideas about how to live and exercise more sustainably. ‘Gut-wrenchingly serious but also cleverly light-hearted. It’s impossible to read this book and not make changes to your life.’ – Beth Pascall ‘Damian has done diligent research and used his own life as a test case to show practical ways we can contribute to a better future, while still enjoying (most of) the things we love. Any runner should take the time to learn the information shared in this book.’ – John Kelly 'People like Damian are showing all of us, with actions and wisdom, how we can better understand the complexity of climate change and other environmental problems, and how to go one step further by thinking about what we can do, as runners, to help.' – Kilian Jornet Damian Hall is a parent, accidental activist and record-breaking ultrarunner who has represented Great Britain and competed in some of the world’s toughest races. His attempt to break into the top ten at the 105-mile Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc was made into an award-winning film, Underdog; and the documentary Totally FKT followed him and John Kelly as they raced to break the Pennine Way record in 2020. Damian has also set records on the Paddy Buckley Round, the South West Coast Path, the Cape Wrath Trail, and Wainwright’s Coast to Coast. He is a UK Athletics running coach and a widely published journalist who contributed regularly to Runner’s World, Women’s Running and Trail Running. His previous books include In It for the Long Run, A Year on the Run and the official National Trail guide to the Pennine Way. He is a big fan of midlife-crisis haircuts and tea. Travel ‘For most runners and outdoor folk, the largest slice of their individual emissions will be caused by travel , which accounts for one fifth of global emissions. Flying is the most carbon-intensive thing we can do. A flight from London to Berlin creates three times the emissions saved by a year of recycling, and only the US and China generate more emissions via boarding passes than us here in the UK. ‘In most cases, a train journey will create around a quarter to a third of CO2e of a flight. Fossil fuel-powered cars aren’t much better than flights; the bigger they are and the fewer passengers they transport, the worse the greenhouse gas (if SUVs were a nation, they would rank seventh in the world for emissions and have wiped out all gains made by electric and hybrid vehicles). However, four in a car can be similar emissions as a train journey, so lift-sharing and car-pooling for races is a genuine CO2e saver. ‘Running is carbon neutral transport of course, as is cycling (unless your pedal power is fuelled by beef, in which case it’s about as bad as a car). I’ve found I can get to races I used to fly to (such as UTMB) via train. However, now that I know more about the environmental cost of travel, I simply don’t want to race abroad so often any more.’ Kit  ‘The running shoe industry is responsible for approximately the same annual emissions as the entire United Kingdom. That’s worth saying again out loud. Those shoes are almost all made from plastic (i.e., fossil fuels), almost all are non-recyclable and brands tell us we should bin our daps after 300 miles in case they injure us (which no studies prove). ‘The clothing industry as a whole is responsible for many times more pollution again, possibly as much as 10% of global CO2e (although that figure is disputed). And then there’s the large range of environmental and ethical issues around the production process: massive water usage and pollution, toxic dyes and forever chemicals, slave labour, child labour, the fact 69% of our clothes are made from fossil fuels – the very thing scientist warn us we need to stop using right away – and the millions of microfibres released into the oceans, harming wildlife and maybe us too. With clothing (but not footwear), plenty of CO2e is emitted by us, the consumer, every time we wash and dry items (with more microfibres released). ‘The industry excels at greenwash, bandying phrases like “eco-friendly” about while pumping out an endless stream of products in what constitutes an overconsumption crisis. If we care about the planet, should we only buy from Patagonia, wear t-shirts made from bamboo and daps made from mushrooms? Well, those ma