“Allie is an amazing, raw, honest and engaging speaker. She is an incredibly inspiring person that has achieved unbelievable things, and is able to speak about them in a captivating way. Our audience loved her”
- Mike Seaman - Director, The National Running Show
I’m going on tour!
I’m not sure how this has happened, but I appear to be going on a speaking tour. How exciting! The plan is to bring you the best bits of the book plus a load of knowledge, advice and inspiring stuff that I have learnt whilst going through the ringer of addiction, depression and ultrarunning. This is not just a tour for runners - I think everyone will get something from this - I hope it to be as funny as it is shocking and as motivating as it is sweary. I would LOVE to see as many of you as possible there!
I really like doing a talk
I have a slight problem with the word “inspirational” but (and I don’t want to sound like a twat here) it gets bandied about a lot when it comes to the talks I’ve done. I suppose that means I must be doing them right? My thing about talks is that there is a lot of BS spouted by people who stand up and yap about the power of running, endurance sport and their adventures and then try and sell you a book or some kind of weird diet or training scheme that will change your life. I am different. I believe that you should be completely honest. I believe that authenticity is key. I do have a book to sell, but I also have some stories to tell and some stories to share. I have wealth of real experience when it comes to running, mental health, and some pretty awesome, sometimes funny stories. Also I like wearing those head mics. They make me feel like Madonna.
talks
I’ve been lucky enough to do talks for some amazing companies at some amazing events. I’ve visited Sony Music, IBM and Dow Jones to chat about how you don’t have to be a professional athlete (or even a man! shocker!) to run across a country. I’ve talked at huge dot com companies, mountain festivals and running workshops about everything from how to pack a bag to how to cope with those voices telling you you can’t do it. I now host my own area at the National Running Show, after presenting on the Ultra Stage for two years, and I am currently represented by Speakers from the Edge. My talks come from my experience, which is real, visceral and sometimes ridiculous. There is something amazing about doing a talk about how running can actually make you feel like a failure, and having people come up to you afterwards to thank you for inspiring them. So British! I completely love the idea that I can motivate people by being 100% me, and so that is what I try and do. I am not going to pretend I know everything, because I don’t. But I have spent a lot of time trotting around various corners of the world, thinking a lot about what does and doesn’t work within running psychology. There is no one size fits all. I spent a long time in a very high pressure industry, constantly trying to be happy. I got to breaking point and basically chucked in the towel to do the thing I love most. I had no plan and no fall back and I stopped trying to find happy. You can’t find happy. It’s in the now. Slowly, I have managed to build a world around me that allows me the freedom to run and do some good and chat a bit about it. This might not work for you, and it’s had it’s dark times, but it’s a true story. If you fancy a bit of an ‘inspirational’ (bleurgh) and informative talk about endurance running, mental health, realness, saying no, saying yes, deserts, jungles, lakes, being a lady creature in a male dominated world or if you want me to talk about all of these things, then get in touch here. Yay for talking!
“‘Running can make you worse if you spend all your time comparing yourself to others’. Thank f*ck for ppl like @alliebailey speaking serious truth.”
“It’s very rare you will find somebody that speaks so openly. Having people like this is the world will make a huge difference”
Testimonials and feedback (cringe)
Some people have said some nice things about me and I PROMISE I didn’t pay any of them.
“White Star has known Allie for a while now. She’s a runner’s runner. She’s an inspirational champion for female participation in running. If she can do stuff that you wouldn’t ordinarily think’s possible, then so can you. ”