Summary
Overview
Jo Wiley and Zoe Ball discuss the challenges of managing stress and cortisol while maintaining busy lives. Jo reflects on completing the London Landmarks Half Marathon followed by hosting the Olivier Awards coverage, while both explore the importance of self-care, sleep, and finding moments of calm in hectic schedules. They also celebrate the power of theatre, discuss bat-friendly gardening, and share their latest music discoveries.
The London Landmarks Half Marathon and Olivier Awards Double Feature
Jo Wiley shares her incredible Sunday completing the London Landmarks Half Marathon in the morning followed by hosting Radio 2's coverage of the Olivier Awards in the evening. Despite limited training and significant pre-race anxiety, she finished the half marathon in 2.5 hours with her best friend Amy, while her entire family including daughter Coco came out to cheer her on. The experience left her glowing and energized for the red carpet event later that day, demonstrating the powerful effects of physical achievement and endorphins.
- Jo completed the London Landmarks Half Marathon in 2.5 hours, 10 years after first doing it
- Her son Cass ran his first half marathon, finishing in under 2 hours, and now has the running bug
- Jo went from the half marathon straight to hosting the Olivier Awards red carpet coverage for Radio 2
- Coco made a sign saying 'I like the way you walk it, no diggity' for the Dig It crew
" I wanted to do it because Cass has never done anything like that before and he's a runner and I just knew that doing a race being part of something like the landmarks half would excite him and he loved it. He absolutely loved it. And he did it in under two hours. Of course he did. And now he's got the bug. "
" It's really important to me to pass that on to my kids and let them know what fun things there are out there for them to do. So tick tick yesterday. It kind of it worked all round. It was a really good day. "
Pre-Race Anxiety and Physical Manifestations of Stress
Jo candidly discusses the overwhelming anxiety she experienced in the week leading up to the half marathon, including panic attacks in the cinema and catastrophic thinking about potential injuries. She describes physical symptoms of stress including breathing difficulties, racing thoughts about worst-case scenarios, and obsessing over health issues. This vulnerable sharing highlights how even exciting challenges can trigger intense anxiety and how the body manifests psychological stress.
- Jo felt like she was 'looking down the barrel of a gun' with rising panic in her chest all week before the race
- She experienced breathing panic for the first time outside of a triathlon swim start
- In the cinema, she had catastrophic thoughts including 'what if I have a heart attack' and 'what if my back crumbles'
- The furthest she had run in training was a 5K, which made the 13-mile distance seem impossible
" I'll be honest with you, I felt last week like I was looking down the barrel of a gun. I really did. I just felt this rising panic in my chest all the time. "
" I went to the cinema and I almost had a panic attack in the cinema because all I could think of was what if I have a heart attack what if I my back suddenly crumbles and I break my spine I was just imagining all these scenarios god like really quite horrific scenarios like proper worst case. "
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