The Hudsons: Running their world

Whether it’s after work, on a weekend, or even somewhere on holiday, the Hudson family are always thinking about running.

Paul and Kate Hudson have a son called Josh – who is 23 years old and autistic – for whom running is very important. The sport has helped Josh find structure and enjoyment every week, as well as make new friends.

Spautism joined the family on a video call in the dining room of their home in Derbyshire, and discussed all things running; from how it all started, through to highlights, ambitions, and the sport’s inclusive environment.

“Basically, back in 2012, Mum and Dad started running together and we wanted to keep fit,” opened Josh, looking back to a time when he was just 11 years old.

“I wanted to be a part of it because Mum and Dad went to Parkrun on a Saturday with a few friends, and Parkrun is about running around a route. It does me good to get out, and it wakes me up for the day.

“I like it when they shout ‘three, two, one, go’ at the start, and I like the hot chocolate at the end.”

“There is always a bribe at the end; some hot chocolate and a bit of cake,” added Paul, who runs with Josh. “Josh has always been a runner though – we could never catch him when he was younger!”

Parkrun has taken the United Kingdom, and the world, by storm. Every Saturday at 9am local time, runners, joggers, and walkers take part in a free 5km race marshalled by friendly volunteers.

Some people speed through for fast times, while others go for the exercising and socialising, but everyone helps to create a welcoming environment for participants of all abilities.

“He does have quite a few friends there,” said Paul. “He knows lots of people, and the crowds don’t bother him. I’m just known at Parkrun as Josh’s dad; we run together and – sometimes – he promises to slow down for me.”

“We keep our heads down and we focus on what we need to do,” Josh explained. “We take it steady at the start and then when we get to the end, we go a bit faster.

“When we see our friends at Parkrun, we often say we will meet them for a drink afterwards. It makes me feel happy; we always have a chat with people we know and always have a laugh. We also have a chat about what we have been doing in the week.”

In many towns and cities, Parkrun has become a hub of the local running community with groups and clubs honing in on that unique event every Saturday morning.

It was through Parkrun that the Hudsons found out about a local running club set up by Jog Derbyshire in Swadlincote – Swad Joggers – and they decided to sign up.

“It’s really good,” Paul smiled. “It’s more of a social running club than a competitive one so there’s less pressure, with lots of groups and different levels. They are very friendly and talk to Josh a lot, and he fitted right in.”

“They are really nice,” said Josh. “When we first met them, they introduced themselves to us and they became friendly with us.”

Josh’s mum, Kate, added: “They help Josh with safety awareness when running across the roads, and they look out for him. They treat him as an equal.”

As their running progressed, Josh began looking for new challenges – a journey that culminated in completing a half-marathon and a full marathon within a fortnight, in one of the world’s most famous capital cities.

“Josh started doing some 10km runs,” reflected Kate. “He then wanted to try and go further than 10km and do a half-marathon.

“We joined the ballot for the London Landmarks Half-Marathon which was really cool, and we thought we’d all put our names in for the London Marathon – thinking we wouldn’t get anything.

“We ended up getting through in both ballots and had the half-marathon two weeks before the marathon.”

“We should have asked him to do a lottery ticket at the same time!” Paul laughed. “We were a bit shocked when we got in both, but we did them. It was a really big weekend, were you nervous Josh?”

“No I wasn’t.”

“Of course you weren’t, I was! But Josh did really well, and we raised around £1,000 for Caldwell Children which was quite an experience.”

So is training for a marathon, which is a lot of hard work, perseverance, and – particularly in the Hudsons’ case – repetition.

“We don’t do that training route anymore, because we did it so many times!” Paul said. “We ended up running the same route because the wet weather last year limited our options, and we kept extending it and extending it.

“A lot of people at Parkrun were very interested. Once we turned up at 9am having done 14 miles already – which was quite the ordeal – but we finished Parkrun and had a full English waiting for us. Not very healthy, but it was brilliant.

“We are doing the marathon again and have been training. We’d have our Weetabix and a cup of tea, and we’d run to Parkrun through fields – and a lot of mud – and see the sun come up.

“All the marshals say hello when we get there; they know we are always late. And we catch everybody up and run the route.

“We then scan our barcodes [to record running results], have a stretch, go to the cake and hot chocolates on a nearby bench, and find who we can find for a drink and a chat.

“During the week we do Tuesday night and Thursday night, and speed training on a Friday night. Then we do a long run with our dog on Sunday, so it’s quite a busy week.”

The weekly sports schedule doesn’t end there, with Josh playing football for Burton Albion Community Club on a Monday night. Both the football club and Swad Joggers have made a lasting, positive impression on Josh and provided him with new experiences.

“Burton Albion Community Club is well set up,” explained Paul. “They involve various levels of disabilities and compete in tournaments. They all know what they are there to do and there’s a great team spirit; it’s the same with the running.

“But swimming didn’t work out. Josh needs handling in a certain way and the swimming club he started going to didn’t want to do that. He had to conform to a very rigid training system and how they expected you to act; if you were outside of that then they were not interested.”

Thinking about what they had learned from the positive – and negative – experiences, Kate explained that clubs should try to be more accommodating to get the best out of everybody.

“People are not going to all act in the same way and shouldn’t have to always conform to expectations.

“Josh used to stim [self-stimulatory behaviour] and the swimming club didn’t want him to stim, but just stand there. If they’d just let him stim he would still be listening and would be quite happy.

“The running group, however, knows that Josh does things a little different and that’s fine because he gets results. The running is about being the best you can be, rather than the coaches focusing on the people who were going to compete at higher levels.

“The football is also a good example because it’s very structured, and the coach doesn’t take any nonsense from anyone. They just seem to all really benefit from the experience.”

Now sport, and running in particular, is a huge part of the Hudson family life and will continue to be for a long time to come.

“We have started going to New Levels coaching at the track at Loughborough University,” said Paul. “We get some coaching to take our running further without going into an environment that is going to be too uncomfortable.

“Running is very important to Josh now, especially if we miss a session, so we might have to slip another run in.”

Josh added: “It’s helped me a lot. I always say, ‘are we going running now?’”