Austyn Farrell is one of the most joyful people you'll encounter online. But behind the energy and the viral content was someone who had lost his way and found it again, almost entirely through running.

This week on The Runna Podcast, Austyn joins Anya and Ben for one of the most honest conversations the show has had. He talks about hitting rock bottom, going sober, and how training for a marathon gave him a reason to keep going, and a version of himself he didn't know existed.

He'll also make you laugh the entire way through. Watch or listen to the full episode to hear the full conversation.

"I'm Not Running Away From Anything - I'm Running With It"

Two years ago, Austyn wasn't a runner. He was, by his own description, in a very dark place: substance misuse, a toxic relationship, and a loneliness he was drowning out rather than sitting with.The decision to change came with a goal: sign up for a marathon, go sober, commit fully.

What he discovered on those first long runs wasn't just fitness. It was three hours of uninterrupted space to think, not to escape what he was carrying, but to actually process it. To be his own therapist, as he puts it, in a way that nothing else had allowed.

By the time he crossed the finish line in London this year, he ran 2:58. Sober. In memory of two friends he'd lost.

Listen to the full episode to hear how he got there.

The Race Day Moment That Nearly Broke Him

Austyn went into London in wave one: ambitious, on pace, and fighting hard.

Then, somewhere around mile 19, his mind and body disconnected entirely. GPS throwing different numbers, a tough month behind him, the pace slipping.

And then he saw Anya and Ben on the course. He talks about what that moment of familiarity did: not a tactical intervention, just recognition. A face he knew, a reminder of why he was there, enough to keep going.

He finished in 2:58. And cried a lot.

What Running Actually Does for Your Mental Health

This is the thread that runs through the entire conversation and it's worth hearing in full. Austyn is open about the fact that his thoughts on long runs can go to dark places. That being alone with your own mind isn't always comfortable. But that sitting with those thoughts, rather than running from them, is exactly what running gave him the space to do.

He talks about training not as escapism, but as investment in a future self, in a clearer head, in a life that feels genuinely his own. It's one of the most honest accounts of running and mental health you'll hear - and it applies well beyond elite performance or sub-3 goals.

Owning Who You Are in Sport

At his first HYROX, Austyn wore a pride vest. He had a moment of doubt in a toilet cubicle, and then walked out and wore it around the entire course. He talks about Rainbow Road, his run club, and what it means to find a space in sport where you're fully, unambiguously welcome. And what it means to stop performing a version of yourself and just be it.

Running, he says, is the first thing in his life that isn't a performance. You can't fake a run. And that honesty - with his body, his limits, his story - is what changed everything.

"You Cannot Fail Unless You Try"

Austyn's advice to anyone who feels lost, or who sees themselves in any part of his story, is simple: You already know what you need to do. Trust that instinct. Try: whether that's going sober for two weeks, signing up for a 5k, or walking away from something that's holding you back.