I am SO happy to announce my new interview with pro trail runner, Francesco Puppi.
Francesco is someone I have followed on social media for a long time, being an
extremely accomplished athlete, but also just a genuinely lovely, intelligent guy. He
is now 30 years old, living in Como, Italy where he is from. I was interested to hear
his take on environmentalism within the sport, something he has been quite vocal
on, at least in comparison to other athletes, so I hope you’ll enjoy this
chat as much as I did.
The format of the interview is slightly different this time. I sent Francesco a list of 7
questions, which were responded too via an audio message, so please expect my
first ever podcast-type recording to be released soon if you’d rather take a listen!
Helen: Could you give a brief run-down of who you are, what you're about and your history in running, i.e., some of your achievements which stand out to you.
Francesco: Hi Helen, thank you for sending me this email with these great questions, and yeah, of course I’m happy to answer and I hope this helps. So about me, I’m an athlete, I’m 30 years old and I’m from Italy. I live in Como, that is in the North very close to the Alps and I’ve been running since I was 6 years old. I’ve always had a very strong passion for running but it wasn’t until my twenties that I started trail and mountain running, so my background is on the track, cross-country and on the roads. I wasn’t the most incredible talent when I was young, part of it is because I grew up really late, like when I was 25 years old, so the age gap was pretty big when I was in my youth and I think my passion was not linked to the race results or anything like that, but just the passion for running, for improving myself and to be able to get satisfaction and really see the results of the work that I was putting in. So, I have been used to running pretty good mileage since I was like 10 or 12 years old, like I started running long distance. I ran a half marathon when I was 13 for example. Maybe it was a little bit too soon but just to point out that, you know, I’ve always loved to run long distances. And some of the achievements that stand out for me…so I consider my best race the 2nd place that I took in 2019 at the World Mountain Running Championship in Patagonia, Argentina. That was a race around 40km with 2200 m elevation. I was 2nd behind Jim Walmsley and I think it was the best race of my career so far. Then last year for example, I won the Golden Trail Series world final in El Hierro in the Canary Islands that was another great achievement for me and this year I was second at the World Trail Running Championship behind Stian Angermund and in front of Jon Albon on the short trail distance in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Besides that, I also wanted to point out, because for me it’s important, because I still put in effort to run well on the roads I ran 2 hours 16 mins in the marathon last year and I ran a 64 mins 40 s half marathon in 2020 and I’ve got a 29 mins 47 s pr on the 10km.
Helen: Tell us a bit about your career history - I understand you studied physics at university (as did I!), then became a teacher. Is this still your job or have you transitioned now to a full-time athlete?
Francesco: So, regarding my career history, yeah, I studied physics at university and then I became a teacher in high school. After university I didn’t really know what I wanted to do and the transition from my studies to getting a job wasn’t the easiest one. So maybe going back to school as a teacher was the most natural choice for me, in part because it left different options open. And then I’ve always enjoyed working with kids and inspiring other people and teaching them why physics has been important for me and has inspired me, like the very basic and simple ideas that it is based on; that of course get very complicated the deeper you get into it, but I think it’s a fascinating subject for very different reasons, so I wanted to try to pass on to the kids some of that. And that’s one of the reasons I became a teacher. Then yeah, I had an opportunity to become a professional athlete. I still keep a job as a freelancer because I cooperate with vert run, an app for trail runners, a platform for training, resources, community, podcasts and different things. I take care of some coaching for them, I host a podcast and I also take care of some content creation. So besides running and having a professional contract with Nike that is what I do on a daily basis. I also have a collaboration with the World Mountain Running Association and I take care of the World Mountain Running ranking basically keeping in touch with the different races and their organisers, updating the calendars the athlete’s profiles and everything so yeah. My days are quite full but the good thing is that my work is flexible, I can work from anywhere so it’s never difficult to find the time for training and to travel to the races and everything. But yeah, I would’ve never imagined 4 or 5 years ago to become a professional athlete and I’m really grateful for this opportunity, like getting paid for something that is my passion, that I love, you know, to get recognition for that, someone that trusts you and believes in what you’re doing is pretty special to me so yeah, I’m really happy about my situation now.
Helen: Who are your biggest inspirations in either the running world or more generally, and why?
Francesco: I think I get different inspirations from many, many athletes for different reasons. It’s not that I have like an idol or anything like that whether that’s in trail or road running, but there are a lot of athletes that inspire me a lot for different reasons. One athlete that I really look up to is Molly Seidel, she’s a marathoner, she took 3rd at the Olympic games last year, for the way she runs and also for her voice in the sport. I think she’s brave enough to share her weaknesses and her struggle sometimes and just to take running seriously but at the same time not being too serious about herself and to me that has been really inspirational, like she is an athlete that I really admire in this particular moment. Then of course it’s easy to be inspired by Kilian Jornet, by Eliud Kipchoge, by Jim Walmsley, by Courtney Dauwalter, you know, Ruth Croft, so many great athletes, um, Emily Fosberg. Each one of them has tonnes of reasons to teach us something, so it’s hard for me to pick one. But yeah, maybe I’d choose the name of Molly Seidel who you know is someone that is maybe not the most typical athlete that people see as an idol or a person to look up to, but for me it’s been really important.
Helen: You've been quite vocal about environmental issues and how these relate to athletes. You are part of the Outdoor Friendly Pledge and the Kilian Jornet Foundation. Tell us a bit about these and why you joined them.
Francesco: Yeah, I’m part of the Outdoor Friendly Pledge that was launched by the Kilian Jornet Foundation and to me it’s really important to be a part of this project. I think as athletes we have a voice which is important to share. Of course, it’s important to take action as individuals and I try to limit in any way I can my impact on the environment, but I am aware that I can use my voice and my recognition to inspire other people to do the same. So, for me, it has been really important and to feel part of a community that values that within my sport is also really important. So, I think it’s important not to pretend to be perfect because nobody is and the to realise that running is ultimately a good thing, we are not impacting the environment that much. Of course, most of the impact comes from travelling to different places and to competitions, so it’s important to pay attention to that but also to realise that we aren’t the bigger problem. But we have this power to speak up and inspire other people, other sports and people who are maybe not involved with trail running to be more outdoor friendly. I think this has great value.
Helen: How do you think large brands in the sport can pave the way in environmentalism, such as through their regulations and ethics, for us as athletes? International travel is clearly an issue, but as you phrased it, 'no athletes= no competition = no sport'.
Francesco: I see a lot of possibilities for athletes that are opening up in the outdoor sports, particularly in trail running. I think that athletes are starting to have more power to influence the way that brands and sponsors work. So, I think if elite athletes have clear values of environmentalism and the fact that we put it at the centre of our attention, the climate issue, just trying to limit our impact as athletes we can also influence the way that brands produce, and they work basically. We can really push them to be more environmentally friendly, we can really influence their regulations and ethics. That’s one important thing because are just a few people, but we have a powerful voice, especially when we unite because we have a great influence on the community I think, and ultimately, we are what drives the sport forward. So again, this goes back to the previous questions I answered, like if you know elite athletes are the driving force for this change then the community will follow, and the brands will be forced to follow our priorities. And if among our priorities are environmentalism and respect for our planet, limiting emissions and everything like that then I think we can strive to build a better economy. Then of course, I see it’s very political. Our greatest influence comes by far from the way we vote so we should always pay attention to that from political leaders. Then just the way our economy is built that unfortunately so far has not taken into account the fact that our planet is limited. We still believe an idea of an endless progress that is just not possible, not true, not compatible with the planet where we live, so yeah, I think this is a really vast, broad topic but that’s pretty much what I think. And yeah, international travel is clearly an issue but of course we are athletes, this is our job, we need to compete. It’s important to plan a calendar and pick our races wisely because it’s always possible to limit international travels, like we don’t have to do 5 or 10 international travels per year but maybe just a couple are enough. And that has some impact on the planet but it’s not as big as many other things that we do and its one way to still compete at the highest level, and at the same time limit our impact on the planet. Because of course, no athletes means no competition, means no sports so we would be talking about nothing.
Helen: What do you think athletes, both amateur and elite, can do to reduce our impact on the environment through our sport?
Francesco: So, to reduce our impact, as I said, mainly is travelling to the competitions and I think the points that are on the Outdoor Friendly Pledge under the athlete’s tab, they’re really good, so I would suggest checking out those. Then, more in general, think about the way we live, the way we eat and the way we consume. So like try to buy only the things that we really need when it comes to equipment, cars, our homes and everything we use to live. Of course, we are immersed in a culture and business model that encourages us to buy more things, more and more things that we don’t need. You know, Black Friday was just a few days ago and it’s the festival of consumerism, so we should have the courage to go against these trends and realise what we really need because that can have the most impact on the planet. And then of course, the way we eat is also really important. I’m not saying that everyone should go vegetarian or vegan but you know there are some behaviours that we can do to reduce our impact on the environment, of course, like limiting our consumption of meat and then, yeah, just try to buy local products, support local farmers, find sustainable protein sources and also realise that we may not need as much protein as a lot of people say. My diet is actually mostly based on complex carbs I think, so, I think for athletes its really good. So yeah, as always, it’s very basic things, it’s important to take care of them every day. And then I’m thinking about travelling, a lot of times I see people that want to travel to exotic places and go on vacation to the other side of the world, without maybe realising that we have so many amazing places close to where we live and we don’t need to go to the Maldives Islands to have a great vacation, cause that’s maybe not a good option for the environment. So yeah, just think about different ways to reduce our impact on the planet in everything we do.
Helen: If you had not become a pro runner, what would you have pursued instead?
Francesco: I think if I had not become a pro runner I would’ve still liked to work within the sport or in the field of physics. I think I could exploit my degree in physics in different ways. One of the things that I really wanted to do was to work for an energy company, for example, to develop some kind of renewable or work in that sector. Of course, doing something related to the environment, improving energy efficiency, ultimately doing something good for people and the planet. So, I would’ve probably ended up doing something like that or I don’t know, just working within the sport of trail running, for a federation, a brand or just the same as I’m doing now. I’m working for Vert, I’m a freelancer, I’m working for different, not brands, but a federation, a start-up and then sometimes I write articles for different magazines. I don’t know if I could’ve made a living just on that, but it would’ve been kind of nice. So, I think this is all I had to say and thank you again for your questions, they’re very insightful and I hope this helps.
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