Alex Gladley (vegan): Champion Runner Fueled by Plants, Part 1 of 2

Alex Gladley (vegan) is a renowned long-distance runner based in the United Kingdom. He has competed in several international marathons, placing second in the 2018 Vancouver, Canada race, becoming the champion of the 2023 Edinburgh, Scotland race, and achieving his personal best time of 2 hours 20 minutes and 22 seconds in Valencia, Spain. Alex also promotes veganism as a writer for VegClub Magazine and through his speeches and interviews.

“So, I was raised as a vegetarian. And it was always about animal welfare.” “I was getting back into health and fitness at the time, and I was doing CrossFit, so I was trying to put on muscle. And all of a sudden, it was like my body wanted, chickpeas and hummus and lentils and all of those good things. But then at the same time, I was also learning about the dairy industry and how, they don’t treat the animals any better.” “I tend to eat a whole food, plant-based diet. I think that you can get enough from your good vegan diet. And then, obviously, with the vegan diet, lots of color in all of our meals, making sure that we’re getting all the right kind of micronutrients and minerals and things like that.”

Alex is also highly disciplined about his training and runs several times each week. So, how does he manage to stay balanced and thrive in all areas of his life? “And I think that you’ve really got to be careful with all of them, and sometimes, especially with the marathon running, right? So, I tend to be pretty forward thinking, and how I’m going to then recover from that, and what I might do to see other people.”