Type 2: Episode 023 - Martin 'MJ' Johnson

Type 2 is a podcast from Looking Sideways in association with Patagonia that explores the intersection between the outdoors, action sports and activism. This week’s guest is runner and activist Martin ‘MJ’ Johnson. Martin is a trail runner and father who, in Run to the Source, his new collaboration with Patagonia, has made a truly thought-provoking film. Run to the Source follows Martin’s attempt to set a new Fastest Known Time (or FKT, as it’s known) along the Thames Path, which he eventually did, completing the 184 distance in 38 hours and 35 minutes. But as anybody who has seen the film will know (and if you haven’t I really implore you to seek it out on YouTube) it soon becomes clear that the Martin and collaborators such as director Matt Kay and producer Phil Young have a much more ambitious story to tell. This is nothing less than the story of the river itself, which in the film becomes a metaphor for the untold black and brown history of Britain. By using this journey to tell such a nuanced story, the film becomes something else entirely, taking Martin’s feat into altogether more convention-challenging territory, and causing us to question our own relationships with the activities and history we can take somewhat for granted. It is powerful yet subtle, and as such is a fitting reflection of its protagonist. One of the things I love about Run to the Source, and Martin’s story in particular, is how it offers up such a nuanced, personal and localised take on activism. Often we’re encouraged to think of activism as a story of absolutes, of fighting the biggest battles of all. Martin’s generous interpretation offers up activism as a means of exploration, on a literal and metaphysical level, and is all the more powerful for that. New episodes of Type 2 are released every four weeks through my Looking Sideways channel. Hear it by subscribing to Looking Sideways via ApplePodcasts, Spotify or any of the usual other podcast providers. Thanks to Ewan Wallace for the theme tune, and to my editor Fina Charleson.