Words like embarrassing and sorry are not necessary, Ben. Take the time you need to find your strength(s) again, and remember you're still a legend and a huge inspiration, both in good and less good times, to other people (runners and non-runners)! 💪🏻

Ben, there's nothing to be embarrassed about. Those of us who were following your progress during UTMB were wishing you nothing but the best, but were also knowing how difficult of a task it is for anyone to cross the finish line. You have inspired many of us, and you will continue doing so.

There are zillions of people making running videos. We come here because you and Sarah are delightful people - funny, honest, vulnerable, supportive, and creative. None of that is directly tied to race outcomes or changes when you DNF or even DNS. Keep doing what makes you happy, and by sharing it, makes others happy too.

99% of the people here just want to support you regardless of finishing position. You do so many amazing things at such a high level. The struggles just show you re human. Being switched on for a marathon or ultra can be a finicky thing. The professional runners often struggle with these distances. Sort yourself out however you feel is best and I’m certain your supporters will be here for you. Can’t wait to see you smash whatever comes next!

Ben, you don't know me from Adam, but you are an inspiration. Don't apologise for the delay in this video and certainly don't apologise for either your mental health or the 'failure' of UTMB. The fact you had that disappointment yet were still there for Sarah at the end of her epic race shows the type of person you are. Using your training plans and bought 2-3 hats (I keep losing them 😆) you've made me realise anyone can really be a runner. Keep getting it done, all the best and let us know how it all goes!

That’s a very brave video Ben, and anyone who has been following you for a while will fully appreciate how hard it probably was to film. I think we can also all appreciate how much pressure you must feel when this is not just your hobby but also your job. I also just wanted to mention that, IMO, you don’t need to do well competitively to make great videos. And in fact, showing the human side of running, including the downs as well as the ups, is of far greater value to viewers (who may also be struggling) than those who only choose to show their successes. Let’s face it, there’s enough of that in social media in general - and it’s not healthy or helpful! I really hope you’ll feel able to share some of your next steps. I for one will certainly continue to follow and like (love) your channel. ❤ 🤗

I'm sorry to see that this is (and we are) causing you so much stress and anxiety. It's supposed to be fun! Definitely time for a recalibration of something here :) All the best to you, I hope your next run is a positive experience, no matter the result.

A dnf is never embarrassing - it’s a part of trail running. Everyone’s dnf’s at some point for myriad reasons. Don’t pressure yourself, 2:25 is phenomenal and you’re in

Watched the video, went away, felt the need to comment and came back and post, which I never do.... It's important to remember that the impact of our actions can be achievements much bigger than the ones we were seeking. You make content that inspires a lot of people. You are genuine and real about the process on good days. You're incredibly honest about your struggles on the "less good" days. All of these have a massive impact on a lot of people and that is the opposite of embarrassing. It's pretty awesome. 🙂 Best of luck finding the answers you are looking for and thank you for being who you are. And as a mum to 2 on the spectrum, thanks for being another voice willing to talk about these things. Breaking taboos is another pretty awesome contribution to your online "community" 😉

Hi Ben, I'm not usually one to comment on things like this. However, you played a role in inspiring me to start running when I was bored during the first lockdown so A) Let me thank you for that. B) As a primary school teacher, I'm often telling my class there's no point them being here if they've got all the answers. The challenges, the struggles, the (quote-unquote) 'failures' are all part of the process. It's very difficult for me to follow my own worldly wisdom on occasion, but it is something I firmly believe in. When I'm out of inspiration, or I haven't run in months I return to some of yours and others' videos and it gives me that boost to get it done. Well done for setting clear goals on how to use this as a learning experience. I'm looking forward to completing a marathon before I turn 30 next year - there's going to be lots of learning experiences with that for sure. See you on the start line! 😅

We were just talking about why we continue to watch you week after week and the word ‘integrity’ springs to mind. You’re not afraid to share your struggles as well as your successes and are all the more inspiring as a result.

Ben, mental health is more important than anything else. As someone who loves to run ultra's, I lost someone that was a trail running mentor to me due to mental health and till this day I cannot run on the trails w/o breaking down. Time heals all wounds but you need to give yourself that time to figure it out and when you have the trails will still be there for you. Take your time, run roads to gain clarity & confidence back. We will encourage you from all over the world!

If you never fail at anything, it means you're not challenging yourself enough. Well done for going for it. Don't live small. Keep going. 👍🏻

Oh Ben - very late in catching up on this but on your suspected autism/adhd, all I can say is chase that diagnosis. Your suspicions are a very, very good indicator for this. I did the same 18 months ago, same diagnosis. BEST. THING. EVER. Completely changed my mental health. I no longer fought to be who I thought I should be to others, but embraced all that these gave me in spades. No wonder I’d been burnt out, anxious, depressed. I hope you can find yourself in it too, it will change your life in so many amazing ways that you can’t imagine, and makes it exponentially easier to deal with the aspects that are hard. From one proud neurodivergent to a possible/probable other.🙏🏻

Absolutely not embarrassing, you have my full admiration for speaking out about mental health and about ‘failure’. I met you at the Chamonix shake out run and I was really rooting for you knowing how much you wanted it after last year’s fall and injury. My guess is that alongside some other issues like training and nutrition you could well have had a virus or even COVID, there seemed to be plenty of it about with hindsight. One year your day will come and I wish you every success on the roads in the meantime. As an older female runner my experience is that success in trail ultras can come at any age and the correlation with raw speed is actually pretty weak (unless you really are at the sharp end).

We haven't all tried to run UTMB; hell, I haven't even run a marathon yet! But we all know how it feels not to perform as well as we'd hoped. And it sucks. But standing here on the other side of the KZfaq video, Ben, I can say that we all love and appreciate YOU and the work you do as much as we always have. Taking us through the ups and downs of training AND competition helps us perform better, ourselves--and that's such a gift you give us. So THANK YOU! And know that we'll be just as supportive of you when you hit your next PB as we are now. 'Cause it's YOU we're celebrating here, and you're you no matter how you place!

Ben, thank you for being so open with your struggles, on the road, trail or in your head. You are by far the most courageous of all the “big time” runners out there, as you push yourself all the time - again physically and mentally - and inspire us by sharing it all. We need more Bens in this world! Thank you! “Keep on keeping on!”

I don’t watch because you’re fast or accomplished, I watch because of your personality, great tips & helps, and your opinions on products. You’re a relatable and likable person. Thank you for sharing your running and some of your life with us. Cheers to you and Sarah.

Hi Ben I’m autistic and was only diagnosed last year (at age 28). Good luck with the whole process, and thank you for speaking openly about it 💛🙌

Thanks for this Ben ❤

Every one of your subscribers and folk who stumble across your channel are and will be humbled by your honesty, Ben. You are an inspirational fella and an incredible athlete - all of us just wish we were half as talented as you are!! Keep at it, stay strong in every way and always be true to yourself! 💪

My admiration for you is further enhanced by this Ben. You and Sarah are remarkable content-creators. You are incredibly wise, experienced, skilful and generous. Your modesty is another strength and I hope that this period of reflection is matched with an equal measure of celebration for all the achievements. Please heed all the comments. You've nothing to be sorry for or embarrassed by; nothing.

All good bro

Stay hard Ben! 👊

We love you Ben! ❤

Nothing more crushing than working hard day after day and then on that ONE day things don't go your way. I had a similar thing happen in my marathon last year. I decided to take a break and focus on shorter faster distances. That helped me relax and take so much pressure off. And then recently the marathon bug got me again so I am heading into another one this winter. The break was so good and I got faster, so bonus all around. Best of luck to you on your journey returning to the roads for a break from trails. And most of all good luck with the mental health journey. You'll figure it out.

just did your 50 mile plan and ran my 50 last Saturday... just bought the marry 315-345 plan.. thank you your the truth!

Best of luck to you mate.

Love your videos and the superb quality. Keep it up ♥

All the best Ben 🫶

Thanks

Never give up 💪🏼

Keep going Ben! You are a true inspiration

Respect and big up for you..onto the next one

Thank you for sharing so openly. I enjoy your videos both for the content and your unique perspective. I'm looking forward to your marathon videos later this year!

Thank you for sharing your experience and thoughts. You got this Ben! God bless.

I appreciate your candor! Good for you for taking care of yourself.

Huge respect for you Ben. Keep up the good work.

Well done mate. Getting to the start line and competing like you have done is a big achievement for anyone. I'm not an expert on any of this, so you don't have to take my advice, but I can tell you get incredibly nervous for race day. The pressure must be immense for such a big distance that you've trained so long for, and perhaps that gets to you and affects your performance? The fastest marathon you've done was one where you went out planning to 'run 5k and see how it goes'. Maybe a freedom and lack of pressure is what you need, so working on dealing with the pressure and anxiety could be a good way forward? Anyway, giving UTMB a few years off and focusing on road marathons sounds like a good idea, but don't put too much pressure on yourself. It's only you who's putting pressure on yourself, nobody else.

Gutted for you. Thank you for the honesty. You got this.

Well done Ben, keep your chin up!

Good decision, Ben!!

Thanks for sharing. Great effort to make it to the start line. Backing you 💯

Love your channel and always will. Been an inspiration of mine since I started running

You can do it. You will do it!

Thanks for posting Ben, your videos are amazing - those wins will feel all the more sweet when they do come ❤

Good Luck , take care. Thank you.

All the best Ben, good luck with Valencia x

Best of luck to you Ben. Back to basics sounds a plan.

Just watched the video Ben and am so pleased that you are going to focus on enjoying your running. We have loved watching your videos and getting to know you and Sarah. You probably don't realise that you have a whole community behind you both and I would like to offer my support to what you are trying to do. As you tell us all the time. 'Keep getting it done', but remember to have fun! (maybe a new tag lne for you! You're welcome!)

We all love seeing your videos whatever the outcome. This is an honest and refreshing take on races that we all encounter but hesitate to talk about. You'll get there and we are all behind you. Keep running and inspiring x

Ben - don't normally comment on KZfaq videos but felt compelled to after watching this. I've not been running much over the last couple of years having found things harder since starting a family but watching your videos has been so inspirational as I'm trying to get back into it. Keep up the good work, I and many others really appreciate what you do!

Its not about the finish line, its about having the courage to start in the first place

All the love and support. You are amazing

Your honesty is inspiring Ben! Keep up the hard work!

Ben you are an inspiration It’s just life! 😊

Ben, be kind with yourself. I absolutely know that for a performance oriented guy like you this is not what you want to hear, but it is what you NEED to hear: be kind with yourself. There is no humiliation in whatever marathons or ultras throw at us. Thank you for sharing with us and being vulnerable, I absolutely admire you for this! Keep it up and good things will come for you, you deserve it.

Ben, I respect you for this video and for being so open with where you are now. It's so hard to process things privately when they don't go as planned, so doing so here is very commendable. Well done, we always get stronger from the hard times and you'll be able to work through all of this and become and even better version of yourself in the future.

Lots of love Ben, always appreciate your content including the ups and downs. Seeing you whizz past on the other side of the road when I was doing Brighton Half a year or so ago is still a highlight for me on my running journey. I am sure that there are still PBs waiting for you on the road and epic trips on the trails at some point too hopefully. Good luck with everything.

Very much appreciate the honesty and directness, and hope the focus will help you find that joy again!

Rooting for u Ben! In every way. Your such a great source of motivation for me!

Ben you are an inspiration. See you in the next one! 💪🏻

Ben, love your videos and your honesty. Keep up the great work - there is a whole community that follow you and take inspiration from your videos 👍

Very honest review Ben. It's really very much helpful ❤

Great update - your attitude is very inspiring. I subscribed and I'm looking forward to following your progress on the roads!

I have this thesis that a lot of runners have mental issues and that is what steered them into running in the first place because running calms the mind. I think the key is to be much more focused on the proces rather than the goals so you don't lose the joy of running.

Well done Ben. Tough video to make. Looking forward to watching you PB in Valencia

Hats off for getting this video and just being honest with your audience and yourself. Excellent idea to get back to what you love most and build from there. When we feel at rock bottom ( never mind that you we may not actually be at rock bottom) , the only way is indeed up. Don’t be embarrassed. Part of putting yourself out there is showing the highs and the lows. And so many shy away from that. We all relate to that. In many martial arts , the focus is on the journey not the destination. Each step . Counts. Well done.

That's a tough one, Ben. Well done for talking about it so honestly and there's nothing to be embarrassed about. These things are sent to test us.

Gutted for u Ben, but delighted that you will be running Valencia, hope to see you on the start line. Keep doing the videos as we love the content and it inspires us all to train/run harder.

thank you very much for your update, feel gutted for you that UTMB didn't work out the way you wanted this year. I think it simply shows how challenging this event is! Excited to follow your journey with focussing on road running and then getting back to trails in the future. You gave some real honesty in this video which i think was extremely brave of you, so thank you for that. Wishing you all the best for your development going forward 😃👍

Keep your chin up Ben, proud of you and what you have achieved and you are an inspiration 👍🏻👍🏻

Thanks for posting this Ben. Nothing to be sorry or embarrassed about, this kind of stuff happens to us all. However, I can completely understand your disappointment, I’ve watched all your UTMB build up videos and can see how much it means to you. Liking your short, medium and long term plan approach. Looking forward to seeing the very fast GoPro footage in the coming weeks and hopefully see you out in NYC! 🙌

Well done Ben. Great effort. Nothing to be ashamed about. You are a inspiration.

Strong smart words. Look forward to seeing what you accomplish

Ben you're an inspiration keep that chin up!

Well done Ben. Making an effort is all we can do. Can't see anything to be ashamed of at all. Good luck with this next stage! Will be following along :)

Ben, you’re amazing! Can’t wait to watch you run in Chicago next year!!

What a great and vulnerable video - and hope testing and discovery goes smoothly for some of the things you might be dealing with!

It’s not embarrassing and you shouldn’t apologize. You can’t control weather and how you are feeling that day! That’s running and that’s why we love it so much! You are a legend and we support you all the way! Keep on!

Well done for being so open and vulnerable about all that. As a predominantly road runner, I'm looking forward to the upcoming content!

I was so looking forward to seeing your video after having a good run this year. But no matter, a million different things can happen on the day. I will always tune in to your videos and root for you. Your style and presentation are my absolute favorite from the running community, and you’ve motivated me to get out on my runs on days when I couldn’t muster my own motivation. Don’t give up on utmb, I look forward to you conquering that; it gives people like me hope. We’re with you in San Diego.

Aw Ben you are such an inspiration, it must be really gutting for you. We are all very grateful for whatever you put out on your journey and you dont need to feel embraced or sorry at all. We just love following you

All great runners , and the professionals, have a few dnf in their career.Thank you for sharing! Stay strong!

Loved your video, Ben. UTMB puts a lot of mental pressure on everyone and you helped convey that message. You will be back bro!

Never feel the need to apologise Ben. You are a huge inspiration for so many. Keep up the awesome work. Thank you so much.

Hi Ben! Thank you for the update. There is nothing to be embarrassed about. You just had a bad day like everyone has once in a while. Wishing you to figure out your struggles soon and come back even stronger. Also looking forward for more awesome videos.

Gutted didn’t work out for you Ben! Big up for being open about the struggle, some great races to come I’m sure!

It’s time to go full send for that Marathon PB. 🔔 Looking forward to follow the journey. All the best Ben!! 🙏

I support you and appreciate your courage in sharing with us what happened. You are still a superb runner and person.

You’re an inspiration Ben, your videos have pushed me on ! Don’t give up ! Good luck !

We're all behind you Ben! Thank you for such an honest discussion - it's easy to make a video when things go well, but perhaps not so easy to make one when things don't go as well as you'd hoped. Your trail videos are some of my favourite, so can't wait for you to get back on the trails (when you're ready!). I say this as someone who will probably never ever run anything close to UTMB, but it feels like I'm running it with you when I see your videos, no matter the results. ❤

Thanks for being so positive and authentic. Wish you all the best for the upcoming season!

Well done Ben, followed you for a while now and this video is absolutely amazing. You are an amazing runner, and I’m sure one day UTMB will be yours ❤

Ben,thanks for sharing your thoughts You’re an inspiration to so many. Running is about the downs as well as the ups. ❤

Thanks for your complete honesty and frankness!

Your journaling of your running, and ultimately the experiences of success and/or failures are what make me come back to this channel. Do not apologise or be embarrassed. These real experiences are what we all go through and your honesty is so valuable to everyone who watches. Be well Ben, and thanks for being so candid.

Great honest assessment video, it can only help you going forward. I look forward to following your marathon training and seeing you running happy 👍🏻

You toed the line and that took a lot of courage. You got far fighting for a chance to keep going. Nothing to be sorry for or to be embarrassed by. This race was so much harder than I imagined, so many opportunities for things to go wrong. Huge respect to anyone who starts it. Looking forward to following as your journey continues.

Nice reflection Ben. You’re a great runner and youtuber - keep being you.