A MARATHON runner who survived a brutal stabbing will speak about his experiences in a special event at The Haslemere Bookshop this week.

On Thursday (July 18) at 8pm, Phil Hewitt will tell how he used running to get himself back on his feet after he was knifed, punched, kicked and left for dead in a grim Cape Town suburb three years ago.

Astonishingly, just as he could feel himself starting to drift away, he was scooped up and whisked to hospital by a passing pizza delivery driver.

He suffered two deep stab wounds, 15 stitches, three broken ribs, battered liver and stomach, and was bruised all over.

Phil resolved to put himself back together again by getting back to his first love, running.

And it proved a remarkable way to outrun the demons of PTSD and his blood-soaked pavement, which is why it became the title of his new book – Outrunning The Demons, newly published by Bloomsbury.

In it, Phil tells of his own experiences and their aftermath – and also interviews 34 people from around the world who, as he says, have been to hell and discovered that the surest, safest, quickest way back was to run.

He interviewed people caught up in 9/11 and the Boston Marathon bombing; people who have lost loved ones to murder and natural causes; people who have suffered addiction, alcoholism, anxiety, depression, violent and sexual assault; sheer bad luck – and even a nose-diving jet.

The result is a remarkable collection of stories about hope and survival – a genuinely uplifting celebration of the strength of the human spirit and all the good that is unleashed simply through running.

Tickets cost £6 and are available from The Haslemere Bookshop, online at [email protected] , or call 01428 652952.