BEHIND THE LINES
environments I have raced in, such as the Arctic and Jungle, are very extreme and dangerous, but I enjoy the challenge of seeing what I’m capable of doing both physically and mentally
Some of the
types of world records existed, but as with everything else I had done I couldn’t see why I shouldn’t at least give it a go, otherwise I would never know what I was capable of doing.
There seems to be huge amount of “doubles”, do you often look at marathons and races and think “That’s not enough, I want to turn around go back as well.”? I began the “doubles” quite by accident. Friends in South Africa kept on telling me that I should enter Comrades and while following people during the 2009 race I had the idea of doing the double - that way I my husband! After some research I discovered that only two South African men had done the “proper” double i.e. no night’s sleep between the two events, so I decided to try and this. Badwater Ultra Marathon was a
natural progression as this had been done by lots of people, but there was still a female record to be broken (which I managed to break by over 21hrs) and my latest Grand Union Canal Double I did because it had never been done before. Apart from Comrades I have taken part in the “proper” race before attempting the double.
It must be the challenge of the distance! would achieve what I have.
So how do you go from that early point, to then setting world records and completing some of the toughest events in the world? While the children were small I could only do one big race a year and with each one I became a stronger and better runner but most importantly I was loving the ultra running world. As I had gone from running half marathons straight into multi-day events I considered it quite normal to go from multi-day events to running 145 miles non-stop along the Grand Union Canal in 2004.
I did have
an ulterior motive, I wanted to run Badwater Ultra Marathon in 2005 and
the Canal race was to be my qualifying event. I had entered both the Paris and
London Marathons in 2005 - which were a week apart - and when a friend suggested that four of us run Paris, then continue running to London seemed a very normal suggestion!! After completing Badwater in 2005
I found myself looking for other events around the world that would challenge me further not just physically but mentally, each event seemed to make me stronger. When someone suggested that I go for LEJOG (Lands End to John O’Groats) I had no idea what it was (rather embarrassing, I know). In fact, I didn’t know that these
What determines the challenges that you choose? Do you have a checklist that you’re ticking off bit by bit? My bucket list seems to get longer and longer, I’m not sure I will have time to do everything on it but I can try! My challenges are determined primarily by location and distance. Some of the environments I have raced in, such as the Arctic and Jungle, are very extreme and dangerous, but I enjoy the challenge of seeing what I’m capable of doing both physically and mentally.
Experiencing such variety in environments, do you have a favourite? Do you prefer extreme heat to cold, for example? I have been extremely lucky and raced in every environment and I’m probably drawn more to heat than cold, but they are all amazing places to run in and each one has their own set of unique challenges and wow factors.
Do world record attempts add any impetus, or is 100% every time, record or not? I do try and give 100% in my “A” races, while there are other events I enter which are used as training runs for
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