Hello and welcome to another episode of Run Till You're Done.
This week's guest. I am more than looking forward
to interviewing because she's just so much fun.
And if you follow her on Instagram, she is traffic Cone
Lama and she just has an incredible story to tell.
So welcome to the podcast Alice Town End.
Thank you very much, it's lovely to be here.
Welcome, Alice. We'll start by the the, the way
that we always start. And can you tell us how you got
into running? Yeah, so you can go right back
to school was when I first started.
So I did cross country in school and basically I was the only one
stubborn enough to keep going. Once the teachers were out of
sight, everybody else stopped and had a tab and walked very
slowly and I carried on. I did county cross country when
I was 16. I actually raced in the
Nationals against Paula Radcliffe.
She came second, I came last. So, you know, it was, it wasn't
exactly a celebrity. You were still there.
I was still there. There was lots of people that
didn't finish because it was very muddy and as you run round
you could see people's spikes had come off their their feet.
So I finished with both shoes. I did 1500 as well.
I won a 1500 metres race in the sort of district, but then it
sort of, I never trained. I wasn't that interested in it
particularly. I quite enjoyed it when I did
it, but I wasn't that bothered. So that kind of all petered out.
And my next kind of foray into running was in 2011 when I did
the Race for Life 5K. And that was because my best
friend Alan, who'd been diagnosed with breast cancer
when she was 26, was just diagnosed with metastatic
cancer. So that motivated me to kind of
do some fundraising. And my sister actually, who is
was definitely a runner and still is a runner, came over
from New Zealand, where she lives, to run it with me.
But I literally had to dust off my trainers because they were
probably like retro antiques and did that in about 33 minutes.
Had a great time. But then I didn't properly start
running until almost exactly 7 years ago, August 2018.
And I basically I needed to lose some weight and I had two kids
that were running off and I couldn't keep up with them.
And so I wanted to get fit to better keep up with my family.
So I did the Couch to 5K. I was very much doing it as a
means to an end. I didn't expect to enjoy it.
I was just like, let's shed some timber and then forget about it.
But actually I really, really enjoyed it.
And yeah, it's kind of escalated a bit from there, really
escalated in lockdown, I think, like a lot of people.
But yeah, that's where it all started.
So there's a lot there. When you got started in the
early days, a couple of questions already come to me
with the cross country. I used to hate it at school.
I was the one always dodging it and.
Trying. You were.
You were the one having a
cigarette in the Bush while I ran past you because I was
stubborn. Absolutely did.
Did you enjoy it? I don't really know.
So, so, I mean, I can't have enjoyed it that much because I
didn't bother training and I didn't really, you know, I, I
was competitive and as much as if I was doing it, I wanted to
do well, but I didn't really care that much.
I think I enjoyed it when I was doing it, but I guess I enjoyed
the sense of achievement finishing it more than they
actually doing. And then with regards to your
first race, you stopped and started a couple of times.
When was your first race when you would say that you restarted
from the coach to 5K? Yeah, my first race was so the
first race I entered was the Great North Rhine.
And I'd, you know, I live in Newcastle.
So it was one of those things I came to Newcastle to university
when I into the oh God, when well, when I was 18 ages ago,
1991. And I actually entered the Great
North Rhine three times when I was a student but didn't do any
training. So thought that would be stupid
in DNS three times. But yeah, I wanted to do, I
wanted to do the Great North Run and I got a charity place for
the charity where I work to raise money for breast Cancer
Support group. And so as part of my training
for that, I entered the Great North 10K.
And I did that with my husband, who has done a bit of running
previously but wasn't particularly a runner either,
but but was fit, did a lot of cycling, did a lot of walking.
So yeah, I did that with him and I think I did it in about an
hour, 15, and I was just over the moon to finish.
And you finished that race in Gateshead Stadium or I don't
know if you still do, but you did then.
So you finished running around the athletics track and you sort
of felt like a proper athlete. So that was quite fun.
And while you're doing all these races, I guess for half
marathons and stuff, you, you're maybe not fuelling as much.
But nowadays you're getting into marathons, ultras, what, what
kind of fuel do you have for them?
So I mostly try and eat real food.
I I love good food and I love the trail snacks.
And in fact, I was out for a run this weekend with a few women
that we've got together based on loving trail snacks.
So bagels with Marmite and cheese, potatoes, Twiglets,
watermelon. Those are mostly what I like.
I think I like fat coke. If I have gels, I like the sis
beta gels, the orange ones that are sort of some you can get
them gels you can get like blocks of Jelly.
I like the protein rebel ones and tailwind and active route
I'll have as drinks but I try and eat as much real food as I
can. You had me at Bagels, but then
you said you put Marmite on it. Yeah, Marmite's great.
Not a fan. I've never tried that.
That's. Good, I love Marmite.
She also mentioned Twiglets. Do you, have you tried them,
Nikki? Oh.
I love a Twiglet. Yeah, you.
Probably like Marmite then. Yeah, basically.
Basically slathered in Marmite. Dipped the twiglet in the
Marmite. Yeah, you don't need to.
They're both disgusting. And I've got this great bit of
kit then if you know a geeky hiker, which is a front pack
that you can put on under race packs.
And it's brilliant for when you've got having food when
you're going because you've got like this zip top, all the
snacks are just right there in front of you.
So you can just pull it out and eat.
It's brilliant. Well, Mike had jumped the gun
there with the fuel into for the marathons and the ultra
marathons. So we've done the Great North
Run. How did you manage to progress
from that to go into ultra distances?
That was really during lockdown. So I was a member of a sort of
Facebook group called the No Drama Lama Runners and, and
that's where the Lama of the Traffic Cone Lama comes from.
And no in I joined it a bit before lockdown, but during
lockdown there were lots of people who were furloughed.
I wasn't, I had to still go to work, but lots of people were
furloughed and they, they did sort of monthly running
challenges where everybody that wanted to take part would be
randomised into teams. And then you'd as a team, you'd
have a week and you'd have to go out and do as much as you could.
And you'd get scored for distance, time on fee elevation.
And there was something else I can't remember now, but nothing
about speed or just about, you know, how far and, and how hard
you could go and, and then you'd get points and you'd also be
silly challenges along the way. And I love a silly challenge.
So you'd score points with that and these would happen every
month. So we all ended up getting
really quite close and everybody's sort of goading you
to do more and more. So I kind of ended up, I had
actually entered York, York Marathon after I did my Great
North Run, but that got cancelled because that was the
2020 and I ended up running a marathon on my own in lockdown.
It was when things started opening up a bit more.
It was about June time and somebody else in the llamas had
done that. So I just went, I could do that
and you know, I'd been doing a lot of running but just went out
the next day and did it. And then the first ultra was
Ultra N, which is a 55K around Newcastle and they released the
race, the entries six weeks out. So it was October 2020, I
presume they, you know, I've been planning it in some time
and it was cancelled and then they got permission to do it and
you could do either 55K or 27 1/2.
And I was like, but of course you have to go big or go or go
home, really, don't you? So it was hawing it down with
rain all day, got soaking wet. It was the wettest day of the
year. But actually I had a really good
time and. What's the What do you make?
You're saying that you had a really good time?
Was that because it was pouring rain?
Were you prepared for it? I was, I was prepared for it and
as much as I'd, so I'd run a marathon in the June and I'd
still been, you know, getting quite high mileage and you know,
I was, I wasn't following a particular training programme,
but I was, you know, so just being a bit chaotic.
But I ramped up the mileage in the six weeks.
I didn't mind that it was raining.
I had some good kit, and it was just one of those, well, I'm
going to do it, aren't I? So here we go.
And yeah, my family got two sons and my husband came and met me
at various points. At one point they bought me some
dry trainers and dry socks. And yeah, Strava doesn't think I
did an ultra because I paused my garment and then I was fannying
on with my socks and my and my trainers and it auto saved,
didn't it? That wasn't very much fun.
So I drew the map. I completed it by drawing it and
went. This is what I did.
Quite right. And I'm actually intrigued by
your solo Madison with your first time, obviously we're all
in like just coming out lockdown, there was that time of
uncertainty. How did you manage that?
Did you do one big loop? Like how?
What were the logistics for that for you?
I'm trying to think what, because I've done it, did a
couple. So I think the first one I did
it is it out and back. So I didn't have any choice but
to keep going. So I started from my house and
you know, I'd run, I'd run a lot of the trails.
I mean, I lived on the edge of Newcastle, so I live on the edge
of a city, but there are some trails relatively close by that
now I can't go and run on because I ran so much during
lockdown. I'm just sick of them.
But I went out and ran a route. I think it wasn't quite out and
back. I knew that I had a half
marathon out and back route. And then I just sort of did a
loop on the end of that. And yeah, just.
And then with your fuelling for that, because a lot of people's
bus Madisons, I mean Maine in particular was Edinburgh.
So it's checkpoint, checkpoint, you have your water stations,
your aid stations, crowds cheer and yawn.
There's like so many aspects of that the, you know, the mental
and as Mike mentioned, the fueling.
So the questions I have from that is 1 mentally, how did you
press on without those crowds and support?
And then the other question is fueling.
Did you just carry everything with you?
Yeah, so, so I did carry everything with me.
I just had a had a backpack and had had the snacks in there.
And I think, I can't quite remember, but I think it was
mostly gels then. So I'd certainly use gels for
the Great North Run. And so I think that's what
mostly I took with me. I can't remember.
So I had water bottles. I can't remember whether I had
Tailwind or anything like that in it then I can't remember at
what point I started using that. It must have been.
Well, yeah, I used that for the 55 K, the first, first Ultra.
So I can't remember if I took real food, but I I certainly
didn't stop to buy stuff along the way and I didn't have,
nobody came out and met me with stuff I can't remember.
What was the other thing you asked?
How did I motivate myself? Mental.
Strategy and I had the llamas in my phone so you know, if I when
I was struggling, I could message them and about 20 people
jump straight on going. You go on, you're great.
So that was quite cool. So yeah, they were like a little
cheerleader on my phone. But looking back, I don't
actually remember particularly struggling with it.
And I was just like, well I'm going to do it.
And you know, I didn't run the whole thing.
I so most of my long runs I'll run, walk them.
So I'll do 15 minute runs and five minute walks and then eat
every other walk break. So it's sort of gives me a bit
of a break, but also gives some structure to it.
And all you have to think about is the next 15 minutes.
And I just, I just remember getting home and being like,
yes, there was a virtual marathon I'd signed up to, but I
wasn't expecting to do it all in one go.
So I gave myself that medal for that.
Oh fantastic. And out out of all the races
you've done, and there's probably plenty more that you
haven't mentioned yet, what's your favorite one been?
My favorite the the my favorite is probably the Great North Run.
And it's not because I like the I mean, objectively, it's a crap
race really. It's like it's Rd. it's got no
views. It's everything I don't like
about running. So I much prefer I like trails,
I like views. I don't like millions and
millions of people and all of it's all of that, but the
atmosphere is absolutely superb. And you know, it's just really
emotional reading everybody's back signs and high fiving the
kids. And last year I nearly didn't
bother. I nearly turned around and went
home because it was really rubbish weather and I thought it
won't have any of the atmosphere, it won't have any of
the things I like. But it was amazing how many
people still came out to support.
And I just it, it's second to none for for that, but there's
another couple as well. I can think there's been two
races that I've done where I went into them with absolutely
no expectations. So I was under trained nearly
DNS. One was Bridges to Boundaries
Ultra in March last year, 55K out along the Tyne River and
then crossover and back again. And the other one was killed a
marathon the second time I did it.
And both times I was, I was on the verge of not bothering, but
I thought, well, I'm going to do a long run anyway, so and I've
paid for them so I might as well just go.
And as long as it's fun I'll keep going.
And when it's not fun, I'll stop.
And actually both of them, I had a blast from start to finish.
I think there's sort of something about having
permission to stop and not worry about it and just be there for
the crack that is really good. So yeah, those, those for the
atmosphere and the fun. I think that's what I like,
yeah. And the atmosphere that you get
from Great North Run, would you be tempted to do something like
London I I couldn't think of anything worse going down there,
but that's what you get. Yeah, I mean, I'd like to, but
I've entered the ballot a few times.
I'll keep entering it till I'm dead or I can't walk.
But yeah, who knows? I again, I'm not that bothered
about road running. I did do Manchester Marathon as
my first proper marathon on, you know, Rd. rather than Kielder,
which I did, but, and that was good atmosphere.
So, so I do like the atmosphere, but I would take trails and
beauty and the sort of the different support you get from
the ultra running and trail running community is, is
completely different, isn't it, to the, the atmosphere.
It's much more my thing so I'm doing a road marathon, I'm not
racing it and looking for APB and you know, I'm having a laugh
and walking bits if I feel like it and you know, chatting to
people. And that's still what it's more
about. So I'd like to do London if I
get in, but we'll set. And another community as well,
one that makes very fond of is the backyard one.
Have you done? You've definitely done at least
Russellbach, have you? Not 1, I think.
I've done I've done Russellbach 3 times.
I've got worse each time. The first time I did it, I did
9. I was really pleased with
myself. I think I what I kind of what
thought 12 would be nice, but I was a bit under trained.
I think at the time of year it is March, because I'm often the
races I've tended to do for no particular reason that they just
have tended to be ones for sort of later in the year.
So I've tended to be quite early in in my training.
So I was delighted when I managed 9 because that was, you
know, I was a bit underfit and I had a really good laugh.
That was the first the first rest of what backyard And then
the next time I had a go, which I think was when you won it,
Mike I did. I did 7.
I actually did 8, but the 8th 1 was I'm not, I'm not getting
back in time. I'm just going to, I'm just
going to walk this. And I got back in about 15
minutes late. And then this year I did it and
I was, I'd been injured this year.
At the beginning of the year I had an ankle injury.
And I just, I decided I was going to go because I knew a lot
of people who were going to be there and I would set myself a
limit of four because I didn't want to break myself.
And I did 4 and I stopped and it was about the right time.
It started to niggle a little bit in the fourth yard.
And yeah, it was the head decision because I had bigger
things that I cared more about this year so.
And if you if it was the right time of year and you 100%
training plan for it, how much do you think you'd get?
I don't. I don't think I'd manage 24
because I don't think I'm fast enough and I I would be pleased
with 12, but I think I've heard that it's not very good to set
yourself a target because otherwise you reach that target
and then you stop. So.
A lot of people say that, but I disagree.
With it, yeah. So why why do you disagree with
that? Is that what?
For me personally, I think you should set yourself a target,
but it should be scary. It should scare you.
Like you, you're saying 24 set yourself a target of 30, but it
has to be achievable. You have to believe that you can
do it and if you get to that, you'd be delayed.
So you're. I've been delighted at 24, if
I'm honest, yeah. Exactly.
So set yourself the target of 30.
Try and get to the 30. There you go.
I, I I've set myself a target of 80.
OK, there you go. That that scares.
Me that, that number. You have to have somebody else
who's equally insane, don't you? That's the thing, yeah.
Exactly. I'm done doing the Rasta bot
backyard in March, so we'll see. Yeah, hopefully.
Hopefully I'll be a bit fitter then.
So going back, going back for the report here, you would
definitely recommend it then? Oh.
I love it, you know, it's, it's good atmosphere.
I really like that it let completely levels the playing
fields on each yard. You don't have to be the best,
the fastest, you just have to be the most stubborn on the day.
And you know, obviously everything has to work out for
you. You could go out and roll your
ankle 100 metres from the from the start line and there's a lot
of routes and it's, it's trail, it's uneven.
So you know, any, anything can happen.
And you know, I think going into big races, you know, anything,
however well prepared you are, however good a training block
you have, however well fueled you are, however your head is,
something can go wrong. And you know, but but it, it
levels the playing field in the way others don't.
And you know, I think it's so much more about what's up here,
isn't it? And I quite like I'm not a fast
runner. And Russell Bock, they don't
just do the backyard. They they have other events now,
don't they? I see them.
I really like their events so they've done the marathon
weekend the last couple of years with marathon and a half
marathon with really, really good long cut off.
So they're really achievable to anybody.
But equally if you're competitive and want to go fast
you can can as well. This year they had an 8K for as
well. And I think next year I've seen
they've got an ultra, but I'm actually away next year for it.
So I won't be, I won't be able to give that a crack.
But they do lots of lap events sort of six hours in various
places, mostly in the Midlands. Sherwood Pines, they do with
that, which is where they do the backyard.
They've got another backyard I think somewhere else this year
as well. But, and I like this sort of
sociable side of the lap defence and lots of people hate them,
don't they, because I think they're boring.
You're going round and round. But but the trails where they
have them are really beautiful. So I don't get bored and I just
embrace the fun and, and change my outfit every lap.
And you know, it's like Eurovision, Eurovision of trail
running. It's good.
Just have a good laugh. Just to big up Russell Bock even
more, and I think they do a lot of sort of female participation
trying to encourage it. They do, definitely.
And they do. They have, sorry.
No, I probably miss out half this stuff because it doesn't
apply to me, but there is a lot of encouragement for it, so you
might know better than I do. Yeah, and they also, they have
the Pay it Forward scheme where you can, you can donate race
entries. So if people can't afford to
enter, they can get one of the free entries.
And they do, they put a lot of money and sort of contribution
from each race entry towards removing plastic from the
waterways. So, yeah.
And they're just, they're really nice people, aren't they?
As well, You know, I love that. I love that the aid station food
is cake made by the race director's mum.
That's pretty cool, isn't it? Well, Alice, you've sold it to
me, so I'll. Forget to come back.
Tail end of next year and if you're at one of the events, I
definitely can't imagine myself getting bored get.
Yourself to the backyard, Nikki. I think there's still a couple
of places. I think I think Mike would be
desperate for me to do 1. You talked about changing your
outfits there every yard. Can you talk about that?
What outfits do you like to wear?
Wow. I like, I like, so mostly I'll
just change my tops because it gets a bit silly if you're doing
a full kit change. But I do like my Flancy kit.
I'm an ambassador for Flancy and you know, I'm not one of these
people that wants to be an ambassador for the sake of the
badge. I just I really believe in their
kits. So they're a really good small
company. The kits brightly coloured and
cheerful, which I love and it's really practical as well.
So I've worn it, you know, the longest distance I've worn it
for is 70 miles and I've got no chafing.
It's got 3 pockets, 2 pockets on the legs, pockets on the zip
pocket in the back. So yeah, it's brilliant.
I really, really like it. And, but mostly I've just
changed my tops, but I do wear fancy dress sometimes as well.
So I've ran a 6K loop, not not in the backyard, but a 6K loop
at one of their Sherwood Pines events dressed as a traffic
cone, which is where the traffic cone bit of traffic cone llama
comes from. I have yeah, silly hats I
couldn't think about. I don't think I've worn any
other stupid full outfits there, but I do like a bit of fancy
dress sometimes. A tradition that I think it
comes from Australia, you have to get to lap 22 backyard
because 22 is when you wear your Tutu.
Your tutus? So you also park run on the 22nd
of the month. You have to wear tutus as well.
So I need to get to lap 22, don't I at least?
See, when Mike said lap 22 in Australia, I thought he was
going to say kangaroo. What's the what's the yes, the
fact that you've worn the analysis like fancy dress.
What's the crazy? Probably a giant breast.
You weren't expecting that. I'm doing, I'm doing fundraising
for Copperfield this year, which is a breast cancer charity sort
of their real thing is about highlighting breast awareness in
young women or young people because it's not just women that
get affected. And I've got so so I'm doing the
Great North Run for them this year.
I actually have a membership for the Great North Run, which means
I have guaranteed entry every year.
But I was an idiot who forgot to enter, so I had to find, find a
charity entry and and I thought no one's going to sponsor me to
just run the half marathon. Are they after other silly
things I've done? So I thought, I know I'll have
to wear something daft. So yeah, I'm, I'm where I'm
doing the Great North Rhode Island dressed as a dressed as a
tit. I've done a park run with it on
it. It's it'll need some adjustment
to avoid chafing. I was going to do it.
I, I entered 100 mile this year. I was going to do it for my
final mile of the 100 mile because I hit my fundraising
target, but that didn't. That didn't quite pan out as
planned, but Great North. Well, when you say you need the
adjustments, I think you need a sports bra.
You definitely need a sports bra, but yeah, don't not to hold
that. But yeah, the the straps that
you tie it, you have over it was quite Chafee.
Yeah, I think hold, hold it still.
Enough of the bad dad jokes. Next question was what is your
biggest running achievement? So that was the wall.
It's a rat race event. It's 70 miles from Carlisle to
Newcastle and living in Newcastle, I was quite taken by
the idea of finishing on the Quayside in Newcastle in the
city that I love. And the first time I attempted
it was it's June, July time in 2021.
And yeah, so that would have been my second or third ultra at
that point. And I'd trained really hard, I
was really fit. I sorted out my fuelling, so I
thought and got myself in a really strong headspace and I
did. The section to the first
checkpoint went like a dream. And then I went to try and eat
some food at the first checkpoint and went, oh, don't
fancy that, never mind, I've got loads of snacks.
And then a little bit further down the road and I started to
feel really, really sick. And I'm quite intolerant to
feeling sick. I really, really hate it.
And my husband was sort of stopped, you know, coming and
seeing me at various points. And we went and sat in a Cafe
for about an hour and had some fat Coke and got myself so I
could actually at least drink and then got the ships
basically. And, and it was way too early a
lot, you know, I had run ultra distance just, but it was too
early to think I can carry on like that.
And I think maybe if I'd had been a bit more experienced, I
might have carried on a bit. But you know, it was one of
those I thought I was risking making myself properly ill.
So I was absolutely gutted. When I look back I think it was
I'd been really daft with my fueling because I think I
mentioned I do 15 minute runs, 5 minute walks and eat every other
5 minutes. And for some reason on the start
line I thought, oh it's a really long way, maybe I should eat
every, every walk break. So I think what I've done is
just eaten too much and you can't metabolise it when you're
running. So if you can't metabolise it,
it's going to come out somehow. It did.
So yeah, DNF that. But I definitely felt like I had
unfinished business and within a couple of days I'd entered for
the following year. And so I did it in 2022 and
finished, and I did it with two good friends then.
And crossing that finish line, having DNF the year before was
really sweet. You said that that was one of
your first phrase. How many ultras have you done?
That's the longest one I've done.
Well, I ran an ultra in the backyard once.
I've done a few 5050 K ish races, so not masses.
I'd entered the rat race 100 mile castle to castle this year.
That was, you know, the first one that has really lit my fire
for excitement since the wall. But yeah, got to 30 to 4 miles
and decided I'd had enough. So I don't know whether that's
unfinished business or not. And for those that don't follow
Alice on Instagram, you wrote what I found was an absolutely
brilliant post and just putting a spin on it.
And a lot of people say, oh, yeah, it's brilliant.
You know, you get to choose to suffer, and you chose not to
suffer. And that really struck A chord
with me. Just could you elaborate on
that, on what made you write that?
Yeah, so, so it's one of those things.
So I obviously, I think like I said earlier, I'd I'd obviously
thought, well, there's no guarantees I'm going to get to
the finish, but I think I'm in a pretty good place.
So I haven't hadn't had a perfect run run up.
You know, I was, I was injured earlier this year and then two
weeks before I was ill, I had like a viral thing and I and I
was in bed for a week basically. But you never have a perfect run
up to these things, do you? So you just have to do the best
with the hand you're dealt. So I think I thought, well, I
might not manage if I'm get injured or I might not manage if
if I'm not well. But barring those, I'm getting
to that blooming finish line. And on the day, it was horrific
that it was really wet. It was absolutely peeing it down
with rain. I'd reckoned most of the route.
So I kind of knew what I was up against and I knew what to
expect. And what threw me, what really
threw me was that I had an emotional low very early on.
So I was expecting that to happen.
And I was expecting probably it to happen just before halfway
because that's the toughest section.
But it happened coming out of Berwick, which was the second
pit stop. And this is at 23 miles.
And I really struggled to know how I was going to pull myself
out of that because, you know, I've got a very, very long way
to go. And I spent about 5 miles sort
of crying. And that's not like me.
So I get grumpy sometimes, but I've never got quite so upset.
But I did pull myself through that and I also had more dodgy
guts and I couldn't stomach the thought of eating.
But then I did manage to eat. But I just got to the point
where I was like, I'm 33 miles in, this is just rubbish.
I'm not having a good time. The weather's awful.
It's going to be awful pretty much for the rest of the race.
I've got the toughest bit coming up.
Not even, you know, you know, a third of the way there.
I've got to basically run the wall again on top of how I feel.
And I just don't want to do it. And you know, I, I get very
motivated by the choosing to suffer as a privilege.
And Lucy Gossage says that a lot.
And I do buy into that. And I do buy into being
motivated by my friend who had breast cancer and died and my
patients who have breast cancer and thinking, you know, they
don't choose to. They don't choose their
challenge. I've paid for this and I've
chosen it. So the least I can do is woman
up and give it my best shot. But you know, as I was thinking
this and trying to motivate myself to keep going, I just
thought, but you know what? You don't have to be a martyr.
I can choose not to. And aren't I really bloody
lucky? And those people who don't
choose their suffering, probably, if they could choose,
well, they definitely choose not not to have that suffering.
But I can't imagine they would think any less of me if I went.
I'm not enjoying myself. I want to stop.
And it, it's of all the reasons I thought I might stop, I didn't
think for a second it would be that.
But actually, isn't that the best reason?
You know, I just don't like it. And I don't know, I wasn't
expecting it all to be fun. And, you know, I was expecting
to go to some really dark places.
Now it, it was really going to stretch me.
And I've never ran all the way through the night.
The longest I've run is to about 3:00 in the morning.
And I was worried about that. And I was worried about how long
it would take and how I would keep going.
But I didn't think I would just decide to stop.
And I'd had long chats with my husband and my sons about
keeping me going. I chatted to a bit when he was a
friend of mine about what she uses to keep going when she's up
against it, and she'd given me some really helpful hints, not
just for me but for them helping me.
And they blessed them. They did everything I'd asked of
them. And my youngest son ran the last
mile with me. Or I say ran.
I was walking by that point and he was saying, but, you know, he
was saying everything that I'd wanted him to about come on, you
know, don't be a wuss. And you know, you want to do 100
mile a, you're 33 miles in. You're 34 miles in.
Just keep going and, you know, think about the achievement,
think about crossing the line. I can't remember everything you
said to me because I was just like Adam, you're saying
everything I wanted you to say. Well done.
I don't want to. And it was just it, it was so
clear. And then looking back at it, I
can't. It feels a bit surreal because
it isn't really me to do that. But at the same time, it was an
absolute no brainer and I don't regret it.
It was the right decision. But yeah, it's so I don't know
if that's unfinished business or not.
Because I think if I was going to go again, I have to decide I
want it. Because if you don't want it,
you're never going to manage. Are you really?
And on one hand I do, but, well, I do.
But do I want it enough? Yeah, I think if you, if you're
not sure that you want it, you've kind of already prepared
yourself to stop. Yeah, 100% so.
So I have to decide I want it and really believe it and really
want it, or there's no point in going again.
So watch this space. I don't know.
Well, I know the next event they've got, they're going.
Is it from the? Is it not from Edinburgh to?
Yeah, Edinburgh to Glamis. Yeah, that's.
Right. Yeah.
So I couldn't do the Bamburgh to Edinburgh next year because
we're away. But so I obviously haven't ruled
it out because I did go well, I could do Edinburgh to Glamis and
then Rasselbach are actually doing a well they do a 24 hour
track event every year and they just said they might do a 48
hour 1. And I thought, on the one hand,
running around a track for 100 miles sounds pretty unappealing,
but if you're surrounded by really good people and all you
have to do is go out and just run another 400 meters, maybe
that's the way. Don't know.
Or or do it myself with either the house as a base and 10 mile
loops or I don't know. I don't know.
I have thought about ways I might do it so I obviously
haven't completely ruled it out, but I need to silt my head and
decide if that's what I want. If you're thinking about doing a
track race and you're worried about the time there's could be
in events they do a 25 hours because they do it on the day
where the clocks change so you get the extra.
Hour. That's quite cool.
There's them that do the nutty tunnel and bridge ones as well.
Them ones are, yes. I'm not doing that.
I'm proud to say that I've got the I'm the person with the most
amount of his medals. Excellent.
That's the same track race as well, Mike, that you're not
allowed music, you're not allowed support, you're not
allowed friends, you're not allowed anything joyful.
You're not allowed to have fun. Do you think you're allowed to
run a just as a trafficker? Probably not.
No, because that would be too fun.
You're allowed to. Talk.
It's actually Victoria. Victoria, the happy runner.
She was saying she she falls over asleep, falls over and she
finds herself like in in this gutter in the tunnel.
I'm like, no, that's not for me. Yeah, I've ran quite a few races
with Vic. So the next question on our
question is why do you run? Because I can.
So let's go back to the thing about what motivates me.
I guess it's, you know, I'm fit enough.
I've got a really supportive, caring family that indulges me
in, in all the silly challenges I want to do.
And you know, you never, your health isn't a given, is it?
And you know, I'm 52 and I've got friends who I've got cancer.
I've got, you know, know people who've had other significant
health issues. And you never know when the
run's going to be your last. And, and I really, really enjoy
it. It makes me happy, you know?
So I just think, yeah, because I can, really.
So you run because you can, but while you're out there running,
while you're out there doing a the a really long event, what do
you think about? So it depends on whether it's
getting tough or not. So I think when it's getting
tough, I think about my friend Eleanor who died from breast
cancer. And I think how, you know, she
faced her death with dignity and courage.
And if she could face that challenge that she hadn't
chosen, I can woman up and face it until I decide I don't like
it, obviously, you know, So I think about her.
I think about my patients for the same reason that, that you,
you watch what they go through and you know how lucky and
privileged I am to be able to be out there and to have the
fitness and, and the money to be able to pay for going to all
these nutty events and the support and, and that's what
motivates me and, and for the big long runs.
And when I'm fundraising, I'll do memory miles.
So, so I get people to sponsor a mile for somebody they love and
they don't have to give fundraising, but most people do.
So for the 100, I had somebody for every single mile and we
genuinely talked about each person smile.
So it breaks it down really nicely.
It's right. This smile is for so and so.
This is for my granny. This is for, you know, my
friend, This is for someone's dad.
We talk about the person and why we're running for them.
Yeah. So, so it's often a lot of that
and thinking, you know, I'm here because I've chosen to be.
I've chosen this challenge and I can choose not to do it if I
want to, but I'm choosing to stay.
And that was, you know, good. I did the lap earlier this year
and that got quite tough and I was like, no, I'm choosing to
stay here. I'm not going to get a taxi back
to the finish. Sometimes it was through gritted
tea. Yeah.
With the memory Miles does that, I can imagine that getting quite
emotional does it? Yeah, it does.
It does. And I can be like when I was on
a bit of a downer and I was like, and then I looked and
went, oh, this is my friend's aunt who's just died.
So pull yourself together. This is for, you know, the real
chokers where there was two young men who'd ended their own
lives, one when he was 18, so it was like he's forever 18.
And another one when he was 17. So those were put yourself
together. Yeah.
You can keep going. So yeah, it's it does help.
I can imagine that being a motivator.
Being a memory mile, how do you remember which mile is which?
For each person, I hadn't written down on a bit of paper,
bits of paper and but if the phone dies and I had like any
zip lock bag so it didn't get ruined in the rain.
So I had, you know, load on one bit and when you'd finished that
page, I put that into my backpack and then the next one
would. So that would just be in my
geeky hiker buffet pouch would have the memory miles list as
well. So you seem to do an awful lot
for fundraising. Have you got any projects coming
up this year or voluntary events, anything that you've got
coming up aside from your Great North Run that you've already
mentioned? Yeah, so.
So it's the, I mean the Great North, I did some fundraising
that for Copperfield, but that was a kind of tag 100 on to that
as well. So I was doing memory miles for
people for that as part of that Great North Run fundraising.
I've done similar for in the year I did the wall, I'd spent a
year, did a year of fundraising for mountain rescue, but I
haven't got other fundraising projects this year.
I've got I guess another thing I'm working towards is I like, I
like my park run. I don't know why because I don't
like fighting and I don't particularly like getting up in
the morning, but I like the challenge and I'm closing in on
my 100th different venue. So that will be my 100th venue
will be on the 8th of November at Bushey.
So I'm doing that. But yeah, I've got, I've got a
few races booked in but no sort of particular stand out project
as such. I guess the biggest 1 coming up
is Escape from Meriden in November and I think I'm looking
forward to that because that all challenge my head and it will.
It's the running through the night thing and I'm doing it
with a couple of friends so that should be good.
And do you have any races in the near or even distant future that
you would have on your bucket list?
So I've kind of granted a bit of a halt at what my bucket list is
because I sort of had a little thought in the back of my head
at some point of maybe doing the summer spine.
But that's well and truly thrown in the bin now because I think
if I can't want to do 100 miles, I don't want the suffer fest
that is 268. But that was as a sort of maybe
would, could I do that? So that's that's shelved and I
guess it's whether another 100 is on my bucket list.
But yeah, not sure the other things I've got.
Well, Great North Run, I've said I've got 2 valleys doing that
with a group of women that I met earlier this year through
Instagram. We went for a trail running
weekend and we're meeting up again to do that.
So more about the social and the chat than anything else.
And I've got a Marathon Erie. I entered the ballot for that
and probably forgot about it until I got the e-mail saying I
was successful. But but I think that would be a
good crack as well. You know, challenge over
difficult terrain is the sort of other thing.
Interested in pushing and seeing how I can get on.
And you're obviously doing a backyard with Nikki as well.
Yeah, backyard in March. You know what that would be
definitely on that. That's not even a bucket list
that's happening. Get yourself in, there's not
many places left so get yourself booked.
Shane and our crew and attend Alice.
I don't think they'll know what hit them if the two of us.
Well before Mike moves on to the next question, we're talking
about bucket list races. I want to highlight the Highland
Fling and Devil of the Highlands north of the border.
They are spectacular events coming up you've.
Told me a lot about them. They sound they do sound good.
Oh the the devil. It's really, really challenging.
But what scenery? Even when it's raining it's I
just Mike and I, as you know, are big fans of the West
Highland way anyway, but to come up and do them, it's just
something else. The the volunteers, the race
organisers, it's just there's such great events, so.
And that, that's what makes it, isn't it?
It's the people that are there. It's, you know, and that that,
yeah, it's what changes a race from being average to being
right up there and amazing. Yeah, that's that's spectacular.
So get them on your list. And the, the next question is
always our most difficult question to ask.
But I, I think you, well, you, you may have already mentioned
the the answer, but you might have something totally
different. Question is, who would you like
to run with the most, whether alive, not fictional or not?
So I've got a couple of couple of people.
So so I'm really inspired by women that go and really push
the boundaries and particularly when they manage to beat the
men. Not that I have anything against
men, but it's just really inspiring.
And so I guess there's a couple of Anna's that take that book.
So Anna Troop, who obviously won the spine outright this year,
this summer and has just won the women's race of race across
Scotland. So, and also she's similar age
to me. She's actually a little bit
older than me and is smashing it Despite that and has, I think
come back from quite significant injury.
So I think she'd be a really inspiring person, although I, I
doubt I'd better keep up with her.
And the other Anna is Anna Rutherford that won the castle
to castle that IDNFD on. She finished it in something
like 17 hours. And Despite that, she sort of
stopped and checked some bloke who'd passed out on a golf
course wasn't dead and, and she actually got home and was in bed
pretty much two hours, you know, 2 hours before the next person
finished. So it's so again, I wouldn't
keep up with her, but she'd be quite inspiring.
But I guess I'd also, I'd like if we're, if we're in
fantasyland and we can pick someone who's dead, I'd like to
run with my mate Eleanor. But she would roll her eyes.
She wasn't a runner. She couldn't run because she had
fear injuries from when we were students together.
And she'd be like, what are you doing all this for?
Have you lost your mind? But in Fantasyland, she'd she'd
come for a nice trail run with me and we'd have a good laugh.
Oh, they're great answers, and I bet you the two, no matter how
fast they are, I bet you 2 Anna's probably would run with
you because you're grateful. The problem well, and Anna
Rutherford is in the same fate in a Facebook group and is very
normal and was asking, you know, before it all started was that
sort of asking questions about what are you going to do for
fuelling and how, you know, asking all about kit and then
like pulls this out. It's like not worthy.
But I think the trail community and the ultra community, but you
know what we call the front runners that most of them are
like that. They're so gracious to give that
advice. It's it's a bit of a pinch me
moment when people like that are, I mean, look at Mike.
Yeah. So unless Mike has any other
questions, the last question that we have on our set is
what's next for you running wise aside from you've mentioned
Bushy Park run? Yeah, I mean, I think Bushy Park
run, Great North Run, pondering, you know, sorting my head out, I
think is is the main thing. And, you know, trying to work
out what was going on in my head as that made me stop.
And I mean, the weather didn't help, but I need to work that
out, I think because until I work that out, it's difficult to
know what big things I would take on.
At the moment. I don't necessarily want to book
anything above the things I've already talked about because I I
want to work out whether I've still got 100 in my heart.
Well, I think that brings us to a close tonight and it just
comes from me to say thank you, Nikki for being Nikki and thank
you, Alice for joining us. My pleasure, Thank you very much
for having me. Thanks for coming on.