1 00:00:20,640 --> 00:00:25,800 Tonight's guest is our fellow Team Scotland, and the UK 2 00:00:25,800 --> 00:00:32,600 backyard team that I've had the pleasure of running with is Dr. 3 00:00:33,640 --> 00:00:36,600 Ian Bethune, normally known as. One of the half. 4 00:00:40,480 --> 00:00:45,840 Hi, Mikey, Good to be here. Thank you for coming on. 5 00:00:46,400 --> 00:00:50,080 So I met you at Glasgow to Edinburgh as well when you were 6 00:00:50,080 --> 00:00:52,120 sweeping. I'm sure we'll get on to that as 7 00:00:52,120 --> 00:00:56,240 well, but we always start off with our guests. 8 00:00:56,240 --> 00:00:58,160 How did you first get interested on them? 9 00:00:59,640 --> 00:01:03,080 Yeah. So actually, I mean, it's kind 10 00:01:03,080 --> 00:01:08,120 of goes back to 2015, I think. So the little bit of a story 11 00:01:08,120 --> 00:01:14,000 here, which is literally a shaggy dog story that we had 12 00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:17,760 this this dog at the time. And the one night she basically 13 00:01:17,760 --> 00:01:20,680 got spooked and ran. And when we were out for a walk 14 00:01:21,080 --> 00:01:25,680 and I had to sort of chase her for about maybe a mile or so up 15 00:01:25,680 --> 00:01:29,120 a hill, up a road, and she was basically running up the middle 16 00:01:29,120 --> 00:01:30,880 of this main road, like dodging cars and stuff. 17 00:01:31,360 --> 00:01:33,520 And in the end we managed to catch her because two guys 18 00:01:33,520 --> 00:01:36,440 basically corralled their cars across the road and three of us 19 00:01:36,440 --> 00:01:38,920 cornered her. But basically I'd had to run up 20 00:01:38,920 --> 00:01:44,000 this up this road and kind of after it got back with all I was 21 00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:45,400 like, I basically couldn't breathe. 22 00:01:45,400 --> 00:01:48,240 I'd like properly like, so like kind of asthma attack thing 23 00:01:48,240 --> 00:01:51,160 going on ended up with like a chest infection. 24 00:01:51,160 --> 00:01:54,440 I was in bed for a week and that was like my kind of like wake up 25 00:01:54,440 --> 00:01:57,160 call. This is 2015. 26 00:01:57,160 --> 00:02:02,520 I would have been in my mid 30s, early 30s and kind of still 27 00:02:02,520 --> 00:02:06,400 believe in that I was fit like I was when I was, you know, 18. 28 00:02:06,760 --> 00:02:08,240 And I was about a wake up call for me. 29 00:02:08,240 --> 00:02:13,560 So yeah, at that time I was working behind a desk commuting 30 00:02:14,280 --> 00:02:16,760 from Selkirk and the Borders up to Edinburgh. 31 00:02:17,000 --> 00:02:18,920 So like about an hour and a bit each way. 32 00:02:20,560 --> 00:02:23,480 And we had young kids. So like any form of exercise was 33 00:02:23,480 --> 00:02:25,720 just not happening. And that obviously showed. 34 00:02:26,800 --> 00:02:29,000 So I kind of thought, well, what, what can I do? 35 00:02:30,280 --> 00:02:32,920 And just all right, fine, I'll take a pair of trainers and go 36 00:02:32,920 --> 00:02:35,760 for a run in my lunch hour. And so I literally started, I 37 00:02:36,080 --> 00:02:38,960 was working at an university at the Kings Buildings campus, and 38 00:02:38,960 --> 00:02:41,560 the perimeter loop of that campus is about a mile. 39 00:02:41,560 --> 00:02:45,200 So I started up with one loop, you know, did two loops, you 40 00:02:45,200 --> 00:02:48,080 know, found that there was a little group that did a four 41 00:02:48,080 --> 00:02:52,320 mile race once a month. Did that for a bit and, you 42 00:02:52,400 --> 00:02:56,560 know, just got hooked on it. It just died as a necessity and 43 00:02:56,560 --> 00:03:00,000 became something that I, you know, love to do. 44 00:03:01,160 --> 00:03:04,920 Would you say that that was your your first ever race or is that 45 00:03:04,920 --> 00:03:09,040 just a informal thing? Yeah, I don't remember which one 46 00:03:09,400 --> 00:03:13,560 came first in the first official running race I did. 47 00:03:14,240 --> 00:03:17,920 I did the Great Edinburgh Run, which was a 10 mile run like 48 00:03:17,920 --> 00:03:23,880 round Hollywood Park in 2016. So that was about the year after 49 00:03:23,880 --> 00:03:27,000 it kind of started running. I suspect I'd done some of 50 00:03:27,000 --> 00:03:28,880 those, like it was called the KB Dash. 51 00:03:28,880 --> 00:03:31,200 It was like that's an informal thing. 52 00:03:31,200 --> 00:03:35,320 I probably did a few of them before and I also did in the 53 00:03:35,360 --> 00:03:41,840 winter of 2015, there was a like trail duathlon, so like mountain 54 00:03:41,840 --> 00:03:46,920 biking and trail running series that they did in the local kind 55 00:03:46,920 --> 00:03:51,240 of country estate. Did those over the winter 2015 56 00:03:51,240 --> 00:03:53,760 as well. But yeah, that great Edinburgh 57 00:03:53,760 --> 00:03:56,760 run was like the first time I did like a proper like turn up 58 00:03:56,760 --> 00:03:59,800 at the race, get your bib number, all that kind of jazz. 59 00:04:00,680 --> 00:04:03,800 So it was like summer in April, May 2016. 60 00:04:04,960 --> 00:04:08,480 So when you done that race, was it from there on you thought 61 00:04:09,080 --> 00:04:12,240 that's I'm a runner now? Like how long did it take before 62 00:04:12,360 --> 00:04:16,600 Strava, the garments trainers? How long was it before you 63 00:04:16,600 --> 00:04:20,680 started buying things running related rather than just going 64 00:04:20,680 --> 00:04:25,360 out on a lunch break? Yeah, I mean the the whole kind 65 00:04:25,360 --> 00:04:28,200 of, I guess the obsession kind of grows. 66 00:04:28,200 --> 00:04:30,720 I mean, I remember quite early on, even when I was just doing 67 00:04:30,720 --> 00:04:34,440 my runs around the around the campus, having a little 68 00:04:34,440 --> 00:04:36,880 spreadsheet that I recorded my time on, but I think I was just 69 00:04:36,880 --> 00:04:40,840 like recording my time. This probably dates it. 70 00:04:40,880 --> 00:04:44,040 I think I was recording my time on an iPod rather than on a 71 00:04:44,040 --> 00:04:48,160 mobile phone. And so that that is kind of, you 72 00:04:48,160 --> 00:04:52,280 know, how it was then. But I think maybe a year or so 73 00:04:52,280 --> 00:04:57,800 after that, I did get a, a watch, AGPS watch from a 74 00:04:57,800 --> 00:05:00,840 birthday. And I, I for a long time I was 75 00:05:00,840 --> 00:05:04,080 still running and just like, like a cheapo pair of like they 76 00:05:04,080 --> 00:05:09,320 were like tennis shoes that, you know, not, not running kit and 77 00:05:09,320 --> 00:05:12,960 you know, cotton socks and like gym shorts and all, you know, 78 00:05:12,960 --> 00:05:15,800 all the stuff that nowadays like how to get into running article. 79 00:05:15,800 --> 00:05:17,120 We'll tell you like don't do all this. 80 00:05:17,120 --> 00:05:20,360 You you need all the proper, proper fabric, proper shoes. 81 00:05:21,440 --> 00:05:23,080 I just kind of threw myself in and figured out. 82 00:05:23,080 --> 00:05:28,360 So I went along I guess. So you went from there from 83 00:05:28,680 --> 00:05:33,880 getting your first GPS watch? You've done a fair few races 84 00:05:33,880 --> 00:05:36,920 since then. Have you got a favorite one and 85 00:05:36,920 --> 00:05:40,880 why? Yeah, that's, that's a hard 86 00:05:40,880 --> 00:05:43,000 question. Like can I? 87 00:05:43,040 --> 00:05:45,360 Can I have a couple maybe? Of course. 88 00:05:46,200 --> 00:05:47,640 For for different reasons, right? 89 00:05:48,720 --> 00:05:52,520 Just to keep the race directors. Yeah, that's it. 90 00:05:52,520 --> 00:06:00,120 Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I think for there's lots 91 00:06:00,120 --> 00:06:02,840 of different aspects of races that, you know, make you think, 92 00:06:02,840 --> 00:06:04,440 well, that was a great one. I really remember that one 93 00:06:04,440 --> 00:06:06,720 really well. I mean, I think one of the ones 94 00:06:06,720 --> 00:06:10,080 that's always got like a kind of special place in my heart is 95 00:06:10,240 --> 00:06:13,720 it's GOB use as a God's own backyard ultra in Leeds. 96 00:06:13,720 --> 00:06:17,880 And obviously this is much further on in my running sort of 97 00:06:17,880 --> 00:06:21,400 history from 2016. I think I first went there in 98 00:06:21,520 --> 00:06:25,600 2022. There's something, I mean, you 99 00:06:25,600 --> 00:06:29,240 know, you, you know, the kind of backyards have a have a 100 00:06:29,240 --> 00:06:32,080 particularly, you know, tight knit community. 101 00:06:32,640 --> 00:06:36,240 Well, I would say that was one ones where really the people I 102 00:06:36,240 --> 00:06:39,200 met there like kind of became my friends in a way. 103 00:06:39,520 --> 00:06:41,320 Like there's loads of people from that race. 104 00:06:41,320 --> 00:06:45,000 I met the first time at that race that, you know, I still see 105 00:06:45,240 --> 00:06:47,600 loads of events, not necessarily backyards. 106 00:06:47,880 --> 00:06:51,000 So I'd say that one from like a kind of like community aspects 107 00:06:51,000 --> 00:06:53,520 and just, you know, I'm going back again this year for the 108 00:06:53,520 --> 00:06:56,960 third time and I don't often go back to races. 109 00:06:57,560 --> 00:07:00,480 Sometimes I'll go back to races if I feel like I've got a point 110 00:07:00,480 --> 00:07:03,760 to prove or like underperformed unfinished business. 111 00:07:03,760 --> 00:07:06,400 But quite often I'll just do a race and never go back to it. 112 00:07:06,600 --> 00:07:09,360 That one I'll be going back to for the third time. 113 00:07:10,240 --> 00:07:12,880 So that would be that would be 1, not one of them. 114 00:07:14,120 --> 00:07:20,200 Then I would say for in terms of like just an amazing route was 115 00:07:20,200 --> 00:07:25,600 the the Byway of the Glens, the bill from Rocket Fence on two 116 00:07:25,600 --> 00:07:30,680 years ago. So that was basically the on the 117 00:07:30,680 --> 00:07:32,600 weekend. It does the Great Glen Ultra 118 00:07:33,120 --> 00:07:36,120 having like a bolt on option for if you really want to, you can 119 00:07:36,120 --> 00:07:39,680 start in Glasgow and do the West Highway first and then join the 120 00:07:39,680 --> 00:07:43,000 Great Glen Way pretty much as the Great Glen Way runners start 121 00:07:43,240 --> 00:07:44,600 and run all the way up Inverness. 122 00:07:45,000 --> 00:07:49,920 And like, that was just, yeah, a phenomenal kind of like journey. 123 00:07:51,000 --> 00:07:52,760 Yeah. I really love those. 124 00:07:52,760 --> 00:07:55,760 Kind of like long distance point to point stuff, especially like 125 00:07:56,080 --> 00:07:58,040 seeing different parts of Scotland. 126 00:07:58,040 --> 00:08:03,520 I mean, done the West Island, we all hiked it back when I was a 127 00:08:03,520 --> 00:08:07,800 student, kind of new bits and pieces of the Great Glen. 128 00:08:07,800 --> 00:08:12,280 But you know, to link them all up into one run was just pretty 129 00:08:12,280 --> 00:08:17,000 darn epic. So yes, I'd say that that's my 130 00:08:17,000 --> 00:08:23,160 #2 but for my kind of like roots or like kind of thing. 131 00:08:23,520 --> 00:08:27,720 And then I think for my kind of like what's my best race from 132 00:08:27,720 --> 00:08:32,200 like my own performance would be my third one, which is quite an 133 00:08:32,200 --> 00:08:33,679 oddball one. It's another looped course, 134 00:08:33,679 --> 00:08:39,080 which is Loch Ness 24. So this is like, you know, 24 135 00:08:39,320 --> 00:08:46,000 hour looped trail race, which is, I did it two years ago and 136 00:08:46,000 --> 00:08:49,760 it's, you know, it's on a trail, it's very routine, it's quite 137 00:08:49,760 --> 00:08:53,640 hilly. It absolutely bucketed with rain 138 00:08:53,680 --> 00:08:56,120 for the 1st 12 hours. The weather was absolutely 139 00:08:56,120 --> 00:08:59,720 horrific. But somehow and it was actually 140 00:08:59,800 --> 00:09:01,880 like, it's quite a good race. And there was someone who was 141 00:09:01,880 --> 00:09:05,000 out in front and I caught them in the second-half of the race 142 00:09:05,440 --> 00:09:10,440 and ended up winning it by like 3 whole laps of like 12 miles 143 00:09:10,840 --> 00:09:15,800 and set my 100 mile PB. So I did it in 100 miles, like 144 00:09:15,800 --> 00:09:18,880 19 1/4 hours. So that one was like, and it 145 00:09:18,880 --> 00:09:21,080 just like came from nowhere like as a performance. 146 00:09:21,080 --> 00:09:23,320 Like I was obviously in good shape, but I don't think I kind 147 00:09:23,320 --> 00:09:26,720 of knew it was so like, you know, I think when did I do a 148 00:09:26,720 --> 00:09:30,080 race where I did really well and I was really pleased with my 149 00:09:30,280 --> 00:09:32,200 like performance. That one would have to be it. 150 00:09:32,200 --> 00:09:35,040 So yeah, I know you white one, but you got 3. 151 00:09:36,680 --> 00:09:39,240 Was. Loch Ness Was Loch Ness 24 just 152 00:09:39,240 --> 00:09:42,440 one of those races where just everything went right with 153 00:09:42,440 --> 00:09:46,080 fuelling performance? Just the perfect race you would 154 00:09:46,080 --> 00:09:46,400 say. I. 155 00:09:48,440 --> 00:09:51,680 Mean it was it certainly wasn't perfect. 156 00:09:52,320 --> 00:09:55,440 I mean, obviously, like I said, the the weather was pretty 157 00:09:55,440 --> 00:09:57,480 horrific and the conditions on their foot and stuff were were 158 00:09:57,480 --> 00:10:01,880 pretty grim at times. And as it's kind of normal for 159 00:10:01,880 --> 00:10:04,600 me on most races, I was ended up throwing up at some points as 160 00:10:04,600 --> 00:10:09,360 well. And yeah, that So I think I 161 00:10:09,360 --> 00:10:13,080 mean, there's probably if I went back, you know, there's 162 00:10:13,080 --> 00:10:15,360 definitely things I couldn't be all whether I could, you know, 163 00:10:16,360 --> 00:10:20,040 beat that time again, I have no idea and I probably won't go 164 00:10:20,040 --> 00:10:23,800 back and because I maybe don't want to just despoil it, you 165 00:10:23,840 --> 00:10:28,000 know, by by trying to beat it. So they've actually that. 166 00:10:28,000 --> 00:10:30,760 So that event was kind of on a pause this year. 167 00:10:30,760 --> 00:10:33,480 So I don't know if they will bring it back next year or not, 168 00:10:33,480 --> 00:10:36,840 but maybe it's hopefully they'll come back because these are good 169 00:10:36,840 --> 00:10:40,600 Funny Ben, actually. Yeah, the, by the way, the Great 170 00:10:40,600 --> 00:10:44,280 Glen race, that is one that I've always been tempted by, but it 171 00:10:44,280 --> 00:10:46,720 just never seems to fit right in the calendar. 172 00:10:46,840 --> 00:10:52,920 It's for that length of race you have to have recovery afterwards 173 00:10:52,920 --> 00:10:55,400 as well. Yeah. 174 00:10:55,400 --> 00:10:59,840 I mean the Great Glen Ultra, I think it's about 75 miles or 175 00:10:59,840 --> 00:11:02,520 something like that, 73, the half one. 176 00:11:02,800 --> 00:11:06,720 Yeah, so you say it's a chunky distance, obviously. 177 00:11:06,720 --> 00:11:09,040 And it's, you know, there's a good amount of climbing and 178 00:11:09,040 --> 00:11:11,320 stuff in it as well. But yeah, I mean, that's always 179 00:11:11,320 --> 00:11:13,280 a problem, right? There's always more races than 180 00:11:13,400 --> 00:11:19,400 like, either like you don't have the time or the time to recover. 181 00:11:19,400 --> 00:11:23,080 And and, you know, because I kind of like to go into a race 182 00:11:24,040 --> 00:11:26,920 like feeling like I've been well prepared and give it a good 183 00:11:26,920 --> 00:11:28,320 shot. I mean, let's not say I haven't 184 00:11:28,320 --> 00:11:31,720 done a few races stupidly close together and just kind of like 185 00:11:32,800 --> 00:11:34,240 dragged myself around them, but yeah. 186 00:11:34,800 --> 00:11:36,560 Yeah. Have you done the West Highland 187 00:11:36,560 --> 00:11:40,600 Way race, Ian? No, I've never done any of like 188 00:11:40,600 --> 00:11:43,280 the the race, the challenge, the fling, the devil. 189 00:11:43,280 --> 00:11:44,560 I haven't ever done any of those. 190 00:11:46,360 --> 00:11:49,440 I mean I've talked to a lot of people that have and most 191 00:11:49,440 --> 00:11:51,280 people, you know, seem seem to really love it. 192 00:11:51,680 --> 00:11:56,200 I mean for for me, I know like like the West Highland way race 193 00:11:56,200 --> 00:11:57,480 is obviously it's a massive race. 194 00:11:57,560 --> 00:11:59,720 It's like 300 people or something like that. 195 00:12:01,080 --> 00:12:06,120 So I don't know, I, I'm, it's not like a massive bucket list 196 00:12:06,120 --> 00:12:07,560 thing for me to do. I'm not sure. 197 00:12:08,520 --> 00:12:11,560 Maybe I will one day, but I've got lots of other things I want 198 00:12:11,560 --> 00:12:14,960 to take off 1st. And I guess having done West 199 00:12:14,960 --> 00:12:17,560 Island Way and then the Great Glen Way in a Warner, then 200 00:12:17,560 --> 00:12:19,880 that's that's those two ticked off the list. 201 00:12:20,280 --> 00:12:28,120 That's huge. And a different type of race is 202 00:12:28,200 --> 00:12:32,040 a race that I know you from or a style of race that I know you 203 00:12:32,040 --> 00:12:34,800 from is a backyard octopus. Yeah. 204 00:12:35,120 --> 00:12:38,680 When did you start running them? Yeah. 205 00:12:38,680 --> 00:12:42,280 So the first backyard I did was relatively recently. 206 00:12:43,000 --> 00:12:46,200 It was 2022 cow shed backyard ultra. 207 00:12:46,200 --> 00:12:51,000 So like Eastern Time three years ago pretty much. 208 00:12:52,200 --> 00:12:56,560 And since then I have done a total of 7 backyards including 209 00:12:56,880 --> 00:12:59,520 Russell Walk last weekend. So I'm. 210 00:12:59,960 --> 00:13:02,480 Yeah. Koche That would have been the 211 00:13:02,480 --> 00:13:06,840 first time that we run together. I think so, yeah. 212 00:13:06,840 --> 00:13:10,000 Because you were on. So it was the year when they did 213 00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:12,800 the Four Nations Championship. It's like 4 races in the year 214 00:13:13,080 --> 00:13:14,840 and so the Scottish team was there. 215 00:13:14,840 --> 00:13:17,560 I mean, I had no idea really who any of you guys were, I don't 216 00:13:17,560 --> 00:13:20,840 think. Or really, I mean, I was like 217 00:13:20,840 --> 00:13:23,880 aware of backyards as a thing and I'd wanted to get into them 218 00:13:23,880 --> 00:13:26,720 for a while because they sounded kind of interesting. 219 00:13:26,720 --> 00:13:30,760 And I think, I'm trying to think so. 220 00:13:30,880 --> 00:13:34,880 I mean, I know Orkney backyard was one of the very early ones 221 00:13:34,880 --> 00:13:36,640 in Scotland. Obviously Suffolk could be going 222 00:13:36,640 --> 00:13:38,760 for a bit and the Northern Irish wouldn't be going for a bit. 223 00:13:39,080 --> 00:13:43,600 And there was, there was a male somebody, I think it was maybe 224 00:13:43,640 --> 00:13:46,920 Sammy or Bill maybe. I've been talking about putting 225 00:13:46,920 --> 00:13:50,840 the Highlander on for a while and I was like, I put my name in 226 00:13:50,840 --> 00:13:53,560 the sort of interested parties for that. 227 00:13:53,720 --> 00:13:58,280 But it never come about, you know, until I guess maybe it ran 228 00:13:58,280 --> 00:13:59,440 that year. I can't remember. 229 00:13:59,840 --> 00:14:03,840 Anyways, so I've been, yeah, sniffing around at backyards for 230 00:14:03,840 --> 00:14:07,040 a while, but eventually, and I guess with COVID and stuff, it 231 00:14:07,040 --> 00:14:11,200 was all about a funny time. But yeah, Kosher 2022 was the 232 00:14:11,280 --> 00:14:15,680 the first one that I did. So 2022, that's pretty recent 233 00:14:15,680 --> 00:14:19,000 for getting into Backyard Ultra's and doing 7 in total. 234 00:14:19,000 --> 00:14:22,720 That feels like quite a short space of time for squeezing as 235 00:14:22,720 --> 00:14:25,840 much in. What is it about the format that 236 00:14:26,480 --> 00:14:27,880 is appealing to you? I mean. 237 00:14:29,920 --> 00:14:34,240 When, when I started the, the thing that got me into it was 238 00:14:34,240 --> 00:14:39,120 the idea, OK, it's the way to like find your personal limit 239 00:14:39,120 --> 00:14:40,680 because there's no end to the race, right? 240 00:14:40,680 --> 00:14:45,440 So, and that, that's something that definitely appeals to me in 241 00:14:45,640 --> 00:14:48,520 the Ultron and genuine, like finding out what can I do? 242 00:14:49,000 --> 00:14:51,560 And the background is kind of quite a sort of pure format for 243 00:14:51,560 --> 00:14:55,200 doing that. And, and I've said this to, you 244 00:14:55,200 --> 00:14:59,680 know, it hooks you in as a, as a format because no matter what 245 00:14:59,680 --> 00:15:03,800 happens in the race, So for, you know, everyone else apart from 246 00:15:03,800 --> 00:15:07,840 the winner, the DNFS, you've always got a little kind of itch 247 00:15:07,840 --> 00:15:10,920 to scratch. You know, what did I do wrong? 248 00:15:11,320 --> 00:15:14,960 How could I improve? And then if you're lucky enough 249 00:15:14,960 --> 00:15:18,160 to be the winner, then, you know, you've still got an itch 250 00:15:18,160 --> 00:15:20,040 to scratch because you could have gone further. 251 00:15:20,080 --> 00:15:21,680 You had to stop because someone else stopped. 252 00:15:21,680 --> 00:15:26,680 So it's kind of, it's addictive. I mean, in a good way, right? 253 00:15:27,360 --> 00:15:30,120 But I don't want to stop doing them. 254 00:15:30,120 --> 00:15:33,000 But if you did, you'd like, oh man, like I've lived in 255 00:15:33,000 --> 00:15:34,160 unfinished business here. So. 256 00:15:34,680 --> 00:15:39,280 So I guess then yeah, I mean, the the cow shed, that's my 257 00:15:39,280 --> 00:15:41,520 first one. I kind of didn't really know 258 00:15:41,520 --> 00:15:43,000 what I was doing. I'm obviously I've done quite a 259 00:15:43,000 --> 00:15:45,640 few ultras by that point, but I've never done the backyard. 260 00:15:45,640 --> 00:15:49,760 So like did all the kind of rookie backyard mistakes of 261 00:15:49,760 --> 00:15:55,280 going too fast and then like as I started to slow down a bit 262 00:15:55,280 --> 00:15:57,560 going Oh my goodness, it's horrific. 263 00:15:57,560 --> 00:16:01,160 I'm coming in at 55 minutes. And then I think I actually quit 264 00:16:01,160 --> 00:16:04,680 when I was like in at like 5556 minutes, something like that, 265 00:16:06,480 --> 00:16:08,800 which now I'd be like, wow, that's fine. 266 00:16:08,800 --> 00:16:10,880 You've probably got another 8 hours in you sort of thing. 267 00:16:12,440 --> 00:16:15,800 So I think I did. I did 27 laps at that one. 268 00:16:17,520 --> 00:16:21,640 And then, yeah, that was in the spring of 2022. 269 00:16:21,640 --> 00:16:25,000 And then I went to my first God's own backyard in November 270 00:16:25,000 --> 00:16:28,160 2022. And kind of obviously it seemed 271 00:16:28,160 --> 00:16:30,360 to have learned quite a lot from the kind of shed 1 because I 272 00:16:30,360 --> 00:16:35,640 actually managed to win that one and did 37 yards there, which up 273 00:16:35,640 --> 00:16:37,320 until this last weekend was my PB. 274 00:16:37,640 --> 00:16:39,520 And you know, I hadn't hadn't been that. 275 00:16:39,520 --> 00:16:44,200 That was my second backyard. And then at the end of 2022. 276 00:16:45,440 --> 00:16:50,280 You you just said that you've won that one and you've won 277 00:16:50,560 --> 00:16:54,400 other ones that we know about without giving any spoilers for 278 00:16:55,200 --> 00:16:56,600 what? We're just about to talk about 279 00:16:56,600 --> 00:16:58,760 product placement. I've got a Russellbach T-shirt 280 00:16:58,760 --> 00:17:03,120 on. How how many others have you 281 00:17:03,120 --> 00:17:06,760 won? OK, so, so, so prior to 282 00:17:06,760 --> 00:17:09,800 Russellbach, so the six backyards are done up to 283 00:17:09,800 --> 00:17:14,560 Russellbach. I had, I'd won two of them and 284 00:17:15,160 --> 00:17:19,560 so I when that first got God's own backyard, I won the pig on 285 00:17:19,560 --> 00:17:21,359 the hill last year, which is the one that got me the silver 286 00:17:21,359 --> 00:17:28,400 ticket to get on the UK team. And then God's own 2023, me and 287 00:17:28,400 --> 00:17:31,400 Julie went there and we doubled DNF as the last two runners. 288 00:17:31,880 --> 00:17:34,480 So we, you know, decided not to go against each other for the 289 00:17:34,520 --> 00:17:37,760 for the win. And it's a, do you want to 290 00:17:38,200 --> 00:17:42,680 explain, maybe even to Nikki? But the listeners, why was it a 291 00:17:42,680 --> 00:17:46,120 double DNF? What's the the rule that causes 292 00:17:46,120 --> 00:17:49,560 that? Yeah, so, so in a backyard, for 293 00:17:49,560 --> 00:17:52,800 someone to be the winner, one person has to complete one more 294 00:17:52,800 --> 00:17:56,680 lap than everyone else. So it got down to me and Julie 295 00:17:56,680 --> 00:18:01,800 were the last two runners in at Cold Zone and at some point 296 00:18:01,800 --> 00:18:05,920 around the loop we had a bit of a chat and decided that we 297 00:18:05,920 --> 00:18:07,520 didn't want to race each other for the win. 298 00:18:07,960 --> 00:18:11,520 And so we got back into the corral at the end of I think it 299 00:18:11,520 --> 00:18:14,840 was 31 yards from memory, maybe 32, can't remember. 300 00:18:15,880 --> 00:18:18,160 And we just said them we're done. 301 00:18:18,200 --> 00:18:21,320 We're not going back out. And so therefore, because both 302 00:18:21,320 --> 00:18:24,040 of us finished on the same total there, there's no winner. 303 00:18:24,520 --> 00:18:27,040 And so that that was the, I think the one year they've had 304 00:18:27,040 --> 00:18:31,160 no winner in that event. So there was no winner at all. 305 00:18:31,160 --> 00:18:33,720 Like you both didn't get like, oh, it's a draw, it's a trophy. 306 00:18:33,720 --> 00:18:37,640 It's just. So there's no way they give you 307 00:18:37,640 --> 00:18:41,840 a little DNF momentum. It's like so I've got 1 winner's 308 00:18:41,840 --> 00:18:46,760 mug from 2022 and both of us have DNF mugs from 2023. 309 00:18:47,400 --> 00:18:49,520 Oh wow, we and you've got a strong marriage. 310 00:18:53,560 --> 00:18:56,720 It was funny because we kind of thought, well actually, you 311 00:18:56,720 --> 00:18:58,400 know, we'd work together, the whole type. 312 00:18:58,400 --> 00:19:00,880 Like we'd literally run the whole race, like side by side. 313 00:19:02,080 --> 00:19:03,600 And you know, we'd had a great time. 314 00:19:03,640 --> 00:19:08,320 And it was, you know, we, we obviously could have gone on 315 00:19:08,320 --> 00:19:12,640 further, but you know, we kind of decided that actually, if we 316 00:19:12,640 --> 00:19:16,200 were running together as a pair, what happens in a backyard when 317 00:19:16,200 --> 00:19:18,160 everyone else has stopped, you have to stop. 318 00:19:18,720 --> 00:19:21,320 So that was kind of like the, the sort of thought process that 319 00:19:21,320 --> 00:19:24,760 if we, if we were running it as a, as a, as a team of two, we'd 320 00:19:24,760 --> 00:19:28,760 do the same and stop. So, you know, I mean, it'd be 321 00:19:28,760 --> 00:19:31,040 different, right, if there would be a silver ticket involved or 322 00:19:31,040 --> 00:19:33,240 something like that. But you know, it was just that, 323 00:19:33,400 --> 00:19:35,880 the normal backyard race. We've done a whale of a time and 324 00:19:35,880 --> 00:19:37,440 we were more than happy just to call it a day. 325 00:19:37,960 --> 00:19:40,720 So just out of my own interest for the backyard side, just 326 00:19:40,720 --> 00:19:44,160 going slightly off pace with the world champs and the Belgian 327 00:19:44,160 --> 00:19:46,280 team, the three of them finished at the one. 328 00:19:46,280 --> 00:19:49,440 So was that a treble DNF and the world champs? 329 00:19:50,160 --> 00:19:53,000 Yeah. So, so before the for bigs this 330 00:19:53,000 --> 00:19:56,480 year, there's no Belgian winner qualified for bigs, but of 331 00:19:56,480 --> 00:19:59,280 course the three guys that set you a record, they're all 332 00:19:59,280 --> 00:20:01,080 qualified off the large list. So. 333 00:20:01,120 --> 00:20:03,000 Oh. That's amazing. 334 00:20:04,120 --> 00:20:07,520 So back to you Ian on basketball this year. 335 00:20:08,400 --> 00:20:13,120 When I looked at the start list, I had a couple of friends that I 336 00:20:13,120 --> 00:20:16,680 was following and I was quite surprised like when I seen you 337 00:20:16,680 --> 00:20:20,520 and Julie on Just Hearing about You is from the World Champs and 338 00:20:20,520 --> 00:20:23,240 I was quite excited to add you to my favourites list. 339 00:20:23,880 --> 00:20:29,960 Can you talk us through when did you sign up and just talk about 340 00:20:29,960 --> 00:20:32,280 the experience from your perspective? 341 00:20:33,280 --> 00:20:36,360 Yeah. So I, I don't remember when we 342 00:20:36,360 --> 00:20:38,760 signed up, probably late on last year, I guess. 343 00:20:39,840 --> 00:20:42,400 So certainly. I mean, normally I kind of try 344 00:20:42,400 --> 00:20:46,080 and plan out roughly what I'm doing events wise in the year 345 00:20:46,160 --> 00:20:50,480 towards the end of last one. And I think definitely, I mean, 346 00:20:50,880 --> 00:20:53,560 Julie wanted to come back in it. So she ran it last year. 347 00:20:53,840 --> 00:20:57,040 She went down and did it like solo unaccrewed. 348 00:20:57,560 --> 00:21:03,120 I was at home with the kids and she had, I think she came forth. 349 00:21:03,120 --> 00:21:09,840 I remember it would be Mike, Sarah, Keith and then Julie 350 00:21:09,840 --> 00:21:12,520 maybe. Something like that, yeah. 351 00:21:12,920 --> 00:21:17,040 Something like that. So and I think she felt she had 352 00:21:17,040 --> 00:21:20,080 unfinished business. She felt she could do better and 353 00:21:20,080 --> 00:21:24,760 that, you know, since she had APB of 48 from the UK 354 00:21:24,760 --> 00:21:28,040 Championship race, I think she had her eye on good further at 355 00:21:28,040 --> 00:21:32,480 Rattleblock and everyone I spoke to that been there said it's a 356 00:21:32,480 --> 00:21:35,520 great event. And I definitely had like 357 00:21:35,760 --> 00:21:38,680 personally speaking, a sort of point to prove myself from the 358 00:21:38,680 --> 00:21:42,520 team championships. So I kind of felt like, I mean, 359 00:21:42,920 --> 00:21:45,800 I did 37 yards there in October at Thetford. 360 00:21:47,120 --> 00:21:50,720 Very definitely. It was like mental stroke, sleep 361 00:21:50,720 --> 00:21:53,880 deprivation, quitting the next morning, like physically I felt 362 00:21:53,880 --> 00:21:57,840 fine, legs felt fine. So I definitely you had more in 363 00:21:57,840 --> 00:21:59,680 the tank if I could manage myself properly. 364 00:21:59,880 --> 00:22:03,880 So I was kind of like, that's fine, I'm going to go and go 365 00:22:03,880 --> 00:22:08,640 back, do a solid training block over Christmas and work on a few 366 00:22:08,640 --> 00:22:10,720 things about how I manage my sleep and things. 367 00:22:10,720 --> 00:22:16,520 So for example, I've done, I did a 12 hour like backyard 368 00:22:16,520 --> 00:22:20,760 simulation run from my house this end of January, beginning 369 00:22:20,760 --> 00:22:23,680 of February to practice like some sleep strategies that, you 370 00:22:23,680 --> 00:22:26,360 know, because I had totally like failed me and blown up in my 371 00:22:26,360 --> 00:22:31,560 face at at Hertford. So yeah, definitely for me, 372 00:22:31,560 --> 00:22:35,280 Rasta Block and it's a very, but it's not a totally pancake flat 373 00:22:35,280 --> 00:22:37,880 course, but it's a very runnable course and it's definitely 374 00:22:37,880 --> 00:22:43,640 conducive to the long distances. And obviously it gets a good 375 00:22:43,640 --> 00:22:46,120 crowd out as well with lots of other good runners. 376 00:22:46,120 --> 00:22:49,000 So, you know, definitely felt there's a chance to, you know, 377 00:22:49,160 --> 00:22:53,800 push my PB, which was kind of, I mean, me and Julie have a good 378 00:22:53,800 --> 00:22:56,880 friendly competition. I would say, you know, she had 379 00:22:56,880 --> 00:22:59,920 40 yards posted from the team championships. 380 00:23:00,200 --> 00:23:05,440 I'd been stuck on 37 as my PB since that since the gob you 381 00:23:05,440 --> 00:23:10,640 2022. And I kind of always thought, 382 00:23:11,000 --> 00:23:13,800 especially after the team championships, I thought I had a 383 00:23:13,800 --> 00:23:18,320 good much longer total than that in my in myself and what a 384 00:23:18,320 --> 00:23:20,440 chance to get out. So that's what, for me going to 385 00:23:20,440 --> 00:23:27,760 Razzlebach was about, yeah. I mean, it was a loads of people 386 00:23:27,760 --> 00:23:30,920 there, lots of friends that we've made from other races, 387 00:23:31,120 --> 00:23:34,240 lots of other people from, you know, who'd been on the UK team, 388 00:23:35,560 --> 00:23:37,320 you know. So we kind of had a little bit 389 00:23:37,320 --> 00:23:38,880 of chat before going back the space. 390 00:23:38,880 --> 00:23:42,000 People who want to go along, that's good. 391 00:23:42,000 --> 00:23:44,800 We can all kind of keep an eye on each other, you know, 392 00:23:45,040 --> 00:23:49,800 checking on people and you know, not necessarily work together, 393 00:23:49,800 --> 00:23:52,800 but just, you know, have people around you there go in the same 394 00:23:52,800 --> 00:23:55,040 sort of distance and and support each other a bit. 395 00:23:55,040 --> 00:23:57,480 So that was all that was kind of the aim going in. 396 00:24:00,880 --> 00:24:07,720 And did it work out? Did it when you first started? 397 00:24:07,720 --> 00:24:14,680 Were you running with people? So one of the things that, I 398 00:24:14,680 --> 00:24:18,160 mean, I mean, me and Julie had decided was that actually we 399 00:24:18,160 --> 00:24:20,360 weren't going to run quite as closely together as we had done 400 00:24:20,360 --> 00:24:23,200 at previous races, especially during the first day when 401 00:24:23,200 --> 00:24:26,040 there's loads of people around. We're like, OK, fine, let's just 402 00:24:26,040 --> 00:24:29,920 go and hang out with some other people for a change, maybe not 403 00:24:29,920 --> 00:24:32,040 use up all our chat on each other for the first day. 404 00:24:33,240 --> 00:24:37,160 So yeah, I mean, like the first for me, the first day was just 405 00:24:37,160 --> 00:24:40,000 like a massive kind of like party on legs. 406 00:24:40,000 --> 00:24:41,760 We're all just like wandering around. 407 00:24:41,760 --> 00:24:44,200 The sun was shining. Everybody feels good on the 408 00:24:44,200 --> 00:24:49,600 first day, you know, loads of people that meet for the first 409 00:24:49,600 --> 00:24:52,320 time, some people that I'd seen before events. 410 00:24:53,280 --> 00:24:56,360 And you know, we just like I say, it was like a kind of party 411 00:24:56,360 --> 00:24:59,080 atmosphere at least. I mean, at least for me. 412 00:24:59,600 --> 00:25:03,080 Yeah, I was feeling great, like my legs were fine. 413 00:25:03,480 --> 00:25:07,000 And yeah, obviously by the time you run lights on like 50 miles 414 00:25:07,000 --> 00:25:10,440 or whatever, you feel a bit, but it like wasn't getting any 415 00:25:10,440 --> 00:25:12,680 worse. I didn't have any major issues. 416 00:25:13,280 --> 00:25:15,680 Like at one point like my feet got a little bit sore. 417 00:25:15,680 --> 00:25:19,480 I put a bit of tape on them and you know, I was just keeping 418 00:25:19,480 --> 00:25:21,520 going. It was, it was, it was really 419 00:25:21,520 --> 00:25:26,120 good. Managed to get through the, the 420 00:25:26,120 --> 00:25:28,600 first night without too much sleep issues. 421 00:25:28,600 --> 00:25:31,440 I had a bit, a couple of fast laps, which is one of the things 422 00:25:31,440 --> 00:25:35,200 that I'd never done before at backyard, but I'd practiced, you 423 00:25:35,200 --> 00:25:37,520 know, coming round. So normally I try and get around 424 00:25:37,520 --> 00:25:41,600 in about like 50 to 53 minutes, but a couple of times during the 425 00:25:41,600 --> 00:25:45,240 first night I got riding like 4142 and then got like, you 426 00:25:45,240 --> 00:25:47,480 know, 15 plus minutes of solid sleep. 427 00:25:48,560 --> 00:25:50,000 And that that worked really well. 428 00:25:51,840 --> 00:25:58,200 And then I think when it got to the second night, you know, it's 429 00:25:58,200 --> 00:26:00,320 kind of like the second night for me was like what I thought 430 00:26:00,320 --> 00:26:03,160 was going to be the sort of crux of the event, especially where 431 00:26:03,160 --> 00:26:07,280 I'd fallen apart at the the team champs in October. 432 00:26:07,880 --> 00:26:11,600 But actually, weirdly enough, the second night was like easier 433 00:26:11,600 --> 00:26:15,840 than the first night. And I had I distinctly remember 434 00:26:15,840 --> 00:26:19,440 this like really weird feeling of like, there's a bit Michael, 435 00:26:19,440 --> 00:26:22,480 remember this on the bit that was kind of through the woods, 436 00:26:22,480 --> 00:26:24,440 fly a little traily section through the trees. 437 00:26:24,560 --> 00:26:27,360 Most of it's on kind of like forest roads or like fire 438 00:26:27,360 --> 00:26:29,240 tracks. And there's a little tree 439 00:26:29,240 --> 00:26:31,520 section. Remember, they're like going 440 00:26:31,520 --> 00:26:33,800 through that on the second night and like everything being in 441 00:26:33,800 --> 00:26:36,440 sort of like heightened focus. It was like I had like HD 442 00:26:36,440 --> 00:26:38,480 vision. It was really like, like, I was 443 00:26:38,480 --> 00:26:41,040 really just like, I don't know, it's like massive adrenaline 444 00:26:41,040 --> 00:26:44,920 rush or what it was. But that second night, I just by 445 00:26:44,920 --> 00:26:49,680 that point, I was kind of on my own because so Julia dropped out 446 00:26:49,760 --> 00:26:53,800 at the end of the second day or the beginning of the second 447 00:26:53,800 --> 00:26:58,880 night, 33 yards, I think. And so I was on my own by that 448 00:26:58,880 --> 00:26:59,600 point. And. 449 00:27:00,160 --> 00:27:03,400 Yeah, didn't like slow me down at all. 450 00:27:03,400 --> 00:27:06,680 I was just like flying through that second night, really. 451 00:27:08,040 --> 00:27:11,560 So on you're saying about the first night and the second night 452 00:27:11,560 --> 00:27:16,360 when you first start on a backyard, is it, is it easier? 453 00:27:17,600 --> 00:27:21,560 What I'm trying to say is when you start, you've got a lot of 454 00:27:21,920 --> 00:27:27,560 people starting in the corral and then obviously people drop 455 00:27:27,560 --> 00:27:30,360 off. So although you're tired as it 456 00:27:30,360 --> 00:27:34,680 goes on, does it make it easier that there's not as many people? 457 00:27:36,120 --> 00:27:38,880 Yeah, I think it's different for different people. 458 00:27:39,840 --> 00:27:43,920 If you like, you know, running with other folks, then for sure 459 00:27:43,920 --> 00:27:45,880 having the people around you can can help. 460 00:27:45,960 --> 00:27:48,040 And I mean, I, I did enjoy that in the first day. 461 00:27:48,040 --> 00:27:51,640 Just chat with people. It just makes time pass and 462 00:27:51,640 --> 00:27:54,600 that's all good. But for me, I think because I'm 463 00:27:54,640 --> 00:28:00,080 quite like kind of competitive as the numbers start to thin out 464 00:28:00,080 --> 00:28:02,280 and, you know, you're getting towards the sharp end of the 465 00:28:02,280 --> 00:28:03,720 race. And I think that's kind of 466 00:28:03,720 --> 00:28:05,880 partly why I was kind of buzzing in the second night because 467 00:28:06,160 --> 00:28:09,040 people were starting to drop. I was like, yeah, this is 468 00:28:09,040 --> 00:28:10,920 getting real. I'm doing well here, you know, 469 00:28:12,000 --> 00:28:15,280 So it sounds a little bit kind of cruel, but like, as other 470 00:28:15,280 --> 00:28:18,480 people are dropping out, you're like it's a drip feeding into 471 00:28:18,480 --> 00:28:22,280 you that you're doing well. And that's that gave me like a 472 00:28:22,280 --> 00:28:25,840 real boost, I would say. Brilliant. 473 00:28:25,840 --> 00:28:30,520 And then when Julie dropped out at the end of the second day, 474 00:28:30,960 --> 00:28:34,920 how was that for you mentally? The I would imagine when you 475 00:28:34,920 --> 00:28:37,520 were socializing at the start with different people and then 476 00:28:37,520 --> 00:28:40,720 as the event goes on, then you come together, you have a chat 477 00:28:40,920 --> 00:28:44,040 about whatever you're chatting about and then that's your, you 478 00:28:44,040 --> 00:28:47,440 know, on your own. How was that psychologically for 479 00:28:47,440 --> 00:28:51,080 you? Did that benefit or how was it? 480 00:28:52,240 --> 00:28:56,360 So I think actually that the harder benefit for me was like 481 00:28:56,360 --> 00:28:58,920 in the second afternoon where she was really having a hard 482 00:28:58,920 --> 00:29:01,080 time and kind of like you're really struggling. 483 00:29:01,080 --> 00:29:05,240 And I mean, she won't mind me saying this because it's like 484 00:29:05,240 --> 00:29:07,920 this is how it was. In actual fact, the thing that 485 00:29:08,080 --> 00:29:11,480 basically torpedoed her race was that our period came on like 486 00:29:11,480 --> 00:29:16,960 during the race and it just like it's a mental, physical, whole 487 00:29:16,960 --> 00:29:22,440 body like crash basically. And she really struggled during 488 00:29:22,440 --> 00:29:25,600 the whole second afternoon. I was kind of trying to help her 489 00:29:25,600 --> 00:29:28,400 a bit and it turned out, you know, I wasn't helping. 490 00:29:28,440 --> 00:29:30,920 So she actually asked me, you go off and run on your own for a 491 00:29:30,920 --> 00:29:34,080 bit and she ran with some other folks and she she pulled herself 492 00:29:34,080 --> 00:29:36,360 out of the hole for a couple of hours. 493 00:29:36,360 --> 00:29:39,440 But then, you know, by the by the time it got tonight, and 494 00:29:39,960 --> 00:29:41,920 yeah, she loves night running. So it's kind of hoping that that 495 00:29:41,920 --> 00:29:43,240 would pick her up, but it really didn't. 496 00:29:43,240 --> 00:29:45,080 And, you know, and that when she's like, no, OK. 497 00:29:45,240 --> 00:29:47,120 And he stopped trying to force my body to do something he 498 00:29:47,120 --> 00:29:51,040 doesn't want to do. And, and, and so the lap that 499 00:29:51,040 --> 00:29:54,600 she dropped out, I, I was ahead of her on the loop and she 500 00:29:54,600 --> 00:29:56,760 turned back and went back to the start. 501 00:29:56,760 --> 00:30:00,520 So I didn't know she dropped until I got to the end and I saw 502 00:30:00,520 --> 00:30:02,080 that she was sitting in the marquee. 503 00:30:02,400 --> 00:30:04,320 So that was like the first time I knew that she was out of the 504 00:30:04,320 --> 00:30:06,680 race. So obviously I was like, you 505 00:30:06,680 --> 00:30:09,560 know, a bit worried and, you know, worried that she'd be 506 00:30:09,560 --> 00:30:12,520 really upset about it. But by the time I got there, she 507 00:30:12,520 --> 00:30:15,560 was totally cool about it. She was really happy with the 508 00:30:15,560 --> 00:30:18,880 decision she'd made. And then she'd also like flick 509 00:30:18,880 --> 00:30:20,600 the switch. She was now in crew mode. 510 00:30:21,000 --> 00:30:24,880 I mean, she'd run for 33 hours and the first thing she want to 511 00:30:24,880 --> 00:30:27,760 do is crew me. So like that was actually like a 512 00:30:27,760 --> 00:30:30,240 massive a that she was happy with the decision. 513 00:30:30,480 --> 00:30:34,040 And then I had somebody in my corner because we'd been kind of 514 00:30:34,040 --> 00:30:36,120 self creating each other for the first day and 1/2. 515 00:30:37,360 --> 00:30:40,080 Then go. Actually, I can rather than, you 516 00:30:40,080 --> 00:30:42,560 know, come in in the 6-7 minutes I've got. 517 00:30:42,560 --> 00:30:45,040 I've got a couple minutes of faffing around getting stuff, 518 00:30:45,040 --> 00:30:48,120 sorting stuff, eat a bit. Can't really shut your eyes and 519 00:30:48,120 --> 00:30:50,440 properly sleep because you don't want to both oversleep and miss 520 00:30:50,440 --> 00:30:54,520 the bell. Now, I could get in within 30 521 00:30:54,520 --> 00:30:57,600 seconds of crossing the line. I could be asleep from a hood 522 00:30:57,600 --> 00:31:01,520 over my face and she'd wake me up with two minutes to go, shove 523 00:31:01,520 --> 00:31:02,960 some food in at me and off we go. 524 00:31:02,960 --> 00:31:06,400 And we just, you know, the second night was just, you know, 525 00:31:06,400 --> 00:31:07,520 the theater. It went really well. 526 00:31:07,520 --> 00:31:10,520 And part of that was because, you know, I had crew and she was 527 00:31:10,520 --> 00:31:13,040 supporting. Me. 528 00:31:13,400 --> 00:31:17,560 Yourself and Julie, it's one that fascinates me and I'm sure 529 00:31:17,560 --> 00:31:20,160 it does fascinate other listeners that are into the 530 00:31:20,160 --> 00:31:22,720 scene. Just out of curiosity, did you 531 00:31:22,720 --> 00:31:26,080 both start running out with backyards? 532 00:31:26,080 --> 00:31:30,680 I mean, we both run us. Did Julie start with you or did 533 00:31:30,680 --> 00:31:33,440 Julie always run? No, no. 534 00:31:34,120 --> 00:31:37,920 So she kind of came into after I did as I said. 535 00:31:38,040 --> 00:31:45,880 So I started about 20/15/2016. I'm trying to, I mean, obviously 536 00:31:45,880 --> 00:31:49,200 she's seen me running and you know, was kind of interested in 537 00:31:49,200 --> 00:31:52,640 it because I've been doing it. But then she very much had plans 538 00:31:52,640 --> 00:31:55,440 of her own, you know, she wanted to do a marathon. 539 00:31:56,680 --> 00:32:00,640 So I think it was maybe 2019. We ran the Edinburgh Marathon. 540 00:32:00,640 --> 00:32:03,440 That was kind of her her first big race goal. 541 00:32:03,440 --> 00:32:05,520 Like she's done a few halves and stuff before that. 542 00:32:05,960 --> 00:32:09,160 And if she did that and basically didn't run again for 543 00:32:09,160 --> 00:32:13,440 like a year and then she only started ultra running. 544 00:32:15,040 --> 00:32:23,240 So I think it was 2020 she ran an ultra on her birthday. 545 00:32:23,240 --> 00:32:26,840 Like not an event, but just ran an ultra distance on her 546 00:32:26,840 --> 00:32:30,360 birthday in 2020. And I kind of went to a day of 547 00:32:30,360 --> 00:32:33,160 work and, and ran around with her for, for almost all of it 548 00:32:33,400 --> 00:32:35,600 that I had to cut it short because the kids are coming home 549 00:32:35,600 --> 00:32:39,760 from school and I come, we're getting getting back, meeting 550 00:32:39,760 --> 00:32:41,800 the kids. And then we all got on bikes and 551 00:32:41,800 --> 00:32:44,440 went out to see her finish the, the her ultra. 552 00:32:45,680 --> 00:32:47,440 So yeah. So she, she, you know, she came 553 00:32:47,440 --> 00:32:48,920 into it a little bit later and I did. 554 00:32:48,960 --> 00:32:54,880 But yeah, certainly in terms of the Super long distance stuff, I 555 00:32:54,880 --> 00:33:00,200 mean she's done, I'm going to say probably three or four 200 556 00:33:00,200 --> 00:33:05,240 mile plus races, you know, certainly the Super long stuff 557 00:33:05,240 --> 00:33:09,000 and in the backyard format. And you know, she got up to 48 558 00:33:09,000 --> 00:33:12,120 hours ahead of me. So she's a phenomenal runner in 559 00:33:12,120 --> 00:33:14,760 her right. I just think it's brilliant that 560 00:33:14,760 --> 00:33:17,040 you both run and you both support each other. 561 00:33:17,040 --> 00:33:19,840 And I don't even know if there's any other married couples in the 562 00:33:19,840 --> 00:33:22,440 world that do the backyard. Maybe there are. 563 00:33:22,440 --> 00:33:24,760 Are you aware of anyone else that does that? 564 00:33:26,040 --> 00:33:31,120 But I don't know about backyard specifically, but so I mean as 565 00:33:31,280 --> 00:33:34,920 as you know, so we've got our own little blog where we kind of 566 00:33:34,920 --> 00:33:37,720 do our race reports and stuff. But we also do like I've done 567 00:33:37,720 --> 00:33:39,560 some like Q&A's with other people. 568 00:33:39,560 --> 00:33:43,000 So like we did AQ and A with a couple had done the spine 569 00:33:43,000 --> 00:33:46,920 together for example. So there are obviously other 570 00:33:47,120 --> 00:33:51,360 equally committed stroke crazy people out there and that do 571 00:33:51,360 --> 00:33:56,160 some of these events. Yeah, I mean, yeah, we love 572 00:33:56,160 --> 00:33:57,640 running together. Absolutely. 573 00:33:58,080 --> 00:34:02,000 One of the things I think we've learned over the last few 574 00:34:02,000 --> 00:34:06,080 particularly backyards is, you know, our styles are a bit 575 00:34:06,080 --> 00:34:10,000 different and it doesn't necessarily help us both get the 576 00:34:10,000 --> 00:34:13,000 best out of each our own races when we're racing together. 577 00:34:14,360 --> 00:34:19,520 So, and when juicy this like, so when I, I, I dropped before what 578 00:34:19,520 --> 00:34:24,480 she did at the UK champs at Thetford and she said after I 579 00:34:24,480 --> 00:34:27,679 dropped, she suddenly felt much better because she, she's, you 580 00:34:27,679 --> 00:34:33,800 know, it's in her character to be supportive And she, she had 581 00:34:34,080 --> 00:34:36,400 that for she absolutely was carrying me for a few laps 582 00:34:36,520 --> 00:34:39,880 because I was like completely losing my mind and didn't know 583 00:34:39,880 --> 00:34:41,760 what I was doing. And she was just like, you know, 584 00:34:41,880 --> 00:34:44,280 she'd tell me to run, I'd run, she'd tell me to walk, I'd walk, 585 00:34:44,440 --> 00:34:46,560 she'd tell me to turn left, I'd turn left sort of thing. 586 00:34:47,639 --> 00:34:50,480 And once I had actually dropped, she got big boost because she 587 00:34:50,480 --> 00:34:53,600 like didn't have to do the mental workload for two people 588 00:34:53,600 --> 00:34:57,640 anymore. So I think we've kind of learned 589 00:34:57,640 --> 00:35:02,560 from, you know, the, I think we've done maybe 4 backyards 590 00:35:02,560 --> 00:35:06,080 together now. And I think in future, I mean, 591 00:35:06,640 --> 00:35:08,680 if we're both on like the Scottish team or the UK team, 592 00:35:08,680 --> 00:35:10,320 that that's fine. And I think that'll be OK 593 00:35:10,320 --> 00:35:12,680 because also there'll be other people to crew. 594 00:35:13,360 --> 00:35:16,760 I think that going together, trying to self crew each other, 595 00:35:17,680 --> 00:35:23,120 it doesn't work so well because she'll always try and support me 596 00:35:23,240 --> 00:35:25,720 more than looking after our own race that you know, it's not 597 00:35:25,720 --> 00:35:27,600 really fair in that sense. Yeah. 598 00:35:29,360 --> 00:35:33,560 And when you didn't have Julie crewing for you, did you have a 599 00:35:33,560 --> 00:35:39,280 sleep strategy? During the first day and a half 600 00:35:39,280 --> 00:35:43,880 of of razzle ball. Or and then the other races when 601 00:35:43,880 --> 00:35:47,320 when you're running with Julie normally or if you're both in 602 00:35:47,320 --> 00:35:49,920 the same race. What's your kind of strategy for 603 00:35:49,920 --> 00:35:53,160 sleep? Yeah, so I mean, it's basically 604 00:35:53,160 --> 00:35:56,400 that the two of us aren't going to fall asleep on the same lap. 605 00:35:56,560 --> 00:35:59,320 So there's always going to be, you know, if one of us needs to 606 00:35:59,320 --> 00:36:00,680 sleep, the other one's going to wake you up. 607 00:36:01,560 --> 00:36:04,080 I mean, the other thing I did practice on that 12 hour 608 00:36:04,080 --> 00:36:07,720 backyard practice I did was I proved to myself I can wake 609 00:36:07,720 --> 00:36:09,600 myself up from my wristwatch as well. 610 00:36:09,760 --> 00:36:14,200 So I've got that as a fall back, you know, set to go off 2 611 00:36:14,200 --> 00:36:17,720 minutes to the hour. So because I'd say if you're in 612 00:36:17,720 --> 00:36:20,000 the marquee at Razzlebach and you can hear the whistles, but 613 00:36:20,000 --> 00:36:21,880 they're not going to wake you up, yeah. 614 00:36:23,640 --> 00:36:28,960 And I think you said something or you, you said that Julie was, 615 00:36:29,360 --> 00:36:32,240 you were going a bit stir crazy because you've been up for too 616 00:36:32,240 --> 00:36:35,360 long and she carried you. I can't remember if it was in 617 00:36:35,360 --> 00:36:36,920 Russellbach, but. I know. 618 00:36:36,920 --> 00:36:40,120 I was at Thetford, yeah. Yeah, have have you had 619 00:36:40,120 --> 00:36:42,880 hallucinations or just going a bit crazy? 620 00:36:45,800 --> 00:36:49,800 So Razzlebach, no, Razzlebach, the, the sleep management, I 621 00:36:49,840 --> 00:36:51,880 think because I had a couple of decent sleeps in the first night 622 00:36:52,000 --> 00:36:54,560 it was all good. And the second night I was, you 623 00:36:54,560 --> 00:36:57,720 know, firstly wired and adrenaline and then eventually 624 00:36:57,720 --> 00:37:00,040 went to caffeine for the last few hours of darkness. 625 00:37:00,400 --> 00:37:03,800 And at Thetford, you know, I was totally sleep deprived. 626 00:37:03,800 --> 00:37:06,000 I was losing my mind. I was seeing all kinds of stuff. 627 00:37:06,840 --> 00:37:09,560 There was like one bit where I was like, well, we can't go down 628 00:37:09,560 --> 00:37:13,160 here and just like, why not? I was like, because there's this 629 00:37:13,200 --> 00:37:16,880 big ornamental rockery with like a water feature and like all 630 00:37:16,880 --> 00:37:19,480 these kind of like colourful stones in the middle of the 631 00:37:19,480 --> 00:37:21,080 path. It's like, no, it's not there, 632 00:37:21,080 --> 00:37:23,960 It's not there. And I was seeing like, kept 633 00:37:23,960 --> 00:37:28,160 seeing like, you know, like there's kind of like barrier 634 00:37:28,160 --> 00:37:30,720 gates you get at the entrance, the forest to stop people coming 635 00:37:30,720 --> 00:37:32,280 in. I was like seeing them across 636 00:37:32,280 --> 00:37:35,600 all the fire tracks and stuff. Like they just talk stuff that 637 00:37:35,600 --> 00:37:39,280 totally was not there. So yeah, Thetford, I totally 638 00:37:39,280 --> 00:37:43,480 lost my mind and I've definitely had like big hallucinations and 639 00:37:43,480 --> 00:37:46,440 all that light on that by way of the Glen, you know, which was 640 00:37:47,880 --> 00:37:52,640 two whole nights again, staying awake, you know, Absolutely. 641 00:37:52,640 --> 00:37:57,720 So all kinds of crazy stuff. But at Russell Park, not, not at 642 00:37:57,720 --> 00:37:58,720 all. It's all all good. 643 00:37:59,680 --> 00:38:02,200 And something. Sorry mate, can you go? 644 00:38:02,520 --> 00:38:06,120 But in here, something that you've told me before is you 645 00:38:06,120 --> 00:38:07,560 struggle to eat during the night. 646 00:38:07,880 --> 00:38:10,680 Have you gone past that or have you got a strategy for that? 647 00:38:11,960 --> 00:38:13,560 No, I've kind of just learned to manage it. 648 00:38:13,560 --> 00:38:17,600 I mean, I think it comes from, I think my body just works like it 649 00:38:17,600 --> 00:38:20,040 follows its circadian rhythm, and that's how I try and feed 650 00:38:20,040 --> 00:38:23,520 myself at a backyard. So I'll try and have something 651 00:38:23,520 --> 00:38:25,760 more substantial round about breakfast time, round about 652 00:38:25,760 --> 00:38:28,520 lunchtime, round about dinner time and snack in between. 653 00:38:28,880 --> 00:38:34,160 But then, yeah, when it gets to about various 8910 o'clock, the 654 00:38:34,160 --> 00:38:36,160 body starts with, no, it's not the time to be eating. 655 00:38:36,200 --> 00:38:38,720 And if I keep shoveling solids in there, I just start throwing 656 00:38:38,720 --> 00:38:41,600 up. And I've kind of learned there's 657 00:38:41,600 --> 00:38:43,280 not too much I can do about that. 658 00:38:43,280 --> 00:38:47,120 So basically both nights at at razzleback. 659 00:38:47,880 --> 00:38:49,760 Yeah. Once it gets dark and I don't 660 00:38:49,760 --> 00:38:54,040 feel like eating, I just switched to gels and and an 661 00:38:54,040 --> 00:38:56,760 energy drink, and that gets me through the night. 662 00:38:56,760 --> 00:39:01,000 I mean, I suspect it's a slight calorie deficit. 663 00:39:01,000 --> 00:39:07,280 You know, I'm going through like one or two gels per lap in the 664 00:39:07,280 --> 00:39:09,520 later laps. I was doing a caffeine gel at 665 00:39:09,520 --> 00:39:12,040 the beginning of the lap. Halfway round I was eating a bar 666 00:39:12,040 --> 00:39:15,720 of like the, the KMC and Kendall mint cake. 667 00:39:16,240 --> 00:39:19,200 And so get get kind of sugar boost halfway round. 668 00:39:19,400 --> 00:39:23,360 So I'm, I think probably I'll be slightly in calorie deficit, but 669 00:39:23,360 --> 00:39:26,920 it's fine because it gets you through, you know, 8/10/12 670 00:39:26,920 --> 00:39:28,160 hours, whatever it is for the night. 671 00:39:28,200 --> 00:39:30,800 And then when it comes to morning, my stomach like just 672 00:39:30,800 --> 00:39:33,400 goes rabidous. It's like right this morning, 673 00:39:33,400 --> 00:39:35,080 where's the food? Where's the bacon rolls? 674 00:39:35,080 --> 00:39:37,680 Feed me and and you start the process again. 675 00:39:37,880 --> 00:39:41,200 So I I think I've just learned not to fight it and, and you 676 00:39:41,280 --> 00:39:44,720 manage it that way. What I was going to ask was you 677 00:39:44,760 --> 00:39:47,520 mentioned when you first started running in the lunch hour you 678 00:39:47,520 --> 00:39:49,640 kept a spreadsheet of your times. 679 00:39:49,640 --> 00:39:53,520 Have you got spreadsheets for your ultras? 680 00:39:53,520 --> 00:39:58,640 Or they even make notes of glaps at events so that you can keep 681 00:39:58,640 --> 00:40:07,640 up with what you've had? I would say I'm I'm not like, so 682 00:40:07,640 --> 00:40:10,360 some people like preparing for backyards are like total mega 683 00:40:10,360 --> 00:40:12,640 spreadsheet geeks, right? And they'll have literally like 684 00:40:12,840 --> 00:40:16,720 on this lap, I'm going to take in 40 grams of carbs and it's 685 00:40:16,720 --> 00:40:19,560 going to be this food. And I don't do that. 686 00:40:19,560 --> 00:40:23,920 I very much go by by fuel and I kind of know I'd like to think 687 00:40:23,920 --> 00:40:26,960 I've kind of done enough ultras and then just the right enough 688 00:40:26,960 --> 00:40:29,080 backyards. I kind of know what's about the 689 00:40:29,080 --> 00:40:31,880 right amount to have. And if I'm, if I'm getting 690 00:40:31,880 --> 00:40:35,520 hungry, I'll eat more. You know, if I'm not, then then 691 00:40:35,520 --> 00:40:39,000 that's fine. I mean, you know, I do like kind 692 00:40:39,000 --> 00:40:42,520 of geeking out over my stats, you know, my Strava, looking at 693 00:40:42,520 --> 00:40:45,920 all my splits, seeing which laps always fast, which laps always 694 00:40:45,920 --> 00:40:49,200 slow. You know, I've got, you know, 695 00:40:49,920 --> 00:40:53,000 got a few screens set up in my garment that tell me exactly 696 00:40:53,000 --> 00:40:55,360 what I want to know while I'm doing in the backyard and things 697 00:40:55,520 --> 00:41:01,080 to manage my pace. But yeah, so I'm probably more 698 00:41:01,080 --> 00:41:04,880 obsessive than most, but I'm very far from the extreme 699 00:41:05,440 --> 00:41:12,920 extreme spreadsheet ultra geek. I believe I admit I'm the the 700 00:41:13,200 --> 00:41:17,480 spreadsheet ultra geek. I mean, it's just, it's just 701 00:41:17,480 --> 00:41:18,880 what works for different people, right? 702 00:41:18,920 --> 00:41:26,640 And I think for me, especially on the backyard, like in fact, 703 00:41:26,880 --> 00:41:30,080 in all terms, generally I think it's good to have a plan, but 704 00:41:30,080 --> 00:41:32,440 the plan needs to be adaptable. And if the plan becomes too 705 00:41:32,440 --> 00:41:34,240 rigid, it becomes a thing that stresses you out. 706 00:41:34,240 --> 00:41:36,160 And when you get stressed out, you don't perform well. 707 00:41:36,160 --> 00:41:40,400 So, so like, yeah, I mean, if I'm running like a point to 708 00:41:40,400 --> 00:41:42,960 point race, I'll have an idea of roughly what pace I want to be 709 00:41:42,960 --> 00:41:45,920 doing here, roughly what time I expect to be at this checkpoint, 710 00:41:45,920 --> 00:41:50,880 that kind of thing. But, you know, without it being 711 00:41:50,880 --> 00:41:54,080 planned out to the, you know, the grams of carbs per hour kind 712 00:41:54,080 --> 00:41:58,600 of level of detail. Not having ran a backyard 713 00:41:58,600 --> 00:42:01,760 myself, yeah, and I'm sure I'll be doing one in the future if 714 00:42:01,760 --> 00:42:05,840 Mike has anything to do with it. This is actually a question for 715 00:42:05,840 --> 00:42:09,600 both of you. When you complete a loop or a 716 00:42:09,600 --> 00:42:13,280 yard as we call it, what do you do with the watches? 717 00:42:13,360 --> 00:42:17,520 Do you reset the lap or like do a new lap? 718 00:42:17,520 --> 00:42:20,160 Or do you just leave the watch alone and just leave it 719 00:42:20,160 --> 00:42:22,360 continuous? So leave it to you who wants to 720 00:42:22,360 --> 00:42:27,880 answer that first. I'll tell you what I do and then 721 00:42:28,320 --> 00:42:30,600 it might kind of start. So I've got I've got a Garmin. 722 00:42:31,440 --> 00:42:36,400 If you set Garmin in ultra run mode, then what you can do is 723 00:42:36,400 --> 00:42:39,800 when you hit the lap button, it goes into rest mode. 724 00:42:40,960 --> 00:42:44,920 So it's still showing you the timer, but it's it's in a rest 725 00:42:44,920 --> 00:42:48,600 mode rather than run mode. And then also have to set on 726 00:42:48,720 --> 00:42:52,040 auto lap of one mile. So that's the way I keep track 727 00:42:52,040 --> 00:42:55,040 of my pace. So and Rasta bought the courses 728 00:42:55,560 --> 00:42:58,080 that it's undulating, but there's no massive claims. 729 00:42:59,160 --> 00:43:03,880 So I was keeping a 13 minute mile pace, you know, per each 730 00:43:03,880 --> 00:43:06,360 mile on my watch. And I just keep track in my 731 00:43:06,360 --> 00:43:08,440 head. If I was slow on the first one, 732 00:43:08,440 --> 00:43:10,880 I know 30 seconds is over, simply pick up the pace a bit. 733 00:43:10,880 --> 00:43:13,440 So I imagine that way and usually it means I end up coming 734 00:43:13,440 --> 00:43:16,960 in within about a minute of my target time. 735 00:43:17,840 --> 00:43:20,760 And then, yeah, I lap the watch one across the finish line. 736 00:43:22,080 --> 00:43:23,680 You can still see the timer on it. 737 00:43:23,680 --> 00:43:26,600 So you know when it's 575859 minutes. 738 00:43:27,040 --> 00:43:29,800 And then when you cross the line again, you hit lap again and off 739 00:43:29,800 --> 00:43:34,800 it goes, resets to, to start to. You're getting the same mile 740 00:43:34,800 --> 00:43:38,480 markers called out at the same point of the lap, which I think 741 00:43:38,480 --> 00:43:40,240 is a disadvantage. Some people just leave their 742 00:43:40,240 --> 00:43:44,440 watch running. Then because it's a 4.16 mile 743 00:43:44,440 --> 00:43:47,960 loop, you know your your your mile markers are going to be 744 00:43:47,960 --> 00:43:50,840 staggered. OK, that's good advice. 745 00:43:51,120 --> 00:43:52,680 Mike, what do you do that's. For me. 746 00:43:53,480 --> 00:43:58,560 Yeah, I, I, I know some people, they actually create new Strava 747 00:43:58,720 --> 00:44:03,200 activities per lap so that they're recording that. 748 00:44:03,960 --> 00:44:08,520 Too much hassle for me. I press go at the start and end 749 00:44:08,640 --> 00:44:14,000 when the race ends and I go by the the hour. 750 00:44:14,400 --> 00:44:18,000 You, you've got the arrow. So for my pacing, I know that I 751 00:44:18,000 --> 00:44:21,360 need to be at a certain point for, for in, in the first lap. 752 00:44:21,640 --> 00:44:26,840 I'll say, OK, this, this point here, this tree makes one mile. 753 00:44:27,000 --> 00:44:30,600 This fence post makes 2 miles. And I'll just say it myself, 754 00:44:30,600 --> 00:44:33,640 right? I need to be at that tree in 10 755 00:44:33,640 --> 00:44:35,360 minutes. I need to be at that fence post 756 00:44:35,360 --> 00:44:37,400 in 20 minutes. And that's how I do it. 757 00:44:37,680 --> 00:44:39,880 Keep it simple. Yeah. 758 00:44:41,640 --> 00:44:44,240 That's interesting. Require requires too much memory 759 00:44:44,240 --> 00:44:46,880 for me. I rely on the watch because I, 760 00:44:46,880 --> 00:44:50,080 I, I think, I think I'll be like, is this tree by the time I 761 00:44:50,080 --> 00:44:52,640 thought I was losing. It well see, I I I think exactly 762 00:44:52,640 --> 00:44:56,600 the same thing about your one because I I'll forget to press 763 00:44:56,600 --> 00:44:58,000 the button when I cross the finish line. 764 00:44:58,120 --> 00:45:00,400 Yeah. So is whatever works? 765 00:45:00,480 --> 00:45:03,640 I, I, I, I, I did do that once. But then at least you remember 766 00:45:03,640 --> 00:45:05,920 and you're like, oh, hang on, I'm in the corral and the watch 767 00:45:05,920 --> 00:45:09,040 just to run in quickly, laugh it, quickly start it and you're 768 00:45:09,040 --> 00:45:12,320 kind of off again, so. See, I like Ian's way. 769 00:45:12,760 --> 00:45:15,800 I definitely. I think I prefer Ian's way 770 00:45:15,800 --> 00:45:19,040 because if I do it Mike's way, if I ever get to a point where I 771 00:45:19,040 --> 00:45:23,040 run so far in a backyard and surprise myself, that tree will 772 00:45:23,040 --> 00:45:26,040 probably turn into a person during the hallucination for 773 00:45:26,040 --> 00:45:30,240 myself. Like in the Highlander, it's for 774 00:45:30,240 --> 00:45:34,360 me it was I need to be at the top of the hill at the halfway. 775 00:45:34,760 --> 00:45:36,720 Time wise. If I know I can be there, I can 776 00:45:36,720 --> 00:45:40,520 be at the bottom in enough time to finish that. 777 00:45:40,520 --> 00:45:42,600 It was as simple as that. I had one marker. 778 00:45:42,680 --> 00:45:51,840 I just needed to be there. So the the next thing I was 779 00:45:51,840 --> 00:45:55,560 going to ask you, Las has got a famous saying it's easy till 780 00:45:55,560 --> 00:45:59,640 it's not. The Russellbach gets not easy. 781 00:46:01,880 --> 00:46:05,520 No, it it never did. So I I know you, you're telling 782 00:46:05,520 --> 00:46:08,240 me not not to spoiler it so I know if. 783 00:46:08,320 --> 00:46:10,280 You want to on you go. I was absurdly. 784 00:46:10,800 --> 00:46:12,800 We started to talk, talk the result. 785 00:46:12,800 --> 00:46:16,680 And so, yeah, I mean to, you know, just just throw it all out 786 00:46:16,680 --> 00:46:17,960 there. So I won the race. 787 00:46:17,960 --> 00:46:21,920 I did 51 yards, right? And and I absolutely felt at the 788 00:46:21,920 --> 00:46:25,560 end like I was still. So basically, like as I said, 789 00:46:25,560 --> 00:46:29,240 when you get to about mile 50, things hurt a little bit, right? 790 00:46:29,240 --> 00:46:31,040 Your legs feel like they've worked a bit. 791 00:46:31,600 --> 00:46:34,640 I mean, maybe some people that do really high volume don't, I 792 00:46:34,640 --> 00:46:38,480 mean, I, for me, but the first afternoon everything was a bit 793 00:46:38,480 --> 00:46:41,520 worked, but nothing ever really got worse. 794 00:46:41,880 --> 00:46:44,320 And it was the same by the end. You know, I'd slept well on the 795 00:46:44,320 --> 00:46:46,800 first night. I slept OK in the second night. 796 00:46:46,800 --> 00:46:52,120 I was kind of buzzing. I got to, it'd be 1:00 on the on 797 00:46:52,120 --> 00:46:56,360 the Monday that we finished and I felt like I could have done 798 00:46:57,080 --> 00:47:01,160 another ten 20-30 yards. Like, you know, like literally 799 00:47:01,160 --> 00:47:04,080 felt like my legs felt 3-4 hours in the race. 800 00:47:05,480 --> 00:47:10,080 So yeah, I mean it like that Loch Ness 24 race was talking 801 00:47:10,080 --> 00:47:13,720 about sometimes like a race just comes out of nowhere where you 802 00:47:13,720 --> 00:47:17,840 just feel great. And I would have said like the 803 00:47:17,840 --> 00:47:19,800 preparation for Aspock was pretty good. 804 00:47:20,840 --> 00:47:24,600 Like I wouldn't have said I was in the form of my life, but you 805 00:47:24,600 --> 00:47:29,120 know, like 90 to 95% of the way there sort of thing. 806 00:47:29,400 --> 00:47:34,360 And everything just clicked. I mean, you know, obviously all 807 00:47:34,360 --> 00:47:37,320 bets are off once you probably get into the third night and 808 00:47:37,320 --> 00:47:39,680 things get a bit crazy, you know, and think the wheels can 809 00:47:39,680 --> 00:47:44,360 fall off very, very quickly. But, but for me, you know, I 810 00:47:44,360 --> 00:47:47,360 mean, there was a couple laps that said that I did quickly, 811 00:47:47,880 --> 00:47:50,280 but the rest of it, I was just hitting the same pace markers 812 00:47:50,280 --> 00:47:53,280 again and again and again. I wasn't getting bored, I wasn't 813 00:47:53,280 --> 00:47:55,400 getting sore. It wasn't getting hard. 814 00:47:56,040 --> 00:47:59,320 I was just really, really enjoying it, which is like 815 00:48:00,600 --> 00:48:03,040 certainly, I think I probably had that experience like once 816 00:48:03,280 --> 00:48:06,360 before a backyard as well. And it's just, you know, you 817 00:48:06,360 --> 00:48:10,000 just like ride it while you can and, and hope there's some other 818 00:48:10,000 --> 00:48:12,560 people that want to go with you and see how far you can go. 819 00:48:13,520 --> 00:48:17,440 I don't know if it's maybe it's Russell Box that's got the the 820 00:48:17,440 --> 00:48:20,200 sort of aura about it, but that's exactly how I felt the 821 00:48:20,200 --> 00:48:23,240 year before. It just seemed like a perfect 822 00:48:23,240 --> 00:48:27,000 race to me. Yeah, I think it's a really nice 823 00:48:27,000 --> 00:48:30,800 coarse light. It's it's got a good variety of 824 00:48:31,000 --> 00:48:33,240 terrain. You know, it's undulating, but 825 00:48:33,240 --> 00:48:36,200 it's not steep. You know, things give your feet 826 00:48:36,200 --> 00:48:39,000 a break, some soft forest flurry bits. 827 00:48:39,000 --> 00:48:40,920 It's not all just hard fire track. 828 00:48:42,240 --> 00:48:44,800 Yeah. And, you know, the, the camp 829 00:48:44,800 --> 00:48:47,280 vibe was just great. You know, there was a lot of 830 00:48:47,280 --> 00:48:50,720 people because one of the things that kind of naturally happens 831 00:48:50,720 --> 00:48:53,600 in a backyard, obviously if people DNF is the campsite 832 00:48:53,600 --> 00:48:56,960 empties out. And I mean, I've experienced 833 00:48:56,960 --> 00:49:01,040 this like Pig on the Hill, for example. 834 00:49:01,320 --> 00:49:04,280 When I finished it, even the race organizer had gone home. 835 00:49:05,400 --> 00:49:09,760 So like it can be like a bit of an anti climax at the end. 836 00:49:09,760 --> 00:49:13,560 But at Russell Block, like people had come back on the 837 00:49:13,560 --> 00:49:16,560 Monday to see the end of the race, which is really cool. 838 00:49:17,680 --> 00:49:20,760 So yeah, it was, yeah. It was a really, really nice 839 00:49:20,760 --> 00:49:26,680 enter and but yeah, yeah, who knows, but I definitely felt 840 00:49:26,680 --> 00:49:31,760 great and you know, even now like a week on so when I went 841 00:49:31,760 --> 00:49:36,520 for a walk yesterday, my first one back today and you know, 842 00:49:36,920 --> 00:49:40,520 just just feeling great so. And the trophy is absolutely 843 00:49:40,520 --> 00:49:42,880 beautiful as well. Have you found a nice place in 844 00:49:42,880 --> 00:49:47,040 the house for it? Yes, so it's it's sitting in the 845 00:49:47,040 --> 00:49:50,640 hall at the moment. It's fantastic trophy actually 846 00:49:50,640 --> 00:49:53,240 saw it on. So we came down on the Friday 847 00:49:53,240 --> 00:49:57,080 night for Rattlebach and they they order and you know, we can 848 00:49:57,080 --> 00:49:59,320 pre-order pizzas and they do Domino's run. 849 00:50:00,120 --> 00:50:02,480 So we all had pizza in the marquee on Friday night and the 850 00:50:02,480 --> 00:50:05,160 trophy was out and I was like I want it. 851 00:50:07,440 --> 00:50:10,920 And then yeah, by by Monday I was able to get my hands on it, 852 00:50:10,920 --> 00:50:14,320 which is very cool. And how has your week been like 853 00:50:14,400 --> 00:50:16,800 right after you travelled? Did you travel back on the 854 00:50:16,800 --> 00:50:18,720 Monday? No. 855 00:50:19,000 --> 00:50:22,240 So we. So yeah, we came down in the van 856 00:50:22,240 --> 00:50:26,640 and we'd slept on site in the van on Friday night, Monday, 857 00:50:26,640 --> 00:50:27,960 because we kind of finished midday. 858 00:50:27,960 --> 00:50:32,040 I mean, I was. It's that kind of thing. 859 00:50:32,040 --> 00:50:34,040 You feel like you can run forever and then as soon as you 860 00:50:34,040 --> 00:50:37,920 stop, everything just seizes up. So I was basically like sitting 861 00:50:37,920 --> 00:50:40,480 in a chair, very slowly getting myself dressed while Julie was 862 00:50:40,480 --> 00:50:45,280 packing everything up around me. But we stayed in like a Premier 863 00:50:45,280 --> 00:50:49,920 Inn just down the road, like slept like we were dead for like 864 00:50:49,920 --> 00:50:55,200 12 hours. Did a pretty good effort of 865 00:50:55,200 --> 00:50:57,400 trying to take them for the all you can eat breakfast. 866 00:50:57,960 --> 00:51:00,800 And then we got on the road and drove back home on Tuesday. 867 00:51:02,960 --> 00:51:06,280 And then I think we, yeah, we both booked off 3 days from 868 00:51:06,280 --> 00:51:07,240 work. So we don't have to work on 869 00:51:07,240 --> 00:51:09,440 Wednesday either. So like Wednesday, we could 870 00:51:09,440 --> 00:51:14,680 pretty much, you know, unpack her, then do all the laundry and 871 00:51:14,680 --> 00:51:18,160 then sort of stagger around like zombies and then we're both back 872 00:51:18,160 --> 00:51:21,800 at work on Thursday. Back to the family life and the 873 00:51:21,800 --> 00:51:24,640 bubble busts. Yeah, yeah, that's it. 874 00:51:24,720 --> 00:51:26,560 I mean, this is one of the other things. 875 00:51:26,560 --> 00:51:29,200 It's something quite nice. But, you know, we've probably 876 00:51:29,200 --> 00:51:32,680 managed one or two races a year where we get to go both go away, 877 00:51:33,480 --> 00:51:37,360 you know, And this weekend, you know, my mom and dad can't look 878 00:51:37,360 --> 00:51:40,680 after the kids from Friday until until Tuesday as well. 879 00:51:40,680 --> 00:51:43,480 So yeah, we don't have anything to worry about from that. 880 00:51:43,920 --> 00:51:47,160 I mean, sometimes when, you know, we crew each other, we'll 881 00:51:47,160 --> 00:51:50,240 have the kids in total as well. But this one we're able to just 882 00:51:50,240 --> 00:51:51,360 get away by ourselves, which is great. 883 00:51:52,640 --> 00:51:55,320 So you mentioned that you feel that you're feeling during 884 00:51:55,320 --> 00:51:58,920 Russell Bock. How would you feel for different 885 00:51:58,920 --> 00:52:01,160 events? For instance, when you done the 886 00:52:01,160 --> 00:52:04,680 West Highland Way Great Glen one, how did that one work out 887 00:52:04,680 --> 00:52:06,720 for feeling? Yeah. 888 00:52:06,840 --> 00:52:09,640 I mean, in terms of the kind of stuff I'd eat, it's, it's fairly 889 00:52:09,640 --> 00:52:12,680 similar. So you know, trying eat as much 890 00:52:12,680 --> 00:52:18,680 as possible of, you know, foods you know during the day. 891 00:52:21,120 --> 00:52:23,360 Backyards. For me, it's kind of easy. 892 00:52:23,360 --> 00:52:27,600 I don't tend to carry food on the lap so I'll just sit and eat 893 00:52:27,600 --> 00:52:31,480 something in the 5 minutes and then let it digest once I go 894 00:52:31,480 --> 00:52:34,320 around. I mean sometimes if it's really 895 00:52:34,320 --> 00:52:37,160 hot I'll take a flask of like juice around with me. 896 00:52:37,760 --> 00:52:43,960 So generally it's what I use is the KMCKMCNRG as it's called, 897 00:52:44,120 --> 00:52:48,880 which is the Kendall mint cake companies thing which is like 898 00:52:48,880 --> 00:52:51,360 mint and mint and lime or mint and Raspberry. 899 00:52:52,880 --> 00:52:57,960 But that seems to work for me if I'm doing long point to point 900 00:52:57,960 --> 00:52:59,280 stuff. It's just generally more stuff 901 00:52:59,280 --> 00:53:05,040 you can stuff in a race vest, so like the bags of nuts, dried 902 00:53:05,040 --> 00:53:09,440 fruit, you know, sometimes kind of crisps and stuff like that 903 00:53:10,720 --> 00:53:16,080 and then just restock it at checkpoints and then again, you 904 00:53:16,080 --> 00:53:18,840 know, in the night having a stash of gels with me. 905 00:53:19,840 --> 00:53:22,120 So like on that by way of the Glens. 906 00:53:23,480 --> 00:53:27,400 The night section was pretty much from Bay Park, car parking, 907 00:53:27,400 --> 00:53:34,040 Glen Nevis through till somewhere around like it's about 908 00:53:34,040 --> 00:53:37,000 lagging sort of like the kind of first lock section on the Great 909 00:53:37,000 --> 00:53:39,200 Glen. And that was just like, yeah, 910 00:53:39,760 --> 00:53:42,640 cruise through the night slurping gels. 911 00:53:43,080 --> 00:53:47,040 And I remember Julie met me with a bacon, a sausage sandwich in 912 00:53:47,040 --> 00:53:49,520 the morning, which is, yeah, breakfast time. 913 00:53:49,520 --> 00:53:52,880 Time to start eating again. That's a perfect crew member. 914 00:53:53,800 --> 00:53:57,640 Oh yes. And what about on a sort of 915 00:53:57,640 --> 00:53:59,640 day-to-day basis when you're not running? 916 00:54:00,000 --> 00:54:04,920 What kind of diet do you follow? Yeah, it's an interesting 917 00:54:05,040 --> 00:54:09,480 question actually, because so since the start of this year, 918 00:54:09,880 --> 00:54:13,000 I've switched onto a low GI diet. 919 00:54:13,280 --> 00:54:17,320 So it's it's not quite as extreme as like a keto diet, but 920 00:54:17,440 --> 00:54:20,840 it's basically what somebody who's a type 2 diabetic would 921 00:54:21,320 --> 00:54:23,240 would have. So basically you're, you're 922 00:54:23,240 --> 00:54:27,360 cutting out sort of refined carbs. 923 00:54:27,360 --> 00:54:33,720 So like sugar, you know, white bread, white pasta, potatoes, 924 00:54:34,160 --> 00:54:37,920 and it's basically stuff that will quickly metabolize into 925 00:54:37,920 --> 00:54:40,520 glucose. And so the idea of it is that 926 00:54:40,520 --> 00:54:44,320 you basically don't get big spikes followed by big troughs 927 00:54:44,320 --> 00:54:48,280 in your, your blood glucose. Because certainly that, that I 928 00:54:49,240 --> 00:54:53,080 mean, for, for me, I sort of, I like to eat and I habitually 929 00:54:53,080 --> 00:54:55,360 tend to put on weight if I don't watch it. 930 00:54:56,400 --> 00:54:58,800 And actually since the start of the year, I've probably lost 931 00:54:58,800 --> 00:55:02,840 about 5 kilos just being on that, that diet. 932 00:55:02,840 --> 00:55:05,920 Because I think basically when, when your, your blood glucose is 933 00:55:05,920 --> 00:55:09,800 high, my body says, great, let's store fat and it crashes and go, 934 00:55:09,800 --> 00:55:11,960 oh, I'm hungry, I need to eat sugary stuff again. 935 00:55:12,120 --> 00:55:15,880 And you go through that cycle and now, you know, I don't, 936 00:55:16,960 --> 00:55:18,960 don't get me wrong, like the first week is really, really 937 00:55:18,960 --> 00:55:20,480 hard. And you do get like that, the 938 00:55:20,480 --> 00:55:23,440 key to headache kind of thing. And you feel really rough for a 939 00:55:23,440 --> 00:55:26,040 few days. But then after that, your body 940 00:55:26,040 --> 00:55:28,360 adapts quite quickly. And now, like, if I need to 941 00:55:28,360 --> 00:55:32,640 snack, I'll have like nuts and cheese cubes or something rather 942 00:55:32,640 --> 00:55:37,440 than like chocolate and sweets. And, you know, not having, you 943 00:55:37,440 --> 00:55:41,480 know, substituting whole grain for like white bread and stuff 944 00:55:41,480 --> 00:55:44,640 like that is not, not very difficult even when you've got, 945 00:55:44,640 --> 00:55:46,040 you know, family and stuff as well. 946 00:55:46,280 --> 00:55:48,160 It's not like you're having to cook separate meals. 947 00:55:48,160 --> 00:55:52,080 It's quite easy to adapt. So that's really the only thing 948 00:55:52,080 --> 00:55:54,680 I, I mean, apart from that, you know, I just try to eat a 949 00:55:55,120 --> 00:55:58,840 healthy kind of balanced diet. But you know, that's really, 950 00:55:58,840 --> 00:56:00,800 really worked for me in the last couple of months. 951 00:56:01,560 --> 00:56:04,400 And you know, I definitely recommend it. 952 00:56:05,200 --> 00:56:09,080 But I mean, aside from that, you know, I'm omnivorous. 953 00:56:09,480 --> 00:56:12,680 You've talked, I've talked about bacon sandwiches and pork pies 954 00:56:12,680 --> 00:56:14,960 or another go to for me as well. I don't know. 955 00:56:14,960 --> 00:56:17,440 There's a lot of a lot of my friends are vegans as well. 956 00:56:17,440 --> 00:56:21,120 So. So you like to, That's fine, but 957 00:56:21,120 --> 00:56:23,720 it's not for me. That's definitely something I 958 00:56:23,720 --> 00:56:27,880 might look into because sugar, pasta and white bread is my 959 00:56:27,920 --> 00:56:31,800 staples. It's a funny word because like, 960 00:56:31,800 --> 00:56:35,480 you know, the traditional wisdom from like endurance sports 961 00:56:35,480 --> 00:56:38,240 nutrition, I mean, I guess it maybe comes from like 10K and 962 00:56:38,240 --> 00:56:42,520 marathon training and stuff. Like it's like carb load, get 963 00:56:42,520 --> 00:56:46,120 your gels and eat lots of carbs and that's what your body needs. 964 00:56:46,960 --> 00:56:48,520 But where I actually got the idea from. 965 00:56:48,840 --> 00:56:52,120 So you know, Christopher McDougall did the born to run 966 00:56:52,120 --> 00:56:54,080 book about all the barefoot running. 967 00:56:54,080 --> 00:56:55,280 You know, I've been 10 years ago. 968 00:56:55,320 --> 00:56:59,120 So I mean, he brought another book couple of a year ago just 969 00:56:59,120 --> 00:57:02,560 called Born to Run 2. Not very original, but it kind 970 00:57:02,560 --> 00:57:05,720 of talks more about like the, the the diets and stuff of the 971 00:57:06,920 --> 00:57:11,320 the Copper Canyon Indians. How like you know, when him and 972 00:57:11,320 --> 00:57:13,400 the other guys went down there and we're running huge distances 973 00:57:13,400 --> 00:57:16,440 with him and they were all stacking pancakes and porridge 974 00:57:16,440 --> 00:57:19,040 and stuff with those guys would hide in the morning, they'd have 975 00:57:19,040 --> 00:57:22,920 like meat and broth and kind of very like like fat heavy stuff 976 00:57:23,760 --> 00:57:25,640 and that. And that was the how their 977 00:57:25,640 --> 00:57:28,280 metabolism works. So that was kind of where I got 978 00:57:28,280 --> 00:57:30,960 the idea to try the low GI diet from. 979 00:57:30,960 --> 00:57:35,320 And as I say, it certainly helped me lose some weight And I 980 00:57:35,320 --> 00:57:38,800 hadn't apart from that first week where you feel a bit rough, 981 00:57:39,200 --> 00:57:42,680 I don't think it affected like my energy levels for training or 982 00:57:42,680 --> 00:57:47,200 anything like that. Going back, we seem to have 983 00:57:47,200 --> 00:57:51,440 gotten off topic. Russell Bock. 984 00:57:53,000 --> 00:57:56,160 Julie dropped out. She crude for you. 985 00:57:57,560 --> 00:58:02,040 And then all hell broke loose. Or didn't. 986 00:58:02,800 --> 00:58:04,880 You kept calm. You kept on going. 987 00:58:06,400 --> 00:58:09,400 What happened So get get get back on the story from this 988 00:58:09,400 --> 00:58:11,400 massive level that's. All. 989 00:58:11,520 --> 00:58:13,240 Right, we don't. Mind. 990 00:58:13,280 --> 00:58:15,760 Yeah, Yeah. I mean, so basically what what 991 00:58:15,760 --> 00:58:20,600 happened was, so by the end of the second night at Razzle 992 00:58:20,600 --> 00:58:25,640 Block, we were down at 2:00 and I think the last I think was 993 00:58:25,640 --> 00:58:28,600 maybe 8 yards, something like that. 994 00:58:28,600 --> 00:58:32,560 There was myself and Lizzie were the last two runners going. 995 00:58:33,600 --> 00:58:39,280 So, you know, we were just kind of doing our own things and they 996 00:58:39,280 --> 00:58:41,840 got to. So I mean, some milestones I had 997 00:58:41,840 --> 00:58:45,000 in my head, you know, I really wanted to get to 48, partly 998 00:58:45,000 --> 00:58:48,680 because that light was done two whole days, 200 miles. 999 00:58:48,680 --> 00:58:50,800 I'd never done 200 miles in any event before. 1000 00:58:51,080 --> 00:58:53,440 And yeah, Julia had done 200 miles. 1001 00:58:53,440 --> 00:58:56,920 So that was a little, yeah, it's a little little extra motivation 1002 00:58:56,920 --> 00:59:00,360 for me there. And then I also knew that the, 1003 00:59:00,680 --> 00:59:07,000 the Scottish record that Thomas Hugo had, you know, I could beat 1004 00:59:07,000 --> 00:59:10,080 that at 50. So those the kind of things that 1005 00:59:10,080 --> 00:59:12,680 are in my mind as we went through the morning. 1006 00:59:13,600 --> 00:59:16,080 But yeah, it was, I was just, you know, in my little zone, 1007 00:59:16,080 --> 00:59:18,640 banging out those laps, the same kind of pace. 1008 00:59:18,640 --> 00:59:24,640 And really, I mean, I didn't really sometimes when there's 1009 00:59:24,640 --> 00:59:28,040 like a couple of us in the in the down at the end of the race, 1010 00:59:28,040 --> 00:59:30,040 I like to play a few games and stuff. 1011 00:59:30,040 --> 00:59:34,080 But I didn't really didn't really do that until it's like 1012 00:59:34,080 --> 00:59:37,880 Loop 51. I went past Lizzie on the sort 1013 00:59:37,880 --> 00:59:41,680 of first long downhill and I could, I looked back at one 1014 00:59:41,680 --> 00:59:44,080 point and I could see she was going quite slowly. 1015 00:59:44,720 --> 00:59:46,440 I thought she was maybe on her phone or something. 1016 00:59:46,440 --> 00:59:48,560 I'll make sure. I thought, OK, fine. 1017 00:59:48,760 --> 00:59:52,520 What I'll do is I'll do a real fast first smile, get all the 1018 00:59:52,520 --> 00:59:54,720 way down the first gravel road and try and be outside by the 1019 00:59:54,720 --> 00:59:55,880 time she comes around the corner. 1020 00:59:57,160 --> 01:00:00,160 And then then I would slow down for the rest of the loop 1021 01:00:00,160 --> 01:00:03,320 because, you know, obviously I still was prepared that the race 1022 01:00:03,320 --> 01:00:07,840 could go on for, you know, 24 hours or more because she wasn't 1023 01:00:07,840 --> 01:00:11,560 showing really any signs that she was struggling to be honest. 1024 01:00:13,320 --> 01:00:16,400 So. And then when I was in the woods 1025 01:00:16,400 --> 01:00:19,520 set, when I came out with the woodland sessions just for dead 1026 01:00:19,520 --> 01:00:23,120 a mile to there was a Marshall there and he says, oh, she's 1027 01:00:23,120 --> 01:00:25,520 dropped it. Had a radio call from the HQ to 1028 01:00:25,520 --> 01:00:27,240 say that she dropped and turned back. 1029 01:00:28,320 --> 01:00:31,280 So it's literally thought just before halfway through that lap, 1030 01:00:32,400 --> 01:00:35,600 pretty much out of the blue, you know, I find out that actually I 1031 01:00:35,600 --> 01:00:38,400 was on the final lap and just had to run it in. 1032 01:00:39,680 --> 01:00:43,760 And I mean, you know, like you, you, you've won these races 1033 01:00:43,760 --> 01:00:47,400 before as well. I mean, I think that the, I 1034 01:00:48,040 --> 01:00:52,120 mean, it's the same as a long point to point, I guess that a 1035 01:00:52,120 --> 01:00:53,920 lot of for the backyard is because you don't know how long 1036 01:00:53,920 --> 01:00:55,280 it's going to go on. You're just trying to be as 1037 01:00:55,280 --> 01:00:57,480 efficient as possible and minimize the amount of energy 1038 01:00:57,480 --> 01:00:59,800 you're using. So you're always holding 1039 01:00:59,800 --> 01:01:02,400 yourself back. And then that last lap, you're 1040 01:01:02,400 --> 01:01:05,800 like, yeah, I can run. And I literally like all the 1041 01:01:05,800 --> 01:01:07,440 bits where I'd be walking normally. 1042 01:01:07,440 --> 01:01:11,680 I was just literally ran the last two miles in and I'm like, 1043 01:01:11,720 --> 01:01:14,440 you know, whooping and hollering and all that kind of stuff. 1044 01:01:14,440 --> 01:01:18,640 And just like you get this massive buzz and obviously it's 1045 01:01:18,640 --> 01:01:21,360 a key, you come round into the corral and there's, you know, 1046 01:01:21,360 --> 01:01:23,600 there's a good little crowd of people there. 1047 01:01:24,600 --> 01:01:26,160 Yeah, it was just just fantastic. 1048 01:01:26,160 --> 01:01:29,720 So and that that was how it how it happened. 1049 01:01:30,560 --> 01:01:35,800 I've found that the last lap that last year Sarah Perry had 1050 01:01:35,800 --> 01:01:39,840 dropped and I knew I had to complete the lap. 1051 01:01:40,400 --> 01:01:42,040 So I'd been told before I started it. 1052 01:01:42,480 --> 01:01:46,480 And it it was probably the most stressful lap that I've done 1053 01:01:46,800 --> 01:01:49,720 because I had one thing to do and that was just finish. 1054 01:01:50,760 --> 01:01:54,120 And I was so paranoid that we're going to trip over or do 1055 01:01:54,120 --> 01:01:57,840 something that wouldn't finish. It was just get around there as 1056 01:01:57,840 --> 01:01:59,880 fast as you can, but don't go too fast because then you might 1057 01:01:59,880 --> 01:02:01,280 not finish. So yeah. 1058 01:02:01,360 --> 01:02:04,320 Yeah, yeah, the the the only thing that can possibly happen 1059 01:02:04,320 --> 01:02:06,080 here is that I screwed up. Basically. 1060 01:02:06,080 --> 01:02:07,640 And then it would be my own fault. 1061 01:02:08,640 --> 01:02:10,960 Yeah. What was your I mean, because 1062 01:02:11,800 --> 01:02:15,520 sorry, what was your time in that last lap then in the end 1063 01:02:15,520 --> 01:02:17,760 up. From memory, I'm going to say it 1064 01:02:17,760 --> 01:02:20,960 was about, I think it was about 4445 minutes, something like 1065 01:02:20,960 --> 01:02:23,000 that. So it's like, you know, a good 5 1066 01:02:23,000 --> 01:02:26,680 or 6 minutes faster than I think somebody told me it was my third 1067 01:02:26,680 --> 01:02:29,280 fastest lap. So as I said, I did 2 fast laps 1068 01:02:29,280 --> 01:02:32,680 on the first first night so I can get some sleep and then the 1069 01:02:32,680 --> 01:02:38,560 rest of my laps were all in the 50515253 range except the last 1070 01:02:38,560 --> 01:02:40,880 one. I didn't 4045 somewhere. 1071 01:02:41,440 --> 01:02:44,280 That's incredible. It's the consistency when you 1072 01:02:44,280 --> 01:02:47,960 look at the actual stats and the data, as you say on Strava and 1073 01:02:47,960 --> 01:02:52,200 just how consistent each lap is and you keep going at that pace 1074 01:02:52,720 --> 01:02:55,960 for that amount of miles it, it really does blow my mind it. 1075 01:02:56,920 --> 01:03:01,200 Was 4448 for the last lap. There you go, close enough. 1076 01:03:03,480 --> 01:03:07,960 And yeah, you're probably you. You did 142. 1077 01:03:11,000 --> 01:03:14,200 Yeah, I think the thing was they, I think, I think it was 1078 01:03:14,200 --> 01:03:20,400 around about 11-8 something maybe about lap 13 and then 1079 01:03:21,200 --> 01:03:23,480 maybe lap 1819, something like that. 20. 1080 01:03:23,560 --> 01:03:27,160 I'd one yeah, I'd one sleep just before midnight and then one 1081 01:03:27,160 --> 01:03:30,240 just before dawn. Yeah, it was your third, third 1082 01:03:30,240 --> 01:03:32,360 fastest lap. Yeah. 1083 01:03:32,360 --> 01:03:34,440 But then that's it. I mean, you could, you can burn 1084 01:03:34,440 --> 01:03:36,640 all your matches at that point because you know you don't have 1085 01:03:36,640 --> 01:03:39,760 any, you know, you're not having to hold back for, for 1086 01:03:39,760 --> 01:03:42,080 potentially an unlimited number of laps. 1087 01:03:42,520 --> 01:03:46,000 Yeah. But it's funny because I mean, I 1088 01:03:46,000 --> 01:03:50,560 know some like, like I think at the UK Championships when Sarah 1089 01:03:50,560 --> 01:03:54,120 Perry won it, I don't think she, I mean, in fact, yeah, she 1090 01:03:54,120 --> 01:03:58,240 finished the lap and and Alex, who is the assist, I think he 1091 01:03:58,240 --> 01:03:59,800 got lost or he's timed out or whatever. 1092 01:03:59,800 --> 01:04:03,560 So, you know, she completed the lap thinking she had more to do. 1093 01:04:03,600 --> 01:04:07,120 And then you have that wait for him to see if he DNF D or not. 1094 01:04:07,400 --> 01:04:12,520 Whereas all the the three races I've won, I've either found out 1095 01:04:12,520 --> 01:04:16,840 from a Marshall that somebody's turned back or like a pig on the 1096 01:04:16,840 --> 01:04:19,480 hill. The guy who is the assist, Paul, 1097 01:04:19,480 --> 01:04:22,360 he shook my hand in the corral and said I'm not, I'm not going 1098 01:04:22,400 --> 01:04:24,800 out again. So I had the whole lap to do. 1099 01:04:24,800 --> 01:04:26,600 But you know, I knew that was it. 1100 01:04:27,120 --> 01:04:30,680 And so I've never had that like surprise finish, which would be 1101 01:04:30,680 --> 01:04:37,600 an interesting 1, yes. So having won that, would you 1102 01:04:37,600 --> 01:04:40,240 say that that's your biggest running achievement or what? 1103 01:04:40,240 --> 01:04:49,200 What would be? Yeah, As far as the numbers go, 1104 01:04:50,640 --> 01:04:53,280 yes, it probably, I mean, it's the longest I've done in terms 1105 01:04:53,280 --> 01:04:54,760 of distance. It's the longest I've done in 1106 01:04:54,760 --> 01:05:01,560 terms of time. I've heard you different races 1107 01:05:02,040 --> 01:05:05,160 be compared to say, you know, like if you're holding your your 1108 01:05:05,160 --> 01:05:08,720 hand to a flame, some races you have to hold your hand closer to 1109 01:05:08,720 --> 01:05:11,600 the flame, but for less time. And some of them you have to 1110 01:05:11,600 --> 01:05:13,680 hold it further from the flame, but for longer. 1111 01:05:15,160 --> 01:05:19,520 I mean, that Loch Ness 24 run that I talked about that one in 1112 01:05:19,520 --> 01:05:23,640 terms of, you know, really being pedaled to the metal for like 24 1113 01:05:23,640 --> 01:05:26,320 hours, that's probably the hardest. 1114 01:05:26,360 --> 01:05:30,160 And I mean, by the end of that race, I could barely stand. 1115 01:05:30,160 --> 01:05:36,240 Like I remember going out to get my little trophy thing, a little 1116 01:05:36,240 --> 01:05:39,280 plaque and having to walk out from the crowd at the prize 1117 01:05:39,280 --> 01:05:42,400 giving going like, I'm making a serious effort not to like pass 1118 01:05:42,400 --> 01:05:46,920 out and kill over here because I literally like had burnt 1119 01:05:47,040 --> 01:05:52,880 everything I had over 24 hours. And I think you can do that if 1120 01:05:52,880 --> 01:05:54,360 there's a time or a distance limit. 1121 01:05:56,280 --> 01:06:01,160 So, but yeah, I mean, but in terms of, you know, putting a 1122 01:06:01,160 --> 01:06:07,480 mark out there, you know, the, the I, I guess probably that 1123 01:06:08,360 --> 01:06:13,440 razzleback run would be my biggest achievement to date to 1124 01:06:13,440 --> 01:06:15,280 date. Let's see what the future holds. 1125 01:06:15,280 --> 01:06:18,840 But yeah, that's, that's of course the frustrating thing, 1126 01:06:18,840 --> 01:06:20,280 right. As I said, you know when you win 1127 01:06:20,280 --> 01:06:24,040 the backyard, you always know you had at least one more lap in 1128 01:06:24,040 --> 01:06:29,720 the tank than everyone else. Another next, next time you 1129 01:06:29,720 --> 01:06:32,680 might not have the perfect day, so you might not be capable of 1130 01:06:32,680 --> 01:06:35,760 it next time, so. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. 1131 01:06:36,040 --> 01:06:37,840 Yeah. There's there's so many factors 1132 01:06:37,840 --> 01:06:41,120 that have to, you know, the weather was absolutely perfect 1133 01:06:41,120 --> 01:06:45,520 and you know, it was like 1012° your day. 1134 01:06:45,520 --> 01:06:47,720 I mean, if you really want to nitpick, you could have done 1135 01:06:47,720 --> 01:06:49,520 with like, a couple of degrees warmer at night. 1136 01:06:49,520 --> 01:06:54,320 But, you know, it wasn't by any means unbearably cold, you know? 1137 01:06:55,280 --> 01:06:57,800 Yeah. Hadn't rained for, like a week 1138 01:06:57,800 --> 01:06:59,760 before. So that even the, the trailer 1139 01:06:59,760 --> 01:07:02,280 bits were just nice and soft. They weren't like slightly 1140 01:07:02,280 --> 01:07:04,760 squidgy mud. Yeah. 1141 01:07:05,360 --> 01:07:07,200 He couldn't have asked for a better race weekend. 1142 01:07:07,200 --> 01:07:10,600 So who knows? I mean, maybe I can maybe I can 1143 01:07:11,240 --> 01:07:14,480 go much longer than that. We'll just have to see what see 1144 01:07:14,480 --> 01:07:16,920 what events I go to and then who's there. 1145 01:07:17,320 --> 01:07:24,600 Yeah, you, you took my my course record for Russell Bock, but you 1146 01:07:24,600 --> 01:07:27,120 apologized and. And your course record for 1147 01:07:27,120 --> 01:07:29,520 picking the Hill, Mike, just just just to mention it, yeah. 1148 01:07:29,800 --> 01:07:33,280 What do I say for both of them backyards? 1149 01:07:34,480 --> 01:07:39,480 I don't think that course records matter because Sarah 1150 01:07:39,480 --> 01:07:42,560 dropped and I knew that I was capable of a lot more. 1151 01:07:42,760 --> 01:07:46,080 If if what you should be sorry for is not turning up on the 1152 01:07:46,560 --> 01:07:49,360 last year so we could have actually had a proper race. 1153 01:07:52,800 --> 01:07:56,520 As I said, the course record, I'm happy that you can't 1154 01:07:56,520 --> 01:07:58,080 separate. People's achievements from 1155 01:07:58,080 --> 01:08:00,800 whoever else or whatever else happened on the day, Yeah, 1156 01:08:00,840 --> 01:08:04,640 absolutely. So another question that we like 1157 01:08:04,640 --> 01:08:10,200 to ask SCN is why do you run? Yeah. 1158 01:08:10,200 --> 01:08:12,920 That's you like asking hard questions, don't you? 1159 01:08:14,560 --> 01:08:16,640 No, it's, I guess there's kind of two things. 1160 01:08:16,640 --> 01:08:20,760 I mean, I did say, you know, when I got into running, I mean, 1161 01:08:21,200 --> 01:08:23,439 I've always been one of these kind of like, you know, type a 1162 01:08:23,439 --> 01:08:25,680 competitive people, right? You know, whether it's 1163 01:08:26,640 --> 01:08:29,800 competitive against others or competitive against myself. 1164 01:08:30,080 --> 01:08:32,720 And that was from certainly when I got into running, I was always 1165 01:08:32,720 --> 01:08:35,960 like, oh, I can do a half marathon or I can do a marathon 1166 01:08:35,960 --> 01:08:38,279 distance. Oh, these ultras, oh, they get 1167 01:08:38,279 --> 01:08:40,600 longer. Oh, like, like how far can I go? 1168 01:08:40,600 --> 01:08:42,160 So there's that. There's there's definitely a 1169 01:08:42,160 --> 01:08:48,479 part of me that wants to explore and push what I can do and to 1170 01:08:48,479 --> 01:08:51,319 race and to enjoy racing against other people as well. 1171 01:08:51,640 --> 01:08:55,000 And so that's definitely a strong thing for me is like the 1172 01:08:55,000 --> 01:08:56,720 competitive side. Absolutely. 1173 01:08:57,920 --> 01:09:02,920 I think the other the other part, which backyards don't 1174 01:09:02,920 --> 01:09:09,080 really do is I really like the kind of so I came and I told you 1175 01:09:09,080 --> 01:09:12,120 how I came into running, but my kind of background growing up 1176 01:09:12,120 --> 01:09:14,560 was more like an outdoor sports person. 1177 01:09:14,720 --> 01:09:18,359 It's like, you know, we used to do like a lot of hill walking as 1178 01:09:18,359 --> 01:09:20,479 kids. You know, I did whitewater 1179 01:09:20,479 --> 01:09:22,160 kayaking. That was my first sport. 1180 01:09:22,160 --> 01:09:25,640 So I was like some people come into running through athletics, 1181 01:09:25,640 --> 01:09:28,120 like through track and stuff like that, whereas I very much 1182 01:09:28,120 --> 01:09:31,000 came to it from being happy out in the hills. 1183 01:09:32,680 --> 01:09:36,000 And so like doing these long point to point races for me, 1184 01:09:36,399 --> 01:09:40,640 it's like a it's exploring and like, without sounding all kind 1185 01:09:40,640 --> 01:09:43,760 of hippie about it, it's like you kind of connect yourself to 1186 01:09:43,760 --> 01:09:45,680 the place and, and, and to nature. 1187 01:09:46,000 --> 01:09:51,479 And I mean, like one of my kind of bucket list things to do is 1188 01:09:51,479 --> 01:09:55,600 like to try and run or walk all of the Scotland's great trails 1189 01:09:55,920 --> 01:09:57,480 at some point. So some of them we've done this 1190 01:09:57,480 --> 01:10:00,880 like hiking holidays as family. Some of them have done as races. 1191 01:10:01,400 --> 01:10:04,800 I'm sure some of them I'll do like, you know, a solo 1192 01:10:04,800 --> 01:10:09,400 expedition. So, but that kind of like, yeah, 1193 01:10:09,520 --> 01:10:16,160 connecting yourself to, to the place you're in, you know what 1194 01:10:16,160 --> 01:10:18,680 you can do when you can run for a long distance. 1195 01:10:20,440 --> 01:10:24,200 I remember I used to do hill walk and like, yeah, 10 mile day 1196 01:10:24,200 --> 01:10:26,400 with a couple of enrolls was like a big day. 1197 01:10:26,560 --> 01:10:29,560 And that's as far if you're, you're leather boots, big 1198 01:10:29,560 --> 01:10:32,200 backpack on. That's what you can do in a day. 1199 01:10:32,560 --> 01:10:34,640 All of a sudden, if you you've got the fitness and the 1200 01:10:34,640 --> 01:10:37,400 abilities and you know, can manage yourself in that 1201 01:10:37,400 --> 01:10:42,800 environment, you can certainly do like 20-30 mile big link OPS 1202 01:10:42,800 --> 01:10:46,680 and and see all these fantastic places are one of the best 1203 01:10:46,680 --> 01:10:51,920 things in the last year I did I was in the arc Alps and I think 1204 01:10:51,920 --> 01:10:54,840 it was October or November. Yeah, it must be November. 1205 01:10:54,840 --> 01:10:59,160 It's after the, I think it was after the the backyard chant and 1206 01:10:59,160 --> 01:11:03,200 like spent a base slogging through crappy claggy, soggy 1207 01:11:03,200 --> 01:11:06,680 ground and then climbed up above a cloud inversion where you 1208 01:11:06,680 --> 01:11:09,960 could literally see all these little peaks popping out, all 1209 01:11:09,960 --> 01:11:13,360 the like, that kind of thing. The ability to get to do that 1210 01:11:13,640 --> 01:11:16,640 because of all this running I've done, it's just like a massive 1211 01:11:16,640 --> 01:11:18,800 privilege and a fantastic thing to be able to do. 1212 01:11:19,760 --> 01:11:22,280 So even if I couldn't race, I'd still be happy doing that. 1213 01:11:22,960 --> 01:11:25,760 You mentioned about the family holidays, like with the great 1214 01:11:25,760 --> 01:11:27,960 trails. Are the kids quite enthusiastic 1215 01:11:27,960 --> 01:11:30,560 with the outdoors as well or is it reluctance? 1216 01:11:32,040 --> 01:11:33,920 Yeah, that's a delicate topic. Probably. 1217 01:11:34,640 --> 01:11:38,720 No, I, I, I like to think they will have good memories of the 1218 01:11:38,720 --> 01:11:41,320 things that they've done. I wouldn't say it's necessarily 1219 01:11:41,320 --> 01:11:43,200 Type 1 fun for them all the time. 1220 01:11:44,400 --> 01:11:48,320 But I mean, you know, we, we, we've, we've done, we did the 1221 01:11:48,560 --> 01:11:52,640 entire way, which is of 100 Miller with them. 1222 01:11:52,640 --> 01:11:57,400 I think it must be in summer 2021 still kind of COVID times. 1223 01:11:58,680 --> 01:12:01,960 And you know, that that was, and it was in the heat wave in July 1224 01:12:01,960 --> 01:12:05,080 and we were having to like knock on fuel doors and beg for water 1225 01:12:05,080 --> 01:12:07,840 and stuff. That was pretty crazy. 1226 01:12:07,840 --> 01:12:11,280 But yeah, this summer we're going to go and do the the Iron 1227 01:12:11,280 --> 01:12:13,560 Coast Path, which is a bit shorter, I think. 1228 01:12:13,560 --> 01:12:16,480 I think it's about four days. But you know, we carry our own 1229 01:12:16,480 --> 01:12:22,080 tent and stuff just, yeah, have a good time as a family. 1230 01:12:23,360 --> 01:12:27,680 And when you're out, it might relate to backyards or just out 1231 01:12:27,680 --> 01:12:31,200 in the hills running in general. What do you think about? 1232 01:12:33,400 --> 01:12:40,240 Yeah, it varies a lot. I mean, I think one of the 1233 01:12:40,240 --> 01:12:43,200 things I get out of running is it's a good headspace. 1234 01:12:43,400 --> 01:12:48,840 I would say the majority of my running I do by myself and quite 1235 01:12:48,880 --> 01:12:53,880 often it's time to kind of process and sort through sort 1236 01:12:53,880 --> 01:12:57,240 through things. I don't so much do it anymore. 1237 01:12:57,240 --> 01:12:59,840 But when I was working in an office, I'd go off and run my 1238 01:12:59,840 --> 01:13:02,680 lunch hour as I said. And sometimes you'd be chewing 1239 01:13:02,680 --> 01:13:06,600 over a problem that you're you hit a brick wall on and you have 1240 01:13:06,600 --> 01:13:08,440 a sort of flash through inspiration where you get away 1241 01:13:08,440 --> 01:13:11,040 from your desk and get out into the into the fresh air. 1242 01:13:12,200 --> 01:13:14,480 So yeah, that's definitely an element like you. 1243 01:13:15,040 --> 01:13:18,320 And I guess you may be experienced this, that you go on 1244 01:13:18,320 --> 01:13:22,480 a run and there all of the world's problems seem clear and 1245 01:13:22,480 --> 01:13:26,400 obvious and everything feels right with the world doesn't 1246 01:13:26,400 --> 01:13:29,320 always last till you get back to reality, But it's, it's, it's a 1247 01:13:29,320 --> 01:13:31,080 good feeling, feeling well, it's lasting. 1248 01:13:31,080 --> 01:13:38,040 But so sometimes it's like that, but sometimes it's, I would say, 1249 01:13:38,040 --> 01:13:42,080 especially if I'm doing like a, like a hard training run, like, 1250 01:13:42,080 --> 01:13:45,200 you know, like intervals or like like a hard temple run or 1251 01:13:45,200 --> 01:13:47,040 something like that, where you're like really working hard. 1252 01:13:47,320 --> 01:13:49,320 Then all of a sudden you just focus right in on what you're 1253 01:13:49,320 --> 01:13:51,840 doing. And that's like quite a fun 1254 01:13:51,840 --> 01:13:55,560 thing in itself. Like you're totally in in the 1255 01:13:55,560 --> 01:13:58,480 activity and just like completely focused on it, which 1256 01:13:58,480 --> 01:14:02,080 is also cool. So it's definitely like, I'd say 1257 01:14:02,080 --> 01:14:07,960 like a, the word like a counterbalance to all the kind 1258 01:14:07,960 --> 01:14:11,040 of complexity of like work and family life. 1259 01:14:11,040 --> 01:14:13,800 And you know, you get on the trail, things are simple. 1260 01:14:13,880 --> 01:14:16,360 You put one foot in front of the other, you navigate and you 1261 01:14:16,360 --> 01:14:21,240 enjoy yourself. They have a dream race on the 1262 01:14:21,240 --> 01:14:24,800 bucket list. Yeah, absolutely. 1263 01:14:25,120 --> 01:14:29,720 So I mean like many people are, you know, well maybe not for 1264 01:14:29,720 --> 01:14:32,720 many people. Actually the the Barclay 1265 01:14:32,720 --> 01:14:35,760 Marathons is my absolute bucket list race. 1266 01:14:38,240 --> 01:14:42,240 I have been applying for now for about probably 10 years, ever 1267 01:14:42,240 --> 01:14:45,000 since I started running when I had absolutely no clue about it 1268 01:14:45,080 --> 01:14:47,200 and what it was and was completely incapable. 1269 01:14:47,400 --> 01:14:49,680 And probably I'm only slightly less than capable of doing it 1270 01:14:49,680 --> 01:14:51,680 now. But you know, maybe one of these 1271 01:14:51,680 --> 01:14:54,320 days I'll get lucky or unlucky and get in. 1272 01:14:54,440 --> 01:15:00,640 You never know, I mean. Here there's been plenty of 1273 01:15:00,640 --> 01:15:03,880 people that have been less capable that I've got in and 1274 01:15:04,040 --> 01:15:05,520 realized that they were less capable. 1275 01:15:06,680 --> 01:15:11,280 Yeah, no, I mean, it's, it's, it's massively oversubscribed 1276 01:15:11,480 --> 01:15:13,000 probably. It's hard to get into the London 1277 01:15:13,000 --> 01:15:17,040 Marathon, so. And hard to find out how to 1278 01:15:17,040 --> 01:15:19,080 apply for. Yes, indeed. 1279 01:15:19,840 --> 01:15:22,560 But no, I mean the the idea of it like, you know, being 1280 01:15:22,560 --> 01:15:26,560 self-sufficient, you know, out in the forest with very little 1281 01:15:26,560 --> 01:15:28,880 navigation leads. And so that totally appeals to, 1282 01:15:29,560 --> 01:15:32,200 you know, my kind of sense, like exploration, adventure. 1283 01:15:33,160 --> 01:15:35,800 You know, I think I like to think I'm quite a good 1284 01:15:35,800 --> 01:15:39,640 navigator. I've actually done a couple of 1285 01:15:39,640 --> 01:15:42,680 races. There's a race series around the 1286 01:15:42,680 --> 01:15:48,120 UK called The Drop where they they take you like normally it's 1287 01:15:48,120 --> 01:15:51,440 10 or 15 miles, but they once did an ultra edition where they 1288 01:15:51,440 --> 01:15:53,600 took you 30 miles from the finish. 1289 01:15:54,040 --> 01:15:56,920 But you know, the blindfold, you drive you in a van and drop you 1290 01:15:56,920 --> 01:15:59,360 off with like no GPS and you have to find your way back. 1291 01:16:00,400 --> 01:16:01,840 Yeah. That kind of stuff, like. 1292 01:16:02,200 --> 01:16:04,680 Yeah, crazy navigation stuff does really appeal. 1293 01:16:06,120 --> 01:16:09,200 And you said that we always ask hard questions. 1294 01:16:09,560 --> 01:16:13,160 So this is actually a question that I find difficult to ask 1295 01:16:13,160 --> 01:16:17,160 sometimes because it could be upsetting. 1296 01:16:17,400 --> 01:16:25,160 But is there anybody that you would love to run with either 1297 01:16:25,160 --> 01:16:28,200 Somebody, you know, fictional, alive, Not. 1298 01:16:30,520 --> 01:16:33,000 Yeah, so I mean, I'm going to kind of squirrel out the 1299 01:16:33,000 --> 01:16:37,840 question a little bit because I mean, I'm not, I mean, there's 1300 01:16:37,840 --> 01:16:40,280 lots of runners I'm aware of and like, you know, that I follow on 1301 01:16:40,280 --> 01:16:43,880 Instagram and stuff like that. But I'm not really big into like 1302 01:16:43,880 --> 01:16:47,320 having like a big inspirational hero that I want to be like this 1303 01:16:47,320 --> 01:16:48,920 person. And, you know, I'd love to run 1304 01:16:48,920 --> 01:16:51,720 with them and just, you know, understand their take on life or 1305 01:16:51,720 --> 01:16:53,800 anything like that. So that's not like a big thing 1306 01:16:53,800 --> 01:16:56,680 for me. And in terms of like who I would 1307 01:16:56,680 --> 01:17:01,560 like to run with the times I really enjoy running with 1308 01:17:01,560 --> 01:17:04,920 somebody, it's when I'm taking somebody and like showing them 1309 01:17:04,920 --> 01:17:07,640 something that they like. For example, if somebody who's 1310 01:17:07,680 --> 01:17:10,960 only ever run the road and you take them on trail for the first 1311 01:17:10,960 --> 01:17:12,800 time and they're like, whoa, this is amazing. 1312 01:17:13,040 --> 01:17:16,360 Or like, you know, there's some like if somebody's come to visit 1313 01:17:16,480 --> 01:17:19,960 and I get to take them out for like my little local run that I 1314 01:17:19,960 --> 01:17:22,640 do all the time, it's totally boring and routine to me, but 1315 01:17:22,640 --> 01:17:27,520 they love it. It's that like, you know, I 1316 01:17:27,520 --> 01:17:30,160 guess it's like sharing the joy of what you do with someone 1317 01:17:30,160 --> 01:17:32,280 else. That that's so it's not a 1318 01:17:32,280 --> 01:17:36,880 specific person, but that's, that's the, you know, if I that, 1319 01:17:36,880 --> 01:17:39,480 that if I have to answer the question of, you know, who would 1320 01:17:39,480 --> 01:17:41,320 I run with? It's that person that I'm taking 1321 01:17:41,320 --> 01:17:45,280 and showing something and that that I've helping them share 1322 01:17:45,280 --> 01:17:49,080 what I'm getting out of the run. That's a great answer. 1323 01:17:52,480 --> 01:17:54,560 Did all right then on the hard questions. 1324 01:17:56,160 --> 01:18:00,640 Now Razzleback has been ticked off for 2025, have you got 1325 01:18:00,640 --> 01:18:04,680 anything else booked this year or in the near future? 1326 01:18:06,160 --> 01:18:10,480 Yes, so I have got a stupidly busy year of big races coming 1327 01:18:10,480 --> 01:18:15,040 up, which is either going to be fantastic or at some point I'm 1328 01:18:15,040 --> 01:18:21,520 going to crash and burn. So basically the plan is so in 1329 01:18:21,600 --> 01:18:24,040 May I'm doing the Cape Rath Ultra. 1330 01:18:24,880 --> 01:18:26,920 So that's so that's going to be completely different because 1331 01:18:26,920 --> 01:18:30,160 that's it's a 250 mile race, but it's an 8 day stage race. 1332 01:18:30,160 --> 01:18:35,000 So that'll be, you know, again, that totally ticks the boxes for 1333 01:18:35,000 --> 01:18:38,120 like amazing parts of the country to explore. 1334 01:18:38,560 --> 01:18:39,960 We're really looking forward to that. 1335 01:18:41,440 --> 01:18:49,920 Then as that's me, I'm hoping to run the Highlander in July and I 1336 01:18:49,920 --> 01:18:52,560 know the the Scottish team hasn't been officially announced 1337 01:18:52,560 --> 01:18:58,640 yet, but I hope I'm on it so that that would be July. 1338 01:18:59,800 --> 01:19:02,960 Then in August, again, long distance point to point race. 1339 01:19:02,960 --> 01:19:05,640 I'm doing race across Scotland. And so that's the stubborn 1340 01:19:05,640 --> 01:19:09,080 upland way. And so that's 250 miles 1341 01:19:09,080 --> 01:19:14,040 continuous rates, which which Julie did last year. 1342 01:19:14,040 --> 01:19:19,560 I could run like totally love that because I said before I 1343 01:19:20,680 --> 01:19:23,080 used to live in the borders. I grew up in the borders, so the 1344 01:19:23,080 --> 01:19:28,040 southern way with like my kind of childhood stomping grounds of 1345 01:19:28,040 --> 01:19:31,280 those hills. So totally looking forward to 1346 01:19:31,280 --> 01:19:35,000 that. I said before, I'm going back to 1347 01:19:35,600 --> 01:19:40,240 the Gobby God zone in October. And so that'll be my third 1348 01:19:40,240 --> 01:19:43,840 backyard of the year. And then I'll probably throw in 1349 01:19:43,840 --> 01:19:47,000 a couple of things. I did also enter the Ben Nervous 1350 01:19:47,000 --> 01:19:49,400 Skyline, which is like it's only a short race. 1351 01:19:49,720 --> 01:19:54,920 I think it's like how long it is, maybe 1617 miles, something 1352 01:19:54,920 --> 01:19:58,000 like that. But it's like from the 1353 01:19:58,360 --> 01:20:02,520 Anakimorski Center up there, Nervous over the Carmel Jarrett 1354 01:20:03,440 --> 01:20:06,840 and then back down again. So again, that's like I've 1355 01:20:06,840 --> 01:20:09,800 always kind of had an idea. It'd be fun to do one of these 1356 01:20:09,800 --> 01:20:12,920 like Sky running type races, see what that's like. 1357 01:20:13,480 --> 01:20:15,560 So. That's in September, so 1358 01:20:15,880 --> 01:20:18,400 basically if I can get between all those, I'm just going to 1359 01:20:18,400 --> 01:20:21,360 spend the whole year in race recovery and then taper for the 1360 01:20:21,360 --> 01:20:25,240 next one and we'll see see if my legs still keep moving by 1361 01:20:25,240 --> 01:20:29,560 October. God's own is Julie crewing you, 1362 01:20:29,560 --> 01:20:31,360 running with you, or not there at all? 1363 01:20:33,320 --> 01:20:35,280 I don't think we've totally finalized. 1364 01:20:35,280 --> 01:20:37,920 I think at the moment I'm planning to go down by myself. 1365 01:20:37,960 --> 01:20:39,320 I don't think she's going to come to that one. 1366 01:20:39,320 --> 01:20:45,240 But yeah, we'll see. Might see if I can rustle up a 1367 01:20:45,240 --> 01:20:46,880 crew for that if she's not going to come. 1368 01:20:48,760 --> 01:20:53,800 Right, that's taking us. I guess it's a, it was a 50 hour 1369 01:20:53,800 --> 01:20:57,640 race that we invite you on for. So it's been a bumper episode, 1370 01:20:58,040 --> 01:21:02,600 but we're OK with that. And all I've got to say is thank 1371 01:21:02,600 --> 01:21:05,200 you Ian for joining us. Thank you Nikki for being Nikki 1372 01:21:05,200 --> 01:21:08,680 and it's goodbye from me. Goodbye, thank you. 1373 01:21:10,600 --> 01:21:11,800 Bye guys. Thanks for having me.