Big day out on Sunday at the Self Transcendence 100km ultra in Perth, Scotland, which formed the British 100km champs. Absolute pleasure & humbling experience to run with the national teams: 18 male & 11 female runners in Eng/Scot/Wales & N.Ireland vests, and 25 other club runners (like me) taking on the distance.
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A pretty windy day made the 42 laps testing and the relentless tarmac absolutely trashed my legs! •
@g.h.brown was an awesome crew and sorted me out with all my nutrition so I only had to stop for 30s the entire race (to pee...).
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Pleased and frustrated in equal measures to come in at 7hrs 49 minutes, 11th overall & the first club runner. I would love to one day run sub 7:40 (a national level/qualifier time), but I clearly have some work to do, and that race provided plenty of motivation...
Slowly, slowly, catching the monkey. •
An easy week ahead to recover then we’ll look to London Marathon & then Centurion Running’s NDW50 - a race I bloody love and happily returning to the trails!
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#humbled #run #race #ultra #roadrunning #acp #britishchamps #runningmotivation #raceweekend #ukrunchat #fitnessjourney #fitnessmotivation #clubrunner #ultrarunning #perth #northinch
Reviewing an academic paper today about the metabolic demands of our SPEAR17 expedition & the Ice Maidens expedition. It has brought back floods of memories of firstly how awesome the expedition was, and how bloody hard work it was! Going from being a runner to hauling 120kg over unpredictable and difficult terrain was quite the test, mentally and physically. I went into it pretty fit & robust, ate 6,500 kCals a day and still got pretty beat up. .
It’s a good reminder pre-race (T-2 days to a 100K) that I’ve been through difficult times before, to keep my head down, keep working, be patient and smile no matter how much it hurts. Fortunately I won’t have a pulk being tipped over by sastrugi during the 100k! The benefits of a running race.
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There is a certain serenity from applying yourself wholeheartedly to something hard; finding peace in discomfort. .
Here’s to everyone pushing beyond their comfort zone this weekend 👊. I’ll be suffering with you. •
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#expedition #antarctica #getoutside #beyondlimits #exploremore #runningmotivation #race #discomfort #ultrarunning #exploringhumanpotential #fitness #fitnessmotivation #letsgetphysical #motivation #landscapephotography #igdaily #igers #iphoneonly
This is Lou. Good friend, tent partner for 3 months, SPEAR17 expedition leader, and recently a man who skied across Antarctica solo, unsupported & unaided. .
After coming up with the idea for SPEAR, he organised the recruitment, selection and training of the team, then led the expedition, and what a blast we had. .
2 years later he went back to crack the traverse by himself, without any resupplies & under human power alone, a feat never done before. .
I met him as he flew back into the UK after finishing his exped where he looked just a little weathered but pretty good, before being whipped away by a flurry of media. .
He has been using his platform to ask us to encourage kids to take risks, to learn to manage risk. What a great message. .
Do us all a favour next week, be more Lou.
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#growingup #risk #riskmanagement #expedition #antarctica #rolemodel #endure #endurance #leader #leadership #bemore
19th Jan 2017, descending the Shackleton Glacier to the Ross Ice Shelf.
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After skiing for 1,000 miles in a mainly monochrome environment, I vividly remember the explosion of colour as we started walking down the blue ice of the glacier in our crampons, mountains on either side of us. .
I even remember saying I’d happily walk 1,000 miles again just to see those views. I’m not sure that was a good idea in hindsight 🤔
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#explore #expedition #getoutside #exploremore #endure #endurance #glacier #antarctica #polar #team #teamwork #teamworkmakesthedreamwork #igdaily #iphoneonly #landscape #landscapephotography #sun #igers
