 Hi, welcome to film my run. My name's Steven. So a few weeks ago I traveled up to London to visit Vassos Alexander and I did an interview with Vassos Now the thing to remember about this interview is that he was about to run the Archivetrician 100 mile race and my interview was kind of focused on him running that race. Now it turns out that in the last few days before the race he injured his back and he couldn't run. But nevertheless the interview is very interesting and we don't just talk about the art, we talk about a lot of different things to do with his background, his history with running, some of the other races he's run, lots of different things about how he manages his nutrition, those kind of things. So it's quite interesting to listen to him. So here is my interview with Vassos Alexander. Hope you enjoy it. Now why have you just started recording? Who asked you to record? That bloody telly, when we walked past it, it just turns on and I don't know how to stop that happening. This has got a voice activation but I'm sure I didn't say, oh and maybe I did say record. Yeah. Anyway, that's about it's recording now we'll just let it run. Okay, let's just go, you don't have to tell me what you can ask yesterday. Good, good. You're not nervous then. Have you done this before? The odd thing down again. Sorry, it's a bit close isn't it? It's good. Oh dear, Vassos, what's your name and where do you come from? My name is Vassos Alexander, I come from that there London. That there London. And a bit that there Greece as well. Oh yes, of course. Do you know what? I should always ask you about that. Where does your name come from? What's that? It's Greek, it's a Greek name. My dad's Greek, my mum is Greek and so yeah, I was born and pretty much brought up in this country but I spent every day of every summer and actually some other holidays in Greece. So I feel, you know, I feel Greek actually funnily enough whenever I go to Greece. I do feel like I'm going home kind of even though I've, you know, born here, lived here all my life, feel very British as well. Have you ever thought about living in Greece? No, no, I mean, no. Although whenever I go it's a sort of curious mix of, you know, Greeks and, oh, Greeks. Because everything's, you know. Yeah, that's how I feel about Britain as well. Everything's slightly kind of brilliantly chaotic in Greece and also but, you know, but the fact that, you know, old people's homes don't exist in Greece because you just, you just take care of the family. They're so sort of about the family. They're so warm and welcoming and loving. Is that true? Yeah. Old people's homes, you don't get residential homes in Greece because the family look after them. You look after our own. What's happened to our country? Yeah, I think, I think that a bit. But, you know, I'm not, you know, it's not all perfect in Greece by any stretch of the imagination. And, you know, it's probably more perfect here. And I absolutely love it here. I'm so happy and lucky to live here. I sort of get the best of both worlds. People say, do you feel British or Greek? And I don't. I feel British and Greek. When England played Greece at football, that famous game obviously I didn't want Greece to do anything when David Beckham scored the free kick. But there was a friendly a few years back. I think England won at 5-0. But whenever England were on the attack, I think, you know, come on England, score. Whenever Greece were on the attack, I think, well, come on, Greece, score. So it's like, it's sort of like you get two nationalities for the price of one rather than one or the other. That's nice. I didn't know that about you. Cool. What do you do for a living, muscles? I work on the radio mostly, a bit of telly, a bit of writing. But people tend to know me from the Chris Evans breakfast show currently on Virgin Radio. How many different stations has Chris been on with you? Two. So, BCC and Renderg? Yeah, we were on Radio 2 for eight years, something like that, eight, nine years, and then we moved three years ago. It's our fourth year at Virgin Radio, and it's gone by like that. Where did you start broadcasting? How did you get into it in the first place? It's broadcasting. Normally running comes at the end of that sentence, but no, broadcast is more interesting almost. I've always loved, I was a sports reporter, still am a sports reporter. I sort of fell into it. I did a little bit of student radio reporting from the local Exeter City, the local football ground. But it was never really with a view to a job. And then I was leaving university with a Russian degree. I was thinking, what am I going to do with this Russian degree? Just stop me one minute. You said Russian degree? Russian degree. Right. Why on earth did you do a Russian degree? I love reading. I did, and I still do. I still love, you know, reading, because I speak quite a few languages, because it's brought up bilingual, and French as well, and German. And I could read French, I could read, you know, Camus in the original, and I could read Goethe in the original. And then, and I just, Dostoevsky, I wanted to read, I wanted to read, not to sound too sort of, you know, can I say one key on this? Yeah, we'll let you off. Presto plenia in a Kazanier rather than war and peace. And so that's why I did Russian. And it was a fantastic, you know, you get to spend a year in the country when you do a degree of a language. So I spent a year living and working in Russia, which was fantastic. But I didn't really want to, and no one asked me to become a spy, which I was sort of hoping that that would happen with a Russian degree. Isn't that just normal? I'd be a terrible spy, but I was sort of hoping that, you know, MI5 or MI6 or whatever one it would be would come called. You wouldn't have spent that, wouldn't you? They never did. They never did. And so then I just thought, you know, I really loved those, you know, early days listening to the radio and sport on the radio and the television. And it just sort of formed me without me kind of did. And so I thought, well, what if I got a job in sport? And what you do is you do sort of lots of rubbish jobs, and then you sort of work your way and it becomes very quickly who you know, not what you know. And I worked my way via Eurosport and a company called Sports Media, which was doing like little radio bulletins for tiny little stations around the country. To the BBC and then Five Live and then Radio 2 and then bits and bobs for BT Sport and Sky as well over the years and now very happily at Virgin Radio. Nice one. So you've got multilingual, you've got a degree in Russian, you have got a very successful career that you're happy doing in broadcasting. Where's the hole in your life that running fits you? Yeah, yeah. Well, yeah, people often ask, you know, why do you feel you need to run these stupid distances? And maybe I did. Maybe if I'm absolutely honest, maybe, you know, back in... Well, I don't know if I ever did feel like I needed to run. I mean, there's no sort of... I was swimming, I swim now. I swim in the Serpentine, which is a lake in the centre of London, every day on the way to work. And I get up and exit at 45 minutes early just to get there and swim in the ice cold waters. No wet suit or anything. And I love it. And somebody said to me, Xavier, there's a sort of early morning 5am crowd. Okay. I often see nobody, but he was there this morning. And he said, why do we do this to ourselves? It's got like a French accent straight out of central casting. Why do we do this to ourselves? Are we punishing ourselves for something? And I went, yeah, we must be. But I thought, I don't think I am. And I don't think the ultra running is that either. I just found running quite late in life. And I laced up a pair of shoes and I realised that this was ticking like all the boxes for me. It was good for my physical health, obviously, which is why I started, but also my mental health and it gave me space and it just gave me a kind of a sort of reason to get out. I loved every little... You know, they say running takes different things for different people. It takes all of the things for me. And so I did my first 5k and I sort of got running and run walking. South Marathon was my first race, the Great North Run. And then what if I did a marathon and then what if I went a little bit further? And it wasn't ever a plan to sort of do these silly events. But then I did feel, I did this race back in Greece, actually, this long, very historic race called the Spatathlon a few years ago. And I did feel that that was a full stop. You know, like they don't get much tougher than that. Certainly I can't, you know, I was laid out on that road. I couldn't walk for a week. Do you want to explain to people who don't know? I mean, first explain what Spatathlon is, but then it must have meant something a bit more to you as well personally. So everyone I guess watching this will have heard of Marathon and they may have heard of a guy called Fidipides who ran from a marathon to Athens to announce a victory over the Persians, which was a big surprise actually because there's a big bloodthirsty, massive Persian army arrived in Marathon and they would have panicked in Athens. Absolutely panicked. They were sort of laying waste to all before them. But before the Athenians went and fought in Marathon they thought, well, we're buggered here. We've got to ask Sparta, a rival city state for help. So they sent their best guy Fidipides over the mountains to the Peloponnes to Sparta town now called Spati in Greece. And according to legend, he arrived before night fell on the second day. So, you know, day and night. And then actually an RAF pilot thought in the 80s, I wonder if that's even possible to run from Athens to Sparta. So he tried, failed actually, but that sparked the imagination and the Spatathlon was born. And so you try and do it. They put sort of wicked cut off times. You know, I think the first marathon out of Athens you have to do in three and a half hours, three, 45, something like that. And it's quite a rolling, you know, which is, you've got, you know, five marathons to go on after that and you've done that. And then the first 50 miles is eight and a half hours, something. It's quite punchy early on and then it eases off. But you've got a 4,000 foot mountain to climb in the dark. And it's just, you know, there are, it's the cut offs that could really kind of mess with your own. And the heat. And the freezing cold at the top of the mountain, which is always at night. And the fact that there's only 300 of you and you have to sort of, you know, qualify to get there, but only half you're going to finish. So you don't really see anyone else. And it's really hard. And I've never run more than 100 miles before. And, you know, to go another 55 miles after that, it's quite, quite punchy. I don't remember the last, I was good for 120 miles and then I just fell apart. And I sort of managed to crawl my way. You don't, you know, but the Greeks, it means so much to them that you're honouring their culture by taking part, that they're out in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere. Schools have the day off school. They love it, don't they? You know, to come to the nearest point in the route and give you any advice, any encouragement, anything you want. They just, they really love it. And ever all Greeks have heard of this race, you know, which here only sort of us ultranutters have. Anyway, so I did, I finished that race somehow. And just tell us, why do you kiss the foot at the end? So there's a statue as you come into Sparta. Actually, as you come into Sparta, there's a timing mat on the floor. And there's only been about three timing mats in the last sort of 150 miles. So you think, well, this must be it. This is the final timing mat. And then the guy said to me, there's that, there's only two and a half kilometres to go. And I thought, I've got to bring my, I thought, well, there's the mat, there's the mat. I can't see a statue, but I must be hallucinating. It's fine. And then the wholeness by the kids take your hand as you walk through the city. And, you know, and you sort of, everyone stops what they're doing. And it's all like a big old party that day. And they applaud you through the city. And then you go down this sort of avenue of flags. And there's the statue of the warrior king. If you've seen the film 300, the warrior king Leonidas, slightly different part of history, but it doesn't quite matter. And, and instead of, you know, going through a finishing line, you just, you touch your more charmingly. You kiss his foot to finish. And then you're given a, you're given a little cup of water from the river, the Ibratas, which is what fidipides would have been given at the time. They put a laurel root on your head. And then they take you off into a tent where it's like a Vietnam war film, you know, people on drips, you know, all sorts of sort of, you know, they actually, they try and, they ask you if you wouldn't mind if they take some blood from you at the start and finish because they want to know what that does to you. I never did that because I had to shoot off because I was back on the breakfast show the next morning. Okay. That's a quick trip. Yeah. So there's actually, there's a huge party. The mayor has a party. Then the mayor of Athens has a party for you. Which I never managed to get. Although I wasn't able to walk. I wouldn't have been able to go to the parties. So that, you know, we do this auditorium to see where are layers, you know, how, you know, appeal back as many as we can. And that was all of them, you know, for me. That was as bare as I can be, you know. Chrissy Wellington, the Iron Man World Champion, she said to me, she's a good friend, and she said to me once that she retired because that fourth world championship there was, she had nothing else to give. That was it. You know, I would be chasing it. And I did feel that that was a bit of a full stop. And then COVID hit. And then I didn't really have anything to train for. And that's fine. You know, I found swimming and stuff. Talking about Spartathlon being possibly like the pinnacle of what you thought you could do. You did attempt at Dragon's Back. Was that before or after? Before. And how, and how did that? Did that not make you feel the same way then? No, that's a real itch. That's the only race I've ever DNF'd. I came into that, not that I want to, you know, the Welsh Mountains well and truly beat me up. I did three days. But I did have a badly sprained ankle when I went into the race. And I'd love to have had a crack at Dragon's Back without a badly sprained ankle. And in fact, in 2019, I was going to go back and do Dragon's Back and I dropped a blimmin' toolkit on my foot and broke. And there's one race in the world you can't go into injured and that's Dragon's Back basically. And I did and I tried and I failed. And it was a wonderful experience. I mean, running in the mountains there, it's just sings to my soul. So are you going to go back there? Yeah, it's very much on the list. The thing is that I have done, you know, I do ask a lot of my family to let me, Dragon's Back six days now. We all do though, don't we? Six days. So they've added another day. Do you want to stay the night on Conway before? Seven days, basically eight days away, which is quite a big ask when I've got young kids. When I've done it before, you know, but there's also such a sort of, there's such a wish list, you know, I've got, you know, there's the ARC, which God willing I will do next week. Then there's, I think it's kind of the big American, you know, how good would Western states be? Oh, I know, I know. And a crack at one loop of the Barclay or something. Yeah, I think Barclay is, I think Barclay is, I mean, I know some runners who are much better than, no, I don't think, I think Barclay, I sort of know my limits. I think Barclay know, you know, because I just wouldn't, I wouldn't, okay, maybe I'll get a loop. Maybe I'd get a loop around the Barclay. Yeah, yeah. But, and the films that must not be able to do it justice because, because, you know, the great... Yeah, you do wonder, it's only 20-odd miles, how would it be that long? Yeah, the greats of running don't finish the Barclay, don't finish, like, don't even get there or whatever it's called. So, yeah, but Leadville maybe. Yeah. Yeah, nobody must say maybe, I mean, definitely. Badwater, Badwater. Badwater's a long, hard, hot run, isn't it? Yeah. You'd be up for that, then? Yeah. Okay. And then, you know, there's all that, you know, there's all the stuff in Europe as well, Tour de Géant. Yeah. Yeah. I just... There's so many, I mean, now, we're so lucky because we're in a sort of boom period of endurance running and it's only getting more and more popular so there are just more and more races. We only have, I don't know how old you are, Vassos, but we only have so many years left, don't we, where we can do this. I'm 27, so what's giving me 10, 10, 15 years max? Yeah. Yeah. We can get a bit in, can't we? Yeah. How old are you? 52. 52. So, yeah, is it 10 more years? I reckon. Yeah. Yeah. Fingers crossed. Stay if we stay fit and healthy. Trouble is, injuries take longer to bloody get over now. I see my 17-year-old daughter and she, you know, she comes back hungover as anything. You know, drunk as anything. Sorry, 18, I should have said that. It's all right. I'll edit it out. And, you know, they just find, you know, she's going to do some weights and stuff. Oh, yeah. I used to do my essays overnight and hand them in the next day. I mean, we can't do that. Yeah. Yeah. I let my hair down properly for the first time in a few years on New Year's Eve and I think I recovered from it yesterday. Yeah. Yeah. When did you first hear about the arc? When did it cross your radar? I don't remember a time, like I do remember when I first heard about Spartaclon. Yeah. Debs Martin-Consarn, you told me about it as we were running south down's way together. Arc just was sort of permeated my consciousness and went sort of straight into the bullet, you know, top three maybe in top one of races in this country that I really want to do. And it's been a while. I remember... I remember you talking about it via Martin about four years ago because you nearly tried to do it about four years ago, I think. Yeah. It's definitely been on the radar for a while. Yeah. And, yeah, and high on the radar for a while. Yeah. And it would take a special race, which this is, to sort of reignite my love of... I mean, yesterday I did a 50 mile run, which is my third 50 mile run in training for this. I say the 50 miles, it was eight hours. I imagine it was about 50 miles but as you can see, I'm not wearing a running watch anymore, which is just a... Why don't you do that then? It's just... I couldn't bothered. It's just so much more of a joy if I don't have one on. Are you not... You do... That surprises me a little bit because you do strike me as somebody who might like to look at data. No, never have done really. But bothered. No, no, no. The old, if it's not on Strava, it didn't happen. I've never been on Strava. I used to... When I was training to do a sub-three marathon, then it was really important what minutes per mile I was running. And then I just always had a running watch. And then I got a good old mountain garment with a nav thing on it, four dragons back. And I just worn it ever since, a Phoenix 5X. A lovely watch. It tells you your heart rate, tells you all of that. But then if I could look at it and my heart rate was a bit high that day. I think, well, what's wrong with me? You know, it's just another thing to get stressed about. Whereas now I have... You know, I go out, I have no idea how long I've run for. It's nice. I mean, obviously, I know it's within, say, 30 minutes to 40 minutes, or, you know, an hour to an hour and 20, or something like that. But, but, General, and it's really just, it's great. It's back to the simplicity of running. But for the Ark, will you be wearing the watch? Will you have the navigation on your watch? How will you nav the Ark? Yeah, I haven't properly thought about it, but I will put it on my watch. It's a week before. That's awesome. No, it's 10 days before. 10 days before. It's loads of time. Oh, yeah. Yeah, no, I thought it was a week. No, 10 days is fine. It's loads of time. It's loads of time. Good. I am quite slap-dash when it comes to... But I quite like that about you know, it's why I didn't really love doing drathlons is because there's so many kind of fiddly bits. Remember your gong? Remember your wetsuit? Remember this? Remember that? Remember the bike? Right place to get this qualified. Running is just go out there and run. I don't have a crew for the same reason. It's just the simplicity of me against the distance. Okay, so that's interesting. So most people who run the Ark would definitely have a crew and most people who have run the Ark would recommend you have a crew. Why? Is it a practical thing? You just don't have the people to do it? Or are you deliberately going out there saying I'm going to try this without a crew. Are you going to just take all the kit I need with me and see what happens? I just don't. It's not a practical thing. Okay. Although it's a big ask, but it's not a practical thing. It doesn't really appeal to me to do it. Almost everybody who does the Spartathlon has a crew and everyone who's done it and finished it would recommend that you have a crew. I don't really need one. You don't really need one. I've done this distance before. I know it's going to be really hard. I'm sort of hoping it's not like the Dragon's Back Race nav-wise that it's largely following the southwest coast path which is largely self-explanatory. Keep the seat to your left, right? Kind of. Yeah, I know kind of. So I will definitely load it onto my watch, but I hope I won't have to be doing this the whole time. But it's a challenge. It's not a... I don't feel it's like about... A crew is just one level of... not sort of an organisation, but just one level of faff too many. I just love the simplicity of... Okay, I'll see if I can do it. So have you... Given that you've said you're slapdash, have you decided what you're taking in your pack to last you? Because the aid stations are... Yeah, few and far between. A few people who are running it have said that they've got crew who will not let me go without a chocolate button or something on the way which is lovely and that's great. And that happened actually. Some of the British spy-tathlon team, crews helped me out when I was... But there are aid stations. It's not that there are none. I will just... I will do what I normally do which is go and buy a selection of bars and gels and stuff. Gels, I know, 20 minutes later will give me a few free miles which is always like, you know, you pay for it afterwards in your stomach. I will eat for as long as I can eat and then we'll keep going. Are you good with high GI sugar stuff? Can you manage that all the way through or will you need savoury things? Yeah, I have a little selection. I'll have obviously the backpack and I'll have a selection and I'll try and drink and I sort of... I don't want to say I'm lucky. I never get stomach problems because, you know, what's going to happen if I say that? But I tend to be okay. Put it this way, stomach problems have not ended a race for me yet. And I have a... My sort of my biggest weapon is just bloody-mindedness. I don't allow myself to think that I might not finish this. And then that sort of simplifies everything again, doesn't it? I'll just keep going. If you take give up off the table then all that's left is just keep going. And I'm really looking forward to it because it's been a while since I've really... I didn't say that yesterday's training run was just horrific but I did it. I did it with no food. How many hours did you say? Eight. Eight hours with no food. I had to stop in a Tesco Express to get a banana because I was going to pass out. I was literally going to faint. And was that kind of deliberate? Yeah. Train hard, fight easy? Yeah. No, I get that. I get that. Okay, look, you are not a slow runner. Your marathon time is what? Sub-3. Sub-3. Sub-3. Sub-3. Sub-3. Sub-3. Sub-3. Sub-3. Sub-3. I said it was a faster one but I think it was short. Okay. It was a small marathon. Let's go with Switzerland. Okay. Yeah. But I think, knowing... I don't stalk you but I've sees some results and I think generally we could say you are a bit quicker than a 215. No, I'm quicker, I'm a bit quicker. Okay. And that was pre-vape of flies. I feel that they have taken such a wedge off people's I don't I don't I'm still not I'm still not totally convinced by this really I just just go with it they're there are they well yes they are there but are we in danger of just becoming just slaves to all the gear one of the thing that I love about running and swimming is the art of simplicity of it just you know but if those pair of shoes are going to get me in 4% quicker than that yeah but then why don't we just run barefoot because the shoes that you're wearing now they don't know they don't make it well these are not running shoes you know I'm saying you imagine trying to do an alter in Yeezy's having said that my first ultra ever race to the stones oh you GQ really you race yeah they they they got into this is a while ago now like 2013 something like that I said um fancy yeah yeah fancier and I turned down and you have it's here's the last minute this right I thought it was from Swindon from just after Swindon to just outside London I thought that's where it went right but it turns out it's from just outside London to and I'd organized transport from just outside London to pick me up I've never done it so I don't but it has to change that it's the other way around and then and then and then on the morning of the race I went and I got this the Oxford tube is the first stop on the Oxford tube out of London so about like 10 miles outside London and I was waiting I got an Uber to the nearest bus stop for like four o'clock five o'clock in the morning and I was waiting there was another runner there and I went oh I've got those trail shoes at which point the realization hit that I'd left both those trail shoes and my road running shoes by the front door it's too late the bus has come here the bus yeah and so I had to run my first six you know my first after my six for 62 miles in basically like suit shoes like brogues yeah which was interesting yeah I bet you finished it yeah finish it yeah apparently 12 hours is the thing that I you know I round that's the thing that was my first time running it with someone else having a chat making a new friend realizing how sort of you know how welcoming the ultra community yeah and it was no it was great he actually turned up we we spent the whole race going 100 kilometers is plenty far enough to be going on with the hundred mile brigade welcome to their belt buckles and then they won't be seeing me yes very next day very we spent 50 miles together or 40 whatever it was together just going no no no no and then the next day the text comes in you know what if you know and then he came actually Kate turned up on the start line number first hundred which was South Downsway I was on the start line of your first 100 with you in fact I interviewed you in the first five minutes I think to do yeah yeah what round the field I think we were just after the field we just yes yes yeah you were talking about some free marathons then as well because you said I did I mean yes I felt really good that day I wanted to because I didn't see you again for I didn't do badly and I didn't see you again for the whole rest of the race and I did some 20 didn't you yeah yeah I once I just got exercising just holding back those first few miles because I was I tapered I was really fit that was 2016 I think and I was really I was fit that year I was fast and I felt like I want you know three hours into the race you go well I'd have been 20 at least 25 miles into it you know marathon by now and it's like you're in whenever it was 20 miles but it felt good it felt good and did you learn a lot then with that with that thought process of realizing that you really can't go off like a crazy man in the first three hours I wonder though I mean I wonder I wonder if I do a 50 if I do an easy 50 what if you do well about trying to go hard and hang on I know the thing is we don't do enough of these I don't do enough of these two to really kind of be able to test it out you know you only got a few marathons in you really relatively and a few hundred miles unless you're professional or you know you make it your life's work and I kind of my family's my life's work but it would be interesting to go off like a bat out of hell or just like just generally you know seven seven and a half minute miding and just see what happens because you fall apart anyway in a hundred mile race it becomes horrific anyway so why not bank those quick why not just make it horrific a bit early on but yes but you you'd have got the first sort of 30 40 miles done quicker yeah do you then fall apart so dramatically I suppose I did in sparta I mean I think that's what the elites would do if the elites were going for a win what they would say is go out hard and try and break try and break those people behind you early and and it's worth the risk to do that for guys like you and me perhaps it's not necessary it's not really worth the risk all the time yeah because because we're doing it generally for fun and for fitness do we want to risk paying I mean you know for some people it's a lot of money to pay for a big race like that you don't want to then blow it in exactly exactly and actually you know and it's sort of not the point yeah it's sort of not a point because it's the joy is in the joy is in the journey you know it really is and that's that that's the point with these races certainly if you're not the sharpen Scott jurick was telling me when he ran sparta won it twice I think he certainly wouldn't I don't know how many times three times definitely twice yeah okay one year he was on his way and he saw this this bloke it's like head torch behind him in the dark only like a mile behind him there's literally you don't see anyone else and so he starts putting the hammer down he's doing like six and a half seven minute miles which 70 80 miles into a race is unbelievable you know this this this head torch isn't even if you just shake him and it was only afterwards you realize it was just another runner running it wasn't one of his competitors for this yeah yeah I hate it when you're in a race and somebody speeds past you you think bloody hell thankfully you realize they're not actually in the same race that you were in what look talking about suffering and going hell for leather completing or competing what are you yeah oh no completing just complete completing completing a bc completing yeah def z completing okay just completely absolutely not and this is just for the for the sheer experience I sort of feel like PB's are behind me probably maybe not in a hundred miles but this isn't the PB course anyway no certainly no for a hundred miles but there's the glory of getting the sub 30 no I definitely 24 buckle if you you know I mean I'd hasten to guess that you're probably somewhere between the two yeah six hours what do you think look the joy is I don't want to watch anymore okay so I just I don't know do you care no not really I suppose look if you push me that I'd probably like the sub 30 I probably would I think sub 24 is just cuckoo land which is nice and I'll sort of see where I am when I'm when I'm racing because you just never know and you can net sometimes you can just not know 60 miles in how what sort of day you're having you can think it's nice and then it suddenly turns like that which is one of the joys of this sport but yeah on it honestly I haven't really sort of allowed myself to think about it but now you put me on the sport yeah I guess sub 30 would be nice have you managed to get down there at all to recce not even close to be honest and have you ever be I mean I've never been anywhere to recce to be honest though have you had you be you've been to the coast path before yes so you know some sections of it no can't remember anything no I've run on the coast path when I'm my wife and I went for our wedding on the street to North Cornwall but I can't honestly remember if that bit is on the bit that we're gonna be running but I just I don't get please tell me right I don't get it so I'm what I'm really I'm even running that's tap-downs way well sure yeah people said I'll break it out all the sections yeah my brother-in-law who lives on the south downs way wanted to recce all the sections before he did it last year why I mean it's you just you run the I guess it depends on your motivation what you want to achieve doesn't it if you if you want to get the best possible time you can if you don't know the coast path you're you will go wrong now whether you care whether you're going to go wrong or not doesn't you know you might go a kilometer or two off in the wrong direction or you might go 400 meters down that path and have to come all the way back now that is going to add five minutes ten minutes half an hour to your time whether you care about that isn't okay well that the coast path and then the South Downs way are two different things I mean I happen to have gone wrong okay on the South okay I did do two extra miles actually on the South Downs way so there you go if I'd record it maybe I wouldn't have done yeah yeah and I will go wrong I've gone right yeah yeah I largely do you do go wrong is it part of the film no it's just I'm not you know I've like I've never laid out a flat Stanley I've never I just I'm a bit more sort of like see what happens about stuff than most people I think and a lot of people can't be like that a lot of people have to organize a lot of people have to be confident that they know where they're going and what they're doing and to not know perhaps we make people frightened and and if there's going to be if there's a hundred mile race in the UK which scares people it's the archer Patricia hmm well there's a few but yeah that's right but the arcs right up right up there Lakeland I was thinking and which is why I'm so excited you know and I you know I can't wait I can't wait to see what the southwest coastbars can throw at me because it's gonna you know it's gonna beat me up good and proper and just maybe and just hopefully you know I've got enough on the day on the days to to make it to the end I mean I think I probably do you know I think I probably fit enough I've done I've done the training which has been a revelation to be able to you know to have something have a date in a diary and realize that you've got to do it carved days out where you like yesterday we were not doing anything else you just go running for 50 miles eight odd hours and I assume therefore given the way this interview is gone but you didn't actually write down a training plan on your calendar you've just gone out and done some miles and made sure that you've done a few more than you I mean is it you know if is it is it okay maybe not is it okay for me to think that my legs know that they could do 100 miles they can do more they can do 50% more than that or they have done so it's you know it's but for any race you know you can't train for us that you know the arc by running the arc well you could but what's the joy of the day you know so I've done it you know I've done a lock down the dog over there you know sometimes we go to Richmond Park because I've got short shop hills around here so it's not like it's not like dragons back where I've got I've got nothing you know I've got short shop hills so we go to Richmond Park up down shoot them what again yep sorry Holly again and you know for another 20 so two three hours of just literally going up down hills like the whole the whole loop takes me six seven minutes and I've done that and I've done long runs and I've done sort of try to incorporate some hills or undulations into my long runs and you know and I also know that I don't give up which is which is a big thing and I'm and I also which is which is nice which I'm pleased about for myself I I'm sort of I'm never really grumpy during these races I'm always got a smile I'm always you know which is which is what I'm looking forward to it as well because some people say they get really you know well no no nobody admits to it but you see people who are really grumpy not wanting to chatter the volunteers not wanting to say thank you take themselves far too seriously and luckily because it's nothing I've worked on it's just how I am I'm just I don't tend to be like that so I'm quite looking forward to the whole experience and the other thing is I've got nothing else to worry about for that whole 24 30 hours of fun than me getting to the finish line you know feel about the layers you know do something hard outside it strikes me it strikes me that you this this kind of laissez-faire attitude in a way is bought is born out of a little bit of experience you've done a few of these now you do have a bit of self-confidence and an overarching kind of positivity you know what do you say to people who who are just maybe this is their first hundred good luck you know scared stiff well look I was I'm scared stiff I was scared stiff for my first hundred and I was scared stiff before driving back I was scared stiff for Sparta and I'm scared stiff about this and I don't think it's born out of a bit of self-confidence although I've I've owned the self-confidence because I'm not saying that in a negative way but I think it's born out of that's my character yeah and I and people go well how can you be like that but I quite like it about myself you know there's just I quite like the fact that it's just see what happens you know I'm very much your last-minute revision kind of person but there is an underlying like you know how can you not have worked out if you're gonna put the G-picks and you'll watch 10 days out there is that that is a fair enough question Chris was asking me on the other day but where is it from and to well it's sorted from the bottom to the I was quite impressed I knew that it was that way around you know how can you not know it's two weeks I know because I because it's two weeks away even if it was the day before I do know that you get busted the start right and you follow the South West Coast for 100 miles at the end right that's pretty much all you can do that really just get on with it just get on with it I just it's that rather than like any kind of cockiness or confidence it's just that's what I've always been like you know that the race of the stone that was Petra I'd never run more than 26 miles before and then suddenly they're asking me to run 62 yeah which is what two and a half marathons and I was I was petrified but I still didn't know that it went that way around and I still didn't take running shoes to the start so it's just I feel that stuff can be you know cycling is very much it's a lovely sport for a lovely people but they they don't half like you know the layers of gadgets and stuff and and what the kids is like and what they they're doing there you know whereas running I just I love it for the simple act of running in 100 miles somehow just has that magic about it that number is just a sort of magic number and the fact that it's just longer than a hundred K and you're gonna have you're gonna have to problem solve along the way even if you you know science the shit out of it beforehand you know the night before spot I was sharing a room with an Aussie in a hotel in Athens and I said so what do you recommend these shorts or these shorts and he goes what I mean well these are new and really cool apparently and I just got sent them but these ones I find a few marathons I mean you know and I said I don't know I don't know if I'm gonna take a rock star or should I do because it's loads of aid stations and he goes what and he's got laminated sheets of what will be available at each aid station what you know where what side of the road he has to run on all of that stuff I'm just like you had like you know Tweedled I'm over in Tweedled is like the opposite ends of the spectrum I've just turned up and so he said right I'm taking you out we're buying you a belt you can wear your you can wear a belt that's probably the thing well you know you're your experienced arc runner will have a crew they will have an ultra van and inside that ultra van they will have a number of perspex boxes and inside those perspex boxes they will have sets of shirts sets of different shoes they may change their shoes before they get into pensance because there's five miles of tarmac that they don't want to use trail shoes on tarmac so they'll change their shoes and then they'll have all sorts of food and nutrition organized into various calorific amounts that this is great I mean it's like it's like a foreign country that that is like you will know you're speaking a different language those people exist on Thursday yeah 27th I will go into Whole Foods on my way back from work and I will buy some stuff some stuff right yeah I'll have some of them bars you know like some of them and it's quite like buy these bars are quite expensive usually so I don't tend to you know use them and also they're full of sugar and you don't try not to eat sugar except when I'm really needed like that so it's a a treat be a spend up you know and I'll just I'll just do that and then I'll you know but you have got your mandatory kit sorted haven't you please tell me you've got there is it but can I tell you but I know that there's a kid there is a kid like yes no I have to know that there's I know I know there's a kid this and I know I have to organize myself with that but I haven't yet well it's 10 days to go exactly exactly still yeah okay I think we'll leave it there thank you so much fastest listen if the thing is people will be watching this yeah well if you've already DNF'd they'll be laughing their heads off but if you get to the end sub 30 we will all be very proud of you here's the thing here's the thing if I have and I may well have already DNF'd right absolutely it's not because two weeks away I haven't worked out where my mandatory kit what I think you know what it's because something's happened yes and I would say if you're watching this night and I've DNF'd I probably had a fall or something like that myself and I can't continue that's that's and that's absolutely I totally understand that that could happen yeah and that could happen to anyone even the most organized yes it's that's nothing to do with my lack of preparation and my lack of preparation is not it's not that I just I'll just turn up and see what happens it's just I do I have a slightly sort of slap that year sort of aura about me when I'm gonna do not to life which I again I quite like about myself and you know it's not that it won't you know I will turn up at the start I'm with every single bit of kit that I need yeah but I just won't turn up two months out with every single bit of kit that I need so I hope people don't think I'm being disrespectful because I'm absolutely not I I have the honest respect for anyone who's finished the race for the people who put on the race and I'm absolutely thrilled and honored to be trying to to join the ranks finishers it's just I don't do you know belt and braces preparation I will just I will do what I need to do but I will do it no and that I think in all seriousness there are there are people like you and me and I'm very similar to you in there you know I'm often very last-minute and and I have I feel I have that kind of look how bad can it be it's you know it's England on the coast just have a run and enjoy it whereas some other people will be completely opposite and they're all fine it isn't disrespectful to the race it's just it's born again like I said out of that kind of a self-confidence that I think you have yeah well it's not in a negative way the last minute is still a minute I mean it's still it's not it's not it's not like you know it's not it's you know if you do it the Greeks they used to have a joke right when they were coming up to the no one said that the Greeks would have the Olympics ready for 2004 right and then this sort of this joke going round Athens at the time was like one builder to another you know when when do we have to get this stadium finished and they went like summer and they were no when like August August the the fifth August the fifth and that's me you know it'll be done brilliant well this night I hope you're having a great time out there right now thank you I hope I am too yeah good luck thanks battles cheers and there we are thank you very much for watching we'll see you again for another film I run next time take care bye bye