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Simon Blair
143 Plays5 days ago
Simon Blair turned to ultra running as a way to manage his mind, find focus, and push past limits he once thought defined him. Diagnosed with ADHD later in life, Simon shares how endurance sport, including the Marathon des Sables, became more than just a physical test for him.
Listen to Michelle and Simon discuss:
Living with ADHD and receiving a diagnosis as an adult.
Using ultra running to manage focus, emotions & resilience.
Behind the scenes of Beyond Limits, his new documentary.
Why we need more awareness, earlier diagnosis, and real conversation.
Follow Simon on Instagram
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Simon Blair and his journey
00:00:00
UKRunChat
Hello, welcome to this episode of the UK Run Chat podcast. Today, we're joined by ultra runner Simon Blair, who's the subject of a powerful new documentary, Beyond Limits into the ADHD Mind Rising Above Failure.
00:00:11
Simon Blair
Hello?
00:00:15
UKRunChat
In this episode, we're going to chat to Simon about how his diagnosis of ADHD later in life reframed everything for him and how ultra running, including his recent experience of tackling the brutal Marathon des Sables is a tool not just for physical achievement, but for mental focus and self understanding.
00:00:35
UKRunChat
Hi, Simon. Thank you so much for joining us on the podcast today.
00:00:39
Simon Blair
and
00:00:39
UKRunChat
would you you Would you like to introduce yourself and your story to us for those who haven't seen this
Simon's ADHD diagnosis and its impact
00:00:45
UKRunChat
documentary yet?
00:00:45
Simon Blair
Yes, so my name is Simon Blair um and about three years ago um i decided to run the Marathon de Sable and before that I'd run you know maybe half a dozen long multi-stage ultras which I loved and at the same time as I began that journey i was um I'd started another journey with therapy, um and through therapy it was unbelievably useful um um on a number of levels which we might go into, um but it but it ultimately led to me getting a diagnosis for ADHD, which was an incredible thing to also go through um because it kind of gave me some answers and
00:01:31
Simon Blair
solutions to to things that had gone on in the past. um But then when I went to do the Marathon de Sable, it was a remarkable experience in mostly bad ways.
00:01:43
Simon Blair
um And I didn't succeed in that race. And it was the the first time that that had ever happened. um You know, I i've then had to face some really difficult situations um to try and come to terms with why I hadn't managed to succeed. and it was And it was many things to do with my own emotional state, the heat.
00:02:03
Simon Blair
um There was an illness that went around the camp and it was just a whole array of things that had gone wrong. um And then stripped back my running and then built it back up over over a couple of years. And I can talk about that. um but But ultimately, in the end, led to two things. One was I did the marathon Sava again.
00:02:23
Simon Blair
um and this time with success. um But we decided, and I say we, because there were a number of people who who kind of joined in on the planning and the and the delivery of the journey, we decided to film a documentary about what it might look like with somebody like, with ADHD, with that type of neurodiversity, to go back and and try and challenge themselves to do something that was there was initially ah a failure, was something that wasn't a success.
The making of Beyond Limits documentary
00:02:50
Simon Blair
So I had a camera with me all the time for a number of months ah beforehand. And then as we went there, you know, i had ah my own little camera crew, um which was which was amazing.
00:03:02
Simon Blair
um So, you know, with drones and, you know, cameras in my face. And it was minor celebrityism the desert. and then And then we delivered the film about a year later, um which is called Beyond Limits.
00:03:16
Simon Blair
um And it's been a great success. um We've won some awards and and it's actually only just been streamed um at the moment on Amazon Prime um a year later because it's taken that long for it to kind of go through the system of getting awards and what have you. So it's a year old, um but still very relevant with ADHD being such a ah big subject.
00:03:39
UKRunChat
Yeah, it's it's a great film.
00:03:40
Simon Blair
Excellent.
00:03:40
UKRunChat
I watched it last night, actually.
00:03:41
Simon Blair
Yeah.
00:03:42
UKRunChat
And there's there's a lot of insight in there. And it helped me understand, certainly, but you know, I didn't really understand how a ADHD affected people very differently.
00:03:52
UKRunChat
and so yeah, it was really interesting for me. and Can you kind of take us back to the moment when you received your ADHD diagnosis? How did it change your understanding of yourself?
00:04:04
UKRunChat
Because it it was recent, wasn't it?
00:04:05
Simon Blair
yeah I mean, well, yeah, it was quite recent. It was only it was only about three, um four years, three years ago. It wasn't that long ago. And, um you know, when i I was having this therapy and I was basically I ran with somebody called a very good friend of mine called David Mooring.
00:04:24
Simon Blair
um And he introduced me to his wife, who's called Judith Mooring, who's an incredible um yeah know psychotherapist. And she has developed into being a very well-recognized ADHD um professional.
00:04:39
Simon Blair
And and i was just catching up with her because we did some stuff with with ah with my business. I've got a few businesses and she was doing a bit of work with that. And we were just recapping and she just dropped and said, well, you know, yeah you um you're obviously aware you've got ADHD. And my therapist said the same thing.
00:04:54
Simon Blair
and And I was, I just said, and it kind of, I think I think i knew, i think I did know, but I had never really considered it properly. And then we started chatting about,
00:05:05
Simon Blair
maybe getting a test and you know Judith could do that. And and i just but like, ADHD, one of the things is it's quite impulsive. So i was and I didn't even really think about it and just said yes, um paid some money to do it and went through it.
00:05:19
Simon Blair
And you know this what came out ah in terms of the results were pretty, um you know they were pretty clear. I ticked every box and and again, it wasn't surprising, but but there was a sense of relief, actually.
00:05:32
Simon Blair
um It was quite an you know it's quite an enlightening, cathartic moment in some ways, because once you start to understand that that's a real thing, you know i and i also um acknowledge labels, you know and perhaps we do over label things, but but this was something for me, it wasn't for it wasn't for everybody else to recognize, it was something for me personally.
Understanding ADHD through Simon's experiences
00:05:55
Simon Blair
And it kind of, once you start scratching the surface, you start to see that there are things linking up to your past, which have caused you real problems and in some respects trauma. and you now have a, you've got something that you can at least kind of connect it to. And it's just nice to have answers that you weren't just disruptive or, you know, rude or,
00:06:18
Simon Blair
you know, some of the some of the things that perhaps I got involved with when I was younger that were on the more troublesome side. ah You know, they they yeah they though it's it's just nice to know that it's just not because you're ah you're a bad guy or you're you're an awful child growing up. You know, there was other reasons.
00:06:38
UKRunChat
Yeah, it's nice to have that diagnosis to kind of explain things, isn't it? um
00:06:42
Simon Blair
I think so. And the more you chat to people about it um look i'm I'm not saying that you can blame, i don't think you can blame ADHD for everything, right? You know, sometimes you make bad decisions.
00:06:55
Simon Blair
You know I've made plenty of those, but, and and i've I think there are just naughty children and people who aren't quite wired correctly in in a different
Ultra running as a tool for mental clarity
00:07:04
Simon Blair
way. But for me, um ah it gave a sense of peace.
00:07:08
Simon Blair
um that when you align it with what i personally get from running, um you know, I was a team sports player um up until my early th thirty s You know, I played cricket and rugby.
00:07:23
Simon Blair
religiously, you know, and some of the things about that were about more about how I would try and exhaust myself playing those sports because it meant that I was tired both mentally and physically.
00:07:34
Simon Blair
Did I really play them with a desire to be the best at those sports? I don't know. um Maybe at some loose level, but I think looking back, what I what i now understand through ultra running is that what I love is feeling tired and I like feeling like I've left nothing. There's nothing left, you know, and that gives me clarity of thinking.
00:08:00
Simon Blair
and It pushes me to go further and, you know, push my body and my mind further. But running, you know, is is incredible because it's just like, you know, for ultra running, you get to go and spend all this time in natural places, very much in solitude most of the time.
00:08:18
Simon Blair
You know, it's like a holiday for your brain for me.
00:08:20
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:08:20
Simon Blair
um And when I come back from these races, you know, I don't know, there's like a, I don't know, all the difficult decisions seem easier, all of the all of the com all of the things that caused me trouble, um perhaps before I went on a race, um now seem very straightforward. And, you know, even stretching to life issues, you know, stuff to do with upbringing and things that I might be struggling with, with my my relationships with my family.
00:08:46
Simon Blair
you know um it really it really is a a form of therapy and that and that's what i found amazingly interesting when we were making Beyond beyond Limits because it was It was created originally as a film to a selfish film about me running because I wanted to make one, right? That's what it was. And then it turned into something much, much more meaningful um as a self-study, but also hopefully with a view to helping young people in the future understand their own neurodiversity and seeing that actually not succeeding in things is okay and actually having your own version of something, in this case, ADHD is...
Promoting neurodiversity through Beyond Limits
00:09:24
Simon Blair
is also fine. but And and it's and it's we want people to talk about that. you know And hopefully that will stop kids falling into depression and and maybe killing themselves you know in future you know we we just want to the The whole objective is to try and stop young people, male and female, developing issues in the future that mean they might um take their own lives.
00:09:46
Simon Blair
And if we can start the dialogue moving through running and just discussion, That's um that's his success, you know?
00:09:54
UKRunChat
Yeah, absolutely. Running is a great tool for it, isn't it? So the idea of the film then, was that because because you mentioned you'd kind of not completed and the MDS the first time you tried?
00:09:58
Simon Blair
Yeah.
00:10:06
Simon Blair
Yeah.
00:10:07
UKRunChat
Were you kind of aiming to take this film crew out to kind of prove that you could do it now with this new diagnosis and
00:10:14
Simon Blair
Honestly, that this is a perfect example of how sometimes things happen with ADHD for me. met Ryan, who we filmed it with. um so ryan ah who who we filmed it wave Yeah, he filmed it, he edited it. i mean, he was a one-man camera magician. you know he did everything. you know He's extremely inspirational guy.
00:10:37
Simon Blair
And I'd met him before um on a number of other races where he was filming, um just running you know elements for those races that go out as as content following those races being finished.
00:10:51
Simon Blair
So we kind of, we'd been together. I met him in Peru, the first race I ever did, running through the Amazon jungle. um We got on brilliantly, first of all. um And then I met him again in Kenya.
00:11:01
Simon Blair
And we we just kept on coming across each other and spent more time with each other. So when I came back from MDS, he'd he'd already been doing some work for one of my companies and we were running events um and we just got chatting. And he hes he's quite... um he Ryan's quite different in some ways because he's an extremely kind and nice guy, very driven in his own way. But when he's filming, he's got all these quite quirky ways of filming. that He's got this little hoverboard that we would hire a golf course out and he'd just be hovering around on this hoverboard filming everybody. was quite...
00:11:34
Simon Blair
quite quite ah imaginative. um But we we just got chatting about about what this might mean for me to not complete the race. And we and I started telling him about my ADHD diagnosis.
00:11:47
Simon Blair
and he he And I just said, look, i how do you feel about This is how it went, literally, in and this time span. well, how would you feel about coming out to Morocco with me and filming this?
00:11:58
Simon Blair
And he was like, well, why? And I said, well, because I think it would be really, it would be amazingly fun. It'd be a real kick-ass experience. But it would also be, ah may it'd be really interesting to see how I deal with this from a neurodiversity perspective.
00:12:12
Simon Blair
He went, that's a great idea. Let's do it. And within honestly, within hours, we'd contact Marathon de Sable. Within days, we'd book the flights. And it was a bit of a faff to get um certain things in place.
00:12:25
Simon Blair
but But the commitment to do it as a project was, I mean, minutes, really. um And that's been the story of kind of like my life with work um and everything that I ever do. You know, if you said to me now, have you seen this race over here? That looks amazing in outer Mongolia.
00:12:41
Simon Blair
and i and i And I resonated with it. I'd book it now, you know, and no and and much to the detriment of my family, because we're
00:12:45
UKRunChat
Right, yeah.
00:12:50
Simon Blair
one, I try and be a bit more considerate about that type of thing these days, but I'm i'm aware that perhaps i I can come across as a bit selfish about my decisions.
00:13:01
Simon Blair
So I'm trying to be better like that. But yeah, you get that you get the idea.
00:13:04
UKRunChat
Yeah. its Did you feel kind of extra pressure on you to kind of finish this race this time with with
Challenges faced during Marathon des Sables
00:13:12
UKRunChat
the film crew there? That must have been quite quite unusual.
00:13:14
Simon Blair
No, no. To be honest with you, if anything, it was better. Look, I think it's important to understand what what happened in the first race.
00:13:22
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:13:23
Simon Blair
yeah we we You know, I went there... probably went there feeling overconfident because I'd i'd already run a few desert races. You know, I was i was starting, i I think I'd become a bit complacent about my preparation is the is one of the problems.
00:13:40
Simon Blair
Both, I think I was probably fit enough, but I think my prep in terms of like the stuff I was taking, the things I was wearing, just just things that you you learn to become really tight um around.
00:13:52
Simon Blair
but that But the biggest issues were much more to do with, um I think, the weather. I think it was the hottest year that they'd ever had. so the so the So the temperature was in the mid-50s. I mean, it was extraordinary. I didn't know that it could ever get that hot.
00:14:10
Simon Blair
You know, when I'd done a Namibian desert race not long before, a few years before, and I think it got to 50 once, you know, and that was in the middle of a sand dune where the heat's bouncing off the the sand.
00:14:21
Simon Blair
this This place was ludicrously hot. it was it felt and It looked like Mars. It felt like Mars. it was just And I ran the first 30 metres, and I immediately remember thinking, I can't run in this.
00:14:36
Simon Blair
this is this is This is impossible. I'd never had that before. I love running the heat. and so based So the next three days were a mixture of collapsing, um feeling fairly terrified about getting from...
00:14:51
Simon Blair
spot A to that tree and just picking places where you could just go and hide under cover for a bit. You know, and and and it was it was a war zone. Like there were just people all over the place just hiding under trees or tiny little bits of shrubbery.
00:15:05
Simon Blair
And every time you went to a somewhere to pick to fill up your water, which is normally quite a nice experience, you know, because you've reached ah you know an objective, there were people on drips everywhere. There were people just littered around.
00:15:18
Simon Blair
just very unwell. um And then you sprinkle in a little bit of food poisoning, which went round. Unfortunately, races like this, it spreads around very quickly, um so which I got as well. so So you couldn't then get anything into your body that would stay there. It would just go in one end and out the other.
00:15:37
Simon Blair
And um by the end of it, I think what the reality is that There was a guy who who I was running next to who died on a sand dune um called Pierre.
00:15:49
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:15:51
Simon Blair
And he, i think that was that was probably the nail, pardon the language, but that was probably the nail in my coffin on the race because You know, I mean, by that point, watching a guy, you know, go through what he went through, um you know, he just kept collapsing. And then lots of people were kind of coming up to him to try and help. um There were a lot of doctors do the marathon, so it didn't take long. But we were in the middle of a, you know, essentially a sand mountain. And you you press a button and somebody, the helicopter comes to pick him up.
00:16:27
Simon Blair
You know, he he died um and i carried on running the next day. And I think that all of that just kind of mixing together just created this kind of cocktail of of chaos, which ultimately ended in me going, look, I i don't think this is a good idea.
00:16:44
UKRunChat
Yeah. yeah
00:16:45
Simon Blair
You know, i was in ah i was and I was pretty mentally and physically beaten up and I'd never felt that sense of wanting to stop or... I just was defeated by it. I just didn't want to be there, really.
00:16:59
Simon Blair
And I knew a guy in my tent who I went to university with, um Joe... you know we i told him I told him that I wasn't going to carry on and like we he he was quite emotional, which made me quite emotional. and and then But the minute I stopped and I actually left that tent, I was ah felt a sense of great relief.
00:17:18
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:17:19
Simon Blair
I didn't want to be there. and then and and then when i And then when I went back, um having a camera having having Ryan with me, in many ways was like a mental diversion because it was really fun. I mean, like it it really was. I really took to it, like constantly doing interviews. You know, I'm really comfortable in front of the camera.
00:17:38
Simon Blair
I just got into the process and I love the kudos of it, really. You running around talking to people about their own experience. I mean, it was the most fun ever, but you know, because everybody's, unlike my first time there,
00:17:49
Simon Blair
The second time there, everybody was in the greatest spirits. right You go out to people and try and listen to their story, and they just wanted to... mean, it's the wonderful thing about ultrarunning. When you get them in this place where there's nothing ah polluting their minds of life with work or...
00:17:59
UKRunChat
um
00:18:04
Simon Blair
You know, think you know this... you are what you are when you go on one of these races so you go out to people and ask them about their life and why they're there there many many sad stories but there's loads of amazingly enlightening most of them are really enlightened stories about trying to do it if somebody died or they're doing it because they've always had a passion for it you know some people have saved up for 10 years to do it you know and they and they can't wait to tell you so i mean what wasn't there to what wasn't there to love you know about that
00:18:29
UKRunChat
you yeah And you managed to speak to lots of people who also had ADHD,
Impact of the documentary on the ADHD community
00:18:34
UKRunChat
didn't you, as well? who Yeah.
00:18:35
Simon Blair
right Ryan was like a truffling pig. So he was really good at kind of like digging up people and speak. So when I was running, he would go up and speak to all these people.
00:18:46
Simon Blair
and he And he, yeah, yeah no, there were loads. And i um I think, you know, what I found, whilst we were filming it since is that, this is like any film, it's not for everybody, right? you know not i think I think if people want a deep dive into the science of ADHD and neurodiversity, this is not the film.
00:19:06
Simon Blair
If they want to see a film about ultra running, you know, and the Marathon Sabler and what it's like to do a race like that, absolutely. If they want to see a film that is about looking at ADHD and neurodiversity a bit closer, definitely yes. Absolutely.
00:19:20
Simon Blair
But, you know, these people, once you get speaking to them, people open up They want to talk about it. you know it's it's they just They just haven't had a platform that's been a bit bit more accessible to do so.
00:19:33
Simon Blair
and And since then, you know I've probably had, don't maybe 50, 60 people have reached out independently who I either know or haven I've never met before who have just asked for some time just to talk about a son or a brother or a sister or just to something that has resonated in in a way. And um I think you know if it's stopped there,
00:19:54
Simon Blair
and nobody ever had an interaction again as a result of it, that'd be fine. i think I think it's already done some good and i hope it carries on to do that, you know.
00:20:03
UKRunChat
Yeah, that's brilliant. So people are actually reaching out, having watched the film and saying, what what can we do next?
00:20:08
Simon Blair
Well, mean, even even the even the content of the film, like as we were leading up to it, like people were were reaching out.
00:20:08
UKRunChat
Or,
00:20:15
Simon Blair
i i Even only this last week, I went and had some breakfast with somebody who was talking about their their son. um You know, and I think the correlation between...
00:20:27
Simon Blair
You know, neurodiversity children, particularly who are trying to find out, figure themselves out, you know, and they're confused and and frustrated about some of the things that they can't do.
00:20:39
Simon Blair
Like learning is a real problem for people, young people with ADHD and and young late like young girls really have a have a difficult time with ADHD because it's much less obvious with young girls.
00:20:52
Simon Blair
You know, young boys are just like, you know, they're like Tasmanian devils, like my son, you know, he he just whizzes around. He's like I was. and So you can see know, it's very visible. With girls, it's it's a lot it's not really like that. you know it it develops later. And I think because girls tend to be academically much brighter than boys when they're young, I think that they they almost get missed. you know and then And before you know it, it's manifested itself into something a bit you know just a bit less pleasant down the line. And and you know it's just been allowed to to to germinate into something that's harder to unpick.
00:21:32
Simon Blair
you know So i so i I think the people who reached out to me have largely been people who just want to talk about it, just to understand a little bit more about what it is that they're looking for.
00:21:40
UKRunChat
Thank you.
00:21:42
Simon Blair
more often than not, i i it seems that they don't go and get tested or maybe it's like anything you kind of start on this journey that goes one step closer perhaps by speaking somebody like me but but generally the feedback you know as the film has come out has been has been good um yeah it's been it's been really positive i and we were talking about making making a shorter version of it maybe to go to um to maybe introduce to schools um and to other places of learning um and and that I hope is something that we can push on to the next stage you know dedicating my time and other people who I'm starting to put together as kind of a more more generous team around the subject I hope that we can spend more time doing things like this going to schools going to places of work you know just trying to raise awareness about like
00:22:34
Simon Blair
the right way to deal with people with new neurodiversity, how to get the best out of them, not for it not to be a problem, for it to be ah a positive thing, not a negative one.
00:22:44
UKRunChat
Yeah, I think that's key, isn't it? When we talk about neurodiversity now, i think it's important that we do it positively because it's not like you have a condition that hampers you in any way. You're just your your brain just works differently.
00:22:56
Simon Blair
yeah
00:22:56
UKRunChat
How, you know, obviously do how much do we need to change in how we're talking about ADHD? What can we do to
00:23:05
Simon Blair
Well, I mean, I think um unfortunately, in many ways, I think the the raising of awareness so or or the chatter around ADHD has actually in some ways made it worse in the short term, actually.
00:23:13
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:23:15
Simon Blair
um You know, i think I think in the old days, children, for example, would have, what would you would perceive as naughty children would just be dragged through the system. You know, they might not have the most pleasant time.
00:23:26
Simon Blair
but they would but they would be pulled through and they and one way or another they theyd get you know they they get out the other end. and um Unfortunately, I think the, I'm not saying this is true for everybody, but I think generally teachers don't have ability the ability to um to discipline in a way that's useful to all children, um you know either through through language in particular. like we we we' very We seem to have taken a lot of those abilities away from people in the education sector.
00:23:55
Simon Blair
um So thats that means that ah you know they they don't really know what they can do to children who who have got neurodiversity. and it And it seems that young people, are ah they the schools would rather them not be part of the school.
00:24:10
Simon Blair
Now, look, I'm sure that anybody hearing this who who who makes these types of high-end decisions would reel from that and say that that isn't true. But it 100% is true. That is what's going on. So there's real...
00:24:23
Simon Blair
you know so that's there's a real value to further education and finding a methodology to help teachers understand what they can do to help kids that isn't um isn't fearful about using discipline as a tool, you know, and all sorts of other things like, you know, allowing children to go out of the room and having help but um you know let them do their press-ups but they've got they've got to they're there to learn right they're there to and and they can contribute but we have to understand what what you can and can't do and then and then perhaps even even more worrying is the workplace you know where everybody's talking about it but is anything really happening to help i don't think so i mean maybe some businesses and and we're my the companies that i i'm a part of and i own
00:25:06
Simon Blair
um you know we're going to start rolling out things there that are trying to encourage neurodiversity understanding you know we were talking about um you know pods that have got white noise um you know getting widgets and poppers and things and just giving people an option to have things to fiddle around with you know we've got bean bags all over the place i mean i'm not saying that it's supposed to be like a playground but at the end of the day what constitutes focus and
00:25:14
UKRunChat
Thank you.
00:25:31
Simon Blair
somewhere where you can be creative um and successful doesn't have to be a silent boardroom with white walls. You know, you can get the best out of people where they, when they're comfortable and they feel relaxed and that, and and that doesn't mean, you know, so we just, I just think that there's, I think where, where I sit with that is that if we can dedicate some time to, to raising awareness and and hopefully, you know, if we can push it far enough, work with people,
00:25:44
UKRunChat
Yeah, I will.
00:25:58
Simon Blair
you know, the government or quangos that exist or the charities in the ADHD sector to to try and help things in the future. That'd be a very good thing.
00:26:07
UKRunChat
Yeah, hopefully we we can start with raising some awareness here.
00:26:09
Simon Blair
Yeah, 100%. Yeah.
00:26:10
UKRunChat
and Yeah.
Advice for those suspecting ADHD
00:26:11
UKRunChat
I mean, if if someone listening out there suspects they or someone they know has ADHD, what would you say to them was the first place to start really?
00:26:13
Simon Blair
Hmm.
00:26:20
Simon Blair
i mean I think that it depends if it's a problem for them or not. um And there's a number of angles, really. I mean, if somebody's having some struggles as a result of something that that probably stems from ADHD or neurodiversity, i think I think opening up to people who have got it or have gone through that journey is probably a really good thing to do.
00:26:41
Simon Blair
um one of the One of the consistent things that I think is is not a necessarily a good thing is that in particular parents who who are who are undoubtedly brilliant parents, but perhaps who don't have neurodiversity, trying to connect with a child who does.
00:26:56
UKRunChat
Thank you.
00:26:56
Simon Blair
um not that That doesn't take anything away from them being a good parent, but there's no way that they could quite understand what the right thing to do might be. you know And I think talking for young people is key, you know and not suffering in silence.
00:27:10
Simon Blair
So talking about it and and really getting an understanding about what what it means to them is step one. Step two is, look, the NHS has got issues with waiting times, as we know, but if someone is lucky enough to have the money to get a professional to speak to, I'm massive advocate of that.
00:27:27
Simon Blair
I think that speaking to somebody and investing a small amount of money to allow the chance to really understand what the options are. not and And from that point, you don't necessarily have to go and take advantage of those options, but at least you know.
00:27:40
Simon Blair
um But guessing and Googling and all of that stuff, I mean, that's not the right way. um But yeah, my my my view is talking is step one.
00:27:51
UKRunChat
Yeah, that's key. I think you made you made an interesting comment in and the film, actually, that because you mentioned earlier, you go and run, you do the ultra running to be on your own.
00:27:53
Simon Blair
Yeah.
00:28:02
UKRunChat
And yet the kind of the camp at MDS was so you described it as being so chaotic and so loud.
00:28:03
Simon Blair
Yeah.
00:28:09
Simon Blair
if
00:28:09
UKRunChat
And that's been quite challenging for you to deal with.
00:28:10
Simon Blair
Yeah. ah Yeah, it's interesting you ask that because we covered this off earlier um before this before this interview. um i think my view is that the MDS is an incredible race um and it represents many of the things about ultra running that people are attracted to.
00:28:33
Simon Blair
um It's not the natural race that I would gravitate to normally, and I'm no different. I wanted to tick it off. um The first time I went there, I mean, it is intimidating for somebody who's not used to that.
00:28:44
Simon Blair
but you But they duplicate that by, you know, you have your tents where you've got nine or ten people that you share that journey with over over the five or six days that you're there. So you are siloed, right, actually.
00:28:55
Simon Blair
So although you're in quite a big community and you and you you but you kind of like move around in your tribe of a tent, you know what I mean? Like everything you do is collectively together.
00:29:03
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:29:04
Simon Blair
So and and of course, I had the added element on my second visit there that I had Ryan. Um, you Ryan and I lived in this peculiar, quite comforting bubble, you know which meant that where my brain might move around chaotically all over the place, Ryan, uh, and the film and the constant nudge of interviewing and speaking to people and exploring, you know, it kept me occupied. You know, I, I, I, my first experience and my second experience were extremely different.
00:29:38
Simon Blair
You know, would I go back to do MDS again?
00:29:42
UKRunChat
and
00:29:42
Simon Blair
I'm not the of person who generally does races more than once. And there's there's one in Kenya, which I've done twice. And I would do that race every year for the rest of my life because it's just incredible. um And it represents everything that I love about ultra running and nature. and um But MDS, my second experience there means that I'll do more desert races.
00:30:03
Simon Blair
That's what I would say.
00:30:04
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:30:05
Simon Blair
um and i'm And I'm really pleased that I did it and I had the best time the second time.
Simon's growth and future plans
00:30:10
Simon Blair
First time, Let's look at it as a learning experience.
00:30:13
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:30:13
Simon Blair
Yeah,
00:30:14
UKRunChat
yeah um And it's it's good. we you know We all learn from our from our running, don't we?
00:30:18
Simon Blair
yeah completely, yeah. I mean, I'm a much better athlete, if you if you want to refer to it like that, and I'm a much more organised and respectful runner of of of the sport as a result of my experience in and doing the marathon to savour the first time.
00:30:34
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:30:34
Simon Blair
it It was a real example of having to... I was taught lessons by the desert, by the race, by my own ah lack of preparation.
00:30:46
Simon Blair
you know um i am 10 times the that the kind of competitor of those events now than I ever was before that. so So in a weird way, I'm extremely grateful for the learning that came as a result of it.
00:31:01
Simon Blair
I'm glad it's done.
00:31:03
UKRunChat
yeah
00:31:05
Simon Blair
But but i am i feel like i I feel like I've matured that enormously as a result of it. And it led to me making the film. you know i can't
00:31:13
UKRunChat
yeah
00:31:14
Simon Blair
can't, I mean, what can you say? From from the from the the worst situation that I could have been in physically has come some things which are just unbelievably giving.
00:31:25
Simon Blair
um and and they and they have and they can And it's going to have impact on me now and probably for the rest of my life. So what's there not to but so not to be grateful for about that?
00:31:34
UKRunChat
yeah and And not giving too much away about the film.
00:31:35
Simon Blair
you know
00:31:37
UKRunChat
i Obviously, you you completed it this time. Do you think that's the result of having been there before and learned all those lessons?
00:31:40
Simon Blair
Yeah. Oh, 100%.
00:31:44
UKRunChat
Or do you think it's to do with having this diagnosis as well as as that helps you kind of understand yourself a bit more?
00:31:45
Simon Blair
update
00:31:50
Simon Blair
Yeah, I mean i look, when i when i when it didn't go well the first time, it it took quite a lot of build-up. You know, to um i had to so i had to break myself back again and rebuild myself, right?
00:32:04
Simon Blair
um And actually, I mentioned the race in Kenya. I went back to Kenya.
00:32:06
UKRunChat
Okay.
00:32:07
Simon Blair
So I'd already done Kenya once. and And the only race that I could think of that I wanted to do was to go back there and do a five-day multi-stage race there. And it's in the middle of, like, you go in between different parks. It's run by Beyond the Ultimate.
00:32:21
Simon Blair
Chris King, incredible human being. um And he, and, and it kind of, it was, it was, it was like, it was a bit like running therapy really to get me back on track, you know?
00:32:33
Simon Blair
time I, by the time i um ah the time i had come back from that i was i was I was getting better and I felt by the time I got back to do Marathon de Sable the second time i was ready to go right i was ready you know um mean I had had a load of things that I needed to deal with to do mainly to do with sand dunes which is where where Pierre passed away and i that really was an accomplishment to face up to that you know but But once I'd got myself in a place where I'd i'd attacked my first sand dune, and and it was like lots of things like that.
00:33:07
Simon Blair
You kind of get on it. and I was like, well, and it wasn't anywhere near as hot, right? So I wasn't i want it being peppered all over the place by by you know nature.
00:33:11
UKRunChat
yeah
00:33:15
Simon Blair
um By the time I got over the mountain of of sand, i was um I just got stronger and stronger. you know And that was... you know um the journey by the end of the Marathon de Sabler I felt like ah I wanted to do this like I felt before right I felt great um so yeah well I've got um good question I've got um I am booked to do there's a plan for next year um which is forming
00:33:35
UKRunChat
Brilliant. So what's next for you then?
00:33:48
Simon Blair
I hope it will result in another film. um But step one is Arctic Sweden January. So another multistage ultra, um which ironically, after I did Marathon Sabla, I went and did that two or three months later, which also didn't go very well. So i went from doing I went from doing loads of races and it being quite easy. And I just went from Marathon to Sabla.
00:34:13
Simon Blair
i where it was 55 degrees to the Arctic, whereas mine is 30. That's another story. But we...
00:34:19
UKRunChat
Yeah, for contrast, wow.
00:34:20
Simon Blair
Yeah, well, yeah. And and I've got so i've got to i got to go and tackle that. But um before that, um there might be another desert race in October that I might sign up to. I've got a choice of going to Jordan or maybe to the Grand to Grand, which is through the Grand Canyon, um and then a few UK races. So I've got a load of things. But but next year is the one. i if If I can find the...
00:34:43
Simon Blair
time and my my family are forgiving of it and my work colleagues will allow it. I'll hopefully do ah five or six um ultras next year um in different environments, but we'll have to see whether I can pull it off next year or the year after, but I hope next year.
00:34:59
Simon Blair
But I think i think I think to go and keep challenging myself is part of my own emotional journey. You know, i'm I'm a much better, happier person when I've got these things planned and I'm kind of emotional mentally working through life with running objectives in front of me.
00:35:20
UKRunChat
Yeah, brilliant. ah Are there any last words you'd like to leave our listeners on the podcast with about ADHD or ultra running
Encouraging support for neurodiversity
00:35:28
UKRunChat
or...
00:35:28
Simon Blair
Look, i I just think ADHD and neurodiversity are as amazing and but beautiful as any other um and ah mental orientation. um You know, I think everybody's got something, probably.
00:35:42
Simon Blair
um I think if people, if you see somebody wanting... or you feel that they want to talk about things, please don't don't leave it. don't Don't ignore that. Give them the time. you know We all know people who have killed themselves um and we regret not going to them and asking them if they're okay or what they might want to talk about.
00:36:04
Simon Blair
um I think you know we're we're really lucky in the running community that it's something that we all connect with. um don't Don't leave it till tomorrow. Ask today. you know And if if anybody's watching this who's got people that they're worried about, um ask them now. you know And you just never know. If it makes a difference, then it was worth asking a pretty simple question.
00:36:24
Simon Blair
But neurodiversity a beautiful thing. So is nature. Running is our our entry into both of those things, connecting.
00:36:31
UKRunChat
Yeah, oh that is a perfect place to finish. Thank you so much, Simon, for joining us and sharing insight into your journey with ADHD and ultra running.
00:36:36
Simon Blair
Yeah.
00:36:40
UKRunChat
and So the the documentary Beyond Limits is streaming now. Is that? That's on Amazon Prime anyway?
00:36:45
Simon Blair
That's true. On Amazon Prime, um yeah, we we picked we got picked up by Film Hub as a distributor. So it's on Amazon Prime. um And if you I think if you if you type in ADHD, it will come up.
00:36:58
Simon Blair
i'm um I don't think it comes up if you if you push in Beyond Limits, which is irritating. But ADHD, it'll come up. um Please watch it. Leave positive reviews. um They really do mean something, and they they they will allow it to go to a ah larger audience.
00:37:13
UKRunChat
Yeah, oh, thank you. Well, I hope you can continue to spread to spread the word and and raise awareness. If this conversation has resonated with you listening, please consider sharing the episode as well and leave us a review.
00:37:24
UKRunChat
um It really helps others to find the show. um You can follow Simon's Journey online. We'll put the links in the show notes. And until next time, thank you so much for listening.