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1,000 Miles at 60: Bob Yates on Running the Length of Britain
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In this episode of the UKRunChat Podcast, we chat to Bob Yates, who is nearing the end of a monumental challenge — running the length of Britain from Land's End to John O'Groats to celebrate his 60th birthday.
We hear how Bob went from a treadmill in the bedroom just over 10 years ago when he took up running, to training for ultras and signing up for a 1,000+ mile adventure. He talks about why he fuels his running on a vegan diet, what the journey has taught him, and how he’s raising money for a charity funding life-changing surgery for children in Uganda.
Bob’s fundraising page: www.humanitydirect.org/bob
Follow Bob’s progress: Strava & Instagram feeds on his fundraising page
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Transcript
Introduction to UK Run Chat Podcast
00:00:00
UKRunChat
Welcome to the UK Run Chat podcast, the show where we share the stories, challenges and inspiration behind every runner's
Bob Yates' Birthday Challenge
00:00:07
UKRunChat
journey. I'm Michelle and today we're catching up with Bob Yates, a man who is, as we record, in the middle of running the length of Britain from Land's End to John O'Groats to celebrate his 60th birthday.
Rest Days and Mental Strength
00:00:20
UKRunChat
Hello Bob, thank you so much for joining us today.
00:00:24
bob33
Hi, Michelle. Thanks very much for inviting me on.
00:00:26
UKRunChat
It's really good of you to join us on your rest day. So you are planning some rest days, which is good to hear.
00:00:33
bob33
Absolutely. And because it's um sort of enforced an enforced time to to do very little, this is an appropriate time to to sit down and have a chat.
00:00:44
UKRunChat
Yeah, absolutely. So you're in Fort Augustus at the moment, aren't you? So you're about youre about three weeks into your challenge.
00:00:50
bob33
Yeah, we finished at Fort Augustus yesterday. um So tomorrow morning we will be shipped back there to carry on our our journey.
00:00:59
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:00:59
bob33
So we're just staying in a Premier Inn. Other hotels are available. Where are we at the moment? I lose track because you're moving so, so quickly.
00:01:09
UKRunChat
yeah
00:01:11
bob33
But I think we're in Inverness at the moment.
00:01:14
UKRunChat
Yeah. Okay. So, I mean, how how are you feeling right now before we get into it, like physically, mentally, how's it going?
00:01:21
bob33
um Mentally, I think it's going very well. um i i think um because I've i've done ah quite a few ultras um before, and I think as as most people in the running community um will realise that you know you you you get to spend a lot of time in your own head.
Bob's Running Journey Begins
00:01:39
bob33
um And I think it's you know as a as ah a sort of like mature guy. I've never been into meditation, but of course, I realize that running is a form of meditation. um And so quite comfortable being on my own. And again, when you're running, you only need to be one step slower or one step faster um per minute than somebody else. And within 10 minutes, you're out of earshot. So unless you do decide to stick together, you know, there are there many times when you're on your own.
00:02:08
UKRunChat
Yes, there are. So where did running start from you? We'll we'll get on to kind of this epic challenge in a moment. But how long have you been a runner?
00:02:16
bob33
um So I started running in 2014. It was ah one of those occasions when I realised that I'm getting older. I've got a um desk job, so I was quite sedentary.
00:02:29
bob33
um The kids had pretty well grown up, ah needed me less. and um I was trying to tie my shoelaces one day and I thought there's something getting in the way and that something was a bit of a bulge that I didn't really want to see around my waist. So I thought I better do something to get myself fitter, lose a bit of weight.
00:02:48
bob33
um I've been somebody who's very interested in trying different things and maybe I'll try a a hobby and sort of like three months later i'll I'll move on. But I bought myself a treadmill in the yeah the January sales. That turned up on the 4th of January.
00:03:03
bob33
um And i was using it twice a day for at least a month because in my mind I had to get myself fit enough to be able to go down to the local parkrun.
00:03:13
bob33
Obviously looking back now that was ah um a bit of a mistake because parkrun is so inclusive. um But that's that's
Outdoor Running and Mental Health Benefits
00:03:21
bob33
why I started. um My wife, unfortunately, our ah um treadmill was underneath the bedroom.
00:03:26
bob33
So bless her, she'd wake up to the sounds of pounding feet every morning, which was um you know probably not the best place to put the the treadmill.
00:03:31
UKRunChat
um
00:03:36
bob33
But um ah a friend of hers assured me that I would be onto something else in three months time. um But as I said, that was 2014. And here I am ah doing longer and longer events.
00:03:50
UKRunChat
yeah oh that's fantastic so do you still do a lot of treadmill running or are you mostly outside now
00:03:55
bob33
No, it's it's all outside. I mean, the treadmill is great for hanging your running gear on. Basically, it's id much prefer to be out and about. I mean, I live in the Chilterns, which is ah in the summer, but the most glorious place to run. You've got fantastic hills. So from a fitness point of view, i mean, it's been perfect training for the sort of thing that I'm doing at the moment.
00:04:17
UKRunChat
Yeah, oh that's lovely. so So running kind of gripped you from the off really you instantly found something that you enjoyed.
00:04:24
bob33
Absolutely. And I don't really know. I mean, I still um look at running and I think, you know, is it's almost the answer as to why I run is is ah sort of shrouded in mist. it's I can almost reach it. And I don't know whether other people think this, but it's something that draws me back again and again and again.
00:04:42
bob33
um And I suppose it it gives you so many things. i mean, we've we've just sort of spoken that headspace.
00:04:49
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:04:49
bob33
um So for mental health, it's fantastic. um And again, going back to my lovely wife, Rosanna, she did ask me in the early days, you know, why do you actually run? and i said, that's a really good question. Let me go away and think about it. So within three days, I came back and my answer to her was it makes me a nicer person. And I think really what that means is that it de-stresses me I'm pretty Sort of speaking to to people over the years as well, you know, it seems to be quite a ah common theme that most people find that it de-stresses them and, you know, indeed does make them easier to live with.
00:05:23
UKRunChat
Yeah, i think I think you've hit the the nail on the head there, spot on. I feel similar, actually. does You kind of feel like a coiled spring, don't you, when you have for a run?
00:05:30
bob33
Yes.
00:05:32
UKRunChat
So it just kind of, yeah, it's definitely good for the head. and you So talk us through how the idea came about then to go from Land's End to John O'Groats.
From Marathons to Ultra Challenges
00:05:43
UKRunChat
How do you go from running on your treadmill twice a day and thinking about park run to being at the cusp of an enormous challenge like this one?
00:05:52
bob33
Well, without sounding sort of blasé, I suppose it's um a natural conclusion to the journey that I've been on. But I only realise it's a journey looking back rather than looking forward.
00:06:03
bob33
um And again, i'm I'm sure my experience echoes quite a few people that my first goal was to run a 5K without stopping. So I achieved that, then I moved on to 10Ks, then half a marathon, um or should I say a half marathon.
00:06:19
bob33
um And then, um you know, when i'm I'm comfortable running those, the idea of, well, you know, maybe I've got a marathon in me. um So I managed to get a place with what was then the British Lung Foundation, had a charity place in the 2016 London Marathon, because I thought if I'm going to do one marathon, i want to do London.
00:06:39
bob33
um And, you know, learnt quite a lot on that. didn't quite go how I wanted, but it was a great experience. um Biggest problem that I had there was that i was training over the winter.
00:06:51
bob33
um Obviously lower temperatures on the day of the marathon. i hadn't quite got my yeah running outfit sorted for the temperature. So I was probably wearing things that were um insulating me a little bit too well.
00:07:06
UKRunChat
Thank you.
00:07:07
bob33
um And at mile 13, I got a stitch, which is the first time I've experienced this um with running. And that stitch stayed with me until mile 22. So obviously really hampered my time. It was ah an event that I hadn't trained um anything like as much with other events. I'd really put my heart and soul into to training for this because I thought if I'm doing one marathon, I want to do it really well.
00:07:31
bob33
So I was quite disappointed with the time that I got, but I still finished it and I was still pleased to finish. um And um one of my very generous friends, Andy, um had sponsored me um to do this and I texted him on the the tube on the way home and basically said, you know, I'm i'm bit cheesed off with the time that I've got. um And I didn't feel that great really about my results. And he um texted back and said, well, don't worry, you've now got a PB to beat.
00:08:03
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:08:03
bob33
And actually that was an absolute light bulb moment for me.
00:08:03
UKRunChat
yeah
00:08:06
bob33
So Andy, if you're listening to this, it's your fault that I'm doing this now. And genuinely, that that was the first time I'd thought about what next. um So ah from the what next, you know I was um started to dabble with ultras.
00:08:23
bob33
um I think in 2019, I did my first double ultra race to the stones, did that straight through. And Effectively, it's been a progression of, and again, this is looking back rather than having a plan going forward.
00:08:39
bob33
I've been looking to see how far I can push myself and where my limit is. um Last year, as a little confidence booster to myself, I did the Autumn 100 just to see whether I could.
00:08:50
bob33
you know Again, my yeah my times are are nothing spectacular, but i yeah I managed to finish that within the cutoff. um And, you know, that's all build up to this particular event.
00:09:03
bob33
um And essentially, um assuming that I finish this and ah i did a little calculation last night, I'm at 826 miles ah in four weeks.
00:09:15
bob33
So assuming and I get to my 1,030, which is the the mileage for the total course, you know and I still won't have found my limit.
00:09:24
UKRunChat
a
00:09:24
bob33
um I think i'm I'll probably stop looking, to be quite honest.
00:09:27
UKRunChat
Yeah. Do you think there is one? This always intrigues me because we do keep pushing ourselves further, don't we?
00:09:34
bob33
Yeah, it's, do you know, I think that's a really good question. um And I hadn't considered it in quite so sort of sparse terms. Have we got a limit?
00:09:46
bob33
Yeah. I'm not sure that we have. I think a ah lot of ah think the reason why um a lot of um runners can go further and further is the amount of time that we have in our heads. So you do build up an awful lot of mental strength.
00:10:02
bob33
And I think it's the mental strength which gets you through more than the physical strength because you've always got to deal with injuries. um I mean, they you know we yeah look like a casualty ward some mornings.
00:10:14
bob33
um on this event um but you know people still get sort of um strapped up um and get out and do the run
00:10:23
UKRunChat
yeah so talk to us about this event then so you mentioned we have you got a support team kind of helping to move things for you and help the logistics flow
00:10:35
bob33
Yes, indeed. I mean, um very fortunate that the event that I'm doing is is being run by Rat Race. um And actually, this was something that um I think they first did a test pilot in 2022.
00:10:52
bob33
and Then they started advertising it to the public in 2023 and that's where I saw it. Land's End to John O'Groats is such an iconic distance in my mind. Everybody talks about it in cycling circles.
00:11:04
bob33
um A few people talk about it in walking circles. but it wasn't really much um that I was aware of that that people did it um running. Certainly not people like me.
00:11:17
bob33
um And that's the thing, that it's you know an opportunity for somebody like me who's just like any other guy who likes to rock up to a park run or likes to go into a local ultra.
00:11:29
bob33
um So it's made it incredibly accessible. So all the accommodation, all the food, all the logistics are taken care of. All you've got to do really every morning is get out there on your feet and
Preparation and Family Support
00:11:42
bob33
put one foot in front of the other.
00:11:44
UKRunChat
yeah
00:11:45
bob33
um So going back to, you know, 2023, 2020,
00:11:49
bob33
I saw the um ah the product advertised. i'm I turned 60 in January this year. um And I thought, what a what a ah nice way to mark my 60th year.
00:12:03
bob33
You know, there's life in the old dog yet kind of thing. And um i was I was thinking about this event um for quite some time. And I'd wake up in the morning feeling quite anxious because my subconscious had been... um ah working on it because it seems such a huge undertaking but I'd sort rationalized it by the time I'd gone to bed and thought no actually I can do that and then I'd wake up in the morning feeling anxious again and this was like groundhog day for three weeks um and I remember the one morning that I woke up and I thought no actually I think I might be able to do this so that was sort of one mental hurdle that I'd passed.
00:12:39
bob33
I then started asking um son of some of my yeah running colleagues as to whether they thought I was crazy for even contemplating this. Because i and at the time I was thinking, well, 60 is actually quite ah quite an age to be putting this type of stress on your body.
00:12:54
bob33
And um I was running with a gentleman by the name of John Houston, um who... organizes some events called Play in the Wild, and he'd got an event on in Amersham.
00:13:06
bob33
um And this was just before Christmas. um ah And I'd asked him what he thought, because he's an experienced runner. And he said, well, I haven't really got an opinion on the matter, but do you know Carla Molinaro or do you know of Carla Molinaro?
00:13:22
bob33
Who, for those of of your listeners that don't, she holds the ladies' record record ah for Land's End to John O'Groats and she's done it in something like 12 days and 30 minutes and a few seconds um and I wasn't really that I'd heard the name but I wasn't that familiar with Carla um and I said well that's interesting but why do you ask well she'll be yeah at the pub um after our run and you can have a chat to her about it. So um I was fortunate enough to to chat to Carla as to what she thought.
00:13:54
bob33
And she did ask me how long we'd got to do this. And this is an event um over 31 running days. um And when I told her, she says, oh, goodness, I could walk it in that.
00:14:01
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:14:02
bob33
So then you think, well, maybe it's it's not such such ah the big thing that I think it is.
00:14:05
UKRunChat
yeah
00:14:08
bob33
So um once I'd got it clear in my mind that i I could do it, I then had to try and persuade my lovely wife Rosanna. um who was understandably a bit bit reluctant because not only is it the fact that I'm ah away from home for five weeks, but the amount of training that I would need to do to prepare myself for this meant, you know, that she'd wake up in the morning and I'd already be out.
00:14:31
bob33
um I was away for many weekends um running all the time. So she eventually gave me her blessing. um And hence, I then signed up um sort of three years ago to to come on here.
00:14:43
UKRunChat
Wow, good for you. So it's been a while in the planning then, hasn't it? Yeah.
00:14:46
bob33
It has. It has. and like um ah when you book a holiday, I used to think it'd be great to book a holiday, you know, say two weeks before you go um because you've got a cheap deal. That certainly used to be the case, you know, sort of ah to um but two decades ago, for argument's sake. Obviously, with everything being online now, you you don't quite get the the same advantage.
00:15:11
bob33
But the one thing I realised about if you book a holiday a year in advance is you get a year's worth of anticipation. And that's actually worth something, the pleasure of looking forward to your holiday.
00:15:22
bob33
If you're having a rough day, actually, um I've got a holiday coming up in three months time or whatever. And I think there's a real value to that. And what I realised by booking this so early on is that I would have three years of planned training on all these events that i just had to do.
00:15:38
bob33
um you know, as as as an excuse, um really to to add towards my training so that I was ah fit enough to be able to take this on. So that's been know a real benefit. That worked as I thought it would do. um So three years, lots of events, and I've enjoyed every one, if enjoy is the right word.
00:15:59
UKRunChat
Yeah, and any highlights of events that you've done in the lead up?
00:16:03
bob33
ah There's been many. i mean, I've i've um been on XNRG events. So XNRG are an events company um who tend to work relatively local to where I am. So they'll do, for example, the Amersham Ultra, the Tring Ultra.
00:16:20
bob33
and They've got the Pilgrims Ultra that I've done. They do Druids, which is a three day event um across the the Ridgeway. And So I've been lucky enough to run some of their events and also volunteer for some of their events.
00:16:34
bob33
um And um the those those events are really good, ah particularly the the multi-day events like pilgrims are really good to sort of test you to see whether or not.
00:16:49
bob33
You can do an event one day, get up the next day and do exactly the same thing. um And obviously, although this doesn't answer your question and we will come back to it, XNRG have got a lovely tie in with Humanity Direct, who I
Memorable Races and Community
00:17:03
bob33
was very aware of as as ah a charity through XNRG, but I wasn't really aware of what they did.
00:17:03
UKRunChat
Thank you.
00:17:09
bob33
So we'll come back to that um a little bit later. But to go back to answer your question about some of the standout events, um there's a a couple of milestones one i mentioned was doing the autumn 100 which was a um a really ah good test of mental fortitude um i'm certainly one of the slower runners um but again the love of the running community with the volunteers that you have at the aid stations You know, I just I don't find it anywhere else. Everybody is so nice in the running community.
00:17:45
bob33
um You've got some fantastic aid stations. There was one which i mean, this is an absolute standout moment for me. I think it was on um for those of you that don't know the Autumn 100.
00:17:58
bob33
is a um a sort of like a four stage event. So you start at Goring and you basically do um a 12 and a half mile there, 12 and a half mile back um run, sort of if you like, north, south, east and west.
00:18:15
UKRunChat
Hmm.
00:18:16
bob33
um And so you've got four legs that you have to do Leg three took me out onto the Ridgeway to some very wild, wet parts of the Ridgeway.
00:18:28
bob33
ah quite desolate middle of the night um and I got into the final aid station at the turnaround point on leg three which I believe was run by is it bad boys running and I was in there looking around having my glass of coke as you do and I noticed that there was some beer on the floor and I said to the the lady in there gosh you guys know how to entertain yourselves and she said no this is for you said are you serious and She said, yes, would you like a beer? Well, funnily enough, I didn't like didn't fancy a beer at that time. But she says, oh, we've got some spirits. We've got gin, we've got vodka.
00:19:04
bob33
I've never seen this before at an aid station. I thought, wow, OK, I'll have a vodka in my Coke. Thank you very much. So anyway, two vodka and Cokes later, I just wafted out of the aid station, ah feeling quite euphoric and meeting all any other runner that came towards me shouting, they've got booze.
00:19:23
bob33
and which i i don't know whether people thought i was hallucinating or what because it's just and just not something that you get at a news station but you know for for you guys that organize that for me that and the fact that i'm mentioning it now that was a real lift in the middle of the night just when you needed it um going on to then the event that uh was my actual um
00:19:25
UKRunChat
Thank you.
00:19:47
bob33
The star in the crown ah of what I've done prior to ah the Land's End to John O'Groats has been another rat race event called the Ultra Tour of Arran, which was just stunning, really whetted my appetite to come up to Scotland.
00:20:02
bob33
um You'd go on to Arran for a two-day event. The first, I didn't realise this at the time because I hadn't really sort of um ah done my research. I just turned up to have a good time.
00:20:14
bob33
So the first day as a theme to it, which um basically they take you from coast the coast sort middle of the island or halfway up the island rather take you down to the bottom then they bring you up through some uh very very boggy uh woodland um and there's some absolutely hilarious um video clips on youtube and facebook at the time of people getting stuck in these bogs as they're trying to traverse them and it's it really is i mean it's it's just um you know the there's one particular one that i remember where these ladies um
00:20:48
bob33
but you know, they can't move for laughing because, you know, one of them's virtually up to her waist in these beatbox.
00:20:54
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:20:55
bob33
So, you know, we got through that, finished the day. The following day, the theme is mountains. um And they take you ah from Brodick Castle, sort of down Glenrosa.
00:21:10
bob33
um And it just reminds me of that iconic scene out of the the movie Skyfall, ah where they so they stop and there's this,
00:21:21
bob33
beautiful so Scottish Glen ah sort of going away into the distance. and And that's just how it struck me. It was so achingly beautiful. um And so we had to go up one mountain and then down the other side the other side there wasn't a um any sort of footpath so when you put your foot down you didn't know whether it was going to go on a rock because it was all covered with sort of like dead um vegetation so either a rock a bog so you could lose your foot uh into a bog um a little rivulet um so there's water just heading its way to uh quite a fast running stream
00:22:00
bob33
um If you were very lucky, you might get some terra firma. um And this just took forever to traverse down. I did actually manage to put my ah running pole into what I thought was a puddle. It ended up being a bog.
00:22:14
bob33
My running pole kept on going and I followed it. So I somersaulted over it, heard this snap. And of course you're thinking, was that a bone? I hope it was my pole. And fortunately for me, it was the pole.
Overcoming Challenges and Staying Motivated
00:22:26
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:22:26
bob33
Unfortunately for the pole.
00:22:26
UKRunChat
yeah
00:22:27
bob33
um So I managed to break a pole doing that. I got to the first cutoff at the first aid station with two minutes to spare. So that was just a really tough um section. um You've then got a 10 mile run across the north ah coast of the island.
00:22:46
bob33
Then you come back inland um And you have to sort of climb up to um a part of the mountain. It's between two peaks and it's called the saddle. ah For obvious reasons, you have to get there again by another cutoff.
00:23:01
bob33
um And I think I've made that by about eight minutes. um And then it was, if you want to, you can go up to the summit. um ah And ah if you didn't like the look of that, you could then take ah an easier route down.
00:23:16
bob33
But I went up to the the summit, Goatfell. um which in itself was terrifying. You've got in many places a granite wall to the right of you, you've got ah a two foot path in front of you and then you've got a really steep fall away to the left of you.
00:23:31
bob33
And if you don't like heights, I thought I was cured of my height phobia. um Maybe not having gone up there, maybe I realised that there was still a bit left. um But it was a very, for me, a very difficult sort of route to get up.
00:23:44
bob33
But you get to the top and, you know, the feeling of euphoria is fantastic. There's this little voice in my head going, how are we going to get down? Because going up horrible. I certainly wouldn't have wanted to come down that route. but Thankfully, the Scottish National Trust have got a ah very easy path going down the other way, which leads us down into Brodick Castle.
00:24:04
bob33
But um that event had me buzzing for a week afterwards, which usually I'm just sort of quietly satisfied at the end of my events. But that was that was something else.
00:24:13
UKRunChat
yeah that sounds Yeah, that sounds incredible, actually. have Have you had any moments in training? Because it sounds to me like running and ultras come pretty naturally to you, like you you kind of enjoy them. Have you had any moments where you've thought a race has gone badly and you've thought, I'm not sure i'm I'm capable of going further? Or have you always had that self-belief?
00:24:35
bob33
um I think that you always get a bad run. um i've had um I've had some bad practice runs and my usual thought process is, thank goodness, this is just a training run. I don't need to worry about it. It's not an event.
00:24:50
bob33
um Equally, I've had some bad events. I remember um running the Manchester Marathon last year. um I had um got a chest infection prior to the the marathon and it was only on the Wednesday before that I decided to do it because I thought I should be able to get around okay.
00:25:08
bob33
And this is the first time that I've i've had symptoms like this. But basically um after running half of it, so I've got to about 13 miles and my quads started um cramping up. Now I'm i'm very conscious um since my London marathon event in 2016, it took me a year to find out that um I wasn't controlling my electrolytes very well. So I've i've now got that well under control.
00:25:32
bob33
um And it wasn't a problem of electrolytes. I i can just um imagine that it was something to do with how my but how inefficient my lungs were after the chest infection. But I was having to stop every at least every kilometre and stretch out my quads because they were just seizing. They wouldn't fire. um And, you know, at 13 miles, you know, you've still got 21 kilometres to go. So that's, you know, 21, 22 times that I'd have had to have stopped to stretch out my quads. So on something like that, you're thinking, yeah, this is, you know, this is hard work. This is not going to plan. But again, you just have to put one foot in front of the other. You know, you can always get there.
00:26:09
UKRunChat
yeah.
00:26:09
bob33
And, you know, I'm um very pleased to be able to say, that um you know i've I've not had a DNF um previously. I've done you know probably in excess of 50 sort of ah ultras or marathons and I've completed each one.
00:26:27
bob33
Sometimes it's been sort of fairly close to the cutoff, but I've always been able to get round. I'm not an elite, so i I wouldn't have the luxury of thinking, do you know what, this is not adding to my training. Therefore, I'm going to call it a day here because there's always another one in two weeks or three weeks time.
00:26:44
bob33
I always like to get my money's worth, to be quite honest. um But I always want the medal.
Vegan Lifestyle and Running
00:26:50
bob33
um I jokingly refer to myself as Muttley, ah the Dick Dastardly's sidekick who's always after the medal for for doing something good.
00:26:54
UKRunChat
yeah
00:26:59
bob33
But I do like running bling most definitely.
00:27:02
UKRunChat
yeah so i mean what talk us through um the actual event now then so what does a typical day look like and how far are you generally running them
00:27:11
bob33
So the average um run day is 33 miles. um Sometimes it will be um as low as 25. That's very rare. um Sometimes it will be as high as 40 miles.
00:27:25
UKRunChat
Thank you.
00:27:25
bob33
um It just depends on the the route that they've organised for that day. um So we will probably be running from ah sort of between 7 and 7.30.
00:27:37
bob33
um and ah Rat racers are really good in the fact that they want you to have the experience. There's no real cutoff. um They can help you. They can sort of boost you forward to a pit stop if ah either you're struggling physically or you're just, you know, going to be so slow that actually you're not going to be able to get back in time for a meal and rest, etc.
00:28:04
bob33
um Fortunately for myself, and umll I'll keep my fingers crossed, I'm at the moment as I'm sitting here with shin splints. um Fortunately for me that hasn't happened um so far.
00:28:15
bob33
But um as I said it's it's really you you start off and there's a group of about 21 of us ah which very quickly sort of will split up into individuals or or very small subgroups um as we make our our way towards a destination.
00:28:32
UKRunChat
Yeah. And how are you feeling yourself? Because you're you're vegan. Is that right?
00:28:36
bob33
That's right. Yes. So um I've been vegan for about six and a half years. I'm a member of Vegan Runners, a member of Green Runners, um just because I like to to to be associated with people that hold the sort similar values to myself.
00:28:53
bob33
um And I've I mean, I made the change from sort of a normal meat eater to to vegan really overnight, um not because it was something that I just decided on a whim that I was going to do, but I'm sure that. um Many people like myself, you know you'll hear things about ah the ah dairy industry or the meat industry that you really don't like. And that might be sort of cruelty in abattoirs.
00:29:24
bob33
It might be the way that the animals slaughtered. It might be sort of conditions that animals are kept in during transport. um And, you know, generally speaking, i'm I'm quite happy with the view of, um for an animal, a good life and a good death, um you know, if it's if it's going to be consumed for food.
00:29:34
UKRunChat
Thank you.
00:29:45
bob33
But, you know, I haven't got faith, unfortunately, in the yeah the system that um that is the case. And therefore, for me, um you know, ah after hearing many stories, there was just one story that I had heard or I'd read rather, which was saying, you know, what supermarkets um sold um religiously um slaughtered meat without actually labelling it.
00:30:11
UKRunChat
and
00:30:11
bob33
So I decided, well, if I can't actually choose how my meat's slaughtered, I'm not going to eat it. And that was just, um you know, the the final straw, so to speak. And that was... at the moment that I thought, right, um ah veganism is is now my path. And as I said, I've been very comfortable with that for the last six and a half years.
00:30:29
bob33
um I'm a vegan buy um by conscience. So in other words, if accidentally um I ah get given a product with some butter in it or or some egg in it, um I wouldn't choose to eat that if I knew about it, but if I have eaten it.
00:30:32
UKRunChat
and
00:30:45
bob33
You know, I'm on' fine with that, um but certainly animal flesh is something that I wouldn't want to consume and I'd be rather upset if that found its way and on my plate.
00:30:55
UKRunChat
Yeah, it's about making ah like a conscious choice, like you say, isn't it? and
00:30:59
bob33
Absolutely.
00:30:59
UKRunChat
Have you noticed a difference in your running since going over to the vegan lifestyle?
00:31:03
bob33
No, no. I mean, i would love to say I've i've seen a positive difference, but I haven't really seen any difference. i Certainly, i've I've not seen a negative to my running.
00:31:09
UKRunChat
Yeah, okay.
00:31:13
bob33
You just need to be aware of the yeah the protein sources that you need to um ah to be consuming.
00:31:18
UKRunChat
Yes.
00:31:19
bob33
And, you know, you've you've got new foods open to you, such as tofu, tempeh, seitan, you know, which are all forms of, I mean, seitan's wheat gluten, essentially, um tofu and tempeh.
00:31:34
bob33
a soya based products that are consumed yeah largely in sort of Japan and and you know countries in that part of the world. So, um you know, i've I've certainly not ever felt lacking with the the food that I eat. And, you know, the other thing is that apart from this relatively recent craze in the ah food managed manufacturers sort of getting in on the act of producing ultra-processed vegan ready meals, um which I try very hard not to to actually go near because I'd much rather cook my own. The reason why i say I try very hard is because this year, whereas I would normally do all my own cooking this year because of the training load that I've had, um I've had less time for cooking. So I have had to have a few cheap meals.
00:32:24
UKRunChat
Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, how how much training per week have you been doing for this? Like what sort of mileage?
00:32:31
bob33
um That's a good question. I think I've been doing sort of um probably around about 70 miles a week, um which you know his has seemed to be enough. like It's some trying to be... um Obviously, I work full time, so it's trying to ah make sure that my running works around my work commitments, but also my my family commitments.
00:32:58
bob33
um um One of the the things that I mentioned earlier on that I do is ah but know look at the events that I want to go into. I book lots of events in advance.
00:33:09
bob33
So I'm always training for an event rather than training for ah Land's End to John O'Groats because obviously the idea being is that the programme itself takes me towards being fit enough ah for this.
00:33:22
bob33
um And I think that I've probably got it about right. When I was talking to Carla Molinaro ah back in that pub in Hammersham, she said that really you don't want to go into the event at peak fitness because what will happen is your your body will start to break down.
00:33:38
bob33
So you're then um on a a sort of spiral downwards as to to how fit
Reflecting on the Journey
00:33:45
bob33
you are. She says you want to go in so that your peak is roughly around the middle.
00:33:50
bob33
um And I would say that I probably sort of um got got to that point. um I mean, I've had shin splints in the last, literally the last two days.
00:34:01
bob33
um So I've been... ah doing fairly well to avoid injury up to this point. I've got a week to go. i i'd never had shin splints before. I did wake up this morning thinking, how the heck am I going to be able to run or walk, because I'll walk if I have to, um the the next 200 miles that I've got to do. But, you know, good old ibuprofen and um sort of moving around, you know, 30 to 40 minutes later, I've realised that everything sort of eases up, loosens up. So, you
00:34:33
bob33
um I'm quite confident of what I'll be able to achieve next week. And we've got great medical support here as well. So I've already had a a massage this morning to sort of like flush out the calves, et cetera. um So i'm I'm feeling very confident for next week.
00:34:46
UKRunChat
Yeah, brilliant. So you've covered over 800 miles already. the What have been the standout moments so far for you?
00:34:53
bob33
So um Cornwall, really, the first three days where we were running along the coastal path of North Cornwall were absolutely stunning. We had the weather.
00:35:05
bob33
um We were obviously at the the peak of our fitness, really, as we see it there. um You know, very fresh legs, and it was just beautiful. ah You know, Cornwall ah at its finest, and all these little coves that you wouldn't ordinarily get to see.
00:35:23
bob33
um as I said, the weather was perfect. is It's just... Such a stunning place. um But it's sort of like every day brings you something new.
00:35:33
bob33
um
00:35:33
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:35:34
bob33
We've had um Offers Dyke, for example, which, you know, took up took me up through sort of Monmouth, um you know, and lots of ah the the small towns up there, which are very pretty, very oldie worldie and places I'd definitely like to return.
00:35:52
bob33
um But again, you know, ah coming into Scotland, um You know, we've done the West Highland Way, which is 96 miles. We did that in three days. And the sense of history, the sense of majesty with these the scenery is just, you know, it's something that the camera can't capture.
00:36:11
bob33
And believe me, I've tried very hard, but it's just such a gorgeous place. um And of course, you know, you can you can almost hear um sort of the yeah ah battles that would have been going on sort of like 300 or 400 years ago.
00:36:27
bob33
it's just an amazing place. I'm so pleased to be in Scotland.
00:36:31
UKRunChat
yeah is is it mostly is the route mostly on trails or are you doing some road running as
00:36:35
bob33
Yeah, it's it's mostly on trails. there's There's a bit really sort of um between the yeah the north of England and and the early part of Scotland where there was sort of like ah three days really where you were running alongside the M6, which um I expected because I have seen some... ah ah YouTube vlogs on the journey that people have had up here.
00:36:59
bob33
um And everybody says that, you know, it's it's a little bit sort of monotonous. and It is, you know, when you're looking at your you Garmin and it's telling you that um in 13 and a half miles you can turn left, you know, it's it's a little bit, a little bit maybe so soul destroying from that point of view, but you just put one foot in front of the other. There's always something to see.
00:37:22
UKRunChat
Yeah. So you've you've just got, you've not got many days left of running now until you reach John and Grace then, have you? You're back out there tomorrow.
00:37:28
bob33
No. Yep. So we've got seven running days left. um So we finish. So we we obviously start running tomorrow and we'll finish on Friday, um which will be a very, it'll be a very positive, but a very poignant day as well, I would say.
00:37:38
UKRunChat
yeah
00:37:46
UKRunChat
Yeah, are you counting down or are you trying to stay in the moment?
00:37:50
bob33
Oh, definitely staying in the moment.
00:37:52
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:37:52
bob33
um this This is going to be over far too quickly. I mean, I can't believe that I've been doing this for four weeks. um You know, at the start of this, it was like I had a lifetime of running ahead of me. um And here I am four weeks later and I'm thinking, my goodness, you know, we've we've we've hardly got any time left now.
00:38:08
bob33
So I have enjoyed every day, ah even the tough bits.
00:38:08
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:38:12
bob33
I've enjoyed the camaraderie of my fellow
Charity Work and Future Goals
00:38:15
bob33
runners. And, you know, as I said earlier on, everybody in the running community is lovely.
00:38:20
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:38:20
bob33
and my fellow runners are no exception.
00:38:22
UKRunChat
Yeah. ah Tell us a little bit about your charity, Bob, because you alluded to that earlier. You are from
00:38:26
bob33
Yeah, thank you. um So, ah as I mentioned, I yeah um became aware of Humanity Direct through and the XNRG events ah I yeah go into.
00:38:39
bob33
I mean, i like most people, I'm somebody who likes a bit of a bargain. So if you go into an XNRG event, not only do you get a really well-run, um ah sensibly priced ultra, but the money you pay goes to Humanity Direct charity.
00:38:57
bob33
So when I was having a look at ah a charity to support with my efforts here, I started looking at Humanity Direct. um They do so many things that really um sort of appeal to my values.
00:39:08
bob33
So first of all, they um help disadvantaged children, primarily in in Uganda. um And they do that by providing um very low cost, but very high impact um surgery, or they fund surgery for the children. So, you know in the UK, if we've got um one of our kids has got a ah growth assist, a hernia, adenoids, whatever, you know, the the usual sort of a childhood illnesses, you know, we take them along to the doctor, they they get into the and NHS programme, they get sorted very quickly.
00:39:42
bob33
Out there, um particularly in the rural areas, they just don't have that luxury. um I believe the average ah salary there is less than a dollar a day. um To fund surgery for children, a life-changing operation can cost between £300 to £500, maybe £600, which by UK standards is is relatively a relatively small amount.
00:40:07
bob33
um But if you um put that against somebody earning a dollar a day who's also got to feed their family, how can they ever afford it? So somebody or a charity like Humanity Direct to be able to step in and make a real difference to children's lives.
00:40:24
bob33
I think is fantastic. And the fact that you get an awful lot of bang for your buck, you know, £300 to change a child's life for the better, I think is is money so well spent.
00:40:35
bob33
um But it's not just surgery they fund. They have a glasses programme, which when I first heard about it, I thought, OK, they've got a glasses programme. But then again, I was thinking about it and I was reading um on their website what that actually means.
00:40:47
bob33
And so um they have, again, a lot of um assistance from ah people who are are willing to give up their time. So there's ah an optician who actually makes the the glasses for them um and he gets um sort of frames donated by other opticians in the yeah UK.
00:41:07
bob33
well They do eye tests. So Humanity Direct do an eye test programme in Uganda and only children that have have got a a certain or meet a certain criteria. In other words, their their eyesight is is poor enough that they need glasses um that they will be then have prescription glasses made for them.
00:41:26
bob33
And the glasses cost sort of between 20 and 25 pounds per pair, which again, I think is is fantastic, a fantastic bargain. But The impact of that £20 to £25 spent on glasses is the difference between a child being able to see well enough to learn um and to not be able to see and therefore not do very well at school.
00:41:48
bob33
So that £20 to £25 is really supporting you know future doctors, engineers, teachers. And again, I just think that for a small amount of money, what a privilege it is to be able to give somebody a little bit of a a leg up in life.
00:42:03
bob33
And that's why Humanity Direct appeals to me. It's a small charity. You haven't got fat cats. Sorry, fat cats out there. But you haven't got fat cats that are taking a large salary. um You know, it's it's every pound they earn um goes towards a good cause. So I'm delighted to be able to support them.
00:42:23
UKRunChat
Yeah, that's lovely. And where can people find out more? Have you got a fundraising page? We will pop it in the show notes as well.
00:42:27
bob33
Absolutely. Thank you very much. It's it's quite a nice, easy um email address. It's www.humanitydirect.org forward slash Bob.
00:42:38
UKRunChat
There we go.
00:42:38
bob33
So if you can have a look on there, um it'll have my Strava pages on there so you can see where I've been running.
00:42:39
UKRunChat
Okay.
00:42:46
bob33
um it will have ah some of the Instagram feeds that they've been doing on my runs. um So you get a ah sense of of what I've been up to. I must admit, as as time has gone on, it's harder and harder to to provide the the material for them. But hopefully there's something up there which is of interest.
00:43:04
UKRunChat
Yeah, OK. We're going to finish off with just a few quick fire questions for fun, if that's OK with you.
00:43:10
bob33
Sure.
00:43:11
UKRunChat
and So first one favorite snack mid run?
00:43:15
bob33
Oh, goodness me.
00:43:19
bob33
Can I pass on that? I'll come back to that if I may.
00:43:21
UKRunChat
Oh, OK, yeah, come back to it. um And it's it's another food one. and So post-run meal.
00:43:28
bob33
Post-rump, this is all about food, isn't it?
00:43:29
UKRunChat
It is. I like food. Yeah.
00:43:31
bob33
ah Well, um I would say pasta has got to be um my go-to. White pasta is great for energy. Normally I would have something more but wholesome, wholemeal pasta, but white pasta is just a really good quick-release energy source. So that's the dish that I would go for. What you
00:43:52
UKRunChat
Yeah, brilliant. One item that you can't run without.
00:43:57
bob33
think the dish? I can't run without my glasses. I have got some, i think they're Tifosi glasses, which are really sort of cycling glasses. They're photochromatic and they've got a couple of little bifocal bits down the bottom, which allows me to read my Garmin.
00:44:18
bob33
Yet um I can still, because I'm i always have to ah view how this is. I'm long sighted so I can see distance without glasses, but um I need glasses for looking at my Garmin. So my Tifosi glasses i' I'm usually wearing and I would find it quite difficult without that.
00:44:35
UKRunChat
Yeah, okay. Run or walk up a hill?
00:44:40
bob33
um
00:44:43
bob33
that's ah That's another really good question because I actually like running up hills. As I said, I live in the Chilterns and I've started running to work.
00:44:50
UKRunChat
Yeah.
00:44:54
bob33
I live on one hill. and I work on another. So that means that if I'm running to work, I've always got to go up a hill, or if I'm going home, I've always got to go up a hill. um And actually, that's the one thing that's really made a huge difference to to my training um for this event. I've really noticed that the more hills you do, the better that you you get at everything else.
00:45:14
UKRunChat
Yeah, it's true though, isn't it? Yeah. and Running hero or inspiration. Have you got somebody that you look up to in the running world?
00:45:22
bob33
um I would like to to nominate as my running heroes ah my running club, Handy Cross Runners in High Wycombe, because we've got such a mix of lovely people in there.
00:45:37
bob33
They get up to some really exciting things. you know We're always supporting each other. um I've been a member since about 2018. And yeah i would say All my running friends, um I won't name any because I've got so many that i i hold dear to me.
00:45:56
bob33
um That, yeah, my running heroes are my my um ah running colleagues at Handy Cross Runners.
00:46:03
UKRunChat
Yeah, oh, that's lovely. And final question from me then, and the final mile of your challenge, will it be a sprint finish or are you going to enjoy that last mile and take it all in?
00:46:14
bob33
It's got to be enjoy and take it all in. um There is also the thought that because there is a a group of us doing this, that it would be really nice if we can have more of a condensed finish. I mean, I don't think we'll all be going over the line at the same time, but I do think that we will be aiming to be sort of within, don't know, say 30 minutes of each other.
00:46:38
bob33
So, but it's got to be, It's got to be a run across the finish line, but um as I said, it'll be, I'm sure, taking it easy and savouring the day, as that's going to be our last day um in beautiful Scotland. um It's something that really I want to try and suck every memory out of I can.
00:46:57
UKRunChat
Yeah, well, yeah, I hope you really enjoy those last 200 or so miles that you've got to do.
00:47:02
bob33
I'm sure I will.
00:47:03
UKRunChat
Yeah, ah thank you so much for taking the time out mid-journey as well. and Yeah, and all the very best for that final stretch. So we'll be we'll be cheering you on. So it's the 4th of July that Bob finishes.
00:47:14
UKRunChat
And if you're listening and want to follow Bob's progress or support the journey, we'll drop the links in the show notes. and So thank you for tuning in. And don't forget to subscribe and share the episode if it inspired you. And as always, keep on running.