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Jamie McDonald | 5500 miles across America
59 Plays3 years ago
In episode 51 I chat with Jamie McDonald AKA Adventureman!
Jamie is a serial adventurer and fundraiser and his accomplishments include:
Cycling 14000 miles from Bangkok to Gloucester,
Static cycling world record.
Solo run across Canada.
Solo run across America.
Treadmill world record.
Jamie won a Pride of Britain award in 2019 for Fundraiser of the year. His new book Adventureman: Running America: A Glimmer of Hope: 5,500 Miles Across the USA is available now having been published in august.
Connect with Jamie:
Adventureman: Running America by Jamie McDonald (Summersdale, £9.99) is available from all good book retailers https://bit.ly/AdventuremanJMcDRecommended
Transcript
Introduction with Joe Williams
00:00:02
Speaker
Welcome to episode 51 of the UK Sports Chat Podcast. I'm Joe Williams, and in today's episode, I chat with Jamie McDonald, AKA Adventure Man.
Jamie's Adventures Overview
00:00:11
Speaker
Jamie is a serial adventurer and fundraiser, and his accomplishments include cycling from Bangkok to Gloucester, a static cycling world record, a solo run across Canada, a solo run across America, and a treadmill world record. Jamie won a Pride of Britain award in 2019 for Fundraiser of the Year,
New Book: 'Adventure Man, Running America'
00:00:31
Speaker
His new book, Adventure Man, Running America, a glimmer of hope 5,500 miles across the USA was published in August and is available now. Jamie's story is quite amazing. I hope you enjoyed listening to this as much as I enjoyed recording this with Jamie. As usual, give us your feedback on our social channels or via info at ukrunchat.co.uk. In the meantime, enjoy the rest of your week and see you on the next episode.
Jamie's Early Life and Inspiration
00:01:01
Speaker
Welcome, Jamie. Thanks for coming on the podcast. How are you? Yeah, good, Joe. I think I'm better than your snotty nose, to be honest. Yes, yes, you are. So for listeners, I've just told Jamie I've woke up this morning with a snotty nose. I don't feel unwell at all, but I do have my tissues here. I'm waiting to hear it through my AirPods, like the big blowout on it. I promise, I promise I will mute if I'm going to
00:01:31
Speaker
snot into the tissues. How are you then? You well? Yeah, good. I'm really glad that my baby made it till 6.30 this morning, sleeping wise. So basically that's a lion for me. How old is your little one? She's 11 months old.
00:01:53
Speaker
And has she been sleeping? Is this a first? It's been horrendous. I mean, who said it's great to have babies? I just don't know who those people are. No, ours has not been sleeping. So it's been 11 months of sleep deprivation. Yeah, it's just like a drawer. I've got three kids and one of them slept brilliantly from seven weeks, my eldest and the other two. My daughter didn't sleep until she was like eight. She'd be in bed every night. So I think it's a
00:02:24
Speaker
It's almost thumb in the air, but you're lucky. That's great, Joe. Just as I'm trying to search for hope that it's going to be over soon, you drop the eight years old bomb. Yeah, yeah. I didn't know what that was a bomb. Bless it. She sleeps now. She's 14. Oh, that's good. That's good. There's the hope. That's what I was needed. Here you go, mate. So your new book's out, Adventure Man Running America.
00:02:51
Speaker
a glimmer of hope 5,500 miles across the USA. Before we dig into your challenges and your book, my first question, and I did mention this in the intro that you take on these challenges as your alter ego adventure map, but my question is, who designed and made your costume because I want one and I'm sure there's lots of other people who want one as well.
00:03:13
Speaker
I mean, it's a pretty amazing
Birth of Adventure Man
00:03:15
Speaker
thing, isn't it? It's like every child's dream to have their own superhero suit. So, yeah, I ended up, on one of my adventures, I ran across Canada wearing the flash suit, one suit the whole time, and then BBC made a short documentary at the end of it, and the flash suit was obviously a copyright problem. I was thinking, I wasn't really thinking of your
00:03:39
Speaker
film really and but in the end I just thought you know what it's time I'm going to be doing this for the rest of my life adventures that is and so it's time for a new superhero so I've done a Facebook competition and this little boy eight years old Connor Reading he ended up designing this suit called Adventure Man and the drawing like I mean it was an eight year old drawing it wasn't you know I'm sure Connor would be okay with this for me to say it wasn't the best drawing
00:04:08
Speaker
the colours and the design and it was just awesome. So he was the winner and then somebody who was following the journey through social media on that adventure saw the picture and then just off her own back got it professionally designed in Canada as an adventure man suit and then sent it through the post and there it was. Weirdly I'm called adventure man. How cool is that though?
00:04:34
Speaker
And for Connor as well. How cool is that for Connor? So he's designed your costume that he's working. Now this 5,500 miles you've already alluded to Canada's in there then, it obviously wasn't your first challenge. You've wrapped up some mileage over the years. Where did this all start? What was your first adventure and your motivation?
Major Adventure: Bangkok to Gloucester
00:05:02
Speaker
eight or nine years ago now I was saving up to put a deposit on a house and I went to sign the papers Joe and then I just got this gut feeling in my stomach was that something's wrong I don't know if you ever get that gut feeling sometimes well yes yeah you can it's very instinctive isn't it yeah it was almost like the first time though when I was about I must have been 24 years old though I actually tuned into it and then I
00:05:27
Speaker
I thought, right, I've got to go with this feeling. So I pulled out of the house and obviously the house people really annoyed at me. And then I, I know I went through this thought process, like, so what, what's this all about? Like, do I buy the house? You know, do I, or what's this? So in the end, I started to kind of retrace my steps of my childhood. So I used to have a rare spinal condition called Schringomyelia. So symptoms as a kid had epilepsy, immune deficiency. And yeah, sometimes I couldn't move my legs.
00:05:55
Speaker
So I spent most of my life in hospital as a kid. And when I was about seven years old, the doctor explained to me and my mum that I'd probably end up in a wheelchair. But when we left there, my mum just said, don't you dare listen to a word of that. You're not going to end up in a wheelchair. And then when we got home, she put this piece of string across our garden and said, do you want to play tennis? And I remember thinking, not really, mum.
00:06:22
Speaker
But I went out there and I started cracking the ball and I just got this like love for movement. And I almost feel like that was like my first time of like feeling free almost. And I'm really glad to say that within that year, all my symptoms gradually disappeared and I got my health back and I'm really lucky if I should have ended up in a wheelchair even worse.
Escaping a War Zone
00:06:42
Speaker
So yeah, so I had a big massive dream to be like the next big Roger Federer at 16. And I was running lots at that time, you know, because you've got to be fit.
00:06:50
Speaker
But I did work out in the end, Joe, that I was absolutely just crap at tennis. But you loved it. Yeah. I mean, I loved, I loved the movement. I mean, I love running, you know, just that you just feel free. So that all went to pot anyway, but, but afterwards I still was craving that movement. And so I, I, I then began, you know, doing just a bit of running, not much though, not much at all. Just, but I just loved getting out for a couple of miles here or there.
00:07:20
Speaker
And so then, yeah, so instead of getting the house, I started to kind of think, right, well, what could I do? So I kind of went back to the hospital where I spent most of my life and I saw the difference they were making to kids' lives. They had the charity that supported our local children's hospital in Gloucester. I just thought, bugger it. I heard about this guy once cycling around the world and he was just a normal guy.
00:07:49
Speaker
You're not going to believe this, Joe, but his name was Joe. Oh, right. He was just a normal guy. I thought, wow, if Joe could do something like that, then maybe I could too. So I ended up buying a bicycle for 50 quid out of the newspaper and then ended up flying out to Bangkok, Thailand to then cycle 14,000 miles back to Gloucester Children's Hospital to kind of give back.
00:08:17
Speaker
And have I just offended jokes? I'm talking about cycling. No, no, not at all. All in George sports, there's lots of cyclists and triathletes on in the year. No, I mean, that's offensive. Surely when I'm running podcasts, I'm talking about cycling. No, it's great. It's great. Just I've got a comment on your mother, first of all. Wow. Your mum's another superhero. She's come home, set up your piece of string across the garden and said, come on, we'll play tennis. She's another hero.
00:08:47
Speaker
Yeah, it's like she instinctively knew what was good for me really. Yeah, that mother's instinct, brilliant, really good. And just to go back to your childhood then, it was over that following 12 months that your health improved and you recovered. Yeah, yeah.
00:09:05
Speaker
and that's quick isn't it if you it was it was very quick yeah and you know i think i think i don't know if i acknowledged it but it was thanks to um the kind of children's hospitals as well which is great ormond street in london and goster children's hospital but i don't know if it was the movement you know their support maybe a bit of all of it um but yeah just really lucky yeah it's amazing they do amazing things at those hospitals and the hospices really amazing and so so you
Geography Fascination and Journey Inspiration
00:09:36
Speaker
You then as a as a child went on to play a lot was tennis your thing was it before? Yeah, I think it probably was yeah, you know as a sport as through my childhood tennis was my thing Yeah, yeah, terrible had it though. Terrible Yeah, I used to like football and running things with my feet rather than with my hands not very good at those So you you
00:10:04
Speaker
So why the shift when you think about going and doing some kind of challenge, why the shift away from tennis to picking up a 50 quid bike and why Bangkok as well? Yeah, well, I was tennis teaching at the same school that I kind of went to and I kept going into the geography class and looking at the maps.
00:10:34
Speaker
And do you ever look at just a world map? I enjoy, I'm a bit of a geek with these kinds of things. I enjoy geography and just, you know, when the kids are sat in the car and you're traveling all day, we'll do the capitals of such and such a country quiz, that kind of thing. So yeah, I get it. It's amazing, isn't it? And I used to have like a globe next to my bed all the way through my childhood. And so instead of sleeping, I would just
00:11:01
Speaker
were all the globe and just look around all the countries and I don't know, when you're looking at a map, it suddenly feels so accessible. And I thought, you know what, if I'm going to do this thing, I'm going to do it properly. I'm going to go for a big one year adventure. I'm going to try and make it back to Gloucester. So I was just looking at a map.
00:11:25
Speaker
I saw Bangkok and I saw all these countries between it, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Iran, Iraq, all these countries. I thought, wow, I wonder if I could pedal every single inch through those countries and whether it's
Static Cycling World Record Attempt
00:11:40
Speaker
possible. And so, yeah, I mean, I just kind of started it blindly, really. I mean, I never really pedaled before. And so I just kind of went for it and hoped for the best. Yeah. I love that you've not kind of like
00:11:54
Speaker
saved up and thought, I'm going to get the lightest bike I can with all the best kit on it. You've bought a 50 quid bike out of paper. Yeah, I don't think a new bike would last too long. I'm pretty sure it'd be stolen quite quickly. It could just be like this cycling target, wouldn't you? So I tell you what, Joe, no one wanted to rob me, I can assure you. I've done the whole thing in a pair of flip-flops.
00:12:22
Speaker
And, you know, short. I mean, I just, I didn't look, I didn't look robable. I mean, I, yeah. I mean, if anything, people would kind of getting away from me because it probably looked like I'd probably robbed them. You've got the bike. So what distance was that? How far did you go? And it was Bangkok to Gloucester, you said, wasn't it? Bangkok to Gloucester. Yeah. 14,000 miles. Wow. And that took you 12 months of it.
00:12:50
Speaker
12. Yeah, it did. It took a whole 12 months. And I just I never knew what I was going to get into. I remember pedaling along the Afghanistan border. Yeah. And it was supposed to be a safe place in Tajikistan in a place called Korog. And I woke up one morning, I thought it's fireworks. And I thought, oh, my brain suddenly caught up with me. I went to full blown war zone here. There's like gunshots, explosions going off. So, of course, you know, naturally when you're in a war zone,
00:13:21
Speaker
I was doing videos at this point and every time I'd done a video someone would give a donation to the charity so then I ended up grabbing the camera and as I grabbed the camera you turn it on but of course it was still dark it was like 5am in the morning so I'm outside I turn my camera on it's got a flashing red light so I'm waving this flashing red light in the middle of a war zone
00:13:48
Speaker
And so I was shot at and got the whole thing on film. And yeah, I was trapped with 15 other people for about 30 hours. We were rationing on food, water, everything because we didn't know what was going to happen. And it just seemed to get worse and worse. But then somebody came and said, there's a ceasefire for two hours. You need to get out because it's going to get a whole lot worse. So then all together, we joined forces to kind of make the decision to leave.
00:14:15
Speaker
And I'm really glad to say we all made it out alive, but over 600 people in those hours ended up dying. My goodness, that must have been frightening. Yeah, yeah, definitely, definitely gets the adrenaline going. Yeah. Right. And these were people that you just happened to have, what, were you camping then, I'm guessing? So we were actually on a veranda, the hotel. So it was kind of like an outside type of hotel,
00:14:44
Speaker
and yeah it literally 15 strangers and we just all happened to be in there on a kind of slightly adventure like one most of one like an adventure holiday type of thing yeah so yeah just just scary time scary time yeah did you make any did you make any friends within those people there then i imagine it it
00:15:08
Speaker
having not been in a situation like that but something like that could bring people quite close quite quickly. Is there anyone there you still speak to? Yeah there was an amazing couple called Adam and Julie who I connected with and we decided to kind of leave together and in that moment we were all kind of leaving on the same route. Some people went left, some people weren't right
00:15:33
Speaker
And obviously, when you're in the middle of a war, and even though there's a ceasefire, they did say there was, you know, there was still gunshots going off, so it didn't really feel like a ceasefire. And all the women and children naturally come first, like they get protection and so on. But there was this Canadian guy who was trapped within, you know, those wars. And even though we were rationing on food and water, I spotted him with him and his wife.
00:16:01
Speaker
And he ended up spotting him. He was gorging all his food. I didn't bother to say anything to the group, because I thought, it's just going to spark a load of conflict. And that's really not what we need. But he knew I was, you know, peed off at him. I gave him the look. And I thought it was enough. But on the way out, as we're trying to get out of this war, there was a mum and a baby. And as they're like, you know, gunning to get out,
00:16:30
Speaker
a car pulls up and said, look, we've got spaces. So naturally, it was the baby and the mum, they got to get in the car. And this Canadian guy with his wife, he jumps in the car. And of course, I've got this in bathroom, I'm causing the food as well. So my, my chimp, like my anger just, I mean, I erupted and I started to grab and I started to drag him out of the
00:16:55
Speaker
the car and everyone's screaming, you know, go off and go, just leave it. You're causing more Armageddon. I'm thinking you don't know what I know about this guy. I said, the wife and the baby needs to go in. And Adam and Julie were there and they kept really calm and they just, you know, just let him go. And annoyingly, he actually got into the car and then left and we stayed with the mum and the baby. And then five or 10 minutes later, another car came and picked them up and wished them away.
00:17:24
Speaker
And then I don't know, I really connected with Adam and Julie, you know, I just, it's these moments that just literally bond you instantly. So we're, we're then on, on, on route to get out. And we got about a mile out, we still was in the war zone territory. And then I spotted him again, the Canadian, his wife and there he was. They, for whatever reason, they got him, they got him out of the car and he, and he, and he was still stuck in the, he was still stuck in the war zone. So, um,
00:17:52
Speaker
So yeah, so then Adam and Julie were beautiful souls and we ended up, they were on a bike too, on a shorter adventure, but we joined forces. And yeah, it was pretty beautiful for so much terrible, terrible situation that was kind of like friends for life. Yeah, that's nice. That's lovely. It's amazing to hear about the Canadian gentlemen and how people's
00:18:19
Speaker
you know, values and behaviours happen in a situation like that. Yeah, it's shocking really. But yes, like you say, it's a nice outcome with your friends there. So what did you... I've got loads of other questions about different things, but this is really interesting. So what did you do and how did you feel once you were out of that zone then? Was it literally just done well?
00:18:45
Speaker
I think I've had enough of that. Let's make it back to Gloucester. So what was the next challenge then?
Running Across Canada
00:19:01
Speaker
You've done a lot haven't you? The next one again is cycling and it's really offensive to be on a running podcast. It's so offensive.
00:19:12
Speaker
After that one, what was it? Go on, so I, right, I'll tell you, just, yeah, just abuse me after this podcast. Send me terrible messages about talking about cycling. And so I, I then jumped on a static bike then to attempt a new world record, a new Guinness world record, and it was to pedal more than 10 days nonstop. And the Guinness rules were pretty strict. Every hour you pedal.
00:19:39
Speaker
you can accumulate a five minute break. So you can imagine sleep is the most important part. So if you pedal for 24 hours, you can accumulate a two hour break and then 30 minutes to do your number ones and twos. And then there's an hour and a half there to get a sleep cycle. The world record holders before were all taking 20 minute catnaps by this amazing guy and say, look, I think
00:20:04
Speaker
If you're going to make it through to 10 days, you need more than just catnaps. You need a good solid one and a half hour sleep cycles. That's great. Let's do it. So I pedaled for 24 hours nonstop and then managed to put my head down on the bed, but it was just too much pressure. Joe, you know, you know, I'm not led down and I'm knowing every second counts. I'm like, come on. I just couldn't do it. And so then I got back on the bike and then I pedaled for.
00:20:31
Speaker
and another 40 more hours and then I was pretty exhausted and then I put my head down and managed to get a one and a half hour sleep cycle and I sustained that in the end for eight days. Can you think of the worst possible pain, Joe, after eight days of pedaling? Good grief. Your balls of your face, you must have, I mean, once you must have. Yeah, the wood balls is pretty good. I mean, that one was, yeah. But to tell you what was worse,
00:21:01
Speaker
my bum was it yeah my bum started to bleed bliss to become infected and it got so infected that then obviously you can become sick and and what if you get sick that's definitely going to end the record so they went and got some skin specialist in some nurses this sort of problem out and they came in and this nurse she ended up coming behind me she pulled my pants down joe thinking what's she doing
00:21:28
Speaker
Anyway, then she takes a photo of my bum, right? And then she holds up the photo, so I see it. I'm thinking, why would you do that to me? And then she said with her other nurses, you know, she said, I'm so sorry, Jen. There's nothing we can do for your bum to heal. You need to get off that bike. And it's that moment, isn't it, where you're like, right. It's a bit like running, cycling, whatever. You just, that's the moment where you got to push.
00:21:56
Speaker
So I did, I started to push harder and the nurses actually came back and they said, you know, I, you know, I think we've, um, we've, we've, we've got the answer. I said, what is it? Well, it was more like I was dribbling. What is it? Cause I couldn't really speak at this point. And it said Manuka honey. I didn't know what it was. I don't know if you know what it is, but it's basically honey with an antibiotic in it. So the nurse, she came in and slapped that on my bum. Yeah.
00:22:22
Speaker
and it managed to heal the infection within the space of eight hours and I kept pedaling for 12 days to get a Guinness World Record. Wow, honey is, Manuka honey is the answer. It is. Sweet stuff.
00:22:40
Speaker
Did you slap it on? What was the nurse behind you with her camera slapping it on? I mean, she was slapping it on and I touched it because I wanted to check. Is this honey? Is she having a laugh? So I touched it and of course it was on my fingers. Yeah. Did you? No, I didn't. No, I didn't. No, of course not. Joe, what are you thinking? Well, you might have wanted the sugar energy at that point. Wow.
00:23:12
Speaker
These old wives' tales, these things must have clearly worked then. Yeah. So you did 12 days on there. And next up was, when was this? Sorry, how long ago? So this was in 2013, I'd say. And then after that, I tell you what, my bum needed a holiday. So I actually got myself a visa for Canada of all places.
00:23:40
Speaker
Yeah, because I thought I want to go out there, I want to explore it, be a backpack, have some fun, you know, probably drink a few beers. And then, and then the Children's Hospital invited me back to show me where all the donations went. And we end up, call it a coincidence, Joe, but those two cycling challenges raised 20,000 pounds. And that was the same amount for the house that I didn't buy. When I got there, they ended up building a whole new school playroom.
00:24:09
Speaker
which blew me away. But then even more than that, when I went to leave, there was a group of kids that had a sign and it was almost like the best gift that they could have ever given me. Because on the way out, the sign said, keep going, Jamie. Oh, wow. And I got home and like a week went by or something and my visa for Canada came in. I was kind of sat on my mum and dad's toilet and I thought, well,
00:24:39
Speaker
I've eased in. I thought, as mad as this is, maybe I should keep going. Whatever this is, I didn't quite work out what it was I was doing. It just felt right. So then I went, right, bugger it. Let's scrap the bike. Let's make it more challenging. So I jumped off the toilet. I said, mum, dad, I'm going to run across Canada. And my mum just looked at me like, no, that's a really bad idea, Jamie.
00:25:06
Speaker
And then my dad, you know, he's, you know, he's done an Iron Man and, you know, he's like my biggest fan. He just looks at me and he goes, that's exactly what you've got to be doing. So then all, all together, we, we put it into Google run across Canada. And then this guy came up and you, you may know, as you may not, but his name is Terry Fox. Yes, I have heard that name. Yeah. He's, you know, in the 1980s, he ran across Canada with cancer and one leg and
00:25:35
Speaker
unfortunately, he died at the halfway point. But today, as we were watching his short documentary, he raised, I think he's raised something over $700 million for charity. Yeah, so yeah, he's a proper superhero. And, and so yeah, when we all watched that, I was like, right, that's it, let's go. So I never ran before properly, you know, I've done, I've done a few miles here or there, I liked running, but never really thought about long distances. And so then I just went for it, you know, I
00:26:04
Speaker
I took my confidence that I built up through the cycling challenges and thought maybe I could run across the country. So I flew out and never really ran before and then just kind of went for it. What was that like then? How did it compare when you were, I suppose, going through the tough times running? If you hadn't done that before compared to cycling, is it a different mental challenge or do you use the same kind of mental techniques, if you like, to get through it?
00:26:34
Speaker
I mean, running is definitely, I mean, all the runners know this, but it's definitely more challenging than cycling, like physically. I mean, if it's more of a toll physically than it is more emotionally and spiritually and mentally, all of it. So it was definitely a big change. It was a bit of a shock. And then the whole thing where I started off with a backpack, you can imagine how that went. Two weeks in, I thought I'd broken my foot.
00:27:02
Speaker
So I had to get a bone scan and everything. And then there's a lovely Canadian who took me in. He said, have you ever thought about a pram? Thinking a pram, why didn't I think of that? So changed to a pram, called him Caesar. It needed to be wrong with me. And then we just hit the road, me and Caesar. Excellent. So we had, I don't know if you've read her book, Rosie Swelpo.
00:27:30
Speaker
I've heard of Rosie, yeah, my lady's a big fan of her. Yeah, so she also runs with, she pulls her, I forget what she called it, but she pulls her home along her back. It's almost like a trailer, isn't it? I've got a picture in my head about it. Yeah, she's running, she's doing another huge one at the moment. I saw her coming down the side of a mountain yesterday on Twitter. She's amazing, she's amazing.
00:28:00
Speaker
That's true inspiration, isn't it? And I want to say she's old, but she's at this age where I think, would I still be doing it at her age? And I think, wow, well, I hope so. So it's really amazing inspiration. Yes. She was very fond of
00:28:23
Speaker
I forget what she named her, you know, at home. She was pulling along a trailer, but she was extremely fond of it. So did you bond with your push chair that you were? Oh, yeah. Yeah. He was like my Wilson. Yes. Yes. It was. Yeah. I mean, so much so he's still with me now. I mean, he's done the next adventure after that, which is then about my new book that's out. And he's actually in the garage now.
00:28:49
Speaker
Caesar, he's there. He's not looking good, I can assure you. Is he in need of a touch-up? Oh, he's in a strong need of a lick of paint. So Canada then, did you plan your move at all? Did you wing it?
00:29:10
Speaker
Yeah winged it really just kind of got going and thought I'll follow Terry Fox's route because I'm thinking well I'm sure he would have had a lot of people thinking about his route and making sure it was the right route and it's interesting actually because then for most of the way it felt like a headwind the whole time I'm thinking why would he pick this route this is like the worst route because you've got a headwind the whole time
00:29:37
Speaker
And then of course when you're pushing Caesar, it's like really, you feel the wind so much more. And then right towards the end of the run, I actually heard through the grapevine. The reason why he ran from east to west was to finish in his hometown. Okay. Where did you finish her? So the mission was to finish in Vancouver. So to start in St. John's, Newfoundland, and then finish in Vancouver. How far was that one?
00:30:06
Speaker
That was 5,000 miles. Goodness. Yeah, too far. So did you finish that or did you go straight onto America? What was that? Yeah, I did. I finished it. I finished it and then thought, God, what's just happened though? That was a bit of a bonkers adventure. I got frostbite on my nose, lost the end of my nose. I thought, thanks very much.
00:30:32
Speaker
I wanted to ask about that, the extremities in, well, there's a couple of questions actually I wanted to ask about wildlife as well. On my days off Jamie, I can just sit in front of Eden or Discovery Channel all day. And I'm intrigued as to what animal encounters people like yourself have had when you're connecting about it. But also you must have, temperature wise, you must have hit some quite extremes doing these challenges.
00:30:57
Speaker
yeah yeah hit the minus 45 celsius wow i mean it just turned into a like an antarctic run really in the end so and i've never done anything like that before but but but made it made it got through it um i was a mess it was an absolute mess at the end but then you you finish it
00:31:18
Speaker
And I guess I then I wrote a book on that called Adventure Man Anyone Can Be a Superhero. So that has the cycling and challenges in there and the run across Canada. And, you know, once I wrote about that, it almost put it to bed and processed it. Then I realized, oh, so this is my thing. Like, this is my mission. And you mentioned about the Adventure Man suit. And that's when, you know, the Adventure Man got suit created then. And he was like, wow, as weird as this is, this is my purpose. So
00:31:48
Speaker
I kind of, Canada, although Canada finished, I thought, do you know what, like every adventure, you know, you start where you left off and everything's an adventure. So, so I literally started right up near Seattle where, where I kind of, you know, finished my Canada run. And then that was my next adventure then on my new book, Adventure Man Running America.
USA Run and Children's Hospitals
00:32:10
Speaker
And that, that's one that I started, which was a five and a half thousand mile run.
00:32:16
Speaker
from the west coast to the east coast. But I say across, but the mission was to hit as many children's hospitals as I could. And the only way to do it was really running down the west coast and then going right down to Texas and all the way down to the bottom and then running up the east coast and back up to a place called, I finished in a place called Gloucester, which is
00:32:45
Speaker
Was that intentional? Yeah, I'm just Gloucester through and through. Don't judge me, will you? You're not judging me. No, no, I'm a Shropshire boy. I'm a Shropshire boy. Oh, I'll happily judge you being a Shropshire boy. So what was that moment like when you, when you, you know, do you realise that that was your purpose? If you think back to, you know, you were about to buy a house and you're like, no, this isn't, this isn't
00:33:15
Speaker
You had covered a lot of mileage before you got to that point at the end of Canada where you've gone, right, this is my purpose. What did that feel like? It's a good question. It's not like this overwhelming feeling or sensation. But, you know, when you open up your eyes in the morning, OK, I'm not feeling motivated. I've got to do what I do.
00:33:44
Speaker
So it's not a real big emotion that I'm feeling through that, but it's just, uh, it's like, ah, I know why I wake up every single morning and, you know, I've got baby now, which is like a whole other kind of motivation to, um, to kind of, you know, progress through life. But, but, you know, I, I, I kind of just found my love of what I do. And I love the challenging, I mean, I love the pain of running. I love it all. Bring it all. I want the good, the bad, the ugly, all of it.
00:34:14
Speaker
Brilliant. America then, five and a half thousand miles in total. How many points did you stop? So you mentioned that you were wanting to meet up at, was it children's hospitals, did you say? Yeah, it was about 20 in total. 20 hospitals. And it's an adventure. So it's definitely not one of those organized races where you must run one marathon every day or anything.
00:34:42
Speaker
you know I started off very slow and and built my mileage up for a few months but then I kind of got to this place where I was incredibly physically strong and so then I started to then run a marathon pretty much every day yeah and I needed to you know because the fundraising side of things is always a challenge because you're going to
00:35:04
Speaker
the hospitals and it needs time and then you're doing the interviews and media and so on and social media. Wow. And it's just all of it. And it's like a full time job around the running. So I remember one, one, you know, one hospital because you're always looking for that motivation, you know, you were looking for anything you can to kind of get keep you going. Yeah. And there was this one, one hospital and there was this little kid. And Ben, his name was and he said, he said, Jamie said, I'm
00:35:34
Speaker
I just can't believe you're running five and a thousand miles. He must have been nine years old, Joe, right? And when I talk about with my mum about running five and a thousand miles, it just goes over her head, you know, and she's just, you know, she'll cut me off and say, do you want a cup of tea? Because she just, she just doesn't get it, right? And she'll go and smoke her cigarette. So, so this little boy, is that, is he a blur of jail? I just can't believe you're running all these miles.
00:36:00
Speaker
So as he's, as he's showing all this interest in me, I'm thinking, wow, he really thinks I'm a superhero. I'm getting filled up on the inside and he said, what's it like to do this? And what's it like to do that? I'm like, wow, you know, this is what it's all about. And then towards the end of the chat, you know, I'm leaving now and I'm, you know, I'm feeling really good. I'm like, wow, you know, I feel really strong. I feel like I've made a difference in kids' life. And he says, Jamie.
00:36:26
Speaker
I got one last question. I sort of turned around and I said, anything, then whatever you want, you just ask. And he goes, when you get to the end of this run, are you going to then run back again? What did you say? I just, I just dodged it as best as I could. Well,
00:36:55
Speaker
A child's mind is pure, isn't it? It's a valid question. It's a valid question to him. Imagine if you've, and I know that you've raised, you've raised, you know, a lot of money. And, you know, you've already mentioned that you went to the one before you set off for Canada, and that was part of your motivation. You actually saw what some of that money can do. But those visits as well, it's not necessarily the money, it's the time that you've given them to those children and talking to them and, you know, getting that
00:37:25
Speaker
getting that little boy to think like that about, you know, what's your next challenge if you've potentially inspired so many of these kids as well to potentially do their own adventures in the future? Yeah, you never know. Yeah. Yeah, it's lovely. What was your treadmill challenge like?
Treadmill World Record Challenge
00:37:50
Speaker
Oh, yeah, the treadmill. I call it the treadmill.
00:37:53
Speaker
Yeah, lots of people didn't they? Yeah, so the Dread Mill Challenge was trying to cover the most amount of miles in seven days that you could. So the current record was at 517 miles. Yeah. So it worked out trying to do essentially 20 marathons distance-wise within the seven days. Guinness Rules were great. You could just get on and off as much as you could, but
00:38:19
Speaker
Even though I've ran across these countries, I'm really not a good runner. My gift is that I can keep going. I'm really slow, but I can keep going. I kind of thought, right, if I'm going to give myself the best shot, beat in the distance, then I will need to pretty much run as much as I can for 22 hours a day, and then try and sleep for two hours, maybe three hours, but maximum, and then the rest, I just keep moving. Then I worked out the time,
00:38:50
Speaker
the kind of speed you'd have to go at. But I kind of thought, right, well, if I'm going to have a go at this, I thought the reality is if I, if I do a hundred miles, if I do it slowly or do it really quickly at the end of the hundred miles, I'm going to be absolutely bugging anyway. So I thought, right, well, let's go guns blazing. So I just absolutely flew off for, you know, about kind of 30, 40 hours on the treadmill and just went for it. Couldn't even sleep on the first night. Couldn't even take my first hour on that.
00:39:19
Speaker
first couple of hours, it was just too much pressure. So I just pretty much run the whole time because I got well ahead of the distance. And then it really kicked in, Joe, right? Then I thought, ah, I've really messed up here because then suddenly I just couldn't even walk. I was on the treadmill and I could barely walk. I thought, I'm done. I looked down and my ankles, they were like elephants, like the size of elephants. And where I went wrong is
00:39:47
Speaker
I kind of assumed that running across America would be this, you know, like this way of, you know, strong running, but actually running on a treadmill just is completely different in the movement. Yeah. So my ankles felt that and, and then yeah, could barely walk. And so I, so no one knows this actually, this was like, this is something that I've never done before, but I actually, in my mind, I gave up first time ever. I said, I can't do this. There's no way I can do it.
00:40:14
Speaker
And I didn't tell anyone it was like this dirty little secret. Yeah. And as Tom and I just wanted to wait for a really good time to get off. Anyway, that kind of good time just didn't come. So I ended up going back to back to sleep, got a couple of hours. And then honestly, it's the worst thing ever getting after a couple of hours. You know what it's like when you seize up because you stop, but this is like to a whole new excruciating level. So.
00:40:39
Speaker
As I got out of bed, I'm literally screaming, bellowing at the top of my voice just to get back on the treadmill. And I'm thinking, why am I even doing this? Because I'm getting off. I'm giving up. So what's the point in putting myself through this? Anyway, I get going. I'm just like, right, I need to at least show people I'm trying. And then I've done it. I had volunteers and officials all around. I said, right. But my dad was there. I said, dad, I'm getting off. And he goes. How far into it were you at this point?
00:41:08
Speaker
I think I was probably about 220 miles in or something. So I was probably two and a half, three days in. But the pace that I was going was impossible to break the record because it was just, I was a mess. And so I thought there's no way I'm going to do it. So, you know, there was just no point. So I said to my dad, I said, right, dad, I said, I'm getting off. And he goes, no, you're not. No, no, dad, like I'm
00:41:37
Speaker
I'm getting off." I said, look at the state of me. I've, I've buggered up this whole thing. So, and he said, Jamie, our support's been terrible. He said, we're going to have water on tap. We're going to get better food down you. We're going to, you know, I said, dad, food and water's not going to sort this out. And then he said, we're going to get ibuprofen. I'm like, dad, you're not listening to me. And he said, well, Jamie, he said,
00:42:07
Speaker
Do you want to be open to my suggestions? Or do you want to give up? Oh, Dad, ruthless. Yeah. You had you? Yeah. So I said, go on then. Just do whatever you do. He said, should I get you a coffee? And I was like, I never drank coffee on the challenge because I didn't want to get. So he said, yeah, get me a coffee. It doesn't matter now because I'm getting off anyway. So I'm on the treadmill, swigging coffee down. He goes off to get ibuprofen. And this amazing guy, James Forrester, who's a professional rugby player,
00:42:37
Speaker
He was one of the volunteers, right? Never met him, but he'd come in and then he says, well, what's going on, Jamie? So I started pouring my heart out of him, saying about my ankles. Then he starts telling me a story about how his knee and ankles was completely gone for years at rugby, but how he used to take these ibuprofen and it would just be the absolute sweet spot.
00:43:01
Speaker
And so sure enough, you know, the ibuprofen can, but I'm, I'm in this story. I'm just so soaked into a story, but I looked down before and even on the ibuprofen, my legs are starting to move, like they're starting to go again. Cool. And then the ibuprofen went, definitely helped, but then off and running again. And it just, you know, it's another way you could get through. The power of storytelling. Yeah. Incredible. Yeah.
00:43:32
Speaker
I view within that causes some controversy among some runners, doesn't it? It works. Wow. And, and, and do you, so how long did you deal with the treadmill? Where did that? So I got to, well, one of the most, um, ridiculous parts was I think I got to 400 miles. I was having another dip and I thought, I don't know if I'm going to get back out of this dip again. I think I'm just going to crash and burn. And, uh,
00:44:01
Speaker
And then suddenly I started to get these, like, uh, these rushes to my brain just out of nowhere, like big, massive, like rush, like boom, like almost like adrenaline. And it was like shocked every 30 seconds it would like hit my brain. But it was really like putting me on edge. And then suddenly I started to look at everything and I saw colors, purples, greens, like everything just had like a tinge of a different color to it. Then I started to.
00:44:29
Speaker
Well, I couldn't see things. It was just colors. So I definitely wasn't, didn't see Elton John or anything like that. But, but I began to run and I've never felt like it in my life, Joe, but as a runner's experience, right. I started to run, bear in mind, I was over 400 miles in and I started to run like a gazelle. And I genuinely, in this moment,
00:44:58
Speaker
I believed I was the strongest runner on the planet. Obviously I know that's not true, but in that moment when I was running, I was just hammering it. It's like I didn't even have to try one bit. All I was actually doing was moving each shoulder left and right, and the rest of my body just flowed.
00:45:23
Speaker
And I'm sure I could see all these colors, but the feeling was just immense. And I was saying to the support team at this time, I said, should I be slowing down and saving my energy? And I think they were just looking at me like, just roll with it. And I was like, cool, let's just roll with it. And I just went and went for hours upon hours like this. And then I managed to make it through the night.
00:45:51
Speaker
All I remember during that night is darkness and those colours and then a voice in my head or from somebody who was supporting saying, keep up, hurry up, hurry up, because I kept getting close to falling off the treadmill. And then it just went black. I just don't even remember it then. And then I opened my eyes and I said to the therapist, like, where am I? You know, I just opened my eyes. She said, you're on the treadmill, Challenge Jamie. I was like, right. And she said,
00:46:21
Speaker
You're doing really well guys. And what happened last night? She said, well, you become unconscious. Like you were still on the treadmill, but you couldn't speak. Um, but we just kept you going. And then, and then we put you to bed and, but apparently I couldn't speak for me. I blacked out. So I don't remember the experience. And, um, but I opened my eyes and sure enough, the colors were still there and I managed to get back on the treadmill and then I, I pushed it and made it to, um, 524 miles in the end. That's incredible.
00:46:51
Speaker
And I'm fascinated with this. You've reached like a subconscious, a subconscious level of running there. If you're unconscious and you were going through that, it's like a higher level, like a higher purpose that you were describing. That's wow. Well, I mean, yeah, people can take, I guess, what they want from the story, but the story continues because when it finished, I then was in such a bad way. I couldn't breathe properly and I got rushed into hospital.
00:47:21
Speaker
And I lost half my red blood cells and also lost a whole other load of stuff as well that was just half, which shouldn't be halved. And so I was led in the hospital and I mean, I couldn't move. I mean, I was out and I was in a heck of a lot of pain. And the doctor actually, you know, she's saying, well, how was it? And of course I shared about that day about seeing all the colours. And she said, God, that's really interesting you say that. She said, there was a study made where
00:47:51
Speaker
people in their kind of kept as prisoners on camps in these, you know, like middle of nowhere places where they're starved and they're, you know, they've got no water. They end up getting to this place where they're so close to dying that then the body shoots off all these wonderful adrenaline and all these different chemicals, which is the colors that they end up seeing as almost like one last ditch effort to kind of keep you alive.
00:48:21
Speaker
Goodness. How do you process that? When you first came on, you said, I'm going to do adventures for the rest of my life. Clearly, getting to that point then doesn't put you off at all. Well, I can assure you, you will ever catch me on a treadmill ever again. Fair enough. I mean, why would you go on a treadmill anyway? I mean, yeah, much better on the road or on a trail. Yes.
00:48:51
Speaker
One last question. Tell us about your superhero foundation. So yeah, I founded a charity that I volunteer my time with called Superior Foundation.
Founding the Superhero Foundation
00:49:04
Speaker
And it's a charity where we help sick kids. So we helped a dad climb up and down our local hill in Gloucester until he reached the equivalent of Mount Everest. And we managed to raise 20,000 pounds
00:49:20
Speaker
his daughter for an operation in America to kind of keep her pain free and keep her walking because she's got cerebral palsy. So we've helped a lot of families in this way and then we're about to have a new initiative with setting up and creating volunteers supporting sick kids and their families as well in the hospital and at home. So
00:49:42
Speaker
Yeah, I'm really lucky. I'm so lucky. I get paid to do motivational speaking and keynote speeches, which pays really, really well. And so that's how I make my living. And then I give time to the charity. And then it's nice. What you said is I get to meet the kids that we support and help. So I get topped up on the inside. Yeah, good. That's brilliant.
00:50:09
Speaker
Well, one last point for our listeners.
Partner and Fellow Adventurer, Anna McNuff
00:50:11
Speaker
I don't know if they know this, but you mentioned that you had your first child when we first started speaking, who slept with us since this morning for you. For those who don't know, your partner's also an adventurer, isn't she, Anna? Yeah. So my partner, Anna McNuff, she's got loads of books out. She's a much better writer than me, actually. I'd probably say she's
00:50:34
Speaker
better by her book over minery she's a much better author but her her last adventure i mean she makes me feel like a wussy to be honest joe because her last adventure was running a hundred marathons she's the girl guiding ambassador through britain and she done a hundred marathons she's thinking yeah that's pretty pretty big but she's done the entire thing completely and utterly barefoot yes i remember yeah no shoes no socks
00:51:04
Speaker
So yeah, so we've been together for six or seven years now. So I found Anna, she's the love of my life. We've got our first baby called Storm. She's our adventure baby. And I've got to say it, I think I would rather run on a treadmill for seven days than help to grow up a human. I mean, it is brutal, isn't it? That's an interesting point then. So how has
00:51:34
Speaker
with parents like yourselves, what are your conversations like around adventures now that your parents, have they changed at all? Will they remain the same? Are you planning pushchair adventures? Yeah, I mean, we're adventurers at heart, so we will always do it, but she is only 11 months. So we've just got to the place now where we're like, oh, OK, I think we can take her on a little adventure. She's ready.
00:52:03
Speaker
So yeah, but honestly, it's just been survival. Anyone that has a pet, anyone that has a baby, I mean, if you want to know what it's like to run across a cat and run across a man, just have a baby. It's even worse. More challenging, more painful. I mean, it's, yeah, I mean, I always don't sleep. So that was the, you know, at least on the seven day challenge, it was just seven days of sleep deprivation. We've just done nine months. I mean,
00:52:33
Speaker
Yeah, it's tough, isn't it? It is tough, but very rewarding. It is, yeah. All those beautiful things, yeah. Yeah. Well, I hope that storm continues to sleep through until 6.30 in the morning from now on, like she did this morning. That was very good of it. Yeah, that was annoying.
00:52:52
Speaker
I assume your book's in all good bookshops and local bookshops and online. Yeah, I think COVID's had a bit of a challenge by getting the book into the bookstores. I think there's a bit of a delay lagging. They will be there eventually. But I would say probably the best way to get it instantly would be Amazon. So that's Adventure Man Running America.
00:53:18
Speaker
or my first book, which is Adventure Man. Anyone can be a superhero. Or you could buy two. You could do that. I mean, that would be pretty cool. Buy both. And Anna's. Anna's latest one as well. Get three. Yeah. Christmas reading. And what do you remind us of your social handles if people want to follow you and follow you in Adventure? So you can follow me at Adventure Man. Yeah.
00:53:43
Speaker
Or if you just Google Jamie McDonald motivational speaker, I'll pop up there too. Great. Jamie, thanks so much. I've really enjoyed chatting. It's been great. Yeah, you too, Joe. I've really enjoyed myself. Thank you. And you didn't snot down my AirPods once. I muted. I muted from the one. Success. Cheers, Jamie. Cheers, Joe.