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hi there welcome back to another episode of Runners only with dom Harvey coming up Nick Ashley I got slammed on my right
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side at 100K now tossed in In The Air I remember that bit and landing on my back
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in a ditch that wasn't visible from the road which was a bit problematic you may
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not be familiar with the name but Nick Ash Hill is a Wellington dude who's pretty much like the forest camp in New
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Zealand in August 2017 Nick was 81 punishing days into his run from one side of America to the other Los Angeles
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to New York doing around 50 kilometers a day he didn't get to finish the run
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though because he was the victim of what he reckons was a deliberate hit-and-run
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accident from some meth head in a pickup truck by the way that my words not his um this accident left him in a hospital
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fighting for his life 16 surgeries and five years later Nick went back to the spot of his accident to finish what he
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started it really is the epitome of a full circle moment he's done some other
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pretty epic organized events too like the comrades ultra marathon in South Africa which is something I really want
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to do one day and the marathon disabler stage race in the Moroccan desert which is something I can probably do without
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in my lifetime this is definitely one for the running nudes but I reckon it's
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also just a pretty interesting story about an ordinary kiwi dude who's done some pretty extraordinary stuff despite
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some serious big hurdles to overcome all right let's get into it really hope you
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enjoy it Nick ashel on Runners only [Music] [Music] Runners only with dom Harvey and Nick
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Ashley hello mate hello dog nice to meet you and nice to meet you as well um you've just we're in your your office at
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Wellington University and you've just recently returned uh from an epic adventure in the United States of
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America yeah for I've been back now for four days body is just coming right in
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terms of jet lag so that's that's really good um yeah it's lovely to be back in
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the in the beautiful beautiful Wellington weather awesome and you're not joking it is um on this particular
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day uh July the 2nd 2022 it's a nice day in Wellington yeah it is every day's
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like this in Wellington apparently so um yeah so this this adventure that you've just um returned
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from that we just mentioned before it's the craziest story running the length of
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America uh Route 66 from Santa Monica and uh in California to um where about where abouts in New York
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do you finish yeah finished um Coney Island I wanted to put my feet in the Atlantic Ocean which I did so you're
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right started at the end of Santa Monica Pier on the 14th of May 2017 uh and finished
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um 21st of June 2022 so I think I might hold the world record for the longest time yeah so
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um yeah a lot of people are thinking five years what was he doing like three kilometers today it's a it's a
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hell of a yarn and not a yarn that you'd wish upon anyone so we'll go back to the
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beginning of this challenge so so your mum passed away in 2015. yeah that's right so she was diagnosed in 2013 with
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a horrible disease of the of the lungs called pulmonary fibrosis um it's a progressive lung disease no cure and
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very very few people knew about it then and still don't know about it now so one
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of the objectives through running across America was to to play a role in generating more awareness of this
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horrible disease of the lung how do you go from uh from I'm just I'm just trying
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to trying to see The Logical conclusion here and I I don't see one well there's
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another side the the in 2014 I'd run marathon to sabler Sahara Desert Morocco
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and and the truth is I was looking for that next big challenge both physically and and
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mentally and I'd always had this since I was a child this fashion fascination
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with Route 66 and and rather than like most people do mid-life crisis they gotta you know buy a Harley or rent a
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Harley yeah a Mustang um I thought damn it I'm gonna I'm gonna run it um so the passing of mum was gave
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me an opportunity to honor her passing and raise awareness of the illness but also a chance to do something pretty
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cool at the same time absolutely and what a cool thing to do so I suppose a lot of these questions I'm asking from a
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selfish perspective because um I know that I would like to do this and I know a lot of people listening would like to
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do this at some point so how much planning goes into it most people have a support crew there are a few um
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crazier uh you know Runners that um that do go unsupported uh but for me that support crew was was really really
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important yeah so so we had like a camper van or yeah so we would uh we rented an RV um out for uh three months
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back in 2017. um support crew were were phenomenal um daughter uh father-in-law and two other close
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friends that came in so so that the support crew actually rotated um the logistics involved and the
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planning boy a good a good 18 months is that so yeah I had to raise a lot of a lot of money because it does take a lot
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of money to actually make it happen get some sponsorship in place and the training required was uh was pretty
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rigorous as well yeah how do you train for something like that and um part two of this question I guess is like what
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was your what was your target per day did you have a per day Target or yeah well most Runners um when running across
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the states uh tackle the route further north because of lower temperatures Route 66 is
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actually quite quite South so I knew I was going to be confronting 30 plus degrees Celsius pretty much most days
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particularly early on and that was the case in California Arizona and New Mexico so what sort of training is
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required is it just like um is it doing like big consecutive days it is it for me it involved anywhere between 30 and
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60 to 70 kilometers um six days a week so I was putting in massive case but to come back to your
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original question the target each day back in 2017 was around 50 to 55k Unreal and if I look at the average I averaged
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about 53 K's a day over over the duration back in 2017 over the 81 days that I ran unbelievable
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so what was your goal originally back then like to do it in sub 100 days yeah yeah that's a great question the answer
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is yes I wanted to dip Lo the uh but the day I got hit that was that was day 81 um and I've just finished it in the last
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part of the run in 21 days with two days rest and 19 days so it took me just over
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102 days oh it's not bad so I'm deeply disappointed so so you're running you're
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running like um over 50 km by the way for anyone that's not big on their running 42 kilometers as your standard
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Marathon so 50k's is like doing an ultra marathon each day so is it just hard in
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the morning when you get started until your muscles warm up or does your body progress you progressively get more
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tired or does the body adapt well again great question if I go back to 2017 the first you know kilometer kilometer and a
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half was was always a little bit uh always a little bit challenging in terms of warm up but when I got into it after
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time it became became a huge drug um and to the extent that during the rest days
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um I got very very frustrated and and very agitated because because I wasn't
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running um so the body certainly does does adapt going back this time to finish it off
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was was a little bit different because my my body structurally is is a little bit different now God you must have seen
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some some crazy sites on the way I mean we'll get to day 80 later but um yeah lots of lots of interesting uh what
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Wildlife I think uh one of the one of the special moments I remember uh interacting with two coyotes in uh you
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know in Arizona that were actually circling me um part of Route 66 sorry a big chunk of
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route 66. no longer exists um Interstate 70 has actually been built over it now it's illegal
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to run on an interstate in in the US for obvious reasons but there were times when I had to do it
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um and I was regularly stopped by uh by local state troopers to actually get off
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it it's the U.S are on a trail on the side of the road or well it was a trail
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on the other side of a fence line but um you needed trail shoes because it was essentially dried dried mud but that was
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pretty cool but it generated a lot of um blisters at the time how like how far away was your support crew were they
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sort of like like slowly cruising along with you or would they drive to the next
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town they would typically so over a sort of 50 55k stage route each day we'd work
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out um a point after about 18 to 20 kilometers where I typically refuel with uh you know with breakfast and then we'd
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work out another 18 to 20 kilometers that stop to and then that final stop for for the day so it was broken down
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into three three stages which is really good what sort of pace were you doing we
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just don't know where like seven minute case seven to seven and a half minute cases
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was uh was pretty much the pretty much the standard wow so he's sort of running
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for like how many like I I like 10 hour days sort of thing yeah with the breaks the the the
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um shortest day was around six and a half hours um if I go back to my journal the
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longest day boy uh nine and a half hours it's a really really long days um fuel because you're burning anywhere
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between five seven seven and a half thousand calories uh which which is huge um so you're constantly in deficit but
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you need to give the body as much time as you can to recover but you're constantly in deficit so what what like
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an average day look like give us like a snapshot a couple of bananas uh blueberries was
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very much part of my daily morning routine plus avocado um because you'd always be in calorie
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deficit wouldn't you oh and I was on um back in 2017 unlike this time the return I was on a um keto diet
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and I been on that keto diet for about about 12 to 15 months prior so I had to be really really careful what I was
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fueling my fueling my body with but that will be the start of the day and then stop one after 1820k
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massive amounts of eggs and um sweet potato cheese again avocado you know blueberries coffee black coffee coconut
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milk coconut oil olive oil on anything that I could eat but it really did work for my body at
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that time yeah okay so yeah so you eating like a bastard all day um so then then what time were you sort
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of finishing most days it's just it did vary depending on the elevation I I did get some big elevation in parts of
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parts of Arizona but um so waking up at 5 30 on the road by no later than quarter past six
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um I think the earliest would have been about 2 30. the latest I do remember a seven or eight pm right maybe a little
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bit longer um that was a tough day probably because of 12 30 in other reader climbs yeah and
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then what what do the evenings look like were you just like crashing out straight
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away or were you doing fun stuff with your crew yeah 2017 one of the things that we um got my
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father a father-in-law into was um Breaking Bad so that was uh that wasn't awesome that was like um
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yeah he never watched it before and it was really really cool to sit down with him from season one I mean I watched it
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many times so it was awesome to go back to it were you still married at the time
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yes well it wasn't understanding what how did you get this this over the line
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well um Sarah um got it got enrolled enrolled in you know the idea pretty pretty quickly and
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uh she really really helped with on the social greatly helped on the social media side uh did uh designed and
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implemented a you know a website for The Run um helped with sponsorship it was just
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went on and on and on so she really really got behind me that is so good um you must have a good relationship
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with her father as well if he's um coming and joining you on this yeah he did have some back back issues which I
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wasn't aware of you know at the time but it was phenomenal he took the responsibility for for driving the RV
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did an awesome job so did you have a favorite place in 2017 yeah uh did I have a favorite place there
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were so many yeah yeah not just not just one I think part of the California desert because of its
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Tranquility yeah really special and Route 66 the the road is just it's dead straight and there's nothing else on it
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you know occasionally you might see an occasional car every half an hour or a motorcycle or a group of motorcyclists
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that was that was that was pretty magical being out there on your own and there's nobody else there that was
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that was special yes when you hear Route 66 I don't know you just imagine it
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being kind of busy yeah I mean parts of it yeah um but you know particularly early part of
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the morning and later on in the afternoon there was so much tranquility and and the color just just changed and
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they you know the rattlesnakes on the road as well we're the rattlesnakes are
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like on the road or in the like sand on the side of the road or what um over somewhere some were roadkill in the in
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the middle of the road so they they certainly weren't moving um others were just on the side of the road others were
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just simply simply Crossing um and yeah that I could certainly recall on some occasions because
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Route 66 part of it you're just looking straight ahead and you're running
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straight ahead you're not looking down and I had a few a few close calls in terms of where I
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was stepping and a few colorful words at the time well what's the story with
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rattlesnakes like are they um do rattlesnakes do they sort of seek out humans or what do their own standings
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you know typically um where there's noise around they're just they'll just move on right but uh
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if they get agitated certainly um you don't want to be interacting with them
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you must have got to kick the first couple of times you saw them just the novelty Factory yeah absolutely and and
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uh you know quite frightening frightening in the sense that my running pace increased yeah to begin with yeah
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what are these 400 kilometers though it's uh must be the rattlesnake okay let's fast forward to day eighty one day
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81. so so where are you um about five six uh miles um west of a small rural town in Ohio
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called West Jefferson which is about 30 or so miles from the capital Columbus right so so at this point it's like um
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80 of the runs done is done and uh I was actually one week ahead of schedule and I was thinking
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about starting to think that I can actually finish this in under 100 days in under 100 days yeah yeah but uh six
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yeah 80 of the way and like it I I don't know like I suppose you can't from from
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halfway you're counting down rather than counting up but 80 it's almost job done
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yeah yeah that's right at that point you'd run uh just over two and a half
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thousand miles yeah yeah so you're running the stats like any other day yeah you're up you're having olive oil
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you're having your eggs yeah yeah had all of that uh remember leaving the RV
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um according to my journal just a little bit later that morning uh around around
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6 30 uh on us 40 because it come off uh Route 66 several hundred kilometers before
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[Music] um heading towards um Columbus dual carriageway always run into the traffic
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for obvious reasons nothing on the road at that time of the morning 10 past quarter past eight
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uh I was on a hands-free Skype call with Sarah and the girls who were on holiday
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and dark colored pickup truck on the outer Lane of the Dual carriageway just one
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one vehicle on the road nothing else didn't think anything of it at all and then the truck moved from the outer Lane
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to the uh to the inner Lane didn't think anything of that either and then with 50
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60 meters out um Chris speed came onto the hard shoulder where I was and I for a split
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second I thought I'm gonna I'm gonna be hit and I attempted to drop jump a
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small small metal railing on the side of the of the road and got my remember getting my left foot up
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but I wasn't quick enough and I got slammed on my right side at 100K now tossed in In The Air I remember that bit
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and landing on my back in a ditch that wasn't visible from the road which was a bit problematic because any
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cars going high didn't actually see me so you said you're on a on a Skype phone call at the
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time so where was your phone did you mean it was um the phone was in my running pack right and um the good thing
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well positive thing about this even though the the phone was thrown from my pack it was still working so
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um the the real horrible thing is that Sarah and and Bella and Abby uh heard my screams
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um but the positive is that I was still able to have a you know a conversation with um you know with Sarah uh she oh so
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the call did not disconnect no no no no so she was able to alert official state troopers
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um and my support crew and then there was a process of trying to find me so so you were you were communicative through
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through the whole thing you must have been in an excruciating pain well well what do you think
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adrenaline kicked in on you well that's that's anything I obviously the my leg it snapped I could
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see you know open open bones with with the open zipper fracture um but I don't feel anything
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um but I had no idea of the what was going on with with my pelvis that had uh had been crushed and it rotated so it
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had done essentially I know you can't see this way we've done this but I had
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no idea about that you must have just been in shock right yeah yeah absolutely um and I you know I remember looking
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down and sinking and I mean joking because that's probably just part of who I am joking thinking
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[ __ ] my run's over and it was it really was yeah you've got absolutely no doubt in your mind not one
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ounce of doubt that this was deliberate like the driver swerved no no no question what a piece of [ __ ] from me um
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I mean the driver didn't stop but something that you learn about in hospital and subsequent investigation by
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by authorities there that part of rural Ohio has has one of the highest um opiate rates in the US there may have
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been alcohol involved um and the combination of drugs I mean I'm assuming that the the individual
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knew what they were doing I don't know that they might have no recollection of it
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whatsoever but what I do know is that 100 certain with regard to the pickup truck on the outer Lane at the very
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beginning there wasn't any deviation or erratic driving so I'm making the assumption that yeah she knew
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unbelievable so okay so so Sarah um gets on the phone lets your support crew know and let's stay state troopers
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know then um did you know exactly where you were or were you able to give her no
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um it was just through questioning so uh it was just through uh through a series
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of questions and the critical question was had I passed the local Airfield and the answer is no so they were able to
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determine roughly the area that I was that I was in how you did how you remained conscious and uh able to
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communicate as uh something of America I guess luckily there was no head injury involved I guess yeah I did have a
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concussion but fortunately that was that was that was really minor that I mean that's a good point if I'd been hit head
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on and okay so um so they're there for 50 minutes are you are you on the phone
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to Sarah the entire time yeah until until the um phone died that was after that that was that was
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that was [ __ ] um because I I it was a really dark a really dark time and I remember what I
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wanted to do was was sleep um was that the concussion I think it was the it was the whole
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trauma yeah shock really kicking in with with the with the body um and I made that decision I remember I
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made that decision I'm going to sleep uh but then I heard voices and it was medic first aid responders
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state troopers and apparently a helicopter you never felt like it was a matter of life and death
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were you dead at the time like we were you were you sitting there thinking [ __ ]
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I may not make it out of this alive um there was a moment when the phone died that
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I made the decision I have to do something myself because nobody's coming I mean I didn't know that people were
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looking forward why could you do that well I tried to crawl out I was on my um I was on my back uh on a slope in a
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ditch and I and I tried to crawl out but I uh I couldn't and I couldn't work out
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why but obviously I know now because the state of my pelvis yeah so you're just unable to move I was
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unable to move when you heard those um Sirens or those voices that must have been oh one of the
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happiest moments of your life yeah it was it was pretty special um and then airlifted by helicopter the
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road had been closed at that point to a um to a higher State University Hospital
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which we came home and then straight straight on the Opitz like everyone else in that town
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pretty much pretty much I'm glad I got off them quickly though oh my goodness yeah so do
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you remember much about those first couple of days in the hospital no I I if I go back to the helicopter
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ride I just remember just flashing lights um and the doctors and nurses when I arrived at the hospital told me that my
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language was really really colorful and it wasn't directed at them it was directed at the you know the person who
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hit me yeah yeah I I I slept and really for the next six weeks I slept 18 20 hour days was it just the
00:24:07
drugs or just your body trying to heal itself I think combination of operation of both yeah and then so how long are
00:24:13
you in hospital there for in uh in Wexner um The Brain and Spine year months in a rehabilitation hospital
00:24:23
which was attached to OSU and then after that about another month outpatient and
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then had final permission medical permission to fly but I had to be accompanied by a by a nurse and flew
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back to the UAE where more surgery to address internal injuries right so it wasn't just pelvis and broken bones
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there were a whole heap of other stuff did anyone remain with you in the states or did you did your daughter and your
00:24:51
father-in-law in your support group that they had to well um Pete my father-in-law at the time at uh he'd
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already already left because we had a sort of a change around in support crew so it was Emily um
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daughter that stayed and Kieran who was another member of the support crew he stayed and Sarah flew in
00:25:10
from Cyprus with Abigail our youngest who would have been just under 10 at the time Bella was
00:25:18
still in the United Kingdom at school so complete complete change around and life
00:25:23
change massively massively life changing yeah we rented a um a house just outside
00:25:30
Columbus so I could carry on with Rehabilitation right now how many how many operations how many surgeries
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steam yeah why so many um yeah um bit by bit uh fragments of bone from my pelvis pierced my bowel
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um and as that wasn't picked up immediately in hospital so I developed a huge infection
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um Sarah told me several months later that she needed to give permission to one of
00:26:07
the surgeons to take off my right leg because of the infection but the surgeon God bless him won that battle um I still
00:26:16
have it which is good so um as a result of the infection I lost a lot of tissue so muscles
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um muscle their Christmas muscle does bugger all in the left leg had to be moved to protect my pelvis because of
00:26:29
the tissue that was removed there yeah geez it makes wonder how many how many 50 50 calls there are in medical
00:26:34
situations like that in regards to removing the leg because here you are you're running again
00:26:45
bye a wonderful guy the orthopedic surgeon but he emphasized the word probably he didn't say absolutely not
00:26:57
absolutely not and that was the word I needed to hear because it really gave me the self-belief that one day it might be
00:27:04
possible well yeah so so you're in you're in hospital for months you have
00:27:09
operation after operation after operation when do you get to return home when does that happen
00:27:14
um in January 2018 and I got hit on the 2nd of August 2017. right when do you decide I'm going to go back and finish
00:27:25
this I I think I made that decision as soon as I woke up after being hit um when you're 80 of the way done like if
00:27:37
you were maybe closer to California and just starting out you'd be like ah forget about it but it was job almost
00:27:42
done I I yeah I know and I jokingly this lead um you know there's there's a there's a
00:27:54
huge difference between self-belief and actually making it happen and the work involved to actually get back just
00:28:02
basic walking let alone running the work involved in terms of like your rehab and things yeah yeah it's yeah I
00:28:11
attempted to to run about 15 months after the uh the accident and I took two three paces and and I I fell over
00:28:23
and I was so angry and frustrated frustrated with myself but clearly I knew that my my body my legs were
00:28:31
weren't strong enough to do it so I had to go right back to basics um and that was going right back to
00:28:38
working on my on my core and strengthening my legs again in the in the gym before I could even think about
00:28:43
running and that's what I did wow so and then um and then um the covid-19 pandemic comes along so when when were
00:28:52
you planning on going back was the lockdown in the pandemic of blessing in disguise because it gave you
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more time the answer is yes the answer is yes but the original plan was I was thinking about going back in in May 2020
00:29:05
that was the plan right to actually finish it um but pulled the plug on it in March spoke with the surgeons and
00:29:12
Hospital OSU and they said forget it rate of covert cases here is is increasing at a rapid array and we all
00:29:19
know what happened thereafter so it was it was a good decision so it gave me gave me more time
00:29:24
um and I was still living at the UAE at the time um so coming back to Wellington in late
00:29:29
2020 gave me the opportunity to put a lot more Hill work in which I which was fantastic because Pennsylvania
00:29:37
was bloody early okay so so you go you go back this is just kind of recently um when did you go
00:29:47
back to the States yeah I left on the 27th of May um arrived on the 28th had one day in
00:29:55
between to sort out food and Logistics I started running again so day 81 continued on the 30th of May
00:30:04
what was that like getting back there because you um you picked it up exactly where where it was you know cut short
00:30:10
with that accident last time was it a how did it feel was it a I don't know it
00:30:14
was like a cathartic sort of experience or yeah it was I mean a lot of people have asked you why go back to the exact
00:30:21
spot that you that you were hit um some people have said why don't you go back
00:30:25
to the very beginning Santa Monica Pier um it was more symbolic um it's quite pointless in a way yeah
00:30:39
yeah the emotion on on day one running past the ditch and there's a reason for
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that is that I went back to it the day before the night before with um Jim wheeler and Jim McCord and
00:30:50
Paul Wheeler right who have run across America themselves um awesome individuals
00:30:58
um and had my peace with the rail and the ditch um and really to forgive the person who who hit me um no
00:31:14
[ __ ] that guy yeah well there's still a little bit you're a bigger than me
00:31:19
yeah I I needed to I needed to find a fine place for that um and I and I have now which is good
00:31:26
well I mean you just it's no good being angry forever you know no was I angry
00:31:32
hell yeah yeah um yeah for years um but it was also very destructive to to my mental health
00:31:39
um so post-traumatic stress disorder which I was in complete denial about for a year that was wrong um that led to
00:31:48
depression yeah what is what does um PTSD look like for me uh and it's quite quite common
00:31:55
with this type of trauma it was it was complete withdrawal um and sadly was withdrawing from people
00:32:04
who love me the most namely you know my daughters and my wife um my body was I mean I've learned about
00:32:12
this subsequently but my body was constantly um you know fighting uh foreign healing process so I found that at the
00:32:25
end of each day I didn't have any bandwidth to you know to connect with people and I I
00:32:31
really really struggle with that so seeking out professional help uh but that for me that was 12 months on yeah
00:32:38
and that was how how are they I mean you know the family's still together now
00:32:47
I mean um sadly Sarah and I have I no longer are no longer together and um you know I deeply deeply regret that but
00:32:56
respect the decision that she's made still love it a bit having the support of Balor and and uh and Abby
00:33:05
uh has been instrumental in me wanting to go back and and finish it and that's been that's been fantastic
00:33:15
yeah do you think the um the marriage breakdown uh if the accident had not have happened do you think you'd still
00:33:21
be married do you think that accident and the subsequent Fallout I mean I'd like I would love to think that would
00:33:30
that will be the case of the reality is I as I don't know yeah yeah wow what a thing to go through and then
00:33:37
um so the PTSD that um that led to depression you'd never had any previous Mental Health
00:33:43
troubles before this no um certainly not of the same scale or you know depth of you know as this one
00:33:54
so how would we at this point what's your age I've 57 now at the time I started the
00:34:02
run I was 53. right so you're in you're in so you're in your mid 50s and you're
00:34:06
dealing with um mental health issues for the first time in your life at that age
00:34:10
I suppose you feel like you're one of the lucky ones that you you've got
00:34:13
through unscathed it's the same with visiting a visiting hospital I just visited hospital as a as
00:34:19
a guest I've never been in hospital until oh you made up the last time yeah how true that is yeah but you're
00:34:28
right now you're good mentally you're in a good space I I I am yeah yeah I I feel
00:34:33
I feel really [Music] with it as well is is uh is actually going back to church that's been a huge
00:34:44
part of you know part of my life um that I that I dropped for a very very long time
00:34:50
um that's that's been extremely extremely helpful yeah putting me putting me back on track and being
00:34:57
surrounded by people who show empathy and and and and love me for who I am and and not and not judging
00:35:08
that's been uh yeah it's been amazing yeah amazing that's cool well you I mean you bring
00:35:14
into your life the the people that you deserve I think don't you do and you certainly know the value
00:35:22
boy you certainly know the value of a friendship and kindness uh one of the biggest learnings for me is is is is
00:35:32
actually being able to accept the kindness of you know strangers whereas in the past I would have
00:35:40
blocked that kindness out would you why I think I think in a lot of cases for me
00:35:46
and maybe people can relate to this you have this expectation that something has
00:35:51
to be given back in return but that's not the case that is not the case and if I go back to the the doctors and
00:36:00
nurses and physiotherapists that have that ran with me they ran with me on that first day you know three three to
00:36:07
three four miles that that that was magical and yeah being able to say thank you to everybody
00:36:15
at the same time the same location you know that was that was very very emotional yeah there's something really
00:36:24
special about that age just that whole sort of um full circle thing yeah that's
00:36:28
really cool yeah so some of the medical stuff I'm guessing um you were on a first name basis well yeah for a time
00:36:34
there you probably saw more of them than what their family saw of them um they must have been really special it
00:36:40
was yeah it was and uh you know when I go back again um not not to go to the hospital I you
00:36:46
know obviously catch up with them over a beer and a and a meal which will be which will be lovely
00:36:51
so so you you pick up where you left off um and how many K's are you running a
00:36:56
day is it the same sort of thing as what you're doing 50k well well I realized very very early on that
00:37:06
my body uh largely because of the hardware and the lack of obviously reflection movement in
00:37:13
my in my right side um I wasn't able to sustain that so come back to your question I was averaging
00:37:19
between 31 and 35 miles a day lazy yeah no that's still tremendous miles so 55
00:37:27
anywhere between 53 and 58k a day crazy and when what's that moment like where
00:37:33
you um so you end in Coney Island which is part of New York so I'm guessing when you get
00:37:39
to New York it gets exciting but I'm guessing there's still a lot of real
00:37:42
estate to cover from when you arrive in New York to get to the Finish Line at the coast yeah
00:37:47
it's it's damn big so uh you know I could I could see the New York skyline uh from where we were
00:37:54
that that very very last day we left the RV I could see it and then we had about five miles to get
00:38:00
to before we crossed the George Washington Bridge and that's a mile long um so you cross the over the Hudson and
00:38:07
then we joined a bike and running track all the way down to lower Manhattan um eventually across the Brooklyn Bridge
00:38:14
into Brooklyn and then another uh what six or seven miles down to um Coney Island
00:38:21
oh my God what was that last day like the last day must have been well Paul uh Paul Wheeler one of my support crew was
00:38:30
running with me it was the second fastest day in terms of pace I don't know where it came from I mean it came
00:38:36
from me I was just running on adrenaline I couldn't believe what what you know
00:38:41
what we were what we were doing um but to see the magic of that New York skyline I mean my first first time in
00:38:49
New York I've never been I was that so yes it was really special for me yeah
00:38:54
yeah um the plan had been 2017. um okay so you get to Coney Island um they're more is that like a is is it
00:39:07
what you imagined it would be that moment when you're finished yeah the yeah Coney Island is famous for its uh
00:39:12
hot dogs shitty little hot dogs and we were we were greeted by uh Anna Burns Francis from TV one and uh she she
00:39:19
bought uh 10 10 hot dogs for not just for me as well although I inhale too um so that was really nice and uh took
00:39:28
my shoes and socks off and uh dip my feet my white feet because I haven't seen son in a while
00:39:35
um in the Atlantic Ocean and that that was that was pretty special yeah how good but I was um you know if the sea
00:39:43
hadn't been there I would have carried on running you know my body had just adapted I just adapted
00:39:49
and they just wanted to keep going so it was really sad that it was it was finished was it yeah it was a sad and it
00:39:55
was like um like almost like a a post when you have a big goal and then you achieve it and you have like almost like
00:40:00
a drop-off like a almost like a like a mini sort of depressional Blues after that yeah it's um something that that uh
00:40:06
yeah and uh Paul of I've talked about in their own personal lives when they've
00:40:10
finished their respective runs some of the um depression um you know issues that both
00:40:18
of them have confronted and and if you read all all of the chapters in a wonderful book called Across America on
00:40:25
foot that was published in 2019 there's 27 chapters of written by Runners and
00:40:31
Walkers who have have acrossed the United States of America they talk about the same thing as well so you're
00:40:36
absolutely right just like an emptiness yeah um this must be an awful awful awful
00:40:42
question but you know you sort of you know you've done this yourself um what's next because I suppose you do
00:40:50
something like this and then people think oh what crazy thing you can do next is it as if you you know what
00:40:54
you've done is phenomenal it's amazing um but there's this expectation now that
00:40:58
you're going to do something else to sort of top it all is there anything else you want to do yeah I don't see I
00:41:03
don't really think I'll really really top this I don't think you want to be
00:41:06
hit again um that's sure but time to you know reflect and and process and doing some writing I want to write a
00:41:16
book you know about it which I think would be pretty cool um but to come back to your question
00:41:22
Perth to Sydney is is fascinating you know that's a good thing that sounds so boring it would
00:41:31
just be dizzy yeah absolutely yeah I was gonna um my old boss was an Australian guy and I I said to him um
00:41:38
one day I said oh my next holiday I'm thinking about doing that that train trip I think it's called the Guyana or
00:41:42
something that goes from Perth to Sydney he was like oh mate you know what's in
00:41:46
the middle of Australia [ __ ] nothing just fly he's probably right yeah yeah uh that's
00:41:54
that's one possibility um Paul and I of uh Paul Witter and I we've talked about you know maybe which
00:42:02
is just nuts because this is twice the distance of running across America but running from Alaska down to Florida that
00:42:08
would uh that would be pretty special wow Canada through through the states ah insane but
00:42:16
um yeah we'll we'll see Life's good though isn't it it's good to
00:42:22
have these adventures and things that you can plan and look forward to yeah yeah absolutely and
00:42:30
with like-minded uh individuals yeah it's pretty special oh it's a great
00:42:34
Community isn't it oh fantastic yeah I say to people like one of the reasons
00:42:40
I go I got into running is um I like the um the individual individuality of it and the the fact that you could put on
00:42:46
your shows run from home anytime day or night and get it done but um so it's
00:42:51
never a sport I got into for the community aspect of it but if you if that's what you're into and you let them
00:42:57
in and you embrace it it's there and it's massive yeah absolutely it's very
00:43:01
very powerful it's a cool tribe it is yeah it is um before we wrap up we'll just talk
00:43:06
about some of the other a couple of the other events you've done um you've done
00:43:08
the comrades run uh which is the the world's biggest and I want to say oldest
00:43:14
Ultra event it may well be it yeah I think you're right yeah this is probably
00:43:18
number one on my bucket list of events I want to do so I I I part of me is I'm
00:43:24
jealous that you've you that you've done it means they get to pick your brains
00:43:27
about it so um describe the comrades for anyone that doesn't know what it is yeah
00:43:31
I did it with two two awesome guys that I used to work with in the in the Middle
00:43:35
East um uh match and and another Paul uh we did it in in 2013 uh it was the downward
00:43:42
leg S one year it goes down and the next year which we thought would be easier um and
00:43:48
it's about 90. wrong it's not yet okay and you've got a 12 uh 12 hour
00:43:56
time limit although there are some time points that you have to meet up along the way but uh I I could recall we came
00:44:02
in at a 11 hours 11 hours 50 minutes so we were in by by about 10 minutes but what was amazing
00:44:11
what did he get hit by a car or something on the way no I got a few stories but but I could recall at the Finishing
00:44:20
Line people were so close with seconds to go that um uh people in the in the crowd family loved ones were in the
00:44:28
crowd it got got out and were literally throwing uh people were running across the line so so they could actually
00:44:35
finish within the within the 12 hours is it true about the cut-off thing yeah so
00:44:40
the race match was stands here with a gun with his back to the runners and absolutely I mean he's not there you're
00:44:45
there absolutely right that's what we saw that's brutal yeah the Brilliance of the event it is and
00:44:52
how many it's massive right massive event Mass participation event how many thousands I think uh boy um if I go
00:44:59
about 30 40 000 yeah but even that was back in 2013. WoW oh man I want to do that so bad and uh
00:45:07
the other one is um the the Morocco one what is that a marathon yeah so this is a stage event yes
00:45:15
um spread over uh six days from from memory uh you're running five of those days there's a there's a a wicked
00:45:23
overnight stage so bathroom disciples in the Sahara desert in part of part of Morocco as far
00:45:30
as sand is concerned you're running up up and down the highest sand dunes in in
00:45:35
Morocco that's day one um how many K's on day one uh that was the lightest day uh day one
00:45:44
I think it was around 40 41 maybe maybe 42 and the rest is um Hard Rock okay so 40K is on sand
00:45:54
does that feel like a standard Marathon or does it feel like like double the distance it definitely feels uh like
00:46:02
double the distance from memory largely because you can't run it you you have to
00:46:07
you know take really um long deep deep strides um because typically you know one
00:46:13
straightforward you're taking two two strides back just because of the because
00:46:17
of the sand dunes that you're confronting but the scenery is oh I'm absolutely amazing it's a
00:46:24
changing color throughout the day is amazing yeah what do you mean scenery because all I can imagine is um sand as
00:46:29
far as the eye can see you know you're absolutely right but just the just the
00:46:32
just the shadows of um and how that how that color changes over time yeah actually I'm just I'm glancing over
00:46:41
at the moment to some um the photo boards you've got in your office and um yeah it does look spectacular
00:46:46
it's amazing absolutely amazing right so so day one 40K is on Sand and up sand
00:46:51
dunes and stuff then um day two yeah the details I know that typically we're
00:46:56
around 45 to 50 but then the overnight stage which is brutal it was certainly brutal for me
00:47:06
um is around uh that was around 70 to 80k um like many Runners and this applied to
00:47:13
me I did experience hallucinations I can remember turning turning a corner and seeing these lights at the end it was
00:47:24
the finish and I thought oh fantastic it's about two kilometers away no it's
00:47:29
20 kilometers away I could recall running at night down a dry riverbed and I swear
00:47:39
to you I saw kids on their bicycles and elephants in the in the river um wow you were convinced that it was
00:47:50
legit absolutely yeah absolutely and uh yeah I yeah um pissing blood as well that wasn't good so that but fortunately
00:47:58
that was the that was the last hallucinations and um and urinating blood I mean a lot of people will be
00:48:04
listening to this going it's not for me but the good thing is the next day was a
00:48:10
rest day but that was just a 145k stage that the final day yeah and then it was all over but um so so everyone on this
00:48:18
event um stays together and intense at night time is it a good vibe good yeah good
00:48:24
Community it's a magical Vibe except if you know on sad occasions you might lose
00:48:30
one or two people from each tent because if they haven't met the the cut off
00:48:33
times for the day so if you don't meet them sadly they um they actually take
00:48:37
you out you're asked to leave the tent and don't even get to hang out with your
00:48:43
mates no um we lost uh we lost one in our attempt out of eight so we we maintained that
00:48:50
seven throughout right but the attrition rate is uh overall is brutal like on those sand stages how do you how do you
00:48:57
avoid getting um sand in between your toes sand underneath the socks yeah I mean
00:49:03
I mean in in toe socks and of course in that part of that those extreme um conditions you're wearing um Gators
00:49:09
right so that just they work they do the job they they do if they're if they're
00:49:14
sized correctly and they're fitted correctly if they're not you've got
00:49:20
problems from the start but they do work because on the some photo board that I referenced just a couple of minutes ago
00:49:27
there's um there's a photo of your tote with a blister what caused that by the
00:49:31
way that it's it's a lovely photo board you've got but that photo was completely
00:49:35
unnecessary yeah it's pretty bad right yeah yeah it's a gnarly looking blister
00:49:39
it is and I can certainly remember popping it uh that must have been satisfying yeah
00:49:48
so I can remember going into the medical tent and seeing all these other Runners
00:49:51
just popping and blister after blister after blister and then treating it with iodine and just wrapping it up and toe
00:49:57
socks back on and Away you go it just it just became the norm and losing a couple of toenails as well that
00:50:03
was normal that's a badge really isn't it yeah yeah it is so where did the running
00:50:08
start for you uh it would have started probably in during my Varsity days yeah right oh so
00:50:17
you're a lifer you've been doing this yeah right yeah but but shorter distances I mean you know 10 20K is the
00:50:22
occasional half marathon and it wasn't it was not until my early 30s that started uh
00:50:28
nurses um particularly the London one which I've done many many times and then it
00:50:34
just got longer and longer and longer I I want to use the phrase midlife crisis yeah
00:50:46
yeah no no no it does seem like a natural progression for a lot of us Runners it's
00:50:54
like you you achieve what you wanted with a marathon or whatever and then you get you get a bit slower as you get
00:50:58
older so you just want to go longer it seems like I would agree with that I mean I I
00:51:04
you know my Pace was was was was very very good um but as a result of the accident I can't do that anymore yeah
00:51:11
but I can continue to run longer for some strange reason well I suppose it's
00:51:15
one of those one of those things that's um it gives you goals to sit as you get
00:51:18
older like your times are naturally going to get progressively slower as your age but that doesn't mean that
00:51:23
doesn't mean the distances have to get shorter that's right and those times
00:51:26
become less important they don't matter set a goal to run a sub three hour marathon and I tried Time After Time
00:51:36
After Time and it got to the point I didn't think I was going to do it and I
00:51:38
ended up um doing one in Tokyo a few years ago two hours 57 fantastic one one and done and then after that I thought
00:51:47
could I go quicker and the answer I came to in my head was like probably yes like
00:51:52
it but I knew how much work went into running a 257 and I thought for the extra work required to run I don't know
00:51:58
255 254. would it bring me that much satisfaction in the answer I came to was no yeah but that's the time phenomenal
00:52:05
time yeah thanks I think I'm one undone but it's um yeah that's not like running
00:52:12
running fast or doing good times which means something to me but nobody else at all that's not where my love of running
00:52:18
comes from I I connect with what you said I get it yeah yeah it's been wonderful to sit down with you today
00:52:24
thank you and thank you thank you so much Nick for sharing your experiences what a trap and what a ride you've been
00:52:30
through um I'm sitting in your office you're you're a marketing guy like a
00:52:33
marketing marketing professor and in some dark way when you were sitting in a hospital were you like oh
00:52:40
this puts a good Twist on the story from a marketing perspective this is going to make the book that much
00:52:50
better yeah some sick twisted Macabre yeah well the The Narrative has differently
00:52:56
changed um and I you know I I mean joking aside I can remember back in 17 with gaining
00:53:03
sponsorship it was tough yeah yeah when you say you've been hit by a truck um and you're going back to finish it
00:53:09
people say how can I help yeah you know it it does it does make a difference yeah that's
00:53:15
great that's great oh would do you would you wish to acknowledge any of those
00:53:18
sponsors um you know they're they're real core set um a shoe Clinic um here in here in
00:53:28
Wellington the owner Hamish um and that's through um particularly the Clifton eights that
00:53:35
I've been wearing for a long time are you a hokey guy are you I am yeah I likewise big fans big fans never going
00:53:42
to win any beauty pageants as far as shoes go but um very very good great support absolutely and uh you know
00:53:49
Tailwind nutrition um New Zealand uh with uh with with Mark Drew and tell with nutrition in the US
00:53:55
were phenomenal and a local kiwi uh brand in terms of nutritional snacks called Tom and Luke which are based here
00:54:03
just on the outskirts of Wellington oh I've seen them around I've never had
00:54:06
them though they're in the shops what are they like bars I I munched on hundreds and hundreds of their
00:54:14
snackables there's strawberry and chocolate and their peanut peanut butter ones just just awesome hundreds of them
00:54:21
munching throughout throughout the day so they they'll be the three the three
00:54:24
big sponsors yeah thanks for acknowledging them because it's um it's really good when you hear about
00:54:28
businesses um you know supporting someone that's going to go out there and uh you give something courageous or
00:54:33
correct all right Nick hashel thank you so much for your time thank you thank you
00:54:36
appreciate it man and um maybe you'll do nothing nothing of Interest Beyond this
00:54:41
and if not that's that's fine because what you've done is bloody and credible
00:54:46
yeah really appreciate your time thank you thank you very much for making it all
00:54:50
the way through another episode of Runners only with dom Harvey this week Nick ashel as I do every week um just a
00:54:56
reminder if you haven't already please drop us a rating wherever you listen to
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your podcast from five stars would be ideal if it's less than that and you're
00:55:03
being honest then that's cool as well whatever thank you very much to everyone
00:55:07
who's left a review if your platform allows that I know Spotify doesn't but
00:55:11
Apple does I read these and I really appreciate them like um here's a couple
00:55:15
that came through during the week every guest has been authentic and really interesting to listen to honestly
00:55:20
resisted listening to podcasts since forever but I can't get enough of this one it's kiwis and tackles Hot Topics
00:55:25
thanks so much and here's another one that we got during the week I've just
00:55:28
started listening to this podcast as I have a two hour return commute to work twice a week this is the only podcast
00:55:33
I've listened to when I'm loving it I have quite a few to catch up but always
00:55:37
like to see who's coming up next keep up the great work Dom look listen I um I
00:55:41
can't tell you how much these reviews I'm being sincere here mean to me a lot
00:55:45
of work goes into this we're only eight months then but the the feedback's good
00:55:49
the stats are good and I know it's only a matter of time before we get some really good sponsors on board which will
00:55:54
allow us to grow this thing get some staff get some real good video content happening and um just take this thing to
00:55:59
the next level um it's wonderful to have you guys along for the journey I appreciate the support
00:56:03
get hold of me anytime you want Don Harvey NZ gmail.com or Dom Harvey NZ on Instagram all right stay safe hope to
00:56:10
see you next week on Runners only