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[Music] John nervs the maybe the the maddest bastard I've had on the podcast welcome
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over thank you mate great to be here uh incredible backstory 10 days ago uh you finished a 305 day adventure running
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8,000 km uh across Canada width to width a place called St John's on the east
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coast to Vancouver on the west coast so from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean yep 8,000 is that 190 marathons um
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I ended up changing my route so originally it was going to be 8,000 because of the weather sort of got the
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better of me that in winter so I had to change the route a bit it ended up being
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7,351 clicks oh [ __ ] yeah m not even worth it it is um it's just astonishing
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what you've what you 305 days what was the average what was the average daily
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count actually pretty low cuz like I started uh when I started I was doing like 17 or 18 k a day cuz I started with
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a HW for like 3 days but then tendonitis kicked in straight away and like my Patell and then a whole bunch of other
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ones so the with that on board we're doing a whole bunch of like strapping and and
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exercises isometrics and stuff the best mileage I could squeeze out of my legs was about 17 Cas per day and then I just
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had to use tendonitis as a pain basically as the threshold for how much I could go and basically try and push
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that ceiling as much as possible over the weeks so to answer your question what was the daily average it's pretty
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low it's like 20 something but um but over 305 days yeah and if you this a very kiwi response it's pretty low I
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think it's impressive thanks yeah I think if you if you break it into the two halves the average over the first
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half is like I don't know like 20 probably bang on 20 but um from about on Toronto onwards I was pretty
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much it would be high 40s I think yeah wow yeah it got higher it's amazing there's there's so much to chat about
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with this um but yeah first of all a couple of things that's worth pointing out this was done unassisted which means
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um like a lot of these sort of endurance runs you know you have a crew and a camper van um maybe an on-site massuse
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or physio or nutritionalist or people doing your social media um you did the S assisted which means um you had a a pram
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in front of you that you called Shania as a nod to the Canadian stash N1 and what was in the pram uh uh everything my
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life for for for near on a year so it was uh Sleeping Bag tent food clothes Electronics electrolytes beer spray
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tools to fix sh water uh that's probably it to be honest yeah is yeah that that's see to me that's um
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as someone that that likes my running that that seems to add another dimensional element to it like it's a
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different style of running I guess in a way running with a Prem yeah yeah um definitely you're a tall guy as well you
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walk down you're taller than me um I think with my gate I'd probably clip the
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clip the wheels of a pram yeah it it does it changes your gate it um cuz you you do you hit the front there's a
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little compartment at the back so you hit that so you've got to shorten your
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step a bit so there's a whole bunch of biomechanical stuff that goes on um so I
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ended up I got a I think my first like physician of any kind I saw was a mesuse uh in this town
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called Thunder Bay which was about the 4,000 km mark and um she because up and up until then it was just rip [ __ ] and
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bust and get the job done I didn't take a rest day until Toronto which in hindsight is just Madness how far how
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far into it is that 3,000k oh my God yeah oh wow wow was that intentional you just wanted to get it done as quickly as
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possible or ah it was just like I'm I'm I don't know but just I'm on this
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adventure just go nuts go hard and um but I also thought like I'm doing this
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this I could you know I'm let's say week two I'm doing 20ks a day it's like I
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could go out and do more I want to go out and do more I'm literally having to
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like rain myself in emotionally because I I I want to just send it but um I'm
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I'm sort of trying to stick to this plan that will give me the best shot of actually finishing and and not just
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having the tendonitis erupt and the body capitulate um so if I was like sort of already raining
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it Inc for those reasons I didn't want to take any additional rest days I just wanted to
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like make progress every day and honestly those rest days actually end they didn't feel good like when that
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when all you're doing and your whole mission is running making ground every day moving towards the west coast to not
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run for a day actually feels like [Music] [ __ ] yeah it's like the yeah the mental
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health metaphor put one foot in front of the other and you just want to keep doing that because if you if you're not
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moving you're actually not going anywhere yeah yeah yeah yeah um the another couple of points worth
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mentioning by before we get into who the hell is John nebs and your why and there's a very big why uh you you did it
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in a Superman outfit as well first of all how how many of them did you have one oh that's disgusting yep oh that is
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no but how many how many times did you have to replace it you can't have had
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one costume hire Superman suit for 305 days uh I only picked it up in Toronto so
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what was that about day 140 so 165 days yeah oh that is that is unhygienic yeah yeah man like I would I
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would often be like the smelliest man in town like easy we were you um oh I was going to say were you washingt hand
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basing but you were you were camping yeah yeah and like thankfully I did when I yeah there's no there's no
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like nice way to put like it was pretty Grim um but when I did when I got like sort of Northern Ontario so just for
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perspective this would have been kilometer 3 and a half thousand um I'd I'd been wearing the Superman suit for
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probably like 3 weeks um had a couple of opportunities to to wash it which is great um but then this little town or
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this city there was a bit of news coverage there and then going through past that sort of up into the real
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bonies of of Northern Ontario um this person stopped on the highway one day and just handed me this like hand
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knitted full perfect fit for my size to um Superman sweater out the window and that ended up because because a lot of
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like the the Superman suit especially the upper half a lot of it had like a lot of padded padded muscles and stuff
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the cotton cotton wool essentially which is awful for cold weather and for for if
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you get a bit of rain and cold wind worst thing you could possibly wear so a lot of the days I ended up just running
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in a bit more sort of like bit warm gear marinos and stuff and then just with that over the top and the cape from the
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actual Superman costume was Velcro so it could just like hook into the the wool and sweater and so yeah thankfully on
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those cold days I had a a change out doesn't make it that much more hygienic
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but to help you're you're a mman it doesn't sound like it was um I don't know that well thought out
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or was it or were you just like I'm going to do this uh oh so like parts of it like on
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a you're not over planner that's for sure yeah yeah cuz it's the nature of
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the Beast with this one like it's such a mammoth like there were elements of it
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where I think I was like super like my my normal nature with like going hiking or running or whatever is like
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especially hiking like pretty you know respect what you're doing respect the
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elements and stuff pretty pretty thorough um but with this one I would say there was
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some it was such a big task I had to just be like what's the that old Pito principle what's the 20% that's going to
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contribute the 80% so with things like uh basically the physical side of things do like the the physical prep you you're
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never going to physically prepare enough that you can just go through and have the whole thing just be smooth as but
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physically preparing enough and and intelligently enough in the right areas to just to minimize and mitigate I think
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in that area I was really really well prepared um Beyond um and probably with wither
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with gear gear and with I had the best gear you can get um the sleeping bag you can take into the Arctic if you want
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it's it's a goodie so like yeah um so so you did you did do I mean I'm um I'm
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full of admiration for what you've done like it's it's incredible and I feel
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like um it's one of these one of these um Adventures that you could do you could plan it properly spend a year
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planning it 18 months planning it and then it would just seem too daunting you know knowledge could be
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like a negative and some ways yeah um cuz the elements in the weather yeah we'll get into that but it's it's narly
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[ __ ] yeah yeah and I definitely think there's an element of that I think I was
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I was actually pretty conscious of that like you know you can you can you can plan and go through all of that details
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but at the end of the day I I just figured like make sure the right things it need to be thoroughly
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planned are planned and then dive in and just do it yeah and a lot of that you know it was sort of like build the
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parachute as you falling out of the sky um and yeah it's been very successful over $100,000 raised um for
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uh gear cancer charities in Canada and New Zealand um Talk us through those those final few kilometers so this is 10
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10 days ago uh heading to the Pacific Ocean on the the Vancouver side of Canada um I've seen this on your Tik Tok
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and Instagram um but yeah yeah talk us through it from your perspective magic just one of the just this Rosy fantastic
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fantastic time so um the but it was probably only the last probably 100ks cuz right up until about 100K shy about
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the 7200 km Mark there's still things that can go wrong you're still coming
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through the Rocky Mountains Vancouver sits right on the edge of the Rocky Mountains so I had this one last high
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mountain pass to go called the Cocola pass it's like it's it's colloquially
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known in Canada as the highway through hell cuz there's always trucks Jack knifing on there the weather's horrible
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um so it wasn't really until I got over the Cocola and came down into the the
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sort of River delta area where Vancouver is about 100 clicks too that it was just
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like okay the likelihood that anything's going to go wrong pretty low now I can
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just smell the roses uh there's a bunch of towns along the way places like hope
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chillake uh abtf and then into Vancouver itself where people were coming out to run with me and
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people that had been one fellow that um had survived cancer and been treated at BC Children's Hospital which is where I
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was due to be you know I went there on my last day in Vancouver um came out r with me and a whole bunch of other just
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good Canadian folks um and it was it was beautiful cuz I think I'd climbed my last hill by that stage so it
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was all just flat and um so much was building for for the Vancouver day we had like
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I I ran this little silent auction the last week of the run just to help um kick up the fundraising title and like
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um like the All Blacks donated a sign Jersey by like every member of the team and Shia Twain's charity came on board
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with some content from sh also signed um it was the the support that came through
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was just nuts oh just for one other example don't know if you know Dave Proctor um he's a Canadian fellow but he
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he set this superhuman Pace in 2021 I think it was ran across Canada he took a different route to me his was like I
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think just under 7,000 k for 67 days straight he ran 120 kks per day oh sorry sorry sorry 106 case per day wow unreal
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unreal two and a half marathons yeah and he he heard about the fundraiser he sent
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me a messages I'd love to he he just just released a book a couple of months
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ago um and he also gave me a big shout out as I came through Calgary which is really close to where he lives in Canada
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um so he contributed some books signed and so there was just this awesome awesome like ground swell of goodness
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and and and support and stuff coming through for that final day and then um nzte new New Zealand all sort of got in
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touch like both you know based in in Vancouver and um it was so cool cuz for a lot of the run I didn't really see
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kiwis um it was only really that last little bit and uh just it was it was it was basically like you've been working
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on this one thing for a year and then and then you've got this little like 3-day section where it it all just comes
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to fruition it was just magic man that is so cool and it's so fresh in your mind it was only 10 days ago did did a
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New Zealand give you an upgrade so you could stretch your legs out for the flight home yesterday n um they the
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staff I met in Vancouver like awesome people they really wanted to they were they went upstairs to to their staff
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upstairs tried to make it happen but sadly couldn't unbelievable what's a man
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going to do these days to get an upgrade I ran halfway home unreal congratulations such an epic event um
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okay so tell us who is John nebs uh don't know how to answer that question um yeah from you're from W from
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the W yet from just outside Cambridge little part called keki um yeah uh just I don't know Runner um Runner
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outdoor Enthusiast uh yeah just farmer yeah a bit of farming history farmer and and double degree as well you got a
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couple of degrees not just a guy that does crazy Adventures around the world yeah not an entire misspent youth no not
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entirely um no yeah I was at uh CH can uni when the earthquakes came through and picked up a couple of degrees down
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there that was an interesting time just chose chose to stay rather than scooted away to another uni to finish that off
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but um yeah did a bit of rowing After High School and that um got got propably suck
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into the the run for a bit and um yeah turned out to be a lot worse at it than I hoped I would be but I've always loved
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running always like running well since um yeah since since you brought up um Christ CH and being there during the
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earthquakes um yeah we can just pick away on that for a little bit so you're
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in your um early 20s at the time um I believe that's when you first sort of experienced um depression or poor mental
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health yeah yeah for sure yeah um yeah that's right I exasperated I guess by
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the earthquakes yeah which is perfectly understandable 100% And just that sense of not being able to move forward like I
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just I had a little bit of a a crack at um at at rowing like when I got back from a g i did overseas and I really
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really loved the what I found there the community the sport the it's a beautiful
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sport Ry and to um to try and train in like a broken Christ Church for like R rying did couldn't make it work and sort
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of fell out of that system and I think that that plus the earthquakes plus honestly just feeling like a general
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sense of directionless at Uni with my degrees um yeah definitely I I found myself going through depression yeah
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early early 20s probably 20 21 through to maybe like 25 um yeah and really four years yeah it
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was a good crack yeah it yeah it took me a while to find my way to a better space
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for sure wow is that is that when you um you deactivated all your social media you had like a a social media cleanse
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for a while yeah around that time yeah big a big part of getting getting into a b space again was yeah cuz because
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around that same time this would have been like 20 11 2012 um it so it was like it was like
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earthquakes it was the whole um loss of Direction after after that time doing doing the rowing thing and then um that
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was also around the time that like here in NZ um like smartphones and social media
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sort of as a combo really started to take off together and I I'm not built for that stuff I can't do I I can't
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healthily have social media being very very present in my life I need to I need to not have it yeah I I I'm the first
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I've got um big issues with it it's probably my worst addiction yeah I find
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myself um yeah just doing a zombie scroll like just mindlessly scrolling and uh like part of it part of it I tell
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myself to give you go easy on myself it's not my fault it's very addictive
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and you know but then it's like you have to take some personal accountability for
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what you're doing with your spare time yeah yeah it is it's it's annoying the
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way cuz it's such a oh it's like a double- eded sword like you kind of need needed in a way like I
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I need it to promote the podcast you need it to promote your you know your run that you're doing across Canada yeah
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so it can be used for good yeah um it's just hard to have that discipline so
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what I've found I I had so I wed the Tero Trail a couple years years ago um I've been living in Austria and like
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immediately prior of that it was like chador Austria Canada and um after the on the TA I I used it as a time to do
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like a to to get things quieter again so as I've starting the TA got rid of the smartphone got rid
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of all I don't think I even had any accounts at that point social media um but then did the TA just with this
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lovely quiet head space didn't get any more of didn't get a a smartphone or
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anything I've just got a brick phone or head at the to um and went to live for a year in
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Australia like that before Hing over and it was only it was literally like upon Landing in St John's Newland in the
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Easter most point of Canada like two or three days before starting this big fundraiser across the country I was like
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okay means to an end get some get get Facebook again get Instagram again um get a get a smartphone again and it was
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it was a much healthier space a much a much healthier reason to have it in my life it was like I didn't want it I was
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loving just having a brick phone and not having any social media any smartphone or anything um but it was to to know
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that I was I was only breaking that nice head space just for the sake of administrating this fundraiser it was a
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I think it's enabled me to use it um a lot more healthfully and and not that I
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like now that the run is or the Canada run at least is over I think I'll I'll
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continue using it but I'll definitely look to change that relationship now I
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think a lot more but will be like just running my Instagram through desktop if I can Wrangle things that way
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I'll probably look to just get rid of the smartphone all together again and try and try and move a lot of what I
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started there either onto a desktop or a tablet or something a lot something that
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doesn't live in my pocket basically you seem to have um an incredible mind though like uh and the ability to be
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that disciplined where you can just go cold turkey or you can just decide to go to Canada and run across it which makes
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me well aware that I've got more of a problem than what you have yeah um let's talk so you mentioned the
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um the TA which is the um the trail walk the length of New Zealand 3,000 km um so
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you sort of did this as a um I I don't know I suppose as a way to process the grief of losing your parents
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and you lost both your parents to cancer and that uh takes us to the why of um why you did this run um across Canada
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for um cancer so yeah you talk us through that your parents so first of all your dad Brian nebs yeah um yeah
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awesome dude um yeah I lost him he he got diagnosed with skin cancer in 2019 when I was over I was living in Europe
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at the time and I was I was home not too much later um to help you know when his
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health really started going downhill right off the bat it was a stage four diagnosis so stage four me terminal um
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and he he passed I was home to help with sort of the end of looking looking after
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him at the end in November 2019 he passed January 2020 yes as a is a good time stamp for everyone that's just sort
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of pre-co yeah like a month before Co yeah yeah and then so that I sort of refer to am iow to swear yeah of course
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I I sort of refer to this whole like patch as just like the [ __ ] storm years because it was like d got diagnosed died
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a month later Co hit while we were still in the seven we first lockdown level four still during that time Mom got
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diagnosed and then a year later like before the borders were open again she was gone so I was like I literally put
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some stuff in boxes in Germany thinking I was coming home for like 3 months to help with Dad and then I was going to be
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back carrying on my life over there by the time I actually opened those boxes again in Germany the world
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had been ravaged by Co and I had lost both parents so it was yeah a [ __ ] nor mate it's an absolute cluster [ __ ] it's
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terrible yeah I've um I'm very very lucky to be um yeah 51 and still have
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both my parents alive and one of my best friends who's uh 5 56 57 he lost his um
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his dad uh a couple of weeks ago at the age of 91 and I I I see the impact that's had on him even though 91 it's
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you haven't been short changed it's a bloody good life um and it's the correct
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order of things and it's just it's the it's the trade-off for for loving
00:22:20
someone isn't it to having to fear well them but to to lose your parents at such
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young ages and quick succession it's a cluster [ __ ] yeah on there were started early and went on for a
00:22:32
long time there were multiple times where I was just like is this a bloody video game
00:22:40
or is this reality but you wake up and you think oh oh no it is real yeah like both parents 16 months apart both gone
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yeah I mean I don't don't want to be well as me too much but yeah it was [ __ ]
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I don't think anyone would begrudge you if you chose to be a little bit well as
00:22:57
me it's it sucks yeah your dad was 63 your mom was 59 your mom by the way very
00:23:02
um high-profile New Zealander Margaret fight silver Fern Legend yeah what what are your what are
00:23:08
your earliest Recollections of that what what was it like having a famous mom were you sort of aware of it or did did
00:23:13
you come along uh post her silver F career yeah yeah she retired in ' 87 um after they won in Glasgow yeah the World
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Cup yeah yeah yeah that that 87 team not that I was alive then but yeah they're
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all awesome ladies they're still very much in my life a lot of them um I'm
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literally staying with Tracy and Terry fear right now and work with cuz yeah yeah that's sort of where I've landed
00:23:37
after Canada but um yeah to answer your question earliest Recollections of that was just cuz Mom stayed involved in Nall
00:23:43
a lot she was coaching down in Hamilton where I grew up and uh just pretty much growing up on the side of a netball
00:23:49
Court like you know was spending hips of time watching the team she was coaching
00:23:54
or yeah like I was probably too young to really register much but like a lot of people would come up and just make
00:24:03
comments about mom or her playing style back in the a few years prior you sort of you
00:24:10
could pick up that she was pretty neat yeah yeah that's kind of cool I mean yeah silver FS net bu it's very very
00:24:18
different to All Blacks in terms of exposure and recognition and stuff but I've had kieren Reed on the the podcast
00:24:23
and he talked about like being out with his kids and how he just has to accept that there's certain places that he he
00:24:28
can't go if he wants to you know just be be in the in the present moment with
00:24:32
them like he said he can't go to Bannings can't go to the the Margaret Mahi playground and CRI because it's a
00:24:37
really popular one so his kids are like Dad why can't we go to that one and he's
00:24:40
like no let's go to the [ __ ] one yeah suppose similar sort of experience to you so yeah so so so your
00:24:48
dad passes away um and then I suppose your mom and your brothers you just sort of rally around
00:24:54
and try and pick up the pieces yeah um yeah we we put him to rest over in um at the m in tuna uh and then yeah we we you
00:25:07
we were doing what we could to move forward it it sucked because there was the first like that was the first out of out
00:25:15
of like my household and the two grandparent households and stuff um that was the first one that passed away and
00:25:22
like with when we knew that dad's death was like pretty imminent couple of months away the
00:25:30
treatments weren't working the cancer was taking over um he had this plan to
00:25:35
sort of help Mom um simplify things we moved from like our country home with like a barn and 20 years worth of crap
00:25:45
um to and moved into this little townhouse in Hamilton and so to go through like all of that whole move out
00:25:53
process with a with a family member that's sort of on death's door um and
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then at the same time my older brother uh who had proposed to his girlfriend like not long after Dad got
00:26:08
diagnosed and then they decided to have the wedding at the house so it was like come home from
00:26:14
Germany the the the house is going through Open Homes like real estate agent stuff coming in we have to like
00:26:19
exit the scene and then as soon as a real estate agent like left with the potential buy we had to like come back
00:26:25
pack up the house while at the same time leave some stuff to prepare for this wedding that's going to be happening in
00:26:29
a couple of months or a couple couple of week whatever um and then at the same time you're
00:26:36
grieving yeah I would I would I would [ __ ] shittiest time of my life man oh shittiest time of your life and so
00:26:45
does does your mom get hurt was different cancers by the way skin cancer for your dad Bale cancer for your mom um
00:26:52
was was your mom diagnosed before your dad passed or no oh God yeah so dead dad dad died late January we went into
00:27:01
lockdown was it late March yeah and then me and Mom were just living together when we were in lockdown and she just
00:27:06
started having this sore stomach would wake up every day and to just to try and sort of like move keep a sense of like
00:27:12
normality in the structure would wake up every day and be like what he up to for
00:27:15
the day I'm doing this I'm doing this and we sit down at the table have a
00:27:18
coffee and and then go dive into the day which was a cool little routine but we do
00:27:24
that she was she was a tough lady mom she you know oh yeah listen you don't get to be um to
00:27:32
make a national sports team and be a Legend um unless you made of some really tough stuff right yeah and so if she
00:27:39
ever said if if if she ever said something was like not good or something was sore
00:27:45
you knew yeah like she Wass yeah and um and so yeah we' do we'd have this little
00:27:51
neat little morning routine together during lockdown there and after a couple of days she just started saying like I
00:27:58
won't do too much today I've got this sore stomach um and for like were you
00:28:03
concerned about that at that point she used to have a bit of a sensitive stomach to like if you drun too strong
00:28:08
of coffee or something that you could get sore so at the start not really um but
00:28:14
after like five or six days it just didn't go away and it and she' say it was getting
00:28:19
sorer and like when Mom would say that I was just [Music] like yeah [ __ ] like what's going on and
00:28:27
then yeah and one of those days during lockdown she was able to take herself to A&E just
00:28:35
uh trying and get it looked at and yeah called up she called up she had been there for like 3 hours and I
00:28:42
was just at home as you know still locked down and she called up and just like how's it how's it gone there and
00:28:49
she's like not good I said that was yeah if m m say is not good you know something's
00:28:58
bloody wrong so yeah yeah um stage four bell cancer um [ __ ] yeah was it was it I've
00:29:08
had um Alex Pledger the basketballer and Dean Barker on the podcast have both um
00:29:13
B cancer survivors um and that they both like stress the importance of early detection was it quite a late detection
00:29:19
or uh I mean if you if you start getting symptoms and you get you get looked at straight away it's like you can't really
00:29:26
get any earlier than that can you yeah and like it didn't metastasize very much
00:29:30
like like with Dad there were by by the end there were all of these metastasis basically like secondary cancers that
00:29:37
were like all over his body and they were like bulging it was not pretty um with Mom there was none of that
00:29:44
and and it was it was already stage four pretty much as soon it was like early detection and it was still stage four
00:29:52
and the thing was it was I think it was just because it was a particularly aggressive kind of cancer it it just it
00:30:01
didn't even need to metastasize to the rest of your body it was just like it trying to find a way to talk about
00:30:11
this without well still oh you can get as emotional as what you want very safe space here but I yeah I I can't imagine
00:30:20
how tough it is yeah it was yeah and yeah the yeah moving moving forward through that
00:30:29
and and then trying to move forward like trying to trying to try to just get a sense of moving forward after
00:30:37
that has happened um while you're locked inside your house again just the [ __ ] storm just
00:30:45
continued it's just another another layer of [ __ ] isn't it yeah man man um
00:30:52
but yeah where were when your M pass where were things at in terms of the co lockdown like do you have to have a
00:30:57
funeral Limited 100 people or could you have like a full a full funeral or we could have a full funeral it was it was
00:31:03
sort of the back end of Co so yeah um it was still like masks and tracing the QR code and stuff but it was
00:31:13
it was in that phase where we were where like ockland was taking one for the team
00:31:18
but the rest of the country was like level two sometimes level three so I think I think it was like level two and
00:31:23
we were able to have a funeral okay which is a blessing yeah and you um I I read an article online with some of the
00:31:29
some of the eies and stuff and you and your your siblings you all spoke um yeah what are your Recollections of that was
00:31:35
it sort of like on autopilot or uh like I I can't imagine many things tougher than that yeah I honestly I
00:31:48
Reon the first morning after we got Mom's diagnoses I remember I was out I went for a run in Hamilton just along
00:31:55
the river and you how they talk about the stages of grief like denial anger bargaining yeah disbelief yeah yeah bit
00:32:04
I was like it was almost like comical like the next morning I just remember running along like AOA Street like sort
00:32:10
of River Road in Hamilton and I was like full full into bargaining not not conscious not I wasn't like I'll do some
00:32:20
bargaining it was just you know came up organically but I was just sort of In the Zone with the Run sort of letting my
00:32:28
mind drift and I just remember thinking like please do not let this happen and I
00:32:36
I'll be the most grateful human that's ever walked to this earth just do not let this be a
00:32:43
thing um yeah obviously it did but yeah um yeah sorry I forget your question yeah oh no I'm so sorry for your loss oh
00:32:55
you was just talking about you your Recollections of of the you know having to speak at the
00:33:01
funeral yeah yeah do you remember much about that or do you see the video and it feels like it's a different person to
00:33:07
you you um you know I think after the initial shock of Mom I definitely reckon there was some
00:33:16
form of just like repression cuz there was it was it was just too much there's
00:33:22
too much crap to deal with to like I again not consciously Chen but I think I was just like this is too much grief for
00:33:32
one person to go through and I think a lot of I think I sort of kicked it to one side inside my head and
00:33:42
went through a lot of the rest of that couple of years just sort of very matter effectly
00:33:48
and that the funeral included um yeah I I've got this my younger brothers are awesome awesome dude he he
00:34:00
probably pays a lot more attention and gives a lot more time to just like how he's feeling with around that grief and
00:34:08
um it's I think it's a real good sort of a real good intro it's real good it's real good to
00:34:15
be around that because yeah I sort of just I think I just did that sort of just repress it a
00:34:21
lot at the start because it was just too much [Music] grief and that that's when you decide to
00:34:26
the um the walk the length of the country just to sort of help like process it yeah um was it was it the um
00:34:33
yeah was it the thinking for doing the walk it wasn't like a conscious part of
00:34:37
the but you look back and after doing it and you think actually that's what it
00:34:41
was subconsciously maybe yeah very much that's interesting he what what made you
00:34:45
what made you do that so I had always to me the TA had always just been like a beautiful like this dream like the the
00:34:55
best possible way I could think of been my time the best thing in the world to do something like the TA um you know the
00:35:01
TA got put together and and sort of opened so to speak in like 2011 I think I first heard about it in about 2013
00:35:10
2014 um but it was always just this dream it was always something you know like other people would do you know what
00:35:17
what would you do with your mortgage or with you can't just take off for five
00:35:20
months and what all these different voices pop up and I think in about 2016 even um 2016 I even got so far and and
00:35:30
so courageous I suppose as to make a plan for going and doing the Pacific Cris Trail in
00:35:36
California um which is similar similar length um but yeah I think that was all just
00:35:43
pretty fful you know something to distract well something something to feel good for the
00:35:50
moment but I never really actually thought I'd go do it but then um so and there's this moment
00:35:58
there was like the clearest most identifiable like before and after moment I've ever had in my life and it
00:36:05
was like um this other well I wouldn't call her a friend I only met her a couple of
00:36:13
times but through an old girlfriend that I had I had met this other lady and um she was just a couple years older than
00:36:20
me so um she' this this mate the old girlfriend after I um after Mom and Dad
00:36:28
had died and stuff we weren't together anymore but she came around to visit and
00:36:32
we were catching up she um I had been overseas for sort of a the time prior for a year or so prior
00:36:39
to that in Germany um so yeah we're catching up and she asks you know have you heard about this friend of hers um
00:36:48
and I was said no what's she up to and she's like oh no she this been diagnosed
00:36:50
with cancer um so stage four brain cancer 34 years old 2 months to live and Sorry 4 months to live two two kids
00:37:01
under 4 years old and like the the penny dropped for me it was just like the the first thought that went
00:37:09
through my head when I heard you know like dad died mom died and then and then hearing this was just
00:37:13
like why on Earth am I not walking the tador trail and like a YOLO sort of thing yeah
00:37:21
it's like what why on it and there's no obviously there's no answer to that
00:37:25
question it's it it was just all those little fears that when compared to the
00:37:31
reality of death just disintegrate and fall away and you just like left free to get stuck into to your life and and
00:37:40
for me that's what the TA was and I'm sure for other people in some of the
00:37:43
situations it would be other things but for me it was Adventure it was it was getting out of being cooped up by
00:37:48
lockdown it was it was the teror trail it was like this shining dream that I wanted to do and all of a sudden I was
00:37:55
booked I booked my flights up to B Islands airport like the next day like everything was just so easy I'm I'm
00:38:02
seeing a pattern here with I'm not over planning overthinking things um I suppose there's two ways of two ways of
00:38:09
looking at that um I mean it's worked out great for you but a lot of people would be like oh if you're dealing with
00:38:15
that sort of grief you want to be you cocooned and surrounded by other people um that's a long time to be alone in
00:38:21
your own thoughts it could have gone either way definitely I'm sure um like I suppose up like this is probably
00:38:31
uh this is probably a year after Mom had pass I think it was M oh no no probably just a few months
00:38:40
okay so there had been a lot of time with you know cocooning and and what have you
00:38:47
um but yeah it still could have gone I still could have been very very lonely um but just an absolute blon blessing
00:38:57
was is that like pretty much on day dot or like landing at Bay of islands airport I actually started pretty late I
00:39:04
started on the 7th of December on the T probably the let's right at the end of
00:39:07
the weather window if you want to make it all the way down to Bluff um so yeah December 7 most people were
00:39:14
starting like October um so I land Bay of islands airport I had to go I had to fly over Oakland because Oakland was
00:39:20
still in lockdown at that time so yeah um so yeah landing at landing at the airport um and out of the get out of the
00:39:28
plane and um there's like one other person there that I saw who was getting this big hiking pack off the back of the
00:39:35
tractor that brings your your your your baggage um at that tiny airport for you um and I was like you know put two and
00:39:43
two together I just I just walked up to her and I was like are you walking the tow she's like yeah um so we ended up we
00:39:50
hitched together from there all the way out to to the lighthouse um and then the first like
00:39:56
three days of the teror if you're going Southbound as we were is 90m Beach and
00:40:02
it's like she's pretty featureless when you're in the middle of 90m beach you
00:40:05
can't see AIP poter and you can't see the lighthouse it's like Horizon to
00:40:10
Horizon it's just sand and um and we had if had we not been two compatible people
00:40:19
that would have been an awful three days but it ended up being a blissful three days because we just got on Great Guns
00:40:25
and um we ended up walking the like I I finished on day 148 and Bluff we probably probably walked
00:40:34
about 120 of those days together um you know Pro after not it's like the I I
00:40:42
always think that like the one of the beautiful elements of outdoor you know whether it's hiking or
00:40:50
like trail running or whatever is that the relationships you form um they are there's no pretense they are very very
00:40:57
real um you know there's there's no there's no if you if you're getting to know
00:41:06
someone on the trail you can't act like the you know there's no pretence
00:41:12
you can't act like the man when it's like oh you just shed in that bush it's very the most pure and sort of
00:41:19
authentic connections imaginable like yeah shed in the bush I love that yeah yeah yeah and um so like after not very
00:41:27
long we were like super close and just had this awesome time walking down the length of the country together and and
00:41:34
um it took it took a long long time to um happen which I think was really really cool but by sort of by the time
00:41:41
we got to like South Island sort of thing we probably right to say that we were an item and um and it it just ended
00:41:47
up being this it was fantastic it because as you say it could my decision to go and walk to the TA after losing
00:41:54
Mom and Dad could have been very lonely but just because of the awesome company I
00:41:59
was so lucky to to to have on that trip it ended up being the other end of the scale it was so therapeutic it was it
00:42:07
was this awesome awesome adventure of moving forward um a sort of re recalibration like as I said didn't take
00:42:16
any devices I just had like my paper diary and and my Kindle um and I was quite conscious about wanting it to be
00:42:23
like that about about wanting it to be this healthy time um in a number of ways and and so and
00:42:31
and thankfully like Sarah is the name of of her the the you start together now no
00:42:36
Canada sort of got in the way of that pretty hard still super tight like yeah that's
00:42:44
cool if ever ever a victory on the road over there in Canada came along like should be the first person I call and
00:42:50
just share that with her and yeah still super tight oh that's cool that's really cool where does she
00:42:55
live she lives in New Zealand uh she's she was sort of as we called ourselves
00:42:59
she was a CO Refugee as well um she came back from Morocco actually um for Co so
00:43:06
and that's half the reason she was doing the TA um so she flew as soon as borders
00:43:11
opened just like I did um so to answer your question she's now in constant in
00:43:17
Germany yeah amazing wow that's special go yeah I mean no doubt you'll have a
00:43:22
bond for Life yeah yeah so so so you finished that walk then where does the idea for to for running the width of
00:43:29
Canada come along um so after the tea I moved to Australia and um I I wanted to go there the whole plan with that is I
00:43:38
wanted to learn another language I've been to Hamburg on a trade show for for
00:43:42
the farming work I was doing in like 2016 and just loved it and I was like I want to come here learn a language just
00:43:48
live in this culture and sort of soak it in so that's what I was doing that's
00:43:51
where I was and I was really contented there but um I when in I walked this other Trail called the H route through
00:44:00
Switzerland it was actually Sarah actually came to join me in in Austria and like the like couple of days after
00:44:06
she arrived I had this whole plan like took her off to the metah horn which is where you start that the H route is
00:44:11
basically walking from the Met horn to Mont Blanc and it's like it's like 200ks
00:44:15
but pretty much every day you're going over like a a 2,000 meter pass um so we
00:44:22
went and walked there and it was while I was on there that I just i' I just just remembered how beautiful it was
00:44:31
that sense of moving forward every day and that the Simplicity of of the Tor um and it I was trying I was like
00:44:39
actively trying to resist thinking like that and I was like I've got this I'm
00:44:44
here to learn German I I I I'm here for great reasons I love what I'm doing here
00:44:49
but I was done for man it just took over after a few days I was like yeah it I was just I
00:44:58
have I don't know what I wanted oh actually no I read a book there's this
00:45:03
awesome awesome fellow um first person to ever run solo unsupported across self supported across Canada British guy by
00:45:10
the name of Jamie McDonald just a beautiful human being um he I read his book um and that was like as I was on
00:45:21
the train to to start walking the H route like at the base of the M horn um yeah um you read the book I'm going to
00:45:30
do that very very destructive book to read you need to stop reading it's very
00:45:34
dangerous yeah and um and yeah I I just couldn't get it out of my head I remember I was like on the
00:45:45
train and it was just like the liy broke I was like trying to resist I was no I'm
00:45:48
doing this I'm doing this but I I was just I have to do this and I couldn't
00:45:52
like kid myself anymore I was I have to go and try and have a crack at this thing like it was the the the the
00:46:00
biggest best possible thing I could think of to to spend my time doing and um and and it was one of those
00:46:08
things where like like those big goals like I've been talking about this with a
00:46:15
ma actually while I've been running a good M of M he's a um he lives in duners
00:46:20
now among other things what what he's done in the past he wrote at the Olympics for New Zealand so he's really
00:46:27
interesting guy to talk to in terms of the the exercise side of this whole Adventure um guy by the name of Nathan
00:46:32
Flanery and we'd talk as I'm running across Canada I just check the earbuds
00:46:35
in see what time it is back in denen and and heavy y um and oh man I forget what was going with
00:46:46
it um ah [ __ ] that sorry man that whole sigue I just forgot what I'm going to
00:46:53
put it down to jet lag it 10 days ago that finished this run and you you flew into the country yesterday um it's okay
00:47:02
um um yeah okay we let's focus on the K if it come if it comes back to you that's all good but otherwise we'll move
00:47:08
on how did you prepare yourself like mentally for the for the run and what was coming yeah
00:47:16
um oh I remembered it okay no we go back to it um so so with I I would check with Nathan a lot
00:47:25
especially when I got through like the middle of or probably about the third quarter of the run through Canada um so
00:47:31
like the end was near near enough in sight that I sort of actually started to get what I call like third quarter Blues
00:47:38
which I sort of I feel like I can identify that in and in a number of different things I've done with um
00:47:46
and I had this chat with Nathan and I I told him like in terms of like setting this
00:47:53
goal it always it always drove me so much more than the fact that it was this huge goal that I wasn't actually sure I
00:48:01
could achieve like running across running running 800 initially it was supposed to be 8,000 K but also through
00:48:08
some incredibly hostile terrain um like when I read Jam's book as I spoke about before I I read and I
00:48:18
read the blue of this guy run one year long Mission unsupported running across Canada and I was just like that's
00:48:25
impossible and um and obviously reading this book found out it's not impossible
00:48:28
it's just quite close to it [Laughter] and and um and so as I talk about this
00:48:36
with Nathan my buddy um when he when when I was in that that sort of that third quarter in in Canada and probably
00:48:43
struggling with the drive a bit I was telling him like when I when I was first thinking about this I was living in
00:48:51
there in Australia thinking what should I do I'd love to do something like what
00:48:54
I read about in that book but the idea of doing like a smaller goal and let's say a smaller country for
00:49:01
example like run across France or you know for argument sake it's like if you
00:49:05
look at the ease of doing it versus the how much it spins my wheels France you know let's say one side to
00:49:15
the other I don't even know let's say thousand Cas um and it's all pretty
00:49:18
agreeable territory it doesn't get that cold doesn't get that hot so actually like ease of or how whether
00:49:25
I think I can actually do it difficulty of doing it let's say it's like a five out of 10 um and then but if
00:49:32
you look at the how much it actually spends my tires like because I think I could
00:49:37
probably short of like breaking a leg or getting hit by a truck I think I could do that with where I'm at now um so how
00:49:47
much does it actually spend my tires motivate me I don't know maybe it's
00:49:50
pretty lukewarm maybe maybe three out of 10 see you're you're attracted to the uh
00:49:55
the difficulty or the possibility of failure yeah cuz there's this whole thing of well not not possibility of
00:50:00
failure it's growth cuz it's like if you look at the instead of ker if you France
00:50:05
if you compare that to like Canada it's like 8,000 K through some some of the
00:50:11
most inhospitable Terrain in the world minus 53 I think was the coldest I saw very
00:50:17
isolated um and it's like I don't actually know if I could do that and then the next thought is like
00:50:26
holy [ __ ] I want to find out and so it's like difficulty yeah like 10 out of 10 but how much does it Jazz me
00:50:36
like 10 out of 10 so I actually rate my chances as backwards as it might sound I
00:50:41
rate my chances higher of finishing that than I do of the France one because I'm
00:50:45
just not stoked about the France one so it's like difficulty plus drive that's why I re and W yeah cuz and
00:50:54
with something if you a really SP my tires if I if it's something I don't
00:50:58
actually know I can do then it's like well I want to find out the answer might
00:51:04
be no you can't you might fail along the way but I want to if if that's that's
00:51:09
fine and and the answer might be yes you might and and if it is if you have a crack in it and I would as with this
00:51:16
Canada thing I thought well if if I have a crack and I do actually get through then I will by at that point I will then
00:51:24
have been able to do something which I previously thought I could have that's just grow in a nutshell yeah
00:51:29
there's something very gratifying about doing really tough things yeah good for
00:51:33
your self-esteem good for your so good for everything um and uh because of the connection with um the unfortunate
00:51:39
connection that you have with cancer um that was that was your why that was the reason for doing this uh you stopped at
00:51:45
hospitals along the way and your smelly Superman suit I've noticed you've got
00:51:49
like a whole lot of um beads of Courage on your on your right wrist who are they
00:51:53
from they kids you made along the way or kids you made along the way yeah yeah why the why are these ones so special
00:51:58
who are they from um what's the story behind them so a couple of these this one
00:52:04
here this is from a little sweetheart um that I met in cam loops uh British Columbia um she wasn't a um Hospital
00:52:16
cancer patient or anything but um her family just helped me a lot um I I ended up spending a lot of time with them they
00:52:24
they drove to the Finish to come and see me finish and on Vancouver Island in Victoria um she both her and her brother
00:52:33
um have autism um but they're just the coolest little kids yeah and um the yeah it
00:52:44
was just as was the case with a lot of the lot of people I met in Canada like they I
00:52:55
think I think you can probably be I would be it would I think it would be understandable but wrong if if a
00:53:05
person from another country were to look at that lovely Canadian culture and modus operandi and say that um there's
00:53:12
like an innocence there I would I'd say that's I'd say that's wrong and and I've
00:53:17
had this chat with a few people it's it's just this this this lovely lovely openness
00:53:26
and G ESS and and I think that was so good for me as a as an individual to have the privilege of being exposed to
00:53:33
for for 10 months on end um and I think it very much um opened me up as a person made me
00:53:43
more more open to like to to you know lovely connections with people and um and I think it's such a feather in the
00:53:58
cap of Canada that they have that lovely way um it's it's sort of like the
00:54:02
opposite of cynicism it's it's just this [Music] lovely yeah it's a willingness to see
00:54:08
the good and and to yeah it's it's so beautiful and and these this girl that
00:54:15
this little seven-year-old that made me it's his best friends forever on there oh my God that's adorable yeah
00:54:22
that's adorable yeah that means so much did you have had much sort of um support
00:54:27
and interaction with people on the way like I know I know you were uh was self-supported so you were camping and
00:54:32
whatnot but did you spend many nights in people's homes or yeah um very much so
00:54:40
so the a lot of the first half of it probably up until the city called s Marie about the 3 and half thousand km
00:54:46
Mark A lot of it was camping there was were certainly still people that were taking me in
00:54:53
um but especially because up until that time it was spring and summer but after uh s Marie um then it started to
00:55:05
get a lot more you started to get into like the really isolated parts of Northern Ontario some of the more
00:55:10
isolated parts of populated Canada um I say populated Canada because you can basically draw a horizontal line halfway
00:55:17
across Canada and the whole top half with an ex small exception over in the Yukon basically doesn't have people
00:55:25
there roads or buildings anything um so you the so yeah getting up into this part of like Northern Ontario um some of
00:55:35
the more isolated parts and from and also the winter was sitting in then um so that sort of very bracing atmosphere
00:55:43
that comes when you know that minus 20 is only a couple of weeks away a lot of people that whole second
00:55:49
half of the Run started reaching out a lot more um online through through social media and even just like seeing
00:55:55
me run through the snow they just like pull over or or or they'd see me at the
00:56:01
Tim Horton which is like real popular coffee chain um like in the next town approached me offered me a bed so a lot
00:56:08
of people like the whole second half of the run a lot of the time I had the privilege of getting brought into
00:56:14
people's homes and getting to meet them and um yeah that was such a lovely element that's really cool was is that
00:56:20
just from the like the ground swell of the the information about what you were doing like check out this has been doing
00:56:26
this for 4 months now or whatever yeah I think if you combine like at at that point basic a couple of things tipped it
00:56:34
was like the weather got a whole lot colder um the town's got a whole lot further apart and the profile of the run
00:56:42
the fundraiser got a whole lot bigger so all of those things combined I think I was just very very lucky and that a lot
00:56:48
of people were offering to come and and get in out of the elements what was the longest you went
00:56:55
without a shower probably a while oh my God probably probably probably a good couple weeks [ __ ] that's
00:57:05
Grim yeah that's so Grim what were you um were you sleeping okay so you're
00:57:10
you're running like an average of 20ks a day you say so what's that like so say
00:57:14
four hour three four hours running a day um well at the start at the start it was
00:57:21
20ks a day or up until I think I first hit a marathon a day by the time I was it called big city which is 100 day 100
00:57:30
um so yeah it would have been at the start it would have only probably been like a
00:57:36
couple hours running a day i' I'd sit on about just under six minute K average
00:57:41
running speed um but then what are you doing with all the downtime at the start a lot of admin yeah uh a lot of really
00:57:47
trying to Bang the Drum putting press releases out um yeah uh actually also at the a lot of
00:57:57
um prehab and Rehab M cuz I had like it was it was really just this whole thing of building in so many
00:58:04
ways later in the piece even though I was running twice sometimes three times the distances per day like every day um
00:58:12
you know like last last week or 10 days ago for example to go out and do couple of you know do a 52k day into chillak
00:58:21
then got up again and did a 48k day into Langley um did another 45k day the next
00:58:28
day I I had the luxury of being able to get a lot lazier about the the exercises
00:58:34
and the prehab and the stretching and stuff and it's just because the body just is pretty used to the ankles are
00:58:40
pretty Bulletproof by that stage and still got a lot of tendonitis in the hamstrings but it's not it doesn't
00:58:45
really matter they can they can sort of handle it their scope for handling extra
00:58:50
stress is so much bigger because they're already pretty pretty they're pretty pretty
00:58:56
massive load under under the belt yeah well what about um the fear of beers while you were camping on the side of
00:59:02
the road very were you doing like Freedom camping just sort of pitching your T wherever yeah very real fear of
00:59:09
beers um no [ __ ] I had a big boy can of beer spray which helped so how how how how does
00:59:18
that work what do you do oh so like mace yeah sort of okay yeah it's like a wildlife how how are you sleeping how
00:59:24
are you sleeping comfortably you know knowing there's uh there's this Potential Threat around uh the short
00:59:32
answer is not well I'm usually a real good sleeper that's that's I can normally sleep
00:59:39
anywhere real deeply but on this run like whether it was the threat of wildlife which probably I wouldn't say
00:59:47
it contributed massively to my sleeping probably more so to my just day-to-day where I would run sort
00:59:54
of looking over your shoulder for cougars or beers or coyotes or whatever it was um but to answer the question
01:00:01
about sleeping I was sleeping poorly the entire run and that wasn't because of
01:00:05
beers it was because I would finish probably two things sore body a lot of the time um the I'd get to the end of
01:00:14
I'd get to the end of a day's run and I'd just be some somehow when I'm
01:00:17
running things are quite smooth as soon as I stop running um and I let's say I'm
01:00:23
sitting at a camp table and I want to get up and walk to the bathroom like I I look like an old crippled man
01:00:30
everything is creaking and sore and walking downstairs is really hard um and then again you know you sleep and you
01:00:38
you wake up in the morning and it's the same everything creaks and everything's
01:00:41
sore and everything's slow but then somehow or other CU you it's just conditioned to this one action you can
01:00:48
still get out and and and and do a 50k day without too much trouble um so that sore body definitely
01:00:59
contributed to to poor sleeping but the other thing was you know you get you get
01:01:04
to the end of a big day's running you get in your tent and then you got to do
01:01:08
you got to you got to make and edit a video and and then like that basically what that means an hour and a half of
01:01:16
screen time and then as soon as you're done that you turn it off and head on
01:01:20
the pillow ready to go to sleep for tomorrow morning it's horrible for your sleep m to beginning not only screen
01:01:27
time but also social media time you know seeing interaction with people seeing photos from people that are on the other
01:01:34
side of the world that have got nothing to do with what I'm doing here and now
01:01:36
running across Ontario it it maybe other people are different but for me that just if I'm trying to get some sleep it
01:01:44
takes me to a mental head space where I don't need to be oh I know no it's it's
01:01:47
notoriously bad we all know that but um majority of people that are listening or
01:01:51
watching to this watching this now um this is probably how we're spending our
01:01:55
last half hour 60 minutes before we go to sleep at night which is it is it's
01:01:59
terrible it's terrible we know it we all know we should be putting this turning
01:02:03
the TV off uh putting the phone down reading a book journaling doing something else but how many of us are
01:02:08
actually doing it very few yeah so um did did you ever like contemplate giving up or did you find yourself like having
01:02:15
periods where you're negotiating with yourself during the run or um the overall overall sense sure there were
01:02:23
some hard days but the overall like I've had enough of this whole project like never which is so neat to have
01:02:30
observed that is um what was it that kept you hit in the game was it the the visit to cancer Wards was it the thought
01:02:36
of your parents running alongside you no it was service yeah absolutely it it was
01:02:42
the fact that this is about something more than just me it was it was if I make it to that next town There's a
01:02:47
hospital visit visit that kid put a smile on their face we're coordinating with the local hockey team you know
01:02:53
maybe the mascot from the NHL team in this town is going to come along we'll
01:02:57
just give a fun day um and in the meantime raise another 10 grand for cancer research like 100% it was that it
01:03:08
was it was service and and yeah because because in that in that it's so much easier to find some
01:03:17
meaning in the suffering it's like yeah my legs are sore but and not meaning sound masochistic
01:03:24
but in a weird way it's almost like yeah bring it like this is this this this is
01:03:28
for a cause this matters like that's a good message have you have you ever read
01:03:33
the Victor Frankle book man search for meaning yeah yeah finding meaning in the suffering that's the that's the whole
01:03:39
the whole synopsis of that entire book totally yeah that's amazing um what were
01:03:43
the most significant lessons you or lessons you learned or insights that you gained about yourself um 305 days is a
01:03:50
is a lot of time to be in your own head totally um and I didn't not to try and the hippie thing
01:03:56
whatever I didn't listen to music I was just just with my own thoughts the whole
01:04:00
time um we played little way of charging your devices as well yeah yeah um I also find it's a lot harder to
01:04:10
get in the zone like running wise that beautiful space you get into where the miles tick by I find it hard to get
01:04:17
there if I'm listening to music um so what what was the question again sorry um oh yeah like the most
01:04:27
significant s of lessons or um insights about yourself um a big one I think I think they're probably from a couple of
01:04:35
different areas I think one one I would have got if even if I wasn't running if
01:04:39
I was just in Canada um and able to had the benefit of spending time around that
01:04:47
that wonderful culture for a year and that is um probably just prob we just sort of like softening
01:04:57
as an individual rather than like and and I probably put some Wars up after with the grief from Mom and Dad
01:05:07
and that and I think just the I I'll always be grateful to Canada and the way
01:05:13
Canadians show up in the world that they're just so so open and gentle and lovely I think
01:05:20
that was I think I really needed that coming off the back of all of that pain and grief it was just such a great great
01:05:28
great country to be in for that to to feel I could sort of start to open my self up I suppose to to the
01:05:43
possibility of um Joy again after sort of probably just closing off for a couple years with all
01:05:52
that grief and death and stuff um by the way understandable by the way did did you did you have any counseling or
01:05:58
therapy or anything after the loss of appearance or you just sort of are you one of these people that sort of tries
01:06:03
to just work through things on your own I'm definitely not one of those people
01:06:07
um I'm I'm definitely not down the other end of the scale either but I definitely
01:06:11
see the value in in counseling and I think it's an awesome tool um I I didn't
01:06:20
immediately after mom and dad died but I actually I did while I was in Austria which was of the time between
01:06:29
doing the TA just after mom and dad died and starting in Canada I and she was a kiwi lady actually from from Hamilton
01:06:37
really really awesome lady um so we had online sessions um so that was great that that actually helped me a lot I I
01:06:44
didn't do a whole bunch i' probably did it for three or four months um but just
01:06:48
some of the questions every now and then she' L these questions at me and they were gold it would encourage
01:06:56
me to like think on things differently like well that's all it is that just giving you a different way of um
01:07:01
different way of viewing things or thinking about things different angle on things yeah things that you you seem
01:07:06
very obvious but you never would have necessarily thought of it yourself some of the lessons I've got in therapy they
01:07:11
yeah they stick with me to this day and you find them just popping up in different scenarios it's great yeah one
01:07:16
of them for me I think was I've actually observed this it's been um I think was probably like
01:07:27
a a um how I I can I can remember around like 20 you know entering leaving High School
01:07:42
sort of entering like Adult World sort of thing I can around that time I can remember observing myself um sort
01:07:50
of pacifying a lot of the ways I would Express things um and and like like specifically and and
01:07:59
and this is something I've been um really consciously trying to like unpick during my time in Austria I live a kiwi
01:08:05
fellow I live with actually from from Cambridge as well where I grew up um we been living in in his house actually
01:08:11
suing his room there in Austria we chat about these things so much because we both live we have the joy of the benefit
01:08:17
of living in this other and in in Austria Austrian society and being able to compare like this is how people do
01:08:23
things here this is how people we do things at home in New Zealand and and one of the awesome benefit that Trel
01:08:29
provides of of that external lens so we we chat about these things and anyway what I'm getting
01:08:34
at is I noticed myself starting um to express things rather than I I would talk it's a way it's a
01:08:43
way of emotional protection X but rather than um talking about something great that
01:08:50
happened um I'll talk about the thing and talking lots of lots of information
01:08:54
about the thing but very rarely would I begin a sentence with I and and I'll
01:09:01
give you an example of what I mean here it might it might hit home a bit but let's say you have a really awesome day
01:09:08
and and I found myself starting to say things like that was an awesome day man that boat ride was great that dinner was
01:09:16
fantastic um but it was basically a way and this is what I learned through those
01:09:21
sessions with that counselor I was saying talking about things like that is basically a way of
01:09:26
avoiding expressing yourself and avoiding um sharing something about yourself the opposite would be and I
01:09:34
think the healthier way which I've been trying to you know been doing a lot more
01:09:37
of um since these sessions with her is um I really enjoyed that day I loved that boat ride I I loved that feed you
01:09:47
know if you start talking about because because in that you're actually expressing something about yourself
01:09:51
rather than just giving information that day was good that feed was good you wonder wonder if that's a kiwi thing
01:09:57
because we think it's too too showy or braggy or something yeah I wonder you
01:10:01
know we we we're we're a weird species of people um what would you what do you
01:10:06
think your mom would make of all this I know I know you guys had a real special connection to running like when you were
01:10:11
like just a a young boy you you guys used to run 7ks every morning together um but would she have thought it's crazy
01:10:18
or would she have condoned it would she been worried about you uh she would have
01:10:22
been worried about me she would have been worried about the traffic she would have been worried about the weather God
01:10:26
moms are great aren't they yeah she we I think first and foremost if I told her
01:10:31
about this thing we would have had a a royal argument like you don't have my
01:10:36
blessings in no that would have been firmly withheld um but if you know if if you could just come along and
01:10:48
find out about it now that it's done um I think should be so proud yeah 100%
01:10:55
yeah and then I'd be able to see like see I was right told yourself um Ian it's very fresh isn't it it was
01:11:04
only 10 days ago that you finished as we explained you flew into the country yesterday so you're still jet lagged but
01:11:09
um what are you going to do now you going to put some Roots down get a get a real job or you going to keep looking
01:11:13
for adventure is this is this how you want to live out the rest of your years it is yeah um so yeah the plan now
01:11:23
um I've I'm heading end of next week I'm heading down to Bluff and um going to
01:11:29
take the Superman suit um I must organize things a bit better but the plan is to coordinate with Starship um
01:11:37
Christ Church hospital some of the hospitals along the way um and get my probably get my social
01:11:43
media going a bit more a bit more live streaming now that you know in New Zealand we've got more coverage it was
01:11:48
hard to do in Canada um live stream whole journey um stopping in at Children's
01:11:54
Hospitals running the length of New Zealand coinciding with yeah as I say the hospital visits and bringing the
01:12:01
kids in the hospitals along on the the whole run it should take about just under four weeks um and
01:12:09
because they sit around on the beds especially the inpatients they sit around bored out of their brains like
01:12:13
that's the biggest thing like some of the people that I met at the hospitals
01:12:16
that were like super grateful for the visit we're actually the kids parents because the big task for them to try and
01:12:24
keep the kids Spirits high is actually just to entertain them while they're just to break up the monotony of the day
01:12:30
yeah cuz they're in there for like you know they're going for a stunt of Cho it
01:12:33
might be six weeks and not only are they feeling like crap because of the chemo but they just they've got one little
01:12:38
room their Ward and they it's like bio control you know um germs and stuff it's
01:12:42
all very sterile um both physically and emotionally and so yeah the whole idea with this is like through the you know
01:12:52
the beauty of being able to live stream a journey and is to run the length of New Zealand um share the journey with
01:12:58
the kids then actually they like leading up to it they'll be watching on screen and then
01:13:03
actually get to the hospitals and it won't be long probably maybe half an hour or so spend some time with them um
01:13:10
and then and then crack on do the whole length of New Zealand and as part of that trying to like bring them along for
01:13:15
the journey the whole thing's going to be attempt at the Guinness World Record
01:13:18
for running the length of New Zealand so it's this whole like we're going to go W
01:13:22
what is the goodness in terms of the time it takes or doing it with a unassisted or with a with a PR or time
01:13:28
Guinness doesn't make a distinction between supported or unsupported for for
01:13:33
this one how many cases do you have to do to break the record it's it's actually not crazy it's
01:13:38
it's a bit of a it's actually not crazy okay M it's a bit of low hanging fruit and it
01:13:44
is actually a bit tongue and cheek because I've got to any anyone attempting this has got to give a shout
01:13:49
out to Ziggy Bower who is the actual fastest known time oh he said in the 70s or something right or ' 80s 50 years ago
01:13:57
this year um but he didn't set it up as a Guinness World Record but it's all
01:14:02
very legitimate you can look up what he did um but he to break his record you got to run 120k a day so it's next level
01:14:12
crazy um he's I know many have attempted it yeah um and as I say it is a bit tang
01:14:18
and cheek like I'm not I'm not ever going to be saying I'm out here trying
01:14:22
to be the fastest person running this thing but it's it's for for me the main thing is like that
01:14:27
raising Spirits the whole thing I'm going to keep the fundraiser going for child um the child Cancer Foundation
01:14:32
with this run up the length of New Zealand do the hospital visits and it's it's basically an extra way of like
01:14:38
raising spirits and bringing kids on the this fun adventure so to answer your question the
01:14:44
actual um daily mileage required to break the Guinness World Record for running the length of New Zealand it's
01:14:50
only like a marathon a day so and that that and that's males um and I think I
01:14:56
think no one's really cared about logging anything bigger especially with Guinness because Ziggy's record is so
01:15:02
massive who's the female is that Emma Tims she did it a few years ago Emma is
01:15:06
that her last name to was it Thompson or something I might have it wrong she's an
01:15:10
absolute Savage yeah she she smokes the guys one she's like 90 or 100ks a day or
01:15:15
something yeah incredible yeah well oh [ __ ] good luck with that that's amazing
01:15:19
um yeah just the the re the you you're why the reason you're doing it um I
01:15:24
think that's awesome what advice would you give to others that who you know maybe have thought about undertaking a
01:15:29
big scary challenge or yeah um honestly the biggest thing that I I don't I think I don't have much
01:15:40
advice to give like just do it yeah if there's one I figure it out as you go
01:15:46
yeah I always feel uncomfortable about putting about saying advice on online and stuff because there's so much of it
01:15:51
out there and also I don't know any more than the next bloke but you've done some
01:15:55
stuff the one yeah which makes you more qualified to answer that than what most of us are yeah I think the one the one
01:16:03
thing I do feel comfortable about putting out there is the one that moment I talked about before which which
01:16:09
directly led me to doing the TA and into doing this Cross Canada run and that is
01:16:13
just like really really really remembering and bringing into your mind the fact that
01:16:21
like just like my parents and just like um that other friend we could like death is a very
01:16:29
real thing it's not some abstract concept could could get hit by a bus on the way home today um like really
01:16:36
remembering that has is like the one it's so liberating and and to answer your question you know advice to someone
01:16:43
that's thinking of doing a big a big big challenge in their own right I think
01:16:47
that is such a helpful thing and it it just takes away all of the the H headed not hotheaded in the
01:16:56
bad sense but all of the the the the tension the fear the pride the fear of embarrassment or failure or anything all
01:17:03
of that sort of blood pumping fast sort of fears and stuff if you like actually really deeply
01:17:10
remembering that like death is a very real thing that can happen like could get diagnosed today well it's a
01:17:15
certainty for all of us but we just don't know when and really bringing that
01:17:20
into your mind it just takes all of that other stuff away and it just makes things pretty clear it's pretty
01:17:26
and a lot of the time I think what you're left with is well there isn't really a reason to not do these things
01:17:31
like it's it's all can just go and do it now yeah I love that I love that that's
01:17:37
really good what message or takeaway do you hope um people would get from what you've done and what you're
01:17:43
doing I think there are two um first and foremost I think I think it's easy like supporting people going through the
01:17:53
the battle with cancer is it's a very worthwhile thing um and just just showing up just
01:18:00
being there it can be such an awkward thing people think I don't know what to
01:18:04
say or It Feels So cliche to say I'm sorry for your last and set like just being there just being a body next to
01:18:10
them on the couch that's a huge thing um and and obviously in a in a bigger sense
01:18:15
um I think the the fight to develop cures for cancer is it's a very worthwhile thing like Mom and Dad's Mom
01:18:24
and Dad's were awful they're a lot less awful because of the advances in cancer
01:18:30
research I was my my picture of what chemo was was from Reading Lance Armstrong's book you know he went
01:18:35
through cancer in the '90s um it's a lot different than it was in the '90s it's not as hellish which is
01:18:41
such a a beautiful thing and that's just on the back of people giving a [ __ ]
01:18:45
about cancer research um yeah yeah yeah what are your what are your thoughts on Lance
01:18:51
Armstrong like I'm a fan I'm a fan of the guy personally yeah he um he did so
01:18:57
like those Liv strong bracelets like he did so much for cancer research um yeah he was he was a cheat but it was the
01:19:03
dirtiest sport in the world anyway yeah I think the good that he's done it far
01:19:08
outweighs any Badness yeah I I you obviously yeah it's it's the it's the
01:19:15
the two polls e like a big cheat but it was a cheat in a in a in a very very in the dest sport in the world and also
01:19:22
raised a billion dollars yeah and he like like what he did directly made my parents fights with cancer less hellish
01:19:31
so like yeah I don't I don't condone what he did but I also if he wasn't
01:19:35
doing it the next Blok in the to of France would have been doing it 100% yeah yeah yeah oh what a load point to
01:19:41
end it on um but hell of a chat yeah John nabs welcome back to New Zealand um oh Shia what's happening with Shia the
01:19:49
the pram she is in Squamish BC right now I left her with some um some kind folks
01:19:53
who hosted me I it was too tight between finishing and jumping on the plane to actually make a decision what to do lots
01:19:59
of people were saying auction her off people were saying give her to the homeless there's a mess of homeless
01:20:03
problem in Vancouver um some people were saying keep her for the next one so I I
01:20:08
couldn't make a call so she's with um some people there that are they're just
01:20:12
holding her until I can make a call um and but probably that an answer to your your your question just before the other
01:20:19
message what would you say I'd be like if I think if I can get if I if I can do
01:20:27
this thing obviously with a lot of support from K Canadians on the way but if I can get to Vancouver
01:20:31
like man there are a lot of obstacles that came along the way if any like I just I just think it's a proxy
01:20:40
for people's battles and people's everyday lives like I think to to look back I'm
01:20:47
I'm super super chuffed with having being able to get there and um I've had
01:20:53
some messages from people saying like they they took a lot from like those last couple of days when
01:21:00
they actually realized that this was the story was going to have an end or the you know the swim in the Pacific what
01:21:05
was going to happen um you know one comes to mind one this single mom that I met running through the Rockies super
01:21:12
impressive lady runs a business um does like programs outdoor programs for like kids struggling with different you know
01:21:20
identities and things like that um in the mountains as well as raising this kid this nice little kid by herself um
01:21:28
she and she's got so much on her plate and she sent me this a comment on one of
01:21:32
my posts actually and she was saying like I think the reason oh and she hosted me she hosted me as I was coming
01:21:37
through the mountains she was saying I think the reason I am so invested in this and and and so um inspired I
01:21:44
suppose by this run is that I I see it as sorry to just buddy Sig again like when she hosted me I think
01:21:58
she I think there's a lot of people did actually along the way I think they would like sort of I I reckon a lot of
01:22:04
the ray across the run I sort of I think I led a lot of people down with like how ordinary I think a lot of
01:22:12
people they see the videos and then they would like host me and they' be super
01:22:15
excited and they expect some like fancy dinner guest for the night and and I just show up at their house like really
01:22:21
sore really tired really hungry and and and and just by chatting like I think it's a it's one of our lovely elements
01:22:29
of our kiwi nature like nothing is a big deal and no one is a big deal it's all
01:22:33
just we're all just normal doing our things and um and I think I'm not sure I
01:22:40
might be wrong but I think that um I think a lot of I think I think people in Canadians are interacted
01:22:50
with were probably a bit anticlimactic but um yeah like oh I think I think it really
01:22:57
struck them that like this is well I think anyone that was that did that did sort of have an impression from this run
01:23:04
that I was doing I think it probably that impression was probably added to just by the fact that in in our very kiy
01:23:10
way they could see that like this this is just a normal BL running a big run yeah yeah well that's exactly right an
01:23:18
ordinary person doing extraordinary things yeah and um and then yeah so and so to Kim this this lady I think she was
01:23:25
saying like um seeing the story unfold seeing John get to the Finish it's a it's it's almost like a a proxy for you
01:23:35
know for her single motherhood or running this business or or you know their own our
01:23:41
own striving in our own lives and yeah that's if if people take that away from
01:23:47
it I think I'd be pretty proud of about that that's awesome hey John nebs thanks
01:23:52
so much for your time today um I'm your beard as we'd much rather be right now
01:23:57
but I appreciate it and I hopefully hopefully from this um you'll pick up some new followers and uh I for one
01:24:03
certainly can't wait to see what you do next thanks manate it's pleasure to be
01:24:06
here thank you so much yeah I appreciate it and well done [Music]