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