Live Beyond Podcast

During this episode I chat to Sally Goble, Head of Quality at the Guardian newspaper and swimmer extraordinaire. For her 50th birthday last year, Sally decided to swim a mile each day in 50 different pools in London for 50 days. A great celebration! Sally's love of endurance swimming all started with a somewhat random adventure swimming holiday in Greece... Since then, she has swum the 21 miles of the English Channel, an incredible endurance feat as well as countless open water endurance races and even some arctic swimming! No wetsuits allowed! She talks openly about the trials and tribulations of endurance swimming including overcoming her first failed attempt at crossing the Channel before completing the challenge the following year. Sally is engaging and funny and genuinely loves the water. Listening to her and reading her blog posts on the Guardian website make you want to jump in! For more information on Sally and her swimming visit www.livebeyond.co

It's not every day that you get to chat to someone who has rowed across an Ocean! This episode features Meg Dyos who as part of a group of women called the Coxless Crew, rowed across the Pacific Ocean. They finished their challenge on 26th January after having covered almost 9,000 miles during 257 days at sea. They now have not one but two world records! The first group of women to cross the Pacific and the first group of four. Wow! The journey was divided into 3 legs and Meg joined the team on the third leg from Samoa to Cairns, Australia, spending 77 days at sea. Before joining the girls, she had never rowed! Talk about putting yourself outside of your comfort zone! No stranger to adventure, Meg had climbed Mount Kilimanjaro and had also participated in a charity Machu Picchu trek in Peru but this was by far the biggest challenge of her life so far. Meg is fascinating. We chat about how she got involved in the project, the preparation, the reasons behind the row, laughter, challenges, the importance of values and working as a team and of course the practicalities of life on a boat for weeks and months at a time. This is an awesome achievement and really proves that we can achieve things that seem impossible if we put our minds to it. Enjoy! For more information go to www.livebeyond.co.

This episode features Rebecca Lowe, a journalist from London who is cycling around Europe and the Middle East. Three continents, 20 countries, 7,000 miles. We join Rebecca in Cairo, Egypt about two thirds of the way through her adventure.  She left London on 29th July 2015 and has so far cycled through 16 countries in Europe and the Middle East. At the time of recording, she is about to embark on the last stretch of her journey with four more countries to come.  The next one is Sudan and she will end her adventure in Iran. Rebecca shares her experiences in an open, honest and often very funny way. She's fascinating and has an amazing approach to her work as a journalist and to life in general. We chat about her first days of essentially learning how to ride her new bike (!), the fate of her ukelele, the amazing kindness of strangers, her visits to refugee camps, the work she is undertaking on refugees and women's rights and of course the highs and lows so far. Enjoy! Visit www.livebeyond.co for more information.

This episode features Nanna Munnecke, mum of two beautiful boys, visual director of an innovation strategy consultancy, runner, co-founder of the voltwomen movement, creator of social good via running, master life juggler and awesome human being. I was fortunate to spend time with Nanna who lives in Copenhagen over Skype. Nanna started running while going through quite a significant life transformation resulting from divorce after a 20 year relationship. Starting with 500m she has since run marathons and a 100km ultra-marathon (with WMNRUN 100 – see episode 3 of the podcast for more on the initiative started by Sorrell Walsh). Running has helped her become more fearless in life. A self-pronounced ‘kamikaze runner’, she embodies the power of the mind with her positive energy and intention. Nanna’s personal journey with running is inspiring in itself but even more special is how running is a vehicle for her to inspire others. Two years ago, she co-founded a movement called Voltwomen, a global community of women runners. Women united by running, pushing the self and boundaries, overcoming barriers and being the best they can be. She is an amazing example of someone who announces intention, doesn’t let fear get in the way and begins projects. Learning by doing. For her, running is about energy and feeling good but importantly, about creating community. A multi-faceted, inspiring lady with fabulous energy who I admire hugely. Enjoy what Nanna has to say. Visit www.livebeyond.co for more information on this episode.

This episode features a chat with Leo Tong, creative technologist, music lover, curious sub-culturalist and cyclist. In his own words Leo has a "healthy disrespect for the impossible" which comes across in all aspects of his life from his professional career to taking on crazy cycling challenges. He has ridden 120 miles on a "Boris bike" (25kg municipal bikes in London) and last year completed the Transcontinental cycle race. 4,400km in 19 days with 40,000m climbing. Gruelling. 172 starters and 89 finishers, I think that says it all really. Leo has a great approach to life. He sets goals and goes after them. He really gives you the sense that anything is possible. Enjoy! For links and additional information go to www.livebeyond.co

Firstly, Happy New Year! The first episode of 2016 is also the first one about a cycling challenge. And not just any challenge. Cycling around the world! Two friends, Will Frazer and Johan du Plessis, who met at university, each pursuing their careers in London and further afield decided in October 2013 that they were going to cycle around the world together. Not long after, in April 2014 they set off from the UK. 23,500 kilometers, 234 days and 21 countries later they arrived in Miami (USA), their finish line. Covering an average of 100 kilometers per day, this wasn’t for the faint hearted. We talk about their motivations, the highlights and low points, the kindness of strangers as well as what they leant and the advice they would give to others thinking about embarking on their own adventures. Laughs, crashes, broken bikes and lightning strikes all feature. Two fascinating characters who have a real taste for adventure, it’s an interesting discussion and will hopefully wet your appetite and provide inspiration for 2016! For more information, go to www.livebeyond.co

This episode of the live beyond podcast features Melissa Fehr, a world record holder, runner, entrepreneur and survivor of a bone marrow transplant. We chat about Melissa’s success at the World Transplant Games in Argentina this year, bringing home six gold medals, a world record and a world best time! Melissa talks about the devastation of being diagnosed with a bone marrow disorder in 2008, her treatment and how running and regaining fitness have played an important role in her recovery and identity. She has since gone from strength to strength, completing five marathons, over 10 half marathons and countless shorter races. During this time, she has also started own business designing digital active wear sewing patterns while having a full-time job. A busy lady! Melissa is constantly looking to achieve her best and push beyond her own limits, always improving. Her achievements are extraordinary and her courage, strength and determination a real inspiration.

Episode three of the “live beyond” podcast features Sorrell Walsh. Sorrell is a graphic designer, speedy runner and founder of two amazing running communities, Still Waters (in Manchester) and more recently WMN RUN 100. We chat about Sorrell’s personal running journey from her first marathon to clocking a sub-3 hour time at the Berlin marathon this year. Along the way she’s thrown in a few relays and ultra marathons and placed first lady in her first 100 kilometer race. Awesome. Her involvement in a global women’s running community called Volt Women combined with the realisation that the percentage of women competing in ultra marathons was very low (about 20%) led Sorrell to an exiting new project, founding a community called WMN RUN 100. The aim is to increase the number of women in endurance sports and this year, 52 WMN RUN 100 women stood at the start line of the Race to the Stones (a 100 kilometer race), a phenomenal achievement. We talk about the people that have helped her along the way, mental strength, doing things that seem impossible, the inspiring women that run ultra marathons and the power of people believing in each other. Especially how that belief in itself can change how you perceive your own ability and possibilities. Sorrell doesn’t believe in limiting herself by her own beliefs and wants to help others believe in themselves in the same way. This lady has some pretty phenomenal achievements to her name so far and there will be many more to come. On top of that, she’s super humble and an absolute sweetheart. For more information go to: http://www.livebeyond.co/podcast-episode-3-sorrell-walsh/

This episode of the live beyond podcast features Emily Ackner, a life adventurer who recently completed an amazing personal challenge called Kernow 300, a multi-stage 300 mile run around the coast of Cornwall, England. No stranger to stepping outside of her comfort zone, Emily who is originally from Falmouth in Cornwall, has an interesting journey. We chat about her different passions and stages in her life so far including time on the slopes in Switzerland qualifying as a snowboard instructor, followed by a successful sales and marketing career in London. She then decided to change things up. Following some time in India she has thrown herself into a new career as a personal trainer, bringing together her personal passion for movement and fitness with her professional ambitions. All of these fascinating life experiences culminating in the amazing and successful completion of her challenge to run 300 miles around the coast of Cornwall, showing phenomenal physical and more importantly, mental strength. Emily candidly shares her highs and lows. She has a wonderful way with words, you can literally imagine yourself in the places she describes, the views, smells and sensations. This is about exploring, challenging yourself and freedom. She shares what drives and motivates her to push beyond her personal limits and to grow as an individual. Wise words. I hope you’ll agree that this girl is pretty awesome! For more information, visit http://www.livebeyond.co/podcast-episode-2-emily-ackner/

This first episode of the “live beyond” podcast is an introduction to the theme of the podcast and a little bit about the podcast host, Viv Joynes, and her story. Summary: After heartbreak and divorce following a 12 year relationship, Viv needed to go on a journey. Inspired by others out there doing seemingly crazy things, running what appeared to be impossible distances, she thought to herself, “why not me?”. In reality, there were many reasons including the fact that when she came up with the idea, she had never even run a marathon. But over time, the idea of Viv Runs Europe grew organically, running from Poland to Spain, a distance of 3,850 kilometers. She would follow the path her gran took as a refugee at the end of the war and then continue towards the southern point of mainland Europe. It took six months from July 2014 to January 2015 with many highs and some lows too. A true adventure, one of the most life affirming experiences of her life so far. Learn more and visit her challenge blog on www.vivrunseurope.com