About Me….

Oh boy, that’s a long topic, and getting longer every year. I’m 47 years old and have decided to train to become an elite ultra-runner. At the time of writing, it has been less than a year ago that a was 30 kgs heavier, with a long term back injury and plantar issues in my foot. I hobbled around every day stuffing my face with whatever food made me feel better, sitting behind a desk all day with sky rocketing blood pressure and a heart condition. To top it off, at the end of the day I’d venture home and kill off any memories of that day with a bottle of wine and some high strength beer that I didn’t even like. Just to make it all go away. This narrative had gone on way too long.

I made a change.

I started off with a fitness/lifestyle challenge (a version of 75 Hard) and focused on one day at a time and hitting all those micro goals. All those little steps started adding up and I was able to progress from walking to walk/jogging, to eventually a slow jog. The weight came off, the diet was clean, and don’t really touch alcohol anymore. Yes there were sacrifices, but they are now opening up opportunities to live life fully again.

Prior to all I’ve described above, and the back injury, I’d been leading a physically active life with tennis as my main sport and a side dish of running. Tennis and running never went well together and an injury would rear its ugly head eventually. My weight would fluctuate a lot based on this, my direction and purpose also.

I don’t play tennis competitively anymore so I’m putting a full focus into ultra-running and using it to see more places, meet more people and to be competitive once again. I’m not looking like an ultra runner yet, in physical aspects or speed but I will get there. I have Sam Harvey as a coach, one of the world’s best ultra runners on my team, it’s still early days but I’m already getting outside my comfort zone with his assistance and let’s see where the hell I end up.

Like anyone of my age, we all have a lot of life to tell. I don’t want to bore you with every detail, but if you follow along and see what happens when an ordinary runner tries to become an elite ultra runner, you’ll hear more, and hopefully can resonate with some of my story.

Vaughan