Latest / Blether Together with Farmstrong Scotland / We ran 857 miles in 26 days: Katie and Hannah Francis

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We ran 857 miles in 26 days: Katie and Hannah Francis · Blether Together with Farmstrong Scotland

• 0:00
  Welcome to Blether together from Farmstrong Scotland.
• 0:03
  I'm Sarah Stephen.
• 0:05
  Thanks for being with us.
• 0:06
  This time, we have a first for the Farmstrong podcast team, a mother daughter duo.
• 0:13
  I'm Katie.
• 0:14
  And I'm Hannah, Katie's daughter.
• 0:16
  Is it a risk?
• 0:17
  Yeah, definitely.
• 0:18
  It is a bit of a risk.
• 0:20
  Katie and Hannah Francis, whose farm is near Selkirk, recently undertook a charity run and it was some run!
• 0:29
  The full length of Britain, from John O' Groats to Land's End, 33 miles a day.
• 0:35
  For 26 days, totalling 800, 857, I think it was.
• 0:41
  Running, running!
• 0:43
  We ran.
• 0:43
  We ran that far!
• 0:46
  It was, says Hannah, an experience with more mother daughter bonding than they'd ever imagined.
• 0:53
  Like, we shared a bed every night and things in this camper van.
• 0:55
  So there was literally no break from each other at.
• 0:59
  But there was one upside for the duration of the challenge.
• 1:03
  Due to the calories needed, no food was off the table, no matter how unhealthy.
• 1:09
  We'd have croissants and chocolate spread and cake and Selkirk Bannock was a big part of Hannah's life.
• 1:15
  She ate tonnes of that.
• 1:16
  Let's get into it now.
• 1:18
  Introducing mother and daughter, Katie and Hannah Francis.
• 1:23
  Is this your first podcast?
• 1:25
  Yes, it is, yes.
• 1:26
  Well, welcome.
• 1:27
  I hope you enjoy it.
• 1:29
  And Hannah, where are you coming from today?
• 1:31
  I'm up at uni in Edinburgh, so I'm just in my student halls kind of thing at the moment.
• 1:35
  So I sent a message on the group chat before I was like, everyone please be quiet for like half an hour.
• 1:42
  I have to say it looks rather nice student halls.
• 1:44
  They're not the sort of student halls I had.
• 1:46
  We've just moved into a new flat for a second year, so it's much nicer than last year.
• 1:50
  A bit cold though.
• 1:51
  We've not got all the heating on yet.
• 1:52
  It's absolutely freezing at the minute.
• 1:56
  How many lectures have you got today?
• 1:59
  I've got microbiology pathology this afternoon and then I can't actually remember what it is this morning.
• 2:07
  But they're both quite long.
• 2:08
  I think they're both about three hours.
• 2:10
  It's a big deal.
• 2:11
  That does sound quite long.
• 2:12
  First June, I thought they're normally like an hour and in, out and off you go.
• 2:16
  So I'm at the farm gate.
• 2:18
  It's just to paint a picture, if you will.
• 2:20
  Katie, I'm leaning over your farm gate and I'm looking onto the farm.
• 2:24
  What do I see?
• 2:25
  What's the set-up?
• 2:26
  I've got 400 acres and so my husband's very busy and works as a chiropractor, so he's not at home.
• 2:33
  So it's me, myself.
• 2:34
  I have two boys, one older than Hannah and one younger, so life's been really busy.
• 2:40
  So I tried to set the farm up as simply as I could.
• 2:43
  So I'm organic.
• 2:44
  It's all grassland.
• 2:45
  I've got 550 breeding ewes and 25 suckler cows.
• 2:51
  So day to day, I don't have too much to do.
• 2:55
  There's periods, obviously, lambing and carving and silage and shearing that are super busy, but in amongst that, I've managed to sort of look after the house and the family and myself and everything else.
• 3:08
  That goes with it, juggle everything in between.
• 3:10
  So you're working alongside your two sons?
• 3:14
  No, no, no.
• 3:15
  So the eldest one's at college and the youngest ones at school, so.
• 3:19
  No, actually, my children are all really good at helping and when they're home, they know the deal and they help.
• 3:25
  But no, just myself.
• 3:28
  And any mutterings of somebody who's going to follow in your footsteps, or is it?
• 3:32
  Well, it's always a difficult conversation, isn't it?
• 3:35
  But I think my eldest son is probably the most likely.
• 3:37
  But I equally don't want to put any pressure on anyone because I think unless you choose farming, it's not a good career.
• 3:45
  You know, you have to know in a cold, wet day when you're driving around outside in the rain that you've chosen that path.
• 3:52
  And did you choose farming?
• 3:54
  Yes, definitely.
• 3:55
  Yeah.
• 3:55
  And actually, beforehand I was a land agent and worked in an office and I hated it so much that I know every day that I'm grateful for my life's life and how I lead my life.
• 4:07
  I love that I choose my hours and what I do and how I do it and organising my own schedule.
• 4:11
  I really.
• 4:13
  I really value that.
• 4:14
  Having had to be somewhere for 8.30am and accounting every 15 minutes for what I did and things.
• 4:19
  So, yeah, for me, that's a really strong motivation of why I love my lifestyle.
• 4:26
  I would say there's an amazing freedom to farming, albeit there's a tie, there's an amazing freedom to it as well.
• 4:33
  So, Hannah, you're following in Dad's footsteps, then?
• 4:36
  Yes, yes.
• 4:37
  And is that something you always wanted to do?
• 4:39
  I think so.
• 4:41
  I think when I was about 16, I always knew I wanted to work with people and sort of be in a profession that could sort of help people and going forwards.
• 4:48
  And I got quite interested in, like, the science side and the medical side and I was seeing what he was doing and I sort of completely fell in love with it.
• 4:55
  So it's definitely.
• 4:56
  I know I'm sort of in the right place for me.
• 4:57
  I do miss the farm.
• 4:58
  I say I miss being outdoors all the time, but I absolutely love sort of what I do.
• 5:03
  So I'm happy, happy here.
• 5:04
  You're not far from home.
• 5:06
  You can just jump on a bus or a train and get back there.
• 5:09
  That's the joy of Scotland, isn't it?
• 5:11
  Nothing's too far away.
• 5:13
  So, JOGLE, a new word for me.
• 5:16
  The word for the day.
• 5:17
  Who's going to tell me?
• 5:19
  JOGLE, John O Groats to Land's End this summer.
• 5:23
  What an achievement.
• 5:25
  Hannah, tell me what you did and why you did it.
• 5:30
  So the idea for JOGLE came up, I think maybe three, four years ago.
• 5:36
  I just sort of started running because I was really struggling with my concentration at school.
• 5:40
  I was like, I think I was sat there on the first day of my last year of school and I was like, I've got so much holiday work I've not done.
• 5:47
  So I was sat there and I Googled, "oh, how to concentrate better."
• 5:50
  And it came up.
• 5:51
  It says, exercise and running.
• 5:52
  So I was like, "oh, I'll give it a go."
• 5:54
  Started running, absolutely fell in love with it.
• 5:56
  I was like, this is nothing makes me happier kind of thing.
• 6:00
  And it sort of escalated and I'd seen someone else doing the joggle route and I was like, that is immense.
• 6:07
  Like, that is so, so cool.
• 6:09
  And it sort of snowballed and I think at the time, the youngest female to have done it was 22.
• 6:15
  So I was like, oh, I could do this.
• 6:17
  I could break a world record as well.
• 6:18
  Like, how amazing would that be?
• 6:22
  So I sort of started doing it more.
• 6:23
  I started training someone else.
• 6:25
  Ended up breaking the record.
• 6:26
  So that was originally sort of a big part of the why of doing it, but actually, after the records breaking, it kind of.
• 6:33
  It changed the why a bit more and it became much more of a sort of personal thing.
• 6:38
  And then last.
• 6:40
  Was it last November, Mum, you decided you wanted to do it as well.
• 6:44
  Oh, December.
• 6:45
  Yeah.
• 6:46
  I love the way you say "mum decided". How did you get roped in, Katie?
• 6:52
  Well, she talked about it and I do, you know, as there was that expression, mother, father, preacher, teacher.
• 6:59
  The, the people who are closest to you are like the worst people to get advice from because you never want people you love to fail.
• 7:07
  So I was pretty like, anyway, and I very lucky.
• 7:11
  Played hockey for the Scotland Masters and actually this year, I didn't get selected.
• 7:16
  I moved up an age group and I've done it for the last 10 years, but didn't get selected this year.
• 7:21
  So I was pretty sort of deflated.
• 7:23
  And I had thought I could maybe do hockey and maybe run the length of Scotland.
• 7:28
  And then when the hockey fell away, I was like, maybe I could do this.
• 7:33
  I'll give it a go.
• 7:34
  So it was just around Christmas time, 1st of January, or whenever it was 2nd of January, started training and that was it, really.
• 7:44
  But I was.
• 7:45
  There's a steeliness there, obviously, given your hockey background.
• 7:49
  There's a steeliness and a determination which is rubbed off.
• 7:53
  And Hannah as well.
• 7:54
  Yes, yes.
• 7:57
  We're actually very different, Hannah and I.
• 7:59
  We are like sort of polar opposites.
• 8:01
  Like, she goes into charity shops and comes out looking like, you know, she's sort of stepped out of shop, whereas.
• 8:08
  A million bucks.
• 8:09
  Yeah, I just put my same farm trousers on and my sweatshirt every day and, you know, it's saying, but, yeah, yeah.
• 8:15
  So I was.
• 8:16
  I was, I have to say, blown away by her steely determination.
• 8:19
  I thought I would bring that, but I think she brought it more, which, being young, I was.
• 8:25
  Yeah.
• 8:26
  Pretty surprised about.
• 8:27
  And just the feet itself, the mileage.
• 8:30
  So just remind me of the mileage?
• 8:32
  What was it, 33 miles a day for 26 days?
• 8:36
  33 miles totaling 800.
• 8:39
  857, I think it was.
• 8:42
  Yeah.
• 8:42
  Come on, let's get that 857.
• 8:44
  Don't you miss a mile of that.
• 8:45
  That is absolutely immense.
• 8:49
  And I know that, you know, the start, if you're going from John o' Groats down that sort of landscape, the.
• 8:54
  You know, it can be pretty, pretty wild.
• 8:58
  Up north, especially.
• 8:59
  We spent a lot of the first couple days on the side of the A9, so it was like there was nothing.
• 9:04
  It was just this really flat, barren landscape with like hundreds and hundreds of cars sort of screaming past us.
• 9:10
  That was.
• 9:11
  It was quite a surreal bit.
• 9:12
  I think as we first started, we were a bit like, oh, my gosh, what have we got ourselves into?
• 9:17
  And it was raining and everything, so it was quite surreal.
• 9:19
  But after a while, it's sort of.
• 9:21
  Once.
• 9:22
  It's actually nicer sometimes with the hills.
• 9:24
  As much as they're horrible to horrible to walk up, it gives you a bit more of things to look at whilst you're sort of on the go.
• 9:30
  The worst thing, I think about that part of the world, it's beautiful, it's barren, it's wild, it's stunning.
• 9:37
  But at that top of Scotland, you've got a lot of down and then up again, haven't you?
• 9:42
  Way, way down and then way, way up again on the road.
• 9:45
  So yes, yes.
• 9:47
  What goes down must come up and vice versa.
• 9:49
  Yeah, we sort of, in order to achieve the distance, we sort of set out some parameters that if it was a big uphill, we would just walk it.
• 9:59
  It was all about.
• 9:59
  We had to get to tomorrow, so there was no good, oh, showing off and doing really well today.
• 10:04
  It was all about, you know, surviving the distance.
• 10:08
  So we would run down it and then we would just walk up and we just took the uphills time to kind of eat and chat, just regroup.
• 10:15
  And when we get to the top, we'd set off running again.
• 10:17
  So the hills were as Hannah said they were almost.
• 10:20
  They were fine.
• 10:21
  We just looked at them as a, you know, as a sort of a break and a regroup.
• 10:29
  As a mother and daughter duo, it must have been an incredibly bonding time for you both?
• 10:35
  Hannah's laughing.
• 10:36
  It's more daughter bonding than most people need in life.
• 10:43
  Like, we shared a bed every night and things in this camper van.
• 10:48
  So there was literally no break from each other at all.
• 10:51
  But we do, we do get on well.
• 10:53
  We do.
• 10:56
  We're so different.
• 10:57
  We do it, we get on fine, actually.
• 10:59
  We, we feel each other.
• 11:00
  We're, I think, pretty opposite.
• 11:02
  So we fill each other's, you know,.
• 11:05
  We're so, just so for people, I mean, appreciate.
• 11:10
  We're not dismissing it in any, you know, I certainly don't want to dismiss the sort of 33 miles that you did.
• 11:15
  I can't even fathom that.
• 11:17
  It's just incredible.
• 11:18
  But just describe, you know, a typical day.
• 11:21
  So we, we would get up at 6.
• 11:22
  Well, this was Hannah's slight weakness.
• 11:24
  We'd get up at 6.
• 11:26
  So we get, get Hannah out of bed at 6:30.
• 11:29
  She's a jump out of bedder, is she?
• 11:31
  Yeah, she could, but actually her flash to bang was immense.
• 11:34
  She could get up, eat and do everything in very quick time.
• 11:38
  And then.
• 11:38
  So we'd try and set off as early as we could was the goal.
• 11:41
  And then we'd run pretty much try and do 12 miles, I would say, and then we'd stop for sort of second breakfast.
• 11:48
  The great thing about this journey was we got to eat anything and everything.
• 11:51
  So then we'd stop, we'd have croissants and chocolate spread and cake and Selkirk bannock was a big part of Hannah's life.
• 11:58
  She ate tons of that and then cups of tea.
• 12:01
  And then we would set off again and we would try and do another sort of 12 miles, say.
• 12:06
  And then we stopped for lunch and we'd have like pasta and things.
• 12:09
  And then actually we would quite often jump into bed for 20 minutes and have a power nap, by which point that was like three o', clock, 3:30.
• 12:17
  So then we'd hopefully be only left with like eight or nine miles to get to the end of the day.
• 12:22
  But sort of the idea was just it took us a bit to work out the schedule to how we could mentally deal with each day, keeping positive as long as we could.
• 12:32
  Really.
• 12:33
  What were the biggest challenges?
• 12:35
  I'm sure that just even the sheer grind of every day going through the same thing.
• 12:41
  But what were the biggest challenges or the most surprising elements of it?
• 12:44
  Hannah?
• 12:45
  Noticeable things definitely running on the side of these main roads.
• 12:49
  I mean, I was driving one the other day that we sort of did coming through the borders and I was like, oh my God, we must have been mad to be running on the side of this, like car
• 12:59
  screwing past at sort of 60 the side of dual carriageways at some point.
• 13:03
  It was so mentally draining, just having that constant sort of thingy.
• 13:07
  And people obviously were very unforgiving towards us.
• 13:10
  We had like hivers jackets on and everything.
• 13:12
  But I mean, if I saw someone running down the side of the main road, I would go, what on earth are you doing?
• 13:16
  Kind of thing.
• 13:17
  So that was definitely, I think, a huge sort of hurdle for us to get over.
• 13:20
  Initially, we were really struggling with it.
• 13:22
  We were like, we can't, we can't be on this road.
• 13:24
  Like, this is, like, this must be illegal even.
• 13:26
  It just felt so wrong.
• 13:28
  And after a while we sort of got into a rhythm of it.
• 13:30
  But I think that was like the thing that surprised us the most as being quite so difficult.
• 13:34
  My husband cycles and I've done some training with him.
• 13:37
  It's one of the most, I think, incredible things is you feel so vulnerable and it's really taught me a bit of a lesson.
• 13:44
  You know, when I'm driving and I see a cyclist or I see someone beside the road.
• 13:47
  In Scotland, we're not geared up for people to walk everywhere, we're geared up for people to drive everywhere, especially in rural areas.
• 13:54
  And I sort of always think, who's going to come off worse, you know, by being angry at somebody walking at the side of the road or somebody cycling.
• 14:00
  It's definitely going to be the.
• 14:01
  It's not going to Be the car, is it?
• 14:03
  And I always find it surprising how people's attitude towards something like that is so.
• 14:09
  They're so cross with you for being there and you're like, come on, really?
• 14:14
  We were quite shocked, actually.
• 14:15
  There was a few places where we had people, like, stop and wind down their windows to say, what on earth are you doing out here?
• 14:20
  Kind of thing.
• 14:22
  And it's a.
• 14:23
  I started feeling really guilty about it.
• 14:25
  I was like, mom, I feel so bad.
• 14:26
  Everyone's getting so.
• 14:27
  I'm a bit like, I don't like people getting mad at me.
• 14:29
  So I was really stressed about it.
• 14:30
  But they said after a while, we just kind of realized we just have to get on with it.
• 14:34
  Like, it's just.
• 14:35
  It's going to be part of this.
• 14:37
  So.
• 14:37
  And Katie, for you, what was your sort of biggest takeaway in terms of challenges?
• 14:42
  Yeah, it's same as Hannah, definitely the roads.
• 14:45
  I'm just trying to think of other things.
• 14:48
  And actually the other thing, we were in a camper van that we'd borrowed, so we had different people looking after us.
• 14:53
  So actually I felt, we felt quite a responsibility to make sure they were okay as well, you know, so we'd always have to make sure we found somewhere for them to park, that they were safe.
• 15:04
  So that was part of it as well.
• 15:05
  Just keeping the show on the road, I suppose, would be the term.
• 15:09
  I know.
• 15:09
  The responsibility.
• 15:10
  It's such a female, isn't it such a female trait to be worrying about everybody else?
• 15:17
  And then I suppose the good takeaways, you know, what was rewarding from it?
• 15:23
  I mean, apart from the sheer mileage itself and achieving that.
• 15:28
  Hannah, what was your, what was the big lesson you've taken from it?
• 15:34
  I do sort of have a mindset now.
• 15:35
  I'm like, look, I can't, I can't complain anymore about anything.
• 15:39
  I'm like, there's no such thing as I can't anymore in my vocabulary.
• 15:43
  Like, I can't be, "I can't walk that far".
• 15:45
  Yo know, "I can't stay up that late to do this" and whatnot.
• 15:48
  So, like, I was definitely like, I can do anything now is sort of like the main thing that's come.
• 15:53
  Come off the back of it that feels like there's no stopping us now.
• 15:56
  So that's a really nice thing from it.
• 15:59
  And a great philosophy to have embraced at your age, just with everything ahead of you.
• 16:04
  Yeah, for sure.
• 16:05
  I think I've got an exam in two weeks in neuroscience and it's sort of every time I'm getting bored of studying, I'm like, come on, I can do, I can do better than this.
• 16:13
  And it has been good, actually.
• 16:15
  It has been a nice, it's a nice change of how I look on life, which I really do appreciate having.
• 16:20
  And Katie, yourself?
• 16:22
  Yeah, I just think it was a great adventure, actually.
• 16:24
  And I just.
• 16:25
  I actually still a little bit blown away that actually you can do that, that you can make your way from one end of the country to the other in 26 days.
• 16:33
  It just seems mind blowing, really.
• 16:35
  So I don't know, I don't feel I've necessarily changed my way of looking on anything, but it was just a.
• 16:41
  Great adventure and a very proud mum, I'm sure.
• 16:45
  Yeah, yeah, yes.
• 16:49
  Don' like to give her too much praise.
• 16:51
  Okay, okay, okay.
• 16:51
  We won't.
• 17:52
  Okay, we won't get too sloppy then, will we?
• 17:56
  Schmoozy, schmoozy.
• 17:57
  I mean, in terms of both of you, you have that determination that you have that willpower, you have that attitude towards life.
• 18:05
  Is that something, Katie, I'm wondering, obviously you've talked about the farm and things like that.
• 18:09
  Is that just within you?
• 18:11
  Is that something you've spoken about, having that now as opposed to perhaps when you were slightly younger?
• 18:17
  I mean, farming can be tough, can't it?
• 18:20
  So, you know, who do you turn to when you need to talk to somebody on the farm or who's your go to?
• 18:26
  That's a good question.
• 18:31
  My family are very big in my life.
• 18:34
  I would think I would talk to them.
• 18:37
  I think the mindset comes from farming, though, because you set out your day and you've got 600 sheep that need Bolussing and worming or whatever it is, and you can't stop.
• 18:47
  You have to get to the end of that day.
• 18:49
  And I think for me, that the lifestyle of farming has helped me just.
• 18:55
  You can push through when you can't do something, you know what I mean?
• 18:58
  Like, alarming.
• 18:59
  You're so tired and the sheep keep coming, the weather's dreadful, but you have to keep going.
• 19:04
  And I think that sort of inner will, I feel, I have that very strongly.
• 19:10
  And then often I still have to come in and cook supper because I'm mum, you know, so there is.
• 19:15
  There is no end.
• 19:15
  I can't come in and feel sorry for myself.
• 19:17
  I have to come in and keep going.
• 19:19
  Yes.
• 19:20
  And how did you feel about taking that time out and leaving the farm?
• 19:26
  Yeah, I have to say the first, I find when I leave the farm super stressful.
• 19:31
  But When I've gone, I'm quite good at parking that.
• 19:35
  Well.
• 19:35
  He was 16, he's 17 now.
• 19:37
  Year old son was in charge.
• 19:39
  And I have a couple of guys that help me on the farm when I'm doing worming lambs or at silage time, who are great.
• 19:46
  So I have Drew and James.
• 19:47
  So Drew is.
• 19:49
  I don't know what age is.
• 19:50
  I wouldn't like to speculate, but he's had a.
• 19:53
  He's worked and is very competent and knows everything way, way better than me.
• 19:59
  So he came in one day a week to just go around the sheep and the cows with Charlie and just make sure everything was all right.
• 20:05
  So I felt really confident leaving everything with.
• 20:07
  With him and with Charlie.
• 20:10
  And my mum also lives on the farm, so she, like, was cooking them supper four nights a week.
• 20:15
  So, yeah, it all worked out.
• 20:17
  There's a lot of farmers, they carry guilt, don't they, when they step away from the farm and I've got to get back or it can't run without me.
• 20:26
  And it tends to hang over a lot of farmers moving away or stepping away from that responsibility or handing it over to somebody else as well.
• 20:35
  Yes, that's the worst thing about farming, isn't it?
• 20:38
  You can never leave.
• 20:39
  I feel like at the moment I'm really lucky that I've got.
• 20:42
  So my eldest son's 21 and Charlie's just 17.
• 20:46
  And at the moment I can leave it with them, but I'm aware I'm in a bit of a period of time that they're gonna grow up and leave and then I'll be in a more difficult situation.
• 20:56
  You spoke about succession and obviously conversations happening.
• 21:00
  I mean, what.
• 21:01
  You know, how do you all sit round a table?
• 21:04
  I mean, have you had those conversations yet?
• 21:06
  Sort of.
• 21:07
  Actually, I feel my eldest son, because I don't want to put any pressure on, he's probably that we all think Will probably is the least in the loop, I think, actually.
• 21:14
  But I have talked to a bit Hannah and Charlie.
• 21:17
  Hannah's happily being a chiropractor.
• 21:19
  My youngest son wants to join the army.
• 21:22
  So I think it might just work out nicely.
• 21:24
  But, yeah, I don't want to.
• 21:26
  Yeah, my brother and I didn't get on over it all, so I definitely don't want to leave it to chance.
• 21:32
  And for me, my family is my most important thing and that they all stay and get on matters the most.
• 21:38
  So keeping the conversation open and going, I feel.
• 21:42
  So there's baggage there for you that you're carrying?
• 21:45
  Yes, yes.
• 21:46
  But very typical, Katie.
• 21:48
  Yeah, it's really difficult, isn't it?
• 21:50
  But the trouble with farming is it's so challenging.
• 21:53
  You know, inheriting a farm is no great gift.
• 21:57
  You know, it ties you a lot of work, you can't go on holiday, you're getting loads of value, the farm's worth lots of money, but unless you sell it, you're just given a life of hard work.
• 22:07
  So it's difficult to even up and compute.
• 22:09
  And it is one of those things that people from the outside often don't quite understand, that element of farming, isn't it?
• 22:15
  Because you have this big chunk of land, this big asset and it's not divisible.
• 22:21
  What often it boils down to the stories that I hear and I've experienced myself.
• 22:27
  Is it all comes down to communication or lack of it?
• 22:30
  Yes, I think that's probably fair.
• 22:33
  Yeah.
• 22:33
  And I mean, Han, obviously growing up on the farm, what's your attitude towards what happens next?
• 22:41
  Oh, it was an amazing place to grow up.
• 22:43
  Like I wouldn't change it for the while.
• 22:45
  Some mornings I would change it for the while, sort of.
• 22:48
  It was never great at the 5am wake ups and all those things like shearing and whatnot.
• 22:53
  But definitely I've already said that the farm is theirs and I'm happy.
• 22:58
  I think both my brothers would be happy there.
• 22:59
  I think Jay, my older brother, would.
• 23:02
  He sort of, he feels like he's sort of born to farm.
• 23:05
  Like it's definitely.
• 23:06
  He's studying well, he's doing agribusiness management and all his friends are farmers and he is very much.
• 23:12
  This is sort of the path.
• 23:13
  He's on the right path.
• 23:15
  Yeah.
• 23:15
  So it's, it's so hard, isn't it?
• 23:17
  You're so young and who knows where life is going to take you so.
• 23:20
  Well, I mean, I appreciate Katie, it's obviously a very difficult thing to talk about.
• 23:25
  So Hannah, your favourite place on the farm, describe it for me.
• 23:31
  Paint a picture.
• 23:33
  There is on the farm there is a big loch that I think it was first dug out years ago to mine for marl and now it is left and it is the most beautiful, picturesque.
• 23:48
  Yeah lock, as it were.
• 23:49
  And we've got, we've put a big pontoon.
• 23:50
  During lockdown we built a pontoon and we floated it out to the middle.
• 23:54
  So in the summer we all go and swim there and everything and it's big, we've got these big inflatable paddle boards now as well.
• 24:00
  So during the summer that is like the place to be.
• 24:03
  It is so much fun.
• 24:04
  And it is just so idyllic as well.
• 24:06
  Like just there's no one really there as well, which is the best part of it all.
• 24:10
  So it is really beautiful.
• 24:12
  That, that does sound idyllic and it sounds like a long hot summer which we tend to enjoy in Scotland all the time.
• 24:18
  But.
• 24:21
  I mean that sounds.
• 24:22
  That sounds absolutely amazing.
• 24:23
  And Katie, what about for you, your favorite place?
• 24:25
  Yeah, we've got a field called Upper Rocky which is really sort of as it says, it's right at the top of the farm and it's got a few little sort of very Pooh-Bear style wood in it and you
• 24:35
  can just see for miles.
• 24:37
  I just love it up there actually.
• 24:39
  It's just you're so, it feels, you can breathe so clearly like you just the top of the top of the earth and you can see so far.
• 24:46
  I just feel always feel very peaceful up there.
• 24:50
  It did that again.
• 24:51
  That sounds idyllic but funny that you've both got, you know, it's amazing how different.
• 24:54
  Different places on the farm.
• 24:56
  And Hannah, you spoke about running.
• 24:58
  You're at university very probably busy social life.
• 25:02
  I'm sure you're burning the candle at both ends.
• 25:05
  I mean it sounds like you have more lectures than most students I know.
• 25:09
  Yeah, well, I think UD is quite busy for us.
• 25:11
  We do like three days during the week and it is like nine to five those days that we're in.
• 25:17
  And then it does mean we have the longer weekend though which is supposed to be more for like independent study and things.
• 25:22
  But definitely during the build up for JOGLE, managing like the whole thing.
• 25:27
  So I was trying to do sort of marathons on weekends just normally and I was like, I got.
• 25:32
  And then also trying to be a student because it was first year last year.
• 25:35
  So I was trying to have like some kind of social life.
• 25:37
  I did just manage to get myself so burnt out.
• 25:40
  I think it had got to.
• 25:42
  I was doing Edinburgh marathon which I'd done before just because it's my home city and I was doing them anyways.
• 25:48
  I think by the time it got.
• 25:49
  I was so burnt out.
• 25:50
  I got to 10k in of the race and I saw it was a really hot day so I had a bit of heat strike as well.
• 25:54
  But I just started being sick.
• 25:55
  I was like my body just had absolutely given up on me.
• 25:58
  I was like I had literally I just given everything I had sort of keeping going and I think that was sort of my day that I was like, okay, I need to stop and slow down for a bit
• 26:07
  and I came back from lambing season, I was doing the nights there and then straight back into normal uni and normal life with the change of time zone and everything.
• 26:16
  I was just absolutely on the floor.
• 26:18
  But I sort of, I had two weeks just completely off and I sort of back a different frame of mind and everything, which was good.
• 26:25
  I'm just, I'm overwhelmed by your sort of level headedness, Hannah.
• 26:28
  You just seem a very sort of just a very, very confident, capable young lady.
• 26:36
  I sounds like you recognise when things get too much and are you good at coping with that?
• 26:42
  Yeah, I think a lot from my degree as well.
• 26:46
  We very much taught how to recognize when things go wrong in the body.
• 26:50
  And I think that has been a big sort of eye opening thing for me of them recognizing what's sort of going right and going wrong in my own body.
• 26:57
  And I have noticed that when I'm stressed, tired or run down, I feel it physically first.
• 27:03
  And I think being able to recognize those markers now has really taught me when I need to slow down and when I need to stop.
• 27:09
  I'm not always the best at actually stopping.
• 27:12
  I think I knew when I was really burnt out in the training, I knew that I was doing too much and I needed to stop and slow down.
• 27:18
  But I think I was just so hyper focused on doing this thing in summer doing toggle that I was like, I need to keep training, I need to keep going.
• 27:25
  But it was like after, after the end of a marathon, going so wrong.
• 27:28
  I was like, okay, this is, I do need to stop, I do need to slow down.
• 27:32
  And actually I've got a really good group of friends up here as well.
• 27:35
  So my girls, they keep me very level headed and they know me just probably better than I know myself.
• 27:41
  And they're always the first ones say like Hannah, stop, go to bed early, have a lie and the rest of it, like have a day off kind of thing.
• 27:47
  So.
• 27:48
  And what, so I was just going to say obviously running is your thing, but do you have something else that is just your like go to every day?
• 27:55
  If I do that, that just means I, I make myself feel better.
• 27:59
  Is it a, you know, is it a good coffee?
• 28:01
  Is it a, what is it that you do every day just to go, okay, I'm gonna give myself a wee pat on the back.
• 28:08
  This is where me and mum differ the most is I am very into sort of clothes and fashion and the rest of it.
• 28:15
  So I get really excited to get dressed in the morning, which is probably Mum's worst nightmare.
• 28:21
  Yeah, I think that is aside from my running, I think.
• 28:24
  And I love spending time with my friends, of course, and all these things, so.
• 28:27
  And I love anything outdoors.
• 28:29
  So I always sing because I've got my car up at uni now, which is great.
• 28:32
  So you can drive to the beach and stuff on the weekends.
• 28:34
  So those sort of things, it will keep me, keep me happy and it's.
• 28:37
  Great to celebrate those differences.
• 28:39
  Katie, isn't it?
• 28:40
  She's not the same as you.
• 28:42
  She's got her own personality, her own way of seeing everything.
• 28:46
  She sure does.
• 28:47
  I think when she was little I tried played hockey, tennis, all the things I do and it just, yeah, I pictured us being able to play hockey together, you know, going for a, you know, play hockey, nice cup
• 28:58
  of tea afterwards and it'd be all fun.
• 29:00
  But no, she turns into an ultra runner.
• 29:02
  So I've, in order to keep up, I've had to take, take up the running too.
• 29:08
  So.
• 29:09
  And, and is there something that you do every day, Katie, that keeps you level headed?
• 29:15
  Resets.
• 29:16
  Just "this is my go to every day."
• 29:19
  Yeah.
• 29:19
  So I drink a lot of tea and actually I think for me, because on the farm I don't see that many people.
• 29:25
  So most evenings I have some sort of sporting thing I go to which I really, you know, sort of fight.
• 29:30
  Six o' clock I go to a running club or I play, still play hockey and I still play tennis and I, for me, I love that sort of social thing where I can go for an hour.
• 29:39
  There's no commitment, other people's houses or anything.
• 29:41
  We go, we do what we're doing together.
• 29:43
  I love doing things with people more than sitting and chatting.
• 29:46
  I'm a doer.
• 29:47
  So for me, I really enjoy that sort of, I kind of feel it makes me get through my day because then I can go and do that.
• 29:54
  Well, I mean it's been absolutely fantastic talking to you both.
• 29:58
  We like to take a question for the next podcast guest.
• 30:04
  This is something we're going to start.
• 30:05
  So I wonder if you had to ask our next podcast guest one question, what would it be?
• 30:13
  I think really, actually the thing to ask every farmer is what you do to look after yourself, isn't it?
• 30:18
  Like, I think we're so good farmers at just keeping going without doing anything to care for ourselves.
• 30:24
  You know, it's almost as you're a farmer, if you do exercise or, you know, everyone's like, if you've got energy to run or play tennis, you could be working harder.
• 30:34
  So it's what do you do that is just for you?
• 30:37
  It's not to make the farm better, it's not to make your family better.
• 30:40
  It's just, what do you do for you?
• 30:43
  For me, I do take time off the farm.
• 30:46
  I play hockey every Saturday.
• 30:48
  I give myself the gift of time to go and do things and I do feel guilty about it sometimes and I'm like, oh, God, you know, I should have done that.
• 30:56
  I should have done that better.
• 30:58
  But that is for me, my take, I think.
• 31:01
  Okay, so what's next?
• 31:03
  I mean, do you have another.
• 31:04
  I mean, is there another challenge or is it just like.
• 31:06
  Oh, yeah, no, we're just.
• 31:07
  We're getting over the last one.
• 31:08
  I mean, is there anything.
• 31:09
  Hannah, obviously you've got everything ahead of you and so, I mean, you've got a lot of studying to do, but is there anything else you'd like to undertake?
• 31:17
  I mean, I have to admit at the minute I'm sort of catching up on a whole summer of drinking I didn't do.
• 31:21
  So that has sort of been my last couple.
• 31:24
  Last couple weeks.
• 31:26
  Looking forward to.
• 31:27
  I definitely.
• 31:27
  I really have fallen in love with the whole ultra running.
• 31:30
  And there's a great marathon around Glen Tress that I did last year.
• 31:34
  So I've got to sign up and do that one again.
• 31:36
  It's sort of a nice hilly one and last year it was covered in snow and I've managed to convince a friend to do it with me as well.
• 31:41
  So I'm really looking forward to that.
• 31:43
  But I think whilst I'm at uni, I've kind of said especially my hours are getting longer now that I might have to take a step back just because managing it all, like with the ultra and then the uni
• 31:55
  work is just quite overwhelming at times.
• 31:57
  So whilst I'm still at uni, I'm going to take a step back.
• 31:59
  But afterwards there is a marathon across the Sahara desert that I have been looking at for the longest time.
• 32:05
  So the marathon desabes is like high on my vision board.
• 32:10
  Oh, my goodness.
• 32:11
  It's just too much.
• 32:12
  There's too much achievement there going on and I'm just like exhausted listening to her.
• 32:16
  Katie, I mean, yeah, it sounds like she's a chip off the old block.
• 32:20
  Well, I don't.
• 32:21
  Yeah, she's a redhead.
• 32:23
  I'm even more scared about this one.
• 32:26
  Katie, what's your goal for next year?
• 32:28
  Well, I don't know what I've done to deserve it, but my youngest wants to climb Mont Blanc, so we're off actually to Morocco next week for a few days to climb in the high atlas to check we can
• 32:38
  cope with altitude.
• 32:40
  And then.
• 32:40
  So I actually am quite glad to have bounced into this.
• 32:42
  Otherwise I think I might have felt a bit, having had such a big goal, a bit flat and this one feels much less sort of time draining, actually.
• 32:52
  So, yeah, so I'm really excited.
• 32:53
  And yeah.
• 32:54
  So here we, here we go again.
• 32:56
  Wow.
• 32:58
  Thank you both very much for joining me.
• 33:01
  It's been fabulous talking to you both.
• 33:03
  It's just amazing to hear about your run, everything you've achieved over the summer and you continue to keep going with your various adventures.
• 33:13
  Ladies, thank you very much.
• 33:15
  Thank you.
• 33:16
  Thank you so much.
• 33:19
  And we should say also a huge, huge thanks as some of the charitable proceeds came to us here at Farm Strong Scotland.
• 33:27
  Find Farmstrong Scotland online.
• 33:29
  Farmstrongscotland.org UK the how's it going tool is a brilliant, easy access way to think about your mental well being and what you might be able to do to find help if you need it.
• 33:44
  See you next time,.
• 33:49
  Sam.