Latest / The Green Runners Storytime / Hannah Cox: 100 Days of Grit

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Hannah Cox: 100 Days of Grit · The Green Runners Storytime

0:00
We love the trails, but we know our footprints leave a mark.
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How do we protect the wild places we run in without losing
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our minds or our hobby? I'm Laura Briggs and this is
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story time with the Green Runners.
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Whether you're mid run or mid recovery, join me as I talk to
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the Trail Blazers and everyday heroes taking imperfect actions
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for a healthier planet. This isn't just about being a
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perfect environmentalist, it's about moving in the right
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direction. Let's get into today's story.
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I'm here with Hannah Cox. And Hannah, for those of you who
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don't know, has just run across India, which is absolutely mind
0:45
blowing given that before you did this, Hannah, you weren't
0:49
really a runner. Is that right?
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That's why, yeah, I am. I did my first training run
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twenty 28th of May 2024 and we're now, you know, recording
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this in April 26th, So not even the two year anniversary of
1:04
being a runner really. I had you know, if for the all
1:07
the fact checkers out there, I had done 1/2 marathon back in
1:10
the 2000s and somethings when my dad passed away with my three
1:14
sisters. But I did absolutely zero
1:16
training and was in an absolute bit for that half marathon.
1:20
Afterwards. I couldn't actually get off the
1:22
train at Victoria. It was in Brighton and I
1:24
remember the train stopping and I couldn't stand up and maybe
1:27
like my legs are broken and crying at the top of the stairs
1:32
of the tube. I just saw it was such a
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distinct memory of thinking why, how, how are people able to do
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that? I just couldn't believe it.
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And then obviously went completely insane just under two
1:44
years ago and decided to run across the country.
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Which of course brings me to the question, why?
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Why did you choose this challenge?
1:52
So I've always been interested in the Inland Customs line.
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It's my dad was born in Kolkata. It was created by the East India
1:59
Company in the 19th century to enforce assault tax and it's
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been contested in history whether it existed.
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It was only there for about 30 years, but it was a huge hedge
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that ran through the country and was manned by 10s of thousands
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of British Army officers. And I always, I had this concept
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when I read about it in 2015, of kind of visiting the areas that
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the hedge had been, not just to see if there was any kind of
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evidence that still existed because it was 150 years ago,
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but more to connect to the country that my dad is from.
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And yeah, through a series of crazy events, including meeting
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green runners Dan Beaumont and Nina Davies, within a very short
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period I decided it would be a good idea to run it.
2:49
And of course, Nina then coached you, didn't she before before
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the journey was was that a massive help?
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Oh, I mean, she's an incredible coach.
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I mean, she's, she's an incredible person.
3:00
As you know, Nina, I, when I met her, she had just got her
3:05
coaching qualification, which I took as a sign that she would be
3:08
the perfect coach for me. And yeah, I, I mean, I couldn't
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fault that. The training plan, the process,
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the support that she offered. I don't think, I don't think I
3:20
would have been able to do it without Nina.
3:22
I think that's very, very easy to, to say.
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It just would not have happened if Nina hadn't been involved in
3:28
the project from the beginning, I don't think.
3:31
So you went out there, you barely really run before Bob,
3:35
you know, Nina's coaching and the half marathon that you
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mentioned, you know, prior to this.
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How did you feel when you came back?
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Do you feel like a completely different person?
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I, I, yes, for example, I didn't go for a run for about a week
3:50
last week. I was just so busy with work.
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I, I literally was straight back in the office.
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I actually landed on a month ago on a Monday and I was speaking
3:59
at a conference on festival sustainability, which is one of
4:02
my businesses the next day in London.
4:05
And I just have not stopped since I got back.
4:07
And alongside that, I'm now training for two other
4:11
marathons. And I had a week where I just, I
4:13
just did not have time for a run.
4:16
I was travelling around the country.
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And yeah, I really felt it. I actually was like, I want to
4:22
go for a run. And that felt weird because
4:25
before it would have been like, I have to go on these runs
4:27
because I've decided to run across the country.
4:30
So that's, that has brought me a lot of joy knowing that I can go
4:34
out for a run and enjoy it now and do it for pleasure.
4:37
Definitely. And you're also, you're running,
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you've got, am I right in saying you've got scoliosis as well?
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So running in itself is, is already a challenge.
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So to do, you know, run across the the length of India, That's
4:53
just an amazing thing for you to do.
4:56
How have you found kind of your relationship to your body, you
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know, after doing this that has it, has it helped in any way?
5:03
Well, definitely, I'm obviously a lot fitter.
5:06
I am, yeah. I have scoliosis, so I double
5:08
curve in my spine. I also have Pineti's anemia,
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which means I have AB12 deficiency.
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And I think a combination of those two conditions kind of in
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my in my 30s, specifically when I was on quite a lot of
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painkillers for my back, I was on about 30 painkillers a day
5:25
when I was when I turned 30. So I was dealing with a lot of
5:29
pain management. So even transitioning from that
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starting to actually, I had definitely reached a stage when
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I started running, while I was healthier as a, as a human, you
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know, food wise, the exercise just was not there at all.
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The like that fitness level just didn't just didn't exist.
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And it, and it has proved to me that whatever pre-existing
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conditions you might have that you think are going to hold you
5:53
back, it's not always the case. And that's just my personal
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experience. I was told I was going to be in
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a back brace for my whole adult life and I was wearing a back
6:03
brace for 23 hours a day. And now I do not.
6:05
So it's obviously very specific to different people, but I, I, I
6:10
imagined a very different future in 10 years ago than I'm in
6:14
right now. It's been quite transformational
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in terms of, you know, the physical side of things, but
6:21
also kind of this Inland Customs line that you were following
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that's that was a forgotten Horror Story really before you
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did this challenge. And you read Roy Moxum's book
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back in 2014, I think. Yeah, yeah.
6:34
And you spent. Months tracing this this customs
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line. Do you feel like you've kind of
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helped to remap the history of that customs line for a for a
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modern audience? I hope so.
6:45
And I'll caveat this with, you know, project Sort run that even
6:49
in the name, it wasn't like Hannah's running across India.
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It it was a project because there was a whole team involved
6:55
in project sort run. We had Dan, a green runner was
6:59
involved at the beginning to kind of help us pull stuff
7:01
together. Then we had Jerel Chevalier,
7:04
Becca Marsh, Alex Fowler, Natalie Smith were all, you
7:09
know, all supporting the project from the very beginning.
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And although it was it was Joelle, Alex and Natalie that
7:15
came out with me to India, there was in the lead up.
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There was so much support from the team and Joelle and Dan did
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a lot of that mapping, for example, of of the map and the
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route it. I don't think that would have
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happened if there hadn't been a really good why for the project.
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And everybody got involved in the project because they got
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excited by the idea of it being something that had never been
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done before. It was a history story.
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It was an opportunity for us to raise a large amount of money
7:44
for charity. And because of all those
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reasons, people came on board and got involved and put their
7:50
time and resources into making this project happen.
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So there was, you know, a year and a half's worth of support
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from a big group of people. And beyond the people I've just
8:02
mentioned, Nina and everybody, there was countless other
8:06
friends, family, businesses that supported us to get there.
8:10
And I just don't think any of that would have happened if
8:13
people didn't connect with the story of why we were doing the
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run. And yeah, I, I just have to say
8:21
that because I I get all the air time, I get the podcast
8:24
interviews, but, you know, and I can't thank every single person
8:28
that helped all the time. But you know, definitely, you
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know, Joel, Natty and Alex, who gave up their entire lives for
8:34
months to come out was amazing. But that really feeds into your
8:40
kind of mission as well for climate justice.
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You, you bring people together, you bring businesses together,
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you bring networking together, don't you?
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So that kind of sense of, of teamwork is really key to this.
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We should also mention as well, Darren from the Green Runners
8:56
who provided you with some pair up kits so that you could fix
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your shoes on the go. How many?
9:01
How many pairs of shoes did you go?
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Through absolutely. Also there's a there's a clip.
9:06
It's really annoying that well, we had we had a song, just a
9:10
quick story about the end of the run that I want to thank Darren
9:13
for, which I haven't mentioned on any other podcast is he sent
9:17
us a song that he'd written about project sort run and it
9:20
was incredible. And we would regularly dance to
9:23
it at the end of the day when the run finished because Raja
9:27
and Asghar are drive and helper loved it.
9:30
So they would be playing it on the and we'd be dancing.
9:32
And actually, when I finished the run, the, the, the Instagram
9:37
reel where I'm kind of waving the flag with Natalie and Alex
9:40
and Raja and Asgar and we've got the speaker.
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That's the song we're all dancing to.
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Whereas the overlay on Instagram is like Fat Boy Slim, which
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again was one of the anthems of the trip and really encapsulated
9:53
that day 100. But actually we were dancing to
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Darren's song. And I, and I will tell him that
9:58
when I see him in Brighton. I haven't actually told him that
10:00
yet. Been answered to your question
10:03
about pair UPS. Sorry, I just needed to get.
10:06
That DJ Darren, he's going to. DJ Darren, it was amazing.
10:11
So I, I was the trainers I wore were Hylo active, which are a
10:15
certified B Corp and 1% for the planet business.
10:18
So for me, all my it was really important as a green runner that
10:21
all my kit was well made, sustainable.
10:25
I could, you know, I it would last the whole trip and I tried
10:30
a few different trainer brands, but Hilo really got the mission,
10:35
really supported the project. And yeah, they sent me a couple
10:40
of pairs. It was actually a month before I
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went out. I finally got some Hilos and ran
10:46
in them and thought, yeah, I actually, I like these trainers.
10:48
So I took out the pair that I've been training in for the last
10:52
month or so, two extra pairs and then a pair half size up because
10:58
I've been warned by a couple of ultra runners that my feet might
11:00
swell. But I already wear one size up
11:03
in my running shoes. So I'm a size 6.
11:05
I wear 7 in running shoes and I thought 3 pairs would be plenty,
11:10
but everyone I spoke to was like, you're going to need like
11:14
10 pairs of shoes to do that. But we didn't.
11:16
So we managed to do it in three pairs.
11:19
We had the pair up kits from Darren, but actually it was Alex
11:24
again, couldn't have done it without a team.
11:26
I came up with the idea of sticking tyres on the bottom of
11:30
my trainers when they ran out of tread.
11:34
But Alex, because he's a Cropodis and you know, and he's,
11:37
you know, really specific. He was one who cut the tyres
11:41
out, stuck them on, kind of carved round them with his
11:44
scalp. So they were all perfect, kind
11:46
of wrapped them all up. So yeah, we managed to get, we
11:49
managed to get 3 pairs lasting what would have definitely been
11:54
over 5000 kilometers total if you include the training at the
11:57
beginning as well. So they all do have tyres stuck
12:01
on the bottom of them. That is incredible yeah.
12:04
But I. Didn't know you were.
12:05
I had no idea you were running on tyres.
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I knew that. You were touching a lot.
12:09
But I guess you'd actually running on tyres.
12:11
If you think about it, it makes sense.
12:13
So we were running, obviously I was running past in on the
12:15
National Highway. You run past these guys who are
12:17
literally just, it's just like a shack with tyres and they're
12:20
repairing tyres on the side of the road.
12:23
And I just thought what if it's good enough for the vehicles,
12:26
It's going to be good enough for my trainers.
12:27
And I just thought it's going to be hard wearing, it's going to
12:31
be thick, it's going to be durable.
12:32
We just need to work out how we stick them on.
12:35
And the kit Darren had given us, he'd given us some really good
12:38
super glue and some kind of tools to shape it.
12:41
Alex had his property kit, so a scalpel and we used sports tape
12:46
to like wrap it all up and kind of till it stuck, you know, took
12:50
48 hours and then unwrapped the trainers.
12:53
It was a whole operation again done by Alex.
12:56
I was just the yet again, it was me coming up with an idea and
12:59
actually somebody else, you know, implementing the.
13:02
How it works? Implementing the work.
13:05
But yeah, they did last and I I'm debating whether to run
13:10
Brighton and London in my tired high lows or whether to wear
13:17
another pair. I'm actually waiting for a pair
13:19
in the post so if they come in time I'll wear a new pair and if
13:21
they don't I'll be wearing my India trainers so.
13:25
So you just mentioned Brighton and London.
13:26
So should we should probably let people know that these will be
13:30
your last two marathons of the 100 that you set out to do.
13:35
Are you feeling trepidatious about those two marathons having
13:39
run the whole of India? I mean, I, I don't know, do you
13:42
just feel like this is going to be a breeze?
13:45
No, I'm actually really dreading it because I don't have the
13:48
crew. I'm doing it solo, so there's a
13:53
if people are confused about the distance and the amount of
13:55
marathons. So the goal had been to run 100
13:58
marathons in 100 days in India, which was, you know, 4222
14:02
kilometres. However, I got sick.
14:05
So I had two days where I kind of did half each day and then a
14:10
third day where I had to take the whole whole day off, you
14:13
know, and that was a decision made by both me and just the
14:18
crew being like, you're not going to be able to finish if we
14:20
don't at least give yourself a chance to reset a little bit.
14:25
But for about a week after that happened, I was like, I, I won't
14:29
have done 100 marathons. I'm missing 2.
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I could do the extra distance, which I did.
14:34
I ended up doing a bunch of ultras at the end so that I
14:37
could do the 100 marathon distance.
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But it just, it really kind of was just niggling at me.
14:42
And any runner out there will know there's the runners that
14:47
can't finish unless they finish on the kilometer or on a mile.
14:50
And I've seen people do that, you know, when they were kind of
14:52
running up and down outside their house looking at their
14:54
watch, it was that. So if you've ever done that
14:57
before or you run to the end of a song or something, although
14:59
you've got some bunning quirks, you'll understand this.
15:03
And I asked, yeah. And I asked our WhatsApp
15:05
community what should I do? And people said you should do 2
15:09
when you get back then felt like a good idea at the time.
15:12
I've had a really busy month and actually don't want to do 2 more
15:17
marathons in the next, in the next three weeks.
15:21
And also, you know, it's a very different experience doing it
15:24
with a support crew. I mean, anyone that's had the
15:28
opportunity to do a race where their friends have come out and
15:30
supported them when they've been running, you know, there's so
15:33
much in that. Not just the helping with food
15:38
and drink and shoes or whatever, but that moral support you get
15:41
from your friends when you feel like giving up on a run and they
15:48
won't be there. So I have tagged them in a a
15:52
real just. So does that all come back to
15:54
England now? Immediately.
15:55
I need to. Turn up at the finish line and
15:57
just cheer you over. Yeah, absolutely.
16:00
You, you mentioned about, you know why you had to, to stop for
16:04
a couple of days because you, you've got acute gastroenteritis
16:07
basically. And you're really, really
16:09
poorly. And I know a couple of the, the
16:11
crew got really poorly as well. So the wheels must have felt
16:14
like they were coming off were there?
16:15
What were the moments of kind of human kindness that really
16:19
pulled you through at those moments?
16:21
I mean, there were so, so many. We, we were absolutely blessed
16:25
India and and if anyone has asked me what my favorite thing
16:29
about India is, it has to be the people.
16:31
Just the, you know, it's, it's a huge country, but we, and we
16:35
went through 11 states on that one and every, every state was
16:40
full of kind, generous people. We had it from, you know, the
16:46
very first day where we went to the border to start the run,
16:51
where the border guards invited us in to watch the border kind
16:54
of parade before we went off right to running along the side
16:59
the road and people kind of looking at me and then coming
17:02
back with bowls of fruit or water.
17:07
I think my favorite story is actually Alex's where he met a
17:12
man selling biscuits in one of the petrol station forecourts we
17:15
were sleeping in, who gifted him some biscuits and randomly like
17:20
a rucksack or something. And he kind of struck up this
17:23
friendship with this guy. And then I can't remember the
17:27
timeline, but when we were in Agua, the guy drove hours and I,
17:33
I can't remember the exact amount.
17:35
So I don't want to completely mess it up.
17:37
He'd literally, when I say hours, I think he'd driven like
17:40
5 or 6 hours, something like that.
17:42
I'm not sure. You'll have to check on our
17:43
Instagram to come and bring Alex some more biscuits.
17:47
And I actually think it, I feel like it was more than that.
17:50
But yeah, he drove all this way just to bring and like to bring
17:53
Alex some more biscuits. And it was like, that is so nice
17:57
because they just made friends. And that is just a small nugget
18:02
of the the sort of incredible people that we met when we were
18:06
out on the road. And I feel like we could learn a
18:09
lot from that as people in England who, you know, often we
18:14
see strangers with worry. But actually, everyone was
18:21
lovely. Oh, and those biscuits must have
18:24
been amazing. Yeah, I know.
18:27
They were amazing. That is a very long way to go
18:31
with biscuits. That's incredible.
18:34
And it's really important to kind of explain like who you're
18:37
raising money for, who you're still raising money for at this
18:40
point. So you've got 1% for the Planet,
18:43
Frank Water Client, Earth and Big Change.
18:46
And you did a fundraiser when you were running across India.
18:50
How are you continuing with that fundraising mission?
18:52
What's What's next? Yeah.
18:55
So we had two fundraisers. We had one on a platform called
18:57
Crowdfunded where we were fundraising for the funds to go
19:00
to India and 1% of that money went to the green runners.
19:05
And then for the for the actual run, we used a platform called
19:08
Give Star, which is great because you can have up to 4
19:11
charities on there. We chose 1% for the planet and
19:14
three, 1% for the planet charities.
19:19
The reason we chose those specifically is I work, I run
19:23
something called the Better Business Network and it's all
19:25
about how do businesses make the world a better place.
19:28
One tool businesses can use is signing up to 1% for the Planet,
19:32
which is giving 1% of your revenue to high impact
19:36
nonprofits in the social and environmental space.
19:39
And what 1% for the Planet do is they vet charities and
19:44
nonprofits to become 1% for the Planet charities and nonprofits,
19:49
which is totally free for those them to do.
19:52
But once they've been vetted, they sit on the 1% for the
19:55
Planet directory. And then as a business, all you
19:57
need to do is choose one that aligns with your values or your
20:02
customers values that you can then donate directly to.
20:05
And then what 1% do is they kind of ask the business for their
20:10
accounts at the end of the year, ask to see the receipts of the
20:13
charities that they've donated to.
20:15
And then that business can use the 1% for the Planet logo on
20:17
their products, services website, etcetera.
20:21
And I think it's just. To funnel money into charitable
20:26
giving. I think it's just such a great
20:28
thing businesses can do 1% is a really small amount and it can
20:33
be built into business models and you can see real results
20:37
from that as well. I mean, Big Change work with
20:40
reimagining education for children, Client Earth,
20:42
represent the earth for governments and against
20:46
governments and businesses and push for legislation to look
20:49
after Mother Nature. And then we also have Frank
20:53
Water who do lots of water education and conservation
20:56
projects, not just in India, but around the world.
20:59
But so we were able to actually run with people from Big Change
21:02
and Frank Water when we were out in India and meet meet people
21:05
involved in those two charities, which was amazing too.
21:09
Fabulous. So the Better Business Standard
21:12
was kind of born on the road. Now that you're home, how are
21:16
you seeing businesses use the lessons from the salt run to
21:19
change how they operate? Well, I mean a prime example is
21:24
so many small business, small businesses and freelancers and
21:28
business owners from the network supported the challenge to even
21:30
happen. So by donating to so that we
21:34
could have enough money to go out on the road and spread this
21:36
message, businesses were already putting their money where their
21:40
mouth was. And we raised over 92,000 lbs
21:43
for our 4 chosen charities, of which we're still continuing to
21:47
fundraise for our lofty goal of £1,000,000 for people on the
21:50
planet. I find in the Better Business
21:53
Network that businesses do want to do good.
21:57
Most people do want to make the world a better place.
22:00
It's just very difficult in this current political landscape,
22:04
current economic landscape in the UK.
22:06
So the need for support and community when you're doing
22:10
those making difficult decisions in your business is really
22:13
important, which is why the Better Business Network and the
22:15
standards exist to kind of help to build that support system
22:20
really around businesses so that they can feel that they're not
22:24
alone in this big fight, which is, you know, it's exactly what
22:28
the green runners is about. It's about, yes, we often are
22:31
going out on ones on our own and, and you know, training on
22:36
our own and all that kind of stuff.
22:37
But knowing you're part of a green runners community, when
22:39
you do have your social runs, when you are at the running
22:42
shows, when you are at the at the marathon Expos and doing
22:45
things like poking at the at the Brighton Marathon, it's sense of
22:49
feeling of something bigger. Like I saw actually Darren did a
22:53
post this morning on LinkedIn about the plugging that's
22:56
happening at Brighton Marathon where I don't know if you,
22:59
you'll explain it better than me, Laura, I'll let you explain
23:01
it. But it's something like that.
23:03
I felt good even though I'm not the one doing it because I'm a
23:06
green runner and I and that kind of rubbed off.
23:08
But yeah, you should talk about that.
23:10
I think that's really cool what you guys are doing.
23:12
We will talk about that, but I am just going to say very
23:14
quickly that people can still donate, can't they do Salt Run?
23:18
So can you let people know if if they want to do so, how?
23:22
How can they you donate to? The yeah, so if you, if you go
23:25
to Instagram project sort one, there's a donate button there
23:29
and also link to my Instagram and you can donate on my
23:32
Instagram too, which is just I am Hannah Cox or you just
23:35
literally Google give star project sort 1 and it will come
23:39
up. Anyone that actually donates
23:41
between now and the end of April is in with a chance to win £100
23:45
gift voucher from Deshoom 00. Dashum.
23:49
Lovely. Dashum are a huge supporter of
23:51
Frank Water, which is one of the charities we were fundraising
23:54
for, and they're actually going to be fuelling my Brighton and
23:57
London marathons. So I'm getting breakfast from
24:00
Dashum the day before and then they're providing me snacks to
24:03
eat on the road. Well, eat on the eat on the race
24:06
on both race days and a celebration dinner because I was
24:11
like, I'm gonna struggle not to eat real food on the way round
24:15
and have a full meal. And then I realised I had free
24:18
will and I could eat Indian food on the way round.
24:21
So that's what I'm going to be doing.
24:23
I love that. I would like you to like set up
24:25
a little table in the middle of the marathon race as well and
24:28
just kind of have a proper meal. Yeah.
24:31
That's what I want to do. That's basically what I want to
24:34
do. That's the plan.
24:35
That's definitely the plan for London because I have a group of
24:38
friends who are going to be able to kind of try and make that
24:40
happen. And we need to speak to the
24:43
London Marathon team to see like, you know, technically
24:46
security and all that kind of behaviour.
24:49
But I don't for Brighton. I think it's going to be samosas
24:52
in my leggings pockets and just seeing how we how we get on.
24:56
But yeah, a bit of a yeah. So people do want to donate.
24:59
You are in with a chance to win a Dishume gift out to which, you
25:02
know, £100. There's the dishes like
25:06
Manchester for Birmingham, Brighton, London, probably some
25:10
other places but those are the ones off the top my head and
25:12
it's delicious Indian food so I can't recommend.
25:15
So good. It's so good.
25:16
Yeah, I thoroughly recommend it. Yeah.
25:19
Let's talk about Brighton very quickly.
25:20
So Brighton is on the 12th of April.
25:23
Obviously you'll be running in the marathon.
25:26
The green runners will also be hosting their village green area
25:30
and Hannah, we're hoping you can head over to to that and and
25:33
chat to people as well, which would be amazing.
25:36
And we're also doing, as you just mentioned, the plugging
25:39
event. So Darren of pair UPS is leading
25:42
that. So he's got four teams and
25:45
they'll be running. I think it's 10K and they'll be
25:48
plugging away the whole 10K. If people want to get involved,
25:53
they still can just need to e-mail Darren.
25:55
So that's info@threewordruns.uk. So for anybody listening, if you
26:00
want to do a bit of plugging and help out, that would be amazing.
26:04
Please, please get in touch with Darren Hannah.
26:08
I want to ask you now you're back, what's the biggest thing
26:12
that you miss from running across India?
26:16
Not being on my emails every day.
26:18
Quite nice being out of nature everyday.
26:23
I mean, obviously we slept in when we slept in a van, the
26:26
whole you know, everyone was in the van.
26:30
You know, we had some occasional nights in hotels provided very
26:34
kindly by Mark Black Travel and when we just needed a hot
26:38
shower. But we, we spent most of you
26:40
know, most of our evenings in the van and so therefore a lot
26:45
of our time outside. So I was kind of out of the van
26:47
830 till 4:30. I'm out in nature the whole
26:50
time. Incredible.
26:52
And then in the evenings, often we'd be sleeping in a petrol
26:55
station forecourt, but we'd have the tables and chairs outside
26:58
and we'd just be sat outside, you know, till bedtime, you
27:01
know. So just being outside
27:04
consistently was so good for my mental health.
27:07
And I've actually realized that was one of the kind of
27:12
realizations on the road was I need to make sure I'm outside
27:15
just more. Running is obviously an
27:18
incredible way to do that. I hate running on a treadmill,
27:21
but even at work in the day, I'm making my, you know, making sure
27:25
I'm going out on my lunch break, making sure that I've got an
27:28
opportunity during my commute to be outside.
27:31
And I'm not just like, you know, just in a vehicle all the time.
27:35
I think. So being outside was, and, you
27:38
know, it not being Manchester and Maining and windy outside,
27:42
it being like lovely warm Indian weather.
27:46
And I, you know, I think everybody always says it, but we
27:49
all know that being outside in nature makes us feel good
27:52
completely. Yeah, has it.
27:55
Has it changed your outlook on life?
27:57
Like have you come back and and embraced a slow, I mean, you
28:00
just said you're, you're sat there in front of all your
28:02
emails. So maybe not, but has it taught
28:05
you to maybe embrace the kind of slower pace of life or you know,
28:08
has your outlook for business and or your personal life
28:12
changed in any way? Yeah, it's definitely made me
28:14
more mindful. 100%. I've always tried to be more
28:18
mindful, meditation app, yoga retreats, all that kind of
28:23
stuff, but I really struggle with it.
28:25
I'm constantly picking up my phone and distracted, so it's
28:29
maybe more mindful. I've started to journal every
28:32
day, which has made a big difference in just that kind of
28:35
slowing down. It's made me want to be in
28:38
nature more. It's made me more committed to
28:40
the mission of what we're trying to do at the Better Business
28:43
Network to support people. We actually completely
28:46
restructured our business model so that people can join for free
28:49
now, so there's always no barrier for people who want to
28:52
do great stuff to have access to the tools and resources that
28:55
they need. But also it's made me listen to
28:59
my gut a bit more. I made some definitely over the
29:04
years loads, but specifically the year before project sought
29:07
one made some pretty bad decisions in my personal and
29:12
professional life of the types of people I was working with.
29:15
And I definitely will not be doing that again.
29:19
And that would be, and that a lot had to do with, you know,
29:22
you know, you've got your head saying one thing and your gut
29:25
saying another and you're not quite sure what, who to listen
29:28
to and even getting advice, it's the same advice as your head
29:31
advice, but there's just something that you're thinking
29:33
this isn't quite right. And I think that part of that
29:39
is, like you said, slowing down. So not making those quick
29:42
decisions when it's coming to work stuff.
29:44
I'm, you know, if it's a big decision, I'm giving myself a
29:46
bit of time to consider what my response is going to be.
29:50
Not getting that e-mail and immediately kind of, you know,
29:54
responding, it's like, OK, that's, that's a difficult
29:56
e-mail. I'm going to come back to that
29:58
tomorrow, that sort of thing, which is why I haven't responded
30:00
to anyone who's emailed me. So that's an excuse and I'm
30:02
sticking to it. I love that.
30:04
Get that out there now, honey, you must.
30:07
You've surrounded yourself with so many people who are aligned
30:12
with what you believe in, in terms of sustainability.
30:14
You know, the green runners community, you know all the
30:17
charities that that you're supporting.
30:20
Do you now feel like super empowered to to do more for the
30:25
planet having got that massive network around you?
30:29
I feel like if there's, if there's one thing I can tell
30:32
anyone that's listening to this is you literally can if, if your
30:37
reason for wanting to do something is strong enough,
30:41
people will get it and you'll be able to do it.
30:42
I mean, you have to remember I was not a runner.
30:45
And I'm walking around, you know, for 18 months before
30:48
project sought one with absolutely no money, all running
30:51
experience, telling people, oh, yeah, I'm going to run 100
30:54
marathons across India. And, you know, I'm sure there
30:57
were many people who thought I was completely insane.
31:01
And I actually have come back and people have said that I
31:05
didn't. I actually didn't think you were
31:07
going to do it. I can't.
31:07
I can't actually wrap my head around the fact that you did it.
31:11
And I think, well, I can't either because I'm sat in an
31:14
office in Haiti, Manchester, you know, just eating my packed
31:17
lunch, trying to like get ready for the next Zoom meeting.
31:21
But it, it really does show that with the right community around
31:27
you, the sky can be the limit in what we can achieve.
31:31
So if you don't have belief in yourself, then other people are
31:36
not. And I think that for me with
31:37
Project Sort One, I was so convinced I was going to do it.
31:40
I had no idea how, but I was saying it like it was happening.
31:44
I was like, I am running 100 marathons in 100 days across
31:47
India. I had a little notebook and I
31:49
would write it everyday. I am fundraising this much money
31:53
so that I can run 100 marathons in 100 days across India.
31:56
And then I would just write everyday what I was doing to get
32:00
myself towards that goal, whether that was a run, whether
32:02
that was sent an e-mail to a sponsor, whether that was, you
32:07
know, message the team or something.
32:08
And it was just taking those small steps every day towards
32:12
doing it. And then I think once I believed
32:14
it, I just got other people to to believe it too.
32:19
And I do, yeah. I do truly believe that we can
32:21
do anything we put our minds to. And why would you not try and
32:25
put your minds to doing something that's good for people
32:27
in the planet? Absolutely.
32:29
And you, you manifested it, didn't you?
32:31
You, you believed in yourself and then other people believed
32:34
in you. And look what you've done.
32:36
It's it's tremendous. So we have got a little quick
32:39
fire round obviously to round up the interview, which we've named
32:45
salt or grit. Get it?
32:47
I get. It so I'm going to ask, can I
32:49
ask you some questions, quick fire questions and see what your
32:54
answers are Right. So the street food gamble
32:57
runners are taught not to eat anything new before a race.
33:01
Looking back, what was the one thing you ate that you took a
33:04
gamble on? I would say pretty much every
33:07
time we ate in a Darba, which are the roadside, which are the
33:10
roadside places in India. And there was never a specific
33:16
thing that I ate. And I thought, oh, I really
33:18
shouldn't have eaten that. But yeah, I there was a lot of
33:21
sickness on the road, not just that week of gastro test.
33:24
I can't say it. That's why I don't say.
33:25
I just say I was sick. I can't really long.
33:27
Words. Which brings us very nicely
33:32
then, to the toilet emergency. Now that you're back to indoor
33:36
plumbing, what's the weirdest place that you miss having to go
33:41
in the wild? Well, I didn't enjoy ever going
33:45
outside and especially when I was really sick because I was on
33:50
the side of the motorway a lot of the time, so it wasn't ideal.
33:55
So I don't I don't miss going outside, but I also do live on a
33:59
canal boat and have to empty my toilet every week.
34:01
So I mean, I'm, I'm pretty, you know, I can we, we outside and
34:06
other things outside. It's just it's all natural, but
34:09
you're. Pretty adept at it anyway.
34:10
I'm adept. Yeah.
34:11
That's it, yeah. OK, number three, true or false?
34:15
Have you been invited back to India for any more wedding
34:19
processions as a guest of honour?
34:21
No, but if anyone would like to, I'm down.
34:25
I want any excuse to get back to India and we still got the
34:28
Pakistan part of the route to run as well.
34:29
So that's something I'm really keen to do and I'm trying to
34:32
manifest that happening this year.
34:34
Amazing, amazing the kit smell. Does the support van still haunt
34:40
your olfactory memory, or has it finally faded to fresh laundry?
34:46
See, this is the thing. We have to go back to my love of
34:50
Alex Fowler. He did our laundry every day of
34:54
the trip. So he would get up at like 6-5,
34:57
you know, first thing in the morning and he would wash
35:00
everybody's clothes for them. So I, you know, he'd wash my kit
35:04
and then he would, it would get be hung up on the 1st checkpoint
35:06
and then it'd be kind of because it's India, it'd be dry by the
35:08
end of the day. So we did not have a lot of
35:10
smelly kit lying about ever. He would be that guy was on it
35:15
and keeping us clean. And how he did that when all he
35:20
usually had was a couple of buckets in the cold water tap, I
35:23
don't know. I don't need to know.
35:25
What I'm just saying is he was definitely the all round
35:30
housekeeper, wife, mother like support system for us.
35:36
Again, Natty and Joel were amazing, but Alex was laundry so
35:39
we actually did not have that issue at all.
35:42
I feel like everybody needs an Alex in their life.
35:44
I certainly do. That's incredible the toe count.
35:49
Have the toenails finally made a full recovery?
35:52
And again, Alex Fowler Tameside property.
35:55
I did not lose 1 toenail on project sort run.
36:00
I had a full gel manicure done on my feet when I finished in
36:04
Calcutta and my feet look amazing.
36:07
I was able to wear sandals like he looked after my feet every
36:11
single day. Every day at 30 K he would be
36:14
checking my feet. New socks, new shoes.
36:18
The other thing that really was incredible was Trail skin Lube
36:22
on my toes. So I like Lube up all my toes
36:24
before putting my socks on in the morning.
36:26
And I think that really helped with the blisters.
36:30
And I used some socks. So I'm not paid by any of these
36:34
people. These are stuff that I bought
36:35
that was great things, great things.
36:37
So yeah, I would just use Trail skin on my toes.
36:40
Then I would wear some socks and then high, low train as a size
36:44
bigger and which all great, but obviously having a cropodist on
36:48
hand every single day, it wasn't a bad thing.
36:51
No. Sounds perfect.
36:53
Yeah. So my feet, my feet are
36:54
absolutely fine actually. So gosh.
36:56
What a what a dream. So this this last question is
36:58
actually just coming from my own brain, but I would like to know
37:01
if you are still wearing your tire trainers.
37:05
Yes, I am. I'm still running in them
37:07
because I haven't. I spoke to highlight.
37:09
They said they're going to send me a couple of new pairs.
37:10
I'm still wearing them. I also got a good pair of New
37:15
Balance trainers from London Marathon events to to run in,
37:19
which I am, but they're so bouncy I can't I can't get used
37:24
to. Them bounce over.
37:25
The yeah, yeah, but I did, to be fair, I, I wore the new balances
37:29
this week and I, I did a PB in 10K, so I'll put that the
37:35
bounce. The bounce is good for me.
37:37
Yeah. But I just love the highlights.
37:39
I just, I just love them that, you know, I, you know, I do love
37:42
them. That was great, Hannah.
37:45
Finally, for those who want to see the documentary or to
37:48
support your legacy, how can they go about it?
37:52
Well, for those who want to see the documentary, just hold your
37:55
horses. We are like because we we're
37:58
self self producing the documentary.
38:00
So I've got tons of footage to go through speaking to a couple
38:02
of producers as well. We're hoping to have something
38:05
to show for Kendall Mountain Festival, whether that be a
38:08
trailer or a short film. Sports shoes were a huge
38:13
supporter of us actually out on project sort run, Ben and the
38:17
one censored podcast guys. So he's he's promised that we
38:21
can we can talk about project sort run at Kendall Mountain
38:24
festival. So now I've said it out loud, he
38:28
has to do it. He's manifested it again.
38:30
It's better happen. Yeah, absolutely.
38:32
Hannah, all that's left to say is super, super good luck for
38:35
Brighton on the 12th of April. Green runners will be there and
38:39
also for London on the 26th of April.
38:42
We're really delighted to have you as a green runner and so
38:45
proud of what you've achieved. It's absolutely mind blowing and
38:49
we wish you all the best with your continued efforts.
38:52
Thank you again for being on the on the show.
38:55
Thanks for being a wonderful interviewer, Laura.