Run Your Race Podcast
When I first listened to David Goggins' book in 2019, I was hooked. If he could run 100 miles without training, I thought I could do it with training! It unlocked something in me, leading to my journey into ultramarathons. Since then, I've completed multiple 100- and 200-mile races, something I once thought impossible. This podcast aims to give you that same mindset shift. Each week, we interview elite endurance athletes to inspire you to believe more is possible and push yourself to the next level.
Run Your Race Podcast
#012: Mark Telford - 130 Consecutive Half Marathons on a Treadmill (World Record Journey)
Mark Telford shares his incredible journey of running a half marathon every day for 130 days to set a Guinness World Record. His experience reveals the challenges faced both physically and logistically, highlighting the importance of community support, mental resilience, and proper nutrition along the way.
• Introduction to Mark Telford's running journey
• Early involvement in cross country and marathons
• Returning to running after a personal tragedy
• The decision and commitment to break a world record
• Intensive training regimen and guidelines
• Logistical challenges of record verification
• Importance of nutrition during rigorous training
• Overcoming physical hurdles, particularly blisters
• The role of community support in achieving goals
• Key takeaways for aspiring runners and athletes
You Can Find Mark Here…
Okay, what is up everybody? Welcome back to the Run your Race podcast. I'm here with Mark Telford. Mark recently broke the Guinness World Record for most consecutive half marathons on a treadmill and I believe he unofficially did 130 days a treadmill and I believe he unofficially did 130 days. 125 is going to be the new record, but Mark, welcome to the show man, I'm super excited to have you on.
Speaker 1:Yeah, thanks for having us. It's a real pleasure. Let's go. Well, I'm excited to dive into the record, but I really want to start out, mark, with how did you get into running? Because I think a lot of people hearing this can think half marathon every day for 130 days, like how do you even do that? And I know when I got started running, it's like a couple miles here and there. So, yeah, bring us back to the origins of your running.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think for me it all started from school. I was a keen runner in school, like the cross country around the school and getting pretty good times and becoming competitive from that really Not always being consistent throughout the years. I think after school I was just being a typical young lad 16, 17-year-old going out, drinking and doing stuff that I should be doing, but always being involved in the gym and training side of things. And then up in where I live in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in England we have a half marathon which is the Great North Run, which is now. It hosts like up to 55,000 people, so it's broke records year upon year for the most participants and it's such a fantastic day Getting out, having all the crowd behind you, and people have got their own reasons for doing it. People do it for charities, if they've lost a loved one, or they just want to get out and experience the first half marathon, and I think a lot of people take a lot from that.
Speaker 2:So that was my first delve into, let's say, long distance. Let's not downplay a half marathon because it is long distance for most people. After doing that about six years in a row, I ended up at the Edinburgh Marathon, which is up in Scotland, a whole different ballgame, as you know. The training needs to be upped. You need to start taking nutrition on board on your long runs. So it's just that getting into that different side of it. So I think that was about 2011, my last big run, which was the Edinburgh Marathon, and then again I just sort of straight away my job. I work away from home, so I'm out at sea three three weeks of the three weeks home. Three weeks away, three weeks home. So, um, I was just getting into a life of just um, going on holidays, going out, still keeping active, but not as much as I had been previously.
Speaker 2:And then 2014, I lost a best friend through an underlying heart condition. So, for his fifth year memory, I decided to do something big. I thought let's do something big for his memory, his five-year memory. So that's when I just delved straight in and booked a 69-mile opera um from, let's call out, to Newcastle local, where I live, and which, for me, was a real step up because, like I mentioned, I hadn't done any sort of activity for eight years, um, up until that point.
Speaker 2:So I was like this is going to be a challenge, but I had that momentum, that that drive to do something for my friend's memory, and I had all the backing of my friends saying come on, you know that'll be great, we'll raise some money for charity and, you know, have a celebration for his memory. So that was me back into training, a long road back, because it wasn't just training for a half marathon, a marathon, I was training for an ultra and you, you know, like you say, you're on your feet for five, six hours in training and triple that on the day. So it was really just, um, get my mindset around, this is something I really want to do, um, and that I know that would take us on to to where I am now. I never, I never planned to be that long distance runner and just, I think, falling in love with it after that it just went from one to another.
Speaker 1:That's awesome, and so when did you actually decide to go after this world record and how did you hear about it.
Speaker 2:So the world record. After the 69 mile I had, I had again a bit more time off like I do keep on doing something, having time off, um. And then I went and spent a bit time out in the middle east, in dubai, where I joined a small, uh, running club where I met my coach how I use now um, I was getting out in the desert on runs with them magical, magical in the desert, just so peaceful and just amazing, obviously, dealing with the heat as well. So after six months there I'd done a desert ultra, which was 55K, really challenging. So that was me back into it again and I thought after that right, okay, I'm going to do, I want to do 100 mile, that's the benchmark, the 100 mile. So I came home, that was in the February, the Desert Ultra and I'd done the 100 mile in September.
Speaker 2:So that was like me feeling on top of the world doing that and again, like I have done previously, just sort of fell off, fell off the radar, fell in love with the training, the running, and I had a year, pretty much a year, off again after that. And then this year I thought, right, okay, I need to get back into it, I need to stay into it, because I'm normally pretty hard on myself me but I think I've accepted the fact that I'm pretty good at it, you know, and let's stick to what I'm good at. I'm 43 this year, the clock is ticking, but I feel the fittest and strongest I've ever felt, both mentally and physically, and thinking if I can inspire people along the way, people my age to think you know, he's just a normal, working, regular guy, he's doing stuff like this. Why can't I start or why can't I go after my goal? So all this was in my head thinking you know, you need to get back on and just keep on pushing. So I was actually working away on the treadmill, done a half marathon on this training run and I thought I wonder what the record is for the most half marathons. It just sprung out of nowhere and that was it. I Googled it and I seen the record was 120 days, sent an application straight in and then I heard back 12 weeks later.
Speaker 2:So I rang my coach and said right, okay, this is what I'm doing. I need a plan. Can we do it? He said you know, we've only got like four months training and four months to execute, so you really need to put in the work, and that was me. I became obsessed. I really became obsessed for the first time in my life of doing this. It was that, that putting that big question mark in front of myself, of saying, can I be the person that does something like this? You know, keep that consistency going over the four months. What if you get injured? All them. Questions weren't answered and uh, and here I am, haven't completed and I feel, I feel amazing, I really do wow, that's amazing.
Speaker 1:It's a great um lesson too, because I think that, you know, running can be daunting for some people. And to hear too that you, you know, had periods of time where you were, like, you know, knocking out races and then you kind of fell off a little bit and then you get back on, I think that's just a real encouragement that you have to be perfect and you were able to come back and do an incredible feat of endurance. You know, with some some gaps in there, it's not like you've been training for 10 years in a row. You know to do something like this. So I think that's that's really encouraging. And I can only, you know, imagine what went into doing that record. So I'm curious for you what did, what did training look like, um for this challenge?
Speaker 2:so, training, like I say, I had, uh, four months of training because I wanted to be finished the challenge before christmas, so I had to start in august in order to finish and by christmas time. So, um, the coach I use Oli Oli Broome. He's a Norwegian guy. He's a great guy, knowledgeable, but also a very good runner as well. So it's great to have him on my side and to learn from him and get his knowledge. So I just follow his plan. Basically, he sends over a plan which I follow week by week, and I prefer that. I love that. If it's up to me, I'll just go out and run 10, miles, have a day off, and do I need some structure? You know I need to follow a plan. So, um, it was just working up to like 70, 60, 70 mile weeks and in between the treadmill, because I was away working at the time and then back home. So I was obviously working still in between my training and excuse me. And then, when it come to the challenge, I knew I had to take like five months off work to execute. I couldn't possibly do it when I was working, so it was hard to fit in the training as well as work. But obviously, like I said I was, I was obsessed, so I was just getting up and getting it done. And with um, with my job, I'll show.
Speaker 2:Sometimes you're going to these gyms and they're really small. If a man's only got two treadmills and a selection of weights, you've just got to make the best of the situation. So, having to start work at 6 am, I was having to get up at 3, do my toes on the treadmill, shower, change breakfast and then work and then after work some days, do some strength work. So I was really living like a athlete. I thought I'm training like an athlete and obsessed in that way of achieving a goal and and I surprised myself, I really did, because I didn't know I had that driving us for so long.
Speaker 2:I'm just going to say it's been over eight months because nearly four months of training and then four months to execute the challenge. So, um, training was was tough at times. Of course you know yourself some of them runs, especially on the treadmill, like doing two hours, maybe three hours. Sometimes the training runs can be long and boring and you do question. You know what am I doing here? But you just got to focus on the goal and uh, and that's all I've done that's good.
Speaker 1:There's this quote that I really like and I believe it says he who has a big enough why can bear anyhow. And so it's like you're. If your reason why of doing something is big enough, you will figure out what, like how you can do it. You'll'll get over anything, any block and training and like. For you it's like you were getting up at 6am I don't know what time you were finishing work, but that's an early morning to start work and to get up at three and train. It's because that why you wanted it, you were so obsessed and I think that's so powerful because, like you said, I think that's a really cool reflection is like you didn't feel like you had this drive almost to live like an athlete before. It sounds like I could be wrong, but yeah, yeah yeah, it's right, exactly right.
Speaker 2:I just felt, like you know people that do these type of things, or sports people, or people who are really active, and that was the drive for me of thinking I want to be a person that breaks a world record. I want to push the boundaries and everything that comes with it. And you know and I'm not old I'm far from old, but I think you know, creeping 43 this year you do wonder, you know, have you still got that determination, the drive, and it's just something so different than I've ever done before. But, like you say, it was that that was keeping us going. You know, let's be the person then, like that you think you can't be. Yeah, and that's like you're saying that's there's. Every single person is capable of way more than they think.
Speaker 2:Loads of people were said to me I couldn't do a half marathon. I don't know how you're doing it, and I said you generally could. I'll actually stand here with you while you do it. It might take you hours, but you could get there. You just need to be willing. That's the thing. You need to be willing, not say I can do it or I can't.
Speaker 1:You need to be actually willing and, like I say, if a lot of people have that, like more people, don't do a marathon, not because they actually can't, but because they don't think they can't, and that's like a cancer in your mind that stops you from going after things like this. Um yeah, so, mark, what was the hardest part of that?
Speaker 2:this challenge like the most um the hardest part actually it wasn't actual run, I mean, getting used to doing the daily half marathons was something that was just inevitable but what come with it was the all of the admin, the uploading of the videos, that obviously I have two independent witnesses sitting watches every single day as extra verification, so them couldn't be family members or friends. So that was a real challenge in itself. And when I got the guidelines back from guinness stating what I needed, I need to have the witnesses and each one had to be fully recorded from two different views and it didn't put us off and it normally would have because I was thinking I'm gonna ask for people's time two hours a day, two people every single day it's a lot, um, but I just put out my mind and thought you know, it's something that you want to do, so you're gonna have to put yourself out there on a big scale. So I would say the biggest part was was probably the admin, which was unknown to me, not being a computer guy, and I had to have a bit of help there, because you can't upload the videos straight to their website. They've got to be broken down into one gigabyte clips. So for me that was 26 different uh, 26 individual clips of both phones and they had to have a five second overlap one another. So I so I was like this is real tech stuff, that is not my forte. So I had to have a guy sit with us and say, look, you know, these are the steps.
Speaker 2:And I got so bogged down with that the first 10 days that I was taking my mind off the running. I was getting stressed, going into runs every day, I wasn't eating properly and I was like I need to just focus on the run, put this to one side. So that's what I've done put it on one side and got in the groove of the running and I'm still going through the evidence now. I'll probably be finished the evidence by the end of January. So once that's submitted then I'll get hopefully within 12 weeks get the verification off Guinness. But I would say that the admin and the witnesses, yeah, rather than the actual run, which people think would be the hardest.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, for sure. What, um? How did you find the people to like? You had to have two independent witnesses that weren't family or friends, who ended up watching you every day this is it?
Speaker 2:so this? So I ran for two um charities. One was a mental health charity called Mind and the other one was a local charity called Cash for Kids Northeast, which helps vulnerable families and children who are struggling. So that was also a drive for me to get this done, thinking that can help me and, along with the people that support us, can help out. Two charities raise some money.
Speaker 2:So that was always my thing, and them need to ask for help and you need to ask for help. So let's just put yourself in their position, how hard it is for them to ask for help from the charity's point of view. And so I've got some flyers made up with a bit about myself, what I was doing, and and just put them in local cafes, restaurants, hair salons, libraries, post them on social media and got my friends to post them, and I was surprised by the response, to be fair, and it was overwhelming to see that people generally want to help us. You know people want us to, to help us achieve my goal and they love being a part of something. So I mean, at times there was times where someone wouldn't turn up so I'd try and find someone else and I couldn't find someone else. I had to run late at night so it was challenging at times, but I think the support from people was actually amazing.
Speaker 1:It really was that's amazing, yeah, and it seems like that way you were able to actually bring in people to be a part of it rather than just be you. So that's kind of cool they were able to be a part of it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, retired people were saying, oh, this is brilliant, I can come and spend two hours a day with you and then go and do my shopping and give them a little bit of something to do. You know which was amazing? Like I got to make some new friends and it was fantastic. We were all there on my last day to see my last run. It was amazing, it really was. And you think, over so long, like four months, 130 days, to have people every single day, it was a lot and I did feel like God, like are people going to be sick of us asking for the time? But they just said, look, we want to be here. So you know, don't panic, they want to help you get there.
Speaker 1:So it took a bit of pressure off me as well. Oh, for sure, For sure. Well, I know that you know, by doing a half marathon a day, you also must have been. You know you were burning a ton of calories, so you must have been eating a lot. Did you have like a standard kind of schedule of how you're eating throughout the the day, or what did that look like for you?
Speaker 2:yeah, yeah. So I'm not really a big eater and a pretty fussy eater, always been a pretty thin guy, about 74 kilograms, we waiters. And so after the first, I think, when I stepped on the treadmill I was about 67 kilograms. I lost about a stone and a half throughout training and obviously not eating enough as well. So after the first 10 days I dropped down to like just under 63 kilograms and I was looking very gaunt and people in the gym were saying you know, are you OK? You don't look the healthiest, which was playing on my mind are you okay? You don't look the healthiest, which was playing on my mind.
Speaker 2:So then the um, the friend in the gym, mark jones he's a strength and conditioning coach and a nutritionist as well he said look, I'm gonna put your plan together. You just follow this plan. You need to be eating about 5 000 calories a day and try and stick to it. So that was a lot for me, considering I never ate nowhere near that. So in the morning it was three hours before me run it was um, eggs on sourdough with avocado, um, and then afterwards it was a recovery shake, um, and then eating pretty much every two hours up until like 8 pm at night. But all good stuff, you know, like mackerel with rice veg, um greek yogurts with fruits and um, yeah, stuff like that, just filling stuff, enjoyable it wasn't. It wasn't never not enjoyable, you know that's good.
Speaker 1:So it's like you had this challenge that presented itself during the the race or challenge um, you know, if you not looking like you look super good your face and then made the adjustments, you had someone come in your life that could help you with that. That's really cool how it came together, like during that, and I think that's just a testament to like you're not going to know everything from the start. You have to just get started and then you'll figure out things like as they go, as you go.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and as well, because with the nutrition intake beforehand I had to have everything pretty much bang on, whereas the first 10 days or two weeks weren't really going that well, because once I got in the treadmill I couldn't stop at any point for the toilet. You've got to finish the run. I'm not allowed to grab a hold of any parts of the treadmill at any time, which is what the witnesses were there for verification. So the first few days I found myself I took on too much water before the run, so I was really needing the toilet after like six miles, and so it took a while for your body to adjust to get the right amount of stuff I need on board, until after the run, you know. So it was a. It was just constantly a learning curve, like you say yeah, because that's another thing.
Speaker 1:It's like you can't get off at all during those two hours, so if you got to go to the bathroom, you can't, or else you have to do it again yeah, that's it which I did do, um, on one occasion.
Speaker 2:So on day 13, as I mentioned, I had to have two separate phones um recording at one time, one showing the treadmill screen and the two witnesses watching us and one showing me running to show. I'm not holding on at any point, so the phone that was recording the treadmill screen obviously I couldn't see. But when I stopped, when I stopped, I would take the phone out of the holder, show to the treadmill screen showing the distance, and then that would be it. So when I stopped, I would take the phone out of the holder, show it to the treadmill screen, show in the distance, and then that would be it. So when I stopped on this day 13, which wasn't a Friday as well, I couldn't understand if it was a Friday, but it wasn't. So I took the phone out of the holder and realised I had stopped recording. I was like, oh my god, I, what happens now? So obviously my heart sank.
Speaker 2:It was in the morning. I was doing my runs early in the morning so I did have time to to run again if I needed to. So, um, I just went home, rang my coach and said nightmare, what's happened today? The phone stopped recording. Um, you know, I just I feel up my height with it. It was that early on as well something can derail. You think, oh look, I'm not gonna bother, it's too much hassle. And then you just give us a little pep talk. You said you know what you need to do. You need to go and buy a backup device, have some rest and run again. So that's what I've done. I had five hours rest, went, bought another phone and then went back later on the night and ran it again so did you just record them on phones?
Speaker 2:just on the phone, yeah, which I was advised. The phones were better, um, rather than a gopro, because they would use more data, which effectively would mean chopping up more clips in the end. So I just used the phones. Yeah, they were just easy enough okay, I got you.
Speaker 1:that makes sense. Um, yeah, that that's a ton of additional stressors, rather than it's much more than just getting the miles done. It sounded like, no, that's good. Um, let me ask you this Like did you have any specific days where maybe, mentally, you had to push through more than others, like you reached a breaking point throughout the 130 days where you almost didn't think you could keep going, or did you feel pretty confident throughout the entire challenge?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think between day 30 and day 50 when I start suffering really bad with blisters, something I'd never suffered from before and you you will have. I know your experience with running. You've run some amazing races, um, but for me, I've never really suffered from blisters intensely during runs and I've always been lucky that way, I guess. So for this I'm I'm gonna say it was a probably error on my behalf. I probably overran any trainers. I probably ran too many miles on them because they ended up being right on the end of my big toes and I just couldn't control them, pierce. I didn't know how to control them because I never was in that situation before. So they've just grown and grown and end up just being like trauma and then to be toes were black and blue and I got to the point where I was. I was just getting them in the morning. I was popping them, relieving the fluid covering them up. For me, run and then running. Every step was painful, as you know, on your big toe, which is the first point of contact with your trainer, um, and I was like you know. Can I keep this up for another 80, 90 days? I really don't think I could have, but I was just trying to find a way around it, not a way out. So at the end I ended up cutting holes in the front of my trainers just to try and give me a little bit more room to move, and I thought this really isn't sustainable for another two and a half months. So someone in the gym recommended surgical spirits. So I just relieved the that night. I went in, relieved the fluids and my blisters and just steeped my toes in the surgical spirits. I've done that over a few more days and and my feet, my toes, turned back brand new again. The skin went all hard and and yeah, it was an absolute lifesaver.
Speaker 2:But that was the point where I was like now I'm in a challenge. Now you know, this is, this is way more than a run. It's you think, at the time as well, when you're coming home and you're dealing with the computer stuff which for me was was stressing me out and then thinking about witnesses, and your feet are in bits and you're thinking you know, this is what you asked for. I constantly told myself, I asked to be here, I didn't, I didn't get selected, so I need to do what's possible to get through it. And um, and that's what I had to do. That's the mindset I had to have so what pulled you through?
Speaker 1:that was, you chose to be here, and so you got to figure it out yeah, yeah, that's it.
Speaker 2:And you know it's that. That was literally it. Um, it wasn't the case of you've got to figure it out. Yeah, that's it. You know, that was literally it. It wasn't a case of you've put yourself out there you're going to think you're a failure. It was none of that, it was. You know I wanted to do this. You know you wanted that big challenge. So here it is and it's amazing how, just that pep talk in yourself just like come on, let's get on with this. You know I felt privileged to be doing it. Pierce, that was the thing. I felt really privileged to be able to get on that treadmill every day and just like, so lucky, look at this amazing thing I'm doing. You know I'm waking up in the morning and I and I just I just really started to enjoy it just every day. I was just really enjoying it. I did. I enjoyed 80 of it. The% was the blisters and the finding witnesses and the computer stuff, but I'd enjoyed 80% of it and and it's amazing that I did- yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1:Were there any big lessons that you learned throughout the course of these 130 days, like big takeaways that you had after that? You, you didn't know before.
Speaker 2:Um, probably just about myself, really just thinking, wow, I'm capable of way much more, you know, and I just felt so blessed to have the support I did and with the community and people around us, so really thankful for that and and just I think it was just from myself of just, you know, when you put yourself in these situations, you never know how they're going to turn out.
Speaker 2:But I think by doing that, even if I didn't complete, I would still be so proud of myself or put myself in that position. So it's all of the case of, you know, let's just keep on trying. And now, now I just want to keep on going and going. You know, I don't want not not saying everything I do now has to exceed what I've done, but if I can keep on trying and keep on getting the best of yourself, and then that's all we can do as humans. You know, I think that is a big lesson of let's just keep going, you know, just keep on wanting the best for yourself and trying to get the best of yourself yeah, it almost like created this even more momentum for you to become.
Speaker 1:You know the person that, like that, you're the best version of yourself because you're like man. I didn't think I could do this. I did it. What else can I do that I haven't been going after?
Speaker 2:after yeah, that's it. And I think as well I would love to, for people to look at me and, like I said, and to say, wow, he's just a normal guy, he's not a sports person people who know my background I'm a working man, I took time off to do this um, and hopefully them could say I'm gonna book my first half marathon. I know I can do it. Have that mindset, you know, book the first 5k, 10k, whatever. I just just get out and just because once they do, once they do that first run around the block or that first mile, they'll be so much happier than being sat on the sofa telling themselves at the conch. And that's the mindset I need to have. You know, everyone, just come on, we can, we can do a little bit more. We can at least try yeah, yeah, that's amazing.
Speaker 1:So you took uh, I want to jump back to this you took you said five months off of work to do this I got. So did you just like save up beforehand and then do it, and then are you back to work now, or what does that look like for you?
Speaker 2:yeah. So I'm self-employed in my line of work and I just I do work for the regular employer and but I'm not contracted to them. And I said, look, this is what I'm planning on doing for the rest of the year and I'm not going to be available and the back does fully said that's fine, we think it's amazing. Let me know when you're available and there we'll get you back to work. So that was, I think it was july. Middle of july was my last bit of work and I'm going back on the 15th of January.
Speaker 1:So another 10 days, nine days or so, okay, and are, and you're gonna keep on training while you're there because you have uh, you said you have a 100 miler coming up. I think before we were recording we were talking about that. That's right, yeah so straight in.
Speaker 2:Um, obviously, my coach said afterwards have two weeks rest, don't do nothing. But I went to dubai to spend christmas with my friend and I just couldn't relax. Ps, I was like I need to be doing something. Even though it was just a 30 minute swim, a bit of strength training. I did do one 10k run, which was nice to get out in the sun, um, but I, just now I've got that.
Speaker 2:Like you say, it's like that cancer, like you know, I want to keep on going, keep on going. I know I need to be sensible with the training and the recovery. So, um, I am going to have a few days rest, but 100 mile in april, which will be my second 100 miler. Um, different route. And then also I have applied for the race across scotland, which is a 215 mile ultra. So real big challenge. 100 hour cutoff point, um, so four days, which is going into the unknown again, exactly the type of things I'm gonna put myself in for. You know, can I do that over four days? You know, sleeping wherever you need to sleep. I know you've done more, up to 40, so I'd be interested to hear about that. So, yeah, I'm waiting on acceptance from the race across scotland, but for now, 100 mile in three months, just over three months.
Speaker 1:So, wow, that's awesome. I think I want to hit on this real quick. It's like after you finish this challenge, you said you had two weeks off but it was hard to even, you know, not do anything. You wanted to go swim. It was hard to even not do anything. You wanted to go swim. You ran a 10K and you wanted to get some movement in because I would imagine you were feeling so good moving every day. And then you stop and you're like, oh man, I need to get moving, I need to work out because of how it makes you feel, you feel great after exercising. And I think that's just an encouragement, because someone listening to this you may hate working out. You may think it's the worst to go for a run or strength train or swimming or running or biking, whatever, just being active, that, as you're consistent with it, you actually start to crave it because of the benefits that it does give you. Can you relate to that, mark?
Speaker 2:Yes, 100%, and I was never like that before, like I touched on with this. I've been obsessed with it. There was nothing going to get me off that treadmill every day at all, um, and I've never been like that ever. Of course, everything I've done I've completed, thankfully, um, but I've always just done it in case of, you know, I want to get, I want to get the 100 mile and that's it. But now I've been like obsessed with this and it's just, it's just unleashed way more potential than I thought it was going to, um, and just yeah, now it is like that. It's now, it's going to be a lifestyle.
Speaker 2:I'm never going to not have that consistency. I'm going to be sensible with a plan, a training plan, of course, enjoying myself with. I do have a life. I do need to work as well, so I need to bear that in mind, but keep consistent. I think once you keep the consistency, um, it's easier to achieve the goals. I know it's still hard to stick in the training all the time, but yeah, exactly that, just um, just just be happy with it as well. You know, I'm blessed to be able to move and run, so why not take full advantage of it?
Speaker 1:yeah, and I think that's a huge mindset shift of it not feeling like I have to, but feeling like you get to. We should be so grateful if you have two legs and you can go out for a walk or go out for a run. That is such a blessing because there are people who don't have both legs, there are people who have no legs and they're constricted to a wheelchair or, you know, crutches or a prosthetic and it's like, man, how grateful should we be that, like, we actually get to exercise, we get to strength train, we get to push our bodies, because not everyone does get to do that yeah, that's.
Speaker 2:I fully agree. I really do agree. And that was going through my mind when I had the blisters. Although I was in pain, I was suffering, I was thinking some people don't have legs, you know, some people probably wish they could have legs to have feet have blisters on. You know, without sounding too um negative about this, you know about taking other people's um circumstances into my own, but that was the mindset of you know. Look what we've got here. You need to just get on with it, you know yeah, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1:No, that's huge. Well, mark, I really appreciate you coming on and just the wisdom that you've shared so far. Um, I'm curious is there any piece of advice or encouragement you'd give to someone? Um, I just want to leave it kind of open-ended now for you, someone who maybe is in the place you were at a couple years ago, like before you had this big goal, and maybe they do have this big goal, but they're trying to figure out how they can actually really do it. So, yeah, what, what encouragement would you tell someone with a, with a goal, but they have some doubt, um, and, and they're just not sure of it and for me it's just have a plan, you know, even writing it down.
Speaker 2:I'll start writing down and they keep in a daily log, not a daily log, but a log throughout me four months, so I can read back on the things I was feeling at the time, the emotions I was going through. But I think, having a plan, you know right, okay, what, what I want to do, what is what is going to bring me joy or what's the, the challenge I want for myself, and write it down, make a plan and and take the steps to get there. Back it up with action. That's all you can do is back up with action and no matter how long it takes, if it's something that you really want to do, you'll find the way to do it. And you know, stay consistent and and be happy.
Speaker 2:You know, like you've touched on before, be thankful that you're waking up every day to get to go after your goal, because some people don't, unfortunately, some people don't get away with every day, and I think that's the first point of counting your blessings. That's step one, and then let's get the plan in place, break it down into steps and then go from there. Stay consistent, because you will get there. If you want it bad enough, you will get there. That's good. Be proud of your achievements, no matter how small they are. Even if someone's starting at first and sort of running, they run around the block and achieve the first mile. Brilliant, fantastic, you know it's it's. We've got to give thanks to everybody that's that's trying to at least do something, you know, because the benefits are there for everyone to see yeah, for sure, and it it's so encouraging when you look at it, for there are two different mindsets you can have.
Speaker 1:You can think of hey, you know, I want to be here, or I want to ultimately run a marathon, but I only just can run around the block. Or you can think, hey, I wasn't running at all, but I just ran around the block, so I've gained so much versus the gap between where you are and where you want to be. And I think that's such an empowering mindset that you're talking about, of focus on what you have achieved, big or small, and let that continue to fuel you to do more and more.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly, and just ignite the fire, that's all it'll do. Ignite the fire, hopefully, and then they'll progress from there.
Speaker 1:That's really good, awesome, mark. Well, mark, where can people who are listening to the show connect with you and find you online?
Speaker 2:My Instagram primarily, which is at mtel27. Mark Telford, my name isn't on there, but at mtel27, yeah.
Speaker 1:There we go. Awesome, I'll link that in the show notes. Guys, go check out his page. Show him some love. Check out the videos that he posted from the challenge. It was really cool and yeah, mark, thank you so much again for coming on the show.
Speaker 2:Thanks, ps. Thank you so much. I look forward to seeing what's next from yourself as well. All right,