Series 3 Episode 4 - Fitness for Later Life with Barbara Lowndes

In this engaging conversation, Barbara shares her inspiring journey of taking up running in midlife, overcoming challenges such as asthma, and her experiences with triathlons and ultra marathons. She reflects on the importance of surrounding oneself with motivational people and offers advice for maintaining fitness as one ages. The discussion culminates in a light-hearted moment where Barbara describes a cocktail that represents her life, emphasizing the fun and joy in fitness.

Bio: School P.E. for Barbara was a disaster, so she decided sport was not for her. But at nearly 40 that she took up running. A disastrous first attempt - half a mile, asthma attack and total exhaustion – ensued. Undeterred she entered races, came last, found a running club and finally started to win trophies. She took up ultra running to celebrate turning 50, a 100km run to celebrate turning 55 and a half ironman triathlon to celebrate her 60th. Her 65th birthday, instead of being a run along the coast of northern Scotland, ended up at an emergency vet 90 miles away. That run is unfinished business. 

Takeaways

Running can be a transformative experience at any age.

Overcoming childhood challenges can lead to later success in fitness.

Asthma doesn't have to hold you back from running.

Participating in events like Race for Life can kickstart a running journey.

Cross-training can enhance overall fitness and prevent injuries.

Aging brings challenges, but fitness can still be enjoyable.

Surrounding yourself with inspirational people is key to motivation.

Completing events is more important than competing as you age.

Celebrating milestones in fitness can be empowering.

Finding joy in fitness is essential for long-term commitment.

Insta @hearmeroarhere

Facebook Hear Me Roar

YouTube @hearmeroarhere

Get in touch: hearmeroarhere@gmail.com or via our website hearmeroarhere.com

Transcript

Hear Me Roar (00:32)

Hello! Hello! Marie's talking about being pink in the cheeks. She didn't say which cheeks she meant though. you're so rude and it was nothing to do with anything saucy. It's just because we've had the fan heater on and I'm pink in the cheeks.

That's what happens when you stand in front of the fan heater and get your bum warm. God's sake. ⁓ I know. So yeah, what are we on today? We're on fitness for later life. Yes, not us obviously, Our guest is talking about fitness in later life. You're quite fit though, you do all sorts. I am but I've just been on holiday.

I've done nothing. Have you undone all the good? Yeah, basically, I've just turned in a complete slob and did nothing but lie by the pool and eat. Well, that's what you do on holiday. I know. Well, we did have a lot of people watching as well, which was really nice. Does that do? I love a bit of people watching. Yeah, yeah. I will sit and have a coffee outside in the summer and just watch people go by. And there was a lot of people in our hotel who

I don't know if anybody who's watching or listening ever does this, you build up back stories for them. Yeah, you make up stories. Yeah. So there was a lady who we nicknamed the big I am. She was one of those was she? Well, she was just someone who knew a lot and everything that she had to say was very, very important. Yes. And probably actually wasn't. And I think she felt she could influence other people.

benefits and positivity to their life and I'm just such a cow really aren't I? It was irritating me and then oh god there was the guy who wore the same t-shirt for a whole week. I read your post on Facebook about that. I was oh my god either you've taken seven t-shirts or the same.

change your t-shirt honestly I'm surprised that he wasn't just like sticking to things yeah was the t-shirt not walking down to his sunbed on its own? ⁓ god I tell you I think I think he probably had to be scraped off his sunbed at the end. alright that's disgusting that's giving me the ick. And then who else did we have we had Ian who was very very loud on his phone all his conversations were on speakerphone

And that was very irritating because very important man you see. Yeah you should have kept walking past and shouting inappropriate things while he was on the phone. And then who else did we have? There was one more that we had ⁓ gosh it's gone out my head.

Anyway, today we're going to be talking with Barbara Lowndes who doesn't have any silly names for her. I'm sure she'll be thrilled to know that. So Barbara is going to be talking to us about fitness for later life.

and at school PE was not for her. And so she decided, you know, that's not happening, that's not in my life. But then at nearly 40, she took up running. And so her disastrous first attempt involved half a mile, an asthma attack and total exhaustion. But, undeterred, she just carried on with it. And she entered races, she came last.

She found a running club and she finally started to win some trophies. So she took up ultra running to celebrate her 50th. So that was a, then there was a hundred kilometer run to celebrate turning 55. And then a half Ironman triathlon for her 60th. Yeah. Can I just say I'm 60 next year and that ain't happening. So anyway, for a 65th.

birthday she was going to be running across the coast of northern Scotland but sadly ended up at a vet 90 miles away for a dog not for her. So she says that that run is unfinished business so let's go and find out a lot more about what keeps Barbara running.

Hear Me Roar (04:35)

And there we go. Hi Barbara, lovely to meet you. great, thanks. And it's lovely to talk to you today. Yeah, well, you're one of our inspiring people because you have taken up running midlife. I'm going to take my glasses off here because I'm getting the light in them. And you've taken up running midlife.

Barb (04:39)

How are you?

It's lovely to be here.

Hear Me Roar (05:01)

and you have then gone on to do some pretty tough stuff, half marathon triathlon to celebrate your 60th. So we wanted to ask you about that beginning with PE at school, which didn't sound as though it was going too well for you.

Barb (05:19)

Well, yeah, you could say that I was kind of quite runty. Obviously you blame your parents because you know when your mother smokes and all the rest of it But whatever so you kind of you pop out small and you carry on being small and then they want you to play netball and Hockey and all that stuff and you just get hit in the face with the ball and it's just this really puts you off

Hear Me Roar (05:38)

As it would.

Barb (05:39)

And they just used to think it was fun to throw me about instead of the ball. this was in senior school, they should know better, but nevertheless. So yeah, it didn't work out well. I was last at everything. I was the last to get picked for a team. You know, all round runtiness. And of course there was this small matter of the whole undiagnosed asthma sort of thing because it didn't really exist back in those days. Well, it was certainly undiagnosed for a long, time.

Hear Me Roar (06:01)

No.

Barb (06:06)

till I was in my forties. So ⁓ yeah, it didn't kind of, you know, I was never one of the sporty girls or anything, ever.

Hear Me Roar (06:08)

Wow.

So obviously then your career didn't include anything to do with sport.

Barb (06:19)

No, no, mean it was just a civil service job when you just sort of sit down a lot of the time and you're pressing keys on the computer and answering the phone and all of that stuff so it wasn't particularly active.

Hear Me Roar (06:30)

No. Did that influence you then to take up running?

Barb (06:34)

I think you get to a point where you think I really ought to be doing something because I think there comes a point where stuff starts to get a little more difficult than it was and you you can't recover as well and you can't just keep going and burning a candle at both ends and then I got hold of a book and it was you might not remember Stan Kenton the great jazz player and he had a daughter called Leslie Kenton and

She decided she was only going to eat raw food and only wear white things and then go for a run. so she wrote a book about how wonderful this is. So you hand over your 3.99 for the paperback version. So I tried all the avocado and raspberry sandwiches and all of that stuff. Yeah, they're actually quite nice. So then I thought, well, I can't really wear white. I'm too scruffy for that. And so then she said, well, you know, you have to go for a little run, but don't go too far.

And so I thought, well, that's a good idea. So I got my plimsoles on. Are we allowed to use that word anymore? Plimsoles? Just so they don't make them anymore. So anyway, got whatever part of the training shoes on and off I went. Half a mile later, I was just kind of coughing my lungs up, clinging onto a tree and red in the face and not feeling all that great. I mean, I was still late thirties then, so actually really, really young.

Hear Me Roar (07:33)

Yes

Barb (07:50)

And yeah, it was just kind of hard going and at that point you just think that's pretty shocking, you know, you shouldn't be this unfit. You should not find ordinary life that difficult for half a mile. So, so I toddled off to the gym and used their indoor things to improve cardio and all the rest of it. There wasn't a plan. It wasn't systematic. And then do you remember they started ⁓ these Race for Life things?

sponsor them and there was one in Roundhay Park in Leeds that was my nearest one at that time and so I thought yeah well why not have a go so you you sign up for it thinking well it's 5k I don't even know what that means in old money but yeah I'll be fine so you know you set off and you just keep going and so you can run a little further every time before you actually fall flat on your face and so you know I got there in the end and ⁓

And you know, the rest is history I suppose. Because as you get fit enough to run 5k, then you're kind of over the worst of it, you know. The first 5k is the hardest and the rest of it is just not stopping. So yeah, I did that and it wasn't great. I don't even remember what time I did, but they gave you really nice little medal with Race for Life on it and a pink ribbon and you know, they did Race for Money for charity and there's hundreds and hundreds of people there all...

Hear Me Roar (08:46)

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Barb (09:08)

fast, slow, in between, and it's a great event and there's a nice atmosphere and you think this is fun. And I paid, you know, 30 quid for trainers now I might as well use them. you know, you find a  running club. So that was really the beginning of the journey. I think Race for Life, I think is responsible for kicking off quite a lot of running careers.

Hear Me Roar (09:28)

So you started running because you were in a desk job and you were stuck behind a desk. Why did you choose running? Why not say, I don't know, netball or hockey or... yeah, she was going to get hit in the face.

Barb (09:42)

Well, I mean, obviously, if you want to participate in team sports, you need to find, you know, 11 other people who've got nothing to do on any given moment of the day, and you have to get somewhere, and you have to organise yourself and work out what the rules are. And it seemed a bit complicated, and also, you know, there aren't that many squads near you necessarily. There wasn't even an internet, the way you could go and find these things out. And bearing in mind, you know...

I had it firmly imprinted in my mind, I am seriously not sporty. I will get there, make a fool of myself and be asked not to come back. So, it's a bit of a confidence thing, but it went well.

Hear Me Roar (10:19)

And running is something

you can do on your own, isn't it? You can just go through the front door and run.

Barb (10:23)

It's very much the case, yeah,  the training session starts when you step out the door. So it's quite efficient use of time. And obviously, if it all goes wrong, you can slink home without embarrassing anybody but yourself. It's great. I remember playing hockey for the school because they did let me do it because they were short of people. And we'd just get hammered. I mean, Woodford County High girls, they didn't tell me that they were.

sponsored by the Olympics, but they were just, you know, and they thrashed us every time. And so you don't go home with that feeling of, you know, letting your team down. You're just, you're just there for yourself and you can do it when you want it, when you've got time and so on. it's good. That's why I did it. And it's cheap. It's very cheap. It costs what a pair of running shoes costs. And, you know, I mean, I know you need vest and knickers and stuff, buy a decent running bra obviously, but just largely you don't need any special skills, any special equipment.

Hear Me Roar (10:50)

So it's not my computer because I restarted it so it's just a connection issue.

⁓ Barbara,

Barb (11:17)

it's an efficient and effective use of your time. if you're limited. I mean, I was working long hours and so you don't have hours and hours of time, you don't have lots of days off and you have other commitments in your life, you can just step out of the front door and then your training started. You're not letting anybody down if you don't feel like it or it goes wrong or you're having a bad day. So it's... ⁓

Hear Me Roar (11:32)

Yeah.

Did having, like finding out that you had asthma, did that worry you at all, put you off?

Barb (11:45)

Well obviously I didn't know I had asthma. just thought running's really really hard and I keep running out of breath. So I tried training on a treadmill and I just used to work really hard so I could get the maximum number of minutes before I went blue in the face and had to stop. It turns out that's actually not really the right thing to do. So I went along to the doctors and

I love the NHS, I really do. But this doctor said, if running's getting you like that, you just need to stop running, dear. And I thought, that's not the answer I was expecting. No, that's what it was then. And so I then thought, I'll go consult a private doctor. they said, just run around the car park then. So I ran around the car park and then just.

Hear Me Roar (12:19)

No, not very helpful.

We've lost you again. I don't know if she can hear me when this happens.

Barb (12:35)

crawled back in through the door and

Hear Me Roar (12:35)

I don't know. don't think she can.

Barb (12:38)

they said, we haven't got exercise asthma dear. You've got ordinary asthma. And I said, and the difference is what exactly? And they said, well, you you need a lot more medication. But, but they're very kind. It was, was a Yorkshire practice and they said, well, here's a list of things, go back to your doctor and get them to prescribe them to you.

Hear Me Roar (12:46)

We can't do anything about it. We've just got to... Just got to power through. Yeah.

Well, there should be nothing at our end holding this up, so it's possibly an issue with

Barb (12:59)

So that's what I did. And then they said, yeah, that's fine. Have these and off you go. So that helped. That really, really did.

being able to breathe was just fabulous. that really took things further. But you know, St. Paula, Paula Radcliffe, she's asthmatic. Yeah, it turns out lot of athletes, and runners like me, but athletes, actual real proper athletes are asthmatic, you know. So.

Hear Me Roar (13:08)

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well

it's good that it hasn't held you back and that you got the right treatment in the end.

Barb (13:29)

Yeah, well, you you just have to kind of stand there and stamp a little foot there and you get what you want.

Hear Me Roar (13:33)

So you've taken up ultra running, what does that mean?

Barb (13:38)

Okay, well an ultra marathon is anything over a full marathon distance. anything over 26 miles is an ultra marathon. So 27 miles would qualify. But generally they start at around kind of 30 miles.

Hear Me Roar (13:54)

So you're aren't you Barbara? Am I? Too late. Sorry. Is it becoming more difficult to?

Barb (13:57)

Don't tell everybody.

Hear Me Roar (14:06)

Does it get more difficult as time goes on which is probably a stupid question really isn't it but do you mean as you get older?

Barb (14:13)

It's

Well, it was interesting that I started running at around 40 and then it got easier. So when I was doing all my best times at 50, which is weird, but I suppose that just coming from a low base, it took me a long while to actually get fit. And yes, you're all right in your 50s. And think after, and you know, when I reached 60, that was, that was all right as well. I'm finding it more difficult now, stuff hurts a lot more and we...

recovery times are a lot longer now and I've a lot more off days. So, you know, I won't deny that it hurts, but I did actually try a layoff because I thought I just can't bear this, you know, you wake up in the morning and it hurts. So I tried not running and I still woke up in the morning and it hurts. So, you know, it doesn't make any difference whether you run or you're not, you know, it's just the aging process, I think is just one, you need a new mattress, I don't know.

But it's certainly, yeah, of course, you have to take a lot longer to recover. You can't just treat yourself as indestructible anymore. You have to take a great deal more care of yourself. and obviously, we don't run as fast and so on. But you just do turn up and you still, you're looking at the people that are your vintage. You don't want to be, you can't beat a 20 year old. And so... ⁓

Hear Me Roar (15:19)

Yeah.

No.

Barb (15:33)

So, yes, of it's harder.

Hear Me Roar (15:35)

So for your ⁓ 60th you ran a, well you didn't just run, you did a half iron man triathlon, is that running, cycling and swimming?

Barb (15:44)

It certainly is, And you start off with...

Hear Me Roar (15:46)

For your 60th?

Can I just say I'm 60 next year? I might just walk to the shop or something. You'd pass out if you walked to the end of the garden. Rude.

Barb (15:53)

Yeah.

Well, I think they're actually... You find out about triathlon, you see all these superheroes on the telly and you think, well, they're lovely. And also, it's known as cross-training. There's a lady I know who...

She's been cross-training all her life, but she doesn't call it that. I read in a book, that was a very inspirational book I got hold of, and it said, don't just do running, it's quite hard on your joints and muscles and everything. Mix it up, do some other stuff, do a bit of swimming, exercise your whole body, not just the running specific bits of it. Do a bit of swimming, get on your bike, this, that, and the other. So...

cross training and I was speaking to this very inspirational friend of mine and she said, no, I don't do cross training. She said, I do a bit of swimming and a bit of biking as well as my running. And I said, that's cross training. She was just incorporating it into a list of fun things that she does. And I thought, that's really good. I'm going to do that. I want to be like her. And so you find a little thingy to enter. And we had a great time and we did really well and I didn't fall off my bike or anything. And I mean, I have been falling off my bike quite a lot because

Hear Me Roar (16:48)

Nice.

Barb (17:05)

there's a reason I didn't really concentrate on cycling and when you're swimming you swallow a lot of water and stuff just just get attacked by the ducklings and all that and can't get in and out of my wet suit and just everything everything that could go wrong has always gone wrong and so so yeah you kind of take it up you think you have a good time and somebody else says let's do xyz and you go ⁓ all right then you know before you can shut your gob it's yeah let's do it comes out so

So you find yourself in this and it's bit of fun because you can get fitter. You can train twice a day instead of once because you're not wearing yourself out with just run, run, run, which is quite tiring. So that's, you get drawn into it and you have a great time.

Hear Me Roar (17:41)

you...

How did you get on with the half iron man then?

Barb (17:47)

Well, you know, I completed it. I think it's fair to say my competing days are kind of rapidly diminishing, but I'm more complete than compete these days. But yeah, I did it. I think the swim was ridiculously hard work and my hands were so cold. your fine motor skills go when your hands get cold and every single motor skill I possessed went and I couldn't get

Hear Me Roar (17:57)

Thank

Yeah.

Barb (18:12)

out of my wet suit and I couldn't get into my cycling jersey so I was just trying to get warm. But then obviously, once I got warm it was absolutely fine, the cycling bit, we'd practised it so I knew where the horrible hills were. All the gears on my bike, worked for a change so that was great. yeah, I've had some terrible, terrible times with previous races. It was, I'd done one before.

You know I picked one to do around Rutland water and I thought well that will be flat then, that'll be just fine, it? Because it's Rutland water, that'll be great. But I don't know if you've ever been to Rutland water. Yeah the waterbed's really really flat. But it's really hilly around it so this bike ride's up and down the hill. That's when my bike chain came off and I couldn't get it back on and then it got stuck and it was just, yeah that was, so yeah you know things can go wrong.

Hear Me Roar (18:45)

No. No.

So for anybody who's listening who might not know because to be honest I'm not sure what are the actual distances of a half Ironman?

Barb (19:11)

Okay, so you swim 1500 meters. Usually yeah, it would be an awful lot of lengths of the pool if you did it in the pool So they usually use swimming around with some seaweed and ducks

Hear Me Roar (19:14)

And that's in open water, isn't it? It's not in a nice swimming pool.

And

1500 metres just for anybody that needs old money. That's nearly ⁓ a mile.

Barb (19:30)

Yeah, just under a Nearly a mile, yeah.

And then when you get on the bike, that's about, what is it, in kilometres? 56, 60 kilometres or something like that. Something like that, yeah.

Hear Me Roar (19:44)

That's a lot.

Barb (19:46)

Yeah, is it? Yeah, it's about 60 kilometres.

Hear Me Roar (19:48)

Yes is.

Barb (19:49)

yeah, because a full iron man is 112 or is it miles? Might be 60 miles. It's about four hours. It's about four hours cycling and then yeah, I think it's miles I'm sure it's miles, I can never remember and then the run bit that's a half marathon so that's 13 miles.

Hear Me Roar (19:58)

Wow.

This

Yeah, wow. But that's a breeze. And you did that for your 60th. Wow.

Barb (20:15)

Well, you you have to kind of celebrate not being dead yet, don't you? ⁓ once you know as well, we were all in the middle of lockdown. And so, ⁓ I mean, the beauty of it is, you know, we had a wonderful summer and the roads were empty. remember the rules and they were you can go out once a day for one activity. And I thought, well, it'll be a four hour bike ride then, you know, it's in the rules. It's in the rules. And,

Hear Me Roar (20:18)

Well that's true. I'll bear that in mind.

Mm. Yeah.

Yeah. ⁓

Barb (20:39)

So yeah, that's what I used to do because I'm a bit kind of nervous around traffic because I'm wobbly on the bike. But so there was really very little else to do that summer. There were very few sporting events taking place. so I had the place to myself. Swimming in open water, you know, again, relatively risk free and not in a confined space. And so so it was actually not not a bad thing to do to go training. We were we were all conscious of our health.

safety weren't we in those days.

Hear Me Roar (21:07)

Yeah. Yeah,

yeah, ⁓ wow. So, you, for your birthday recently, you were supposed to be going on a run along the coast of Northern Scotland.

Barb (21:17)

Well it wasn't anything I'd... it wasn't an official formal thing I just thought wouldn't it be good if on my 65th birthday I get out and do a nice run along the north coast and you know see what I can see, see what's up there and maybe not to the northern most coast it's very nice, it's very nice up there I was in Durness and but I didn't manage to do anything

Hear Me Roar (21:34)

Yeah.

Barb (21:41)

partly because having only just arrived there from down south, my dog ran into some discarded fencing wire at

Hear Me Roar (21:41)

No, I know. know. I know it just swings back to you. It's because I'm sitting on the cable. Yeah, it's the cable here. Yeah.

Barb (21:52)

speed and ripped a great big hole in her chest. so it was all a bit dramatic. There was a lot of blood everywhere and the trip to the emergency vet who was in Tain.

Hear Me Roar (21:57)

It's trying to reconnect. I think it's

Barb (22:01)

which was about 90 miles.

But it's all, you know, single track roads up that way, isn't it? And I was in my motor home and that was a fairly alarming drive. That was my birthday. The champagne was still in the fridge chilling. And yeah, we walked into, I said, well, my birthday tea is going to be a fresh supper then from the local chippy in Tain while the dogs having a being stitched together emergency operation. We walked in there blood soaked, I kid you not.

We looked like a mafia clean-up team. And our turn came, got to the front of the queue. And he looked us up and down. I said, two fish suppers, please. Because I know how to say it in Scot. That's how they call it, isn't it? It's not fish and chips, please. And he just looked at us and said, would you like salt and vinegar on that? Yes, please. He didn't bat an eyelid and I thought, what kind of town are we in here? This is this is...

Hear Me Roar (22:46)

ha ha

Barb (22:51)

They're used to this, these people, they must see this all the time. So yeah, I'm not going back there. There's a vet, I can recommend a vet yeah, was, yeah, Well, you know, dog is fine. She's been out and all the rest of it. She's full recovery, which is absolutely great. And unfinished business for me, running wise. So there we go.

Hear Me Roar (23:02)

was okay, yeah?

Yeah. Yeah.

So was your husband, does your husband run as well or?

Barb (23:19)

He's a far, far, far better runner than I will ever be. oh yeah, he just doesn't need to practice, doesn't need to eat properly, doesn't need to train. just one of those lucky, some people got gifts, haven't they? And and totally neglected it and not appreciated, but there you go. But he's not running hardly at all now. He gets cramps and everything.

Hear Me Roar (23:24)

Really?

Yeah.

Barb (23:45)

But yeah, he's always been a very fine runner. As long as he doesn't listen to this, because if he catches me praising him, They just get big heads. But yeah, know, and yeah, very good runner.

Hear Me Roar (23:57)

Well, do you have any advice for anyone who wants to get fit or who wants to continue any fitness regime as they get older?

Barb (24:07)

I suppose what has become more in... Well, I suppose when we're starting out, I think the key thing that helped me was surrounding myself with inspirational people. And you really, really cannot say this too many times. Although I've been saying to you, you you can take it as an individual thing. I think that to really kind of get on with this, you surround yourself with inspirational people, people who are...

know how you can deal with injury or can tell you how it feels or can give you advice on how to train better and what events to do. One of the most inspirational people I've ever met, there's quite a few in my running club and they're in every running club up and down the country, and this lovely man said, well you're going to do a marathon then. I said don't be ridiculous. Of course I'm not going to do a marathon, how can I ever do a marathon? He said, you can, of you can.

Hear Me Roar (24:40)

Yeah.

Barb (24:57)

No, no, really. Look, look, I can't. I'm runty, you know, And he said, no, you can, you can. And, I trusted him and he, come on, let's go running, let's do this, let's do that. And, you know, they show you that you can do more than you ever thought you could. so I think absolutely it's whatever you choose to do, whether it's yoga or anything, it's far more fun and far, far

Hear Me Roar (25:11)

Right.

Barb (25:20)

easier to progress that if you're surrounded by people that can inspire you and show you what you can do.

Hear Me Roar (25:28)

And it

goes back, I suppose, as well to what you were saying about aiming to complete rather than compete.

Barb (25:35)

Well, mean that's true of me now. In my kind 40s 50s I entered all the contests. there's always races and so you like to finish

quite well up don't you? really. It's very much age categories, so five or ten year age categories. You're racing against all the other women your age. so yeah, there's some very healthy competition going on and it's very nice if you get called up to the front to get, I don't know, little cup or a rosette or a bottle of Sometimes a bottle of wine, so that's very nice. Yeah, well, you know.

Hear Me Roar (25:58)

Yeah.

That is lovely, yeah. Well that makes it all worth competing for. Which kind of brings us onto

the cocktail quite nicely Barbara.

Barb (26:13)

well the cocktail, okay so I haven't tried it yet but this is, is, is, the cocktail to sum up me is that right? What would it be called? I haven't got a name for it I suppose it would be a

Hear Me Roar (26:20)

Yes, so if you were a cocktail or a mocktail, what would it be called and what would be your main ingredients and why?

Running wild?

Barb (26:35)

running wild,

running wild, that might be a good one so okay you want to know the ingredients so we've got we've got a triple vodka and we've got dash of lemonade we've got squeeze of lemon and we've got half a sugar cube

Hear Me Roar (26:40)

Yes.

And is there anything kind of a special ingredient related to your life in there at all?

Barb (26:56)

what

do you think? so a bit of lemonade, you know it's a little bit fizzy and then a big squeeze of lemon because you know, sharp

Hear Me Roar (27:01)

Yep.

I thought you were going to say you were bitter.

Barb (27:08)

that too, that too half a

sugar cube because it's only a little bit sweet vodka because I'm rather tasteless and it's been a triple is that I'm very likely to get you drunk so that's that's what I could come up with I might actually mix myself one later on so just to see

Hear Me Roar (27:13)

Yeah.

Hey, that's great. ⁓

Well, I think we'll to have go at that one definitely I'm a vodka fan of you. Yes. Yeah, I like it in things I couldn't drink it on its own, but I like it in a cocktail. Yeah well, thank you Barbara it has been absolutely wonderful chatting to you today. We've really enjoyed it Yeah, it's been lovely to meet you. I'm you

Barb (27:41)

because it's tasteless.

⁓

listen,

fantastic chatting to you. as I say, long may we run.

Hear Me Roar (27:56)

Yes, you are a truly inspirational person. And yeah, I mean this this episode is going to be called Fitness for Later Life and it has been really interesting hearing about your adventures. thank you. No, no, no, no, no. Yeah. Always. It was lovely to meet you.

Barb (28:10)

I'm not old yet. Late 90s for older people than me.

It's been such fun talking to you.

Hear Me Roar (28:20)

Thank you Barbara. Thanks Barbara.

Barb (28:20)

⁓ okay. Bye bye then.