Episode 17 : Elizabeth & Letitia

Rebecca and Caroline explore what happens when stepping outside your comfort zone means not only travelling across countries with a backpack — but also facing difficult conversations, old wounds and the parts of family life that are hardest to talk about?

In this episode of Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained, we meet sisters Elizabeth and Letitia from Race Across the World. Their time on the series gave viewers plenty of laughter, warmth and memorable moments, but behind the scenes there was also a much deeper story about family, relationships and learning to understand each other in a different way.

Elizabeth and Letitia talk openly about what it was like to take on such a huge challenge together, especially when they had not always been close. They reflect on the realities of travelling under pressure, the moments that brought them together, and the difficult conversations that helped them build a stronger relationship.

It is an honest, funny and moving conversation about sisterhood, trust and what can happen when we stop avoiding the conversations that matter most.

As always, Rebecca and Caroline also explore the simple science behind why stepping outside our comfort zone can change us. Sometimes confidence does not come before we do something difficult — it comes afterwards.

We are back with a new series of Nothing Ventured Nothing Gained. Please follow us on Instagram for lots of fun, adventures and behind the scenes antics.

NVNG is hosted by Rebecca Rees and Caroline Bridge. Rebecca is an ICF PCC Executive Coach and Co-Founder of Peak 15 Coaching, passionate about how our brains work and helping people unlock possibility. Caroline won BBC’s Race Across the World 2025 with her son Thomas — a series watched by over six million and shortlisted at the National Television Awards.

🎯 Our Mission: To help people pause, see beyond what holds them back, and discover new possibilities for greater happiness and wellbeing.

📩 Contact Us : We’d love to hear your questions, ideas, or stories of stepping outside your comfort zone: WhatsApp: https://wa.me/447375220027

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👉 Please follow, share, and be part of the NVNG adventure — it all starts with daring to try.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Welcome back to Nothing Ventured, Nothing Game, the podcast that explores what happens when we step outside our comfort zones and dare to try something new. Through simple science, real stories, and honest conversations, we talk to inspiring guests about confidence, self-doubt, change, challenge, and what it really takes to grow. Today we meet sisters Elizabeth and Letitia, who many of you will know from race across the world. They talk openly about what it was really like travelling together, the challenges they faced along the way, and how the experience changed their relationship. It's a conversation about family, pressure, communication, and what can happen when you push yourself far beyond what feels comfortable. How are you? Both look very well. Oh, thank you. Thank you so much for joining us, Letitia and Elizabeth. It's a pleasure to talk to you today. Thank you. Thanks for having us. I think what we'd all like to know is what have you been doing since you returned from race?

SPEAKER_01 1:11

I think when you first come back, it's just resettling back into reality. You can't say anything, so you're just quiet. And it's like being so excited by a whole experience that you've had. You want to talk, but you can't tell anybody where you've been. So the first part was just being silent and trying to like go back to reality. And then since the show aired at the beginning, it's just a bit of a whirlwind. Like you're going to interviews, you're seeing behind the scene TV things that you've never even thought about. And yeah, just having an experience of like carpet events and all these things. I took a bit of a break. I wanted to come back and do some well-being retreats, and I started, but I realized that I needed to do it for myself for a bit. So I just paused, had a detox, and now I'm coming back.

SPEAKER_00 2:06

And you have an interest in psychology.

SPEAKER_01 2:09

Yes, I've got a background in psychology, and now I'm looking more into neuroscience, actually, thinking about what I can do with that. Practicing like meditation and things like that. So trying to do some theory behind it. So I'm interested in where that can lead us.

SPEAKER_00 2:26

Wonderful. Yeah. I have a similar interest. I'm busy learning, trying to learn as well. Fantastic. It's really amazing to think that that's hown't you, and you're so young, and you you realize that.

unknown 2:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:38

It's also taking time out and not just getting back onto the hamster wheel of doing everything really quickly and working out what you really want to do. And Natisha, you're going to tell us something completely different.

SPEAKER_02 2:51

Well, to be fair, I had a similar experience. As Elizabeth said, coming out of the race, it was it was hard to keep the secret from friends and family. I took a break after a few months. I went back to work working in school, which was fine. And it was nice actually getting back into routine, I think, because I was like, okay, I've done this this experience, and I was like thinking, oh, what to do next? But I think going back into routine helped me evaluate what I wanted to do. I want to do something else and really strive for what I want to do because a race really just put you in a position like, oh, you can do anything, so why not do anything? And now I'm pursuing a goal, but I want to do is to travel abroad. So I am doing a teaching course, so then I can travel and work abroad.

SPEAKER_00 3:49

I love that. So that's a gift from race that it gave you the opportunity to think if I can do that, I can do something else.

SPEAKER_02 3:57

Definitely gave me the confidence.

SPEAKER_00 3:58

If you could choose anywhere in the world, where would you go?

SPEAKER_02 4:01

To be honest, I would be happy with anywhere, but my heart at the moment is set in Asia, I think, because I've explored it a little bit. I want to do the whole thing, and then I'll move on to a new continent.

SPEAKER_01 4:18

I feel like you've always made Asia though, isn't it? That's another thing that we forgot to say. We went traveling, actually, straight after. Where did you go? We went to Kenya.

SPEAKER_02 4:28

I needed it, I think. I just needed just a place to relax, to unwind, and it was great. And you would think that after the race you would be good at traveling, but it was a completely different switch. You're like, oh, actually, am I even good at traveling?

SPEAKER_00 4:44

But yeah, it would be exactly the same. Didn't you have a story about turning up at the BBC, Caroline, and getting lost? Yes, did you not hear? Tom and I were going to Spain to do a talk, and it was fantastic. And we missed our flight. And we even got the tickets booked, we had our phones, we were in England, it was only an hour away from home, and we still missed our flight. We are the worst travelers ever.

SPEAKER_01 5:08

Honestly, honestly. Yeah. Even now, when we're asking for direction, even the other day, I think we're in Birmingham and we're like, oh, where do we go for this? And then a ticket lady was like, Were you not on race across the world?

SPEAKER_04 5:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:22

So what's the difference? I think it's the pressure. I think on race, you have to make a decision. So if one thing doesn't work, then you have to ask another person. If that doesn't work, you have to go, go, go, go, go.

SPEAKER_02 5:33

And I feel like people expect you to know what to do. Yes. Like you have your phone, you can speak the language. So why would you ask like a simple question, like where the space is? So people are probably thinking, you should know this. But yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:46

You don't feel as embarrassed on race, do you? No. You know you're a foreign strange country. But here, I remember when, as Rebecca said, I got lost in London and couldn't work out the tube, and I was too embarrassed to ask people. So Tom and Finn had to come and get me. I think it was just to escort you in. Let's go back to the beginning and how you actually decided to apply for race and what what happened?

SPEAKER_02 6:15

We started watching season one. And honestly, from London to Singapore, ridiculous. But then we were thinking, is it about ridiculous? Like, can it be done? Because even the decision making, male making, we were like, we can do that. Like, why are they taking this route? We can figure it out. So I think, yeah, we were just discussing, you know, we'll be great on this.

SPEAKER_00 6:40

Yeah. A bit cocky, maybe. Oh, yeah. What were the things that gave you the confidence that you thought you could do when you watched?

SPEAKER_02 6:48

I think it was our travel background. We love traveling and love embracing different cultures. I feel like it was also a challenge too. What do you think?

SPEAKER_01 7:01

Yeah, I think looking at it, we were just like, okay, we both have dabbled into another language, so we know the difficulty in trying to actually communicate with people. I think sometimes if you haven't tried to learn a language, you just think, yeah, I can just speak in English and then understand. But understanding how you have to use your hands, you have to use gestures, you have to kind of interpret simple English. So we were like, Yeah, okay, we'll be able to try and comp communicate with people. We're quite adaptable, so we'll be able to sleep on a bus or camp, or what we were really nervous about though, going on is making decisions, and like you're just constantly all go, go, go, go, go. So we'll think that's gonna be difficult. And that was probably the the most difficult thing, I think. Yeah, not even the sleeping and stuff like that. It was just like the pressure of should I take that? What was the interview process like? It was fun. We were doing a video while we're applying, we're like, We're really late, but we really want to come on this thing.

SPEAKER_02 8:06

Yeah, yeah. Because we we were talking about it and we're like, oh yeah, we should apply. And we kept on putting it off, pulling it off, pulling it off, putting off. And then the deadline was like, Oh, today we need to do it. So yeah, got a call, and they wanted to see us, and then yeah, from then it was just meeting, meeting.

SPEAKER_01 8:23

Yeah, face to face, and then it was quite a long process, but it was a nice process because it you get to see and you get to dabble a little bit in being filmed or something, or different questions that they're gonna ask, even just like the background scene of like, okay, you're gonna have a producer that's gonna be asking you questions while you're traveling. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:45

And did you have any concerns about being in front of the camera all the time? Yes, that was a big concern. That would be a nightmare for me. That would be out of my comfort zone.

SPEAKER_01 8:56

A big adjustment to get used to, like, everything is filmed. It's not, it might not all be shown, but it's all filmed. Do not anticipate that at all. Well, what did that mean for you? Like sometimes you might make a mistake and it's gonna be shown, and you just have to own it rather than brushing it over. It's quite therapeutic, actually. It's quite humbling because it's like you make a huge mistake and you're just like, oh my gosh, and then you realize that that's gonna be shown to like a million people, or you don't realize until after. But yeah, it's quite humbling, I think, after you just kind of let go, and then you have maybe a bit more fun when you just let that bit go.

SPEAKER_00 9:38

That's huge, isn't that a great learning? And how about you, Letitia? How did you feel about it?

SPEAKER_02 9:45

Yeah, I didn't think it would be that extreme of 24 hours of us just being recorded. It was a lot, and I feel like because we were on camera all the time, I didn't really think through what I was saying, and they were like, You're on camera, and I'm like, Oh, okay, and then I'll just like ramble and I'm like, Oh wait, what did I say? They asked you so many questions, and it was it was very daunting too, and a lot of pressure. Also, they'll ask, What are you gonna do next? So, where are you gonna go? How do you feel about this? And it's like, I don't know at the moment, like I actually don't know. So then I'll just be like, Yeah, I'm feeling like this, blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. So it was a lot, it was exhausting, but you got used to it, and you can get in a flow with the questions by their asking.

SPEAKER_01 10:40

And I think people don't realize that we've got a whole team that's going around with us, so we're constantly with this team, so they're listening in and out. Sometimes I'm like, aren't you tired about the same story? Yeah, going on and on and on. But you have this team that you one, we're building a bond together as a as a couple, but we're also building a bond with this team. It's like a family going around. We're having the same experiences as them. If anything, they have no not that much save because they're just following what we're doing. So yeah, it's also interesting that that's something that was quite surprisingly good at the end of it, just to have a great strong relationship with who we were with.

SPEAKER_00 11:23

And so, how did your team develop with the producer and the film crew and everyone who is going around with you? How is it for you, Letitia or the team?

SPEAKER_02 11:35

Yeah, it was great. I don't know how they match you to your couples, but I think they did a quite good job with us. Like we only yeah, met them maybe like twice before going, and then we're what in China together. I think we were quite lucky, and yeah, as you said, we're creating a bond, you know what their vices are, they know what our vices are, so then you create this way of working together, and it makes the experience more special, I think.

SPEAKER_01 12:06

Yes, I know you learn a lot about different jobs just in the industry, like you have a producer, then you have an AP, then you have a researcher, there's someone that does all the trips before we go on to kind of test them out a little bit, so it's just actually eye-opening to what opportunities there are out there and what people do, and how TV works mate. Yeah, how a show is made. It's really interesting. Well, what's an AP? An AP is an assistant producer. The AP was asking us questions, recording everything, sending our transcript, and even just somebody collecting the transcript to take back to the BBC. There's like a whole operation of happening.

SPEAKER_02 12:48

So much work.

SPEAKER_01 12:50

Yes. Big responsibility with like footage that you have to take this footage back. If you lose that, then that's gone.

SPEAKER_00 12:58

We'd be brilliant at filming for eight weeks, wouldn't we, Caroline? There'll be no technical challenges at all. We'd probably end up with nothing. Oh dear. Yeah, it's really interesting, mate. Yeah. What did you find the most challenging thing on race?

SPEAKER_02 13:19

I feel like there was challenges in every aspect, really, and they came at different points in the race. I feel like in the beginning, the decision making was quite difficult, trying to decide where we wanted to go. And then I feel like later on being very restless became quite difficult. And I think maybe by the end, I think just being exhausted. So there's many like different challenges I think we faced. And when you're just put in those situations, you just have to remember on a race, this is what I signed up for, and I need to do it to my best potential. And I think, yeah, remind myself I can do this, and it's just thinking of the outcome and how much I would have achieved by finishing this race. I think that's what kept me going.

SPEAKER_01 14:21

I agree. What about you, Elizabeth? Yeah, I would say, yeah, the same. I think it was imagine both of us not being able to make decisions, so we're then relied on each other. I think the first day, one, I lost my voice, so I was quite ill on it, and then there was a pressure of Letitia that knew a little bit of Mandarin, so she was taking control, but that was so overwhelming and overstimulating that I thought, oh my gosh, I don't know if I can do this for the rest of the race.

SPEAKER_02 14:56

I feel like everyone has that feeling. Like first day, you're like, what are we doing? And you think, how can we do this?

SPEAKER_00 15:04

Yeah, but funnily enough, we all met on the Great Wall of China. And we were literally allowed to be introduced to each other, and that was it. We had to go back and get ready to burst. What were your first impressions of everybody? Because I have to say, Tom and I suddenly felt, oh my god, we're not capable of this. Everybody else looked so confident, and we were actually quite frightened. What did you think?

SPEAKER_01 15:27

I thought that everyone looked like they knew what they were doing, and we were the ones that don't know what we're doing. But then I also thought that people thought that we knew what we were doing.

SPEAKER_02 15:36

But I remember seeing you and Tom in your like fleisure gear. You were like proper ready, and I was you were running, and I was like, I can't even run. And I was like, Oh my gosh, like, how are we gonna compete with these people?

SPEAKER_01 15:51

Yeah, and our backpacks, we overpacked so much, it was so heavy. So we're comparing ourselves already to everybody, seeing Melvin with the suitcase.

SPEAKER_00 16:01

Oh, he had one that he pulled along, didn't he? Yeah, on wheels. Yes, that's really interesting, isn't it? That you all turned up and you all judged what other people were capable of, and you or all a bit negative about your own ability to do it, and that's what we see over and over again when we're doing these podcasts. It's how our brains are wired in lots of ways, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:23

And is and I think they do it on purpose as well, because we don't meet, we don't discuss anything, we have split seconds just to meet each other, and then you're on a race. So it's like that's competition. Though we actually, throughout the race, got quite close with each other. There was, yeah, at the beginning, you don't know how everyone is, so you're like, oh, everyone's so competitive, and but yeah, it was a very interesting experience, I think.

SPEAKER_00 16:46

And what was your first impression of the girls, Caroline? Oh my god. Well, I I adored them both, and I had a bond with Letitia because I have a goddaughter called Letitia, and I said that to her immediately, and they were next to us, so we we shared a little smile on the Great Wall of China, and they were reassuringly smiling back as well. But then we we realized everybody else was so young, obviously, apart from Brian and Melvin, and Melvin dragging his suitcase, he was so laid back, and he cracked a joke immediately, he was so funny. But literally, you do feel like, oh my god, what if I taken on this is too much? Yeah. Yeah. And you don't think of other people being in the same position, you only think of yourself. You think I can't cope with this. You don't think perhaps they're sharing the same feelings.

SPEAKER_01 17:32

Or just like me, me, me, not thinking, oh, other people are in the same daunting experience as us. But yeah, it was nice. I remember because I was right next to Tom, and he he actually gave me a little bit of an inkling of like, what are we doing? I was like, Okay, fine. Feeling a bit more comfortable, but yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:50

And what did you do to overcome the first day almost fear of taking part?

SPEAKER_02 17:57

I don't think we did overcome. It was just adrenaline in, adrenaline, adrenaline. We had no time to stop and think, we just had to make decisions, we had to just do the best we could. And yeah, I don't think until we got to the checkpoint, we could breathe. On that first leg, it was it was crazy.

SPEAKER_01 18:19

We felt like we made a huge mistake because we didn't actually move from where we wanted to move. We missed the train and we stayed, so we're like down. And then I think after we just thought, okay, we're here now, let's just keep on going. And then on the first leg, we actually did an experience, and then we realized I think from then it's actually quite good to have a bit of experience to relax so that then you get recharged. Whereas like sometimes you get to a point that you're just so exhausted that it affects you so much that you get to burn out and then you crash rather than taking a little bit of rest time. It was very overwhelming.

SPEAKER_02 18:58

It was fun at in some aspects, but I think having those experiences really balanced out, and I think that's why that's what we fell in love with race to begin with. Because you could see so many amazing places and really learn about the culture. So I think once you realize, oh, actually, yeah, that's why we're here to see the world, I think that's what motivated us to continue.

SPEAKER_01 19:21

I think even just learning about ourselves as well, because we were going in like, let's just have fun, but then you have pressure to move.

SPEAKER_00 19:32

Tom and I came in very badly last on leg one, of which you would not have even been aware. And we didn't even meet you two for three weeks because we were so far behind. You probably weren't aware until you saw the programme how upset I got and how much it affected us. And all Tom and I could think about was how you young guys and Finn and Sean had how the hell did you smash it? And of course, our confidence just totally drained. We thought, you're so young, what have you got that we haven't? How do you think you managed so well? And what did you think of Tom and I coming in last year, which I know you weren't aware of because once you sign the book, you don't get to see it again, so you don't know the other placings, which I think is a brilliant thing for the program.

SPEAKER_01 20:17

We were shocked, and we weren't going in there like, yeah, we're gonna win this fair. So, because that's a surprise, you kind of have an understanding of like anything can happen in a race. So it was only maybe the second leg. I was like, Oh, but actually, we did well, because the first leg felt like it was by chance. The second leg was like, Oh, we did well, and then you guys come in. I remember just seeing after the time, I was just like, Oh my gosh, like just thinking that it was like so far behind and how you're gonna come back, but then seeing how you came back, I was like, Wow, like impressed with that. Um, but yeah, the first time I was just thinking that was a long time like difference.

SPEAKER_02 21:00

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah. I I have a question actually, how did you pick up your confidence from that?

SPEAKER_00 21:08

Great question, to be honest, I was so determined to show Thomas that age cannot risk restrict you. And of course, at the first leg, I realised that's I'd just totally failed because obviously it was the young couples that came in earlier, and we were absolutely useless. So the confidence thing. I think we got up to the room, we we we had a meal, we rested, we got clean. You always feel better after a good night's sleep, and then we decided the worst had already happened within reason, and there was only one way to go. And we decided we wanted to stay in the process, we wanted to enjoy it, and we would just give it our all. But we s I had somehow expected Thomas to pick up a bit more because experience counted for nothing, did it? It didn't work. Because Thomas hadn't traveled, hadn't he? Thomas had Done quite a lot of people. Yeah, he he travelled to South America with a rucksack. So before we went on race, he thought he'd find it easier and I'd be absolutely useless. I'd only ever traveled with a suitcase. And that none of that really mattered. It was more about, as as you two said at the beginning, the adaptability and chatting to people. And that's how we we suddenly learned then. We thought, right, the worst has happened, we'll just keep plodding on. And that's what we did. And we were also desperate not to let each other down. I think that was a big factor. So yeah, it it oh it was really difficult. You're so overtired, you're so exhausted, and they keep putting a microphone in your face, expecting to enjoy it. Yeah, they love it when you're vulnerable. It's all going very well. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so it was really tough. But we thought, hold on, if you guys can do it, you are only human, so can we. We just got to dig deep and carry on.

SPEAKER_03 22:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 22:57

And I think if you can find it, anyways, when you are at the bottom, yeah, like you said, the only way is up. So you all you can do is go up. Sometimes when you're at the top, there's pressure, and then you're so worried losing when you see somebody cross your path, you're like, no, other than cheering, you know, if you're in the pine and then you see someone, you're like, Yes, we're getting closer. But you were the most consistent team on race, and you never came in last, did you? We did come in last. Don't you remember after the border? Which leg was that? The border from India.

SPEAKER_00 23:37

Oh, that you see again, that's it's out of your hands how long because you went to a different border, didn't you? What can you do? Well, no, no, we were there for hours and hours thinking this is unfair. And in fact, everybody else had an equally bad experience, if not worse. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That was frightful. I remember that. So, what was it about the board crossing the border?

SPEAKER_01 24:00

So, when you cross the border, one, it takes a long time, anyways, but two, you're traveling with the team that has all the equipment. So, there's this um, I don't know, I think it's called carnet or something that they have to go through the process. So that can take, I don't know, two hours, it can take three hours, it can take 30 hours. So you're you're stuck basically. But but yeah, this is a that's race, isn't it? So you never know what you're gonna find. You might find that, and then you just have to deal with it and go with it. So everybody has something in every leg, and then you're coming in and you're like, oh, we had this, we were we took the wrong turn, or the the taxi took us this way, and then you you can be on track, and then just one thing just takes you off, and then you just have to come back again. Yeah, interesting. It's quite like it might it's almost say like therapeutic, but it's just life as well in general. That's what happens. You might be like on a trajectory, and something goes like this. It's kind of like a very compact life, whole life experience, basically, like 51 days you're experiencing like everything compactly.

SPEAKER_00 25:12

I'm not a good insight.

SPEAKER_01 25:14

What was your happiest time?

SPEAKER_02 25:16

I don't know if I could pinpoint an exact moment. I feel like the whole experience kind of quate to happiness. I don't know. I feel like just being able to even just first get on a show, be part of this experience, have a race, spend it with Elizabeth, and meet like all these people. I feel like there's so many different pockets of happiness that that's been experienced in the race, that altogether as a whole, it's something that's just I'm very grateful for.

SPEAKER_01 25:57

I've got two fans. So one was actually after very difficult time. So it was the the the wedding that we did in India, and it was at the end of the race, so it was the last kind of big celebrational experience that we could do. So that was really, really nice. Obviously, the checkpoints as well. But the the happiest time I think was when we were so down with we didn't have the currency exchange, we had money, but we didn't have the right amount to take us further. So all we had is to get a train ticket, and then we knew that when we get off the train, it's gonna be dark, it's gonna be late, nothing's gonna be open. This is in China, and we didn't realize how difficult it was to actually exchange money in China compared to anywhere else. You have to have a bank account, you have to have this, you have to have that. So trying a phone as well. So trying to do it with that was like very difficult.

SPEAKER_02 26:55

We already spent like a whole day trying to exchange money, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:59

A day wasted because we just day wasted, yeah. Just walking up and down, up and down, exhausted. So we're just like, okay, fine, get on a train, and then we're asking for directions, but we were still quite positive, actually. The producers were like, Are you not like worried? We're like, it's like and then ask somebody on the train, and they exchanged the money on the train, and that felt like God send or something like that.

SPEAKER_00 27:27

Yeah, we were shocked. I can see that bit. Yeah, that was a fantastic highlight, wasn't it? Yeah, the kindness of someone who jumped in to help and did it for you.

SPEAKER_01 27:38

Yeah, and that's when you realize there's so many things that can go wrong in on the leg, but so many things that you just get a chance and then you get the right train or you talk to the right person, and yeah, that's when you kind of have a lot of gratitude.

SPEAKER_02 27:54

Caroline, what was your favourite at your happiest moment?

SPEAKER_00 27:58

Oh, I think one of them has to be working with the elephants. That experience in the sanctuary was lovely because we started off that leg quite well, and for some reason Thomas was really down, and he chose the route that avoided the elephants, and yet he knew that was the one thing I wanted to do was work in a sanctuary with animals. But on the way, we'd got our bus ticket out of there, and on the way, he just turned to the producers and said, Look, I can't, we I can't deny mum this. This is amazing. Can we please change our route? We need to go this way, and that made it for me, and I thought, wow, how marvellous of him. He was being really, really selfless. We worked with the elephants, and it's difficult to remember now, but India was just so noisy and smelly and full on. And the elephants were just like an oasis of calm, and we absolutely loved it, and we just took time to pause, and then it just reignited us, and we carried on. And that leg was just incredible, and that's how the first leg we came in first as well. So that was probably the happiest time to realize that Tom was being that considerate, yeah, and also it ended up being amazing. So that just sort of set me up, really, for the rest. That was my happiest time.

SPEAKER_01 29:13

And I think though, oh you go, go. No, I was gonna say I think those moments actually propel you more because sometimes we can be so race focused and then things are going wrong and you're stressed, but when you just have that calm or that life-changing experience, then it actually gets you more determined, it motivates you, yes, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:34

Yeah, and what happened to your relationship over the eight weeks?

SPEAKER_01 29:44

Yeah, no, no, no. I was just wondering who's gonna who's gonna talk. So I think at the beginning, I had a whole perception of Letitia or an assumption of how she is, what she needs. I thought I knew what she needs, and I thought I could provide them, or like try to and maybe think is in a certain way for so long, and not changing that perception made me just act the same way in the same time. For example, before when I was younger, I always used to think that I could help and maybe provide practical things like I don't know, help in like job applications, or if you're moving house or something where you can go and stuff like that. And I feel like this race, because you're spending 24 hours with each other, and because you're doing it's not even just like you're spending 24 hours, you're just chilling, you're 24 hours doing certain things, like competing, resting, traveling, being exhausted, being hungry, like all emotions, being excited. So, like just actually getting to know Letitia for who she is, and even just humbled me a bit, like calmed me down. I think there were so many times that I wanted to take the lead and just realized how better suited Letitia was to take the lead in in many situations, actually.

SPEAKER_00 31:13

Wonderful. How about you, Letitia?

SPEAKER_02 31:16

Yeah, I feel like we went into the race already knowing like what roles we were gonna do. And first day, everything was just flipped. Elizabeth is the approach her, she's gonna talk, she would be that person. I would, I don't know, just be there, like, yeah, agree. And and it was completely flipped because she lost her voice, so I had to take on a bigger role than I anticipated to do. So I think that made me realize like how much I would rely on her, and I just had to test myself to come out of depending on her to do a lot of things and take on for myself. So I think I learned that she was just like the big sister, I can depend on her. And then I was like, oh no, what am I gonna do? So I had to figure out for myself, and yeah, I think throughout the race, you are your raw self because you're put in so many different extreme situations, like extreme hunger, extreme tiredness, and you show your true self. So I think we were able to see each other for who we were.

SPEAKER_00 32:36

I really got that. Yes. Oh sorry, go ahead. I was just gonna say that watching it, the overriding feeling I had from the whole series was just how all the relationships went to a deeper level. And some of the assumptions that people made about each other turned out to be incorrect, and it was an opportunity to correct misunderstandings that had become the fact. And actually, when you have the time to really explore, there's so much more depth and empathy and understanding from the different perspective. And I found that just beautiful to watch because it happened to all of you in different ways, and you just explained really clearly the older sister, younger sister, how that played out before you went there, and then how you got to a different level. How how did you cope with being with each other with 24-7? It was relentless.

SPEAKER_01 33:35

I think we learnt our limits with each other. So to able to be able to survive the whole time, we had to just know when to just stop with each other and when to like, I don't know what it was. I think we learned that quite well, actually. It was like, I don't know if it was a look or just like it was a look.

SPEAKER_00 33:59

What was the look? What kind of look?

SPEAKER_02 34:02

The look was don't talk to me, otherwise it's not gonna end well. Not end well, but like, yeah, it won't end well.

SPEAKER_00 34:10

Love that. Yeah, I don't think people realize you don't get a break from each other, you're together 24-7, and that is it. You are not allowed to separate even for 20 minutes. Yeah, it's a hell of a pressure.

SPEAKER_01 34:23

Yeah, it's a lot. And the thing is, it's not that you're just always together, but you're all you're constantly reflecting as well. So even just the producers and what we're doing, decisions, we're constantly thinking, and they're constantly asking us, how would Letitia feel about this? Oh, what do you feel about this? How is your bond changing?

SPEAKER_02 34:42

And you're just like so it's without even like processing it, also, but yes, able to sit with your thoughts.

SPEAKER_00 34:50

For anyone who hasn't seen it, I thoroughly recommend it because you really can see the difference in relationships from one to the end. Very, very special in that context. As was Caroline Times. So, what did you two think of Tom and Caroline?

SPEAKER_01 35:07

So, at the beginning, so when when we realized where everyone came, I felt because we're all going on this experience together, so we understand the difficulty. So, when you do come last, you just imagine, oh, how they're feeling. So, I'm thinking it's really difficult, that they're finding it more difficult. And I think when we actually first met in, I think, yeah, leg three, you said about all your difficulties.

SPEAKER_02 35:31

Also, it was another look. I feel like your face was so determined, Caroline. I was like, Well, she's she's got it, and honestly, it motivated me. I'm like, Toma Caroline are like they're striving. We need to pick up the pace too. So I think it was quite inspiring to be honest, after you had such a rough start, and then yeah, afterwards you're just saying through.

SPEAKER_00 35:54

And you were the first mother and son, weren't you, to win? Yeah. Finish and finish. What did you observe about their relationship?

SPEAKER_01 36:06

So I think we got to know you more in the checkpoints, obviously, because we didn't really see each other on the trip. But I just thought that you had such a chilled, very friendly relationship with each other. I think our dynamic and our family is very much like parent, child. And even this was something that we were bonding on on the race and trying to maybe build a connection with like open up with each other, then when we come back, open it up with our family. But it felt like you two already had that kind of connection, and it seemed like you could be with each other easily for a long time. Obviously, we're not seeing it. Yeah, yeah, and very supportive. I think there was a time on the race, I think running in China, the last checkpoint, and Tom was like carrying all your bags, and just thinking how supportive and like so sweet, yeah, yeah, and really funny, actually.

SPEAKER_02 37:11

Yeah, you two are always wearing that stuff.

unknown 37:14

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 37:14

Always very silly. We certainly enjoyed being with each other at checkpoint. We all got along so well, it was lovely. We all supported each other, we had a good laugh, and then we just turned around and went back out again and tried to do our best. And if you had to pick three things that what were you gonna do, Caroline? Caroline's putting her hand. What you start then, you do it. No, no, no, no, please, I can't wait to hear this. Please continue. What were you thinking? You're going to explain about where you might put a fridge magnet. Well, I I saw that clip. No, no, I love it. Please keep it, it's great. It makes me laugh. Is there three things that you look back on now and you say these are the mantras, these are the things I would put on my fridge? Because where else would you put a fridge magnet?

SPEAKER_01 38:10

I think the first one for me is definitely gratitude is the best attitude. Because I think when I was on race, the times that it was going well was when I was just letting it letting go and just being so appreciative for the experience and so humbled when you're just worrying, worrying, worrying all the time. That gives a negative approach to what you're thinking, and then normally you just think about all the negative things and it just spirals. But I think gratitude does help a lot, and we were really grateful that time on the train. We were just like, we were having a hard day, really hard day, one of the hardest days, and no hope. But they were just like, Yeah, it will come, something will come, and then it came out.

SPEAKER_02 38:57

Yeah, yeah. It was so true. And I thought that's the beauty, like, if you're trying too hard, it's almost like you had to let it go, right? And just wait for something to come at the right time. If you're like trying too much or putting too much pressure on it and wanting to succeed, but without pausing and staying present, I think if we weren't in that headspace, maybe that opportunity wouldn't have come. So I feel like it's always good to just accept for reality that we were in.

SPEAKER_01 39:34

Do you want to do your other two first, Elizabeth, or have you covered it? I kind of said two in one, actually. One was just to let go. I think sometimes I'm always attached to so many different things. So attached to a certain thing that I'm supposed to do, or certain way of doing something. But what I've realized is if I can just let go of the expectation, then I have a better time. And I'm even more open to different possibilities as well. Because sometimes I'm even limiting myself if I just fix on something. And is it sure?

SPEAKER_02 40:13

Did you have your mantra?

SPEAKER_01 40:14

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 40:15

Miles is to let go.

SPEAKER_00 40:17

Have let go. That's a great one.

SPEAKER_02 40:18

It's not really a mantra, it's more like a quote from a concrete panda. I might know this one.

unknown 40:29

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 40:30

Yesterday is history, but tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That's why it's called the present. Fantastic, wonderful. Thank you. Thank you so much. You're welcome. And I think, yeah, this speaks for me personally on the race, just being able to uh stay present was when we had the best moments and where we were able to relax and just taken everything, taken the whole journey, the whole experience. And I feel like, especially this day and age, a lot of people aren't present. People always striving to do lots of things, but don't really pause and take a minute, appreciate what I have, and let me appreciate being in this moment. So, how did you overcome your moments of self-doubt? I just had to remind myself why I'm doing this and why I signed up for it, why I'm here, and also remind myself I'm not doing it on my own. I'm doing this to my sister, I can't let her down and just know that I tried my best.

SPEAKER_01 41:36

We've got one more, which is from Vipazana meditation of everything changes, whether that is positions in the race. Sometimes we're trying to hold a position and then that changes, that's fine, it changes. But even us as people, we're constantly changing, things are constantly changing, it's not staying the same, not staying the same. So trying to understand that, but understanding that you can change, and that's where neuroplasticity comes really. So this year, I'm actually doing another challenge. I'm going back to the Great Wall of China and going to walk up it with a group of work colleagues. We're doing a charity challenge. We're trying to raise some money for that. That's in October. We can put the links in the show notes. I'm very happy to do anything like that. So this year I've got a few workshops and retreats lined up. So in the summer, doing a retreat again that I did last year with calais therapy, aromatherapy, and meditation, and then doing a few more bits with children and parents, arts and crafts and things like that. Quite a busy year.

SPEAKER_00 42:55

And where can people find out about that?

SPEAKER_01 42:58

Um, I'm gonna be posting on Instagram and then probably starting a TikTok as well.

SPEAKER_00 43:03

Thank you so much for coming on our podcast. How's it been for you?

SPEAKER_02 43:08

Oh, it's been great. It's been great. I've been chatting and obviously also meeting you and yeah, just discussing our experience. It's our first podcast, actually. Is it? Wow. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 43:19

So congratulations. You're brilliant. You could do more. You're you're so natural.

SPEAKER_01 43:26

No, it's been lovely. Like what you're doing and how you're getting guests and different topics that you're covering, I think it's so inspiring as well. And honestly, you're doing so well. I loved it, really loved the experience. So thank you so much. Thank you for having us. A pleasure, yeah.