Tough Girl Podcast Sara Crosland - Author, Adventure Lover, Endurance Athlete (Running from Land’s End to John O’Groats) and Founder of The Beyond Recovery Project.
“On 5th September 2022, full of excitement for what lay ahead, I began my run from Land’s End to John O’Groats to show others that despite life throwing curveballs our way we can still achieve. I intended to cover a distance of 40-50 miles a day for 20 days, a total of approximately 855 miles, aiming to become the world’s fastest female, with single-sided deafness, to complete this journey by foot. However, after 4 days of running in continual torrential rain, things went very wrong on day 5."
During this episode Sara shares more about her run from Lands End to John O’Groats, the challenges, the setbacks and how she moved forward after failure. We discuss in detail her recovery, the changes she made and how she moved forward and tried again.
This is an episode about endurance running, passion for making a difference and never giving up.
Sara is a brain tumour survivor who is giving back.
“Brain tumours kill more adults and children under the age of 40 than any other cancer, yet historically just 1% of the national spend on cancer research has been allocated to this disease.”
Sara is fundraising for British Acoustic Neuroma Association and Manchester Skull Base Foundation (FBT).
Sara is also the founder of: The Beyond Recovery Project.
“It's all about bringing together others on the same or similar journey, creating a ‘safe’ space and sense of community, where brain tumour survivors can share experiences and discover how to push beyond the physical and psychological barriers they face together. It's very much nature based, so walks, hikes, challenges. Lots of talking therapy - because you can't beat sharing what you're going through with someone else who has been in that place. It also aims to bridge the gap in some services post treatment, when you're considered ‘fixed’.”
Upcoming events in 2024
May - Toubkal with a group of brain tumour survivors
June - Hiking the Langtang valley, Nepal.
September - The Wadi Rum Ultra (now known as Ultra X Jordan). 220km over 5 days in the Wadi Rum desert.
We first spoke with Sara: 15th March 2022 - Overcome fear and achieve your potential. Author of #SickbedToSummits.
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Show notes
- Who is Sara
- Planning a 20-day route from Lands End to John O'Groats
- Accepting a Guinness World Record for single-sided hearing loss due to category limitations
- Training and preparation for a 1,000-mile run
- Working with an endurance coach and focusing on physical and psychological preparation
- Sacrificing much of their life to train and prepare for the event
- Balancing family, work, training, and self-care
- Feeling ready and focused on the starting line
- Sharing their experience of the first day of the run
- Experiencing a torrential downpour and strong winds during a marathon
- Having discomfort and difficulty with balance and hearing
- Challenges of running in adverse weather conditions
- Having single-sided deafness due to a brain tumour
- Struggling with balance issues, tinnitus, and fatigue during their training
- Mindfulness training and how it helped in coping with the challenges
- A challenging endurance run with physical setbacks
- Experiencing extreme fatigue and the need to take naps to cope
- Having a traumatic toenail incident
- Struggling with hip flexor pain and later developing a painful left shin injury
- Continuing to push through and finish their planned distance
- Struggles with disappointment after injury and ends up running career goals
- Missing an opportunity and struggling with the mindset shift towards rehab
- The importance of treating rehab as training
- Accountability and consistency in the recovery process
- Resuming running after an injury and nutrition strategies
- Running again in mid-November 2022 after a break
- Being diagnosed with an iron deficiency in January 2023
- Running a half-marathon despite injury and iron deficiency
- Second attempt at charity bike ride after setbacks
- Feeling physically and mentally drained during the second attempt
- Focusing on the present moment and what is directly in front of them
- Paul Betteridge and Aimee Tippins running 50 miles in horrendous weather
- Being joined by her friend Andrew Reed, she connected via the British Acoustic Neuroma Association
- Experiencing persistent pain in her Achilles tendon during her running journey
- Using a bike as a backup plan to get to John O'Groats to manage the pain
- Reflects on post-marathon life, feeling lost and struggling to readjust
- Working on a project called "Beyond Recovery"
- Overcoming self-doubt and fear after a brain tumour diagnosis through adventure
- Lack of support for brain tumour survivors during their recovery process
- Setting up The Beyond Recovery Project
- Her journey of creating a Community Interest Company (CIC) to address gaps in brain tumour recovery services
- Final words of advice from Sara
Social Media
Website: www.saracrosland.com
Instagram: @saracrosland https://www.instagram.com/e3coach/
Facebook: @saracrosland https://www.facebook.com/sara.crosland
The Beyond Recovery Project CIC is a non profit community interest organisation improving lives of brain tumour survivors.
Website: www.thebeyondrecoveryproject.org
Facebook: facebook.com/TheBeyondRecoveryProject
Instagram: @TheBeyondRecoveryProject