Selina McCole - A 43 year old married mother of 2 who ran the Marathon des Sables 2016!

The Marathon des Sables (MDS) is known as the toughest footrace on earth, where competitors carry everything required to survive on their back for the week, except the water they collect en route and tent they share with seven strangers.  Temperatures can reach up to 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit). 

Selina run over 2,000 miles in training and added a further two official marathons to her total of nine.  She'd never run an ultra-marathon before so the fourth day, which is typically over 90KM long, was both a mental and physical challenge!

Selina ran the race to raise money for Women for Women International, which provides life, business and vocational skills to women in countries affected by conflict. 

Women and girls suffer disproportionately from high rates of rape, violence and extreme poverty during times of conflict.  In modern war, it is shocking that it is more dangerous to be a woman than it is a soldier. 

Women for Women International is making a difference in these women's lives, by empowering them with skills which can turn their despair to hope, and engaging men as allies by teaching them about issues which negatively impact women.

 

 

Shownotes

 

• Learning more about Selina her background and why she say’s she’s not a sporty person 

• How she got into running at age 30

• Running the London Marathon followed by the Paris Marathon two weeks later

• Raising money for charity and why her charitable focus has started to lean more towards women’s charities

• How reading “Half the Sky” made her think more about her own life

• Women for Women International (WfWI)

• The Marathon des Sables - why she decided to pick this as a challenge!

• How much time she gave herself to prepare

• Being scared of applying for the race and what changed her mind

• Thinking she’d missed her opportunity

• How she went about preparing for MDS

• Picking Rory Coleman as her trainer & his top 3 pieces of advice

• How she managed to fit her training in and why discipline was important

• What her training week looked like

• Why you should give yourself permission to do something for you every day

• Getting the children involved! 

• Her fears before the race

• The power of belief

• Her secret dream of getting in the top 10 women

• Her race strategy and why she kept it simple 

• Her mantra - “Run if you can, walk if you need to”

• Dealing with the low points during the race and how the power of positive thinking pushed her through

• Feet!!

• Her highlight from MDS

• Would she race it again?

• What she learned most from doing the MDS 

 

Charities - Women for Women International (WfWI) & Aidha