Tough Girl Podcast Allie Bailey - Ultra runner, Running 1,000+ miles from Lands End to John O’Groats in 35-days
Allie spent a lot of her life seeking approval from people she thought were cool, believing that in order to be successful, you had to act a certain way. For her, success is seeing someone who doesn't believe they can do something transform into someone who does.
After working for major record labels for 12 years, Allie realised that music, which she had once loved, was slowly killing her. Her dream career had turned her into a nightmare, and she was completely lost. Allie has struggled to find her place and suffers from depressive demons, anxiety, and existential misery.
After taking part in the inaugural Rat Race Test Pilot trip to Mongolia in 2018, she realised it was the first time she had truly had time to stop, think, and be completely at peace. Fast forward, after three and a half years, numerous journeys, a pandemic, some questionable decisions, and a lot of planning and running, Allie is now coaching other people to do amazing things.
Allie holds several world firsts to her name, including running across Mongolia's Lake Khovsgol and crossing the Namib Desert twice. Allie is the first woman to run the entire length of the Panama Canal. She has also run the length of the Outer Hebrides, crossed Scotland on packraft and foot several times, and completed over 100 marathons and 60-70 ultramarathons, including nine 100-mile plus races.
Allie started running 10 years ago and have only being doing the ultra thing for 6 years, but she absolutely love it. It's a game changer. Allie believes that it is something that anyone of any age and from any background can participate in.
Allie has been extremely lucky to have discovered something she truly enjoys doing, and her favorite thing in the entire world is seeing people achieve things they never thought were possible
"There's nobody funner than an Ultrarunner" - Allie Bailey
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* We have previously spoken with Allie on 18th Dec 2018 - Listen here
FYI marked as *Explicit - as there are a few little swear words!
Show Notes
- Who is Allie Bailey
- Meeting her dogs!
- Why ultra running and why she loves it
- Writing her book
- How running helps with her mental health
- Being able to process her thoughts
- Going more into adventure running
- Her favourite distance to run…
- Liking 100 mile races
- LEJOG - Lands End to John O’Groats
- The ultimate dream
- Working with Rat Race
- Starting on the 1st June 2022
- Running on average 35 miles a day
- The hardest part of the LEJOG challenge
- The mental side of the challenge
- The challenges of being away from home
- What a typical day looked like
- Starting with the South West Coast Path
- Running 44 miles into Bristol over 12 hrs
- Chocolate milk
- Being in bed asleep by 8pm
- Snacking all day
- Having a rest day once a week
- Staying injury free throughout the journey
- Wanting to finish the run
- Voltarol gel to help with the pain
- Using bonjela to numb blisters
- Wearing Inov-8 Parkclaw G280 - for 750 miles (then wearing a second pair for the final 250 miles) - “the greatest shoe of all time”
- The ultra playlist on Spotify - The Bailey Ultra Sound System
- Getting to Scotland and the final few days
- Spending time by herself towards the end
- Getting to John O’Groats and doing the final mile
- Feeling underwhelmed with what she had achieved
- What she would have done differently
- Wishing she had done more strength training before she left
- Costs of taking on a challenge like this
- RAT RACE: RUN BRITANNIA
- Dragons Back Race, Wales
- Getting timed out on day 2
- Why it was the most intense thing she’s ever done
- Feeling like a fraud
- Taking herself out of the situation
- The lessons learned from the experience
- Wanting to go back in 2024 and try again
- Blog Post - FAILING WHILE DARING GREATLY - THE REAL REASONS THAT DRAGONS BACK RACE IS THE TOUGHEST MOUNTAIN RACE IN THE WORLD.
- Not being kind to herself
- Being able to reframe the situation
- Time off in 2023…..
- Planning to do her first 200 miler and wanting to run all the Wainwrights in a year
- Taking 10 days off running!!!
- How you can connect with Allie
- Final words of wisdom and advice for women who want to get into running and take it to the next level
- Finding your people, find your tribe, find your people
- Ultra Awesome FB Group
Social Media
Website www.alliebailey.co.uk
Instagram @ab_runs
Twitter @AllieBailey
Spotify https://open.spotify.com/user/alliehbailey