Run to the Top Podcast | The Ultimate Guide to Running Running Everest: Holly Zimmermann 04/01/2020
Holly Zimmermann - Running Everest
In 2018, Holly Zimmermann was the first international female to finish the Mount Everest Marathon. That’s right; a marathon. On Mount Everest. Additionally, she has completed the 257-km (160 mile) Marathon des Sables across the Sahara Desert as well as a marathon at the Polar Circle.
Born in Providence, RI, the middle child of three girls, she was active in team sports including soccer, softball, gymnastics, basketball, field hockey and even cross-country running (although she despised running then!) She received a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering with a concentration in Aerospace Engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 1991, then at The University of Rhode Island she acquired a Master’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering concentrating in the thermal sciences, and finally finished her education with a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) at The College of William & Mary. She then worked for several years in research and development for military applications including antenna and radar jamming systems for tactical fighter aircraft (F14s, F15s) and later acoustic damping for submarines.
In 2000, she moved to Germany with her Berlin-born husband with whom she has four children ranging in age from 12 to 18. With the birth of her first child, she gave up her technical pursuits and turned to sports and writing, while raising their children and working part-time at home as an editor for technical professional journals.
Today she is an athlete in the world of extreme sports, from mountain and desert ultras, orienteering, endurance bike and expedition adventure races to running a marathon on the Arctic ice sheet. Aside from running, one of her passions is motivating others to be active, and she encourages them by speaking in companies, at sporting events, in women’s groups and at charities or by volunteering in schools where she trains kids to take part in local races. Her first book, Ultramarathon Mom: From the Sahara to the Arctic, was released in April 2018 and her second book Running Everest: Adventures at the Top of the World in April 2020.
Holly doesn't claim to have any better-than-average athletic ability but believes her passion for running and strong mental focus are what give her the drive and ability to compete and be competitive in long-distance races in extreme environments. Becoming a role model for other women has taken her by surprise, but she attributes it to being a regular woman that many can relate to, someone who does the cooking, cleaning and child rearing, but just happens to have an adventurous spirit that puts her physical and mental limits to the test.
Questions Holly is asked:
2:27 How is life in Germany for you now during the CV19 pandemic?
3:42 Are you still able to train?
4:08 Why did you want to do the Everest Marathon?
5:41 What was the terrain like compared to a traditional marathon?
8:03 What was training like for that?
8:59 Did everyone finish despite their altitude sickness?
9:55 What were some of the surprises that you didn’t expect on your trip?
11:33 Can you talk a little bit about how training for big adventures fits in with family life?
13:12 Does your husband run, too?
14:01 You've said that your strong mental focus is what gets you through races in extreme environments. Can you talk about how to develop this?
15:43 How did your passion for running grow?
16:38 What advice would you give other parents who have young children at home that are searching for a passion of their own?
17:39 What advice would you give someone interested in running Everest?
18:17 Can anyone just sign up and run it?
18:50 What did you learn about the culture when you were there?
20:11 Are you a plant-based runner?
21:39 Did you notice a difference when you started adding in a little dairy?
22:28 What do you eat when you are in an ultra race?
23:51 Do you make your own oat milk?
24:07 What gear is essential for starting with ultra running?
25:20 What is next on the horizon for you?
26:24 What advice would you give yourself back when you started running?
27:21 What is the best gift running has given you?
29:44 How can people connect with you?
Quotes by Holly:“There’s a lot of rocks, there’s some climbing, but that’s not the most difficult part because I run a lot of trail races here in the alps and they’re very similar in terms of the terrain, but what IS difficult is the oxygen. At the start of basecamp, we’re at 17,000 feet and you have about 50% of the oxygen as you do at sea level.”
“When you’re up there in the Khumbu Valley you see the rescue helicopters coming in and out all day long. And I think that’s not really heard so often in the western world, how dangerous it actually is and we witnessed quite a few visitors to the region who were evacuated. And it looked horrible.”
“I’m lucky enough to work from home, and that gives me the flexibility to spend some time training when my kids are at school. So usually I do that first thing in the morning and train nearly every day from between 1 and 4 hours.”
“A lot of it has to do with passion. If you don’t love what you’re doing, it’s hard to force yourself to do it.”
“If somebody else has done it and you have a desire and this drive there’s no reason that you can't’ do it yourself.”
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Mentioned in this podcast:
Run To The Top Winners Circle Facebook Community
Book: Running Everest: Adventures at the Top of the World by Holly Zimmermann
Book: Ultramarathon Mom: From the Sahara to the Arctic by Holly Zimmermann
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