From One Extreme to the Other

From climbing in the UK to Yosemite, caving, sea kayaking, peak bagging, cycling and of course ultra-distance running. The only activity that he doesn’t seem to do much of is walking, unless you count traverses of the Scottish Highlands with an inflatable canoe strapped to your back.

The book covers Mike’s Coast to Coast record, Pennine Way record, representing GB in various 100km races, and perhaps his most astounding challenge of all a consecutive run over the Three Big Rounds, The Charlie Ramsay, Bob Graham & Paddy Buckley Rounds, which had never been done before. Surely the ultimate test.

There is an absolute obsession with training and focus on achieving interim targets leading to the ultimate goal for the year. Having pushed himself to the absolute limit of distance and speed to a point where at the finishing line of an event he had nothing left to give, within days he seemed to feel his physical body had cheated his mind, and that with more determination and more focus he could have gone even further and faster. As a result the next project was sought after and targeted.

Whatever your specific interests in the outdoors are there should be lots in the book for you. However for any budding, or even experienced, runners out there if you want a road map about how, with total dedication and focus, you can improve your fitness and achieve your targets this is definitely for you. Although it does also do a pretty good job in detailing the pain and suffering involved!