Kelly Sutherland by her own words is into anything "long distance" or anything "ultra". A Project Manager with a full time job by day Kelly spends her spare time training to compete in looooog distance events. Kelly completed her first long distance event, New Zealand's Coast to Coast in 2013 because she said she'd do it before she was 30. Instead with 31 fast approaching Kelly realised her window to do what she'd said was closing so, totally unprepared and with limited training she traversed one side of New Zealand South Island to the other, covering a distance of 243kms by foot, by bike and by kayak. And in the middle of it all, even though she wondered what the heck she was doing, Kelly pushed through, finished the race and it turned out to be the start of something bigger.    Kelly has since gone on to compete in numerous long distance and ultra events. In 2017 she represented New Zealand twice - first in field hockey as a member of the New Zealand 35s Masters Hockey team and she competed in the Long Distance World Championship Triathlon in Canada. Kelly also "clocked" the Inaugural Ring of Fire Ultra marathon in 2018 covering the 72km mountainous distance in 10 hours and 55 minutes coming in some two whole hours before second place.   How does she fit it all in? And why does she do it? In this episode Kelly shares what drives her to compete, what her inner critic says to her in the middle of a race and how being present in the moment helps her push through. We also talk about the benefits of having committed supporters and how being physically prepared is key for your mental strength.   Here's Mental Strength Conversations with Kelly Sutherland.