Bristol2Beijing

Elite ultra runner Carla Molinaro took matters into her own hands when the COVID-19 pandemic threatened to cancel the 2020 racing season. Undaunted she decided to attempt to smash the record for running from Land’s End to John O’Groats and became the fastest woman to do this, running over 800 miles in just twelve days.

In this episode Carla reflects on her extraordinary career, how failures lead to success and how she hopes to encourage more women to discover the benefits of getting out and active.

See below for Carla's favourite:

Place: The Tour of Mont Blanc

Piece of music: "Don't Stop Me Now" by Queen

Book: Endurance: Shackleton's incredible voyage to the Antarctic by Alfred Lansing

"I shouldn’t be mayor of Bristol. I grew up poor, there was some domestic violence, I’m the first in my family to go to university, I shouldn’t be sitting in the United Nations building… I shouldn’t be addressing the US conference of mayors, I shouldn’t be walking into Downing Street. That’s not my background. I’m at the same table as this person and I started 100 metres behind the start line."

Mayor of Bristol Marvin Rees describes growing up as a mixed race child, his life defined as a struggle, before finding self-belief through the encouragement of the adults who believed in him and becoming a force for positive change in Bristol and in the lives of its young people.

For more information about the City Leadership Programme, look at the link:

https://www.bristol.gov.uk/mayor/city-leadership-programme

See below for Marvin's favourite:

Place: Spitsbergen, Norway

Piece of music: What's going on by Marvin Gaye

Book: 'A time to break the silence' - Speech by Martin Luther King, 4th April 1967

When Josh Lasky was in his early twenties he saw his father succumb to the ravages of Parkinson’s disease. He became one of his father’s main caregivers, discovering why carers are the unsung heroes of our time.

As Josh entered adulthood, he had to grapple with the realisation that is father was human, and flawed. Through Josh's eleven years of experience as a caregiver he relates his journey from bitterness to gratitude, learning the value of time and the power of endurance sports.

To find out more about Josh's story and his book 'Every Step is a Gift' go to www.joshlasky.com.

See below for Josh's favourite:

Place: 2nd Ave Beach, Bradley Beach, New Jersey

Piece of music: Time Machine Invention by Cloud Cult

Book: Meditations by Marcus Aurelius and Born to Run by Christopher McDougall

Imagine swimming more than two miles before cycling over 100 miles and then running a marathon…

This week’s guest is disarmingly modest about her extraordinary career as four times Ironman world champion and yet she has achieved far more than this. Before becoming a professional athlete, Chrissie worked for the British government on international development policy and for a NGO in Nepal.

Despite all of this, her biggest challenge was not Ironman related but instead one that many of us face. Chrissie talks candidly about the experience of being a mother and the secret behind the success of parkrun.

See below for Chrissie's favourite:

Place: Hawaii & Nepal

Piece of music: You Are My Sunshine

Book: Dream Animals by Emily Winfield Martin

"You were asking how the 23 year old Luke thought. He thought in terms of three years...of course I’m going to have that time. I don’t think like that now"

The tables are turned in this episode as Luke speaks candidly to family friend Jane Philips of his journey over the past two years, encompassing his own diagnosis with cancer, the loss of his brother John shortly afterwards, and his altered perspective on life.

"If you don't have much time to live then surely you want to do as much as possible with that time - because it becomes immensely precious."

In this second part, Graham and I discuss how he dealt with challenges in a robust Naval environment, what makes good leadership and why he thinks 'Generation Snowflake' have it harder than he did. 

"I did feel a duty to look after my mother"

In this episode I chat with my grandfather, Graham, about some of his experiences from the earlier part of his life, including his early bomb disposal work during as a child in the second world war, and how he came to join the Navy as a ship's boy and work his way up from the bottom.

In this first part we also discuss our respective childhoods and how they shaped who we are today.

Continued in part 2.

In this episode, Philip and I continue our discussion. Philip explains to me he does so much more than drive an ambulance, the importance of teamwork and family and his perspective from being on the front line of the COVID-19 response.

For different outro music, Philip recommends: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kY4l2Xx3crs

And Philip also found these two books highly impactful, check them out if interested!

Leadership and Self Deception: Getting out of the Box by The Arbinger Institute

Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway by Susan Jeffers

This episode I talk with Philip Taylor, who "had it all" as a senior executive at IBM. However, despite the salary and company car, this didn't make Philip satisfied with his work or his life at IBM. We discuss the challenges he faced changing his career from the corporate world to a totally new sphere - the ambulance service.

Along the way, we also discuss fear, materialism and the right way to buy.

This is the first half of our discussion - it will be continued in part 2.

This week, Facing Up takes a different tack and I discuss with Kate, Kirsty and Miranda what it is to live with a cancer diagnosis.

We discuss the similarities and differences in the experiences each of us had, from coping with different treatments, handling uncertainty and how we have decided to continue our lives.

We also discuss how having a cancer diagnosis has changed us as people, and to what extent it forms part of our identity.