It's a truly inspiring interview on my podcast this week as I speak to Mark Pollock about the inner strength needed to cope with life's toughest challenges.

‘He who has a why to live can bear with almost any how’ is Nietzsche's quote and Mark’s mantra for living.

"If you know why you’re doing what you’re doing and it makes sense to you, then you can put up with all the tough stuff. It sits over everything to do with my life really," Mark explains.

He expects problems while exploring the possibilities and it’s how he made it to the South Pole and has coped with blindness and being in a wheelchair.

20 years ago, in the space of two weeks, he went from being a person about to start a new job and life in the city in London to becoming completely blind and stuck back at home in his bedroom.

"Suddenly I was a blind person and had to try and find a place and identity in the world again," he says.

All of which led to running ultra marathons in some of the world's most inhospitable climates and now, after the accident leading him to being in a wheelchair, he's looking to tackle paralysis through the Mark Pollock Trust.

It's an incredible story that can only but inspire and why not also take part in Mark's Run in the Dark in November?

For more information go to www.runinthedark.org and also check out Mark's incredible Ted Talk with his fiancée Simone George:
https://www.ted.com/talks/mark_pollock_and_simone_george_a_love_letter_to_realism_in_a_time_of_grief

Contact me with any questions/comments on Instagram and Twitter @KarlHenryPT and [email protected] and for more shows go to: http://www.independent.ie/podcasts/the-real-health-podcast/

The Real Health podcast is in association with Laya Healthcare.

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