Joy is...Juxtaposition.

Hailey Moore @hailey.m.moore is a freelance writer and copyeditor based in Boulder, Colorado. She writes about the outdoors, people and communities and is herself an endurance cyclist and trail runner. She also takes incredible photographs that, like her writing, foreground the beauty of human interactions and incidental moments.

Hailey is a wonderful example of cross-pollination between the arts and athletic arenas, valuing craft in everything she does. Sharing our experiences and passing ideas back and forth was so much fun! We chatted about: connection to place through movement; giving ourselves grace; the mental health benefits of feeling strong; learning to fail; the autonomy of solo bike-packing; introspection and finding a rhythm with yourself on multi-day journeys; strong female friendship; reflections on authentic connection and community; how we present ourselves as writers; deconstructing stereotypes of what a runner or cyclist looks like; self-criticism as motivation; why making stuff is cool; the relationship between writers, story-telling and industry and how outdoor pursuits can be a means of creative expression; being inspired by those doing things differently; space and balance in successful relationships, and finding full presence in time spent outdoors.

Follow: @hailey.m.moore

Read: haileymoore.journoportfolio.com

Photo credit: @aaronlavanchy 

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Joy is...What's Inside.

Jacky Hunt-Broersma is the embodiment of never letting anyone tell you that you 'can’t do anything’. 20 years ago, she did not run at all but, earlier this year, she ran 104 marathons in 104 days, setting a new world record. That in itself is quite something but, 20 years ago, at only 26, she also lost her leg to Ewing's Sarcoma, a rare type of bone cancer. Now, she is one of the most accomplished amputee ultra marathoners around, with a passion for bringing the joy of running to other amputees. Jacky holds numerous firsts and world records, including being the first amputee to run 100 miles on a treadmill, in under 24 hours, and the first amputee to take on the brutal Trans Rockies mountain stage race in Colorado, which covers 120 miles with over 20000ft of climbing at altitude. She also balances all this with being an awesome mum and endurance coach. Quite simply: Jacky is a total bad ass, and I have few words that do justice to how affecting this conversation was and the warmth, humour and unerring positivity that Jacky brings to those around her. The world is a better place with her in it.

We discussed: conflicting feelings around survival narratives; learning to trust and accept a new body as a woman in your twenties; the power of gratitude; confronting the 'boxes' and stigma around disability; how 'just trying' and having curiosity can change lives; running bringing strength and connection to a common human experience; problem-solving and the practicalities of learning to run with a blade; the backwards thinking regarding provision for amputees to access sports; the need for us all to listen to our bodies and respect the incredible things that they can do; the mental games that fuel world records; changing the language and perspective around amputees, and inspiring others to 'do hard things' and realise that they are more capable than they think.

Follow Jacky:

Instagram: @ncrunnerjacky

You Tube: @ncrunnerjacky

Website: www.ncrunnerjacky.com

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Joy is...Connection.

A Friday 'Shining Lights' episode with Paul Powlesland. Paul is a civil barrister, environmental activist and storyteller who is bringing new significance to what it means to be a lawyer in a time of environmental crisis. After practising as a barrister in London for a decade, he founded Lawyers for Nature, as a response to the need to create greater respect, protection and representation for the natural world and those who seek to defend it within our legal system. Outside of this, he regularly writes and speaks on legal rights for the natural world, as well as representing Nature (including trees and rivers) in the courts as best he can. He has a natural affinity for water; is a swimmer; lives on a boat, and has founded a community project to restore the River Roding in East London.

Paul is a passionate advocate, whose love for the natural world and belief in the power of community runs deep. His words are urgent in a time when, as a society, we are becoming alarmingly distanced from the non-human beings that are dependent on us to be responsible guardians, and on which we are likewise inextricably dependent.

We discussed: being a wanderer; gradual 'feral-isation'; curb-side human rights advocacy; what 'rights of Nature' entails and the responsibility we have to bring Nature's voice to the table; the importance of acknowledging interdependency; the problem with Genesis and the history of power; learning from indigenous cultures; finding a language for the non-human; tree protection case studies and why the darkest hour is before the dawn; the many (many) problems being caused for rivers and the failure of companies to fulfil duties of care; co-existing with the river, developing the role of a Nature Guardian, and the rewards of mindful observation; the joy and enrichment of service; the damage caused by disassociation from Nature, and the magic and love that come from a deeper relationship with the natural world.

Thank you, Paul; now, more than ever, we need more voices like yours speaking out for those that cannot speak for themselves.

Twitter: @paulpowlesland; @lawfornature; @riverroding

Instagram: @riverrodingtrust; @right2.roam; @lawyersfornature

Join: riverrodingtrust.org.uk

Read: The Book of Trespass, Nick Hayes; The Rights of Nature, David Boyd; The Lost Rainforests of Britain, Guy Shrubsole; The Trespassers Companion, Nick Hayes

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Joy is...The Process.

In the last decade, Hillary 'Hilly Goat' Allen has earned a name as one of our most celebrated Sky and Ultra Runners of our times. Her energy, passion and success are undeniable; however, it is the manner in which her unstoppable spirit has emerged from a life-changing, near-death accident, whilst inspiring thousands of others, that has made her accomplishments all the more impressive. In 2017, she was ranked number one in the 2017 Skyrunning World Series when she fell 150ft from an exposed ridge-line during the Tromsø Skyrace in Norway. By the time fellow racer Manu Par had scrambled down to her, she had broken 14 bones, including both wrists, five ribs, both feet and vertebrae L4 and L5 in her back. Hillary survived but she was told that she would never run again. The journey of enduring multiple surgeries was in fact just the beginning of her battle for survival, as she recounts in her book, Out And Back: A Runner’s Story of Survival Against All Odds. What doctors could not anticipate is that Hillary would not only run again but would, after two years of dedicated rehab and recovery, return to smashing races, even setting several new course records. She also discovered cycling as part of her recovery and her gravel riding resume now includes the notorious Unbound Gravel. Hillary has been adamant in her aversion to the idea of making a ‘come back’; nevertheless, her resilience and single-minded belief is something that all of us, who have metaphorically fallen and had to put ourselves back together again, can learn from.

I chatted to Hillary off the back of her impressive win at the challenging Ultra Trail Cape Town 100-mile race and was delighted to discover, having failed in my resolve to 'not be goofy in front of Hillary Allen', that she is refreshingly down-to-earth, with an awesome sense of humour and own unique, charming goofiness herself. We discussed: growing up with curiosity 'in the dirt'; balancing life, work, study and running; the importance of curiosity and love when starting out competing; what Disney and European racing have in common; thoughts on fear vs skill; not being defined so much by what happens to us but how we respond to it; being alive versus truly living; how to hold space for others; the catharsis of writing and the power of belief; respecting your 'why' and owning your experience; having the humility to practise; trusting in your body and avoiding comparison culture; making new memories and the power of community; the importance of patience, and what chemistry and rainbow nail varnish have in common.

Follow: @hillygoat_climbs

Read: hillaryallen.com 

Image: @marz_merwe 

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Joy is...Play.

A Friday 'Shing Lights' episode with Rosie Watson, a runner and climate activist, who, in 2019, began an epic journey running self-supported from her doorstep in the Lake District, across Europe, to Bulgaria. The purpose of ‘The New Story Run’ was to use the challenge to contribute towards changing the way we talk and think about the climate crisis. By meeting people on the way who were working on climate crisis related issues, and telling their experience from their individual perspective, she hoped to spread ‘new stories’ regarding how we can work together towards a better future.

Like all the best conversations, ours took some unexpected turns to focus on issues far beyond attempting an endurance challenge. We discussed: the transition from aspiring fashion designer to environmental campaigner; how a more holistic cross-pollination of research disciplines might benefit finding solutions to global problems; the speed and dissociation of modern living; intuitive planning and being people-led; the freedom of living simply; putting trust in strangers; the circular economy of kindness of kindness; learning to be open; the complexity of 'vulnerable woman' narratives; thoughts around pressing pause and re-starting; why 'normal' is not enough; the creativity that can emerge from adversity; the importance of playfulness; the symbiosis between how we treat each other, the world and ourselves; inadvertently filling our stress buckets, burn out, overtraining and chronic fatigue; letting go and re-finding ourselves; re-writing what constitutes an adventure, and what we can all do to nurture our inner child.

Support: newstoryrun.com

Follow: @rosiewats 

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Joy is...an undulating path.

Helen Mort is an award-winning poet and novelist, with a life-long passion for running, climbing and the outdoors. She has published three poetry collections, the latest of which, The Illustrated Woman, was shortlisted for the Forward Prize. She has also been shortlisted for the T.S.Eliot Prize, the Costa Prize and won the Fenton Aldeburgh Prize in 2015. She appears regularly on BBC radio, has taught creative writing for over ten years, and is currently Senior Lecturer at Manchester Metropolitan University. Landscape is an important presence in her writing, and many of her poems have been composed while walking or running in the Cumbrian fells. Her first full length non-fiction book A Line Above the Sky, which recently won the Boardman Tasker Prize for Mountain Literature, is a love letter to losing oneself in physicality, dovetailing the acts of climbing and bringing a child into the world in a dance that melds nature writing and memoir to explore why humans are drawn to danger; how we can find freedom in pushing limits; attitudes towards women who do so, and the question of ownership of one’s body.

This is truly one of my favourite conversations of all time. A few technical glitches meant that it took place over two days; however, many ideas that we touched upon on the first day, simmered overnight so that, what would become, 'Part Two', really enriches the themes that we initially dipped into. We flit from the intensely personal to the theoretical, emerging with many more questions and paths of inquiry to hopefully continue over a run, a pint and matching Mary Oliver tattoos!

We discussed: attitudes towards hills; being awkward teenagers and channeling our inner flying squirrels; incidental meetings and sharing stories; struggling with expectations; getting honest about the joys but also problems in our relationships with running; how movement can facilitate creativity; embodiment and lyrical messiness; how we are seen/read and therefore how we project ourselves; tattoos and making our own maps; the conflicting responsibilities, expectations, double-binds, value judgments and presumed identities surrounding pregnancy and motherhood; interdependence with the landscape and which rock face you'd bring home to meet your mother; representation and the privilege of space; climbing, crinolines and the politics of clothing; dangerous women; measuring success and why we 'do not have to be good'; how writing and climbing bring us back to ourselves, and why we should embrace a life of 'book stacks'.

Discover: www.helenmort.com

Follow: Twitter: @HelenMort

Instagram: @morty_but_nice

Read: The Illustrated Woman; A Line Above the Sky; The Wild Verses

Watch: Run to the Source

Photo Credit: Joe Horner

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Joy is...Sharing Adventures.

Another Friday episode in the ‘Shining Lights’ series, platforming lesser-known voices with their own incredible stories of showing up, shooting their shot and putting one foot in front of the other.

Emily Wormald is a cyclist based in the Lake District and is the founder of Lakes Gravel Gang, a women’s only cycling group, which has now grown to over 150 members. Having got into cycling through her then boyfriend, Emily is now a huge advocate of literally 'fixing your own puncture' and the freedom that cycling can bring, to women in particular.

I couldn't stop smiling throughout our conversation: Em positively radiates joy and enthusiasm and the community that she has built really does reflect that. We discuss Emily's introduction to the outdoors via the Scouts; gravel biking and out-the-door mini adventures; 'princess gravel'; reclaiming the word 'empowerment'; the barriers to women getting into cycling; amplifying everyone's voices; putting community first; pants, 'flaps' and safe spaces; skill-share evenings fuelled with pizza and planning routes according to cake; thoughts around language and ownership; the challenges and rewards of bike-packing; vulnerability in life and cycling; getting more women onto start lines, as well as unintentionally philosophical quick-fire questions concerning the classification of doughnuts.

Follow: Em Wormald @emwormald

Lakes Gravel Gang @lakesgravelgang

Map of Women and ENBY led groups by Saoirse: Women & ENBY led cycle groups (arcgis.com)

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Joy is...When Nothing Else Matters.

Alex Staniforth is a record-breaking adventurer, author and charity ambassador, based in the Lake District. As just 27, he is no stranger to challenges, whether they be mental or physical. He is perhaps best known for surviving the two biggest disasters in Mount Everest history, whilst still only a teenager, including the 2015 Nepal earthquake. Since then, he has achieved numerous feats of endurance, including being the fastest person ever to climb all 100 UK county tops and running the National Three Peaks Challenge, completing 452 miles in just 9 days 12 hours. However, it is the personal mountains that he has faced since childhood: overcoming epilepsy, stammering, bullying and mental ill health, that, for me, distinguish him most, as well as the manner in which he has channelled those experiences into his own mental health advocacy, charity work, public speaking and writing. It is really no wonder that he was awarded the Pride of Britain Granada Reports Fundraiser of the Year in 2017.

Alex is someone who really does embody the idea of spinning growth from adversity; however, whereas so many similar stories may appear rose-tinted, it is apparent that Alex's altruism is deeply rooted within his being. Quite simply, he believes that he can help others and therefore he should. Alex's stories in themselves are incredible to hear; however, the frank discussions that we have around mental health that lie behind the stories are ones that I hope are impactful on an even deeper level. Alex is humble and generous in the manner in which he reflects on his own struggles as we consider the stigmatisation around eating disorders, particularly in men; the mythology of mental health equating to weakness; the long-term effects of childhood trauma; survivor's guilt; vulnerability; finding relief in physical challenge and the natural world; getting comfortable with being different and dreaming big; re-framing success; the importance of networks; the responsibilities and rewards of founding a charity; knowing your own strengths, and how we can still show up and make a difference when we are not doing 'hard things'.

Thank you, Alex; your work is important, you are important and you certainly 'make the boat go faster'.

Support: www.mindovermountains.org.uk 

Read: www.alexstaniforth.com/books

Follow:

• Insta @alexstaniforth_
• Twitter @alex_staniforth
• Facebook www.facebook.com/AlexAdversity  
• Linkedin www.linkedin.com/in/alexstaniforth  

Photo Credit: Andy Milton

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Joy is...The Mission.

Another episode in the Friday 'Shining Light' series, platforming lesser known voices with incredible stories to tell.

Alvaro De La Camaro is an amateur triathlete, cyclist and father who has also happened to have ridden 2,500km from Croydon, London, to his native Cadiz, in Spain, in 10 days, all for a bowl of soup. To give some context, Alvaro is the co-founder of Cycling 4 Soup, a media platform documenting endurance challenges

to engage community, create connections, and to make sport (and soup), the binding agent to raise awareness for important causes worldwide. Although preferring challenges of his own design, Alvaro does compete, and, much to his self-confessed astonishment, he was the winner of the 2021 Ultraman UK. We also uncovered during our chat that the 2022 Croydon-Cadiz trip was really a warm up for a recent (undocumented) completely non-stop, self-supported cycle from London to Madrid in aid of Ella's Charity, working with women who have survived trafficking and sexual exploitation, which tested Alvaro's mental resilience to the limit.

Alvaro is an unbelievably lovely, humble human with an internal compass geared towards doing what he can with the capabilities he has been given. Having established that I am far from intimidating as an interviewer, we settled into a free-flowing conversation pivoted around the notion of what it means to be (in Alvaro's words) an 'Average Joe' pushing themselves outside their comfort zone in order to help and inspire others. We reflected on why, for Alvaro, competition will always be about the people you meet, not the podiums you top; the extraordinary that can be found in the everyday; the importance of telling stories; what we can learn from a 'bike-view' of the world; why finding balance is harder than training; what honesty means; being accountable to ourselves; Mama Maria's secret recipe, and what we can all learn from 'simmering' our soup in life.

Follow: @sir_cyclealot

Watch: Cycling 4 Soup

Give: www.ellas.org.uk

www.tribefreedomfoundation.com

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Joy is...Learning.

Adam Merry is an elite athlete for Saucony, based in Colorado. He started training competitively in 2017 and has since raced in distances up to 100km on the road and trails. As well as being an incredible athlete in his own right, he also uses his expertise to coach others and his background in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion to bring light to the issues in the trail and ultra running world.

I chatted to Adam upon his return from representing Team USA at the 80km World Mountain Running Championships and we shared an incredibly rich, broad-reaching conversation, as well as having a lot of fun! In addition to running geekery, we covered: pink shoes, babies and skinny pigs; the parallels between running and chess; finding our edge; the importance of community; why finish lines are arbitrary; movement as a means of connection and the thrill of representing your country; being a voice for representation; thoughts around tokenism; the role of mindful education in healing our communities; getting comfortable with being uncomfortable; celebrating the journey, and striving for 'experience' rather than curating 'identity'.

Adam is an incredibly kind and warm person, with a wisdom that far exceeds his years, and his words are important ones that we would all benefit from truly listening to and acting upon. I was particularly grateful for his guidance regarding how we can all show up, whether at school or on the trails, as better allies and, indeed, better humans, in our day-to-day lives. Oh and 'Merry Cooks' is sure to be the next Netflix big hit: you heard it here first!

Connect: www.runmerry.com

Follow: @amerryrunner

Run: Strava

Read: Trail Runner Article 'Black and White'

Learn: Racial Healing Handbook; Mental Training for Ultrarunning; The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari

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