The question that had to be answered: “Is my foot really stopping me running and pushing myself more, or is it a convenient excuse not to try?”

I’m a father of two under 4. I started the Ironmind Institute 2 years ago and pour every ounce of energy into it daily. I train 2 - 3.5 hours each day to prepare my body to absorb the punishment of running 3,000km around Ireland in summer 2026.

Life is full. My physical & mental prep for the Marathon des Sables met my standards. My technical prep didn’t, but I justified that due to the demands of life. A solid history of expedition experience gave me some solace when the voice in my head got louder: “You need to get your fueling sorted.”

I knew the risks of neglecting technical prep but was quietly confident I’d be fine. “You’ve done it before. You know what’s coming. Where are the threats? Nowhere that can’t be sorted before we fly.”

Quietly confident or not—that mindset left holes for mistakes.

The Marathon des Sables organisers recommend wearing trainers at least one size bigger than usual. I bought a pair half a size bigger. Loved them. Breaking them in was painless. Training went great. From memory, that’s what I did in 2016.

Midway through Day 2, I had doubts.

My foot had swollen, hardly surprising—but I’d overlooked that my left foot is slightly longer than my right. Ten to twelve km into Day 2, the toes on my left foot were jammed into the front of my trainer. Running became uncomfortable. I was there to undo regrets from 2016 and push from start to finish. This was deflating.

To add to the challenge—I was leading 15 individuals who had trained under me and the Ironmind Institute for the last 9 months.

“Do I push to run and risk blowing up with the team under my leadership? Or do I dial back, walk, and manage the issue? Or… are these just excuses to protect myself from the truth?”

You can tune into the latest @deep_roots_podcast episode to hear the full story from Day 2 of the @mdslegendary

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