Adventurers and endurance athletes Mimi Anderson and Lowri Morgan come together in conversation. It's a special chat between two females who specialise in endurance challenges, often in extreme environments. They've both excelled at ultra running, but in 2022 they are coming together to take on the Pan-Celtic race, a self-supported bike race around the Celtic heartlands. This is full of wonderful lessons, stories, inspiration and laughter too.

You'll hear:

05:00 Start of the interview with Mimi and Lowri, including how they met. "I followed Lowri when she did the 6633 because I thought she is going to take my record away from me! And I thought one day we have to do an adventure together," says Mimi. "No way was I going to take your record Mimi," Lowri says!

07:25 More about the 6633 Artic Ultra which is a 352.64 miles self-sufficient race. They talk about not having communication with the outside world, why 50miles is like a sprint finish and how they keep going when everyone else has dropped out. "You don't think about it," Mimi says. I had fallen asleep standing up at one point, but I was 18 hours ahead of the next person and my brain wasn't functioning and you can't fathom distance." I know I might not be the fastest, but I want to be the best prepared athlete," Lowri says.

17:00 Mimi talks about some of the mental games that go through her head when she is competing.

20:00 Mimi on failure 'I've had some epic failures in my life.' And we talk about having to stop doing something because of injury and the importance of being able to diversify and change direction.

30:00 Mimi and Lowri on the Pan-Celtic race. "It's a journey. It's the furthest the two of us have done. The aim is to do it in 9 days, so that we make the after-party. The day of the party is my 60th birthday," says Mimi. Lowri adds "I'm so glad I'm with Mimi because she knows the mental toughness you need to get through these races."

36:45 "I love kit, I should have been a man!" Mimi says. This is getting me really excited, Mimi!" We will smell like mad when we finish as we will probably just take two kits. You can't carry loads because it just makes the bike too heavy.

39:30 The huge 'down' after a big challenge or adventure. "When I get back from races, my family give me two minutes to talk."

40:45 Mimi talks about how she only started to run in her mid-late 30s. "When I started running, it was purely to have thinner legs. And back then, you didn't see people running the streets or with backpacks. It just wasn't done. The revelation came when I realised people ran outside, not just on treadmills." "I hope I have shown my children and grandchildren that you can do these things. I want to encourage other women to go and do these adventures." "It's taking that plunge and if something happens, you deal with it at the time."

46:40 We talk CONFIDENCE! And body confidence and how Mimi overcame anorexia. "Life was horrible really." "But as an athlete, I look at my body now and we have extraordinary bodies. My legs have enabled me to run in places around the world that I could never have imagined. I think we forget how incredible and beautiful our bodies are, that enable us to do epic things. I still have days I don't like my body, but on the whole I love it."

Lowri: It does give you that inner strength. The lessons I have learnt on the trails have helped me in life. On the trails, you reach a point where your mind is telling you to give up, that you've reached a wall. You think you're going to collapse, but then your limits don't break and you realise then that you find the 4th, 5th, 6th gear and the smile returns. In life in general you get doors than close in your face, but then you find a way around it. In life in general, when things don't go the way I want them to, I think back to the trails."

51:00 We talk about preparing the mind for big challenges. So. Many. Golden. Nuggets!

59:59 Hear Helen and Rich's training update ahead of their 3 day Highland Ultra in Scotland.

Find out more about this week's guests

Mimi Anderson website

Mimi Anderson Instagram

Mimi Anderson's book on Amazon

Lowri Morgan website

Lowri Morgan Instagram

Lowri Morgan's book on Amazon

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