our impact

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I started running more regularly late 2015 into 2016. The 5km/10km no pressure fun colour runs suited the level I was at, physically and mentally. Having been told by members of my own family that “ I was not a runner” and I was “pushing it” at these distances I was cocooned in a bubble of self doubt and unwilling to aim further.

Local club runs were great, it’s where I met my wife Kelly,  a natural at longer distances with many half and full marathons in the bag already. 

Kelly encouraged me to aim further with half marathons becoming the norm. I can’t be exactly sure when it happened but I became fascinated by 26.2 miles. Many friends that I ran amongst at local events were consistently finishing marathons , week in, week out, some bagging a brace over weekends. These folk were intimidating, 52 marathons in 52 weeks, members of the 100 marathon club , 200, 300… no surely not, 1500 ! how can this be possible. Not intimidating at all, just folk like me who gave it a go and actually enjoyed it. 

Summer 2016 was the first time I stomped out a marathon 7:37hrs on and undulating course, never again ! Really ? .

Summer time Six years on, with 38 marafuns in the bag (would have been more if Covid hadn’t paused the world) I took part in a 24hour event.  I pushed on with no real agenda or target and ended up with a fantastic 50 miler under my belt. I was ecstatic, I had proved to myself I can cope physically and mentally , more so I proved to the doubters of years ago they were wrong.

Being a family man now, finding the time and more so the finances, (as we all know running is not a cheap hobby !) to continue challenging one’s self is difficult.

When I originally applied to Into ultra and told my story,  I spoke about my mental health and how running had, and still does keep me safe, feeling like I’m winning at life and pushing boundaries gives me a sense of achievement, accomplishing new levels of personal greatness, feeling alive and invincible. 

I have to thank Into ultra from the bottom of my heart in aiding me to push the boundaries further next year when I aim to raise much needed funds for the Childrens Hospice Southwest by partaking in a 36hr event where I will push for the holy grail of a 100 miler. This would not have been financially possible without your help. Having this event to train for gives me an enormous sense of commitment and pride bolstering my mental ora and health.

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I always leave things til the last minute- it’s been a feature of my life since I can remember. Having a child slotted neatly into this pattern somehow. I had my son when I was 46. He’ll be 12 just before Christmas. I’d had a motorcycle accident 10 years before which had resulted in me developing Complex Regional Pain Syndrome- basically your nervous system re enacting the injury over and over again. I lost my career and didn’t think I would be able to manage a child but at 46 I thought I’d better give it a go and with the magic of IVF I had my son. 

As he grew I developed massive health anxiety. I was so scared that I would die and he wouldn’t remember me. This was prompted by a couple of health scares which eventually turned out to be treatable. 

I would wake at 4am worrying and in pain from my CRPS to the point I wasn’t functioning properly. I decided to take myself out for a walk. Then I repeated this every early morning I woke in a panic. It helped. I then started Couch 2 5k as walking wasn’t enough- and I realised that the more I got moving the less important the pain was and the more my brain figured I couldn’t be dying of if I could run. So I started running at 50 after studiously avoiding it at school 

It took me a year to have the confidence to try and run 10k, and after that I figured I’d try a half and then maybe just maybe a full. I wanted my son to be proud and if I was the oldest mum, I’d try and be one of the fittest, despite having an arm that doesn’t work properly. 

This last year has brought a lot of challenges with health, relationship breakdown and the loss of both family and friends, but I’ve run and run and run and it’s helped. Especially running off road where I can.I run for me and I run to show all the post menopausal ladies out there who feel that they can’t do anything physical that they can. I see so many of my friends from school becoming sedentary through lack of confidence and I’m hoping that I can show them that you can start something later in life and you can succeed.

I wanted a big challenge in 2024- something I could do for the family and friends lost in 2023 and Into Ultra magically came up in a post from The Sunnywood Project. They have helped me so much- I would never have been able to afford to take part in my dream event without them. I’m hoping that someone somewhere will see my efforts and have a go and find a love of this amazing sport. 

What Into Ultra have given to me in terms of help and support is invaluable. I have received a free race entry to a 100 mile ultra. I would never have been able to afford this in any other circumstances, it is truly a dream. They have also been really supportive with donations of any clothing or equipment I may need- for example, I Have Raynaud’s disease and found that my hands were so painful this winter that I literally cried in the street, I mentioned this and received an amazing pair of gloves which has made a massive difference in my ability to run this winter. Similarly, my headtorch died mid run and I mentioned this and was helped to purchase a new one. I have a book on training and there are online webinars. I really feel that any help I may need going forwards is right there. It’s been amazing for me to feel this level of support on my journey towards becoming an ultra runner. 

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I was made aware of IntoUltra a few months ago and as my personal situation seemed to fit their criteria I thought I had nothing to lose by sending an email. I explained my situation that I was surviving on benefits with 5 dependent children 3 of whom are autistic with learning disabilities. 2 have epilepsy and 1 has a severe visual impairment. I have been running on and off for 25-30 years and have used my time running to get a lot of things straight in my head and to escape the stresses of life for a short time each day. After many years of running 5k 10k and 1/2 marathons I wanted to test myself further. I knew a lot of local runners that had run with a local ultra race series called the Punk Panther races. There was ,for me, only one barrier to this and that was the cost of the races. I volunteered at a few of the races and earned Marshall credits which when accrued allowed me to enter the races and it was the best thing I ever did and I have loved them since. My health has let me down over the last couple of years and a major back issue and arthritis has limited my running time. I was still really keen to do an Ultra that was due to take place on 1.1.24 of 34 miles around North Leeds. My only problem was affording this. IntoUltra came to my rescue and obtained a free entry to the race as well as a race backpack and a brand new pair of Inov8 trail shoes . They agreed to help straight away without any feeling of being judged and were so kind to me . I have never had anyone help me so much with a simple act and I could never explain how much this meant to me. I am so looking forward to this race and am planning to provide IntoUltra with pictures from the day. I would recommend anyone to contact IntoUltra for help with any barriers they have that stops them pushing themselves to achieve their dreams.

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Our family unit is very small, my father was very physically and verbally abusive for the last 10 years we were involved with him. He isolated us from friends and family with his manipulative and controlling behaviours and lashed out at us frequently after regular nights of heavy drinking. This left both me and Mum in a situation where our support network is basically each other.  I'm now a carer for my mother who has suffered 9 recurring bouts of bladder cancer, as well as having fibromyalgia and arthritis.

My own mental health has been very problematic throughout my life, being diagnosed with depression, anxiety, ADD and borderline personality disorder when I was 13/14 years old. When me and my mum finally found a way out from my father my mental health continued to deteriorate due to my inability to focus on school and lashing out at authority figures due to my distrust of adults (especially male figures) which eventually led to me being sectioned in a Child and adolescents mental health facility after 10 suicide attempts in 18 months. In late 2011 I was released from the facility and sent back home to try and move forward with my life. 

I managed to get a grip on things and found a career in retail that eventually led me to a position as an assistant manager in Lidl but I was still deeply dissatisfied with the course my life was taking - during the pandemic I studied Canine care as a business, Dog behaviour and body language, Canine first aid and started to plan my own business.

After 12 months I qualified in all of my courses with a minimum pass grade of 96% and began to operate my new business, this business has now been established for almost two years but I'm still struggling to make ends meet financially. I'm able to cover my bills but very rarely do I have any expendable income to invest in myself as the house, utilities, dogs and business expenses are my main priorities. 

I ran my first event (Tough mudder South east 2021) prior to marrying my wife and I found the training very beneficial but my training partner moved away in mid 2022 so my running ultimately stopped. By December 2022 my mental health had spiralled completely out of control and on the 28th of December 2022 I made an attempt on my life, overdosing a large amount of pain killers and anxiety medications this was the first mental health relapse I had suffered since my younger years. 

I sought help but the medications made me numb and unresponsive and the CBT brought up many traumatic memories for me actually continueing the decline of my overall quality of life. I stopped seeing friends and family and solely worked, walked my dogs and slept in-between bouts of intense depression and suicidal thought during this period. 

I was turned onto Dr Andrew Huberman's podcast (Huberman lab) and in which he highlighted the importance of diet, exercise and supplements for the maintenance and optimisation of both physical and mental health and began to run short distances (3KM to begin with) and after 3 months I've completed my first trail half marathon along the south downs way and train running three times a week as well as two cross training swimming sessions. I gave up my CBT and stopped taking the medication prescribed and focussed solely on running and my mental health has improved so drastically that I'm now able to socialise with friends and family and enjoy life again. 

I'm hoping to complete the serpent trail 50K in 2024 and am progressing my running distances every week in order to condition myself adequately and my main goal is to complete the UTS Snowdon 100K in 2025 but currently the gear I have has all been found on second hand sites and it's almost impossible to find some items that aren't badly damaged or unrealistically priced in order to keep progressing.  It feels like I'm being dragged back into the dark by my financial position and I desperately want to be able to put these worries behind me to focus on my progression and keep providing my family with the best quality care and compassion I can which would be made possible with this help.

Into Ultra's assistance has been absolutely vital for keeping me on track with my running goals and more importantly my mental health. 

I was provided with a pair of trail specific running shoes which means I now can traverse the south downs without pain in my foot and knee that I had from my previous trainers. They also sent me a running vest and poles via kitsquad, the vest is invaluable as I can now carry my Parkrun barcode with me on Saturday mornings as well as food and water supplies for my Sunday long trail runs. I'm still doing my best to get to grips with utilising the poles efficiently but they're also of great benefit on some of the more steep inclines on the south downs way. 

Having both the financial and moral support from into ultra has meant I'm more regularly than ever getting out which boosts my personal motivation as well as my mental and physical health. I'm at the lowest weight I've ever been and successfully completed both my longest trail run (25.6KM) and my first competitive running event this month (Darklink 10KM Night run) and feel that I'm more than on track to achieve my goal of completing the Serpent trail 50KM in July which I was fortunate enough to have a space secured by into ultra. 

This time last year I had a suicide attempt due to my inability to feel like I had a purpose and this year I'm looking onwards to what I can achieve and for the most part keeping my mental health demons at bay. There's no way that without the team at Into ultra that I'd be in such a good position and I'm eternally grateful for their help in giving me the foundations to thrive. 

There's also been free informative and educational zoom sessions with a professional sports psychologist and a copy of the ultimate trail running handbook sent to me which I have used as a tool to stay motivated in low moments. 

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I love running. For me it’s a form of mediation, it clears my head, I get to see beautiful views, it is time alone and the endorphins are great. 

Like many I have had some challenges in life, my husband, father of my eldest passed away and now separated from my youngest father; it’s tough being a lone parent, working full time and trying to keep running to manage my mental health.

I have wanted to run an Ultra for a few years now, I trained for Endurance Life South Devon Ultra in 2022 but got injured just before. Took almost a year out and started training again in 2023 and got injured again in April and broke my toe so again no running. 

Feeling a bit sorry for myself, reading running articles online I came across a post about Into Ultra a new organization looking to open up Ultra running to as many people as possible. I applied for coaching support and amazingly was successful.

I was given a choice of 3 coaches and went with Neil from Escape Trails. 

The biggest barrier I have is time. I have to fit my running around school hours and work lunch breaks! Neil was great in helping me put together a routine that would fit around these hours and included both running and strength.

The race I chose was Off the Tarmac Ultra in the Brecon beacons, I had always wanted to go there it looked great. 4 weeks before I got a tear in my calf muscle 😩. My physio is amazing and with his support we managed to get me race fit and he cleared me to run just before the race.

I am so proud of myself as I completed it and ran 50km in really challenging conditions! My official race time is 8:59:59!!  A couple seconds slower than strava but think I like that one better.

Race report below as obv I am an athletes now!  🤣. First 13 miles went really well was mid pack and they showed me how to cross the rivers and helped through the bogs. Needed the loo at penyfan base so stopped there and then was on my own. It was cold up there, should have put the extra layer on. Main problem was confidence on descents, there was so much water and stones to avoid I walked most of it and my legs had started to stiffen then. Ran walked the last of it, again main problem was confidence on muddy descents, leaves on slippery parts etc. cardio wise felt fine and calf was good, just stiff legs.  Nutrition was spot on, cheese bagels work perfectly for me with cliff blocks and a bit of tailwind. Feet were fine too, no blisters or anything love my toe socks. Would love some waterproof gloves as hands got cold. Lots of people ran wearing waterproof trousers, maybe I should have tried that as it rained nearly the whole time.

I need to work on technical descents, and river crossings. I really enjoyed it, a great event - big shoutout to Off The Tarmac  and I am officially an ultra runner! whilst running an Ultra was my main goal, the improvement and consistency in my mental health from this project is notable.  Thank you

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I was in a pretty shit place when I first reached out to intoultra, I had just started running again after growing a human and running an ultra had always been on my ‘i really want to do that’ list. Not having to spend money on buying the appropriate kit (thanks @kitsqaud) and having a running coach was just incredible and the suport, advice from Basil was great. Training gave me a focus and now i run almost daily and running has become a key coping strategy in my life. Into ultra made it possible for me to complete my first ultramarathon thank you so bloody much. 

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5 years ago I started running

I set myself a challenge to see if I could run a marathon.

With multiple chronic health conditions each of my consultants told me that they felt it was a bad idea, that it would be too much strain for my body, and that they didn't feel it was the right thing for me to do 

That moment right there was the moment I decided that I absolutely was going to prove them all wrong.

I have a complex immune disorder. That manifests itself in repetitive episodes of shingles which cause meningeal swelling. During these episodes where my brain is swelling I cannot tolerate light or think straight or function well at all.

Then 3 years ago I had a large ovarian cyst that was thought to be cancerous. During the investigations for which, it was discovered that I did in fact have stage 4 endometriosis and adenomyosis.

I was suffering from horrendous pain in my abdomen and surgery found that all of my organs were stuck together from adhesions.

The standard treatments to slow the growth when it is this aggressive are hormone based.

However hormonal changes cause my immune disorder to flare and in turn set of the brain swelling which is in turn is causing neurological damage.

Because of these two different conditions interacting with each other. I essentially have to choose to allow the endometriosis to rage unchecked, because to accelerate the immune disorder and in turn brain swelling is more damaging potentially.

The endometriosis causes me severe pain and I can lose up to a pint of blood over 72 hours during my worst episodes which are fairly regular.

This in turn has caused me to be chronically anemic and have to have regular iron infusions in hospital to counteract the massive blood loss.

It's a pretty crappy catch 22 situation.

The endometriosis causes me to grow large ovarian cysts on the regular basis that then rupture and cause me severe pain.

2 years ago I was diagnosed with odd heart condition where my heart rate keeps dropping ridiculously low and causes me to faint. I am also suffering from chronic ischaemic colitis meaning that when I run long distance the blood vessels in my: swell and eventually burst under endurance.

All of these conditions are ultimately untreatable. The mental impact of that has been really difficult to get my head around.

Through running I have found some peace and calm and strength to manage living with these conditions.

Through running I have found a route to manage my pain.

Endurance has taught me that when I run I can take control of my pain.

For many years I struggled with all of this but through endurance running particularly I have learned to take control of it.

It's an odd thing, I spend a lot of time in hospital being very very cross with my body.

When I go and run I redress that balance.

I'm still sick, but I am the fittest version of sick me that I could possibly be.

When I run I know how to deal with the pain.

What I'm working on is how I manage outside of running because it seems I can't run all day every day although I'm pretty close 🤣

So that's a very long story about why running has become such a massive part of my dealing with both chronic health conditions but more than mental impact that that it has had on me.

Fast forward to right now.

As a result of chronic health conditions I am unable to work meaning that accessing races and paying for them is tricky.

For good measure, because life wasn't already complex enough, my husband walked out on me and my two small children five weeks ago.

More than ever I've needed to run.

With finance a really big barrier for all of the reasons and even more so now as a single mother to two small children.

I applied to into ultra with no real expectation.

I have had my heart set on doing a hundred mile race in July as my next big challenge.

The dragon 100 

The finance for which and for shoes etc has just become completely Impossible with being a newly single mother as well as being chronically ill.

3 weeks after my husband left I had a zoom call with the into ultra team and they have offered to help me to support me to do my race and with the financial side of needing new shoes and race entry 

At a time in my life when my mental health was absolute rock bottom having just split up with my husband and my health taking a dramatic decline. 

Into ultra have quite literally come to my rescue and given me something to focus on in the future and the financial support to make it possible

I just don't have enough words to express how overwhelmed I was after that initial zoom call where they agreed to help me.

This is really life changing for me.

I don't say that lightly

Running is my sanity and literally keeping me able to manage and cope right now.

I wouldn't be able to do this without their help and to have something to focus on in the future has been monumental in my current journey.

I'm not sure there will ever be words to say how grateful and thankful I am or how much of a positive impact this has had on my well being

These guys at into ultra are literally changing people's lives.

I am forever grateful.