All language subtitles for Running for Good The Fiona Oakes Documentary 2018 (Running for Good The Fiona Oakes Documentary 2018) (ENGLISH)

It's not going to be easy.

When you've been told you're not going
to walk again, to be out there doing that,

that's never going to be easy.

This is the one race that you have to
pay insurance for repatriation if you die.

You can see out there, people are
pushing themselves really, really hard.

It makes you want to cry, thinking
you're going to be out here doing this.

And then I've got to
go through tomorrow.

In the Sahara Desert, one of the most
extreme races in the world takes place.

Marathon de Sable,
the Marathon of Sand.

Traversing over 250 kilometers across
sand dunes, mountain ranges, dry lakes,

and abandoned villages of
North Africa, Marathon de Sable

is roughly the equivalent of
six marathons back to back.

Competitors are required to be
self-sufficient, carrying all food and

necessary equipment
over the course of six days.

Available water is carefully rationed
at checkpoints throughout the days,

and nights are spent in open-air
tent bivouacs along the route.

With daytime temperatures
reaching 50 degrees

Celsius, the threat to
human health is very real.

In previous years,
runners have died in their

attempt to complete
this grueling event.

It has been called the
toughest footrace on earth.

Marathon de Sable is
a 32-year-old race now.

We call it the daddy of ultras.

This is not a homogenized race that's
constructed in order to make it to the top.

We make it nice.

You have to be physically
fit to do Marathon

de Sable, but then you
have to be mentally fit.

I have seen people in
really bad shape in MDS.

It's scary.

You know, you walk in
there and you see people,

you don't know if
they're dead or alive.

Running in sand, running up a dune,
it's a bit like going to your local mall

and running up the escalator as it's coming
down, but doing that 50 times in a row.

And then repeating
that every day.

The key point is
that it's self-sufficient.

You have to carry all your
personal belongings with you.

You have to carry your backpack.

You have to carry your stove, all
your food supplies, basically everything.

Your feet are so
important in this race.

If you get blisters or
something happens to

your feet, you're going
to be in a bad place.

You have to always be very
proactive, make sure that you

manage any potential problems
before they get too serious.

You can wreck your feet.

Heat's a really
nasty, insidious thing.

Mixed with a bit of
moisture, mixed with a bit

of sand, that can really
destroy feet easily.

And so you have
run into extreme pain.

The sights you see are just, some
of them, some of them, just horrible.

It takes a special type
of person to get this.

A lot of the running I do is about
laboriously clocking in things.

I'm good at counting backwards.

So if I've got 26 miles to run the first
mile, then I think I've got 25, 24, 23.

So I do this in a similar
sort of way, you know.

I'll do 100 pushes with
this or whatever and

then I'll go and get my
pitchfork and shovel it.

It's all, it's just
mental strength.

I'm not going to
stop till I've done it.

So rather than sit around and worry about
it, I might as well just get on and do it.

My running begins and ends
when I'm actually physically doing it.

I don't live running.

Running is something I
do as a job for the animals.

Somebody said to me,
you've won a couple of

marathons this year,
you've done really well.

Why not do a marathon
for Sable next year?

And I thought, oh, what's that?

I never heard of that.

Because I am the most unclued
up runner you'll ever meet.

And I looked into it.

This is supposed to
be the toughest footrace

on the planet this week
in the Sahara Desert.

You've got to
be self-sufficient.

You've got to carry
all your own gear.

So I used to think you'd drop off
the end of the world if you ran past 26.

2 miles on a road.

It never even occurred to me
there were all these strange,

weird, wonderful, exotic
racers in other parts of the world.

And I thought, OK, I've done
fast races, hard, fast races.

I'll do this.

I first met Fiona in 2014.

She came into the shop and
she was just this whirlwind.

Like, she was absolutely
mad as a box of frogs.

I'm not sure you can
describe her in any other terms.

She is absolutely extraordinary.

And what's really extraordinary about
her is she doesn't look extraordinary.

I heard her resting heart
rate's like 30 or something.

It's so low that they're
like, are you even alive?

She just doesn't seem to stop.

I don't know how she
does what she does.

So she runs this animal
sanctuary with 400 or so animals.

She trains, like, maybe
100 miles a week.

She's just so dedicated
to what she does.

And she doesn't do
it for her, you know.

She does it for the animals
and for other people.

And she's trying to
promote sustainability.

When you first meet her,
you've got no sense that

you're talking to someone
that's extraordinary.

And one of the reasons is
that she doesn't self-promote.

She has no sense of
actually how fantastic she is.

She doesn't brag
about anything she does.

You know, she
just gets on with it.

But what she does is
quite remarkable, really.

The beauty about Fiona
is that she's taking care

of, you know, hundreds of
animals on her sanctuary.

And then she's training and she's, you
know, competing in these grueling events.

Fiona, she says, I'm
not really a runner.

Now, how can
somebody that runs a 2.38

marathon call themselves
not really a runner?

I mean, she's not a runner.

She's a really good runner.

She's a really good runner.

I have always felt quite embarrassed when
I'm invited to these mega races and people

are looking at me
thinking, and you're, you

know, what are you
doing here, kind of thing.

And I know I don't look
the same as everybody else.

And when I tell people, you know,
I've got, like, eighth place in the

Amsterdam Marathon or, like, top 20 in
London and Berlin and that Great Norse

run, and these are the biggest races
in the world, these are not for messing

around with, people
are, like, flabbergasted.

It's kind of a funny
story with the running.

I, erm, I don't like it.

I lack talent.

I lack ability.

But probably the strength I've got is
that I actually do actually recognise that.

But I don't really know
too much about running.

I don't really care that
much about running.

I just care about the results
I can get from the running.

Fiona was a large baby.

She was nine pound
four when she was born.

My GP said she looked
like a three-month-old baby.

She lifted her head up immediately if
she was born and looked around her.

And my first words to
her were, Hello, Fiona.

I was the tomboy.

Always outside, always outside.

Love of animals, love of nature.

I mean, I was a
very, very sporty kid.

Everybody remembers
me as this, like, little

Duracell bunny that was
just always, always going.

I mean, I'd, like, crack
a door until late at night.

Fiona would be buzzing along.

And then I lost that.

She was always an
athletic little girl until she

had this terrible problem
in the early teens.

She started having knee pain.

Slightly before my teenage years, I
developed a problem with my knee.

I was in all sorts of pain,
all sorts of trouble with it.

So I went into hospital continually,
having the back of my kneecap scraped off,

having the ligaments and
things readjusted around my

kneecap to kind of pivot
it in a different direction.

And nothing was really working.

That was my right leg that
was affected to start with.

And then, because I
was leaning so heavily on

my left leg, that became
weak and affected.

So I was having
all these surgeries.

It was very, very frustrating.

I think I had about
17 operations in all.

I was not able to go to school.

I was getting too
weak to go to school.

I couldn't mobilise around
the school, couldn't do anything.

There wasn't even
offered any home tutoring.

And then the doctor said, look,
we've got a serious problem.

There is a massive
conglomeration behind your kneecap.

It is turning it to jelly.

It is crumbling inside and it needs to
come out and it needs to come out quickly.

This is going to be a big operation
and this is going to be very painful.

I have to say I've never been in
pain like I was in after that operation.

I couldn't lay, I couldn't
move in my bed.

I couldn't literally alter
my position in my bed.

I was told I wouldn't walk again
properly, let alone be able to do sporting

activities, especially things like
running, which were high impact.

I was going to be registered
disabled at one point.

Because it looked so hopeless.

So that was an incredibly challenging
time for all the family, actually.

Oh, it was hell.

It was...

It was just too bad to go there.

It's left her with an
extremely painful knee.

I think it hurts
most of the time.

I don't think there's very much
of the time that it is pain-free.

The operations are bad enough,
but it's the treatment and the

recuperation and the work that has to be
put in after these orthopaedic operations

just went on and on
and on until she was 19.

It's very extraordinary to have anybody
who's had repeat surgery, let's say more

than three or four procedures, on a
patella who has not been disabled.

I don't look back at this time.

I'm not bitter.

It was difficult and I
don't like revisiting it.

I'll be honest with you.

I really do find it difficult.

There's been some
extraordinary things.

There's been some
really miserable times.

But they've made me the person I am and I
acknowledge them and embrace them for that.

I really do.

And I definitely know what it's like to
suffer myself so I can relate to it with

other beings, whether
they be human or not.

And I certainly don't want to
inflict it on them unnecessarily.

She's growing all
shy and bashful.

Over the years, we've
had hundreds of dogs.

I mean, at one time, we had 26
dogs living in the house at one time.

We've had lots and lots of dogs.

And the story is that she came to us and
she'd been obviously used for fighting and

she's got the classic signs of a dog
that's been used in a fighting ring in

that she's quite nervous
and she's got no ears.

Anybody who knows this particular breed
knows that when they fight, they always

attack the head and
the ears are what suffer.

And unfortunately, Poppy's
ears were ripped off in a fight.

She's a very loving dog and just a typical
example of how humans abuse animals.

She's got a set routine.

She comes in this time.

She has her tea.

And she knows how
she likes to live her life.

She actually likes to
live her life very quietly.

When Fiona started the sanctuary back in
1993, we were both at work, but we decided

when we started to get
more animals in, Fiona would

look after the animals and I
would carry on with my job.

We deliberately set out not to have the
animal sanctuary as our means of a living,

our money we could earn in a different
industry, and then just use that money to

fund the sanctuary and obviously encourage
people to donate to the sanctuary,

knowing that 100% of what they
give goes towards the feed bill.

Every penny we've got has
always gone into the sanctuary.

Absolutely everything we've got.

And my mum too, you know, like
when we were trying to buy this place.

She sold her engagement
ring, her piano.

Everything had to go.

That's been how it's been
ever since we've been here.

Oh, look at her little nose.

She just loves taking
care of the animals.

She knows them all by heart and she
knows their personalities, everything.

It's incredible.

And she's such a kind person that she
doesn't say no to any animal in danger.

These came from a place
up north, about 300 miles

away, and they are what
they call Cade lambs.

Brian was one of 36 Cades
that we were offered by a farmer,

which we took on and we
have been trying to hand rear.

We've got 400 rescued animals,
so managing 36 babies, basically.

It's very, very difficult.

And Brian came and
he was very, very weak.

He collapsed and we
brought him into the house.

We did everything
for him that we could.

And we thought he was
going to die and he didn't die.

He pulled through.

I don't quite know
how he pulled through.

There's stuff that needs
to be done all the time.

Animals to see to, there's medications
to attend to, there's maintenance to do,

there's a list of jobs
as long as your arm.

The thought of having to do all that
work and then go out and run 20 miles.

It's not even just like, oh, I'm just
going to do a nice little country jog.

It's appalling speed
work to have to face.

I don't know if you can get in or an
appalling 20-mile road run and then come

back and as soon as you get back
to have to then start the evening jogs,

which is like bringing all the
horses in, getting the buckets ready.

No.

Even though, you know,
we've lived together 24 years,

I have no idea how
anybody can fit all that in.

Because we were so tight
on money, I mean, for the

first year or two we were
here, we had nothing.

And that's kind of when the
marathon running kicked in.

I thought it's cheap to do.

You can do it any
time, day or night.

You don't need a
lot of equipment.

So that's basically
what I took to running.

There's no great
desire behind it.

It was just something physically that I
thought I could make work for the animals.

If I had a patient who had no kneecap
and who wanted to do some running or

marathoning activity, I would
tell them to stay on level ground.

I can imagine running
downhill without a kneecap.

I don't understand the engineering aspect
of how you can run it without a kneecap.

Your kneecap's there to guide your
quads down so they can run effectively.

And also it stops the
over-articulation of your knee.

So I'm not sure
how that's possible.

We always caution the patients that
if they don't have a kneecap, you can't

backpack downhill with heavy
packs, even medium weight packs.

But when you start climbing, and
especially as you start descending,

that's where that kneecap
comes into activity.

As a physical therapist, I mean, it's
pretty amazing when I see individuals

competing that push the limits of endurance
and strength without certain body parts.

And then Fiona's case, here
she is running without a kneecap.

It is kind of mystifying,
like, how does that happen?

But Fiona has found a way to adapt
and move her body and challenge it,

not just get through daily life and
taking care of animals on her sanctuary,

but then meeting the
demands of an ultramarathon,

meeting the demands
of a multi-day event.

I'm spending a lot of
energy training 100 miles

a week, for the 10-week
block before a marathon.

Dedicating yourself to it, it puts us
under a lot of stress, and then you come

to your taper period, you're paranoid
about getting ill, you're paranoid about

getting injured, it
impacts on your family life.

Two weeks before Fiona
was to begin Marathon du

Sable, she contracted a
severe respiratory infection.

Unable to train, she was bedridden
for eight days prior to leaving.

We find a place called Wazizat,
we call it Gateway to the Sahara,

and even from there, we've
got another six hours by coach

to the start line, and the
start line changes every year.

You are shipped into the desert,
to this unidentified destination,

where you see an awful
lot of tents in a big circle.

You wander around the camp and you search
for a tent which appears to have a sphere.

There's no space in it.

If you are travelling and running alone,
you arrive alone, you find a place in a

tent with which that will
be your place for the week.

You're allocated a tent number,
that will be your tent number,

and the place in that tent
will be your place for the week.

Yeah, it was a
long, long journey.

I had a dreadful day yesterday.

Brian died a little after,
and he died in my arms.

In my bed.

In the middle of the night.

Ten days had nursed him.

And we'd had the
vet so many times.

And I took him to bed on Wednesday night,
and we thought, we gave him steroids,

and we thought he
was getting better.

You know, he has these
episodes of collapse.

And then at four past three in the
morning, he just woke up and died.

And we've got 30, I think
we've got 38 left, lambs

that were hand-rearing,
four times a day feeding him.

And I'm still on my antibiotics
until tomorrow morning.

My mum's ill.

Martin's coping as best he can.

I've got the most
blinding headache.

I've had headaches with this
on and off for the two weeks.

I had to go to the doctors, I had to go
and get some antibiotics, and she gave me

a 10-day course to
finish tomorrow morning.

But if I feel ill, I think I've got to make
a choice of whether you do something

cavalier and just, you know,
carry on and see if you can brush it.

The things I've had in the past,
when I had broken toes before now,

that's very much, if you can
contain the pain, you can contain it.

But this is systematic.

And so I'm not sure
that it's a good idea.

Because you can't
bluff these conditions.

I don't know, I
just have to say.

I don't know, it's
all you can do.

If you don't try,
you don't know.

That's the problem.

Big disappointment, the
way I feel, I have to say.

I've had a lot of stress
over the last three months.

A lot of extra work.

A lot of extra commitments.

And you can get ill.

Anybody at any time can get ill.

So, I just hope that, you know, I think
what I'll do is I'll just go to sleep now.

And try and just relax
it out on the system.

And just try and rest up.

And see if I feel
better in the morning.

It's a very big juxtaposition to go from
one morning you're looking after your

animals, the next morning you're in the
Sahara Desert surrounded by a multitude of

people who are all into their
running and into their statistics.

And you kind of feel
like you don't belong.

Unless you know anyone, you are
confined with these seven strangers.

Male or female.

For that entire week.

You've got the space in that
tent with which your bedroll fits.

And that's your
home for the week.

I'll tell you, last
night though.

Last night.

You know when you've got the
headache that makes you feel ill.

And you just know you
should eat but you can't.

And you just need to shut off.

I think it was also,
yeah, I'm not well.

For sure I'm not well.

But the stress of leaving that
environment to be in this environment.

You know, I'm coming from temperatures
that are really cold to run here.

And I have done nothing.

No race, no nothing.

I've been busy all year
with the animals and

then with the lambs
and then the illness.

So I'm not in a great place.

But, you know, we'll see.

I really haven't had a
lot of time to kind of go

through packing my pack
and unpacking it and packing it.

So it's all a bit,
a bit last minute.

Because I've been
ill for two weeks.

And that was kind of
the two week period that I

intended to dedicate to
doing some of this stuff.

Basically everything
you're carrying is pretty

essential in terms of it
becomes very, very precious.

But now I'm going to do
my grand way into the pack.

And see what a nightmare it is.

Ah, that's a mother pack.

That's an 8.9.

That's a heck of a pack.

Yeah, every little
thing does add up.

Obviously it doesn't feel heavy when
you're carrying it through an airport.

But when you're carrying it, trying to get
up and sand you, then you're thinking to

yourself, really, I do
need to lose some here.

On the Saturday, you have
everything that you're not

going to carry with you on
the race taken away from you.

That is shipped off back to a hotel
somewhere, you know, in a local town.

You go through registration.

You get technical checks.

You get the medical checks.

They check the
weight of your bag.

There's a minimum weight of
every bag, six and a half kilos.

And they check you've
got sufficient food.

They make sure that you've got
2,000 calories a day to keep you going.

It is enough nutrition
to get you through, but

it's certainly not enough
to be comfortable with.

You're then left in the middle of
the desert and you start running.

The first stage of
Marathon du Sable traverses

primarily rolling sand
dunes for over 30 kilometres.

This will be the shortest
stage of the entire race.

Runners are given a generous
10-hour cut-off time to reach bivouac one,

where they will
stop for the night.

So you get up in the morning, you prepare
yourself meticulously to run each stage.

You're constantly
worried about losing things.

You've got this tiny little backpack
with which to put everything in.

Everything becomes so precious.

Every painkiller, every boiler.

Sweet.

Everything you've got
becomes so precious

because you simply
cannot replace it anywhere.

If I'm, like, shaking heart or
whatever, I've got a choice.

I'm free to do this.

I'm free to stop doing this.

The reason I'm doing it is for
those that aren't free to make it start.

You know, people living in
camps are worse than me.

They're not able to just say, actually, I'd
like to go home to my luxury house now.

You know?

OK.

And, you know,
same with animals.

They aren't free to
just stay up, honey.

So, yeah, that's what I'm
going to kind of think of today.

MDS should not be run
when you're physically sick.

That's something I wouldn't
recommend to anyone

because you have to be
in a perfect state to do that.

And even when you're in a
perfect state, things can go wrong.

If you're on antibiotics, I
personally wouldn't do it.

But with Fiona, there's a reason
for everything, what she does.

And the reason is far greater
than, you know, how she's feeling.

The lack of training in the
last couple of weeks is not

as big a problem as still this
thing lurking in my system.

Probably another week would have
been a lot better for me to recover.

When it's actually systematic, you
do worry that you can feel yourself

starting to boil from
inside, so it's very hot.

But because you're overexerting yourself,
you're coming very hot from inside as well.

If you overheat, you've got
no way of coming back from it.

You don't want to be on
your maximum out there.

You've got to be able to think,
I'm operating only ever at 80%,

with possibly 100% when you're
really in the dunes, when you just...

That's when you give it your all,
because you can't get over them otherwise.

I've been in some dunes here and I've
been literally coming over them, absolutely

desperate, thinking, I'm really
frightened now, I've not got any water.

If you're in a dune section,
you won't come out of it

with any water in your
bottles when it gets really hard.

And it will get really hard.

But I have promised that, if I genuinely
do not think it's the place to be,

then I will leave.

Because, obviously, I don't
want to be coming home in a box.

And this is the one race that
you have to pay insurance

for repatriation as part
of the rate if you die.

Because, obviously, it is...

You can see out there, people are
pushing themselves really, really hard.

I've got my injuries, I've got my problems,
so I knew it's not going to be easy.

When you've been told you're
not going to walk again, as a

teenager, to be out there doing
that, that's never going to be easy.

But I just want to show
people it is doable.

I hope it's doable.

But we'll see.

I think it's very, very
difficult to do a race

like the Marathon des
Sables if you're not 100%.

It's an enormous
challenge for your body.

And I think if you run it being
unwell, you take a huge risk.

Because of the sheer exhaustion
you're putting yourself through.

In a very, very extreme environment,
where it's really, really hot,

it's a very big risk to take.

This isn't my sort
of running at all.

But without the cold, without the flu,
you know, could be pushing hard a bit.

Oh, you went for animal?

Animal, thanks for... Yeah.

Yeah.

Right, I'm going to cut along.

I should see you along the way.

It is quite inspiring, actually, to see how
many women are taking on this challenge.

And women are actually, I
think, surprising some of the men.

What they're like in the
actual physical strength of

the top runners, they can
match in the mental strength.

And that's what this race is
about, being mentally very strong.

It's about determination.

And I think women are showing
that they can do that equally as well.

And I think it shows how maligned
kind of women have been through history.

It's quite shocking to
think 1984 was the first

marathon that women were
allowed to run in the Olympics.

And now you see
women out here doing this,

doing something that's
so physically demanding.

Most men couldn't do it.

It's just a job to get done.

Just do the job.

That's all it is.

Whatever way you
can, just do the job.

And the reason you're doing the job
is always in the forefront of your mind.

It's not pushing your
body in terms of running.

It's pushing your body in terms of what
it will tolerate before saying, actually,

no, I don't want to
do, or can't do this.

I mean, this is like 30K.

There's another 208.

And they're harder.

A lot harder.

All of them.

Another morning.

It's Sunday morning at the Sanctuary, and
people might be wondering what happens

on a Sunday morning,
particularly with Percy Bear,

now that he's got an
increased number of fans.

So, we thought we'd just have a
quick visit to see what he's up to.

Percy is the lifelong companion,
with Martin as well by the way,

he's left the lifelong companion where
he takes second place next to Percy.

Have you met Percy?

Percy is always with
Fiona wherever she goes.

Normally he sits in voilà winding Fiona's
hand, ...and it's shaped like a bear,

but a bit like I imagine you
see, you know, you have Indian

spirits that are kind of
replicated in different icons.

I think there's a
spirit within Percy.

So Percy is just a little mascot
of me, my running, like my

cheeky little alter ego that
goes everywhere with me now.

Travelling companion.

Yeah, people then say, you know,
they ask, why are you carrying that?

They ask you the question rather
than you forcing it upon them.

And it's just in a way,
a gentle way, a more

subversive way of drawing
people into the story.

Somebody in Brazil started the Percy
supporter group and people from all around

the world started sending me
bears for the Percy supporter group.

So I put them all in here
and that's where they live.

You can hear Fiona a
long time before you can see

her shouting, can you take
a photo of me and Percy?

That's how you know that Percy's
got a tiny body, great big personality,

absolutely inseparable.

When Percy's there, people
tend to laugh and they joke

and it's kind of an olive
branch to say, I'm one of them.

I'm not, I'm not threatening
and it helps me as well.

I've got another mouse piece where
the focus of attention is not necessarily

always on me because I
don't actually like it too much.

Everybody's counting
like nth grams.

Obviously I'm
counting nth grams.

And then all of a sudden in goes Percy
and he's not actually that light actually.

I think he's gaining weight.

I'm not going to
let him sit at home.

He can suffer it with me.

Stage two of Marathon
des Sables covers 39

kilometers with a cutoff
time of 11 and a half hours.

The first 25 kilometers consist of rocky
plateaus, hills and sand dunes before

making the steep climb and descent over
the mountain pass known as Alutfall Jebel.

You're amongst the best
part of a thousand people,

usually a thousand plus
other people, 35 nationalities.

It attracts people who
want a lifetime adventure.

And they get it in
spades on the MDS.

The MDS is 90% mental and
the other 10% in your head.

I think for extreme runners it's just this
idea that we are just pushing our limits.

We're just so curious to know what our mind
can handle and what our bodies can handle.

The climb tires your
legs but you need a lot of

leg strength to control
your muscles coming down.

Because when your legs get tired, fatigued,
they're not behaving as they should.

That's where I was worried actually
that I might not have the strength.

I was quite concerned that I wouldn't
be able to hold myself together.

Just thinking I'll go for it.

I just want to get down.

And it's prone for injury.

I mean you could injure
yourself at any point.

You could trip, you could
do your ankles, knees.

People fall, they bang
their heads, heat sickness.

Anything can happen at any time.

Actually when we came off
the chapel I felt really strong.

And I ran into the checkpoint and
it was when I stopped I felt awful.

I started to feel
very, very sick.

But fortunately I got enough
water to collect myself.

At the end of the day I'm grateful
that I'm able to even consider doing this.

Because a lot of people
aren't able to do that.

They haven't got their health.

So to be in a position
where you can even

consider coming here
and doing this is a win.

It was hot out there.

And the main thought
passing through my mind

today was how hot
is it in a cattle truck?

And they haven't got any water.

My mind drifts off
always in that direction.

I know I should be thinking
about myself and what I'm doing.

But truly my mind
always compares.

I'm ashamed when I think we're
moaning because we're suffering.

But we're not suffering.

We're not suffering
like animals.

I wouldn't be here if it
weren't for the animals.

No way would I be
away from the sanctuary.

I am here now and I
want to make the best of it.

It is a spectacular place to be.

It's awesomely beautiful.

Serene.

Privileged to be allowed here.

When you can see the finish.

If you can jog or
run into the finish.

It gives you... You think,
well I did actually get it right.

I didn't actually crawl into the finish
and have to walk in and collapse.

I did actually
get that one right.

So, after a long day in the
desert, a hearty meal is required.

But instead of a hearty
meal, we've got this.

So, we have to prepare
ourselves for this.

Do you need this walker?

Looks like it's going to be
a cold meal for me tonight.

I don't eat that much
out on the course.

It's not energy I'm
going to lack out there.

Bearing in mind I only eat one meal
a day at home, I'm not doing that here,

I'm taking snacks and
I am forcing myself.

I would expect to be on my feet all day
at home and eat one meal and that would

include a run and I never ever take
anything in a road marathon so I'm quite

able to run 2.38 in a road
marathon with only taking water.

It's difficult to be surprised by Fiona
because everything she does she does to

the absolute maximum and obviously when
she said she was going to try a marathon I

thought okay I know she's going to do fine
and she did a marathon and she did it I

think under three hours and it was
just like this is your first marathon.

When she started winning marathons
and winning local events you say oh did oh

right okay you've won another one you know
and obviously she was doing it you know to

try and build herself a platform that from
which she could speak and she found that

obviously from winning local races to
winning marathons still wasn't giving her

the platform she wanted
which is when she started

to turn to the you know
the endurance events.

When Fiona was offered the chance to
run at the North Pole it was just like okay

fine you know it's kind of like you expect
her to come up with something that most

people would say what if you say to
someone I've done a marathon people know

it's extreme they know that the North
Pole is extreme so I figured put the two

together North Pole and the Marathon
you've got a win here that's definitive

hardcore and I just literally went out as
normal running came back walked into the

house and said right Martin I've got
something to tell you what's that I want

to do the North Pole
Marathon and he just looked

at me and oh because
of the knee condition.

that I've got I cannot afford to slip
if I slip or tear I dislocate it very very

easily there's nothing to keep it stable
in there so I didn't really know whether

it was going to be possible for me to
run in these conditions the race organizer

wrote to me and said if you will consider
doing it I will give you the place and

then it was like whoa
game on it's a massive

opportunity and it's
might never come again.

when the plane door opens it's just like
whoa the reality just hits you all you can

see is just snow you can hear the ice and
the water underneath you cracking the cold

is the kind of cold that you throw some
water up in the air and it freezes there's

no going back some things like hypothermia
and potential frostbite you've got to be

very very careful I had spoken to the
other runners and there was almost like an

overconfidence to them Fiona was really
refreshing because here she One of the

elite runners
sharing with me, in all

honesty, that she was
terrified just as I was.

And I looked at her and I'm
like, how can you be terrified?

So we're laying there in our cots and just
like staring up at the tent ceiling going,

this is going to be brutal.

And she's like, yep, it's
going to be really hard.

It reached minus 30
at its coldest point.

Like you take a step and you
sink down to knee deep snow.

There are parts that were super icy
and you couldn't really get good footing.

It is one of the most amazing
experiences I've ever had.

Fiona is a legend.

She ended up winning the North
Pole Marathon very, very easily.

Probably I did a bit too well.

It caused a bit of animosity from
the point of view of the other runners,

for a woman to come out here carrying
a small teddy bear and humiliate us.

I placed with the men,
got the course record.

I came in like six and a
half hours later and she

hugged me and she just
said, I am so proud of you.

And I was like, really?

Like, you've been laying here for
six hours waiting for me to finish.

She's like, yeah, but I
think you are the toughest.

She's so incredibly strong
and she kind of denies it in

herself, but she's so willing
to acknowledge it in others.

Honestly, like I've never seen
someone so strong and so, so humble.

When I actually finished the North
Pole Marathon, I was absolutely elated.

Not at winning the race, not thinking of
anything more than the fact that I'd got

through this awesome
achievement of surviving out there.

She rung to say, oh,
oh yeah, I've finished.

How did you do?

Oh, I won.

You won?

You won?

And I broke the course record.

Just like, oh, okay.

The course of stage
three for Marathon du Sable

is exceptionally
challenging and dramatic.

Runners are required to scale three steep
technical mountains over 31.6 kilometers.

The first strenuous ascent forces
racers up a sandy, rock-strewn slope.

Once summited, runners must navigate along
the ridge of João Baba Ali Jebel before

dropping down to checkpoint
one, only to have to climb

back up again on the
other side of a dry riverbed.

In an almost sadistic design, the third
and largest climb takes runners back over

the mountain they scaled
the previous day, a treacherous

technical and exposed
route of jagged volcanic rock.

After descending, 10
kilometers of stony plateau still

lays ahead of racers
before camping for the night.

I'm actually really
worried about today.

I'm seriously worried because it all
climbs, and my knee does not like to climb.

I get to protest something
wrong on the street.

I was just thinking
of that beat.

I was running along yesterday and I got
my cashew nuts out and it all went horribly

wrong with poles banging
around my feet and this was

getting in the right
camoffle with this back open.

And I didn't get
them all in my mouth.

And it kind of went...

I'm on my side and
round my cheek and I'm so

desperate to not drop
these two cashew nuts.

I'm kind of rolling around my
cheek to get them back in place.

What am I doing?

It's two cashew nuts.

And I'm thinking, oh no, that's
like 25 calories getting this.

Don't let it fall on the ground.

There's some sort of ludicrous
mad person going along.

But it puts it in perspective.

Too much perspective.

The reality hits here.

It's not called the
toughest foot race on the

planet because it's 10K,
you know, Sunday morning.

It really is tough.

And they pride themselves
in making it tough.

It's hard and it's long
and it's relentless.

It's completely alien.

And you just want it to go away.

You just want to cry out there.

You can't cry.

I've got a faint idea of
what the climbs were.

And I thought, oh no, they
can't be including all those.

But they did.

That's me gritting it out.

That's not me doing
something that I want to at all.

I would never dare do that at home because
at some point I know my leg would give up.

And today when they said
the three climbs, I thought

if there's three climbs,
there's three descents.

That's a problem to me.

It genuinely is.

I mean, it's brutal.

I think people would be shocked
to see what you've got to do.

It's nothing to do with running.

It's almost like rock climbing.

So steep and sandy.

And you're just left
to your own devices.

You get frightened.

You think, I can't do that.

I cannot do that climbing.

I literally can't do it.

And I can't use my right leg.

It's not got the
power that my left leg.

Everything has to be
done from the left leg.

That scared me.

That really scared me.

This is somebody who was
told they wouldn't walk properly.

When they were younger.

It is insane.

You wouldn't be allowed
to do it in any country.

You wouldn't get away
with health and safety.

You just wouldn't.

It's mental.

You do see grown
men cry out there.

I was just so relieved
to get down there.

I was so worried when I knew
we've got to descend there.

Mum... That was hard.

It was really, really hard.

I just wanted to sit down and cry
and say, I just don't want to do this.

I just don't want to do this.

I just don't want to do it.

I'm doing it for the animals,
I'm not doing it for me.

That's one of the worst
days I've known in this race.

You saw Fiona suffering.

You saw her in a lot of pain.

The most important things that you're
going to do is get ready for tomorrow.

If there's going to be a tomorrow,
you've just got to prepare for it.

This is one thing that makes me really
appreciate when you get back home.

One tiny drop of water and
a towel and it feels so good.

It feels better than any power
shower you could ever go under.

You know, because
you're here in these

conditions and you're
really appreciating it.

You use every bit of it.

Every inch of everything.

Something that in the West
we're guilty of not doing.

I'm not saying everybody
should live like this, you

know, or I'm asking
everybody to live like this.

I'm just asking people to consider
that people do have to live like this.

And how lucky we are to not do.

As you can see, my toenails are
now so blistered they're coming off.

No point in trying
to keep them on.

I'll just pop them
and put iodine off.

Yeah, I'm about to
lose my big toenails.

And they are sore.

They are like sore, man.

They are really...
they got from bashing.

I did something actually
tremendous yesterday.

I was in such a
state of confusion.

I put Tabasco on my toes.

Yeah.

I picked hold of the wrong part.

And in total oblivion, I
just poured it on my toes.

Probably did them
good, actually.

Damn you.

This isn't... This is
a sandstorm, I think.

Have you got two socks there?

Two small ones?

Yeah, two purple ones.

Thank you.

See, there, it just
blows up like that.

Oh, my God.

It's weird that the helicopter
came and suddenly it started.

Really.

Fiona has some remarkable
achievements under her belt.

And she doesn't really get the media
attention that she actually deserves.

When I came back from the North Pole
Marathon, the BBC contacted me immediately.

They said, we'd like you
to come up to Salford.

We'll pay your expenses,
which was a big thing for me.

Bring your mum.

That's fine.

Get your hotel.

We want you to open
and close BBC Breakfast.

And the researchers
said, there's just one thing.

We would prefer it if you didn't
mention the fact that you're vegan.

And I thought, but that's the
whole part of me being there.

That's the punchline.

That's the barrier to getting the
athletic achievements out there.

It's because I've done it with a hidden
agenda, as far as they're concerned.

I wanted to do it to promote something,
which they're not happy to promote.

I sat on the sofa there, live.

And I was literally, the whole time that
they were kind of talking and questioning

me, I was thinking, how do I
mention the fact that, dare I?

Dare I?

I better not.

What do I do?

How do I do it?

How do I say it?

And in the end, they
kind of said to me, why

did you run a marathon
at the North Pole?

And I think that if I'd have said,
because I'm just an airheaded kind of

adrenaline junkie and I just
wanted to do it because it was there.

I think that they could have connected with
that a lot better than the answer I gave.

I'm a lifelong vegan and I'm
a patron of the Vegan Society.

It's their 70th anniversary
next year and I was

looking to do something
really, really special.

So I just thought, what's the
most extreme thing I can do?

I've done a lot of
other marathons.

As I say, I wanted to prove
I could do it on a vegan

diet and raise money because
I run an animal sanctuary.

And so it helped them as well.

The second part of the
interview came later in the show.

There was no uptake
on this vegan diet.

They've completely blanked it.

They didn't want it
on there and that's it.

We have had reporters who've told us off
record, I can't really feature you because

you're flying in the face of
the people who pay our wages.

The advertisers, they're paying
them to sell their meat and dairy.

And here we are promoting
a vegan athlete who's

showing actually you
don't need all that crap.

If Fiona can do what she does and has been
vegan for 40 years, surely a vegan diet

will be enough to manage
you down the shops to

get you weekly shopping
from Tesco or wherever.

So many people
have it in their mind.

I mean, I had it too, this idea
that you need to have meat.

You need to have animal protein
to be able to push harder and faster.

But I really think of what I'm
putting into my body is fuel

that's going to fuel my
workouts but also fuel recovery.

And I think that's probably the biggest
benefit of a plant-based diet is that

ability to fuel it with
the best fuel possible.

But then it's also the fuel that's going
to help recovery, that's going to allow my

muscles to heal, to allow
my body to be ready for

the next workout or to
be ready for the next race.

I genuinely see food as a fuel.

I'm not a food obsessive person.

I respect food.

I respect the fact that
I have enough food.

And that's something
that which a lot of

people in the world
and animals do not have.

She only eats one meal a day.

And she eats that when all
the work is finished for the day.

She will then eat.

And she eats methodically.

Slowly.

And then she goes to
bed and hopefully sleeps.

When I came back from
the North Pole, that's

when the world record
attempt came up.

There's a record to be the
fastest woman in days to actually

do a marathon on every
continent plus the North Pole.

I explored the possibility
of potential costs.

No way we could afford it.

This is an opportunity of getting in the
Guinness Book of World Records as a vegan.

And I'm throwing it away.

And I knew I was
throwing it away.

Because there's no way
I was going to go back

to the North Pole and
run that marathon again.

I thought, this is
just too good to miss.

I just can't not do this.

Surely to goodness,
I can't not do this.

But in the meantime, I'd written to
one or two people to ask for help.

And a guy from America
had actually written

back to me and said
he'd like to support it.

It was pretty much game on then.

The first race I ran, I won.

I didn't intend to.

Martin said to me, you do realize
that if you could do that in every race,

you would actually
become the fastest woman.

You'd get three world
records instead of one.

You'd be the fastest woman in running
time, in actual physical ability-wise.

Not just logistic-wise.

To run a marathon on every
continent and the North Pole.

But the pressure then was on to not just
amble around these races, was actually to

run them and do as
well as I could in them.

So when the accumulated times were
all together, I would be the fastest woman

ever to have actually physically
run on these continents.

We're just saying goodbye to Fiona
and her mum now as they journey off.

We're halfway around
the world to Australia.

Hello, Mrs. Percy,
are you ready?

Did he make the right
decision, finding his coat?

Yeah, he did.

We were in Australia less
time than we were flying there.

Tip out the plane, run the marathon, do
the championship time, get back on the

plane, so that immediately our eyes,
Martin can go to work to cut down the

amount of days off he's
having to facilitate me do this.

Morning, it's eight
o'clock in the morning.

Fiona's getting ready with Percy
to go in the taxi to Omsk in Siberia.

And we're just going to go
through the final checklist

to make sure she's got
everything that she needs to have.

Running gear?

Yep.

Currency?

Yep.

Trainers?

Yep.

What about the training?

Have you done the training?

What training?

For the marathon.

You have to train for them?

Yeah.

The Omsk International Marathon
is the biggest race in Russia.

I'd had no sleep and then tip out and
run placed in it and it was quite tough.

Every time I was running these quicker
times, the pressure was then on to keep

doing it, to get these three
world records instead of

the one world record that
I'd originally set out to do.

And the next challenge
was to go to America.

The nearest one I could find on the
East Coast was the Atlantic City Marathon.

I think I won that race.

When we arrived
home, I was quite poorly.

And I remember, I think I got back
12 days before I got to go to Africa.

And I don't know how I
got through it, but I did.

And I did the time
I wanted to do in it.

So now it was back home
to the UK, try to recover

to do the last two
marathons in this series.

You're getting more and more
tired, more and more prone to injury,

fatigue, illness as well.

You get very, very stressed out.

You've only got one
chance and if something

goes wrong, the whole
thing's out the window.

On the morning of stage
four of MDS, Fiona discovered

that the soles of her
shoes were disintegrating.

The previous days of harsh terrain running
on volcanic rock had taken their toll.

They've just ripped
to pieces underneath.

And it's both of them.

It just basically took the soles
off the tread, just came off.

They're not particularly
built for hours and hours of

climbing and descending in
very, very hostile and hot terrain.

They're built for road running.

My shoes really didn't occur to me because
I've tried and tested them so many times.

It didn't really occur to me.

But that just shows
you what this race is.

It throws up things
that you don't expect.

As I say, I've created
a sole with this.

And if you were then to get
some gaffer tape to hold this in

place or just keep putting
gaffer tape around to give layers.

And if your shoes go, you go.

You go home.

There's nothing you can do.

Mark down there is going
to lend me some gaffer tape

and I'm going to try and tape
them and see how far I go.

Well, I've just got to
go out there and see

if I can see what happens
with my gaffer tape.

Stage four of MDS, also
known as the long stage,

is the equivalent of two
marathons back-to-back.

Runners are given 36 hours to cross the
86.2 kilometers of dunes, dry salt lakes,

river beds, and
gevels along the route.

Runners must push
through the night to make

bivouac four in time
to avoid disqualification.

In an effort to try and preserve her
shoes' remaining tread, Fiona decides to

walk the entire stage
with her fellow tentmates.

I've seen people drop out
because they didn't hydrate enough.

But to be honest, I've
seen more people drop

out because they didn't
take care of their feet.

It's the combination of the heat and
the sweating of your feet and, you know,

the roughness of the sand and
the sand getting into your shoes.

It's like the perfect storm of
why people are forced to drop out.

I'd stop at every checkpoint and
wrap them until I'd got some tread.

I think their backs will hold.

It's just funny.

It was a matter of going
around the camp and

trying to beg and
borrow tape from people.

I think any kilometer that the soles of
these shoes are now protected is a win.

It's just brutal.

You actually are looking at 86 kilometers
with a giant backpack in hostile terrain,

hostile conditions, climates.

Trudging.

The thing is, it's not
the last stage today.

So even if you get
through today on no shoes,

you've got a marathon to
worry about on no shoes.

The whole stage, it
had to be weighted.

What do you do?

Do you hammer your shoes and try and get
off your feet as quickly as possible but

risk hammering them too much so you
can't actually enter the marathon stage?

Or do you take it
really, really easy, watch

every step and try
and nurse them home?

It's like it makes
you want to cry.

Because, you know, thinking
you're going to be out here doing this.

And then I've got to
go through tomorrow.

Just praying.

It's grim when you look at it and
think, right, you know, 86 kilometers,

even if you do a relatively
decent pace, factoring

in stops, you're looking
at a cozy 23 hours.

And it's literally going
through checkpoint

after checkpoint, fixating
on getting to a point.

You just sit.

Then it's body and
equipment management.

First thing before I was actually seeing
to myself was looking at the shoes.

I just laid in bed last
night, so I'm not doing it.

I'm not putting
myself through that.

The disappointment of having
to go out there now, knowing that

you probably might have to
pull out because of your shoes.

It's not easy.

It's relentless.

I mean, you've just got
to keep moving forward.

Demoralizing.

You can't see the terrain.

You can't see what's up front.

So you just have to rely on having enough
strength to cope with whatever comes.

Night's just a different game to running
at night as opposed to running in the day.

That's when the demons
come to play at night.

And they do play some fairly
nasty tricks on you, so it's really hard.

You've got to go dig
really deep to get yourself

out of some of the holes
that your mind puts you in.

And that requires
extraordinary depth of character.

You know what, an ox
or a horse or a donkey do

things like that, they've
been hardly stopped.

It's been a tree!

And you know you're
going to be out there for a

long time and you're just
hoping your body holds up.

That's the main thing,
you're just desperately

hoping your body and
your mind holds up.

Well, we're just waiting for the taxi
to come to take Fiona to the airport.

What's the situation down here?

For what the annual
Egg & Spoon competition.

That's what you've
been training for?

Yeah That's not right.

I think you're going to
run across the desert.

I don't think it's an Egg
& Spoon competition.

Are you telling me that all your training
has been based around Egg & Spoon.

Oh yeah.

We've got the Egg & Spoon
set that we've been training with.

That's the Peppa Pig Egg &
Spoon set... Made of plastic.

Yeah.

Well I'm sorry
but that's not right.

You're gonna have
to give those to me.

We went off to South America, and I
have to say, if I'd have known what I was

letting myself in for, I question
whether I would have actually gone.

It was so horrible.

And I'm forever grateful that my mum
actually went with me and witnessed it,

because if she hadn't, I don't
think she would have believed it.

The Atacama Volcano Marathon is extreme in
a very different way to the ice marathons.

It's one of the highest marathons in
the world, so you start at 14,500 feet and

you've only got 11% oxygen, so
about half what you'd have at sea level.

And I'd convinced myself
that it wouldn't be too

bad running a marathon
at 14,000 feet altitude.

I really hadn't given
it that much thought.

Running at altitude, I think especially
for someone who comes from sea level,

is definitely a challenge.

It is very, very extreme.

I think...

It's more extreme and potentially
more risky than the ice marathons.

You've got to contest with the fact that
you're running at altitude, but you're not

kind of running, you are
battling very, very bad terrain.

About 28k.

I rolled my knee on a stone or
whatever it was, I don't know.

I just rolled my
knee and slipped.

I knew I'd damaged it
badly the minute I did it.

I just thought, OK, I'm
going to have to walk, I'm

going to have to do what
I've got to do to finish.

And it's not going to be
pretty, and it really wasn't.

If I'd just been trying
to do this for myself, I

wouldn't have put myself
through it, I have to say that.

But I wasn't doing
it for myself, so I did.

And I remember laying in the back of this
ambulance, 14,400 feet up the side of a

volcano in the Atacama
Desert, thinking, how

the hell am I going
to recover from this?

The doctor has just told me that I
am not going to run again this year.

It was November,
November the 14th.

How the hell am I going to
run in Antarctica in five days?

Just complete silence,
game over kind of thing.

I couldn't even bend my leg.

And we got back to the hotel.

Mum and I, we just went back
to our room and thought, what?

This is the worst nightmare that
could possibly have happened.

We got into Santiago, and I
was pretty much panicking.

And we went off to Antarctica.

And I thought,
this is not possible.

I was really scared.

I just couldn't run.

I just couldn't bend my leg.

I didn't know what to do.

I got all these
expectations resting on me.

Guilt, fear.

I've got these world records.

I'm dicing with whether
I can do them or not.

I've failed, basically.

I just thought, how am I
going to possibly keep warm?

It was very, very cold.

I won't say I prepared myself
for my run, because I didn't

think with this knee that
was just constantly throbbing.

And I was like severely depleted
from the Atacama race anyway.

And I was in a lot of pain,
which was very, very worrying.

I'm just going to run,
shuffle, crawl, slide.

It's whatever I've got to do.

As long as the knee continues at this
pain level and doesn't get any worse,

as long as I can just block that out,
I might be able to just keep going.

You're so aware of treading this fine
balance between something go wrong.

And if it goes wrong, you've
got no way of making it go right.

You just can't.

And it hits you very quickly.

It really does hit very quickly.

One minute you're
running in fog.

And the next minute, it's just like
some curtain's been drawn in front of you.

It was absolutely majestic.

Just the ethereal beauty of looking
around you and seeing nothing and no one.

And think, like, check
this, I'm in Antarctica.

Wow.

As the kind of kilometres
and miles ticked by, I

realised that I was
beginning to catch runners.

I don't know, it was
like the total epiphany.

The Fiona that had been worried and
in pain with the knee kind of left my body.

And the spirit of a new
Fiona came into my body.

And it was like, wow.

Perhaps I'm not
going that slowly.

Perhaps this isn't
completely out the window.

Perhaps I can still salvage
something from this race.

Perhaps I can, dare I say, break this
record of being the fastest woman in

actual running time to
go to these continents.

These extra two
bonus world records.

And dare I even dream
it, that I can win it.

So it all kind of came
rushing upon me all at once.

Seeing the camp, seeing the
gantry, seeing the finish line.

And more importantly, seeing
the tape being held across.

For the first lady home.

Broke the tape,
nearly broke my neck

because I fell over on
the tape and slipped.

Very, very, very on ladylike.

I said, oh, did I win?

That's the only
thing, did I win?

And he said, yeah,
yeah, you won.

And you even broke
the course record.

I couldn't actually believe it.

I still don't know how I did it.

But I did.

And, yeah, that
was my world record.

LAUGHTER Fiona Oakes,
set three world records.

Fastest aggregate time to complete
a marathon on each continent.

Fastest aggregate time
to complete a marathon

on each continent
and the North Pole.

Both cumulatively and elapsed.

Stage five of Marathon du
Sable is the final leg of the race.

At 42.2 kilometers, it is
a marathon distance run.

And the second longest
stage of the entire week.

The course forces runners
along painfully uneven

terrain before sending them
down into a deep, dry wash.

After climbing out, they
must traverse a long section

of rocky plateaus and
steep, windblown sand dunes.

The course then passes through
the ancient and abandoned

village of Mifis in the final
stretch to the finish line.

That really, really stung.

I know my toenail
is going to come off.

When it does come off, I don't
want it to be loose in my shoe.

I'm feeling nervous about today,
but I think everyone in the tent agrees

you're feeling pretty
blessed to be in a position to

be sitting here, even
considering going out there.

Because at the beginning
of the week, getting to

Friday does actually seem
like a daunting prospect.

In the beginning of the
week, yeah, yeah, whatever

happens, I'm going to crawl
to the finish on my island.

And then, even yesterday, when the
long stage was over, people then start

thinking, oh my God, what if
something goes wrong in the night?

What if I wake up with a cold?

What if I wake up with a cramp?

You know, what if?

All the what ifs.

Because that long stage
takes so much out of people

that you don't want to
have done it for nothing.

And that was my main
concern with the shoe.

The worst result comes,
it is a couple of stones

and plastic bags and
some more gaffer tape.

You know, whatever it takes.

But let's say we hope
it doesn't come to that.

People listen to Fiona
talk and they come to

me afterwards and say,
you must be very proud.

I say, no, pride
reflects onto me.

I look at her in awe.

And then the guilt kicks in.

The guilt at having brought a life into
the world that is so compassionate and

feeling and loving that she has to push
herself to these tremendous lengths to try

to get a platform so that she can
speak for those who have no voice.

I've been very strong, but
I am very, very sensitive.

I abhor cruelty to
humans and animals alike.

I don't think that in the 21st century
especially people should be suffering and

I certainly don't think animals
should be suffering at people's hands.

I can't turn a blind eye.

It's not in me to do that.

I always want to try and
do the right thing and do as

much as I possibly can
whilst I'm here and able to do it.

Fiona finishes with a total
running time of 46 hours, 31

minutes, 26 seconds in the
top third of female runners.

It's kind of mixed
emotions when you finish.

It's been the focus of your life for
a long time before you came here.

And for the last week
you've been fully aware

that you're working toward
this particular moment.

And when it comes, it's not
exactly a letdown, but it's just...

I think, to be honest with
you, it demands more relief.

I'm all talked out about it now.

It's done.

It's over.

Yeah, we've done it.

So it's move on and
do something else now.

Go home, feed my lambs.

That's where I want to be.

So much want to be.

So, yeah, that's
what it's all about.

Fiona, she's so pure.

And she's just doing it, like,
everything from her heart.

She's not defined...
by a physical condition.

She doesn't define herself
by her extraordinary running.

She does this
completely selflessly.

For her, it's her
passionate belief about

her paganism and about
her animal sanctuary.

Part of what makes her so
incredible is that she's just so humble.

Her life and her work with the
animals, with her sanctuary, drives her.

It gives her a focus
for her running.

For so many reasons, I want Fiona to
succeed in her running and her advocacy.

I think sometimes
people look at individuals

like Fiona and it's like,
oh, they're superhuman.

Maybe she does have some
genetic abilities that have

helped her, but she's got
an incredible amount of will.

And she's a great example for what you
can continue to do throughout a lifetime.