I've always been into running, but I had quite a bad knee injury when I was 15, tearing my ACL freakishly young. I suppose trails are a bit more forgiving, so that's kind of how I got into trail running.

Then, I don't know, my mind works in there. I quite like having challenges. It's like a weird addiction. I'm always doing something; I'm never really training for nothing, but I feel like it helps me in other aspects of my life.

I think it helps me with my job and everything else because, I don't know, it kind of shows you that you have determination.

I've done maybe four or five ultras now, a few 50Ks, and then last year I did a multi-day one. I literally did a 50k last weekend, and I'm training for a one hundred kilometer race next month.

I'm very nervous about my 100 because I'm worried that it's too long. So the multi-day one—I think it was two days actually—I did 60 kilometers and then 50, which was quite nice because you had a break and then everyone else was there in the evening. It was a social thing.

I found the second day much easier than I thought I would, probably because the distance was broken up. Whereas being in your own head for 100 kilometers, which I'm now thinking might take me up to 20 hours, is actually quite a long time. So I've not really thought that through. I'd wanted to do it, and now it’s a month away, I'm really kind of regretting doing it. I feel a bit underprepared, but we'll see.

It's hard because the aim is supposed to be a bit different from a marathon. You're not trying for pace; you almost want the pace to be really slow. So it's not boring, but you're running at a pace which is so slow, and then obviously in the hills, and it takes ages. So it's a big commitment.

Really, I'm quite relaxed with hill training, which is not great for ultra running, but I live in East London, so I try and go to Hampstead as much as possible, or kind of do some hill reps, like hill sprints, or sometimes I'll drive out somewhere, maybe to Epping Forest, run around in my trail shoes, and try and replicate a bit of elevation, but it's never really anything close to if you lived in the countryside.

I think a lot of the time I don't actually think about anything. I think it's a weird headspace, but I mean, sometimes I just talk to random people that I meet and end up chatting with them. I think I’m a bit too young sometimes, not too young, but a lot of the people are way older. I’m only 27, and everyone seems to be in their 40s and above.

I find it really inspiring seeing all the runners, especially as they've kind of spent their whole life building an endurance base. I just love meeting, well, anyone really on the runs, but I remember once I met this 55-year-old woman, and she was podiuming on so many, and I just thought it was so inspiring to be able to see that anyone can really do the races. I suppose it gives me a good insight into what my future is going to be.

The two-day ultra I did completely ruined my toenails. My toes are fucked. I think it's just repetitive force. When you go downhill and your feet hit the front of your shoes—by the end, it can be so painful. So I think from the two-day one that I did, my shoes just weren't big enough. I think with trail shoes you have to go up at least one size or more to give your feet room to expand and get wet or whatever. And I think it was just bashing on my front toe for the whole thing, which is not great.

I’ve binned those shoes; they honestly ruined my feet. I did another ultra earlier in the year, and someone gave me a tube of trail toes. So I literally put it all over my feet before my ultra, and I got such bad blisters, which I think is literally the opposite of what it's meant to do. For three days, I couldn't wear shoes after my ultra on Saturday because my feet had just been completely ripped apart. But after, just shoes off, sliders on, and hope for the best.

I think for me, the bit I enjoy the most is the mental resilience. It's proving to myself that I can do hard things. I really enjoy the mental aspect and pushing myself and seeing how far my body can go, really. I just think showing that I have mental toughness has really helped me in other areas of my life.