I’m Fran, I’m an Ultra Runner and Triathlete based in Inverness, sunny Scotland. I also lead
the Run Club Inverness, a trail running club in Inverness for far not fast runners.
Firstly, this is difficult to write because I have Plantar Fasciitis so the thing, I do to take care of my mental health and stability, is the thing I currently can’t do!
I don’t consider myself to be a person who has had a difficult upbringing or traumatic life.
Like everyone, I have my demons, but I am so thankful to be who I am today and have the
health I have. BUT something that has always affected my mental wellbeing is my dad
walking out and choosing never to be a part of mine and my siblings’ life. Let me tell you it
took until I was coming into my late 20’s and early 30’s to navigate this and finally learn how
to come through the other side.
The hardest thing I had to deal with was feeling like I was never really good enough, or have the confidence to achieve, when things became tough, I would be the first person to give up, make a new plan and start again on Monday.
Now, I consider myself a high achiever who is always seeking new ways to develop and move forward – i.e., now I also dabble in triathlon because WHY NOT? The thing that truly helped with this was discovering Ultra Running.
I have always been a runner who felt like they weren’t going fast enough, felt ashamed of their Strava stats and never understood why I couldn’t just ‘be better’. It wasn’t until I turned 30 I finally decided that actually, I didn’t want to be the person who always gave up and flaked out, If I went into my 30s like this I’m risking spending my whole life like this.
So I decided to sign up for an ultra!
Not the first one I had signed up for – I think by this point I signed up for two and didn’t start, in keeping with my “your not good enough, why don’t you just try again another time”. Anyway, I signed up for an ultra, not just any ultra, a 50 miler!
I started to work with a coach who would program my runs and taught me how to fuel which wasn’t the cheapest option, but I needed something to be accountable for. This is also the time when I set up my running Instagram account @UltraFran_– again, for accountability.
So, with someone who programmed the workouts, all I had to do was show up, which I did, and six months later, I ran 50 miles and have since ran 4 ultra marathons.
How? The best advice I can give anyone is just start.
That’s your first step.
Once you make a start and decide how your going to be accountable, that’s you on the journey.
How to tackle the 6 months of training? Well don’t think about the race – think about your next run only. I think a lot of people think “omg I cant even run todays 10k, how the hell do I run an ultra?” stop this. There's a reason you’re not running your race today, its like building a house, every brick counts, and you need to place the bricks in order to put the roof on.
If you concentrate on one run at a time, you will eventually get to the final victory lap.
The second piece of advice:
Would be to build that discipline. The times when you feel like you can’t, are the times you just have too. Each time you choose to do the hard thing, you’re conditioning your mind not to give up, and changing how it responds to things that are difficult. When motivation dies, discipline will see you through.
Now, lets talk about the Run Club!
I found myself wishing there was a group of people I could run with, who were like me and just wanted to get out on the trails, have some fun, take pictures and enjoy themselves without being worried about having to run at a certain pace.
I couldn’t find one so I decided to make my own – something I NEVER would have
seen myself doing.
But, thanks to the running community that I had started to grow, I had met people who were supportive.
Since starting the run club I have met so many wonderful people with different stories and backgrounds who run for different reasons. Without this group I never would have ran my longest ultra yet (Ultra X Scotland, 110km), they helped me so much during the back to back runs, keeping my morale up and keeping me moving.
There is something so empowering about finding your people. I also just love hearing about all the races they’re doing and joining them on their long runs.
Since starting this run club and running ultra marathons, I have never been happier. I’m
finishing my degree, looking to do my masters, dabbling with starting my own business and
even trying out triathlon! I still have struggles, I’m still a human, but, something I have to
remind myself about is that I’m a bloody ultra runner – I can do hard things and I have done
hard things.
Looking forward, next year I had hoped to do an Ironman – however, its not the right time. I
am thinking of something just as epic in the running space so please keep an eye out on my
Instagram for further updates!
You can do hard things.
Fran
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