One Challenge to Bind Them All - My Story Part 5/6

This is the fifth article in a six part series, capturing the experiences that have shaped my life most and put me on the path to creating iamYiam, which is building the future of personalised healthcare through an AI powered companion, syd.

I got off the aeroplane, hands sweaty and heart pounding in anticipation of what was to come.?

I had arrived in Melbourne, Australia for day 1 of the 777 Challenge which involved running 7 Marathons on 7 Continents in 7 Days.

The invitation to do the challenge with a group of 30 other brave (and crazy) souls had come just a few days after I’d been given a clean bill of health.

The goal was to raise funds for underprivileged children across Africa and India but I also saw it as an opportunity to push myself physically and see just how well I’d recovered from my recent health problems.

The previous Guinness World Record for running 7 marathons on 7 continents was 26 days and that had been completed by a professional marathon runner.

Now here I was, a professional desk-sitter with a track record of life threatening health conditions, trying to do this in 7 days.

“What am I doing here?” I thought to myself. “Am I crazy? Am I going to survive this?”

Fortunately I didn’t have too much time to ruminate and when the starting gun went off, the adrenaline coursed through my veins and I put one foot in front of the other.?

The whole journey was an exploration of the boundaries of physical endurance and mental resilience, in an array of changing conditions from the heat of Melbourne and Abu Dhabi to the freezing cold of Antarctica via Paris, Tunis, New York and Santiago, Chile.

For the most part of the 7 days, sleep eluded me and I ran almost fully on adrenaline and energy gels, which unsurprisingly, I haven’t touched again since.

After covering a distance of 294km, crossing the finish line in Antarctica was both exhilarating and anticlimactic. As cliché as it sounds, it really had been all about the journey.

That time running marathons was the most meaningful time I’d spent with myself in my whole life.

The intensity of the experience and the time in motion made it impossible for me not to examine the most important parts of my life and the biggest questions any person can ask.

At the end of the challenge, I felt clearer than ever on who I was, what my life experiences had taught me and what I wanted to spend my time on this planet doing.

What’s more, I’d survived one of the toughest physical challenges possible, confirming that my attempts to manage my health had been successful beyond measure.

Now I wanted to help other people in the way I’d helped myself.?

Lorena

The final article in the series will be published Friday 16 July