In August 2019, 25-year-old Rosie Watson set off on a two-year journey to run from her home in the Lake District across Europe and Asia to Mongolia. The self-supported journey had a purpose beyond adventure alone: to find people tackling the ecological and climate crisis and share their stories of positive, healthy alternatives for how we live.

Living out of her tent or staying with strangers, Rosie was eight months into her run when the borders of Kosovo, where she was staying, closed due to the coronavirus pandemic, leaving her to wait it out in the country until the world gets moving again. During that time, Rosie answered some of my questions about her New Story Run via email about her adventure and experiences so far.

© Mark Colon/World Marathon Challenge

In February 2019, British runner Susannah Gill became the fastest woman to complete the 777 World Marathon Challenge, running a marathon on each of the 7 continents in 7 days – in a total time of 24 hours, 19 minutes and 9 seconds. She ran in minus temperatures in snowy Antarctica and through the night in Australia. Her average marathon time was a speedy 3:28, despite running the 7 marathons back-to-back on blurred time zones.

Susannah’s written a book about her experience, Running Around the World – How I Ran 7 Marathons on 7 Continents in 7 Days, which has just launched. Between training, work and book publicity, she made time to answer my questions about this incredible endurance feat, along with what she’s been up to since.

© Hamish Frost

In January, Polar adventurer and endurance athlete, Jenny Davis, was 19 days into her gruelling mission to be the fastest solo and unsupported person to ski to the South Pole, when she developed peritonitis (infection of the inner lining of the stomach) and a bowl infection which required a medical evacuation, ending her expedition.

Thankfully, she recovered but that still meant coming to terms with the end of her project. The ultrarunner and mountaineer, who has finished a host of extreme ultramarathons (from the Arctic Ultra 250 and Iran Silk Road ultra to the Marathon des Sables and Cape Wrath Ultra) tells me about what she learned from the experience, why she doesn’t fear failure, and the upcoming challenges which are getting her excited now.

© Martina Valmassoi

American trail runner Katie Schide spent her childhood and early adult years hiking in the mountains, so it’s perhaps not a surprise that she now negotiates them so quickly on foot. After swapping America for Zurich, the almost 27-year-old (it’s Katie’s birthday on Thursday) geologist now has the Swiss mountains as her training ground and a slew of mountain race wins to her name. A two-time Pierra Menta Ete race winner, Katie’s also won the 85km Maxi Race, and last year she added a cherry on top with an incredible second place at the CCC, the 100km mountain race from the UTMB.

Here, Katie spills the beans on hiking, hut life, her CCC podium and ONE&1 – Run to Camp, the new two-day partner race she and her race winning other half, Germain Grangier, have developed for April this year.

Edwina Sutton is a coach and ultra-runner whose achievements include taking silver medal at the British 100km Championships, competing at the Ironman World Championship in Kona and winning the South Downs Way 50 mile ultra. She is also mother to three children aged 3, 6 and 8, and lives with her husband and family in Morzine, in the French Alps.

Here, Eddie shares some brutally honest chat about the demands and joys of being a mum and ultra-runner, and just how crazy the juggling act is.

©Mattia Rizzi

If you’re a skyrunning fan you’ll know that this week the world’s best mountain athletes are hitting Scotland for the Skyrunning World Championships. Amongst them is Hillary Gerardi, the 31-year-old American skyrunner who has taken wins on some of the calendar’s most technical races this year. I’m talking the Tromsø Skyrace, Trofeo Kima and the Monte Rose SkyMarathon, to name a few!

Hillary is on the blog today, where in our Q&A the formidable skyrunner talks about her training week, conquering crazy elevation and her love of technical terrain.

Photo Rachel Link

Whilst struggling with severe depression six years ago, American Alison Mariella Désir discovered running. It saved her life and she ran her first marathon in 2012. The following year, in a bid to share her love of running and its benefits within her own community, in Harlem, NYC, Alison founded Harlem Run, a running movement with a vision to empower urban communities to get fit. Using the power of running as a vehicle for activism and social change, she went on to found Run 4 All Women to campaign for women’s issues such as reproductive rights.

I love what Alison is doing and I’m excited to have her on Lessons in Badassery via this short Q&A.

Photo: Alexi Pappas

After reading American marathon record holder, Deena Kastor’s memoir, Let Your Mind Run: A Memoir of Thinking My Way to Victory, which reveals how changing her mindset revolutionised her running performance, I knew I had to invite Deena on to Lessons in Badassery to find out more.

In this Q&A, the 45-year-old Olympic bronze medallist and multiple American record holder chats about positivity, gratitude and how adjusting her mindset unlocked the secret to her running success.

Despite working a jam-packed 80-hour week, ultra-runner Jen Scotney managed to squeeze in enough training to comfortably scoop 3^rd lady at the 108-mile Spine Challenger race earlier this year. Now, the 36-year-old Peak District resident and Montane athlete is gearing up for an even bigger ultra-running challenge: to complete the Northern Traverse, a 190 mile coast-to-coast race from St Bees to Robin Hood’s Bay, next month.

Ahead of her race, Jen chats about how she’s training and preparing for this epic challenge, and reveals how double-run days are the secret to fitting in ultra-running training with the demands of a full-on job.

Photo Credit: Damiano Levati for Red Bull

A new addition to the 2017 race calendar, the Vertical Kilometer™ World Circuit hopes to capitalise on the growing popularity of uphill, vertical racing with the introduction of a competitive series.

A spin-off of the popular Skyrunner World Series, the VK World Circuit includes 16 vertical kilometre races around Europe (plus one in the US), raced as a series. The idea: gain points for your position in each race and compete for the overall series win. A mix of new courses and classic race routes, the race length actually varies from 1km to a max of 5km.

For us mere mortals, however, it’s not about racing but the simple (!) goal of reaching the summit to enjoy a nauseous mix of elation and total exhaustion.