If you had told me this time last year that I would be meeting one of (IMO) the most incredible female ultra runners ever I would never have believed you.
But it is true. The weekend just gone - Saturday 5th January, myself and Sarah travelled to London to meet the one and only Marvelous Mimi Anderson.
For those of you who don't know Mimi you can find out a lot more about her on her blog - http://marvellousmimi.com) Mimi is an inspirational runner who loves pink and just happens to be a world record holding grandmother.
To name but a few Mimi's achievements include;
- World record for the fastest crossing on foot of Ireland - Sept 2012 - 345 miles in 3 days, 15 hours36 minutes and 55 seconds
- Viking Way Ultra - April 2012 - 147.9 miles 3rd overall and only lady to finish
- Spartathlon 2011 - 245k non stop race, 1st Brit, 3rd female
- Double Badwater - July 2011 (as if once wasn't enough) - 1st British female to complete the double
Mimi joined the Facebook page I had made for the Ocean floor Ultra (before the official page was created) and even seeing her name pop up caused me to jump up and down with excitement. I had listened to her interview on talk ultra and following that had read her blog from start to finish. I tentatively sent her a message asking if she would be running the race - not at all expecting a reply but there it was not long after - I couldn't believe it. We carried on chatting between myself, mimi and Sarah and eventually arranged to meet up for a coffee as Mimi was kind enough to offer to meet us and give us some advice for the run.
Travelling to London on Saturday morning I didn't feel too nervous, that is until we got to the hotel where we were meeting her and then I started to feel it. But in she came and I knew it was her straight away - she was of course wearing pink :)
Well what can I see - she was simply Marvellous - we got through 3 cups of coffee and a glass of wine each and talked for hours about Mimi's experiences in races, what methods she used to keep her going through the tough times and the longer runs, what items to leave in our drop bags, which backpacks we were using (inov-8 25 ltr kindly donated by inov-8) to tape or not to tape the feet, whether or not to wear 3/4 length bottoms or shorts the list goes on
In one afternoon we got more advise than I think either of us has had thus far and I cannot thank Mimi enough for taking the time out of her day to meet with us. We had such a good time and really enjoyed chatting away. It's just a shame the time had to come to an end.
We have arranged to meet with Mimi when we get back from the run to let her know how we got on and to show her our pictures from the race :) I have to finish it now just so I can say hello again :)
Of course we couldn't end the afternoon without a picture with our running idol
So a big thanks once again to Mimi it was wonderful to meet you and I look forward to seeing you again once the race is completed.
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