She believes that as race distances increase beyond 200 miles, the performance gap between male and female athletes decreases because success becomes more dependent on mental persistence and problem-s

“I think as the distance increases it becomes a little more equal for sure because then it is a lot in your head and it's about persistence and problem solving and some stubbornness, all those factor in quite a bit as you're out there for over 24 hours.”

Ultrarunning can be used as a healthy tool for managing challenging emotions and processing grief.

“I'd find myself just getting my shoes and I'd do the the same route I was in the family home at the time small town in Bedford sh I'd run and do this 5K Loop over and over again”

Ultrarunning serves as a safe form of voluntary suffering that allows individuals in recovery to push their limits without the destructive consequences of addiction.

“voluntary suffering, you know, it's like you're you're putting yourself into a situation that you're you're suffering, but you always have the ability to tap out if you want to, is something that we can't do in real life, that we could never do when we were like in the addiction like phase of our li”

He suggests that the mental game is the primary differentiator in winning ultra races at the elite level because all top competitors have already reached similar levels of physical training.

“Right yeah ultimately I think the differentiator is in the mental game because everybody especially at the elite level is training really hard and there's only so much training that you can do before you get injured or you over train, right? So when you toe the line at the starting line you can be a”