But unless my life is in danger, I will not leave that track. I make sure they understand not just the practical stuff, like what I need to eat and drink throughout the race, but also my mental state. That’s what gets me to the finish line.įor a 24-hour race, I prepare “crew notes” for my team – the people at the side of the track who are looking after me. I will keep going.” The power of the mind is incredible. I was ready with a counter voice that said, “I can handle this. I worked with a coach who helped me to visualise, as clearly as possible, the setting of the race and how I’d feel at different points, so that negative voice wouldn’t take me by surprise. You have to prepare for it and learn to control it. That negative voice in your brain tells you to stop, to give up it tells you that you’re not good enough. In ultra running, as with many other sports, you get the crap kicked out of you mentally and physically. If a runner says, “I could never run an ultramarathon,” I would say: “Then don’t try it tomorrow, but don’t rule it out forever.” You can do amazing things if you just take it one step at a time. A marathon seemed like an impossibility, until I stood at the finish of my first half marathon. When I ran 5k for the first time, I couldn’t see beyond 10k.

I didn’t wake up one day and suddenly think, “I’m going to run 150 miles.” It was a very gradual process. Up until my early thirties, I was a smoker.

The author of One Track Mind reveals the mental tools that make it possible to run six marathons in a single day. At 50, he was the oldest athlete ever to make their debut for Great Britain.

In 2019, former corporate lawyer, entrepreneur and The Supper Club member Michael Stocks was selected to run in the 24-Hour World Championships.

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