[00:50.6] - Speaker 1

Today we are so excited to have Nicola with us. Nicola is actually Gail's very good friend, and today's episode is one of our special kind of the human side of grit. So it's more like stories of people that have experienced something or come back from something that has required a lot of grit and determination and inner strength. And from the little bit that I've heard so far, Nicola absolutely checks all those boxes. So, Nicola, thank you so much for joining us and for giving your time to be here. And I'm going to head over to Gail because, Gail, I think you would be the best person to maybe introduce Nicola and set the scene of what it is that we're going to be talking about today.

[01:39.7] – Speaker 2
Okay, awesome. Thanks so much, Cands. And hey, Nicks. How are you today?

[Nicola]
Good, thank you.

Good, good. Thank you so much for joining us. So I think first what I'd like to do is just let Nicola introduce herself and just tell us, you know, what she does kind of for a living, and then we'll go on to Nix's amazing story. You guys are just going to be blown away. So next you want to just tell us a little bit about you, what you do, and then we'll move on to your story.

[Nicola]
Cool. So thank you so much for having me. It's a real privilege, actually, and I'm super excited to share my story and yeah, just life. So I'm a biokineticist by profession and I help people with their muscle strengths. So basically looking at strengthening muscles and looking at imbalances and your biomechanics and how the body moves, how the body works, what's not working, what is working, what's overworking and trying to help people basically in on the biomechanical journey.

And yeah, so that's my profession. I'm really passionate about it. It's. Yeah, I wake up every morning loving what I do. And then on kind of as a little side thing, I also am involved in an NGO and called Amatuba and we work on mentoring young girls.

I have three young girls that are. I mentor in the high school space.

[03:19.2] – Speaker 2

Oh, fantastic. So I can attest to how passionate Nicks is in her career. I was telling Candace early that I am probably Nicola's worst client because when.

When I injury or she's helping me and I've had a few. And then she'll say to me, okay, three sets of whatever it is we're doing. And then after the first set, I look at her And I'm like, three sets really? And she's like, will you just stop complaining and just get on with it.

[03:36.5] – Speaker 2
And she's always like, she will always push you just that little bit more, little bit more that it's how you end up, you know, rehabbing and coming. Right. And so this actually is a great way to lead into our story. So Nicola, Nicola.

[03:52.9] – Speaker 2
Oh, and Candace and I, we are all in South Africa for those of you who don't know. And we have a running race in South Africa called the Comrades Marathon. Now the Comrades Marathon is like no other marathon that I think I've ever seen in that it is a.

[04:10.8] – Speaker 2
So it's about anywhere between 90 and 100 km, depending on the actual route for the day, for that particular day that year, which is equating to around the 60 mile mark for those of you who you know, know miles better than kilometers.

[04:29.8] – Speaker 2
And so this is a real life feat of human endurance. They call it like the world's ultimate human race. Yeah, the ultimate human race. And, and it really is an amazing race to run. But it's quite funny because in South Africa if people hear that you run, the first question they ask you is, have you done the Comrades Marathon?

[04:51.6] – Speaker 2
Like they don't look at, oh, you've done a 20, you know, you've done a half marathon or a full marathon. So the Comrades Marathon is like this, this event that's kind of really on, on most runners, not every runner, but on most runners dreams. And that's where Nicks and I, not I can't even remember how we met, but we started training together for Comrades.

[05:13.4] – Speaker 2
I think maybe Nick probably one day said, oh, why don't we do the Comrades? And I was like, yeah, okay, let's get going. I think it may have been the other way around. I can believe that. Luckily we too old to remember, remember. Absolutely.

[05:28.6] – Speaker 2
So next, do you want to just tell us maybe first of all like what it takes to actually get to the start line? Because my first comrades, I never got to the start line. So what it actually gets takes to get you to the start line, first of all.

[Nicola]
Okay, so for this, for Comrades being the ultimate human race run in South Africa, you have to have a qualifying time. So in order to to you can enter but you can't register or run without a qualifying time.

So your qualifying time is probably the key thing to get you into this race or this run. And it you need to run a marathon distance in under five, four hours and 50 minutes. Or back in those days it was five hours.

So it varies from year to year, just depending. And so basically your start, the start of your training is to be able to get you to, number one, run a marathon, and then number two, run a marathon in under four hours and 50 minutes, let's call it.

And, and from there you just keep building, building, building, building, building. Your, your running, I guess you're running distance and therefore your endurance and you just keep loading, yeah, loading, loading, loading week in and week out.

So it's probably. Yeah, people talk about a specific kind of like you should have run a thousand kilometers to run a comrades marathon. So that varies from person to person. But basically it's weekend in and weekend out.

[07:06.2] – Speaker 2
Week in, week out with. Yeah, running. Absolutely. So for those who looking at miles, so that's about 630 miles in total. They say to be ready to run the comrades marathon. And the other thing, of course, Nick, which you helped me with so much, is you have to be able to get to the start line injury free.

[07:25.7] – Speaker 2
Because as you learn and as you run, you pick up injuries, you often pick up injuries. I think in my first couple of years of running, I picked up more injuries. As your legs and everything gets used to it, you pick up less. But yeah, so, okay, so that you can see.

[07:43.2] – Speaker 2
I think most of us start training for comrades pretty much after the rest period of the comrades that you just finished. So it's almost like you train for a whole year to make it to comrades. Okay, so next, let's just chat about it. So you're on the line of comrades and they play Chariots of Fire and everybody gets these goosebumps.

[08:06.1] – Speaker 2
You in this huge crowd, I think that they have about 15,000 runners. You're in this huge crowd. Everybody has trained blood, sweat and tears to get there. And the cock crows and everybody heads on their way. So could you just give us some insight into the actual running of the race?

[08:24.7] – Speaker 2
Like how you get, get from kilometer 0 to kilometer 95. And I mean, so just before Nicola answers, just as a spectator, you know, so I, I run. But okay, I'm ashamed to say it or proud to say.

[08:42.8] – Speaker 1
It's not on my radar. Half marathon without my knees buckling in, you know, but every year, I mean, I am glued to that TV and I watch Comrades, you know, the entire day.

And the thing that I often say to my husband is like, you, you are like struck by how are people doing this? Like, how are they running for Certain people run for like. I think the cutoff time is. Is it now 12 hours or.

Yeah, 12 hours, yes. And you, and I mean when you're watching those people coming into the stadium at the end, some people are literally collapsing and they are like leopard crawling because their legs are just. It is something that has always fascinated me.

Like it's one thing to get your body ready but like mentally, mentally on the day in the race, like, like how do they do it? Like what, like how are they actually just carrying on, you know, so.

[09:47.3] – Speaker 1
And when you are Nicola, maybe you can also talk to the mental side of it. Yeah, okay, so you have a good point there, Candice, because the mental side of it I think is way, way, way, way, way more important than the physical side of it.

[Nicola]
So if you can train your body and your joints and your muscles to get you to the start line, I think you would think like, oh, I'm quite good, I've done my 12,000 or my thousand k's, I've kind of put in all the time and you of think, oh well I'm there, you know, I've kind of got it.

But the mental side of it is something that is completely, it takes, I think it takes one by surprise. And I often say to the patients that I treat that run comrades if I can see that their head space is not 100% in it. I'm like, oh, you really need to think before you go and line up on that start, starting line because half or 90% of your race is actually what's happening in, in your head and what you're believing and what you're thinking about and stuff like that.

So for, for me personally, it is the most incredible, incredible race. And they don't call it the ultimate, ultimate human race for nothing. The experience of standing in amongst whether it's people, you know, because often I don't know, in my experience, very rarely do I stand around and I know everyone around me, I've had comrades where I've started and it's just me and because my friends are in different batches and stuff like that and it doesn't matter who is around you, but at that point you all have the same goal, you're striving for the same thing, you're in the same boat.

And yeah, like Gail says, when the Chariots of Fire plays, you sing the national anthem, you stand together as South Africa, as a nation. It's one of the most incredible feelings. And I think that, yeah, it's just that little like edge of inspiration that you need to get going.

And so the first few Ks are very much, it's like this Cloud of people and everyone's just running together. There's footsteps very close in front of you, very close to the left, very close to the right and behind you. And so you're kind of in a big bunch and slowly the sl. The field starts to spread out and it's basically for me, in my head space.

I don't think of getting to Durban ultimately. I know that's my dream. I want to get there but. But for me it's about getting from Maritzburg or from the start to the first 10Ks and there's a little town or a little space that you're going to. Whether it's Ashburton or Camper down or W's Hill, there's all these different little Hillcrest.

And for me it's about going from place to place and very often seeing familiar faces and friends on the side of the road. And I know, oh, if I get there I'm going to see that person. And so for me the day is bu is. Is made up of these little 5 or 10k runs where I run from. Yeah.

From person to person or from place to place rather than thinking about this whole big. Yeah. Big, big. Yeah. And I must, I must admit, like there's also distractions along the route because they've got aid stations and massage stations and you know, people and stuff.

[12:54.8] – Speaker 2
And. And when I ran and Nicks and I were going to chat about the comrades we ran together, it was my thing was always just that I was never going to stop. I was never going to stop at a food table, I was never going to stop at a massage table.

I was never going to stop at people. If people wanted to talk to me, they needed to walk with me. So it was always just putting one foot in front of the other. Whether I was walking, whether I was running, I was just never going to stop. I knew that if I stopped I wouldn't make it because you say you've got 12 hours to do it and. And I do it with like 11 minutes to spare. So I do not have. I do not have time to stop. So I know that that is what I have to do. So. Yeah. Yeah.

[13:46.9] – Speaker 2
Okay, so Nick's, let's move on to. It was my first comrade and your second comrade. So I never made it to my first comrade because of injury and I actually got sick like every comrades run his worst nightmare to get that sore throat the week before you due to start.

But anyway, so next and thank goodness for next because next then helped me. She had one comrades and her belt. So then she helped me in my preparation for the next one. So. So next, maybe I'll just take up a little bit here, and then you can tell us about your experience.

So Nick and I, we always ran with the understanding that we would run together as far as possible, but if one person was feeling better, they would go ahead. You know, Comrades is your own race. Yes. You can plan to run with people.

There can be plans in place, but ultimately, you have to know and. And be responsible for yourself. So Nics and I were doing really well. We ran together. It was going well. Nyx is the most encouraging person. She will get you. As I said, she when you look at her and say, do I really have to do another set? And she said, yes. And that's just her as well. Like, it would be like, nick, I'm tired. She'd be like, no, let's just get to the next lamppost. Or we've just got 1k to go to a table. Like, let's go.

So she's an amazing person to run with. And so we ran well together right to halfway, and then at halfway, we had people there who were, you know, feeding us, giving us some food, and somehow we got separated.

But I knew that Nics was a little bit faster than me, actually. So we had always said, if we get separated, just carry on, you know, our seconds. Our husbands at the time would be telling us, it's okay. I've just seen so and so that put just behind you or whatever. So you you kind of knew that we would catch up again. So I carried on. Next, I'll never forget, had a little pink flower on her cap. So I actually ran backwards a little bit because coming out of the halfway, it's quite a steep hill. So running backwards a little bit, looking for Nics’ hat, and I thought, you know what? I can't see her. But it's okay. Nics will catch up with me. And as we ran, we actually never met, like, got back together. So next, maybe you want to just pick it up from there and just tell us exactly what happened.

[Nicola]
And so, okay, so as Gail's mentioned, it was my second Comrades. And I was like, well, Comrades is all about a down and an uprun. So one year you run down from Maritzburg to Durban, and the other, the year you run up from Durban up to Peter Maritzburg.

So the first run that I'd done was mat down and starting in Maritzburg, running to Durban. And as a Maritzburg person, you always want to finish in Your hometown. So that was also the, the big thing on, on that year was we wanted to kind of finish. We knew everyone was going to be standing on the sides of the road in Maritzburg, more, more than what we knew in Durban.

So that was the real kind of like big take home encouragement to finish this year. And so yeah, like Gail says, we got to halfway and amongst all the people and I thought, I'm going to run exactly what the year before, like done the training.

Yeah, took my nutrition exactly like I did the year before. What could be different? And I remember running, running along and starting to feel a little bit strange and wondering, ah, this is weird. I'm not 100% sure what's happening here.

Feel a little bit dizzy. I'm not hungry, I'm not thirsty, I've drunk enough, I've eaten enough. Being a biokineticist and in the health profession, I was like, no, I'm sure that I've done that right. And I just remember thinking, you need to ask a parent paramedic. And so the next stop, which was probably around camperdown area, I asked a paramedic.

So this is like 25 plus k's to go. And I'd just been going along but obviously getting slower and slower and slower as the time went on. But I kept making the cutoffs and so I kept going and I kept moving forward. So also my ultimate goal is like always keep moving forward.

Don't, don't stop moving. Just keep moving forward. Like Gail's spoken about, we just have to keep stepping forward whether you're walking, running, whatever it is. And so I found the paramedic and he said to me, you dehydrated four sachets of water. And I was like, that is strange, but I'm going to listen to you because at this point I knew he was the person to listen to.

And I took four sachets of water and continued running until we got to a little town called Ashburton, which is now closer to Maritzburg. So maybe 12ks outside of Maritzburg or less than that. In actual fact, I think I was, it was 7ks to go when I found my mom.

And yeah, we land up walking up this hill and her being a experienced comrades runner, she said to me, something's really wrong here, Nick. And I said, I know I feel weird. And I was bent over. I knew who I was, I knew where I was and I knew what I was doing, but I just didn't know what was happening to me.

And we stopped at the medical tent at the top of this little hill with about 7Ks to go. And all I remember was lying down there and putting up my hand. And that was the last thing I remember until waking up in ICU and being told that I hadn't finished Comrades, which I think was probably the most disappointing thing, and that I had spent the last few days I was in ICU and I was like, oh my word, this isn't what was meant to happen.

And that I'd spent the last five days on a ventilator. And slowly, as I started to become more and more aware of the situation and hear the stories, being in the health profession myself, I knew that something had gone drastically, drastically wrong.

And that year, yeah, I think we always thought Comrades was about a medal, but that year God had different plans and Comrades was about a miracle for me. And definitely it, it set my faith in, in a trench that has never ever been deeper.

And so from then I knew that God is real and that the, like, there is some, yeah, here's real and it is greater than we would ever know. And so that year was my miracle year for Comrades. And a week later I landed up walking out of the ICU despite several cerebral seizures, five days on a ventilator and basically going into very much an organ failure with my sodium levels, which was the biggest cause being way below the 100 mark.

And so basically the terminology that they give it is called, it's hyponatremia, or basically a water logged system. So you don't have enough salt in your system and you basically overload your body with water.

[20:50.5] – Speaker 2
Yeah, yeah, sure. Nics. You know, I remember coming to visit in ICU. I've got absolute goosebumps. I've got a lump in my throat because I remember that so clearly, bringing my medal into ICU to come and see you.

And yeah, you can see I, I get, I get really choked up about it, like Nick's. I'll never forget getting over the line, the finish line that year and phoning Morne and saying to Morne where's Nick? I didn't see her. I didn't see her.

And he just said to me, Gail, it's not good. And he was sitting at the hospital at that time with you. And I think that they were a number of reasons why, you know, as you say, God had other plans for you. There was a team of doctors assembled, your doctor had assembled a team of doctors, a team of doctors who knew you were coming in, they were prepared for you.

[21:47.2] – Speaker 2
And so, yeah, you walked out of there. And we were just so thankful about that. But now, now that we recovering from the tears and the next thing that I think is just going to blow everybody away.

So after literally dying, because I. I feel like that is exactly what you did. When you look at your sodium levels and, you know, people with that, those levels of sodium just don't survive. Can you tell us what you then went on and what you have done since you nearly died doing the ultimate human race. Okay.

[Nicola]
So I think waking up and in ICU realizing the miracle, I think that was when I realized, okay, there's still lots for me to do in life and I can't just be like this. So. And hearing the stories, like, because obviously I knew nothing.

So the stories that Gail shares and doctor friends of mine shared and family shared, I'm all like, oh, my word. Wow. And so burning in my heart from the step, from the first step I took out of that hospital was the fact that I knew that I knew that I knew that I knew that I would be back.

I'm a never say never kind of person. So even with my patients, when they come in and they say to me, ah, I want to do this, I want to do that, I'm like, okay, let's never say never, but let's have a look at how we're going to action this and what steps are we going to take. And so, yeah, it was several years later, I think I ran a few 21s in between.

And in South Africa, we have another amazing race, which Gale and I have also run together, called Two Oceans. And we run around the back of the beautiful Chapman's Peak, and it's a lovely, inspiring run. Beautiful, scenic. And so we did.

I did a few of those and I still had this little burning desire in my heart to do another comrades. Everyone, I think, thought I was crazy. And so I decided, well, I'm going to tell very few people what my plan is, and really I'm just going to put one foot in front of the other and take it one step at a time.

So it was 2017 and I'd run the Two Oceans and then I'd come up with a little injury. I didn't really even have an entry for comrades. And slowly the doors started to open and I got an entry and. But I still had the injury. And I just kept plodding on, plotting on plotting on putting one foot in front of the other.

And for me, I think if I look at this, this entire story, I'm like, I've never I don't ever overthink. I don't ever think down the line like what's going to happen, you know, like, would I ever get there? I just kind of think about today, am I getting up? Am I doing what I need to do today?

And when I get up tomorrow morning, am I stronger than I was yesterday in whatever way, whatever little way it might be, or maybe on that day it's a significant day and I've run a 21 or whatever the case is. And so 2017 was literally a year of that.

One day at a time, one foot in front of the other, ticking one little box after the other until the date came. I think it was the 9th of June. I can't remember. Comrades was usually in June. And I got to line up much to my friends disgust.

I still hadn't told too many people because everyone was still but a few important people that I needed to be seconds and family knew. And so yeah, I lined up and off I went running or to the start of what was meant to be.

My well was now my third comrades. And I remember just, yeah, just standing on the start line and just being absolutely blown away about the privilege it was to be number one alive, number two breathing and number three fit enough to start this race and just enjoying every single day of the journey that led up to this.

Yeah, and that year was also an up run. So it was really a repeater to the T of my experience in 2011. And so yeah, it was, it was, it was real to run through the places that I remember being kind of like bent over remembering that I didn't feel well here.

Obviously my journey with the hyponatremia itself and understanding it as a health professional has, has come a long, long, long way and I've really, yeah, dug deep to understand what actually happened and that possibly taking on too much water as a Comrades runner running slowly at the back, we take on a lot more water that's actually necessary.

And so I changed my entire nutrition system, attacked and yeah, ran with my coke and my salt. So sachets of salt are what I run with now. And yeah, very, very, very privileged and blessed to be able to finish a comrades back in 2017.

Yeah, from there, yeah, I just, yeah, that was just like, wow. Okay. And so every, every event that I've taken that I've entered, which has always felt to me like the first step in just kind of been like, let's see, I'd like to do that, let's see if it's going to happen.

And just literally day by day, take it day by day. And so around 2018, 2019 and then post Covid around 2022 and every single one I finished with the goal of knowing who I was, what I was doing and that the privilege it was to actually finish a comrades race.

I'm blown away by how many people finish with this amazing time and they have no idea what actually was happening. They can't, they have no recollection. And for me I'm like those last 5Ks I walk, I embrace them, I enjoy them. Like they may possibly never happen again but if they do, yeah, it's a real blessing.

And so yeah that my comrades journey, yeah really knowing what you're doing at the end of it. So you blow me away every time I think about what you accomplished because I run two, two comrades and they are tough and I think I don't know whether I would be brave enough, you know, having nearly died actually be brave enough to, to tackle it again.

[28:17.5] – Speaker 2
And as you say that first one, your first up run back must have been like even more difficult mentally going through as you say, Camperdown, Cater Ridge, camperdown, Ashburton, you know, lion park, the whole place where you were feeling, I remember being at lion park and Gavin saying to me, Nick's is not doing so well.

Like we're not quite sure and, but me not even realizing like the extent of it, you know, and, and for you to, to be going down that long stretch and you're not feeling well and as you say 7Ks to go, like it is so tantalizingly close.

But I'm very glad, I'm very glad you had your mom with you one and I'm very glad that you guys went to the medical tent because you could have gone, you could have, you know, gone further than that medical tent and then who knows what might have happened. And also just, you know, what next?

[29:14.9] – Speaker 2
I forgot two oceans. Nicola and I ran two oceans together and you know, she was the only reason I made it with four minutes to spare and Nicola was the only reason because I was moaning like a stuffed pig by the end of it.

And she just kept on saying to me, well if you, if you're not going to run with me, then I'm going to leave you behind. And I was like, okay, I was crapping and but yeah, so. And she's left out that she's done an iron man. Yes.

And, and many, many other things that you know, you were just talking about. You've just done a big traverse and Stuff like that. So I think next, your love of the outdoors and your. You epitomize, like, what you help other people do.

So you are so passionate about helping other people, but you also, like, do it, and you're out there, and it's just. You. Always a huge inspiration to. To me. Yeah. Thank you. I was actually speechless listening to the story, because I think the thing that strikes me. Why. Why?

[30:26.9] – Speaker 1
Personally, like, I love hearing people's stories and. And just, like, taking something from the attitude or the approach they've taken with whatever laughs given them, is that not only were you.

Where you've got such gratitude, which is like. That strikes me as, like, not many people come out of a deeply traumatizing experience with gratitude. Like, a lot. Like. Like, I mean, I don't know, maybe that's a generalization, but I think a lot of people just feel so traumatized. Yeah.

And so victimized by something that's happened to them that I think it's. It's like. It is just astounding to me hearing how you woke up and you had this absolute, like, gratitude for this. This thing that sounds. I mean, we.

We didn't really get into, like, how hectic what happened to you was, but I'm assuming, like, my brain went to this Sounds pretty hectic. It was. Yes, it was hectic, you know? Yeah. And five days being unconscious in ICU waking up unevented.

I mean, that sounds like something pretty extreme must have happened and that not only were you so grateful, but, like, that you actually went and did it again. You know? I mean. Yeah. The thing is, I think naturally, when.

When something bad happens to us, like, an. An instinct is. Is to avoid that experience again. You don't want to go even near it in case it could happen again. And, like, and the fact that you just had this, like, absolute gratitude for being alive, for having this body able to breathe, you went and you did it again.

[32:15.0] – Speaker 1
It is absolutely, like. It is so inspiring, Nicola. It's. It's like, you know, you just want to take your hat off to someone. Wow, that is phenomenal. And. And I think, you know, because my brain often goes to like, okay, this is our podcast.

It's about business owners. But I think, you know, what you said about not only did you go back and you were like, I'm gonna try this again, but that you were actually quite analytical and that you really wanted to understand what went wrong.

You know, so, like, often when Gail and I are talking of, you know, in terms of, like, online business strategy and we. And we often speak about how it's so important if things don't go right. You can't just like not look at it and be like, oh, that was terrible. You've got to be.

You've got to actually dive into understanding what went on. Which is exactly what you did. You really researched what happened with your sodium levels. Like it required an overhaul of your nutrition plan, you know, and then you instituted those changes and tried again, which is nicely like in a, in a much smaller scale, but kind of what we telling people. Yeah.

[Nicola]
Which is absolutely. You've got to be curious. Yes. Understand. So that you can then correct, you know. Yeah, yeah. Well, that's what I look at Comrades 2011 and I always go, it's taught me so much on so many different levels.

Yes. On a nutritional level. I mean, the year after that I actually, I was told by Comrades that you can't go and run in 2012. You're not allowed. And I was like, oh, my word. Okay. Because if you died us, there'll be trouble. I was like, okay. And so I.

That year I actually worked at the Comrades Medical centre at the end. But got an opportunity to then educate people on. Or the medics on act in actual fact, like, let's look past just everyone being dehydrated and actually look at maybe because the symptoms are so kind of grey and yeah, maybe look at over hydration as kind of something.

So yeah, just really like looking at what's happened and learning from it because I think it's. That's how we. We learn is looking back. You know, we always live life looking forward, but we always learn looking back and taking the positives and taking the negatives and putting them together and saying, okay, well let's go and see what, what we can do.

So yeah, I'm always grateful.

[34:46.5] – Speaker 2
You should be an online business coach. I was just thinking this changed my career. Tools of wisdom. Also, like, yeah, I loved how you spoke about like when you start in Durban or you start in Peter Maritzburg, you don't think about the end.

You think about all the little towns, the little 5Ks, 10Ks in between. And that's what we also, you know, teach people. Yes. You know, the goal. But you know, it's a step by step process to get you there. So I also love it.

[Nicola]
And if I can just add like that was the biggest thing when I was like, kind of like trying to put some pen to paper on your story, which is actually quite tricky. I was like, in actual fact, like I had to analyze. I was Like, I don't really. I know what my end goal.

So for Ironman, for instance, and probably our cycling journey on the Transkei when I could barely ride about Gail was. Was the start of. So that was like, I need to learn to ride a bike because ultimately I'd, like, do a triathlon. And so that basically, yeah, like, I'm like, okay, so I've got this kind of, like, goal, but I don't think about the big, the bigger picture. I don't fixate, I guess, on the end goal. It's about like, working where you're at and working today and then getting up and doing the same thing, but a little bit more tomorrow and tomorrow and the next day.

So I entered, when I did the Iron Man, I entered in 2020, and it was Covid. So we got to train and it got canceled two weeks before COVID and which. So then I land up doing it in 2021. So I had to retrain. But I think the biggest thing for me was, like, I didn't think about.

I didn't fixate on the what, what ifs. I focused on the here and now, and was I taking the step forward that I could see needed to happen here and now? Not about, you know, what could happen or what might happen or what might not happen, but actually what I can control, I guess, is what we're looking at.

Like, I really focus on what we can control. And even working with my patients, really just focusing on what do we have control over and not minimizing that, but, like, targeting that specific thing and. And breaking it right down, coming back to that little, little thing that we have control of and working on that and going forward one step at a time from there.

At the end of the day, every journey starts with the first step, one little step forward. Hey, yeah. True. Coming to next year, Gail, are you going to do Comrades next year?

[Gail] I might. Okay, well, talk to me, because I might just do it with you. Yes.

[Nicola]
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. I think. I think we have to have another one on the card. Come on. We've always said when I come down and have coffee with you and Pete Maritzburg will have to discuss. Yeah, good idea. Good idea. I love it.

[37:52.0] – Speaker 1
Wow, Nicola. Like, I just feel incredibly privileged. And I think. And I think sometimes, even when a lot of time has passed and we speak about events or things that have happened to us, they can. It's still difficult to talk about them even if we know it's over and we find.

And so I, I just want to express, like a lot of appreciation that you were willing to come and revisit that. Thank you. And just to share with us, I, I just like Gail, when she, when, when Nicola was like, you know, we always live life going forward, but we learn going, you know, looking back, I was like, oh, my God, we should put that on a freaking T shirt.

Like that is like a motto right there, you know. So, yeah, so many pearls of wisdom. But I just, I have loved listening to your story. I think you're an incredibly strong, clearly an incredibly strong woman who's just got that special stuff inside of her.

And hopefully our listeners can learn something from, from your story that will help them, you know, just to keep taking those small steps and setting those little milestones. Not looking at the. I love that. You know, I think I was thinking, oh, my God, Nicola, tell us how you do that.

Because it's so much, you know, the what ifs and how am I going to do this? And it's like, oh, my God, you don't even know how to do the first thing and you're worrying about how to do the big thing. Real skill right there. So thank you so much. And yeah, we'll drop.

If anybody happens to live in the vicinity of Nicola and is thinking, I need to work with this woman, we will drop all of Nicola's details on how people can get you in the show.

[Nicola]

Yeah, online.

Covid really opened up online stuff as well, so always willing to do anything over zoom or, you know. Yeah. So there's always options to chat.

[39:54.9] – Speaker 1
Yeah. Awesome. Awesome stuff. Cool. Cool. Guys, we will catch you next week for another episode. Nicola, thank you again. Gail, I'll catch you next week. Thanks, guys.

[Gail] - Thanks, Nick. It's been amazing. Thank you.
[Nicola] - Thanks so much for having me. Bye.