It all started when he found out about a race called Badwater. This was in 2006 sometime when training for a marathon. James only had a vague awareness of people running longer distances than “The Marathon” and thought this was silly, but when he found out about a race of 135 miles, uphill and through the hottest place on Earth in the summer his running goals changed. “If someone else can do such a thing then so can I” he thought.
James ran his first ultra soon after, in Jan 2007. The 45 miles from Tring to Town and loved it. At the time this was all part of a “plan” to do Badwater within 5 years but along the way priorities changed again. The more and more ultras he did the more he came to realise that long distance running is more of a lifestyle than a set of targets. In May 2008 James completed the Grand Union Canal Run which he calls ‘the race of my life’. Stepping up from 50 odd miles to 145 without much fuss at all.
James has completed numerous races including; the 300k “Run the Moose” 6 day ultra through some spectacular but brutally rocky terrain in Canada, The Marathon Des Sables (Obviously), The GUCR again, the Spartathlon in 2009 and 2010 and in summer last year he flew out to the desert and put Badwater to bed. Finishing something he had started 4 years before but it by no means meant the end of anything. James then signed up to the Los Angeles to New York Race this summer-3220 miles in 70 days (thats 45 a day average).
You can read James’s article, Your Brain, Your Best Friend, Your Worst Enemy, on page 52 in our very first Issue of Like the Wind.
Website: www.runningandstuff.com
Twitter: @jamesradams