“I still carry it… I just run with it now.”
When I was younger, I didn’t understand it.
I just learned how to keep going.
Some of that never really leaves you…
it just becomes part of you.
I think about that kid sometimes, out here.
How far things have come.
He wouldn’t see it all…
but he’d feel it.
And I think he’d be proud.
Manchester HYROX Relay 3rd place podium.
58:58
Change of plan last minute, Meels taking control of the wall balls, massive call, massive payoff.
Josh accidentally running an extra lap wasn’t ideal. Cost us time. Could’ve unraveled us. Instead, we dug in. No panic. No excuses. We went as deep as we had to and fought for 3rd in AG.
We could’ve dropped tools. Could’ve shrugged and blamed bad luck. We didn’t.
Because imagine telling my boy one day that I quit when it got hard, when things didn’t go our way. That wasn’t an option.
Mad respect for this team. Effort, grit, ownership.
We’ll be assembling again, no doubt.
Three years to earn a flag.
And this is only the beginning.
“The obstacle is the way.”
📷@jukedronevisuals@dnf_club@zone_8_breathing@vrtx_uk@castore_sportswear@storm_performance_centre
#AdCastoreAff
“Your family must be so proud.”
Truth is, I’ve had strangers clap louder for me than the people who watched me struggle from the start.
But maybe they aren’t strangers anymore. Maybe they’re just people who saw someone keep taking life head on and decided to stand beside me.
The people who knew me saw the battles, the anger, the self doubt, and how many times I nearly gave up on myself.
But that’s alright.
I didn’t build this for applause anyway.
The work still gets done when nobody notices. The kilometres still get logged when nobody cares. And one day, the life I built will speak for itself.
I did this for ME
@dnf_club
You start letting go of things that used to define you.
Comfort. Familiar faces. Old habits that felt like home.
Bit by bit, the version of you that once fit in… stops existing.
And in its place, something sharper begins to form.
More disciplined. More focused. Less forgiving.
But growth isn’t clean.
You don’t just gain, you lose.
You lose people who only understood the old you.
You lose parts of yourself that can’t survive at the level you’re chasing.
And one day it hits you...
you’re finally becoming everything you said you would be…
…but you can’t go back and be who you were, even if you wanted to.
Reya.
Imagine giving your whole heart to something that might only be here for 10 years.
But she gives us everything she has, every single day, so how could I not give her the same in return?
After all, we're her whole world.
Reya is all in. She loves with everything she has… and then some. The gentlest soul, but the fiercest protector when it matters.
She’s been beside me through alot of things, my running companion through the mindless kilometres, turning empty miles into memories I’ll carry forever.
And somehow, out of all the people in the world, we’re lucky enough that she’s ours.
I took these photos on a 25km run in which Reya joined me for the better 18kms of.
@dnf_club@aka_jesskent
I’ll never forget who was there when I was nothing.
Before anyone cared. Before it looked like it was going to work. When it was just ideas, long days, and doubt, you were there. Not for the spotlight, not for the outcome, just because you believed in me when there wasn’t much to believe in.
You saw something early, and you never let me lose sight of it. You kept me steady when I could’ve folded, and you never asked for credit while we were building it from nothing.
Now that it’s starting to mean something, now that people see it, I see you even clearer. Because none of this happened without you.
This isn’t just my win. It never was.
We came up together. And we’re only getting started.
@97media_
Week 9
This week was brutal.
Coming off a 70km weekend, the plan ahead looked ridiculous before it even started, three back-to-back 20km runs, then a 50km weekend to finish the week off. The kind of training week you stare at wondering if you’ve completely lost your mind.
Every morning this week I questioned why I’m even doing this. Especially today. Legs wrecked after yesterday’s 25km, hours of walking around after, and somehow thinking a bottle of champagne last night was a good recovery strategy.
But somewhere in the middle of all the chaos was one of the best parts of the week, getting away to Badminton Horse Trials with Jess and River. Proper switch-off moments, making memories, laughing, being present for a minute instead of constantly thinking about splits, mileage and recovery. The kind of days you realise all of this is actually for.
And even then, the work still got done.
That’s the part I’m proud of this week. Not the pace, not the mileage, just refusing to let the standard slip. Training around life instead of waiting for perfect conditions that never come.
Most of this week I honestly couldn’t be bothered. But the work got done anyway, and I think that matters more than any “perfect” session ever will.
One lyric stuck with me all week: “This is what you asked for. Heavy is the crown.”
And it’s true.
I did ask for this. The exhaustion, the doubt, the pressure, the lonely miles, the constant questioning. You don’t get to chase something big and then complain when it gets heavy.
Maybe the crown could be mine. But weeks like this are the price of even being in the conversation.
Until next week ✌️
Admit it. You aren’t like them. Not even close.
You can try, dress like them, watch the same mindless shows, eat the same fast food, but the harder you try to fit in, the more you feel it.
That distance. Like you’re standing just outside it all, watching “normal people” drift through comfortable, automatic lives.
You say the lines.
“Have a nice day.”
“Weather’s awful today, eh?”
But your mind’s somewhere else
Splitting Kilometres before sunrise,
counting reps when your body’s already done,
choosing discipline when no one’s watching.
You don’t want small talk. You want truth
“What actually makes you break?”
“What keeps you going when it hurts?”
“Why do you keep showing up?”
You feel it in the quiet moments
like wanting to speak to that guy you see every morning at 5am… and stopping yourself.
But here’s the part you don’t want to admit
What if hes wired the same way?
What if the quiet one you overlook is fighting battles you’d respect?
Everyone carries a piece of the puzzle.
Most just hide it behind comfort.
No one ends up in your path by accident.
So trust it.
Say what you actually think.
Push the conversation past the surface, like you push past the point most people stop.
Because that’s who you are.
Do the hard thing.
Lean into the edge.
Find the others.
Week 8
A sketchy start, no question.
I came off a heavy weekend of racing and still had 44km to grind out just to close it.
Tuesday and Wednesday were days I questioned why i was doing this, they were the kind of days where you question whether your body’s about to cash the cheque your ambition keeps writing.
An ultra on the weekend felt less like a plan and more like a risk.
But by Thursday, something shifted. Back on the track with the DNF pace crew, legs turning over, rhythm coming back. Not perfect, not effortless, but moving.
And that’s all it takes. By the time Saturday came around, I felt… fresh. Or at least the version of fresh you earn, not the one you’re given.
Another 110km week in the bank. No shortcuts, no missed work, just stacking it, even when it didn’t feel there.
One more big push, then it’s time to pull back and sharpen for race day.
This is where most people back off. Where it stops being exciting and starts being uncomfortable, repetitive, heavy. But this is also where it’s decided.
“Anyone can go when it feels good. The ones who win are the ones who keep going when it doesn’t.”
@zone_8_breathing@dnf_club@hybridnw@run.wild.coaching@voomnutrition@highlandfuelnutrition
Believing in yourself isn’t some soft idea where everything works out.
It’s a decision.
A decision that when things go wrong,
and they will, you don’t question who you are, you don’t shrink, and you don’t stop. You keep moving.
Failure isn’t the opposite of belief. It’s part of it.
Most people fail and make it mean something about them, that’s where they lose.
Belief cuts that off. You take the hit, adjust, and go again. No questions.
The ones who get where they said they would aren’t the ones who avoided failure.
They’re the ones who made it irrelevant.
You fail, and you keep going anyway.
That’s belief.
LIMITLESS
@hybridnw
