'IT HAS NEVER OCCURRED ΤΟ ΜΕ THAT I'M TOO OLD TO DO ANYTHING!'
Former seamstress and running coach Mimi Anderson, 61, is an endurance athlete and motivational speaker. She is a mum of three and lives in Kent.
I first started running aged 36-initially, out of vanity to tone my legs. I had never run in my life - apart from around a netball court at school - and I remember standing on a treadmill feeling terribly self-conscious, thinking, 'I'll try a mile.' Before long, I was managing three, then 10. Working as a seamstress and raising my children, life was hectic. However, it felt amazing to have running as an outlet.
Eighteen months later, I found myself on the start line of the Marathon des Sables, preparing to run 156 miles across the Sahara Desert. It was like running in an oven, plus I got a bug and collapsed at the end of day three. At the finish line, I had to be given five bags of fluids. I've never worked so hard to finish a race - but the elation was more than worth it.
Since then, I've completed just about every extreme event there is, setting world records and achieving a number of 'firsts'. The race I'm most proud of is the 6633 Arctic Ultra - I was 45 and did the 352-mile run across the Arctic in temperatures of -40C. The sense of isolation was intense; just me and the sledge I was pulling amid miles of ice and snow. But then, every night, the Northern Lights would come out and it was breathtaking.
At 50, I was the only woman to finish the gruelling 147-mile Viking Way Ultra in 2012, and I was the first woman to achieve a double Grand Union Canal Race a year later. At 53, I was the first woman to achieve a double Spartathlon - 306 miles in total that included running up Mount Parthenion.
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