Today we are chatting with Adventure Racer, Kathryn Morland, who competed in the recentWorld’s Toughest Race which was featured on Amazon Prime video.
Worlds Toughest Race Trailer
I met Kathryn through the local running group. I have the watched her journey from being a local runner and then watched her move through to orienteering, mountain biking and then adventure racing.
She found her love for adventure and the outdoors by accident and then continued to push the boundaries of what her mind and body could do.
Team Kathryn
By day she runs her Town Planning business and in her free time, she focuses on anything to do with the outdoors. After I found out that she was doing the race, I waited intently to watch it on Amazon.
The race itself was based in Fiji and it is a 670km plus event where 50 odd teams of 4 race against each other against the clock. There is open water paddling, stand up paddle boarding, mountain bikes, thunderstorms, cliffs, waterfalls and plenty of mud. Throw that in the mix with checkpoints to reach, time deadlines to meet and then getting along with your teammates and you get a recipe for a TV show.
The Mexicans & The Aussie
Kathryn shares her experiences on how she got to be a competitor in the race. She also shares with me some intimate details of where she has come from. She touches on some of her past and how far she has come. Very few people would know her story and more of this information can be unpacked, but the message is a positive one. She is one amazing lady. She is testament to the fact that when you set your mind to something that is worthwhile, it can be done. She has had many challenges in her life and at different points in it, the end result could well have been very different.
Her message is one of hope and positivity. She made a decision to change her life and started off with small steps. This is her message. Change doesn’t need to be big. It just needs a decision and then the small steps that come from it will create the change. Once small steps have been achieved these leads to bigger ones.
We love her story and we love the way she leads her life. Now what does all this have to do with living a digital life you may ask? Well, the reason the show exists is because it is a streaming series on Amazon.
And the reason I knew Kathryn was competing was because of social media
And now, she gets to share her story on a Podcast.
The timing seems right for me to update and refresh this digital blog. I thought I would also give people and update as to how I have been going and what I have been up to.
Like most people around the world, my life has been governed by the pandemic. Currently, I am based in Singapore. I have been here for the most part of the last 12 months, but I also have just recently come back from a trip to Melbourne, Australia. This gave me an opportunity to see how Melbourne looked like coming out of lock down compared to here. I lived through the first year of the pandemic in Melbourne and I remember how I felt living it.
I went back to Melbourne during the Omicron Peak over the New Year. It was an interesting trip. It felt like people were trying to get Covid just to get it over with. It was a culmination of the lockdowns where people just wanted to be free and to party like the normal days before the proverbial hit the fan a couple of years ago. As a result, the numbers spiked, and everyone started to bunker done for the start of the new year. The beginning of January was very quiet. I think people spent the school holiday period on the coast or just kept a low profile at home. Whilst I was in Melbourne I did a bit of work as an Uber driver, so I got to see the place, as I did through the pandemic right from the beginning. Contact tracing and checking in was around, but it was a haphazard affair and most people generally ignored the need to do it. What was evident from people I knew who travelled interstate was that every state had a different App to use as a check in tool. This meant you would need multiple Apps when travelling. Strange, but given the way the Premiers dealt with power during this time, not entirely surprising.
This was also a time when PCR tests were required to travel interstate. Testing centres were inundated, and I had the pleasure of visiting one of these centres twice. Both times, I waited in the car for over 2 hours each time just to get a test done. Common sense and logistics eventually prevailed, and things started to change from there.
There have been no surprises here in Singapore. Things were very measured and the approach to coming out of the pandemic was a very cautious one. I likened it to living under the same roof as strict parents. It wasn’t like in Melbourne where things looked like decisions were made randomly and based on the science fact of the day.
At this very moment, masks are optional outdoors and group gatherings are now increasing enough that it looks normal. During the weekends , there are massive crowds enjoy this new found freedom in the parks and beaches. There are now tourists again and evidence of this is in and around Marina Bay. People are taking photos in front of Marina Bay Sands and the TIk Tokers are up and about. Small crowds are also now gathering around the Merlion again with people fighting for clear space to get the perfect photo.
We also now do not need to check in everywhere we go. You couldn’t do anything or go anywhere unless you used the Trace Together App here in Singapore. It became ingrained in daily life. Currently there is no requirement to check in except for major events. Having said that, major events have still yet to happen in a big way.
Having been into running for the past 10 years now, I am waiting for more running events and fitness to open up. Singapore has always had running events, triathlon events, obstacle racing throughout the year.
The good news is that a real triathlon event is going to happen here on the 29th of May. This is the first real event for 3 years. Triathlons are something I have enjoyed doing in the past and I am hoping to do more of them. I did run an event in Melbourne in February, so it has rekindled my interest. This Live Work Digital platform is in fact the catalyst to share the next part of my fitness journey.
Asia Pacific Masters Games, Jeonbuk Korea, 2023
I have recently set a goal to compete in the Asia Masters Games in Korea in May 2023. My sights are set to compete in the Triathlon event. I hope to share my experiences in the blog, podcast and maybe even YouTube. Hey anyone can be a digital entertainer right? Let’s see if I can follow it through and see how I can grow interest in social media in general. Along the way, maybe I can interview people who are on the same journey as myself. I will share health and training tips and even nutritional and supplement tips.
I want to spread the message that it is never too late to give something a go. As a 50 Plus year old guy, it gets tough on the old body, but it can be done. I hope you can continue this journey with me. There will be more to come in the coming months.
Live Work Digital 