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Sometimes you get to meet the most amazing ordinary blokes. Richard Bowles is one of those quiet types, doesn't push himself forward, not brash or loud, yet there’s a quiet air of forcefulness and purpose about him. I guess running 84km a day for 12 days straight as he’s planning to do needs that.

I first met Richard last year as he was 2,500km into his running of the 5,330km Australian Bicentennial National Trail, or the BNT. He completed that in an amazing 5.5 months. First to do it. Raised awareness for SANE Australia charity.

I went out to the closest point on the trail to where I lived at Blackbutt and met Rich and Vicky, spent a lovely morning with them photographing them and sharing in their adventures for half a day. You can read that story here.

He backed up from the BNT with the Te Araroa national trail of NZ 3,054km of ruggedness that made the BNT look like a walk in the park – crocodiles not included. Record setting 64 days again.

And now he's off to do the Israel National Trail – with yet another record to be achieved. And this time its going to be an average of 84km a day for 12 days straight.

I interviewed Richard today over lunch and was really struck by the mans intensity, his purpose and his unquenchable desire to live in the moment, fully experience the surroundings and cast off the dross of life. To run on trails that are thousands of years old, where Jesus walked, that are steeped in history and meet all sorts of interesting people.

But as the video below will show there is a lot more work that goes on in the months leading up to the short 12 days of running that is a lot harder than running 84km a day for 12 days. Even just typing that hurts! Thinking about it hurts! Richard doesn’t shy away from the fact that it hurts either. But he’s a man that’s driven to succeed, and quitting just isn’t in his vocabulary.

The Interview

So i went to have lunch with Richard as he was on a flying trip to Brisbane. Once I had picked him up and had him in the car I told him I was planning on interviewing him!

I recorded the interview on my phone and camera but not all of it got onto the video. So some of the questions and answers below are not in the video.

I asked Richard a bunch of really hard hitting serious questions, and got some equally serious (bulls&*t) answers.

I also trialled a new video technique where the person who is being interviewed has their thumb in focus but their face is half missing off in the distance. Fascinating watching their thumb talk. In part 2 I swapped this style for a more traditional (boring) “video the persons face” technique.

I interviewed Rich with tough questions like:

Dealing with fatigue and mental states

Q When you are fatigued, what does the tree look like?

A The tree is way more beautiful when you are fatigued.

Riveting.

Seriously though, its more about how when fatigued he focuses on what he's doing so much more intently, little droplets of water, trees, things around him take focus and how the other stuff in life becomes less. Richard really enjoys running in the bush, and out in the open spaces.

Equipment and safety

Q Was your GPS tracker tied to your hydration bladder?

A Obviously not – i lost it 25 km into the first day in NZ – no one noticed I was standing still for a long time.

White water river crossings and high altitude

Q How do you cope with the dangerous river crossings?

A Crossed the Daintree waist deep with crocodiles – hoping they ate someone the day before and weren’t hungry.

Food and nutrition

Q What do you eat when running?

A Best thing I scored was a packet of Tim Tams in a rubbish bin at a hut.

Support

Q Who's supporting you in Israel?

A “My Partner Vicki – that has lots of complications” breaks into nervous laughter and says “Love you!” suck up.

Language and Culture

Q Do you speak the same language?

A No she speaks shoes.

Ok so there’s more to it than than. Watch the video below.

Oh not that one – that’s just silly

Here’s the real interview. Part 1

Part 2

And here's the shoe collection and Richard posing a lot for the camera.

Rabid is a song I wrote in 1998. The notes at the bottom were for a band that took this song and performed it a number of times at events. They are now defunct.

1) Right thru these four walls

Out into the city

Maxicabs are flashing by

Limousines just glide

2) You can feel the music pumping

You can feel the city vibe

Energy in action

Solicitude you can’t find

The girls are out there walking…….

There’s something out there stalking……

3) It feeds off all the flavours

The smells, the tastes, the sights

No concrete self-awareness

Its animal; its alive

4) It hides, conceals awaits

For its unsuspecting foes

They scream out loud

It sucks – they stop!

It feeds, moves on, it preys

(Verse 1 repeat)

Right thru these four walls

Out into the city

Maxicabs are flashing by

Limousines just glide

5) Is it all that pretty

Is it all that nice

Or is it out there waiting

Like your other side

6) Which world do you live in

To which you go to hide

Or are you a silent stalker

Just feeding off the vibe

© Timothy Miller 1998

Musical short notes to Rabid

Start with a long slow guitar driving sound – basically a strum that goes on and on – repeated a few times – slowly building in volume – Bass to be keeping a very low volume

8 beats before verse 1 starts the drums will start with a double tap- off beat and then first beat

After 1^st verse increase bass volume

At end of 1^st verse drums crash in – starting from high tom and crashing down and then keep on drumming – rhythm drives into a big walled sound

Stop the rhythm guitar and bass for a couple of secs to say ‘the girls are out there walking” then one big strum then stop again for “there’s something out there stalking” – this sentence to be said with a huge delay (sounds like being inside a big empty warehouse) and an echo to get a “stalking…. talkin… alkin….” Echo

Now the rhythm and bass come back and the temp speeds up

Now come up one key and into a more frenzied attack on the rhythm guitar as the next 2 verses (3 & 4) are sung one after the other.

Go to a quick bridge into the lead guitar starting a long winding riff getting higher and higher ending in a big feed back loop to fade back to just the basic starting sound – drums finish up with some big rolls then go to brushes – or else real light

Repeat verse 1

Verses 5 & 6 sung one after the other

last two lines of verse 6 to be at an almost hush as the sound fades out – but as singer finishes “feeding off the vibe” the drums crash back in and all the guitars go back into an all out finish off

This from an email from Microsoft.

This is a poem i wrote in 1997 when my daughter Miranda was 1 year old.

She is now 16 and a half a beautiful young lady.

One day my little daughter - you will read this - I love you Miranda

My little daughter - how precious you are to me

I wish you never had to grow up

You are such a precocious child

The looks you give me are so mischevious

You imitate me in so many ways

You shake your head and cluck your tongue

You want to be like your Dad

He wants to show you how its done

But your dad sometimes hasn’t a clue

He has no idea what to do

He does what hurts when he wants to protect

Those he loves from the pain inside

I want to say what needs to be said

Instead I find myself writing this poem

I only hope you never know

The pain that can hurt so badly

© Timothy Miller 1997