Interview: Brent Thomson Runs Mount Everest

By Pamela Burke

Twitter: @ThomsonBrent

She went, she ran, she conquered!  Brent Thomson took on what is called the hardest and highest race in the world, the Mount Everest Marathon, and accomplished her incredible goal this month.  At 60 years of age, she finished in 8 hours and 12 minutes.   Just completing the 26.2 mile journey down the rugged terrain was a feat in itself.

“I’m extremely thrilled that I did it and in a time I am very proud of…we pushed our bodies to the extreme limits.”  Brent Thomson

We profiled Brent on this website before she left for Nepal to begin her trek to 17,200 feet.  She returned earlier this month and gave Stacey Gualandi the first exclusive interview on the Women’s Eye Radio Show about her amazing race… 

Interview: Roz Savage On Her Record-Breaking Row Across Three Oceans

By Laurie McAndish King

UPDATE:  5/9/12:  Roz is about to row from Newfoundland to London to land there in time for the 2012 Olympics.  We wish her well!!!

UPDATE 4/4/12: Roz has a brand new website with loads of news about her newest rowing adventure to London and her acceptance into the World Fellows Program at Yale University this fall! 

UPDATE 3/3/12: Roz has just announced she will be rowing the North Atlantic to land in time for the 2012 Olympics in London

TWITTER: @rozsavage

Adventurer and environmentalist Roz Savage is the first woman to row across the “Big Three” oceans: the Atlantic, Pacific, and Indian. Even more impressive, she did it solo, in a 23-foot rowboat, without a support vessel.

“I have battled twenty-foot waves, sleep deprivation, self-doubt and depression, but I have never been happier.”  Roz Savage

I interviewed Roz back in 2007 when she was launching her Pacific passage, and learned how she’d transformed herself from an ordinary office worker into a world-class ocean-rowing athlete. She’s accomplished quite a lot since then, having rowed more than 15,000 miles and spent nearly a year and a half of her life at sea.

Arriving Mauritrius after rowing Indian Ocean/Photo: Colin Leondardt-10/3/11

And she has the credentials to prove it.  Roz now holds four world records for ocean rowing, and in 2010 was named Adventurer of the Year by the National Geographic Society.  She was recently invited by the Queen’s royal command to a reception at Buckingham Palace.

I was thrilled to catch up with Roz recently at a coffee shop in San Francisco, just after she had set her new record by completing the last of her three ocean rows, the Indian Ocean crossing… 

Interview: Brent Thomson Prepares To Run The World’s Highest Marathon

By Pamela Burke

TWITTER:  @ThomsonBrent

UPDATE:  December 4–Brent Runs Everest Marathon in 8 hours, 12 min.  Congrats, Brent! 

UPDATE:  December 1–Brent’s Ready to Run, Tomorrow’s the Big Day

UPDATE:  November 29–Brent has reached 16,000 feet, close to the starting point of her marathon run down Mt. Everest on Dec. 2.  She has just updated her blog where you can read the latest on her journey up to 17,200 feet.

UPDATE:  November 12–Brent has just taken off on the first leg of her journey.  She’ll be landing in Nepal soon.  You can follow her blog and keep  up with her adventure when she has time to  post.  Good luck, Brent!…

It’s a cool, overcast morning in the Marin Headlands when runner Brent Thomson sets off for her 6AM jaunt.  But hers is no ordinary undertaking.  She’s sprinting 20 miles over hills and tough terrain to prepare for the highest and hardest run of her life–the 26.2 mile Everest Marathon on December 2.

“When you put yourself in extreme situations and you come through them, it makes you so much stronger.” 

The race starts on Mt. Everest in Nepal at 17,200 feet and ends 6,000 feet below.  It’s a helicopter ride in and a 30 mile trek to the starting point.  Brent’s approaching her sixtieth birthday but doesn’t give much thought to the age factor.  For this Senior V. P. at Pacific Union International,  a real estate firm in the San Francisco Bay Area, the morning run is a piece of cake.

Photo by Elliot Karlan

It may be cake to her but the rigorous exercise program would give a lot of athletes severe heart palpitations.  She runs 18-26 miles every Saturday and 6-10 miles two days a week.  Then there are two days of rigorous CrossFit training with just one day of rest.  So how and why does she do it?  We set out to find an explanation for Brent’s latest ultramarathon goal…