Who tells us when we’ve gone far enough, and what if we could actually go a whole lot further than we think? Britt Coker meets a woman who doesn’t do things by halves.
Emma Timmis seems likeable enough. No inkling of a driven personality, or ruthlessly competitive spirit. On paper even, she stuck to a conventional life path until her late 20s, at which point she ran on a very long one that traversed South Africa. She’d liked running since aged 12. She’d always liked adventure too, leaving the UK when she was 18 to go travelling. So, running and travelling. Nothing unusual there. Except she has taken them to extremes in a way most of us could only imagine. I ask her to list her achievements.
“Running across South Africa (2400 km), running across Africa (3974 km) and roller skating across the Netherlands. Cycling from the UK to Italy (2200 km) and back. Walking the Australian Alpine Track (670km), riding an elliptigo bike across Australia (7951km) which I have a Guinness World Record for, then I ran around Hagley Park in Christchurch for 24 hours when I was not in any state to do it (injured) but did it as a fundraiser and a bit of a test of myself to see how it could go. Then based on the results from that 24-hour run, decided that I would go for the record for New Zealand at the end of the year (which she did) and now I'm recovering.”
Recovering, because she ran the length of New Zealand at a blistering pace of 100 kilometres a day for 21 days. She went through five pairs of shoes as she pounded the asphalt. Her feet were swollen by the end of day two, and the pain was unbearable. Unbearable for most of us at least, but Emma bore it. Why didn’t she pack it in at that point?
“I just wanted to achieve what I set out for.”
Emma’s two favourites from this remarkable list, are the elliptigo bike ride across Australia, and her New Zealand run. But neither rate highly because of the size of the challenge, or because they made the record books (New Zealand is still pending authentication).
“I set out to ride across Australia completely solo and self-sufficient. I had a trailer that was carrying everything that I needed, but so many people followed my journey and got involved that I felt like I had the support of the whole entire country with me. Whenever anything went wrong I had people message me and call me instantly to help out and to fix things, and there was just this real sense of community that's followed me around. And then the same thing is true for my New Zealand run that I just did, although it was far more painful and I pushed myself a hell of a lot more. I had families driving out into the middle of nowhere with signs that the children had made saying, ‘Go Emma’. People would follow my [GPS] tracker and they'd see me [about to] go past their house so they’d come to their driveway and wave at me. Both of those journeys just created this incredibly beautiful community around me and I think perhaps that's why both of those are my favourites.”
Preceding the New Zealand challenge was a long period of time when she couldn’t run due to injury. By this point, most of the endurance runs and rides were behind her but she still had more she wanted to achieve. The injury put everything on hold and led her down another path the runner never expected she would take.
“I really lost my sense of identity. If I was ever feeling stressed I would run to feel better about myself and I lost the ability to do that. I lost a lot of my friends just because my main activity where I saw other people was going running. So many things in my life were impacted by this injury and the not knowing is really stressful.”
Within 18 months she was diagnosed with depression and anxiety but she was still searching for answers to the pain. Eventually a vascular specialist in Christchurch identified that a vein and artery in her leg had connected together.
While all this was going on, Emma found salvation in a talent she’d always had, but never fostered.
“I kind of decided that I could look back on this point in my life and think that it was the most miserable point of my life or I could actively do something to turn that around and turn into the best thing ever, so I decided to take that option.”
It turns out all her appendages are bionic. The feet belong to an athlete, and the hands, to an artist. So when Emma’s legs couldn’t stride out, she returned to a latent childhood ability in order to write, illustrate and then self-publish a book called, ‘The girl who ran across Africa’.
“It's all about dreaming big and believing in yourself and overcoming obstacles along the way.”
She’s back running again but hasn’t given up her art. Once a rock-climbing instructor, she’s a full- time artist now. She shifted to Reefton recently, though admits Nelson would be her home if it was affordable. Meantime, she’s here every sunny Saturday to sell her art at the Nelson Market. Self-taught, her graphite pencil drawings of birds offer her the opportunity to practice endurance and stickability, without going through quite so many pairs of sneakers in the process.
“I just started with one – keas they’re my favourite birds - and almost hated myself straight away for the decision to do a bird because of the feathers. But then it became quite therapeutic to put all of this detail and attention into all of these tiny little feathers. So, I actually really got into it and then after I did one, I started doing another, and another, so it's kind of just got carried away.”
Getting carried away. Surely, that could be the title of a second book?
Fortunately, her humanness seeps through in an anecdote about a recent experience procrastinating over painting ‘racing car green’ in her otherwise, white-walled house. She spent serious time deliberating on the decision before sucking up the courage to start. She is not afraid to run 100 kilometres a day but is rendered at a temporary stand still because of a potential painting mistake.
For three months after her run of New Zealand, those first steps getting out of bed in the morning were painful. Not so much now, which has meant Emma can start planning for an ultramarathon later in the year. Considering her track record, it sounds more like a walk in the park though she assures me it will be a challenge.
“It’s the crater rim in Christchurch. It’s 83 kilometres. It’s very hilly. I think it’s like half the elevation of Everest.”
Her goal is to “finish comfortable”.
“I’ve worked my body very hard at the beginning of the year so I’m not setting out with any massive goal. I just want to enjoy myself really. Hopefully have some nice weather on the hills.”
Maybe for Emma, that is the earthly sum of it. Go to great lengths. Find a sense of community. Have some nice weather on the hills.
