Gabby and Kenny - Taking On Challenges

0:28Hello, Gabby here. Welcome back to the Midpoint. provinces in Ireland in honour of our great friend and Scottish rugby legend Doddy Weir, who died of MND in 2022. They completed the ride in just six days and have raised so far over£600 ,000, money that we hope will make a real difference in continuing Doddy's pursuit of effective treatments and ultimately a cure for this, the cruelest of diseases. We're going to talk about how Kenny found the challenge physically and mentally and how important those kinds of things are for those of us who are in midlife. So let's get on with it.

1:08So Kenny, welcome back to The Midpoint. It's been quite a while. It's been so long that plant looks dead in the background. Look at it. Look at what's happened to him. You're meant to water him. People don't always see the plant, but it doesn't look particularly healthy. We are, though, experiencing a heatwave. And this podcast den is at the very top of the house, in the eaves of the house. It's very hot. It is very hot. And you've stolen my little mobile air conditioning unit, which I sometimes have in here, and put it in our bedroom. Because it's hot in there too. So we're kind of sweltering, aren't we?

1:38Yeah. It is a week since the end of your challenge. I gave you a week to decompress. Thank you. And congratulations. It was good, wasn't it? Yeah, it was very good. I mean, I've obviously described in the introduction there what the challenge was. and it was all tied in with the British and Irish Lions playing in Dublin and you delivering the match ball there and Doddy was synonymous with the Lions. It was really important for you to kind of cultivate and get a lot of energy around that connection. Yeah, I think obviously from the last one we did two years ago for the World Cup, which we walked, cycled all the way to Paris, from Edinburgh, I just felt it was right to have another challenge and also Doddy played for the Lions, obviously I didn't.

2:17I don't know if so there is. I know it's a sore point Shall I do it again? No We're not going to edit that out So And also it was great to have Hamish And Cathy there Doddy's son and Doddy's wife Yeah And they Delivered a match ball to the referee Before the game So It was brilliant It was a lot harder I thought it was going to be It was very very hard Very hard And it was a challenge Because often These things I think There's a lot of fundraising things That go on And we talked about this actually In the last week Didn't we We were lucky enough to get away With a few friends And a lot of people embark on challenges and there's maybe saturation I know that sometimes you've sent out your links to people and been disappointed that they might not have come back and sponsored you but actually people are getting a lot of challenges yeah there's a lot of challenges it's interesting you said at the start it's sure that the midpoint is that people do we have challenges at this time in our life I think we've got a lot of challenges you know if I think about my prostate cancer and then that's a challenge I was actually meaning physical challenges no but I mean that's a challenge anyway because you've got something not right with you and we are going into that phase of our life, 50 years old, everything's happening.

3:21But I think it's good to have a challenge. It certainly got me out of bed. It got me when I say out of bed when I was thinking. I was going to say, I've never been to stay around in bed. I'd be thinking to myself, oh, I can't be bothered to train today, but I had to train because I needed to put the miles in. And when we did the last challenge, it was quite hard. It wasn't nowhere near as hard as this one. This was a proper challenge. This was some of the days at lunchtime, just after lunch in a dark space. as Alan McCoy said so dark the lights are out and I found you know I was having to think how can I get up this hill I'm exhausted I've got no energy left It was very windy and very hilly wasn't it and there were over 100 miles most days.

3:59100 miles most days a little over 100 miles but the first day was everyone was quite giggly the first day it was all exciting and then the second day we had 50 mile winds in our face we were literally changing gear to cycle down the hill because it was so strong People got blown off their bikes Yeah, we had a couple of crashes One serious one where Duncan, who's a great fundraiser For the Manage Dory Foundation Came off and snapped his collarbone So it really was a challenge and I think we don't need to go through Hour by hour, day by day But suffice to say it was physically hard I joined him for the last day That was a hard day The hardest morning we've ever done If you've ever been to the Wicklow Hills Mountains Take your car You know it was amazing The Wicklow Mountains, and we cycled from there into Dublin.

4:44And it was only about 70 kilometres. It wasn't far in terms of distance, but we climbed 1 ,250 metres. So there was a lot of climbing. I did just under 10 ,000 in the whole week, metres, which is like going up Everest and down. Right, OK. Just, you know, just a good idea. But people normally do that in shoes, not surfing shoes and cleats. I think, going back to your point about what I was saying at the introduction, I think sometimes, as you say, some people just need that motivation and sign up to something because it keeps them accountable to something and you feel like you can't let that bigger thing down.

5:17We talk about that a lot with exercise and midlife. And I was noticing a conversation between friends just the other day. They both want to start a new way of eating and exercising and they asked each other to keep them accountable. They asked the other one, could you keep me accountable to it? Are we doing that? I've got to bring that up at the end of the podcast. But also, I think you push yourself beyond places you think you can go. I think that's what a challenge does because often you just go to the gym, you might be churning out the same routine all the time, you're not surprising yourself, you're not surprising your body and a challenge takes you beyond what you thought was possible.

5:51And we're doing it for people who haven't, we're doing it for the M &D community and these people have struggled to get a voice and we give them that voice and we give them that exposure. What was really lovely, we went to Ballymena Rugby Club where Willie John McBride's from. Explain who Willie John McBride is. Willie John McBride is probably one of the most famous British and Irish Lions players of all time. He's played in the 1974 team, which won in South Africa, and he's played more test matches than any other line in the world. And the British and Irish Lions, for those who don't know, which is happening this summer, are the best players from Ireland and all the other home nations who play in the Six Nations.

6:32So obviously Italy and France aren't included. So these are the elite, the cream of the league. Every four years it happens. And this summer there's touring in Australia and Willie John McBride is an Irish legend. So we went to his rugby club and there were 300 or 400 people and people had come and given us £100 from cake stores, £100 from seven teas, donations, constantly. And we met this farmer, Ian, who is actually on a Doddy trial, which was really nice to see somebody who's on one of the trials that Doddy set up. So he's a farmer in Ireland and he's on a trial of medicine. He's on a trial that Doddy set up.

7:07So Doddy's money, the money raised in his name and the foundation, is already in practice giving people potentially a change. 20 million so far. Overall, they've committed to research. But it was nice to see somebody, and he was just over the moon that we were there, and he actually then came, we actually took another 50 miles, and he got in the car and he came with his wife to see us again. and we met Tommy Bo's dad, Mr. Bo, we call him, as we got off the bikes, we were exhausted, it was 108 miles, and he gave us a glass of red wine and some cheese. Not what I was thinking, but it was very nice.

7:44And we sat down and Ian came across and he just kept saying thank you very much for fighting for me, fighting for all of that M &D people. So when you are going up that hill and you are feeling tired, you can do something about it. Sadly, people at M &D can't do anything. So that certainly drives you. And, you know, that's why we keep doing it. And for Doddy's, you know, his dream is to find something that can make a real impact in this disease. So that's when you're feeling dark and feeling, I can't do this. You do it because you do it for all those people. Because you can as well. And that is the cruel, cruel thing of motor neurone disease, obviously, is it strips away the individual, the ability to do anything physical on their own.

8:27and it's horrendous to see previously fit, healthy people so quickly, unable to do anything. And that's where I think when you're on that bike and you feel really tired and you feel like you can't go on, that is where your brain just tells you that you can. And the mind is, what I'm always reminded when I do stuff like this is how powerful the mind is. And it is your mind almost that's telling you you can't and you've got to switch that. And you can apply that, I think, in midlife to lots of different things, can't you? It doesn't just have to be a big challenge. You know, we all come up against things that feel insurmountable and things that feel really difficult.

9:01And actually, you can switch your thinking. Your mind can... Very powerful muscle. Yeah. And I think challenges probably are a way of reminding you of that. And it could be doing something like a 20-mile walk or it could be signing up for a marathon or anything that you think you can't do. I mean, there was a guy on the challenge who was an ex-Marine, wasn't there? who has just cycled pretty much the whole world. I was cycling next to him at one point and he's now using what he sees as his challenge to go into schools and wants to talk to kids about mindset and he pretty much cycled around the world and has been through some incredible adventures and scrapes along the way and he was telling me about a few of them as we were cycling.

9:46I'm not very good at chatting to people on the bike. It's funny, you get to a hill and everybody's just quiet and everybody goes off at their own little pace. But again, when you're doing these challenges, there's moments where you're cycling for 20 minutes, 30 minutes, not speaking to MD, thinking about, I've got to go up this hill, I'm going to go around a corner, and you see another hill and you go, I've got to go again, I've got to go again. And it was really hard. My legs are tired, I'm tired, I'm hungry now because I feel hungry, and then all these things are flashing through your brain.

10:18And also, because you don't know the road, there's loads of surprises aren't there and one of the nicest surprises was the Guinness Lake. Oh that was amazing at the top of the Wicklow Mountains you see this lake. Black. It's black and it's got a kind of yellowy cream beach which looks like the head of a Guinness. Fantastic. Used to be owned by the Guinness family, the estate that it sits on and some of the sights were beautiful. I just wish I could have taken them in more because I was just in too much pain. You know the Irish people were amazing. The support we had were stopping off at cafes getting a coffee, snack break and they were giving us coffees and snacks for free.

10:50You can't pay for these. No, you're not paying for them. You're doing it for a great cause. And the amount of people that came up to us and said, oh, my uncle died and my mum died. Of motor neurones. Of motor neurones. It was incredible. So the support was amazing. The Irish were brilliant and we loved every minute of it. And actually cycling through Ireland, when normally you're in Dublin, you're in Belfast, you don't get to go through these lovely parts. And even in the wind, the only thing we didn't get was snow. But even in the wind, the rain and the sunshine, it was just absolutely amazing and obviously at the end it was when we finished some of you guys were quite emotional and there were a lot of tears as well I think that is indicative of how hard it was how hard it was and also that build up of emotion and why you're doing it and I think for you the energy it takes because obviously you're leading all these people and every night trying to kind of get everybody's mood up and get them kind of going again does it leave you feeling a bit drained?

11:43You are a little bit drained but I then hurt my ankle my Achilles tendon so that drained me even more and I was a bit grumpy because he said oh here grumpy comes and I'm never really called grumpy when I do these things so I was a bit disappointed being grumpy but my ankle was really sore my Achilles was really sore so I had to sort of deal with that and make sure I could do the next day make sure I didn't want not to finish and at one stage they said do you want to jump in the car for 20 minutes and I was like no way You were cycling with one leg at one point Yeah well I would say one leg but you were kind of not able to do it The hills was hard yeah but you know I'm glad we've, it's a great challenge.

12:18Is that it now? I don't know. Everybody said that. Let's leave it there. That was a good challenge. Yeah, that was a good one. That was a good one. You don't have to, you don't have to do another one. That's, we'll see. Oh no, this is like Steve Redgrave, isn't it? Well, not quite. You don't get an open gold medal from it, but you know, I'm never doing that again. And then there you go again. But I think it was great seeing all kinds of different blokes. And it was blokes actually this time. I was the only woman that joined in at the end 30 men there were a couple of professional female outriders who were leading they were paid to make sure you were safe they were unbelievable one was an Irish Olympian they were incredible and it makes you realise as a mere mortal how ridiculous they are they literally go up hills they're definitely talking up hills they sprint going up hills I asked one of the girls called Laura when we were finished and we had some food I said, was there any part of today that hurt you at all?

13:16And she kind of had this smile as if she was like, no. Oh, God. And you think you're fit and you think you're training hard, but actually. I think I probably could have trained a little bit harder because I only did one 90-mile run cycle, should I say. Yeah, but I think, you know, you just do what you can before you start the challenge itself. And the challenge itself and then just don't let it drop off like you did last time. Keep going on your bike and going out. Yeah, no, I must admit I did enjoy the bike. And I love the gear. I love the cycling kit I know either there's always a new kit coming from you I love a little bit of cycling kit that's why I want to keep cycling because I'm a big fan of nowadays it's so cool when you go past cycling shops it's really cool and the bikes are cool we record when we're in the studio at Spiritland which is at Coal Drops Yard at King's Cross there's a cycling shop there and I was just wandering around the other day thinking no I can't buy any more kit especially when you only go out once a month I don't go out once a month I was going out every weekend with you when we were kind of in the build-up to it.

14:15We'll continue that. It's just hard, isn't it? Because the roads in this country, when you cycle in Portugal, which we were lucky enough to do, or you cycle in Ireland, or even in the north of Scotland, and France, we've cycled in. Well, a lot of the roads that we've cycled on in the challenges before are so good. And in the UK, you notice potholes, but also angry drivers and people shouting at you. we just haven't got the culture in this country for cyclists and I try really hard when I'm driving especially in the country, if I see a cyclist I will pull back same way that you would a horse, you saw somebody on a horse but I think a lot of people just see us when we're out on bikes as complete nuisances.

14:57And also we are when you're on a bike, you are looking at the road and you see a pothole and if you go through it, you could go over the handlebars so you've got to go around it so you tend to sit a little bit further out so if there's a pothole there's not as much in a swarf the roads are just full of them aren't they so I mean it's a great if you go out early in the morning nice and early in the morning well we tried to go out at 6 didn't we it's a bit like a game of golf you go out for 3 or 4 hours yeah but you can't play golf at 6 in the morning can you? no no not generally but to get a good burn you need to be out for 3 hours don't you?

15:28yeah

15:32I hope you're enjoying this episode of The Midpoint if you are it would be amazing if you could give us a review and subscribe. It really helps. I'll be back in a moment.

15:45As I mentioned before, I don't think you've been on the podcast since Christmas, since you and Lois came into the studio. We had a lovely chat then. A lot. Struggling this week. A lot. Well, I thought it was really important to give the challenge a platform. Thank you. And also to just have a little reflection because Lois has now finished her first year at university which feels like it's flown by and talked, you know, we talked a lot last year this time about emptiness because Ruben had been gone for a year already at that point, he's now been gone for two years and Lois has now had a year at university I don't feel like she's been away, I feel like we're so busy and she's been in and out all the time that it hasn't really hit me at all, the kind of emptiness yet.

16:25No, I think also because we're busy, that helps if we were at home you know, all the time to stare at each other my god, there's Lois get her back so I think there's definitely being busy helps and I think it's also quite exciting from our point of view you can do more you're not having to think about the kids all the time so you do think about them a bit in a different way Yeah we've done we went away with a few friends this week down to Cornwall we wouldn't necessarily always be able to do that in term time and obviously Ruben will move to Manchester as well soon he's moving to Sail Sharks at the end of the World Cup which we're heading off tomorrow to watch him play which is very exciting for Scotland he's become Scottish since the last time you were on the podcast has he?

17:07he was always Scottish yeah he started playing for Scotland's under 20s which is very exciting and he's playing in the World Cup in Italy so you must feel very proud about that yeah really proud I think when your kids do anything in life they do something that they love and you just get behind it you know same as Lois or even yourself but yeah I'm really proud of him and I just want him to enjoy it so it's the only thing I'd say just go and enjoy it there are going to be good days there are going to be bad days but try and enjoy as many as you can yeah he's there for a month which I think will be definitely there'll be a weird kind of feeling in this house because he normally comes home at least once a week and so there's a lot of pants to clean when you come back he goes through a lot of pants he seems to nick your pants all the time as well we've done well not to embarrass him for a while no but I actually hide my pants now I don't put them in my cupboard to hide them you can't say where you hide Well, you can, he won't listen to this, won't you?

18:02No, I'm not telling you. Where do you hide them? I'm not telling you. Because you'll probably tell him. Just go to your dad's room, they're under the such and such. Do you put them in? Well, I see him going into your drawer. I hide them. I hide my pants somewhere. You're actually putting your pants in a different place. Yes. So that he can't get them. Yeah. This is extraordinary. No, because I go in there and there's none. I'm like, where's all my pants gone? And he's still on them. Still on them. Well, maybe he'll now take responsibility for his own pants. I doubt. Is that a normal father something?

18:32I don't know. Pants? Does Lois wear your pants? Absolutely not, no. She wears your clothes. She does wear my clothes. It's the only thing Ruben can probably fit in, the pants. And I think the pants must be far too small. And the socks, that is it. Everyone else is gone. He's going to have to swell cups, 6 foot 5 and 120 kilos. So he cannot fit into anything else that you have. I can't believe he's fixed in my pants. Sometimes he steals my socks though. I'm a size 6 and he's a size 13. Yeah, I just think he's quite disorganised with his wardrobe. No, he's definitely disorganised. So I feel bad talking about him when he's not here.

19:03I think he would agree to all of that, yeah. So it's going to be weird him going to Manchester to play for Sail Sharks because he won't come home as much. No, and we can't just nip up and see him anymore. But you'll be able to see him more than I will. Yeah, because I'll be spending a lot more time in Salford for Match of the Day. Match of the Day, that's new. That's new since the last time you and I chatted. Yeah, so tell me, let's chat about that. Let's reverse it. So Gabby, Match of the Day. I think you know what it involves. He must be really excited. I think you know what Match of the Day in Bones.

19:28It's a really big thing. It is. It is very exciting, yeah. It's funny because people say to me things like, when does it start? And I go, well, when the season starts. Yeah. And they go, oh, yeah. Actually, somebody, I can't say who, asked me recently. Me? Have I? No, it wasn't you for once. Asked me, have you recorded some already? Oh, God. Tell me. So just to be clear. Is it Alan McCoy? For anybody who isn't, Match of the Day is live. and it's on a Saturday and Sunday night and it's after the football's been played. So you can't pre-record it because the football hasn't been played yet. But it is an institution.

20:04I grew up hearing the Match of the Day music. It was the only way you could watch football, really, because there were so few live matches on when I was a kid. And my dad would have been on Match of the Day as well. So it's very exciting to be part of that institution and along with Kelly and Mark, who are the other presenters, we'll share the load through. Did Mark's dad play for any football club? Kelly's dad, obviously. Kelly the Gleeson legend. Mark's dad was an architect and has actually mentioned to Mark that he feels he's let him down. I think he hasn't let him down at all. But it's interesting.

20:35I assumed, you know, that I was the middle one. I was like the middle child. I thought Mark was older than me. And I know Kelly's not yet 50. She's 50 in September. Who's oldest? It's me. Mark's six months younger than me. He's looking well. I'd already positioned myself as the kind of middle one in this situation because I'm the eldest child at home. and I thought, I'm good, I'm not going to be the eldest one, I'm going to be the middle one. So I was a bit disappointed. That means you can take control. No, it's not that kind of dynamic, Kenny, between the three of us. But what I meant was, I was like, oh, God, I'm no longer...

21:07You're the old one. Well, this is the thing about midlife, isn't it? You're never the young one in the room anymore. And even with the Match of the Day trio, even though we're only a few years apart, I'm still not the young one out of the trio. We were away this week with people who are mainly our age, but then there was one of the women is a lot younger. She's 44. And yeah, I was kind of looking at her skin on her hands and her legs and her arms going... This is what it's going to look like in five years' time. I said, oh, your skin's still so lovely. And then one of my friends who's a bit older was going, it's just the collagen.

21:41It just disappears. And there isn't a lot you can do about it. My skin's pretty good for an old man. Oh my God, oh, you're beautiful. Yeah, your skin's... Men are different. Men have different skin to women. What's different with it? There's just something different in the texture of a man's skin. You don't tend to lose your collagen in the same way. Really? Yeah. I don't know. I felt over the last few days, I felt a bit kind of... Feeling old? I felt... I don't know whether I was tired of the challenge as well. Oh, come on. One day? No, but, you know, I worked, nipped to Ireland, did the cycle, nipped back, had to work.

22:10Then, you know, then we travelled off the wall. It definitely took longer for me to recover this thing. Yeah, and I was thinking, oh, it's that age. It just takes that little bit longer to recover from things. Or we maybe just not giving ourselves. time to just because lois is exhausted at the moment she's training for this magnolia cup which is a an amateur horse race as well as doing all her own stuff getting up really early in the morning and she's exhausted but she still manages to get up at 4 45 and i'm absolutely you know hammer the day and then do it again the next day and i'm thinking i couldn't do that right now i don't think i don't think i definitely could i haven't got that energy at the moment energy's not there yeah so um that's age so we've got to you've got to look after yourself and training does training does give you energy.

22:51It does. But I think, you know the Guinness that you were drinking in Ireland? That doesn't give you energy. Ah, but Jesus knows beautiful stuff there. That doesn't give you energy. We had to have a couple of Guinnesses at night. Yeah, but it's not, it's not great for you. I don't think that was preparation. I think that was what made us a little bit tired. Yeah, you don't see elite athletes. You know, like if you're in the Olympic Village. They should try it. They don't have like Guinness on tap and stuff. So I think if you're honest. But when you're there, when you're there. It's hard to do.

23:15And you're just psyched and somebody just goes, Is it true? Is it different in Ireland? Yeah. Brilliant. It's just got a cream on the top of it. It just seems better. But you like Guinness Zero as well. But the Zero, does it taste? It tastes amazing. Yeah. It tastes really good. You know how Guinness is supposed to have some goodness in it? Oh, it's got a lot of goodness. That's what Coise was saying. There's a lot of goodness in here for us. This is like... I've never had six Irish breakfasts every morning. Every morning. Every morning. because we were in a situation where you're constantly hungry.

23:52That's one thing they said to us. You need to keep eating as much as you can. You did, didn't you? You actually managed to cycle 555 miles and put weight on you? No, not quite. When I came back, I felt heavy the first night, but then the second night, I was back to normal. It must have just been a bit of fluid. Didn't you say you put four kilos on? Yeah, but it's gone now. I'm back down to where I was. Your normal weight. I haven't eaten for a week. but the breakfasts were great so do you think when they said you can eat what you want really you took that a little bit too literally I had full Irish breakfast every morning two sausages bacon, salt, everything on it brilliant that's still not great for you that's the kind of food well you need that food when you're recycling you can get your nutrients and your calories porridge maybe Greek yoghurt and berries seeds, nuts these were just on tap, sausages everywhere Yeah, okay, well, back to normal now.

24:46Back to home. None of that here. Back to lettuce. Not quite, not quite. You like your overnight oats. Yeah, I do like that. I love that. I might do it for tomorrow, actually. And just a quick update as well on the podcast, because I had a guest on recently, and we talked about the things that come to you at various ages, and I got sent my bowel screening test when I turned 52. I haven't had that yet. Well, Dr Sally Harris, who was on, said it's around that age you get sent it. and I got my results back and everything is fine. So if you get yours in the post, do use it and send it off. If somebody could send me one, that'd be great.

25:21Well, I'm surprised you haven't. I've not had one. Consider it on my track record. When you had your health issues over the last few years, have you not had that screened? No. Okay, well, maybe you need to go. I'll do that tomorrow. So, yeah, it's definitely something that you shouldn't ignore. And what we're here for, Kenny, is definitely pointing out different things that people should take notice of. Obviously, your prostate cancer episode is still one of the most popular and people come up and talk to both of us all the time about listening back to that. So thank you for your feedback on that.

25:52And please, if there's anybody in your life who you think could do with a little nudge to go and have a test or you think might have some symptoms, get them to listen to it and get them to go and get a test. And just to help everybody, there's no symptoms. If you get symptoms, you're in trouble. Yeah. Just if you just go and get tested, when you get to 48 years old, go and get tested. 50. Get tested. And then you know. Well, congratulations on the challenge. Thank you very much for your support. I'm not going to keep you here for long because you uttered the immortal words to me. You decided to start making a path this afternoon.

26:29And you said to me, just before we came up here, my dumper has broken. And so I haven't looked out. I don't think I should be talking about my dumper. I don't think I'm all right, Tossa. Kenny bought himself a dumper a long time ago and that dumper has paid for itself one of my favourite toys and it's paid for itself many many times over if you'd had to hire a dumper for the amount of times you've used your dumper I've never got the dumper and so now you've told me the dumper's broken and I no doubt it's probably stuck in some eyesore position I'll look out the window on a beautiful evening and just see a dumper so I would like you to go and fix your dumper if it's ok I don't think I've ever ended a midpoint with that line I'm off to fix the dumper Thank you for joining us yet again and congratulations.

27:12And we will leave the details for all of the ways you can fundraise for My Name's Doddy Foundation. And if you fancy throwing any kind of donation towards the challenge, we would be enormously grateful. It is going to a fantastic cause and the research is already underway. And maybe one day, as Doddy so desperately wants to, we will find a cure. Thank you.