Pat Farmer ran 20,919-kilometre run Pole to Pole to raise money for the Red Cross.

It’s been six weeks since you finished the run. How are you feeling?

“Even I, the guru of motivation, felt terrible when I finished. I’d been running the equivalent of two marathons every day for more than 10 months, pushing myself to the limits, and then I got home and life was just normal again. I feel really weird at the moment and am keen to set new goals. Life is easier when you’re focused.
“Physically, my knee is still very tender and the feeling in my legs is like a cross between pins and needles and numbness. I will recover, though.”

You ran 70 to 90 kilometres a day, sometimes over 16 hours, without one day of rest. How did you cope with injury?

“I ran over 21 million steps. If a drop of water dripped onto a rock 21 million times, you’d wear a section away, so problems are inevitable, but it’s a matter of knowing your body well enough to understand what is permanent.

“With my knee, I think there was a slight tear inside the cruciate ligament and it was aggravated every time my knee twisted, which happened often running on dirt roads, sand, snow and ice. A few times it caused me to collapse, but I changed my style, putting weight on the other side of my body, until it went away.

“Another problem was I lost so much weight, even the fat on my heels had gone, so every time I hit the ground I could feel the bones of my feet crunching. I had to change my shoes a lot more regularly and change my inner soles so I had some cushioning.”

Was there anything you could do to aid recovery?

“If I felt really tired I’d say, ‘I’m going to power-nap for nine or 12 minutes’ or whatever. I knew exactly how much time I could afford and then I’d rest to that absolute minute and get going again. I also rubbed anti-inflammatory gel into my legs every night and stretched before I went to sleep.”

You had to consume up to 10,000 calories a day, especially in the Poles where you had to run and keep warm. How did you do it?

“It’s the equivalent of about 45 hamburgers a day. Obviously you couldn’t eat that amount of solid food, so in the Poles I drank olive oil because it doesn’t freeze easily and is a good fat. I also ate chocolate and more chocolate.

I ate nuts and dried fruit, then I’d make chicken noodle soup and add a block of cheese or butter to it. You couldn’t eat that kind of food normally. You’d die of a heart attack.

“A lot of the time I just had to eat what I could get. In the jungle we ate from the land. In Mexico I don’t even want to know what I ate but I had a few stomach upsets afterwards. One meal that I did enjoy was a moose stew which an Inuit made for me. He had heard what I was doing and came out to find me.”

Many people didn’t believe you could do this run. Do you think you understood the magnitude of your task?

“I probably didn’t. It was psychologically very hard. The Poles were especially tough because of the temperatures of minus 40 degrees, the soft snow, the fact that we had to pull 100-kilogram kayak sleds behind us and the white-outs. Everything was so white, I couldn’t tell if there was a mountain or a trough in front of me and when I fell over it was hard to work out which way was up and which was down. Many days it would take me 16 hours to do 70 kilometres. I just put my head down and thought about home and my family.

“There was not one easy day. Yes, there were great experiences and lovely people, but I worked for every step I took and some days I felt like nature was out to test me. I ran through water up to my knees in Mexico and at altitude with cars belching black smoke into my face in Ecuador. But I just pushed on because that was the mindset I was in.”

Did you ever feel seriously concerned for your health?

“Going through the desert in Peru was hell. Because I was trying to make up time, I decided to take a short cut through an old mining road. My crew couldn’t come with me but arranged to drive along the highway and come in on one of the connecting roads to give me food and water. A cameraman would accompany me on his motorbike. He was a lovely guy but not good on detail and 30 kilometres into the run he told me he was about to run out of fuel and had to head back to town.

I took his water and backpack and kept running. But what I didn’t know was my crew had broken down so they weren’t at our meeting points. It was 40 degrees and there was no phone coverage and no shelter. It occurred to me I could die out there.

“I ended up drinking my own urine and slept out that night on the side of a mountain. Luckily we all met up the next afternoon.

“Going through the jungle between Panama and Colombia was also hard. I had a team of 19 security guards with me so I was safe, but the mosquitoes were the size of hummingbirds, every plant seemed to have a sharp spike and we had torrential daily rain.

“I got out the other end to find my crew was stuck at customs for at least five days. I had to carry on running in my boots with the same muddy socks and no change of clothes. By the time my crew finally caught up with me my feet were severely infected. I fainted twice because of the poison in my body.”

What kept you going?

“I did the run to help the Red Cross improve sanitation and water supplies. So far I’ve raised $100,000. A person dies every 15 seconds due to poor sanitation. I’d think about that. My legs hurt and I had a long way to run, but if I wanted to I could quit and go back to a normal life. Many people can’t just quit their lives.”

What is it about you that makes you able to run these huge distances?

“I've had tests done – muscle biopsies, Vo2 max – and they found nothing exceptional in my body make-up at all except my leg muscle strength which is three times greater than an AFL player's. All my exercise is aerobic and they concluded that when my muscles did grow and strengthen, the small capillaries grew with them so when I needed extra power those capillaries were able to deliver more oxygen-rich blood to my muscles.

“I think it really comes down to mental strength. I have a burning desire to make my life count. I'm never content with my life. I'm not saying it's a good thing, it's just my make up. I'm always looking for challenges”.

You were a federal MP for eight years. Do you think you can make more of a difference as a politican or a runner?

“I've thought about that a lot. I've encountered so many lovely people from all walks of life as a runner. People often tell me I've inspired them to change their own lives, be more determined or battle through the tough times. As a politician you don't have the connection with people. It's all about working with majorities, whether that's the party or the voters.

“We're represented by people who tick the boxes rather than being the best people to perform their role. It's liberating to be able to speak my mind and still do a lot of good for people.”

You just celebrated your 50th birthday - how do you feel?

“Don't remind me! In Vermont, I did a radio interview and the girl kept harking on that she couldn't believe someone of my age was doing this run.

“We do put barriers on people. Hopefully I'm breaking the mould and motivating people to realise that if you believe you can do something you can.”

Pat’s book, Pole To Pole (Allen & Unwin) is out now. To donate to the Pole2Pole Run appeal, visit www.redcross.org.au