Stephanie Case - UN human rights lawyer in Afghanistan, Ultrarunner - Tor des Géants, Western States 100, Barkley Marathon, & founder of Free to Run.

We first spoke with Stephanie back in 2016, where she shared more about her early years growing up, how she got into sports and running, she also discusses what it’s been like living and working in active conflict zones, including working in Afghanistan with the UN. Stephanie also shares more about her charity Free to Run, which supports women and girls in areas of conflict through running and outdoor adventure.

On 1 January 2017 Stephanie was in a life-threatening accident in the mountains, which is where we pick up with Stephanie for this podcast. Stephanie takes us back to the beginning of 2017 and shares more about what happened, the impact on her physically and mentally, as well as sharing more about her recovery and attitude to getting back to running and competing in ultra races. 

Since March 2018, Stephanie has been based back in Afghanistan (which is where she was for this interview) working for the UN. Stephanie shares more about her life and how she trains for ultra marathons while living in an armed compound. We also do a quick fire question round at the end, which reveals some surprising answers!

Show notes

• Moving back to Kabul, Afghanistan
• Living the life she had always wanted 
• Leaving paradise behind
• Going back to the start of 2017
• Starting the year off in the Mountains
• Being in an accident
• Going through the options of what she could do
• Waiting for 30 mins for the helicopter to come
• Breaking 6 ribs, punctured lung and grade 3 liver laceration, hypothermia, an internal bleeding
• Recovering mental from the experience
• Getting over the feeling of being alone
• Being in intensive care
• Why she needed to get back to running as soon as she could
• Listening to your body
• Not changing her race schedule for 2017 & how it ended up being the best year she’s ever had!
• Racing Tor des Géants (338km with 31000m of ascent) in 2017 and 2018
• “You’ve got to find the reason why you came here”
• Knowing the difference between damaging pain and normal pain
• Why you have to - reset your pain threshold - create the new normal 
• Wanting to run in Western States 100!
• Winning a contest with Strava
• Crossing the finish line and aiming to do it under 24hrs!
• Coke cola  & pickle juice…
• Barkley Marathon… why she entered in…
• Let’s talk about failure - what does it mean to Stephanie? 
• Training in Afghanistan while living in an armed compound
• Future races 2019
• Quick fire questions
• Free to Run 

Social Media

Say hi on twitter @runningcase 

Learn more about free to run & support on twitter @FreeToRunNGO