Running Around The World (26,000 Kilometers) | Tim Franklin #617

Tim Franklin became the second faster human to run around the world. Starting out in Australia he hit 4 other continents and ran all terrains.

Tim is a genuinely funny bloke and someone who has inspired me personally

Mentioned On Today's Show:
🤝 His dads last words to him
🤝 What it takes to run around the world
🤝 Why he wants to get the world moving

Chapters

• 0:00 Running Around the World Journey
• 8:24 Embracing Service and Taking Risks
• 16:51 Endurance and Resilience in Running
• 27:59 Challenges and Growth Through Running
• 31:34 Preparations, Doubts, and Intrinsic Motivation
• 37:35 Overcoming Pain and Personal Loss
• 46:55 Legacy of Adventure
• 55:15 Post-Run Reflections and Future Goals
• 1:02:40 Running Around the World 576 Days

Transcript

Lachlan Stuart: 0:00

Welcome back to the man that Can with Lachie Stuart Today. I'm very excited about this guest. It's been one I've been following for a very bloody long time, and now I've been fortunate to get you into the homemade studio. Tim runs the world. Tim Franklin, how are you, mate?

Tim Franklin: 0:15

Thanks for coming on the show. Thanks for having me, lachie. Now it's good to finally meet face-to-face. Like we were talking and I think we communicated over Instagram, then messages, then we spoke on the phone. Well, that was pretty scary, wasn't it, and now we're meeting face-to-face, so it's good to be here. It's the evolution of our friendships, isn't it?

Lachlan Stuart: 0:32

Yeah, in 2024, yeah, the dating market. But mate running the world. When I first heard about it I didn't believe it and I did not understand it. But you've done it. I think you're one of four, or so I'm the eighth person, eighth person in the world to be crazy enough to run the world.

Tim Franklin: 0:50

Firstly, why did you do it? Yeah, that's probably the question I get asked the most, and a few reasons. One I just wanted to. Well, I like you, when I first heard of it I didn't realize it was a thing. I'm like how do you do it? What's it look like? What are the rules around it? So I met Tom Dennis. Tom Dennis is the only other Aussie to have done it. Did you meet?

Lachlan Stuart: 1:11

him on a plane.

Tim Franklin: 1:12

I met him on the plane. So great story. We were flying out to run across the Simpson Desert as an ultra and a guy that I was sitting next to was reading a book about running around the world written by Tom Dennis, and Tom was sitting behind us. The road, behind us on the plane that set up. Yeah, like unbeknownst so sliding doors moment, so yeah, so I got to know Tommy over the race week. We spoke a lot about it and I was fixated, I suppose, on doing it. That was 2017.

Lachlan Stuart: 1:44

So 2017, though, and then you decided you were going to do this desert run. Was that like your first ultra, or had you been doing things previously? Were you a runner?

Tim Franklin: 1:56

Yeah, so historically, no, I wasn't a runner. I used to, when I was sort of a teenager kid played all the sports. I lived a really normal Brisbane suburban life Cricket in the summer, footy in the winter and just running around the streets, just basically being a social maniac, right. And then I got to my teenage years and my body started to fail me. I've got scoliosis, so curvature of the spine, osgood-schlatter's which is growing, pains in my knees where tendons were tearing away from bone. Wow, I got one leg significantly shorter than the other like a very low-grade spina bifida, all this sort of stuff. So what that meant. When I went through puberty and my body grew, I was just in a lot of pain and I hated moving all of a sudden, going from loving it to just didn't like it. So I became sedentary for the best part of the decade, drinking, and then obviously you turn 18 and hit the party scene so drinking, smoking, you know, ingesting other things that I shouldn't be ingesting, and generally overeating and under moving and got to about 120 kilos.

Lachlan Stuart: 3:00

What are you weighing at the moment? 80. So for those who want to see in reference to me, I'm 5 foot 10 and about 83 and there's a photo that will be on social media that you can see the difference. Seeing you at 120, that's like, yeah, so 25 percent of what you're at now yeah, like an extra 40, yeah, like 50.

Tim Franklin: 3:17

An extra 40 kilos on me. Yeah, now, go to the gym now and I can't even lift 40 kilos. I'm so, I'm so weak after the run, but it's a huge difference, right, yeah, um, and then I just started running. One day I made a mind so let's do the noosa triathlon. And I'm like, yeah, let's, let's do it like. This is after a decade of very little movement. Yeah, a bit of cricket during the summer, but cricket was about how many cans I can drink. You know, at the end of the day you're not really moving, especially when I'm getting out for not many runs. So then we started running, did 2.2 kilometers. That's how I sort of tell my story. Now when I'm up on stage I talk about my 2.2 kilometer run 28 minutes, vomited, got my mom to come and pick me up because I was just cooked and I had to, literally rang her from a pay phone.

Lachlan Stuart: 4:04

The old 1-800-REPORT.

Tim Franklin: 4:05

You're exactly right, it was exactly right, and I do a lot of talking to kids now and I've got to explain to them what a payphone is. And then she came and picked me up but it just lit a fire. I loved it, man, I loved it.

Lachlan Stuart: 4:18

Talk me through that, though you hate it or you didn't enjoy it. You're spewing, you're getting picked up, you're using a payphone, but then you fell in love with it. That just seems so not normal.

Tim Franklin: 4:31

Yeah, I guess that's probably a good way to describe it.

Lachlan Stuart: 4:33

If I'm throwing up, I don't know whether I'm going back very often.

Tim Franklin: 4:35

Yeah, well, that's true. I guess I didn't enjoy that. What I really enjoyed was the challenge of it, that it didn't come easy to me. Like it, like athletically um, yeah, an average joe right weekend warrior, but I, I love the grind. I've really fallen in love with the grind. I found the joy and just trying to oh, it's all cliche, but it's so true. For me it's just trying to be the best athlete that I can be living the life that I have to live. So obviously I have to work, I have to socialize, I've got to work, I've got a normal life, but whilst I'm training, I'm trying to be the very best version of Fit Tim Yep. So that's what I fell in love with. I fell in love with how good can I be?

Lachlan Stuart: 5:23

That's such a good way to flip that and focus on that sort of the growth that you can go down. Did you ever think about like the scoliosis and the knee issues and everything like that as a reason why, like, maybe I shouldn't do that never?

Tim Franklin: 5:36

never, no, I never. I never looked at anything like that as a reason why or an excuse why I just was going to train as hard as I can, sustainably. So look after my body to a degree, make sure that any time there was a niggle I'd get it looked at really quickly, get on top of it, but then keep working towards the goal. Obviously, when I started running, the goal wasn't running around the world. This was about 2005, I think.

Tim Franklin: 6:03

Yeah, right, so nearly 10 years ago yeah yeah, so 20 years I've been running about half my life now Crap, yeah, yeah, so I, yeah, and all various things. So triathlon was the first like sport. First endurance sport I got into and then, after about 10 years, doing that, doing like the Ironman and the ultra man sort of triathlon, multi-day sort of triathlon I fell into. Well, I just, I just entered a. I entered a multi-day um run like multi-day ultra marathon, where you know one of those ones where you got to carry all your own stuff and I love the attritional nature of it. Like, I love, like, am I going to drop today or who's going to drop today? Can I keep pushing? Yeah?

Tim Franklin: 6:41

yeah and that's and that, but it's the people I met along the way which made the journey fun, like I've made lifelong friends for sure, meeting those like-minded people as well, like, I'm sure, on your journeys throughout the run and all of that.

Lachlan Stuart: 6:52

You're meeting great people. But then the people that maybe you're training with or you know I know you have 39 mates come and join you, like the fact that they're investing their time to come support you is like these bonds and memories that only you guys get to experience and tell those stories. That is fucking incredible yeah, it's, it's cool.

Tim Franklin: 7:10

It's cool like and you, you'll experience the same thing, right? It's really humbling as well, like people are willing to give up their time, their money, you know, time away from work, time away from their family, to come and make you the best version of you. Yeah, so like, it's that whole premise. Now that I've come back from the run, it's like be of service, or be of service to others. If someone asks if I can help them, I'll do everything I can to say yes to it.

Lachlan Stuart: 7:35

Did you have that sort of mindset prior, or was that something you learned through that experience?

Tim Franklin: 7:40

I think it's something I learned. I think if I'm well, you'd have to ask others, but I think, if I'm looking back and reflecting on me, I'm probably I've been selfish, yeah, I've been focused on what I'm doing and been unwilling to compromise, and I think that's probably reflected in my inability to maintain a long-term relationship only because I have been so focused on, because I'm scared is probably not the right word, but really hesitant to go back to unhealthy Tim. So I've kept training and be really consistent and really focused on that because, yeah, I'm afraid or scared of him coming back because he's still in there. Right, it's a battle, but yeah. So now what I want to do is open up, like so many people opened up their home for me on the run. So many people came and helped me on the run. So I want to do that.

Tim Franklin: 8:32

So, like my home now I'll just the door will be open for anyone that wants to come in and I might come stay anyone that needs, anyone that needs, you know, any assistance if they reach out, I am hoping that in some way I can help, and if I can't, then hopefully I can put someone else onto them or something like that. So yeah, just to be more of service, more selfless, I suppose, from here on out.

Lachlan Stuart: 8:53

I think the beautiful thing for me, hearing that from you, is the focus on yourself or you know, being quote unquote selfish to. You know, get your health in order, rebuild your habits and get yourself into a position where you can then go through and learn those lessons. I think a lot of us never become selfish enough to move the needle forward enough in our life where we can focus on giving back, because many of us are in, I guess, survival mode, and when we're in survival mode, whether it's financially, not enjoying a career or you know know, we just don't have the capacity to want to help other people. I know I've been in that position. But then you get on the other side and you're like there's just an abundance. You can see what the other side looks like, so it's like how can I pull other people?

Tim Franklin: 9:36

up. Yeah, yeah, that, yeah, that's. That's a great point I think I had. I mean I it took. I don't want to say it was courageous, but I mean I walked away from a legal career to coach, can you?

Lachlan Stuart: 9:49

talk to me about that, dude. Why, Sorry to cut you off, but why? Because there's so many people that I know and listen to this show that are in a career that they don't like, and especially lawyers and doctors and stuff. They don't like it but they won't leave it.

Tim Franklin: 10:06

Lawyers and doctors and stuff. They don't like it, but they won't leave it. Yeah, well, there's, it makes sense not to leave it, right, it's, it's comfortable, it's a great career. There's a like cash flow. Um, I'm in a very unique position, right, I'm a, I'm 41 years old now. Um, have been working pretty well full-time my entire life, but I've got no dependence. I'm, you know, single, so I don't have the pressure of having to look after people, which makes it a lot easier for me to take a risk like that.

Tim Franklin: 10:33

But it's also one thing and again cliche but you've got one life, right, I don't want to preach, but you've got 60 good years to do as much cool stuff, change the needle of the world in some respect, have a journey and tell a story at the end. Why not take a risk? And people always say to me we can go back to it If everything turns to custard, I could just go back to it, and that's exactly right. That's probably the same for a lot of people. If they're willing to take the risk, you've just got to go all in. I've worked with a lot of especially young kids coming through now that are sort of half pregnant. They sort of want all this, but they're unwilling to give all of it, all of themselves, to it. It's not going to work. You can go in and then just get out of it. Give yourself some time and then get out if it's not what you thought, because sometimes the grass is not always greener.

Lachlan Stuart: 11:32

Yeah, and we're worried about the decisions, and I think we think they are all. You know you can't change things, but the reality is as you said, you can, and that's where the feedback comes from. If you dip in one toe, you're never going to really know. Well, that's right.

Tim Franklin: 11:45

If you're going to go, go all in, and that's what I do, probably with everything. But the other paradigm shift I probably had in thinking during the run was so many people think about things or doing things or setting goals that are big, hairy and audacious, and going all in Like what can go wrong, and that's where they're focused on. They're so risk averse and, as a society, I think that's just how we're planned, that's how we survive. But I just flipped it and said, well, whatever goes right, what happens if I pull it off? What happens if I become the eighth person to run around the world? What happens if I have a million stories to tell? What happens if I can inspire some young kids to launch in and do something cool? What happens if I can get?

Tim Franklin: 12:31

You know, I've had messages since finishing and throughout it. Like Tim, I haven't run in 10 years and I just finished my first 5K because I followed your story. Like that, that, for me, is what I did it for. You know I wanted to get the world moving. And Like that, for me, is what I did it for. You know I wanted to get the world moving and all these stories. I spoke to a school yesterday and a young kid from the school messaged me last night and said mate, I resonate with your story. It meant so much to me. I'm now trying to, you know, paddle for Australia in the 2032 Olympics, blah, blah, blah and all this stuff, and that just if I can light a fire in one person. A million people, 10 million people who cares? If you just make that change, they're not left the world better than what I arrived.

Lachlan Stuart: 13:14

And that's sort of, I suppose, where I'm aiming to be. You make it sound so easy and I know it wasn't easy for you because I've watched a lot of your stuff and listened to a lot of your stuff. But when you're saying that I'm like dude, this your confidence is bulletproof and your ability to focus on the positive over what's naturally the negative for many of us to take those risks. And I think what, why I was drawn to what you did and why you know you had me in tears in some videos especially. You know we'll talk about your dad and a lot of the stuff that you went through, but it was just your ability to find the positive and just do it.

Lachlan Stuart: 13:46

And for me I, you know, in the work that I do, I talk to people all day, every day, telling me what they want to do, but never really backing it up and doing it. So when I meet individuals like you, I'm instantly inspired and it makes me want to go harder and want to elevate, because I'm like man, to your point. We've got one life. What stories do I want? To be on my deathbed or when I'm 70 and 80 and be able to tell those stories when my body can no longer do that yeah, well, that's right.

Tim Franklin: 14:12

Like my whole premise is just to go as hard as I can until my batteries run out. Right, like, do as much as I can, say yes to things. Because it's funny, when I was a kid growing up, I was a homebody. I didn't really enjoy like I'd be invited to, like friends for sleepovers and stuff and I'd be like, nah, I'd rather no, thanks, I just uncomfortable in situations that wasn't comfortable, right so. But now I'm like, all right, how uncomfortable can I get? What's my next adventure? Let's go.

Tim Franklin: 14:41

I don't want to be at home anymore and I think I've just I've learned that as I've matured and the run taught me that the run was like you will sleep and you will enjoy whatever we can throw, whatever is thrown at you, and I had to. I had to just adapt to whatever we had and and, um, yeah, I mean I. I think now, after the run, I can look at anything and be like, yeah, I'm gonna do it, yeah, I can get that done, how we'll work through it, but but I'm thinking I will do it, not all. Nah, mate, maybe there's just I will. Now let's take a step back and plan how we're going to do it, um, and that's, that's a great way to live, but it also it also is going to slap you in the face a few times. Yeah.

Tim Franklin: 15:25

But who cares? Yeah. And that's another thing like ego right. The reason why people don't do things is they're worried about what other people think.

Lachlan Stuart: 15:34

Yeah, any point, I guess. Well, let's go back a few steps, because there's so many questions that are just popping into my head. But you sat next to them on the plane and you're like, oh, that's a fuck, that's a thing, maybe I could do that. What happened between then? So that was 2017-ish, and then you started the run in 2022? Yeah, december 2022. So, in that five-year period. Give us a bit of a snapshot of what was going on, the planning, the decisions, all of that sort of stuff leaving your career.

Tim Franklin: 16:07

Yeah, so I had I was still working full-time at that at that stage as a lawyer um, and I sort of came back from the run and it just piqued my interest. I wasn't all in on it but I was like, oh, I'm gonna look at this, sounds, sounds cool. And then um, and then yeah, and then not long after that I probably walked away from the law, went into coaching 2018, 2019 on a full-time basis with the tri-squad and then coaching in a few schools around Brizzy as well, and then probably 19,. I was like I sat a few mates down and said this is what I'm thinking about doing let's rock and roll. And that was probably early 19. And I was going about doing let's rock and roll, and that was probably early 19. And I was going to start.

Lachlan Stuart: 16:47

What was their feedback or their reactions to that?

Tim Franklin: 16:51

Awesomely and this is one thing I talk about as well when I do my goal-setting programs and stuff is, surround yourself with people that want to make you better, that want you to succeed, and to a man and a woman, every one of them is like how can I help? What do you want me to do? Let's do this. The only people that were hesitant on it were medical professionals or people that cared for me and they were worried about my health. There was no one that said no, don't do it. No, you can't do it like everyone was like which is a great, great circle.

Tim Franklin: 17:24

Like I couldn't be any more more blessed with the people in my life. Like I could like whether it's luck or good management, or maybe I'm not as big a douchebag as I think I am that like I've surrounded myself with people that just want me to succeed and that even happened on the run through the social media. There was zero negativity on the feed around it, like maybe one or two, but nothing like nothing.

Lachlan Stuart: 17:52

And um, that's incredible. That like speaks volumes to how you were showing up as well well, yeah, I hope so.

Tim Franklin: 17:58

I hope, um, that the people that were the person that you saw on the, on instagram, on the social media, is the same guy that you meet. Yeah, like that's that's who I wanted to be. That's just who I am. I can't portray like it's too hard as well, like I was too tired.

Lachlan Stuart: 18:12

Yeah I could imagine.

Tim Franklin: 18:13

Yeah to try and be someone on a different persona on social media. So we sat down in 2019. Um, there was like five of us and we went right, let's do this, just mates. And then I was going to start in 2020. Yep, um, at the end I was going to start in june of 2020, um, but then covid hit, so that, so that whole thing hit and and then we were like, ah, so we just delayed it, just paused it, um, just kept training and my training was just running.

Lachlan Stuart: 18:48

Yeah, what. What was that like? Were you trying to hit a certain goal of kilometers a week, or to yeah to a degree, um, to a degree we, we there was a plan.

Tim Franklin: 18:58

The plan was just a slow build. It was really I was really conscious of not turning a 500, 600-day run into like a 1,000-day run with too much training.

Tim Franklin: 19:08

So I was doing pretty consistently like 100-mile-plus weeks, but none of it in any intensity. Maybe one sort of speed session a week or I'd run park run sort of every saturday as part of a long run, but that was it. It was just all sustainable build so I knew if I finished I could either keep running if I wanted to or wake up the next morning and go yeah and that's the. That's the you'll very shortly find out.

Lachlan Stuart: 19:38

The superpower is being able to get up and go again the next day talk me through what that process looked like for you, because you were doing what? 60k?

Tim Franklin: 19:47

yeah, so I was doing so at the end, I think days that I ran I was averaging like 53 and a half k's a day for the for the whole time and I think I had 23 or 24 days off, um. But at the start, yeah, I was doing 65s pretty consistently um how does the body recover?

Lachlan Stuart: 20:06

like I just people ask me and I'm like 42 is nothing and then you're throwing another 50 on what I'm doing. How the hell are you recovering? Well, I think I just prepared for it, yeah.

Tim Franklin: 20:17

I think that's all it was, because I, at the end of the day, I wasn't, I wasn't doing anything yeah specifically, obviously there your body adapts so.

Tim Franklin: 20:24

So there were injuries, like I got probably three or four weeks in. I got my first. Like my right quad was awful, like it was just sore, but it was just sore because it was under so much load. I was doing 420, 450k weeks, so of course your body's adapting to that. So as long as you are aware course there's going to be your body's adapting to that. So as long as you are aware that that's going to happen and you can just switch off, like again, I'm not. I'm not a david goggins guy where, oh 40, you can just bury yourself and keep going. That's ridiculousness in my like. My approach is just be sustainable. I want to be running when I'm 80. Yes, I want everyone to be exercising their whole life.

Lachlan Stuart: 21:06

I'm glad you say that because that's one thing I've thought about, like my approach as well. You know, watching Ned Brockman with his 1,000-mile challenge like he buried himself and probably going to have a fair chunk of time off I look at that and I'm inspired by that. But when I think about it I'm like I think off. I look at that and I'm inspired by that, but when I think about it I'm like I think it would do more damage to me mentally, like in the head, not being able to train for this amount of time. So I want to do my run in a way that, yeah, it pushes myself and I challenge myself. But I know that, I know maybe I don't know what's realistic, but I'm hoping like a two to three week turnaround I can sort of start getting back into yeah normal.

Tim Franklin: 21:43

Well, I mean, I'm not. I'm three and a half months finished now and I've kept running. I think I had like two or three days off after I finished and then started moving my body again and I'm still not moving anywhere near as freely as I was previous run, but I got through a Sydney marathon, I've just finished a melbourne marathon and, um, back in the gym although it probably doesn't look like it, um, and just just enjoying movement, I say I was still. I'm in love with it still. Yeah, so it was sustainable enough, my approach that I didn't need to take time off to refresh mentally.

Tim Franklin: 22:22

Yeah, like, I've had ups and downs, but I think what I'm struggling the most with is like missing the adventure. Yeah, not so much the athleticism of it, because I can still do that. I still want to do that. Yeah, there are days where I'm like I don't want to run today, but I still want to be out there running and I just haven't. Yeah, so from that end, physically, physically I'm not too bad, that's incredible. Yeah, mentally, I'm getting there as well. And it's not, it's not the, the running that's buried me, it's the missing the adventure and missing the like. What's going to happen today. When I was in it, I hated it like I didn't hate it, but I was.

Tim Franklin: 22:57

That was a stressor yes and like where are we staying? What am I eating?

Lachlan Stuart: 23:01

then some of those logistics that you dealt with are mind-blowing. Like thinking about that at the end of the day, like where are we sleeping tonight?

Tim Franklin: 23:07

yeah, and especially because because it was fully self-funded so I could. I didn't have a crew, I had just like one and that sometimes two mates with me, and we're in countries where we can't speak the language, internet shabby. We're literally in south america. Who? Who crewed for about 150 days. We were driving into towns and like knocking on doors Are you guys open? Is this motel open? Cause it was winter as well, so a lot of places are closed. We were like you guys have a room, like uh, and they're like uh, no, no England. And we were like no English england. And we were like no english, and we're like uh, no espanol. So we're like just like standing there, like google translating or like pointing at things solving problems.

Tim Franklin: 23:50

Yeah, solving problems on the go. But that was that. I mean, that's what makes it what it was as well yeah and that's what makes. That's why eight people have done it what's it like running through the snow?

Tim Franklin: 24:00

like brutal yeah, brutal, yeah it was. Um. Europe was the worst, germany in particular. I got hit with all sorts of weather events, but yeah, it was, it was brutal. It's and that's a lot of mind as well like it's like minus 15 degrees outside and I'm there going all right, yeah, let's go, let's go out, and it's just like really icy on the ground and then snowing how do you, did you not freeze?

Tim Franklin: 24:27

Yeah, I don't know. Good question, I am because I only ever wore shorts. Fuck off, I never wore. Yeah, I never wore. I don't I could. I've got my jeans on now and that's only because I've got to go present this afternoon. I hate wearing long pants. You ran in snow in shorts. Yeah, shorts, and just like, just just hoker clifton's, nothing special about them, didn't put any like gore-tex cover on it or anything should I have.

Tim Franklin: 24:53

Yeah, that is iconic, but just in it, just in the moment, I was like it's just unimportant. I feel like I've overthought it then too much. But well, yeah, I think I probably. I went in naively and probably somewhat underprepared, but I think that worked in my favour. Yeah, because you think if I'd overplanned it. Plans went out the window like instantly yeah.

Tim Franklin: 25:19

So I think underplanning allowed me to have that flexibility in the mindset of oh yeah, this is normal. So I just did it because I think if I I'm usually a chronic overthinker, so if I had something planned and it wasn't going, you'd be like oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no, stressing about it. Yeah, stressing about it, yeah exactly right, whereas we were just like oh yeah by the end of it. Um, we were just like oh yeah by the end of it.

Lachlan Stuart: 25:48

we were like, like it is what it is became the became like the catchphrase of the of the run, because everyone's been asking me that for the snows, because like we're doing it in winter, obviously in in the us, and I didn't really give it much thought and then, as I started googling it to like suss it out, then people like you need to have like the right temperature, because you could either get so cold you get hypothermia, or you could be wearing too much that you sweat and you get hypothermia. I'm like, so either way I'm getting hypothermia like well, well, I ran across.

Tim Franklin: 26:14

I started in san fran, uh, on the first yep of january, so I did. I did san fran down to LA and then across Long Beach and then into New Mexico. Well, arizona, new Mexico, texas.

Lachlan Stuart: 26:31

Oklahoma.

Tim Franklin: 26:33

Kansas back into Texas and then Louisiana, all that like Alabama, all those across there.

Lachlan Stuart: 26:38

And Tennessee, all the way across there, all across, yeah, carolina.

Tim Franklin: 26:41

Yeah, into South Carolina. That's where I completed the States. I hit the ocean. Yeah. And then went up to New York and, yeah, it was cold, but it wasn't like I was. It got hotter.

Lachlan Stuart: 26:57

So, to be fair, we were probably running like because you were not driving, you were running. Yeah, yeah. We would have been running similar temperatures then yeah, we would have been running similar temperatures then yeah, we probably will be yeah, and you ran it in shorts I ran it.

Tim Franklin: 27:08

yeah, I ran it in shorts, a lot of it. I was running Like California, california. I was hit with all the rain, yeah, so we got flooded like three times. I got flooded in San Fran when we first arrived. Then we got flooded, got flooded. The big sur was closed so I couldn't run down the big sur so I had to run on the one, which was chaos. I got told to get off at like six or seven times while the cops um, uh, and then yeah, then it flooded a couple of days later and then it hosed down when I was running in to la, like on, um, on the pier and stuff. It was chaos Like the whole. And then it snowed when we were in Arizona, got a whiteout, got blizzard. I was like what is going?

Lachlan Stuart: 27:49

on. I can't picture it snowing in Arizona with how hot it was.

Tim Franklin: 27:52

Yeah, it was like we were really high. I got to like we got to like seven and a half thousand feet. How did the altitude affect you? Nah, I, altitude of nah, I didn't did, I didn't. Yeah, I've been pretty lucky. I think, yeah, that it doesn't done. Well, I don't know, but it didn't seem. I never was like like gasping or anything. I felt pretty good up and over um, and then we got hit by a tornado in kansas as well, it was. So all that happened in like the space of like the first two months I was like what?

Tim Franklin: 28:21

I've got another, yeah, yeah yeah, I did not sign up for this. It was utter chaos. But um, yeah, but like, as long, I just had gloves a couple of days in in texas were cold. Yeah, like, um, but um, just gloves and like a buff and a couple of layers on top and it was fine, as long as you start moving yeah, that's good to know though, because, yeah, people's thought like opinions have been getting into my head a little bit yeah, and I think you can manage exactly where you're going to run as well.

Tim Franklin: 28:54

Yeah, yeah, I don't think. Um, yeah, I wouldn't. I mean, the weather was more of an issue for us. And what roads are open, yeah, and what roads are closed, and can we get through? Yeah, that was, that was a bigger deal, that's. So I couldn't go up. I was going to run up through flagstaff and obviously do, yeah, do the historic like forest gum, yeah, and get that, get that photo back along monument valley there, but it was all closed because they've had so much snow when we were there. So we had to change our course. Yeah, and that and that's what, and that's. It's just a real metaphor for life, right, but you can plan everything to within an inch of its life, but something's going to get in your way and it's just how you can't change it, but how you react to it is everything. So it's like, oh well, it is what it is and this is the new path it's almost like you've condensed.

Lachlan Stuart: 29:42

you know you said you're working in your career for x amount of years and that's like a season of life, but the run in itself, the 19 months or 18 months you got to experience so many different seasons and challenges in a condensed period and that's why you've probably learned so much in that experience and that's why I personally love doing things like that, because it just condenses and helps you, helps remind you about what's actually important and I think a lot of the time you know, for you it's likeenses and helps remind you about what's actually important and I think a lot of the time for you it's like family and the memories that you're having, challenging yourself, being comfortable with yourself as well, because a lot of people could never just be in their own head for as long as you were. While you're running for 200 sorry, 576. Yeah, like that's a long time.

Tim Franklin: 30:22

Yeah, a long time, yeah, a long time. It's funny with days felt long weeks went quick, yeah, and now I look back, it's all, it was all over in a flash yeah, it was, and it's all over in a flash.

Tim Franklin: 30:33

I can't like. I can't believe it was three and a half months ago. It's done, um, and I, yeah, I, probably it's a huge deal, but but I'm just Tim Franklin from Brisbane. Yeah, right, I'm just. I'm as regular Joe at least I think I am right as regular Joe as anyone you meet Just a weekend warrior that enjoys it and went on an adventure. Yeah, but people are so interested in it and so invested in it, which is so humbling.

Lachlan Stuart: 31:01

Yeah, so it's so cool, but really humbling, like I'm just me and um you're doing what most people want to do, but they allow fear and comfort and all those things to hold them back. And that's what I said a moment ago why I'm so inspired by it as well, because it's just like and you were holding down a gnarly job as a lawyer as well, so to say, walking away from the pay packet and all of that is like such a big deal in my eyes. With where I've come from, I'm like this guy's crazy, but also super inspiring If you can do it. It's like giving me hope to want to go do things like that as well. But for you, the moment that obviously you know you guys were all planning around it and let's go to like a week before you're about to kick off Like what were the feelings that you were experiencing?

Tim Franklin: 31:47

about to kick off, like what were the feelings that you, absolutely? I got a message from someone that I respected a lot to say you won't make it past january, which is not what I wanted to hear. No, when I'm packing up my life, I'm putting everything I own into boxes, I'm selling most of it to pay for this thing, and then this guy tells me that I'm not going to make it past January. On the Monday, I think I got that message. So, yeah, it was pretty that knocked me around because I respected his opinion so much and I was like what have I done? You know, have I have? I is this, am I going to cook this? Yeah.

Tim Franklin: 32:20

Right. And so for the first, yeah, so. So, the week out, the week leading in, I was as nervous as I've ever been. And I'm not sure whether I would have been as nervous or worried if I hadn't received that message. Who knows, don't know, but I was, um still excited. But to go on an adventure of a lifetime? But yeah, I was, yeah, I was. I remember being on um like sunrise, yeah, on maybe the wednesday before I started, on the saturday, or even later, maybe it was a friday, and I was just, I was, I was nauseous. Yeah, how nervous I was. And it wasn't about being on the tv, I was just like, holy shit, this thing's starting tomorrow and oh, mate, don't think I'm gonna make it past um, past january, what have I done? And then I was just discombobulating, basically. But then I just put it to the side and once I woke up on the Saturday morning, I just started and that was my happy place.

Lachlan Stuart: 33:19

I love that. And have you spoken to old Bud since?

Tim Franklin: 33:22

No, nothing, no and I won't, I don't need to. Yeah, no, don't need to, don't want to.

Lachlan Stuart: 33:32

So the doubters I always think about where they're coming from. I don't ever feel like they want to see you fail, but maybe they're looking at you going. I wish I did that, or had the balls to take a risk and do something different rather than what I'm doing, because the story most when you get on that hamster wheel. It's just monotonous, right as you said, you were in this adventure for so long.

Tim Franklin: 33:50

Yeah, and yeah, I don't know whether, why, why he sent it, why he felt the need to send it. I'd be interested in that, to be honest, and maybe it was just him. Just, I don't think you'll make it because I don't think you've done the work, whatever. Um, but uh, I also was doing it and motivated intrinsically. Like I wasn't doing it. I wasn't doing it to become famous. I wasn't doing it to make millions of dollars it cost me. Like I wasn't doing it to get rich. I wasn't doing it to become famous. I was doing because I wanted to go on an adventure. I wanted to see the world. I love to run and I want to spend it with really good mates like that. With that, there was intrinsic drivers. Like I never did it for external validation did I obviously get external validation along the way. Yeah, people said I was inspiring and I'm a legend that's really good.

Tim Franklin: 34:39

That's really good for the ego right, that's really good for the ego, it's really nice to hear. But that was never the reason I did it. It wasn't like I had charity partners, but again it wasn't around the charity partners. If I raised some money and some awareness, awesome, that's a great side benefit. But it wasn't about that. It was a little old Timbo going on an adventure.

Lachlan Stuart: 35:00

And people from my experience as well with my runs and people always feel like there needs to be some significant reason other than just the fact that you want to do it yeah for the 50 marathons.

Lachlan Stuart: 35:15

Like I was inspired after talking to james lawrence, the iron cowboy, and I was looking for my next thing. I wasn't quite sure and I said to my wife like before we have kids, I just want one more. Like crack at something. I'm not sure what it is, but just give me, you know we've moved overseas for you, let me have something. And she was like yeah, sure. And then, speaking with him, I was like hmm, 50 marathons.

Lachlan Stuart: 35:34

Then I saw someone had done it. I was like I'll put my own spin on it and include australia in there. I was like cool, but seeing america in winter, like traveling with one of my best mates, like the adventures and what. There'll be a lot of tough stuff, but that excites me. And people like what? What's the huge reason why you're doing? I'm like I just like the idea that when I'm 70 or 80, liam and I will be able to sit around with a beer or a coffee and reminisce on that, like that's well. I don't just want to tell the same story where I was sitting at my computer for my whole life.

Tim Franklin: 36:02

Well, one of my best mates, she said to me because I was like, oh, do I attach a charity partner to it? She said it's okay. I don't know why the world thinks it's not okay for people to just do something because they want to do it Correct, to go on an adventure. So she's like don't force yourself to do it, just do it because you want to do it. But I've want to do it. Um, but I've worked with great advice. It was great advice, right, but the first question is are you doing it for a cause? Right, that's literally, and you'll get the same question. It seems to be that what's the cause? You're like, well, I'm doing it for me, but I've also attached, attached, yeah, so, and I work. Inspiring brother futures is my main charity. I work for them. Yeah, you know, I volunteer for them.

Tim Franklin: 36:40

I love it was started by my grade seven school teacher. I'm all in on it. Right, it's a ripping thing. It started here in Brizzy. We're now spread to like Queensland National soon. All because he came up with an idea of helping kids, right, so it's awesome, so it means a lot. But it wasn't. That wasn't my why, my why is I wanted to do it for me? I want to get the world moving. I think people that move in the world are better people. If we all move, we're better communities. We have better communities.

Lachlan Stuart: 37:08

It's a great place to live, Simple and very effective. What were some of the hardships that you experienced? Because I can't imagine. For 576 days you were just in the best mindset the whole time, right.

Tim Franklin: 37:22

No, I was an asshole for a lot of it. I think, if you ask my crew, I wasn't the best version of myself, but they were very good about that. I think the hardships were obviously the injuries yeah, about 80 days in across the stuff. Well, in New Zealand my right quad went a bit funny, but it came good after a few days. And then I've got like tendonitis through both shins. I thought it was shin splints, I thought it was all over. It was painful. The elasticity of a sock was like making me cry the pain on the shin. So I was like, oh, this is not good. But I just, you know, I took some painkillers and just rolled through. It went from doing 65 a day down to like 55 to 60, really painfully. But I was either going to come good or I was going to break, and I didn't. So I just kept rolling through. And this is the. This is the interesting talk about. I'm not, you know, it's not mental toughness to run through pain, it's actual, potentially stupidity. But I, but it was manageable pain and I knew if I got to a level I would pull it back. So, um, so yeah.

Tim Franklin: 38:30

So I got tendonitis through the states which lasted probably three weeks, and then my hip, my right hip, went in germany and it went like it was like I couldn't hardly walk. I couldn't wait there for a couple of days so I went to hospital. Uh, while I was in germany, just to get it looked at. There was no break. The doctor said I think he said because he couldn't speak english and I can't speak any german I think he said you're gonna be as good as how much pain you can, how much pain you can. That's it. That was it. It it's not. There's no break, it's just inflamed muscles which are putting pressure on your nerves and it's nerve damage. But it'll eventually come good. It's just you're going to have to put up with pain and that was really painful.

Tim Franklin: 39:13

So for like a month through Europe I was like I'm ringing mum and going mum, I'm coming home. This is shit, like I've cooked it. But eventually it came good. Why didn't you come home? She said you'll regret it for the rest of your life and I was like, yeah, probably would.

Tim Franklin: 39:30

So I just kept pushing, kept waking up, did everything right stretch, massage, looked after it and eventually it just came good. Yeah, and I didn't want to come home, I wanted to finish it, you know like. And then obviously probably the hardest thing was the news I got, um, when we were about 100 days in I can't actually remember I say anywhere between 80 and 150 days from the start, because I can't really remember but I was running along and my phone rang and it was my parents and they're like, what are you doing? And I said, well, I'm running. And they're like, well, you might want to sit down for this. And the RV was just up ahead. So I said, oh well, I'm just coming up to the RV. And then I called them back and they told me that dad had just been diagnosed with terminal cancer and he had like three months to live, which was, yeah, that's probably the hardest conversation.

Tim Franklin: 40:23

Yeah, I mean, I've ever had to have, let alone when I'm physically in a hole. Yeah Away from missing, like emotionally not anywhere near as strong as I would be normally.

Lachlan Stuart: 40:39

Yeah, so that was pretty tough news to get get. What do you do with that news, though? So you let's say we'll use it. You're 100 days in, so you still technically got like 400. You got a couple ahead of you. Yeah, like did you feel, think about quitting. Then did you go home like what, what happened?

Tim Franklin: 40:53

yeah, I would never have. My parents would never have let me quit around that. Yeah, they're like we about. Obviously they were getting older when I started the run, so we'd spoken about if something happens, what does it look like? You know, if there's a tragedy, do I come home Like we'd spoken about all this? But talk's cheap, right? Yeah, yeah for sure. And then eventually that phone call happened and that actually delayed telling me, so he actually got diagnosed like a couple of weeks after I left and they didn't tell me until the March I think it must have been March, yeah, so they didn't tell me until March.

Lachlan Stuart: 41:28

So did he have three months from then or three months from then?

Tim Franklin: 41:31

No, it was like two or three months from when they phoned me. So it was six months, yeah, and they didn't tell me me, and obviously that was to protect me, yeah, but I blew up at them and I said, yeah, I need to tell me. So I'd constantly ring them how, how are you? Yeah, good. I'm like are you really good or are you fucking dying?

Tim Franklin: 41:48

yeah like how? Like just be honest with me, stop bullshitting. So eventually I just cracked it one day and they said, well, we're going back to the oncologist. Uh, next week We'll give you an update. I said cool. And then they went back to the oncologist and they said he's got like three weeks. So at that time they're like if Tim wants to come home, he's got to come now.

Tim Franklin: 42:12

And at the time my brother was working in the Solomon Islands as well. So we were both away and it was just my sister in Brizzy and she's, you know, she's busy with three kids and stuff. So we were like, right, I will, yeah, I'll come home. But it was I mean, it's never good timing, right, but it was good timing in that I had reached the other side of the States, so I'd reached South Carolina, reached the Indian Ocean, so I was just going up to New York. So it took a little bit of pressure off from that end and the only thing was it destroyed the world record attempt. But so I want to say that it was an instant decision and I was just no-brainer to go home. But I armed and armed for 24 hours, like what am I doing? You've got to go. And then. So I decided to go, jumped on a plane and it landed, wheels down in Brisbane and I knew exactly that's what I needed to be Like. It was the right decision, it was a no brainer.

Lachlan Stuart: 43:17

How did you feel emotionally? Like when you know obviously you said you knew you needed to be there, but like emotionally, you're going to go see your dad for potentially the last time like yeah how does that feel?

Tim Franklin: 43:28

I think um one thing that my parents have taught taught me is be very pragmatic. You know like he's very pragmatic. My mom's the most pragmatic person you'll ever meet in your life. So it was just real matter of fact yeah like I was sitting on the plane. I was. I was a mess on the plane because I hadn't slept. I didn't know what fucking day of the week it was. Yeah, my body was.

Lachlan Stuart: 43:47

What was it like?

Tim Franklin: 43:48

flying awful, awful so I did like 50 hours commuting in a week to get home and then back again, so I was like 50 hours on a plane in 10 days or something. Yeah, and not knowing what like time of day or day of the week it was, it was just a blur. Starting again was really hard. But coming back saying goodbye like the whole family was around each other for like six or seven days, and that hasn't happened in our family for years and years and years, just because we've been scattered around the globe or doing different things or just busy, yeah, um, so it was really really nice and like, so that was the on the thursday I was flying back out, so I think I got in on the tuesday or the wednesday before and left again the following Thursday and dad was going into palliative care that day, so he goes.

Tim Franklin: 44:47

The last words he said to me is you've got to finish that damn run. And like they made me go and I was like, okay, I'm going. And then he passed away the next day, so the Friday. So he passed away while I was in the air. So I landed back in LA and then flew all the way across the car. I couldn't have been any further away.

Tim Franklin: 45:05

I was like flying to Riley in North Carolina, so it was a long, long trip and got the news I mean I knew it was happening. So I was like, and I don't think I had any tears left, I think I'd broken down that many times on the run I was like, oh yeah, it's yeah. And then, um, and then starting again was physically the hardest thing I've ever done, like like I don't know, and obviously emotion took a lot out of me as well. But physically, like the first day I think I don't think we ran, I think I looked at dame and said not a chance, let's go drink beers. And then the next day I think I ran 12, and then the next day I ran 18, and then eventually I got up to 30, and then 40, and then back over 50s and away we went. But yeah, really really challenging time, yeah, and then obviously I wasn't there for the funeral, which was even harder yeah.

Tim Franklin: 45:53

I just literally watched it on my phone. Yeah, I watched it on my phone. Yeah, I watched it on my phone. And that's one good thing about COVID, right, set all that stuff up. But I'm watching my dad's funeral on an iPhone going you selfish prick, you know like, should you be there? But he wanted me to be on the road. Mum wanted me to be on the road, but it didn't necessarily at the time make it easier, but I knew deep down that that's what they wanted.

Lachlan Stuart: 46:19

Yeah, for sure. I could imagine he'd be proud of you and I'm sure he'd wish he'd had that one last beer with him.

Tim Franklin: 46:22

Yeah, absolutely He'd have that one. He'd want to miss shit jokes again.

Lachlan Stuart: 46:26

I think for me that was a massive reminder for me. I read a book a couple of years ago Five Regrets of the Dying, or something like that, by Bronnie Wye, who was a palliative care nurse. I of Regrets of the Dying, or something like that, by Bronnie, who is a palliative care nurse. I read it probably every 12 months. I've read it three times now and it talks about, like people on their deathbed, what their regrets are. And you're like, fuck, if you hear that from people who, much older and wiser than me, lived their life and that's the things that they wish they focused on, that's, you know, influences a lot of my decisions.

Lachlan Stuart: 46:55

And my dad was diagnosed with prostate cancer at our wedding. He couldn't piss for the whole week, like, didn't say anything, he was just in pain. And then next minute we're like you're going to the hospital, mate then finds out, um, he has prostate cancer. And like you're looking at your dad who for me was like always invincible and bulletproof and still like a blokey bloke that doesn't like to complain or whatever, which is probably a detrimental thing now and you're like, oh fuck, you don't have that much time left. So how do you know what memories do I want to have with you, but also how would I like you to see me when you go, sort of thing. And I guess to your point, it's like you've left your dad with a beautiful image of you chasing your dreams and doing some incredible things.

Tim Franklin: 47:40

Yeah, well, I hope so. I hope that I yeah, I mean, they did, he did more and mum continues to do so much for me. Like everything, right, Like everything as a kid education food on the table, roof over the head, clothes on the back, all that stuff. Every time I zigged when I should have zagged, they were there to pick me up. I mean, belted me up a few times. Of course, correct, Always deserved good discipline. But, yeah, I hope so. I hope that wherever he is now, he's proud of what not just me, but my siblings have done as well.

Lachlan Stuart: 48:15

Yeah, how do you hope to be remembered? Like now that I think sorry what I think, but you're on this path of wanting to have adventures, wanting to inspire people, wanting wanting to get people moving when it comes to the end of your time, like, how do you want people to be talking about you?

Tim Franklin: 48:38

Yeah, that's a. That's a great question. That's a question I ask as well in my goal-setting program. If someone's going to write your eulogy, what are they going to say about you? Or someone's making a speech at your 21st for the kids on this week too, what is it you want them to say?

Tim Franklin: 49:00

And I just want people to be intrinsically motivated to aspire to be as much as they can, to be the best version of themselves, Whatever that is, whatever the endeavour is I mean, it doesn't have to be athletic. Athletic is just what I've chosen because I'm a sports enoughy and I love it. But whether it's to be the best doctor, whether it's to be the best social worker, best piano player, best scientist, best drummer, best actor, whatever, just to be intrinsically motivated to be the very best version of themselves, the caveat there is be of service of others. I think and that's one thing that I have got a lot of work to do, but I'm definitely moving towards. Yeah, yeah, You're doing some. Oh, no, I was just going to say, yeah, hopefully I'll just leave. I mean, it's again like everyone wants to leave the world a better place, yeah, Than they got here.

Lachlan Stuart: 49:54

Well, maybe not everyone but a lot of people 99%.

Tim Franklin: 49:57

Yeah, yeah, yeah, Because at the end of the day, my generation is going to know my nieces and nephews and goddaughters. They'll know me and maybe their kids might know me, but after that I'm forgotten. I'm just a headstone or a plaque. That's who Tim Franklin was or is. So just go at it, hammer and tong until your battery's run out.

Lachlan Stuart: 50:25

Until your battery's run out. I love that one. We're sort of zigging and zagging here, which is fine because I love it, but what are the rules of the world? Run Because, yeah, I'd love to give people some context around that. Yeah, so we haven't really spoken about that.

Tim Franklin: 50:41

The rules state that you have to run a minimum of 26,232 kilometres. You have to start and finish at the same place. You have to pass every line of longitude in one direction, whether you're running, flying on a boat. However, you have to run a minimum of four continents, and for a continent to count, you have to run from or at least at some stage touch one kilometre of the ocean on one side and finish within one kilometre of the ocean on the other side. Yeah, a minimum of 3,000 kilometres on a minimum of four continents. It has to be a continuous run. So you've got to start the day exactly where you finished the day before, so you might have to come back. And you've got to, yeah, and start and finish in the same spot. Other main rules yeah, that's incredible.

Lachlan Stuart: 51:38

Who made those rules like how does?

Tim Franklin: 51:41

yeah, great question. I think it's just now it's. It's called the world runners association. Okay, so it's an arbitrary body and it's literally made up of the people that have done it and one guy that presides over everything. Just to make sure that you know people aren't claiming yeah things, so they, they look at all the data and all the information. So I've got to provide, you know, like I've got a spreadsheet that I'm putting in. That's got you know the longitude and latitude of where I started and where I finished every day, the town of where I started and finished every day, distance, elevation, gain, calories burned, average heart rate just as much information as I can put in there. So, because my watches didn't always work or didn't always upload or something went wrong, so there's obviously a few holes in it. It's an honesty box as much as anything. But, yeah, I finished with 26,245 kilometers. You did a few extra there, so I did 12 extra deliberately so I could know 26,245 kilometres. Did a few extra there.

Tim Franklin: 52:40

So I did 12 extra, deliberately so I could know Australians run further than me in one continuous run. So I took out Tommy. Yeah and yeah. I ran the length of New Zealand, which obviously not a continent, but then ran across the US, across South America, from Chile to Argentina. Then I ran the length of the Thames River in the UK, in England. That was pretty cool. That was actually. That was a really fun run. There was really good weather. Yeah and yes, that was awesome. Then I ran from Portugal to the Black Sea in Constanta in Romania. So across Europe was cool. And then I did a little bit of Asia, ran Malaysia and Singapore and that was brutal. Left Romania, it was minus 11. Flew into Malaysia, it was 37 and 93%.

Tim Franklin: 53:30

Good contrast there, yeah, oh, I thought I was dying. Honestly, the first couple of days of running in Malaysia, I was like holy hell.

Tim Franklin: 53:37

The humidity was up, wasn't it? Oh, it just destroyed me Like I'd worn bass and was plenty aware of chafe by then, but I was chafing in places I didn't even know had skin. It was horrific. And then I flew into Perth and ran. Yeah, perth hugged the southern coastline of Australia all the way up to Brizzy, which was phenomenal. That is one of the favourite parts. Running across the Nullarbor, the Eyre Peninsula, down Augusta and then through up the southern coast of New South Wales was just incredible, yeah, incredible, and I've never really been there so incredible.

Lachlan Stuart: 54:21

Yeah, it is impressive, and the memories that you'd have would be ridiculous. So a couple of selfish questions for me to finish up before we let you go to your next talk Food-wise and sleeping and everything like that. How many calories were you consuming a day? Were you really like strict on your diet or were you just eating whatever you could get your hands on?

Tim Franklin: 54:43

It was really hard to be strict on the diet because we just didn't know where we're going to get food from next.

Tim Franklin: 54:49

Yeah, it was pretty easy. Globally it was pretty easy, but we had to play it safe as well. I didn't want to eat too much like delicacies of the local plate, just in case my body didn't agree with it. So I was consuming literally a lot of burgers, kebabs, pizzas and stuff for dinner just because they're high calorie and simple, easy to get relatively cheap. For breakfast it was like oats a lot of the time at the start and then I sort of got over. It got flavor fatigue pretty heavily.

Tim Franklin: 55:22

then we had scrambled eggs and avocado that would have been life-changing, which is yeah, yeah it was like I had oats for the first like 100 days and now, like I dry reach when I like, even the thought of it I can't have. Like I had like something like 2 000 bananas and I can't go near. I haven't been near a banana since I've been um, can't, can't do it even the smell, uh, is off-putting.

Tim Franklin: 55:44

So but yeah, it wasn't really strict. Yeah, on the diet then throughout the day I didn't need any gels. Yeah, I just I ate like, well, whole foods I processed, but like I tried to have like ham and cheese wraps or ham and cheese rolls and tailwind, so I have liquid nutrition from that end.

Lachlan Stuart: 56:03

So with the tailwind, is it just like a super carb dance drink or something?

Tim Franklin: 56:06

Yeah, yeah so it's like carb slash electrolyte you can sort of pick and choose which one you want. So we're drinking that, and then at the end of each night, at the start I was just having ice cream again, just for calories. So I was probably burning between 6,000 and 7,000 calories a day, wow. And then over time my body adapted to it and fat adapted, so I wasn't burning anywhere near as many calories. Oh, that's cool, yeah, but I was still consuming. So actually my weight fluctuated quite a lot throughout the run, but I just sort of ate what I could get my hands on. I never really went hungry. Yeah.

Tim Franklin: 56:46

Never bonked because I didn't have food. Sleeping was really challenging, really Like I never, I think. Out of the 570 days, I reckon I had 40 to 50 full night's sleep, just because there's just so much going on and so much head noise with what are we doing tomorrow? What does it look? Like I'd fall asleep really easy yeah. But then wake up at like midnight, 1 o'clock, 2 o'clock, and sort of just lie there. Then all of a sudden I was up running again.

Lachlan Stuart: 57:13

Yeah, did you ever have like any nerve pain or anything through your body from fatigue at all, or was it just more so the head noise that kept you awake?

Tim Franklin: 57:23

Yeah, never any twitching or anything like that. I didn't stay awake because of any pain.

Lachlan Stuart: 57:28

Wow, you're a stud in the running department. Like to not have any of that pain.

Tim Franklin: 57:34

Yeah, I think I was running it, but I wasn't running at a pace where I wasn't torching anything. Yeah, it was just plodding, basically.

Lachlan Stuart: 57:43

A pure volume for me, I would think that you'd still get some.

Tim Franklin: 57:47

So the fact that you didn't yeah, never had doms or anything like that yeah, never. There was a couple of days where I had monster days in the hills, yeah, but even still I'd just wake up the next day, start walking, start jogging and away you go, yeah. And then it was more just, it was bored. Like sometimes you're just really like you were getting bored because it was just the same. There was a time in Argentina when I ran for three days and did not take a turn. This was just a straight road. I was like, holy shit, for like 170 Ks, this is boring, this is boring. Same farmland, same road. I was just looking straight ahead. I was just like, oh my God, this has got to stop soon.

Tim Franklin: 58:30

And then you look at my Strava and it looks like I made it up because it's just the same for three days straight.

Lachlan Stuart: 58:32

That's ridiculous and I know we briefly touched on it. But your body when you finish, like I know a lot of people would be assuming that your body would be absolutely cactus after running 26,000 plus kilometers. But, how you said, you're running a couple of days later and yeah, it's stiff, like, it's definitely not.

Tim Franklin: 58:51

It's not operating at a hundred percent, that's for sure. It's just this. So my hamstrings, my hamstring tendons, have thickened and they're shorter, really so, yeah, so I'm just tight through the hammies, yeah, um, so we're just, and I'm I mean, ever since I got back, my stretching protocol is not as strong as it should be, but, um, that's, that's probably it. I'm just really tight through the hammies, probably lower, but no joint issues. I've had blood tests, heart scan, skin check and all given the tick of approval. Wow.

Tim Franklin: 59:25

Which is, yeah, pretty cool, yeah, pretty cool, and just, yeah, just the head noise about like just fluctuating through, missing the adventure and trying to re-assimilate to life. Yes, that's going to take time, and just got to try. And then another's going to take time, and just got to try. And then another point that I learned you just got to be kind to yourself as well. Like I came back and I'm like all right, what's next? I've got to capitalize on this. Yes, and I probably haven't given myself enough time to recover, but that's learning, that's a learning, yeah yeah, next time I do something like this I'll make sure that.

Tim Franklin: 59:56

Um yet I but I set aside time at the end to go. Don't worry about it, people aren't going to forget about you in.

Lachlan Stuart: 1:00:02

Yeah, like a week or two. Dude, you're one of eight people who've done something like this and the second fastest person to ever do it.

Tim Franklin: 1:00:09

Yeah, yeah, yeah, you're not going to be forgotten about. I'll give you that hot tip, so it's then. Um, yeah, so that. So, apart from that, yeah, now I feel back running back in the gym, yeah, cruising along, yeah and what's next.

Lachlan Stuart: 1:00:22

I know you might not want to talk about it, but I know you're also jumping into sharing the story and the adventures with the android spire, so maybe that's something you want to talk about quickly.

Tim Franklin: 1:00:31

Yeah definitely so. So, you know, I love loved being on stage. Yeah, I love telling not, yeah, hopefully, hopefully tell my story so it resonates with the audience, and you know they aspire for more, as opposed to me inspiring them to want for more. So, yeah, the more I can do that, get to do some travel with it as well, get to meet amazing people doing cool shit and people far smarter than me, right, like that, can help me and direct me. So that's that's one. One thing I'm really hoping to push along is is public speaking and running goal setting programs and stuff like that. But then also, I want the world to move. I want to get the world moving. That's my big goal now is just just get people up and moving, whatever that looks like for them. It can be anything but movement's so important, right, and so many benefits from a preventative health perspective, right, and we're just controlled by a big farmer, right, yeah, I know. So let's move more. And then I do have a goal in the works running-wise.

Lachlan Stuart: 1:01:41

Follow you to find out.

Tim Franklin: 1:01:42

Yeah, jump on Timmy R Franklin to find out absolutely.

Lachlan Stuart: 1:01:46

For those following along. We've had Tim Runs the World Timmy Franklin, the second fastest person to ever run around the world. To find out more information, you can go to the show notes and you'll be able to find it out. But definitely if you're from a business or an organization who know, you know been inspired by what you've heard here and you want to see more, I would highly recommend jumping over to his website and seeing how you can get him to come speak. Uh, because your energy, like it's very different sitting with someone as opposed to listening on a podcast. But your energy from the moment you know we saw you driving past in the car, it's just like you're a freaking awesome dude, high energy, and it's made me feel inspired and good and if we can get you around more people, it's going to keep happening. So if you're in a position to do that or connect him with people, please, please do that, and especially my american buddies listening. Um, I don't know if you guys know anyone who's run around the world, but we do so. Let's get that going on. But that's Tim Franklin. He ran around the world 576 days, second fastest man to do it and an incredible bloke. Even better story More to come.

Lachlan Stuart: 1:02:49

Thank you, guys for listening and if you enjoyed it, share it. Timmy, thank you very much, mate. Thanks so much for having me. Thanks, mate, cheers mate.