EP58: Joy in the Hard Bits | Andy's Amazon Ultra Debrief

He's back. Andy returned from Peru having completed 230 kilometres through the Amazon rainforest over five days, finishing 17th out of 67 starters, and winning the Simon Small Award for his presence and leadership in camp. This week, he and Rich go through the whole thing.It starts at Cloud Forest - 3,000 metres above sea level, clouds rising up from the jungle below, temperatures at 3 degrees - and the moment Andy stepped off the bus and all the fear just disappeared. He'd arrived. He was back in his happy place.Then it's day by day. Day 1 down through five different ecosystems, insoles shifting in his shoes at 20K, running the rest of the day without them. Day 2 into proper jungle for the first time - little rivers, bogs, mud, trees to go under and over, and ants. Ants everywhere, in every size and colour, for the entire five days. Day 3 - the hardest 25K he's ever done in his life. Three enormous hills in thick humid jungle at 500 metres above sea level, a final 3.7K section that took him two hours to climb in semi-dry conditions, and then it rained for everyone still out there behind him. Day 4 brutal but manageable. And then Day 5 - up an on it at 4.30am, 70K, a river section with 60-odd crossings, a 7K climb in the afternoon heat, blisters forming in the dark, a torch he couldn't find in his own bag, and local kids grabbing his hands and running him through the town square to a finish line with a live band playing.He talks about the moment the jungle became a computer game in his head, and what it felt like to find joy not just in the finish, but in the hardest moments of the race itself. And then, quietly and powerfully, he connects it all back to where it started - the decision to go alcohol-free, and the belief system that grew from that one act of courage into everything he's become since.Rich is week two into his naked marathon training block for York in October - no watch, no data, no Strava. That's a conversation too.One Valencia spot still available. DM clean.break.coaching if that's you.