Running for Good | Rich Roll Podcast

[Music] slightly before my teenage years I developed a problem I was in and out of hospital 17 operations I was told I wouldn't walk again properly let alone we have be able to do sporting activities especially things like running I was going to be registered disabled at one point because it looks so hopeless that was an incredibly challenging time [Music] definitely know what if like to stuff for myself so I can relate to it with other beings whether they be human on earth [Music] it's not means when you've been told you're not gonna walk to get out be out there do it now that's never been moving and this is the one race they have to pay insurance for repatriation if you die this is not a homogenized race that's destructive in order to make it nice it's scary you know you walk in there and you see people you don't lift each other alive I am trying to do something positive with my running I'm not just out I'm a per trophy or thinking I need to get my time down I'm doing this with a reason and it isn't any of those things in the Sahara Desert one of the most extreme races in the world takes place marathon two saw blade the marathon of sand traversing over 250 kilometers across sand dunes mountain ranges dry Lakes and abandoned villages of North Africa marathon de Soleil is roughly the equivalent of six marathons back-to-back competitors are required to be self-sufficient carrying all food and necessary equipment over the course of six days to reach the finish line available water is carefully rationed at checkpoints throughout the days and nights are spent in open-air tent bivouacs along the route with daytime temperatures reaching 50 degrees Celsius the threat to human health is very real in previous years runners have died in their attempt to complete this grueling event it has been called the toughest footrace on earth well you strike me as a very sort of unassuming self-deprecating personality who appreciates your your privacy and your anonymity so I'm wondering what the experience was like for you to see your story writ large on such a gigantic screen with all of these people here it's the first time I've seen it is you know it's kind of emotional bit painful sometimes that the desert bits they're always just funny who know how ridiculous the whole concept of that race is and yeah like did I do that dream but I obviously did do it cuz it'll blow and I said photo flopped but you know yeah it's just a complete whirlwind I've done nothing special I'm nothing special I've I've literally where does this self-deprecating nature come from I don't it's not actually I truly believe it and looking at the vastness of the problem I'm trying to address I and I realize that I'm very insignificant and it would be wrong for me to not stand by and do all that I can but it never seems to be enough because it has to say it's just so much more I want to do so much more that needs doing and I'm got time to sit back and congratulate myself because I've literally got nothing to congratulate myself over but you know these are little battles the war is not one and that's how I feel [Applause] fiona is she's so pure and she's just doing it like everything from her heart she's not defined by a physical condition she doesn't define herself by her extraordinary running she does this completely selflessly for her and passionate belief about a pekin ism and about her animal century part of what makes her so incredible is that she's just so humbled her life and her work with the animals with us Sanctuary that drives her it gives her a focus for her running for so many reasons I want fiona to succeed in her running in her advocacy I think sometimes people look at individuals like Fiona as like oh they're superhuman maybe she does have some genetic abilities that have helped her but she's got an incredible amount of will and she's a great example for what you can continue to do throughout a lifetime I'm interested in hearing a little bit more learning a little bit more about how you think about the connection between running and the advocacy work that you do that's so important to you how did that come about and how do you sort of contemplate how the running serves your greater interests well yeah I mean I decided with the runnings I don't want to do anything kind of 80% it's got to be full-on bearing in mind the pivotal core of my life is 450 plus rescued animals that I care for so if I'm gonna do something I'm detracting from the time I'm spending with them I'm taking energy away from our body that I could be spending on them so I've got to make it worthwhile and the reason I just became very very frustrated obviously when we got the sanctuary back in 1996 I saw okay this is great but it's addressing always the symptoms not the cause so I can take him like 400 animals I could have 4,000 nothing most if I go to space but what about the billions and billions of animals out there that I can do nothing to help physically these animals are fine the ones that I care for they will always be fine you know they're obviously the predominant force in my life but I wanted to do something to help those I you know the bad press immediate it was especially given back in the 90s towards veganism it was either maligned or just ignored and I saw well you know I've been vegan all these years since I was six years old I'm not like unable to get offers to - you're looking like I've been dug up from somewhere I I want to be able to do something to promote my lifestyle in a positive way and I think people forget that at that time there wasn't social media you've got to kind of have to don't do something to justify getting any fresh so I kind of thought well I haven't got any money and I'm not particularly good at anything I'm sporting and the reason I picked marathon running was it literally it was tree if it was going to do it at any time you need two pair of running shoes you could do it alone and also there was the kind of semi many ready-made platform in that paula radcliffe back in the UK was doing these from buoyantly good marathon time so obviously there was a heightened interest in marathons in the UK at that time and I thought if I could kind of jump on the back of the publicity she's getting that would kind of its familiarized people with the event it's been billed as like you know the toughest kind of it this is a plain road running endurance event in the athletic calendar so if I could kind of use that and and do marathons fairly well then that would be a free publicity for the sanctuary because we don't spend anything we've got no budget for anything it would get free advertising for the sanction because when you win racers people say you know what you do for a living I'll go animal sanctuary I don't do it for a living but I do run an animal century and also just really an opportunity to people are interested in how you've won that race know how you've done well in it you can say by the way I'm vegan and that's the reason back in 2004 people don't know that we've got a big running club in new UK I think vegan runners is now the biggest running club in the UK by membership I started that with a guy called Peter Simpson back in 2004 because I was getting elite starts I was getting offered places in races asked to go and paid for and he said you know obviously at the time I was running for vegetarians and athletics because that was the only affiliated club they've got anything any relative to what I wanted to promote but I said well yeah for sure I'll run for that club but I'm a vegan and I would like people to know that when I run past them or I beat them I would like them to know that I'm vegan and so it's a real hard job to affiliate a running club in the UK than it was back in the states but Peter did all the planet paperwork and the legwork and I did the running back then and that's how faking runners were started and it was at a time like you know when you were going to the London Maris and that's you know not the biggest in numbers Berlin's the biggest in numbers but major major marason in the UK one of the five majors that were at the time and you you're on the elite start you set you know 45 minutes ahead of the elite men in the main race and you just it was just basically an opportunity to run 26.2 miles through the streets of London which are closed with crowds everywhere focusing on these few female runners me being one of them and handle data see on your vest is beacon that's basically why I've done the running I'm not interested in anything else but foremost in that word but what's really interesting in your response what comes across what I what I gather from that is a strong sense of self belief like you'll say oh I'm nothing special I'm not that talented etc but clearly there's a drive or a sense of purpose that is underscored by a belief in your ability to compete at a level that would be sufficient to get this kind of attention right yeah I mean I just literally watched the runner that used to look and think why are those runners up there and I'm back here I want to be up there with them and I'll do what it takes to get there I clocked up very quickly and like the London Marathon I don't want to be running in a cage like to it for three hour bracket on the green star I want to be up there on the main start with the good runners going in the boss with the other elite athletes and being out there with them because that's the place I felt like I belong there no not particularly I still don't know never fell up along there I've actually gone along to these races and oh my lord when I'm actually walking to the start of the elite race Berlin with a hologram precisely I'm literally checking out the opportunity and thinking that guy in the Superman suit he looks quick you know I mean I'm clearly not no confidence runner and I'm all the way I'm going to start saying you know I wish it an excuse to come work that I didn't have to go and it's a real weird thing with me but I get on the start line and it's this Fiona goes she leaves me and game on Fiona appears and I'm willing I couldn't hurt another living being back and Stanley distri out to myself she doesn't brag about anything she does and that she just gets on with it but what she does this is quite remarkable really the beauty about Fiona is that she's taken care of you know hundreds of animals on her sanctuary and then she's training and she's you know competing these grueling events Fiona she says I'm not really a runner now how can somebody who runs at 238 marathon call themselves not really a runner I mean she's not she's a really good runner she's a really good runner it's kind of a funny story with a running I I don't like it I like talent I lack ability but probably the strengths I've got is that I actually do actually recognise that but I don't really know too much about running I don't really care that much about running I just care about the results I can get from the running I have always felt quite embarrassed when I'm invited to these mega races and people are looking at me thinking and you're you know what are you doing here kind of thing and I know I don't look the same as everybody else and when I tell people you know I've got like eight place in it I'm just at a marathon or like top 20 in London and Berlin and that great notes lawn and these are the biggest races in the world these are not for messing around with people are like flabbergasted well Keegan did a beautiful job of documenting the pageantry and the beauty and the sort of epic nature of doing MDS but I think you know washing movie a couple times but what really struck me watching it this time and what I think at least to me and I'm interested in your thoughts seems to be the most difficult thing that you ever did was going from auto coma and suffering that injury and five days later running that marathon on Antarctica not sure if you're even going to be able to run to winning that and breaking that record so how did you recover like what was that like we went off to South America and I have to say if I'd have known what I was letting myself in for a question whether I would have actually gone it was so horrible and I'm forever grateful that my mom actually went with me and witnessed it because she if she hadn't I don't think she would have believed it the other color volcano marason is extreme in a very different way to the ice marathons it's one of the highest marathons in the world so you start at 14 and a half thousand feet and you've only got 11 percent oxygen so about half what you'd have it at sea level and that convinced myself that it wouldn't be too bad running a marathon at 14,000 feet altitude I really haven't given it that much thought running at altitude think especially for someone who comes from sea level is definitely a challenge it is very very extreme I think more extreme and potentially more risky than the ice marathons you've got to contest with the fact that you're running at altitude but you're not kind of runny you are battling very very bad terrain about 28 K I rolled my knee on a stone or whatever it was I don't know I just throw my name slip I knew I damaged it badly the minute I did he I just thought okay I'm gonna have to walk I'm gonna have to do what I've got to do to finish it's not gonna be pretty and it really wasn't if I had just been trying to do this for myself I wouldn't put myself through it I have to say that but I wasn't doing it for myself so I did [Music] and I remember laying in the back of this ambulance 14,400 feet up side of a volcano in the Atacama Desert thinking how the hell am I gonna recover from this the doctor has just told me that I am NOT gonna run again this year it was November November the 14th how the hell am I gonna run in Antarctica in five days yeah I mean it was really really horrendous I was having some angst with the race to organized there only didn't want me to go to Antarctica and so it was a brilliant opportunity he'd actually organised the Atacama race so it must have been my from heaven when he saw me literally my mom saw me too she was in a race car just keel over with my knee and when I got to the finish I was very very fortunate one guy who was helping with the race he saw what had happened and he insisted cuz he spoke the language rather he actually insisted the doctors give me an IV pain relief because otherwise I don't think I don't know what would have happened but literally it was just a complete disaster I don't I still don't know how I did that in Antarctica I literally hobble to the start we went to Punta Arenas wait fly to Antarctica and I had to walk around well to hobble around Punta Arenas looking to buy fine a shop that sells those walking poles because I thought I'm gonna have to walk and I've even got these great be walking boots and I thought it's two laps and I thought well if I start and I tried to run and then I can't run and then I go to walking poles and just have to walk around but it's bleak I mean you kind of forget when you can rely okay thirty four thirty five to six minutes for a 10k you tensioning how long's 10k gonna take me and then you start looking you watch right in MDS and again the cosy two hours and you think oh my god you know so he takes a long time to walk 30 miles in Antarctica and I started at the back of the race and there was some Japanese guy and he wasn't wearing a Santa suit not but he got one of those jokey Santa suits over there top of his running stuff and even he kind of went off into the distance and I'm kind of on my own thinking oh Lord you know I'm good after how long's this gonna take its gonna take and how will something at this pace and I don't know I just kind of got warmed up the pain kinda left my body I forgot about it and I just thought do what you can and I really don't know where that wrong came from I just something on the start line I I'm just so blessed I was in so much pain and I remember being in Santiago seeing other runners arrive to fly to Punta Arenas that hadn't been in the atacama race because I've been the only fool that had decided to combine the two so it's like you know if I thought it was a really good idea and I've been told that loads of runners are doing bones feeling me not be a problem and I am the only one and I've got this angst when the race director who was making my life an absolute misery and the sort of having to go down there and just not be able to finish the job that I'd started was pretty brutal but the funny thing was that he put every obstacle in my way and if honestly it was all worth it to see his face when I cracked oh my gosh she's here again the vegan runner woman coming and she's gonna win the race but I don't know i don't i don't know whoa I don't enjoy a role you know I know I'm no good at it and you know I mean I just want to get it over with quickly you're not gonna give up on that story absolutely true I I enjoy the fact that I can do it because there are many people out there that can't so that's kind of insulting to them but I'm always in such a hurry with the running I literally literally fitting it in I mean people think you're in a hurry in general yeah I mean I'm a firefighter too and I I do that in spare time just you know prevent income and a bit of diversion from what else something so literally I'll be one minute I'll be bombing up the fire station in my nightie and then you know get driving you know get driving a pump from been out for four hours and I'm thinking when I'm over there running it so I literally am that person is stomping around a half looking for the elusive stalks that's gone missing just to grab it and go and then students that get back running stuffs off and I'm just in another mode probably actually helps because I don't actually get time to contemplate how awful it's gonna be when I'm out there running there's stuff that needs to be done all the time yeah animals to see to medications to attend to there's maintenance to do there's a list of jobs as long as your arm the thought of having to do all that work and then go out and run 25 it's not even just like oh I'm just gonna do a nice little country jog it's appalling speed work to have to thing or an appalling 20-mile road run and then come back and as soon as you get back to have to then start the evening jogs which is like bringing all the horses in getting the buckets right ya know even though you know we've lived together 24 years I have no idea how anybody can fit in let's bring Keegan into this so Keegan this is a very interesting choice for your third movie your first two movies cowspiracy what the health preserve established yourself as this provocateur in your collaboration with with Kip Anderson these are movies that crossed over to mainstream audiences and and really created a lot of conversation around these ideas that you're passionate about but this is a very different kind of movie so why this movie what struck you about Fiona what compelled you to to document her journey yeah so one Kip and I were doing a fundraising campaign for cowspiracy Martin Fiona's partner reached out or maybe was Fiona directly and said hey we heard about the film looks amazing let us know what we can do to help out and so I looked up who these people were and I said help us you know how can we help you and the response to Kip and I got four cows piercing what the health was phenomenal but I was constantly hearing this yeah well I'm an athlete I do the X sort of training and you know I could never be vegan and I thought that can't be true there's people like patrol there's these ultra endurance athletes who are breaking World Records we need to do more to promote that and Fiona had been in back of my mind for a long time then I spoke to one of our executive producers Cheryl Greenberg and she talked about how the vegan community is predominantly female and yet women aren't really highlighted in the vegan movement it the male faces in the male names and the male organizer heads of organizations that are really promoted and that there needs to be more emphasis on promoting and elevating women in this movement because it is a female dominated movement I thought hey if we can combine those two things promoting women vegan women breaking the stereotypes of veganism holds you back from any sort of athletic achievements then you've got something powerful and Fiona takes all of those and then being a hardcore ethical vegan on top of it which speaks to my heart so this perfect and also you really couldn't ask for a better character for a documentary than Fiona I first met Fiona in 2014 she came into the shop and she was just this whirlwind like she was absolutely mad as a box of frogs I'm not sure I can describe her in any other turn she is absolutely extraordinary and what's really extraordinary she doesn't look extraordinary I heard her bursting heart rates like 30 or something it's so low that they're like are you even alive she just doesn't seem to to stop I don't know how she does what she does so she runs this Animal Sanctuary with 400 or so animals she trains like maybe 100 miles a week she's just so dedicated to what she does and she did she doesn't do it for her you know and she doesn't for the animals and for other people and you know she's trying to promote sustainability when you first meet her you've got no sense that you're talking to someone that's extraordinary and one of the reasons is that she doesn't self promote she has no sense of actually how fantastic she is what's interesting about the movie among many things but but what struck me which I did in real I didn't I didn't notice it the first couple of times I watched the movie is that you don't even hear the word vegan until you're two-thirds of the way into the film is that a conscious decision yeah that's a conscious decision if you watch any of the films that I've done you don't hear the word vegan until 40 this is the earliest film here is 43 minutes in what the health is like 47 minutes and cowspiracy is like an hour and 10 minutes in you really like what Fiona's done you really have to pull people in to a story before you can introduce them to veganism because people they're so resistant to it it seems so extreme to so many people so you have to really kind of drag them along get them interested why why did you run in a cow costume why you know why am i interested in this movie with it just as vegan you're only gonna appeal to mostly the vegans so yeah I was definitely a conscious effort so how long how much time did you spend with Fiona what's this a period of time that you guys hung out to do this um total probably about a month and a half two weeks and in January in 2017 two weeks in the Sahara Desert ten days in the Sahara Desert and then another two weeks are not even not even about a month total total time over the course of a year and and going into this obviously you you're familiar with Fiona story and you have an idea of what you're getting involved in what did what what occurred that you didn't expect like what did you find out about Fiona or this world you know this subculture in which she lives and thrives that you were not originally aware of I really wasn't aware of how humble fiona was I knew that she was humbled because everything I had seen in red but I didn't realize that it was - this like heartfelt level that it wasn't like a facade or like trying to put on you know to be cute in a humble sort of way this is very genuine this is who this person is I find that really refreshing I think also for an audience - that's amazing to see there's a lot of huge egos in sports and and I love sports documentaries I can watch the sports documentary about anything I mean literally race car driver boxers soccer players and I'm not into sports at all but these stories were always people they want to be the best in the world but for what it's like so they can be the best in the world there's nothing else other than that or a paycheck and then to have somebody who strives to be the best simply to create a platform to talk about compassionate living it's like that's that's the documentary I want to see so I really made this before myself for that and and again that just that humbleness that lack of ego because it's a selfless was I think one of the most shocking things about making it mmm-hmm I had spoken to the other runners and there was almost like an overconfidence to them fiona was really refreshing because he or she was touted as one of the elite runners sharing with me in all honesty that she was terrified just as I was and I looked at her like how can you be terrified so we're laying there you know I caught him just like staring up at the tent ceiling going this is gonna be brutal and she's like yep it's gonna be really hard I came in like six and a half hours later and she hugged me and she just said I am so proud of you and I was like really like you've been laying here for six hours waiting for me to finish she was like yeah but I think you were the toughest she's so incredibly strong and she kind of denies it in herself but she's so willing to acknowledge it in others honestly like I've never seen someone so strong and so so humble you strike me as a not only a deeply compassionate person but somebody who is who has a vast reservoir of empathy and this sensitivity to suffering and perhaps your you were born this way you can see it in every frame of film and the way that you interact with these animals that you care so deeply about but I'm wondering if there's a relationship between the suffering that you endured as a result of your your injury with your your knee and the sort of process of recovering from that if that there I mean Keegan you serve tip your hat to this point in the movie but this connection between what you endured going through that and how you kind of empathize with the plight of these animals and their suffering she was always an athletic little girl until she had this terrible problem in the early teens she started having knee pain slightly before my teenage years I developed a problem with my knee I was in all sorts of pain all sorts of trouble with it so I went in to hospital continually having Beckerman kneecap scraped after having the ligaments and things registered around my kneecaps kind of pivot in a different direction and nothing was really working that was about right leg that was effective start with and then because I was leaning so heavily on my left leg that became weak and affected so I was having all these surgeries it was very very frustrating I think kind of about 17 operations you know I was not able to go to school I was getting too weak to go to school I couldn't mobilize around the school couldn't do anything there wasn't even offered any home tutoring and then the doctor said look we've got a serious problem there is a massive conglomeration behind your kneecap it is turning it to jelly it is crumbling inside and it needs to come out and it needs to come out quickly this is gonna be a big operation and this is gonna be very painful I have to say I've never been in pain like I was in after that operation I couldn't lay I couldn't move in my bed I couldn't couldn't literally ultimate position in my bed I was told I wouldn't walk again properly let alone we ever be able to do sporting activities especially things like running which one I in fact I was going to be registered disabled at one point because it looks so hopeless so that was an incredibly challenging time for all the family actually yeah definitely I mean you learn from experience that's the best way to learn you can tell somebody something all the time you can tell people all that race is really hard and they probably look into this a bit stunned and a backpack that can't be that hard and fifty odd degree heat but you learn from experience that I do understand that what I went through as a teenager is obviously impacted me but the important thing it hasn't made me bitter it just made me focused on not allowing it if I can prevent it happening to anything or anyone else not in terms of that suffering what happened to me it wasn't anyone's fault it was just something but you you learn have an embassy for yes unnecessary suffering is just appalling any sort of pain of any sort of creature it's just something you just wouldn't even want to inflict and I I don't know I I mean it's really really hard for me to sit here in front of an audience film about me in fact when Keegan actually contacted me I saw it was Martin winding milk trying to make you as uncomfortable as possible it was like you know I mean why would anyone want to make a film about me I mean I'm just like eating you know my Superman you can't even run ya know I mean I know let's see if admittedly now finally though you've convinced me yeah I mean yeah I mean I can't I can't yeah I mean okay you know I can run physically a comportment one leg in front of the other but yeah I'm not great I am very determined you know and I've got doing it for a reason I am doing it for a reason and that reason is greater than oh I've got my eye on winning that Garmin or a TV or a place that's of no interest to me whatsoever in fact you go to these races and people start talking about all things running and utmb points and have you done that race and they'll be done this race no clue what they're talking about go away from me running is about A to B as quickly as you can get in the job done and seeing if you can knock it on to help animals that's another thing that I've done I mean I've had to really work hard for a CV that's actually made people sit up and you know look at the results I've got like in 2005 when I was coming back from Amsterdam with that 8th place and placing in the lung and marason and the Berlin Maris and all the big races I only used to do two marathons a year and that was basically because it was economical financially and physically I didn't have to be away from the sanctuary and I did this kind of speaking to on a podcast today and the lady said to me I said never even had a massage I have no coach I've no physio I've never had a month I was if it hit me in the face I've literally running charity shop closing and obviously I've got my shoes now and you know my shoes are very important to me because obviously it's I have to care for my knees but I am literally I miss cheap a Maturana gone mad I literally am and then all of a sudden one minute you're running around the danger peninsula with the only company as a squirrel that you might see and next minute year you being chauffeured on this bus do these technical meetings with all these Kenyans and Ethiopians and they've all got the coaches and the managers and I've got my mom we're sitting at the back like to school children playing noughts and crosses and they're going out technically what do you want to do in this race and you thinking I just want to finish it alive you know from getting away from being successfully so it's a really weird scenario that I've been coming through but and when you're amongst these people you realize that you're actually not very good yourself I mean you know but you either winging it and bluffing it and doing what you can for the animals but I've got no ID no particular interesting going to the North Pole or doing any of that I just thought you know obviously if people say you know they feel tired to say oh I feel like I've run a marathon and if they say you know it's cold out though North Pole's I've put the two together and that's got to be definitive front row leaders have eaten can do anything but and that's been the logic behind it can it be a win for the for the animals can I get something back in there you know introduce because it's like creative activism that I've had to do so if you're going to join the fire brigade it's introducing not at the time wasn't introducing females to a forum that not necessarily going to be in I was the first female firefighter in our division and then when it cropped up that I was vegan as well you can see the hassle I got from the guys they're evil but they had to think about it they had to think about the fact that I wasn't in a well other fire boats so they had to import them from Italy for me so you know that kind of thing just gently introducing kind of veganism and making whether they're going to go vegan or not they've got to be aware of it and respect it and that's what my activism has kind of been about people listen to Fiona talk and they come to me afterwards to say you must be very proud I said no pride reflects honour to me I look at her in awe and then the guilt kicks in the guilt at having brought a life into the world which is so compassionate and feeling loving that she has to push herself to these tremendous lengths to try to get a platform so that she can speak for those who have no voice Fiona we were chatting a little bit before before the film about sort of the current state of awareness and excitement around this movement and as somebody who's been vegan and advocating in this space it's Heuer 6-7 years old what's your perspective on where the movement is now and how do you you know think about that yeah I mean it's really exploded and yeah I mean every day in the UK something new comes so every time you turn on the media's first year with vegan or something like that it really has gone mad and literally it's just growing and growing and growing and I think people talk about the tipping point and we I think we surely are reaching it and what I would like to emphasize especially to younger people is I think they forget a pre social media time when this just wasn't available when I said I went vegan at 6 I didn't say to my mom I want to go vegan I didn't even know what vegan was it was just an ethical choice I knew that I wanted to opt out of certain things and I couldn't put a name to it it was more of a feeling that I had but now I mean obviously it's growing and I think especially with young people it's the youngsters that are actually realizing this this is not just vegan isn't just one pronged it's not just it started with the animals for me and I'm still learning as a vegan obviously I didn't realize I mean cowspiracy what the hell's have taught me a lot I just know my bit of veganism but now it's just growing and growing and growing and I think young people especially are realizing this isn't just about animals and the hell's it's about the health of the planet the health of those that others who live on it and the environment and it's scary what's happening to the environment and it's their future and their children's future and they're taking hold with the initiative they've got and the inspiration they provide it gives me hope because at times I've been in a complete state of district despair hence the cow costume you know running doing anything you've got to do that's why I ended up at the North Pole in the desert because what do what you gotta do to make people listen but now there's a whole generation out there that can do that successfully and that that's yes that's massive Keagan you uh you had your own ultra experience trying to document this while the race was going on by yourself right it wasn't you and a crew of people it was just you and very heavy camera equipment running yourself across the desert and I'm left wondering watching this like how did he do that like where's keegan sleeping where is he going how is he charging his batteries like how is all of this working so yeah walk us through that yeah I mean logistically it was definitely a challenge Kip and I my co-director of cowspiracy what the hell I've always done things super low budget and super low crew people say Oh where's your crew in Psych whoa it be just he and I and since I solo directed this one it was literally just me I thankfully had a driver during marathon de Sol and about 50% maybe a little bit less of the course is accessible by vehicle so we would drive along he'd say I had this is where the course is I jump out and I get a shot but then the other half of the time he'd say okay so you see that mountain range go over it and then could happen to the next valley across the valley and there will be the course and so it would be literally carrying my gear go over the mountain get the shot and then hike back over to get to the truck sleeping in a similar camp - Fiona's camp there's a volunteer and staff tent area separate from from the runners tents eating one meal a day bringing my own food because there's not really any offerings for vegans out there but it was an awesome epic adventure I was I was doing half their distances at times he was going quicker than we were I did not but but I did almost die making this movie people ask all the time with cowspiracy and what the hell they say you know Moe it's a controversial film it goes up against this big industry do you all get death threats and off time to kind of like joke it off like I and I but this movie when we finished marathon ozawa I was exhausted I've been breathing and dust for the last two weeks running going as hard as I could not really taking care of myself and I flew to South Africa the next couple days afterwards to go speak in an event and I contracted a horrible respiratory infection to the point that I had to be hospitalized and had a sustained fear of 110 plus for number of days hallucinating didn't know who I was didn't know where I was so I got to do my own little adventures well right glad that happened after the exams not before right yeah so I want to make this interactive and and open this up to participation and and questions from the audience thank you but but before I do that one last thing Keegan what do you like what is what is it that you want the audience to take from Fiona's story and and this movie that you've made I want everybody to feel inspired I want people to see Fiona's challenges and everything she's accomplished in despite all the hindrances that she's faced both from physically the fact that media doesn't want to give her the attention she deserves on and on and on I want people to see that and be inspired to do whatever their challenges whatever their marathon is their Marathon asado but to also be inspired to say I have to do something bigger than myself that a life of services has so much value and so much importance and something I think we really need in this world and and for our own selves as well that we'll having more fulfilling meaningful lives when we do things for others versus just for ourselves and then secondarily I want everybody to say vegan doesn't hold you back from anything and in fact it might make you better at what you want to do beautifully put alright let's uh let's open this up I'm just gonna take this one right here at the top this is a question for Fiona have you ever had conversations about your diet with other non vegan athletes during your many races and did they or anybody make this switch after talking with you yeah I have conversations with other runners I mean a best way of answering them is not wasted breast just go out and beat em you know I mean then then you've answered all the questions cuz I've been in the longer races you do get time more time to talk and people there are always curious and how they can improve their performance and if they see you doing better than them they're interested in the diet because that was another thing about going out to this activism and promotion of veganism through sport you've kind of got a captive audience there that are interested in performance they're interested in ways of improving their performance so they want to know if you're better than them or perceived to be better than them they'll ask how you got better than them but yeah we it's been cut it sounds kind of I don't and conceited to say it but if you are actually just performing better than them they not so negative towards what you're doing they might say oh you won't be able to sustain that long on a vegan diet so it will ratchet for forty other years though you know I mean at how long I'm gonna be me coughing before you finish you know that right but you know and it is them I've had a lot of people in fact the tent that I shared with there they were a really good bunch of guys weren't they and not none of them have gone full vegan but a lot of like very proud telling me that I found vegan ice cream in Kuwait Fiona and yeah if I come and stay with you at the new sanctuary you know I'm quite prepared to eat vegan for the whole week so you know and one of the biggest wins is Elizabeth Barnes who the MDS runner she has she was not been well since for about a year and she's switched vegan now and she said she she feels amazing she's getting the miles back in the legs now when she's hoping to go back to MDS next year and she puts that definitely down to being plant-based yeah that's great the next question has to do with with balancing everything how do you balance you're running the sanctuary your relationship I know you're always in a hurry and maybe two maybe to kind of embark on answering that question like take us through a day in the life from waking up in the morning to go into bed Wow we got a palmistry every morning and then whatever needs doing I do it's a changes seasonally obviously because there's different jobs to do in the winter cuz I've got a lot of larger animals we've got 76 horses I've got 121 pigs we've got 22 cows so they it's better to deal with those in the daylight hours so if it's in the winter I'll do more of the jobs that I can do indoors or in stables and then I'll go out to do them how I balance it is I literally don't start Paul day I have this one meal a day thing going on you know everybody says I just eat one meal a day and I get up in the morning and I work right through and I just don't stop I never sit down and never do anything but work and it's kind of I kind of I can't have recovery time so but my idea of a recovery time would be we have this we have this food donation program from big supermarkets Sainsbury where they donate their bread and vegetables for the pigs to eat but it has to be unwrapped so if I've come back from a 20 mile run the only opportunity I'm gonna have to rest my legs is to sit in the middle of all these bags of bread and unwrapped them so that will be my recovery period like an hour sitting on wrapping the bread and then if I've got a bit of paperwork to do that will give me some recovery if I've been outside shoveling or whatever I'm doing balancing it is it's not difficult for me because the animals always come first the training is very secondary to running the sanctuary and regarding my relationship well I don't know where that one but you know I mean I'll tell you now Martin and I of been at that sanctuary now for 22 years and we've never been out together anywhere in fact Keegan took me out for me looking and showing some grounds and I'm sitting there looking at this menus or what liminal exactly I don't know what this means this isn't nonsensical to me because people do ask me what do you eat I don't literally eat pig food I don't go to a farm you know distributor and say can I have a bag of pig food and open it and stick my head in it but because we're in this donation program they give us that on date vegetables so I'm not going to be like sitting in the middle of my bread unwrapping it and the vegetables and think oh I must go and fetch some bananas that's going to take half an hour and like 5 pounds in money I will literally eat those bananas and that's basically what I live on the donated on date vegetables pig food so last night yeah let me just clarify your last night at the restaurant oh yeah well that's the first time you've been to a restaurant since remember going to one before we got the century so I mean it's not definite 22 years 22 years yeah although there's not a lot of like Netflix and chill now there is no going down to the pub and like so what do you do like how do you relax do you you can't just go go go go go all the time I'll tell you now when I've been training for marcin's no word of a lie the meal that I've had it now I've had to have it in bed and I've fallen asleep with it hanging out my mouth sometimes honestly I'm not tired but you know I get up the next morning I recover I go out the animals need me and and the training is voluntary I just want to give 100% I'm not going to go out there and give 90% because that's just not what's going the energy it takes to run well takes a it's it's no point I'm not out there recreationally it's great if you are but I'm not so I'm doing it for a purpose it's part of what I do with a sanctuary plant parcel of me so it's a hundred percent and that takes a lot of energy to give a hundred percent and that's fine I'm not looking for people to feel sorry for me it's my choice nobody's got a gun to my head I want to do this I want to do as much as I can before I die cause let's say you're a long time dead you can't come back he can't you can't I don't want to look with regrets and think I should have done that I shoulda done that I've done the maximum I drank genuinely can't I don't know I could have done a lot more where does this drive come from it drives come from suffering it's really strange to say it rocks to position when I left to come here yesterday morning we left a sanctuary it's beautifully tranquil it's someone's just coming up in the dawn and the cattle and the horses grazing in these beautiful fields not a care in the world and I got in the car coming to Heathrow and a slaughter cattle transporter a double load him one and then one saw a sheep transporter and it just wrecked me because why aren't those animals having what my animals have got why do they have to suffer like that and you feel so helpless at this hopeless situation that you're facing and that drives me it's not it's not right injustice drives me and that's injustice in the extreme towards our fellow creatures so yeah and I'm happy to do it and I'm just I always look back and think I'm blessed to be able to do it and I will say that the years of a mobility I had about six years of him in mobility and I've got a funny shape for my running I've got very defined kind of upper body and very strong in my upper body and people say oh you do weights you know no no I can kind of line so yes clue and it's probably the years that I've spent on crutches I mean my legs were in plaster for so many years and I don't I don't sound awful I'm gonna say this in gross woman I don't grow hairs on my leg I've got no I've got no I'm completely bald on my legs because my legs were always in plaster it killed a dose and so I've you know it's it's it wasn't easy to be 13 14 15 and I wanted to be outside and literally going back to the hospital and mean no weight-bearing and in a lot of pain and I will say at this time when I was introduced to hospital that's when my mum was accused of trial cruelty because the diet flagged up and it was considered to be an eating disorder I mean veganism an eating disorder but I get people write to me now and say the same thing you know doctors health professionals saying you know it's it's not healthy and you know even when I've come back from races you know and I've worn them a lady died on Everest sadly and BBC rang me and asked me for a quote and I'm thinking why don't I send about it I've been in Namibia anyway I didn't know her didn't ya know she was a vegan so I don't know every vegan on the plane I don't six of those in the world and I knew her well she died on Everest do you think that's cause she was a vegan and I said no I think it's cuz Everest is a very dangerous place to be whether you're a vegan or not and fully enough the guy that had helped me get through the race in the Atacama Bostick he died on Everest and he who definitely wasn't a vegan you know so to speak but people always say you know one child in Italy is found malnourished she was a vegan as a reason you know they ignore all you know the children out there that a malnourished and you know Abby's and whatever it's just got me that one kid who's vegan and then all these are the same but it's that press are very very quick still to jump on the negativity rather than the positivity but that's what drives to me I don't care how tired I am because in that race I will say you know it's hard as brutal are you going along no it's true but at the end of it can't be that terrible that you can just put your hand up and say actually I've had enough now can I go back to camp you and you can if you want you're not gonna because you know you desperately want to complete it and get the medal but you know and I know and even don't I'm reluctant to say I know what suffering is because you've always I've always got options animals haven't got options and and that's what drives me I know that and I know that yeah it's pretty insignificant what I do but I'm looking to be able to do it I'm afraid to ask the next part of this question because I'm afraid your your your advice is not going to be good the the question is advice for dealing with injury no no I'm not I'm not I'm not I'm not how you deal with injury well I'm not sure well sometimes I go out running sometimes and I feel so bad I actually think I'm either gonna get through this in one piece I'm just gonna drop dead he has pushed me out the door to go I'm along on Sunday and I've been crying and I've contemplated seriously we live up and say a bridal pass running up there giving it all the Fate and then going up there and just sitting down for two hours and then coming back so I've done it but you never do when you get out there you know you rise them I wouldn't say I would run through an interest this that I've got with money it's a manageable pain I know how to deal with that it you know I can deal with that I wouldn't call that an injury I wouldn't tell people to get out there and boost it till it hurts if it doesn't drop off you're all right I once I wouldn't say that I'd probably do it myself to say but that's not what I would vibe I can give out great advice I just don't take it you know all right next question how do you start training for a race and what would you recommend to somebody who wants to run their first marathon just a road Morrison just build up gradually and sustaining you haven't got to be that faster when I was trying to explain something you haven't got to be that fast to run a sub to 40 Morrison you've only it's only just like ten mile an hour or whatever you just got to be able to sustain it for a long period of time so I would say build gradually and don't go into it all that oh yeah I could do 40 miles today because you're gonna get injured don't do too much build up gradually that's what I do with all my training I am NOT that flamboyantly good runner but I can sustain it over a ten week period I can sustain a training program that's going to get me through 100 miles a week and for me the testament to the time you can run on race day is only a testament to the amount of training your body will allow you to do in when you're actually building up to the event and that's the pure testament of a vegan diet the recovery you've got to be able to recover very quickly to run two sessions a day Howard sessions and to keep doing it week in week out it's no good doing it one week and then be you know ripped apart and flatten you back the next you've got to be able to do it very very gradually and don't don't overload don't stress about times just get familiar with the distance my motto is if you don't train hard you won't race hard and I do have some weird training going on like if I run to up to 20 miles I never take water with me I won't allow myself water that's just out over the world places I can get water a long route but I like to make it as hard as I can because I sure as hell gonna be hard on the day and yeah but consistency yeah consistency is all-important yeah yeah you know managing the miles and doing the speed where if you want to run it if you would want to get round a Morrison just become familiar with the the mileage you've got to do if you want to run a marathon quickly you've got a speed worker and you've got a new hard speed work so you have this background in track cycling yeah yeah so that preceded the running yeah I've never heard you talk about it but you can see your bikes a couple times in in the movie do you still ride and how did that that career inform your running career yeah I mean cycling it's very very good exercise if you can't impact that's why I took cycling I've been cycling before my injuries and I went back to cycling because it's just low-impact and it's just straightforward you know exercise that I could do quite easily the reason I packed up with the cycling I've ridden all around the world by tracing on the road and the track it's before bat racing became so popular we didn't have much of a bike racing program in the UK till sort of early noughties so I just did cycling because it was something that I knew my body would probably allow me to do and he did to a certain extent the reason I packed he took was it's very time consuming you got me out there four or five hours a day if you want to do well on the road if you want to do well on the track you've got to go to a track and train there isn't one near me there's not one for miles it's expensive to buy it's the equipment it just wasn't for me when we moved to the sanctuary we didn't have a penny we didn't have anything and I said I don't have the time I just thought you know and I was running two hours running a day that's plenty but you know four hours and bike maintenance but I don't bother riding my bike now I tend to just train running I don't actually I could say I do but I don't really do much cross-training I just run can we get you some help with the sanctuary thank you we get some people to help you out so you don't have to wake up at 3 o'clock in the morning every day yeah we could would you accept that help yeah if people wanted to come to the sanctuary and help out if they wanted to come they would be welcome to come and help yeah it's hard running a sanctuary because unless people are gonna come regularly they've got familiarized yourself with the animals I never wanted the sanctuary to become an institutional kind of place where you've got lots of animals and it's just Oh put that horse in number 23 stable and I'll be down very soon it was I want it's a family we are a family and he can carry Manisa do you know that horse and of course I know them all by name I know every nuance of every action they do and I can walk down that yard and I can yeah he's probably waiting for me to come home and say something like what's wrong with angel it's a big Friesian horse so I don't know I'd noticed and I know everything about everything just from the way the standing I can tell it's gotta be somebody that comes that's willing to invest and learn like that because I think that running the sanctuary as I do you've got to preempt problems and that's what I like prevention rather than cure for the animals and it's also a very tranquil environment for them I don't want lots of people coming in and upsetting them and because a lot of them are very heavily traumatized I mean we've had we've had everything at Sanctuary I mean it's very horrible to say a pro shooting everything from dogs that have been raped heavily you know you get all sorts come in there it's not the pretty side of animal rescue but it's the real side of it so yeah I would welcome help obviously I would welcome help if people wanted to come and spend time there yeah yeah this is something I've talked to gene Baur about you know specifically the fact that you have to come into this awareness that you're not going to be able to save all of these animals that your heart is in the right place you do the best that you can you tend to these these these beings that are under your care but also trying to find a way to make it sustainable because just like your training it's about consistency like and I just I fear like I see your schedule and I was like how do you avoid burning out like how do you manage this gigantic load and shoulder this you know for such a long period of time without something not just breaking down in you I think the thing to break down is there mentally that's where you're vulnerable bodily less so you know mentally but I am very very mentally strong and I've got a very firm reason of why I'm doing what I'm doing and some people say to me it must be easier for me because you're amongst the animals all the time so you see the results or the rewards of what you're doing and that is true to a certain extent but on the other side of the coin it's really heartbreaking because you see how individual certain animals are for instance I can never understand how people in the world people all over it certainly Western world they seem to do on their dogs and their cats but they don't even have a sort for a pig or a sheep or a cow it seems really strangely I for instance one night it was really really hot and we've got this massive load of watermelons that have been donated from the Sainsbury so I said oh let's take them over to the pigs or watermelons and bananas and give them a treat so we went over there and so there was all squeals of delight and it was Sun setting and they were in their mud baths and piggies ran out and you know some wanted bananas and wanted watermelon some took watermelons and they decided wanted bananas and they're all bringing around joyous you know and he's thinking these are individual souls it just shows that they do have preferences these guys they feel very much as we feel and that's what's very inspiring about that race to marys and estar but you could just take it as a tough race so dinner party conversation look at what this Medellin I've done MDS but you could take it as a life-changing experience and when we're all strip back actually to the bare essentials like in the desert if you're out there you're running and somebody offered you a big gold bar for instance something that you cover in in you know in in civvy Street you say no thank you it's too heavy to carry it's like that kind of thing and you realize that actually what is essential whether you're human or non-human alike is water shelter and food and not been in fear and pain they're the really important things in life the material things and nothing there nothing at all they're the things that really really matter and that's the same for animals as well and all animals deserve that not people come to the sanctuary and say Oh aren't your animals lucky and I say no they're just having what there is there right they're being afforded their rights doesn't it you shouldn't be look involved in it it should be there for all animals but it's only there for a few this next question is teed up for Keegan Keegan what is the biggest single issue facing the world today come on a lot of people won't like this one yeah yeah the biggest issue facing the world today is humanity that's the reality of it the world has been for three billion years doing all right it goes through all these different cycles but we're in this largest mass extinction planet seen in 65 million years that's human caused to many of us wanting to live a western lifestyle that's a problem it's a very solvable problem we can abstain from having children we can adopt a plant-based diet and we can choose to voluntarily lower our standard of living everybody in the world can't live at the standard of living that we have in the in the West and we've got to be real realistic about that on that we've got a lower our standard of living to meet the rest of the world so there is more equality that's probably not the answer they wanted either I didn't have a desire for you to answer one way or the other than completely honestly did I have a quick question for you the last time that we spoke on the podcast was on the cusp of what the health coming out and we haven't sort of reconvened since then so I'm interested in what that experience has been like obviously the response to that movie was extraordinary I really think that it impacted culture in a very substantial way and so how did you know how do you think about the impact that the movie has had and and how does that affect or not affect how you advocate on behalf of the things that are important to you if the response to what the health has been phenomenal I mean it just totally blew me away and I think for Kip Anderson as well my co-director on that film it's been amazing how people have received that film and digested it and implemented into their own lives of changing their lifestyle you know whether going 100% vegan or just eliminating a lot of animal products from their diet the backlash that that film has gotten was wasn't as surprising to be honest that we knew while making that film that there was gonna be hard push back to this to the information that's in the film because it shines a light on a lot of things that a lot of people don't want to look at the role that large chemical agriculture places in our food the role that pharmaceutical industry plays in our healthcare the role that the meat and dairy industry plays in Health Organisation's a lot of people don't want that talked about and they don't want to hear it so the negative response that the film got was a little bit more expected but it's done a lot to promote the film because people say oh have you heard about that BS film what the hell no I haven't those you go check that out those guys are liars yeah they're liars so how do you do you how do you choose or choose not to engage in that conversation whether it's online or in media yeah my response is always very simple are we make science-based film's fact-based films every single statistic stat and reference in the film is referenced on our website what the health film comm cowspiracy comm as well there's a resource page that has literally every single source so you can see the original studies so you can look up and you can decide for yourself whether it's true or not I'm not a scientist on journalists essentially so I'm presenting the information that's available you guys all saw cowspiracy and what the health yeah it's Kip here I thought I saw him earlier you might dip down yeah there he is he's waving so Kip Anderson is here give him a shout out as well so we got to wrap this up two questions first how and when can people who are listening to this or watching it on YouTube how can they see the movie yeah so the film will be released shortly we're working on some final legal things to get it out but it released online hopefully by middle to end of September it'll also be available for theatrical screenings and community organized screenings and then we'll see where it goes from there but the feeling is is that when we get the speaking community behind a film just like we saw with cowspiracy what the health it gives it legs way beyond to any distributor and then when we get the running world behind it when we get the female athletics behind it when we get everybody who lives their life with a mission behind it then this film has the ability to get really out there into the world yeah are you taking it on the road are you gonna go visit the running communities and do screenings I'm exhausted I don't have I'm already working on another movie so I mean this woman who can't even really run yeah Fiona how can people I mean you're the portrayal of you in the movie and the work that you do is inspiring and it demonstrates a level of dedication to a cause that we don't typically see in our lives like it's it's it's really incredible the love and the dedication and the devotion that you have to the things that that are important to you and so when you see this movie if people are listening to this you'll know what I'm talking about and I'm sure there's a lot of people out there who who would like to support you who would like to help you who would like to lift you up so for those people where can they go how can they help how can they contribute we go website Oh Tower Hill stables org and they can get details on there and about how to donate and things like that but the main thing I want from my life honestly obviously I need security I need I don't want any money from anyone in terms of for me it's everything we've ever had that the sanctuary goes directly to the animals my partner is only just when he took early retirement to actually stay at the sanctuary and and look after the animals when I'm away a little bit more the main thing people can do is if they want to help financially that's great because I don't want worry about the vets and the feed merchants and everybody else do want vast sums of money to make this happen the most thing is that they can be the best vegan they can be if you can and go out there and promote veganism that's what my life is is more about now just making the world see what I can see and if they want help from the sanctuary that's amazing and where can they go to do that it's the main tower Hill stables page that like a donate options and it's not just like donate money but it's time and raise awareness and do a little fund raisers and things out there's loads of things that people can do it's not just necessarily some money obviously money is fantastic because I've constantly got people beating my door to get money you know well it's they feed much foreign merchants you're always listening on the television you know we've had a bit of hot weather in the UK and suddenly all forage is going to be short or winter and it's going to be about 300 pounds a bale of hay and you know animals gonna have to be cold so no it's going to be a disaster but yeah through the through the website is the best place and if anybody contacts to me I mean I've always you know they're understand through my mails and they want to ask you know can we do a little fundraiser for you or people do all sorts of things like Kate Bates and sponsors and silencers and name the teddy you know lots of things that innovative ways and you know and just spread the word about the sanctuary because there might be other people out there that want to help that's the main thing that can do I'm not that good at asking for things from people to be honest with what I'm asking for you yeah and what do you what kind of crazy world record are you chasing next well what I'm gonna do is I'm doing the Atacama crossing I thought I'll just go back to the Atacama Desert and do weak state why not why not and then after that because I'll be in pretty good shape probably break the world record for the fastest woman trying a marathon in Macau sue because I can do that in the UK because it'll be do and you get more interest oh and then run a championship qualifying for London so that's got just a list of three marason but that'd be quite good in a County because I'm quite quite a novelty saying and then I go back to the Morrison to sample next year hopefully with my new shoes and they don't fall to pieces on me and I can actually hit it hard or harder and if people want to check out your shoes work and they out there at Will's vegan shoes if you look at wills vegan shoes they will design these actually the terrible plight of what happened in the desert and they are actually really really good for trail running they're really robust I reckon I've got about five Maris endure samples in these so don't tell Martin because I think I'm going back for the next five years but yeah these are really excellent and you can find him at Will's feet and shoes in the UK you know so find them on our website the running for film running for good film DOM and the amazing thing about these shoes is that 30% of the sales goes directly to the sanctuary so oh that's cool yeah that's a great way for people is there the as far as I know they're the world's first carbon-neutral sweatshop free intentionally vegan trail running shoe hmm and then again 30% of it goes to the animals directly yeah Fiona you need to hire this guy as your publicist I made a whole movie about Keegan let's wrap this up with can you can you talk about what's next for you and what you're working on yeah so I'm working on a new film called hungry for justice which is a food justice documentary with my friend John Louis the badass vegans a former guest on ritual podcast and it follows John on this journey looking at the link between diet disease poverty institutionalized racism government corruption and so much more because it's really G on on this journey he's originally from Ferguson Missouri which unfortunately has always been an impoverished and violent community and he's seen the disease and that's rampant there and so he's looking to answer this question why is it that Americans of color suffer from disproportionately higher rates of chronic disease diabetes heart disease and cancer and then once those people are diagnosed why are they more likely to die from those diseases than Caucasian Americans so it's a deep film looking at the role of institutionalized racism in medicine the historical implication of the colonial diet a Western diet that's been pushed on communities of color but it does that through the lens of hip-hop so we're interviewing and highlighting influential hip-hop artists and R&B artists who are plant-based or vegan or talk about food consciousness because arguably hip-hop is the most influential art form in human history what hip-hop artist where say do drive eat drink and talk about influences in the purchasing power of millions of people around the world so when these people start talking about the importance of healthy eating of veganism of being conscious of what you put in your body they have the ability to truly change this world so it's shaping up to be a really powerful film we're about halfway through shooting and I hope to have that out probably this time next year trying to do a feature every year yeah awesome can I before you close it I want to thank you so much rich for all of your support of the film for all of our films that we've done you have been so generous with your time to be narrator for the film which I feel incredibly indebted to you for for doing this event tonight I think 98% of the people who are here would have shown up without a movie screening just the fact that rich roll was doing it and I really appreciate you all coming but I feel it's so indebted to you for that I'm so grateful to Chris Swan to everybody a side show who helped put on this event to Jason the fact that actually probably 80% of the people involved in making this movie which is a very short list are here tonight we give a shout out to Jason he's our the composer Jason stand up this is Jason camiolo he is the audio engineer for the podcast but he's also the composer of the music in the film tonight which which the the score for the film is like the third character to me it's Fiona it's the desert and then it's the music to Amon Stewart who did the animations all the maps he's an extremely talented big shout-out to him Sasha Perry my co-editor unfortunately had a dip out early Jim Greenbaum who's one of our executive producers incredible guy Greg Anzalone unfortunate can't be here tonight incredible supporter unbelievable bent over backwards to promote this film there's so many people but again I just I feel so thankful to you rich for using your platform to highlight people's stories you again give voice to so many people who don't have a larger voice and just deeply appreciative and I think everybody else here who's a fan of the show is deeply appreciative for where you do well I appreciate that thank you it's an honor and a privilege to be able to share a message as potent and powerful as the message that both of you are putting out in the world so thank you for having a message and allowing me to share it and I think that's it and we did it how do you feel Fiona how you feel you ready to go to our restaurant it's past your bedtime anybody you didn't want to come and spend time looking at this it's really it you know yeah talking to the mic yes all right let's hear it for Fiona and for Keegan and for everybody who's here tonight who supported or helped create this beautiful movie support this movie tell your friends share it on social media support independent cinema and I am eager to do more live events and hopefully I will be doing more of this kind of stuff so I'll let you guys know and I really appreciate everybody who came out tonight on a weeknight to spend some time with us so thanks to all of you for coming peace peace you say it take us out plants done [Applause] [Music] you

Channel: Rich Roll

Views: 72,438

Keywords: rich roll, vegan, health, fitness, diet, nutrition, athlete, podcast, inspiration, motivation, plantpower, plant-based, wellness, self-help, fiona oakes, keegan kuhn, running for good, cowspiracy, what the health, marathon, animal rights, animal welfare, animal advocacy, veganism, animal sanctuary, marathon des sables, activism, scott jurek, documentary, filmmaking

Id: rPovf1-E8xg

Length: 76min 6sec (4566 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 10 2018