Jessica’s ‘adventure activism’ is, by her own admission, a bit of an accident as she hates exercise and considers herself to be the most unlikely athlete.
However, over the last decade she has been taking on some of the world’s most iconic physical and mental endurance challenges to turn the sadness she’s been through into something positive and at the same time raise awareness of what it means to struggle to conceive and to encourage new ways of thinking about family.
She has run the London Marathon; swum the English Channel; and is still on her journey to climb Mount Everest and complete the iconic ‘Pond to Peak’ Challenge.
She is a member of the British Mountaineering Council; The Ramblers; The Long Distance Walkers Association; and the Serpentine, Hampstead Ponds and Dover Open Water Swimming Clubs; and has used her sporting challenges to raise thousands of pounds for charity including Fertility Network UK.
We first spoke to Jessica in Oct 2018 - you can listen to that episode here.
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Show notes
Who is Jessica
How she would describe herself and what she does
Dealing with a decade long struggle on trying to conceive
Wanting to do something different with her life
Completing her childhood dream of swimming the English Channel
Being an adventure activist
Wanting to be the first women to complete the “Pond to Peak” Challenge
What Jessica was up to in 2019
Making a change in her career and setting up her own arts’ festival
Her dream of heading to Everest in 2020
Climbing Mt. Elbrus and having a tough time
Swimming to get fit for climbing mountains
Climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro in 2015/2016
Why the Everest journey has been so hard
Being an unlikely mountaineer and athlete
When things don’t go according to plan
Having to learn from failure
Does swim training translate to walking in the mountains?
The benefits of cold water and why she does it regularly
Not being fast enough on the mountains
Needing to get into strength training and build muscle
Heading to the peak district and the Lake District
Training with the Elite Ramblers in the UK
Dealing with the first lockdown in 2020
Being able to stop, slow down and relax
Finding the blessings
How lockdown impacted on motivation for training and keeping fit
The different types of adventures
Why adventure has become such an important part of her life
Getting the confirmation that Everest was going to go ahead in 2021
Getting to base camp and feeling prepared
How everyone has an opinion on Everest
Why her expedition was a non summit
Dealing with cyclones at camp 2
Cyclones, Chest Infections and Covid
Making a rookie mistake
Why you need a buff!!!
Making the decision to turn back…
Acceptance and coming to peace
Why climbing mountains have become so meaningful
Making it a battle - a battle with nature
Wanting to go back in the future
Turning 50 at the end of 2020
How to follow along with Jessica and her future adventures
Final words of advice to motivate and inspire more women to take their next steps into the world of adventure
Social Media
Website: www.jessicahepburn.com
Instagram: @jessica_hepburn_
Facebook: @jessicahepburnauthor
Twitter: @JessicaPursuit
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