The Deadly Dozen: My Ultimate Challenge at 50

Jess smiling having finished Deadly Dozen and Jess competing in Deadly Dozen

Last weekend I completed the Deadly Dozen! It's billed as the ultimate fitness challenge 12 x 400m runs between 12 gruelling labours that test everything you have, physically and mentally — and I completed it solo at 50 years old. I’m feeling very proud of myself.

Stay with me, because I'm hoping what follows will inspire you and act as a reminder that when you really want something, if you put your mind to it, you can do it.

In 2022, I started training. Not because I'd always been a fitness person — I absolutely had not. I started because I was watching someone I love more than life itself fighting the hardest battle of their life, and in that pain, something shifted in me and I had no excuse not to look after myself. I wanted to be stronger for me, and for them. My first goal? Run a marathon, it felt like the ultimate achievement, the thing serious people do and the thing that would prove something. There was just one small problem: I hate running! Within six months, I'd quietly shelved the marathon idea but, in its place, I'd found something I didn't expect — a genuine love of training, of the gym, of the community, the discipline, and what it does for you from the inside out.

My first challenge was HYROX

If you haven't heard of Hyrox, it's a global fitness competition combining running and functional workout stations. I completed three of them as part of a doubles team, sharing the load, splitting the stations. It was hard, brilliant, and addictive; but the Deadly Dozen solo - that was always going to be my ultimate challenge and especially hitting it at 50. I signed up back in October, so there was no going back.

The Deadly Dozen takes you through a cardio blast for most of the first half, then hits you with a brutal test of endurance. It was tough, some moments were really tough, but in the beautiful April sunshine of Lee Valley, London, I did it!

What I've realised, is that the gym, training, and physical challenge stopped being about weight loss or aesthetics a long time ago, (those are brilliant by-products, and I'd be lying if I said otherwise) the real reason I keep showing up is deeper than that. It's about strength - physical, mental, and emotional and it's about longevity. I want to be the old person who can open jars without asking for help, who can reach the high cupboard, sit down and get back up again with ease, who moves through the world with capability and confidence. That vision really matters to me, and my time in the gym is in service of it.

Over the past 4 or so years, fitness has handed me things I didn't go looking for: community, perseverance, and a relationship with discomfort that has made me better at everything else. It has been genuinely life-changing, and completing the Deadly Dozen solo is just the latest proof of that. I feel my future self thanking me and smiling at me right now.

So, what's one thing you want your future self to thank you for?

I'm a firm believer in living in the present and trusting in the plan set out for us, but I also think it's important to have a vision for the life you want. We may not always know every step, but the direction matters. There's a verse I keep coming back to: we make our plans, but the Lord decides the steps. You don't have to have it all figured out, but you do need to know where you're pointing.

As I've got older, my vision has shifted. It's less about what I'll have, and more about who I'll be. Being healthy, physically strong and mentally resilient is central to that so I protect my training time. It goes in the calendar and it's non-negotiable, not because I'm rigid or inflexible, but because it matters to me, and the things that matter to us deserve our deliberate attention.

So, I'd like to invite you to sit with a few questions:

What does your future self look like? Not just physically — who are they? How do they move through the world?

What are you doing today that serves that version of you?

What are you not doing that you'd like to?

I've found visualising a future self to be a really powerful tool, both in my coaching and in my life.

My future self will be strong, she'll be mentally fit, she'll be able to open her own jars, and she will absolutely thank me for crossing that finish line at the Deadly Dozen.

What can you do today that your future self will thank you for?