Episode #263
EP 263 : Camille Herron on Autism, ADHD, and becoming a decorated ultra runner
Nine years ago, Camille Herron crossed what she thought was the finish line at the Comrades Marathon, started celebrating, and kept walking, before realizing she still had 200 metres to sprint. It's the story most people know her for. In Episode of Run with Fitpage, Vikas talks to Camille about her equally interesting life journey, setting ultra distance world records across 50K, 100K, 24 hour, 48 hour and six day formats, Camille traces her path from a shy, largely nonverbal child with a central auditory processing disorder to a valedictorian and gifted program student, and eventually a biomedical researcher who spent twelve years as a bone imaging microscopist while training twice a day. She talks about the autism and ADHD diagnosis she received in her forties, and how reworking her daily schedule in 2015, not her training, was the actual turning point that led to two world titles in a single year. The conversation also covers her marathon career (a 2:37:14 pre super shoe personal best), her decision to leave full time work for professional running in 2019, and the mental frameworks, like eating the elephant one bite at a time and dedicating every race to someone else, that get her through multi day events most runners can't imagine attempting. In this episode we covered: Why Camille stopped short of the finish line at Comrades Marathon and had to sprint the last 200 metres once she realized the race wasn't over Growing up largely nonverbal until age six or seven due to a central auditory processing disorder Being "twice exceptional," placed in a gifted program as a child while living with an undiagnosed disability Getting diagnosed with autism and ADHD in her forties, and how it explained her lifelong ability to hyperfocus Working twelve years as a bone imaging microscopist while training twice a day around a full time job The 2015 schedule change, evening long runs and a midday run added in, that led to two world titles in one year Flying home after winning the 2015 100K World Championship and being back at her research job the next Monday Meeting Frank Shorter, who signed her poster "run for stress release," a moment that reframed her running Why she left full time employment for professional running in 2019 Her "eat the elephant one bite at a time" strategy for surviving multi day races Why she dedicates every race to someone else, including the origin of her "Wings for Sophia" tribute Her 2:37:14 marathon best, run before the era of carbon plated super shoes Building out her coaching business, Run with Camille, to make elite coaching more globally accessible About Vikas Singh: Vikas Singh, an MBA from Chicago Booth, worked at Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, APGlobale, and Reliance before coming up with the idea of democratizing fitness knowledge and helping beginners get on a fitness journey. Vikas is an avid long-distance runner, building fitpage to help people learn, train, and move better. For more information on Vikas, or to leave any feedback and requests, you can reach out to him via the channels below: Instagram: @vikas_singhh LinkedIn: Vikas Singh Twitter: @vikashsingh101 Subscribe To Our Newsletter For Weekly Nuggets of Knowledge!
