OUT NOW: SOLO chronicles my global journey to run across a mountain range on every continent, solo and unsupported.
Book description:
'Jenny Tough writes with the same talent, imagination, and sheer courage that she displays in her athletic endeavours. This book will broaden the horizons of all who venture between its covers.' - Emily Chappell, author of Where There's a Will
'I love that SOLO is part-self help and part adventure story. Jenny shows us all that the journey to self-belief comes with just as many ups and downs as the mountains she traverses and that, with a little trust in ourselves (and a few good cups of coffee) the next seemingly insurmountable pass is never beyond our reach.' - Anna McNuff, author of Bedtime Adventure Stories for Grown Ups
Jenny Tough is an endurance athlete who's best known for running and cycling in some of world's most challenging events - achieving accolades that are an inspiration to outdoor adventurers everywhere. But SOLO tells the story of a much more personal project: Jenny's quest to come to terms with feelings and emotions that were holding her back. Like runners at any level, she knew already that running made her feel better, and like so many of us, she knew that completing goals independently was empowering, too. So she set herself an audacious objective: to run - solo, unsupported, on her own - across mountain ranges on six continents, starting with one of the most remote locations on Earth in Kyrgystan.
SOLO chronicles Jenny's journey every step of the way across the Tien Shan (Asia), the High Atlas (Africa), the Bolivian Andes (South America), the Southern Alps (Oceania), the Canadian Rockies (North America) and the Transylvanian Alps (Europe), as she learns lessons in self-esteem, resilience, bravery and so much more. What Jenny's story tells us most of all is that setting out to do things solo - whether the ambitious or the everyday - can be invigorating, encouraging and joyful. And her call to action to find strength, confidence and self-belief in everything we do will inspire and motivate.
Run the mountains of the world
Growing up in the Canadian Rockies, mountains have always been home. Travelling the world, I’ve always discovered commonalities with mountains - and mountain people. This major project is to run solo and unsupported across a mountain range on every continent where indigenous mountain people live isolated from the outside, urban world.
In Kyrgyzstan I met the Kyrgyz nomads, who live a traditional lifestyle in yurts and were overwhelmingly friendly towards me. In the Atlas Mountains, the Berbers were an essential support network who welcomed me into their communities and helped me survive in the incredible hostile desert environment. In the Bolivian Andes, where the first road network was originally stamped out by Inca message runners, I often took shelter from mountain storms in Quechua and Aymara pueblos, where I was always welcomed despite the constant danger warnings against the region.
Running solo and unsupported comes with obvious logistical as well as physical challenges, and travelling in this way forces my dependence on the small communities inhabiting these remote regions. Running is also a common language - all people around the world do it - and has always helped me build an instant rapport with the people along the way.
Expedition running
This is more than a really long way to run. It’s a series of expeditions, where, in addition to the physically challenging task of running over mountain ranges, I have to arrange my own logistics in a foreign country, navigate the wilderness, carry all of my own equipment, and find a way to survive. In all honesty, running is the easy part.
The months leading up to each expedition are spent training hard to build excess muscle mass to cope with the extra pack weight, while pouring over maps and resources. Satellite images may help me to find remote communities, water sources, or impassable grades. Still, running in remote areas where perhaps no one has ever attempted a traverse before comes with little guarantee, and through years of mountain experience I have acquired the skills and the resilience to pursue a route where no path exists.
THE EXPEDITIONS
The Tien Shan (Asia) - completed September 2016
The High Atlas (Africa) - completed November 2017
The Cordillera Oriental (South America) - completed October 2018
The Southern Alps (Oceania) - completed March 2019
The Canadian Rockies (North America) - completed July 2020
The Transylvanian Alps (Europe) - completed September 2021