About Sabrina
Sabrina Pace-Humphreys is a 44-year-old mother of 4 and grandmother of 3, an award-winning businesswoman, an ultrarunner, a social justice activist and a recovering alcoholic.
She is a mixed-raced woman, the daughter of a white Scottish Roman Catholic woman and a Black man.
In July 2020 she co-founded the fast-growing community and campaigning charity, Black Trail Runners, and is also a well-known ultra-marathon runner. She finished the 'toughest footrace on earth', a 250km multi-stage marathon across the Sahara Desert known as the Marathon des Sables, as 10th UK woman and most recently she completed the Spine Race, a non-stop 268 miles race down the Pennine Way.
Sabrina is the author of Black Sheep: A Story of Rural Racism, Identity and Hope
“In Black Sheep, Sabrina reveals how she got from there to here: about growing up in a home, a school and a town where no-one looked like her and her subsequent struggle to understand and find her identity; about her lived experience of rural racism; about becoming a teenage mother and her determination to break that stereotype; about her battle with alcoholism and her mental health; about how running saved her life; and ultimately about how someone can not only survive but thrive in spite of their past.
Sabrina's experience will chime with anyone who has felt like an outsider. Poignant and eye-opening, and exploring themes of trauma, identity, mental health and addiction, Black Sheep is a tale of triumph: of grit and determination, of hope over despair.”
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Show Notes
- Who is Sabrina
- Previously chatting on the TGP - July 7th 2020
- What was happening in late 2020
- Launching Black Trail Runners (BTR) in July 2020
- Black Trail Runners - writing an open letter to race organisers
- Taking about the issues and the lack of diversity in trail runners
- Moving house, welcoming a new grandchild, running the Ramsey Round
- Doing the 3 peaks challenge and seeing me at the top of Ben Nevis (Watch the vlog)
- Building the community of Black Trail Runners and the impact
- Having the uncomfortable conversations
- Collecting ethnicity data
- Having a BTR race fund
- Taking real action and breaking down the barriers
- Running the 4.5% challenge in 2021
- Working with youth groups
- Coping with the mental and emotional pressure
- Running and mental health
- Running as a form at activism
- Understanding her why of running the Spine Race
- The Spine Race
- Working with her running coach Damien Hall
- Figuring out her race strategy and how her race goals changed over time
- Focusing on the “B” goal - completing the race
- Focusing on 10k stretches and reaching certain views
- Keeping in the moment and not thinking about the full distance
- Struggling with sleep deprivation and figuring out a new sleep strategy
- The power of sleep and needing 30 mins of sleep at every checkpoint
- Dealing with food pain and having to implement a pain management strategy
- Training for the Spine Race and what a typical week looked life
- Doing more back to back training runs and weighted runs
- Winning her first ultra marathon!
- Kissing a wall
- The lessons learned from running the Spine Race
- “You can do hard things - you can do this”
- Being on the June cover of Women’s Running UK
- Book: Black Sheep: A Story of Rural Racism, Identity and Hope.
- Black to the trails - 11th September 2022 - The FIRST trail running event designed, directed and run by Black Trail Runners for Black people, people of colour, and White allies who want to do their bit to diversify the UK trail running scene.
- The vision board and hopes for the future
- Wanting to participate in the UTMB Race
- Wanting to write a second book about running
Social Media
Website:
Black Trail Runners - A community and campaigning charity seeking to increase inclusion, participation and representation of Black people in trail running.
Community and campaigning charity. Registered in England and Wales, No. 1194094.
The Check Point Podcast
A podcast hosted by Black Trail Runners which discusses access to, skills for and representation of Black people who want to experience, or are experienced in, trail running. Featuring tips, tricks, events, guest interviews and much more.