My 999 mile run to raise awareness of veterans suicide
Hello Friends!
My name’s Chris Thrall. I’m an author, adventurer and former Royal Marines Commando. I’ve explored eighty countries on seven continents and backpacked through all of North, South and Central America. I’ve caught piranhas in the Amazon, swum with bull sharks in Belize, set a world record fire walking and driven a bus from Norway to India and back for charity. I’m a qualified pilot and skydiver and have scuba dived on icebergs in the Antarctic Polar Circle …
But I now I’m asking for your help!
On September 1st 2018 I will be running an ultramarathon a day (an ultramarathon is any distance over a marathon) for 999 miles from John O’Groats to Land’s End. I will run solo, unsupported and carrying up to 14 kilos of food, water and camping equipment.
My mission is to raise awareness of ‘under-the-radar’ veterans’ issues, such as mental health, homelessness and the shockingly high rate of suicide. As such, I am supporting the Baton foundation, a non-political, not-for-profit charity staffed entirely by unpaid volunteers.
If you’ve read my memoir ‘Eating Smoke’ you will know I left the forces and ended up homeless in Hong Kong and in severe psychosis from crystal meth addiction. But my struggle began back in the UK, where I spent two years suffering from chronic depression and PTSD. My friends disappeared and I avoided all professional help because the medical community couldn’t understand the mindset and experiences of a former service person.
I was lucky. When I finally crawled out of the darkness, a fellow former marine working for the Royal British Legion stood there ready to help. Following a brother-to-brother chat, he secured me a career development grant and I went on to volunteer my services for free teaching and mentoring streets kids in Africa. In fact, I not only worked in post-war Mozambique but went on to achieve every goal I ever dreamt of, including graduating with a degree in youth work and become a bestselling author. And now I hope to inspire others who are struggling.
I’ve done almost no training for this #999miles challenge, having spent two years in constant pain from degenerative spinal injuries – in fact, my most recent operation was last week. It’s only following four hospital procedures and months of physio that I can run – well, hobble – again. I have a neurological condition called Post-Acute Withdrawal Syndrome, a form of brain damage caused by long-term use of opiate medication. As a result, I have slowed-down thinking, limited sleep, constant headaches and spasms in my legs when I’m even slightly dehydrated.
But the clue is in the 999. For no matter what pain and hardship I endure, it will never be as much as some of our veterans are going through. So please help me out …
You can run with me, or donate £5, or simply share this #999miles challenge on social media.
The Facebook page is: Donate Here
Please donate at: https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/999miles (or type ‘Thrall’ in search bar)
Twitter is: https://twitter.com/ChrisThrall
Instagram is https://instagram.com/Chris.Thrall
I can tell you from personal experience, you will make a difference.
Thank you
Is it more important to write well or be read by many?
This was a question posed in a blog title by an writer friend, Andrew Carter. Andrew is a great writer, one of my favourites, but it was one of the article’s replies I thought could be of support to today’s battle-weary writers. It was by Don A. Singletary. I’ll post links to the article and authors below.
Andrew,
It is easy to see you are a determined, a talented communicator, and have the rarest of human virtues — to be honest with your readers and yourself at the same time. That’s a great lineup. You covered a great many topics that regularly walk through the minds of all writers I think. The best thing about being a writer is that it is a solo occupation, and the worst thing about being a writer is that it is a solo occupation. A few days ago, I read a post that held a few quotes by famous writers; reading your words reminded me of some of these:
Continue reading “Is it more important to write well or be read by many?”
Milk-Blood by Adrian Simon
Book Review
Milk-Blood by Adrian Simon
Anyone who’s picked up a backpack since the 90s will have heard of the ‘Damage Done’, the story of Warren Fellows, who served twelve years for drug smuggling in Thailand’s toughest prison . Well, ‘Milk Blood’ is written by his son, Adrian Simon, and is a amazing story in itself but one that also adds the degree of balance to his father’s book; namely, filling in some important background. Adrian is a likeable narrator and it is all credit to him that he has grown up as such a well-balanced individual and has written this riveting account. It is the only full-length book I’ve read in one sitting.
Chris Thrall is an adventurer and author of the memoir “Eating Smoke: One Man’s Descent into Crystal Meth Psychosis in Hong Kong’s Triad Heartland”
“Downhill from Here: Running from John O’ Groats to Land’s End”
Downhill from Here
An upbeat account of a ‘downhill’ challenge
This gem of a read has interest for everyone. It will appeal to those who have made a five-kilometre jog the limit of their running experience as well as those aspiring to run distance – particularly the length of the country itself. Those who enjoy living their adventures vicariously from the comfort of an armchair and who may have never given the sport a second thought will also appreciated its page-turning grip.
A rich vein of wonderful and quirkily descriptive English flows from Gavin’s Scottish pen like a seasoned wordsmith. He places you so firmly into his running shoes that as someone in preparation to complete the challenge myself I was actually a little disappointed – because thanks to Gavin’s exciting, detailed and inclusive narrative I feel like I’ve run it already and have to do it all again! In truth, alongside Gavin’s clever observations, ever-present sense of humour and self-deprecating wit, there’s a wealth of winning detail, from planning and navigating the route, to booking accommodation, liaising with support vehicles, which kit to take and what to fuel your body with.
‘Downhill from Here’ is not pitched to the wannabe-macho somewhat naïve audience that lap up over-hyped nonsense. You won’t see our ‘hero’ surmount impossible odds or breakthrough a superhuman-pain threshold and the barriers of endurance while achieving a cheering mass of mere mortal followers struggling to keep up with his momentous pace in the Rocky Balboa-style. Gavin not only tells you of his personal history, shortcomings and motivation but also – and quite often! – how not to go about running from John O’ Groats to Land’s End. Candidly, he retells how he loses his way on many occasions, which has you shivering on top of a Pennine Peak clad in a pair of shorts with him or up to your neck, camera equipment held aloft, attempting to ford a bitterly cold river. You can expect the police and the goodwill of strangers, hikers, pub landlords and farmers to help our protagonist on his way on more than one occasion.
And how delighted was I to find that after running with Gavin for less than half a day (when his 1117-mile route passed twenty miles from my home) and being treated to a meal for my efforts, he went on to include a couple of pages about my own life story along with a photo which makes for a great souvenir. Gavin is honest and generous, an accomplished writer (and filmmaker) and a credit to the long-distance or ‘ultra’ running community. This book makes for a seminal text with respect to ‘running’ that most British of British endeavours, the JOGTLE.
Chris Thrall is an adventurer and author of the memoir “Eating Smoke: One Man’s Descent into Crystal Meth Psychosis in Hong Kong’s Triad Heartland”
Chris Thrall’s #1 Bestseller ‘The Trade’ FREE Today on Kindle!
“Like Jack Reacher? You’re gonna love The Trade.” RTHK
“Original, thrilling and extremely clever …” Time
Former Navy SEAL Hans Larsson arrives on Cape Verde to retrieve his daughter’s body from a sunken yacht. But in a frightening turn of events, he uncovers the island’s dark secret, the Trade. In his role as special operative, Hans employs the Concern’s covert global reach and sophisticated technology to expose a vile chain leading all the way to Washington.
My new thriller series ‘The Hans Larsson Novels’ – by Chris Thrall
Dear Friends
Just a quick intro to my A Hans Larsson Novel book series – the video explains it all and is worth watching for avid readers of books and up-and-coming authors. It’s day 2 of the series launch with The Drift and The Trade and we are already hitting the bestseller categories on Amazon and the five-star reviews are pouring in. Very rewarding after 3 years hard work.
Here’s the blurb for The Drift
“Following the death of his wife and son, Hans Larsson buys a yacht named Future, intending to sail across the Atlantic with his young daughter Jessica. En route they meet Penny, a seasoned English skipper, who joins them as crew, and the larger-than-life Marcel, a Dutch art dealer hiding a secret, along with a stash of drugs on his vintage boat. Battling storms, sharks and pirates, Hans and Jessica experience the adventure of a lifetime, until fate intervenes to leave them fighting for survival on an ocean less perilous than the mind . . .”
“Among the best of the newcomers” The Star
“From the shores of Maine to a cannabis farm in Morocco and a production line in Japan, The Drift will have you frantically turning pages and wondering how the hell it will end.” Bestselling author, Mark Time
The Trade is the second book in the series and I’m very happy with the clever follow-up!
Here are the Amazon UK links:
Here are the Amazon US links:
Here’s a talk I recorded about the making of the series:
Thank you for reading!
Who Turned The Lights Out? – Chris Thrall’s diaries #amwriting #ppl
Date: Sat, 10 Jul 2004 10:20:03 -0700 (PDT)
From: “Chris Thrall” chris@mailingu.com
To: Mission Control
Subject: Who Turned the Lights Out?
Hola Amigos!
Here I am in sunny Florida, in week two of flight-school training for a private pilot’s licence.
Firstly, please excuse any punctuation, grammar and spelling mistakes in this e-mail. The only thing you learnt at my school was how to push a big cupboard in front of the headmaster’s office so he couldn’t get out. He was only five foot one – which made it all the more hilarious! I think our school must have produced quite some many furniture removers.
The other day I flew solo for the first time. I can’t believe these maniacs trust me with a whole aeroplane – but as they have an airport full of them, I suppose they can afford to lose one or two.
Yesterday evening I flew a Cessna 172 to a tiny airport called Okeechobee, right out in the sticks, to do some practise landings. My instructor had warned me that it got dark around 9pm, so I decided to leave at 8.30pm for the half-hour flight back to Fort Pierce where the flight school is. For a student pilot, it’s strictly against the FAA regulations to fly solo at night.
Just as I’d taken off, it started to sink in it was getting dark already. But as I climbed to cruise altitude, I realised that wasn’t such a problem – the problem was the swirling fog coming out of nowhere and reducing visibility to under a mile! No pilot is supposed to fly ‘visual’ flights (i.e. without specialised instruments and training) in less than three miles visibility unless they’re granted special landing clearance from Air Traffic Control. If I didn’t get this permission, it would mean flying back Okeechobee and then a sleep in the plane to avoid the alligators.
As it got darker, I thought it best to make myself visible – that way the trees might see me coming and get out the way. I put on the red flashing beacon light, the white strobe lights, the red and green navigation lights, the tail light and the landing spotlight. I would have put on the Christmas lights, too, if I could have found them and at one point was considering setting fire to something – perhaps a wing and anything else you have two of. I radioed through to the control tower, hoping it would be that the guy from the Airplane movie – the one who’s so completely wrecked on every substance known to man that he would clear me to land upside down and backwards if I wanted. Fortunately, it was him – either that or just a very nice man with a soft spot for lost English halfwits. Not only did he clear me for approach, he didn’t even mind when I mistakenly gave my position as east of the field instead of west!
Actually, it’s easier to fly at night in many ways. You can use the street lighting for navigation and the airports have a flashing green and white beacon (so long as your pointed in the right direction or it seems to go out). He gave me ‘number two’ in the traffic pattern behind another plane that I had to avoid crashing in to. I had no idea what it looked like, but at night that’s not such a problem – especially when he or she has more lights than you do.
Then he very kindly gave me a short cut, ‘straight-on’ approach instead of a ‘holding pattern’ landing. By this time, it was great fun, a light aircraft landing on a strip designed for DC 10s and jets. The runway is all lit up and it’s just for you! I was hoping he would call out the Fire Brigade, some ambulances and the National Guard – maybe even evacuate the local city, too – but then my instructor might get to hear of it, so maybe not.
I did probably the best and most rewarding landing I will ever do, thanked the very nice man in the control tower (who even directed me to the parking ramp!) and wondered if like the guy in Airplane, he was floating upside down while sniffing glue.
The good news is that the experienced pilots I’ve spoken to say you learn by these things. And that my lack of knowledge didn’t stop me passing the theory exam the next day with 87% – and I didn’t even cheat . . . or have to move any cupboards.
Did you know the second language in Florida is Spanish?
Vaya con Dios, Amigos!
Chris X
Chris Thrall is the author of the memoir: Eating Smoke: One Man’s Descent into Drug Psychosis in Hong Kong’s Triad Heartland.
Scuba diving in Antarctica. Expedition 2013
The journey south …
As a polar explorer it’s not easy travelling south these days. Not like it was in the early part of the 20th century for the likes of Shackelton, Scott and Amundsen, whose sole preoccupation was sailing scott-free (unless you were Scott or traveling with him) on the open ocean with nothing to occupy their time but stroking huskies and fellow expedition members or surfing Facebook. No, these days you have to battle your way to the Polar Circle through a never-ending stream of frigid bergs hovering below the waterline ready to sink your chances of making Queen, Kate Middleton and Country proud … in the form of airport security, Immigration and KLM stewardesses.
After spending 40 minutes at Heathrow having my hand luggage searched to check I wasn’t carrying more than my allotted allowance of Semtex, detonators and radical-extremist literature, I ran to the departure gate gutted that I had to forgo my pre-flight pint and the chance to spend time enjoying the truly authentic British pub atmosphere that only an airport departure lounge can offer. Instead, I opted for a bottle of Jack Daniels from the tax-free shop, only to be told by the shop assistant that I couldn’t take it onwards following my connection in Amsterdam and that I would have to drink it on the hour-and-a-half plane ride. Contingency plan! “What would Scott have done in this situation?” I asked myself. So, surreptitiously, I did drink it on the plane, despite having read the in-flight magazine which clearly stated the not bringing of alcohol on-board – along with electronic cigarettes, East Europeans and badger porn. Continue reading “Scuba diving in Antarctica. Expedition 2013”
‘Serving in the Royal Marines was easy compared with being a crystal meth addict’
Chris Thrall advises people on how to quit drugs
By AMY JONES The Sun
WHEN handsome young Marine Chris Thrall left the Forces to move to Hong Kong, he expected to make his fortune.
But within months he was homeless, alone and fighting an enemy more dangerous than anything he faced serving his country — crystal meth.
Chris almost lost his sanity and his life after becoming addicted to crystal meth, also known as ice. Now he supports others how to quit drugs and has written a bestselling book, Eating Smoke, about his experience.
Click HERE to read about how Chris’s life was before he quit drugs and showed others how to quit drugs.
He says: “I loved my time in the Marines and the challenges that came with each day. But looking back, it was nothing compared to what I faced at the height of my addiction to crystal meth.”
Sadly, Chris is one of a growing number of the drug’s victims.
Meth is twice as addictive as heroin and more damaging to health than crack cocaine.
After ravaging communities across Asia, Australia and the US, it is now on Britain’s streets, sold for as little as £10 a gram — which is enough to keep a user on a permanent high for nine days.
Chris, from Plymouth, never dabbled in drugs during his time in the Royal Marine Commandos. He joined up at 18 and served seven years, including stints in Northern Ireland, before quitting to launch a marketing firm in Asia.
He said: “I loved being a Marine. I was doing something for my country and earning better money than friends who’d gone to university. But I got involved in an exciting business venture and went to Hong Kong to make my millions.”
Unfortunately, the venture failed and his company went bust.
Chris, now 42, says: “It was hard. I had racked up a lot of debt and suddenly I was jobless.”
He found a job at a Hong Kong firm marketing computer chips after answering an ad.
A few months after joining, Chris walked in on a colleague in the toilets smoking meth, which can also be snorted or injected.
He recalls: “He offered me some and I thought, ‘Why not? How harmful can it be if he’s smoking it in the middle of the day?’ I took two puffs.
“Back at my computer, I suddenly felt this rush. It was like nothing I’d ever felt. I knew I was addicted straight away. The next day I wanted more.”
At first crystal meth — scientific name methamphetamine — made Chris feel fantastic and there was no shortage of dealers.
He says: “I could pick it up on the way home from work. It was as easy as buying milk.”
But things soon got out of control.
Chris said: “I was getting nowhere in the office so I got a job as a nightclub doorman in Wan Chai — the red light district. I thought if I worked at night, I wouldn’t be able to take drugs.
“But that soon went out the window. My addiction was life consuming. I was on it constantly. It overloaded my brain and I began to lose the plot. You’re incredibly tired so you hallucinate. On top of that, psychosis starts to develop. I found myself wondering how to quit drugs.”
FOR THE FULL ARTICLE IN THE SUN, CLICK HERE
Chris Thrall is the author of Eating Smoke: One Man’s Descent into Drug Psychosis in Hong Kong’s Triad Heartland– a bestselling true story. He now gives his advice on how to quit drugs.
Chris will shortly be writing a post on how to quit drugs
To hell and back: An expat’s life on the edge in Hong Kong
A former drug user publishes his memoir of working for the 14K Hong Kong triads
In the 1990s, former Royal Marine Chris Thrall found himself being sucked into a downward spiral in Hong Kong, when his work as a Wanchai bouncer drew him into the world of triads and crystal meth addiction. Now 42, off drugs and pursuing a new life, Thrall reveals how he saw the end — and found a future — in his autobiography “Eating Smoke.”
CNNGo: Considering your addiction, how were you able to remember things so clearly?
Chris Thrall: Using crystal meth and the psychosis I experienced didn’t affect my memory. I think when you’re young and finding yourself in the world –- especially in such a memorable setting as Hong Kong -– you remember an awful lot, particularly the pertinent things like relationships you had with people and the crazy things you get up to.
“Eating Smoke” is a collection of those memories. I also experienced a great deal of highs, lows and trauma. Incidents you don’t forget in a hurry. There’s probably also a lot I don’t remember and probably just as well.