[Music]
hello everyone I'm Rob Pope as you can
see people call me all kinds of things
actually you know I get gandalf quite a
lot I've had a little bit of a tidy up
so don't get that so much book you know
I still get Grizzly Adams I get Jesus
quite a lot and then that fella off cast
away but it's actually another one of
Tom Hanks's characters and I'm a bit
more well known for you know looking a
bit like recently have been have you
seen the film Forrest Gump excellent
that's good well that's not Tom Hanks by
the way that's me so many of you haven't
I'll give you a bit of a rundown now
Forrest Gump was a film about a young
lad growing up in Alabama now he was
brought up by a single-parent family
like me raised dutifully by his mom I
had a bit of a tough time when he was
young because photos thoughts a little
bit differently so maybe the likes of
you and I he was also born with a
crooked spine and had to wear calipers
on his legs which made him a target for
the local bullies so a little bit rough
but nobody would even sit next to him on
the school bus apart from Jenny who
would there be go on to become the love
of his life now one day when Forrest was
being chased by these bullies throwing
rocks at him he realized that he could
actually really ruin my grown like the
wind blows so much so he was picked for
the local university football team and
went on to become an all-american hero
later on in life you become a Vietnam
veteran he would go and become a
champion ping-pong player and then
eventually honoring a promise to his
lifelong friend Bubba
he becomes a shrimping boat captain one
day after a hurricane blows away all the
other boats in the port Bubba Gump
becomes the biggest show in town Forrest
becomes a gazillionaire you had more
money than Davy Crockett but as we all
know it doesn't always bring you
happiness
now Forrest poor mom died of cancer and
then Jenny rejected his marriage
proposal
who's heartbroken so one day he decides
to make a decision that would change his
and eventually my life forever
and create one the greatest scenes in
movie history he puts on a pair of Nike
Cortez which will gift from Jenny there
weren't even Retro there
just like these ones and he starts
running it runs for three years two
months 14 days and 16 hours now in that
time that's 15,000 248 miles and five
times across America now that's where I
come in
because people have debated whether this
run was possible whether you could even
survive it now I'm a vet that's my job
and so a scientist I guess I decided the
only way to actually prove whether it's
possible was to do an experiment with a
survey sample of one now for the
scientists among you you know that's not
really good science but hey it was all I
had and I thought it'd be a lot of fun
and so basically I decided to run do you
think well run from work I found myself
in a barber shop in Moby and I had all
my hair shaved off and I had a clean
shave I put this cap on actually faded
from the Sun and I decided to do just
the same thing around across Alabama and
Mississippi in two days at Louisiana in
10 and then Texas in a month now I
wasn't getting slower these states are
just getting seriously big and I ran
from Beaumont to El Paso and never found
myself in the Wild West I actually
watched the last presidential election
in a wild west saloon in Tombstone
Arizona where the gunfight at the OK
Corral has happened 135 years previously
I was living history eventually I get
myself to California Hollywood Santa
Monica around clear to the ocean I'd run
across America I'd run across America in
72 days but you know since I've learned
that far figured I may as well turn
around and keep on going so I headed to
the East Coast
I went solo in Tennessee I've been
supported by my girlfriend Nadine my
journey up until that point but we had
to go home because the savings had run
out you know so I carried the journey on
with a pushchair
that I named pram solo because I was
beginning to look a little bit like
Chewbacca and feel y'all get that film
reference so I ran past the White House
President wasn't in through Times Square
then did the Boston Marathon twice
because well why not
eventually I got to another ocean the
Atlantic and the Marshall Point
Lighthouse in
main but you guessed it you know just
like forest I turn around and kept on
going I got through Chicago up to the
wild north where luckily I was rejoined
by Anna Dean and she took me through
Glacier National Park in Montana down
the west coast States and ten thousand
miles later I become the first person to
run across America three times in a year
down to San Francisco and then it was
across one more time to the Atlantic so
I had to battle winter in Wyoming cross
the Rockies go across the Great Plains
and eventually get to the ocean in South
Carolina growing a pretty cool beard I
think he'll admit in the process I had
shin splints I ruptured a quad I had to
kill his tendinitis more pelvic issues
than you could shake a stick at but
eventually I knew how to turn around and
you know felt fulfilled my destiny so I
found myself in the Navajo Nation's
surrounded by first a few and then it's
about hundred people follow me down the
road and so I eventually just like
Forrest got at the same point turned
around and said I'd need to go home so
I'd run fifteen thousand six hundred and
seven miles in four hundred and
twenty-two days now I know what you guys
are thinking that's just my way why you
doing that so it's a good question
Forrest like me was a mama's boy and
like male 40 my mom's not around anymore
but she gave me one piece of advice sir
if you're in a rush you just want to
take one piece today you know seven I
live by that Creed he'll do okay because
she said do one thing in your life that
makes a difference well that's pretty
deep I didn't really know what that was
gonna be and I'd spent years trying to
find out what that was and and then the
idea of potentially running across
America reared its head and I told
friends about this had told him loads in
the past I know one of them actually
said to me you could do it this time
well just talk about it yeah yeah you
got me there Ben you know so and so I
decided to plan and if I was gonna do it
I need to do something big because I was
gonna do for charity I was gonna make a
difference and so I thought was pretty
big people to run across it once so I
had gone from top to bottom but no one
had ever done Forrest run and hey it's
probably the most famous long-distance
runner Everest
you know he'd be some good footsteps to
follow him so when foresters running
across the Mississippi for the fourth
time he gets pursued by a lot of
reporters and they say why are you
running they couldn't believe you'd do
all that running for no particular
reason are you running for women's
rights for the homeless for world peace
for the environment or for animals and
he was just running because he felt like
running but I needed something so I
decided to run for two charities who
fulfilled all those five things and they
are peace direct and the World Wildlife
Fund they're both amazing
I recommend you check them out and they
were fantastic so that source of
inspiration for me as I carried on now
the more I ran the more I got an insight
into forests character he was an
incredible incredible man because he
didn't judge anybody whether it was on
the backgrounds their race their
intelligence where they had money or
power or not to forest people were just
people to be treated with the same
dignity and respect as anybody else even
though that courtesy was very rarely
afforded to forests himself he just went
about his business in a quiet way and
always did the right thing
now again as I had a lot of time on the
road and you start to think this forest
he's got a lot going on upstairs you
know you don't really think of as a
philosopher buddy was and so I'm going
to share a few of these with you today
and see if they can help you and you
know maybe help others around you the
first one I love this which is I don't
know if we all have a destiny or for all
just floating around accidental like on
a breeze but maybe it's both now I
didn't know if I had a destiny or not
maybe I did maybe I should maybe that's
what my mom meant when she said there
that profound quote to me that I'd
scratch my head over for years
but that's the sort of thing sometimes
we'll go searching for it sometimes it
will come off and it'll just grabbers
you know and that's what you need to do
you know follow your goals but let you
let yourself be surprised sometimes by
something just coming up and taking you
because you know that's gonna be a good
path to go and it doesn't have to be
huge you don't have to get a Nobel Prize
but just make sure that you you know you
leave your mark on this world so don't
let life
by now stupid is as stupid does that's
another good bit of mom advice there you
know and this photos from Kansas were
still is fantastic sign now one person
stupid is another's genius so if you've
got gold and you feel it gives you a
purpose it might be a ridiculous
sounding but as long as it doesn't pair
anyone you know sort of give it a go the
the only stupid ones are the ones who
don't try anything and the worst of
those the ones that tell you not to try
either to just be normal but what is
normal anyway this is the hottest place
in America and there's two inches of
snow on the floor not normal ultra
running running across America that's
not normal if you've got a hobby no
matter how strange it sounds that if
people laugh at you for if you're
enjoying it just carry on it's called
having fun you can be as normal as you
want now when you think you know more
and you're really happy with that you
might find some people around you trying
to bring you down
not necessarily deliberately but you
know is it just because it's not exactly
what they're on and some of you may have
felt that you never really been truly
happy at all and this could be really
important for you you know you're the
same as everybody else you're no
different you know your normal doesn't
have to be someone else's normal just
needs to be something you're comfortable
with just keep on going now if you are
just keep it ongoing you just need to
remember this you got to do the best
with what God gave you
now if God's not your thing that's cool
Darwin and you jeans will do just fine
you've got to make sure you put
everything in you don't have to run
across a continent you know most people
Karl and to be honest most people don't
want to I'm not offended by the way just
whatever goals you achieve in your life
I am super happy but what I'm really
keen on is that you felt the process was
worth it you know and if it was I'll be
giving you a high five at the end I love
for the process just becomes much more
important and that is the key to
happiness you realize that as you get a
little bit older but that doesn't mean
it's not an excuse to try hard this is
Steve Prefontaine he was like the best
runner in America in the 70s and
got this incredible quote that you see
at the top which is to give anything
less than your best is to sacrifice the
gift and I think that's not a bad Creed
to go hon you know if you don't fail
you've got to put the past behind you
before you can move on sometimes things
just don't work out
now I value struggles so long on the run
just thinking how awful AB if I didn't
finish and it was quite likely that
wouldn't finish and how embarrassing it
would be and that was until its own
close to me told me I was being a
complete idiot and they were right
because the thing is as long as you've
tried your best whether you get there or
not you know those who really matter to
you and to your life will just be super
impressed that you've even just tied
your shoelaces and got to the start line
in the first place now once you have
started you've got to keep on going
Forrest was a pretty lucky guy most of
us need motivation to keep on going and
so whether that's a cause to make
somebody you know you love proud or even
just to do a good job that's that's
great you know but like sort of
sometimes it's hard to believe and
believing in yourself is the key to
others believing in you and believing in
something I find is the key to believing
in yourself but if you can't do that you
know if it feels like there's no
particular purpose you just need to be
more forest and just keep on going for
no particular reason and if you do that
you get to your ocean trust me you know
I eventually got to mine and it actually
started a fire to get to another one and
so any goal that you have is gonna be
pretty tiring right so when I found
myself on Highway 163 sort of yeah again
that's not Tom Hanks is there he's a far
better looking fellow than me I turned
around and said to everybody I'm pretty
tired I think I'll go home now some days
aren't great and so whether it's your
inner barometer or well it sort of cares
about you telling you things that aren't
right listen respect yourself your mind
your body you know when I was tired I
slept when I was hungry I ate I wanna
have to go well I went I know three
simple thing
you can do that will make your life so
much smoother I can't talk about the
philosophy of forest and not do the
classic I'll even do the accent for this
one life was like a box of chocolates
you never know what you're gonna get so
life throws obstacles our way and yet we
quite often don't know what they're
gonna be and that can be a huge source
of stress now two little ways I found to
get over stress sort of one of them was
if you can't make a decision you
secretly know what the answer is but you
just don't want to make it so I would
bring out like a third party into it in
my brain I will call my tough boss who
basically just say there's no option you
just have to do it and if you just say I
do I have to there's no choice I have to
run from here to there I have to tell if
we go to school in the morning suddenly
the decision isn't stressful you know
the only decision now is basically do
you have as much fun as you can on the
way yeah don't worry it didn't hit me as
you can probably guess when I left San
Francisco so this is the end of the
third cross him I was given a very big
piece of news now this goes to something
I was saying about obstacles now my my
girlfriend told me that she had to go
home at this point because it in five
months time and I was going to become a
dad now
I was actually sad for one particular
reason which because I knew that she
couldn't be there the end and it ruined
the whole thing for me I felt now quite
often in life we make obstacles seem
either bigger than they are or we even
create them so we just don't do
something that seems difficult to it and
this obstacle ate away at me for a long
time and I nearly quit but then I just
took a step back and I realized I could
find a way so I just ran the mileage as
I was meant to do the 15,000 248 went
home and then we had the baby three
weeks later we all come back and I found
myself on that same spot again sort of
with our little baby so as you see
sometimes in life this is a summing up
thing you know you just need to take a
step back
reassess because your goals still might
be achievable
you just need to pick another chocolate
so sometimes in life you know you've
picked all the good chocolates are gone
you know and you still haven't found
your solution but
such as life you know you can't change
the past so let don't let the past
define you if you don't like the
definition just be grateful you had a
box of chocolates in the first place and
don't be afraid to be whichever
chocolate you want to be now I really
hope you've listened and taken some of
this on board and you've enjoyed
listening because I've enjoyed speaking
to you I just hope you take whatever
chocolate you get and make the world
sweeter as a resource now that's all
I've got to say about that thank you
very much
[Applause]
[Music]