Rebecca was had just began an epic marathon event when she suddenly felt incredibly ill
Rebecca Maxwell had never thought she was the adventurous type. Then, just before she turned 40, a conversation changed that.
"A girlfriend said, 'Let's do something incredible. Let's run a half marathon on the Great Wall of China,'" Maxwell, 48, tells 9Honey.
The Perth mum surprised herself with how well she performed.
"I did really well and I thought, 'Maybe there's something in this. Maybe I'm OK at this mountain climbing stuff," she says.
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Rebecca Maxwell had never thought she was the adventurous type. Supplied
From that point, it was on.
Maxwell doesn't describe herself as an athlete, saying she's "just an average middle-aged mum."
"There's nothing extraordinary about my body or my brain. I was so intrigued," she adds.
"When I saw more races, I would just sign up to them and scare myself into training."
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Soon, she was hooked, and planning further events. Supplied
Although, maybe it's about time she did call herself an athlete.
"I've done the half marathon on the Great Wall of China twice, I've done a Vietnam mountain marathon and a mountain marathon in rural China and then a couple of sky race-type things, and then this Nepalese one on the Himalayas."
It was during the Himalayas event in April this year that things took a bit of a turn.
"I've never been to altitude before the Himalayan range," she says.
Things took a turn for the worst during a trip to the Himalayas in April. Supplied
She decided to join the event in November 2022 as a goal for the following year and began making preparations.
"I worked with a running coach here in Perth and we did some resistance training where he would tie a weighted belt against my hips and I had to run against it, and I did a lot of soft sand running," she says.
"I was really strong in my legs. I did a lot of weights... I did some breath work. You hold your breath for as long as you can and then you breathe out. It's quite hard."
In April, Maxwell flew from Perth to Singapore and then Singapore to Kathmandu with the rest of the group of 30 who were attempting the event.
They went on a hike that first day to try and acclimatise.
"I remember feeling like 'this is harder than I thought it was going to be, and this is just a hike, I haven't even started running yet'."
'I remember feeling like this is harder than I thought it was going to be.' Supplied
The next day the run began, and from the very beginning she was struggling.
"On day one, halfway through I made it to a checkpoint and radioed the director and said, 'Oh my God, I think I've got COVID.'"
Maxwell had a constant headache, her throat, nose and body were sore and she generally felt awful.
At the end of that first day, she spoke with the team doctor who said all her symptoms could be explained by altitude sickness, which many of the other participants were also suffering from.
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She thought she had COVID but was told it was most likely altitude sickness. Supplied
"I was almost helicoptered out," she says.
"It was vomiting and ugliness everywhere and so my little headache and exhaustion felt like nothing in comparison, except that I was utterly ill. And I was still getting up and doing the run and crying, just feeling like 'why can't I do this?', thinking I'd signed up to something I wasn't prepared for."
Nobody thought to do a simple RAT test to check her COVID status, but by day five of the eight-day race she insisted upon it, and the positive result was "immediate."
She wasn't the only one in the group to test positive to COVID at the event and, incredibly, Maxwell completed it.
It took her months to recover from the ordeal, but she learned an important lesson – to trust her body.
Maxwell with her partner Olaf and their children. Supplied
"I would definitely take tests with me. I always take a basic first aid kit anyway with Panadol and bandages," she adds.
Touch Bio is urging Australians to take proactive measures in monitoring their health and seeking appropriate medical care if needed while travelling, including carrying RAT tests with them everywhere they go.
Maxwell's experience hasn't stopped her adventures. Her next will be the Namibia Crossing in Africa.
"At the Vietnam mountain marathon, I was running through rural villages where those women have got the rings up their necks and little four-year-old girls are running out to hold hands... I would never be in that part of the world if it wasn't for the race," she says.
"I'm just grateful for the adventure and the connection to nature and being outdoors and being alive."
