Running Up That Hill! Leslie Paterson's Extraordinary Story of Grit, Tenacity, Courage & Resilience: From World Champion Triathlete to 4 x OSCAR Award-Winning Screenwriting Triumph, for "All Quiet On The Western Front"

Ladies n' Genminminmin (er, min) buckle-up for Lesley Paterson's extraordinary story of 'Triathletic Ascension' from being 3 times World Champion ExTerra Triathlete to BAFTA + 4 x OSCAR Award Winning glory!

A story of grit, determination, tenacity and courage in how she overcome against all the odds, a bike crash, a broken shoulder, an injured leg AND Lime Disease to win & raise the ‘last push’ £10,000 to re-secure the rights for her film, which then went on to secure all of the Awards for "All Quiet On The Western Front", including the OSCAR for Best International Feature.

The stuff of Hollywood right there!

Lesley Paterson earned the nickname ‘The Scottish Rocket’ after wining no fewer than 5 world titles in athletics. 

More recently, she has picked up a new clutch of world-class awards in a completely different field, as the screenwriter of the Oscar-winning new version of  "All Quiet On The Western Front".

The youngest of 4, Lesley had older brothers to compete with. She played rugby with the boys and earned their respect. 
She enjoyed running for its spiritual values as well as its fitness benefits. Lesley also spent time training as a ballet dancer and later studying theatre and film in San Diego. A genuinely liberated renaissance woman, when it came to competitive swimming, Lesley said she had ‘the heart but not the numbers.’ This didn’t stop her winning her first world medal, in Maui, in a triathlon, in 2011. And that was after giving her competitors a 10 minute start while she dealt with a flat tyre in that section of the competition. Lesley is by her own confession a totally driven character with a strong focus on forward-momentum. 

Lesley and her husband Simon, a Performance Psychologist, co-wrote a book called ‘The Brave Athlete’, designed to help competitors deal with a range of issues, which could compromise their performance on the track or in their social relationships. 

At a personal level, Lesley is inspired by the unconditional love shown by her parents and the inspirational versatility of the South African runner, Zola Budd. One of Lesley’s favourite quotes is this: “Everyone is fighting a battle that you know nothing about.”

Today Lesley Paterson has more than half a dozen screenwriter/film production projects on the go. She describes herself unashamedly as a ‘hustler’ - but a very hard working hustler. Someone who always wants to be compassionate as well as passionate, inspirational as well as inspired, joyful as well as driven. 

Here is a multitalented, articulate woman with a unique story to tell. 

Tune in next week for more stories of 'Distinction & Genius' from The Good Listening To Show 'Clearing'. If you would like to be my Guest too then you can find out HOW via the different 'series strands' at 'The Good Listening To Show' website.

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Transcript

Chris Grimes: 0:07

Welcome to another episode of the Good Listening To Show your life and times with me, Chris Grimes, the storytelling show that features the clearing, where all good questions come to get asked and all good stories come to be told, and where all my guests have two things in common they're all creative individuals and all with an interesting story to tell. There are some lovely storytelling metaphors a clearing, a tree, a juicy storytelling exercise called 5-4-3-2-1, some alchemy, some gold, a cheeky bit of Shakespeare and a cake. So it's all to play for. So, yes, welcome to the Good Listening To Show your life and times with me, Chris Grimes, Are you sitting comfortably here? Then we shall begin. And there we have it.

Chris Grimes: 0:58

Welcome to a particularly exciting episode of the Good Listening To Show as we trebuchet across the Atlantic and I'm speaking to Leslie Patterson, who's speaking to us all the way from Colorado. And Leslie Patterson is a BAFTA award-winning screenwriter which he co-wrote All Quiet on the Western Front an extraordinary triathletic ascendance from being a world car class and world champion triathlete to then segueing. And it's an extraordinary story, as we'll hear, of grit, determination and tenacity, and it's a story of distinction and genius. Right there, Leslie Patterson, from Colorado. Good morning, good evening, welcome.

Lesley Paterson: 1:41

Oh my goodness, that's quite the introduction. How am I going to live?

Chris Grimes: 1:44

up to that. Well, it's my pleasure to be able to curate you through this journey, but why I got in touch? As I mentioned, I was so struck with your story of overcoming. Well, as I understand it, you had to win the rights again for the screenwrites. For All Quiet on the Western Front, there was a pivotal race triathletic race you had to run, but the day before and I'm sure it'll be much better coming from you you fell over, broke your shoulder, hurt your knee, but you still won, and I think you won $10,000, which was the exact amount of money you needed to keep the screenwrites alive.

Lesley Paterson: 2:22

That's exactly it. So for those folks out there that don't know this when you are optioning the rights for a novel in order to make it into a film, so you're trying to garner that intellectual property, yeah, you have to up that option, normally every year, sometimes every 18 months, and with that comes a hefty fee. So not only do you have to persuade them yes, yes, you know, we can still do this but you have to come up with a doge.

Chris Grimes: 2:53

So long game as well, because as I understood it 2006,. I think it was when you first bought the rights to it and then it's only just just in the last year won the BAFTA. So an extraordinary journey. And you also overcame Lyme disease almost at the same time. So it is an extraordinary story.

Lesley Paterson: 3:14

So you're very, very welcome.

Chris Grimes: 3:16

And congratulations, by the way, for being the course.

Lesley Paterson: 3:19

That's it man, I tell you, that's my middle name.

Chris Grimes: 3:23

So how's morale? What's your story of the day? If you don't mind me surprising you with an extra question, oh, my story of the day.

Lesley Paterson: 3:31

Let's see, I am up in Colorado, so I'm at altitude, and by altitude it means that it becomes quite difficult to breathe when you're exercising. So I come up into the mountain sometimes to write scripts, but also there's a race here I'm going to jump into, and one of the hardest things when you're altitude is swimming. Obviously, triathlon is swimming, biking and running. So I was swim training this morning for the first time, up at 8,500 feet, which is very high. And let me tell you you are a second wind, because swimming is hypoxic by the very nature, that you cannot breathe whenever you want to right, you can only breathe when your head is out the water. So it's hypoxic anyway, meaning you're restricted in oxygen. Then you add an altitude. So let's just say I was positively shite I hope I'm allowed to swear, but yeah. So if anyone saw me this morning in the pool, I think they should have thrown in their washing because I'd probably could have done a good old cycle with it.

Chris Grimes: 4:40

And, as I understand it, when you injured yourself before the really pivotal race that you won I think you're even doing it one armed you were sort of doing a man, and how come you didn't just swim in circles.

Lesley Paterson: 4:52

That's right. Well, would you believe, I'm quite talented at one arm sign.

Chris Grimes: 4:56

Not that I knew this.

Lesley Paterson: 4:59

Because what's interesting, chris? So I spent a lot of my life as a younger athlete trying to be good at swimming, and so I had a lot of coaches and with that came a lot of drills and technique working on specific aspects. Swimming is a very technical sport, so we did a lot of one arm drills. So when I went out to this specific race and I did what we call pre-riding the course, because the type of racing that I do is called X-Terror and it's all off road, it's on trails, it's mountain biking and trail running and swimming in the ocean or lakes, and so I was pre-riding the course to check out the lines and fell off and broke my shoulder.

Chris Grimes: 5:42

And you've won that X-Terror three times. I think it's a world champion and you've won that three times.

Lesley Paterson: 5:46

The world championships. Yes, so there's two different governing bodies. I've won five world titles and total three X-Terror titles and two international triathlon union cross triathlon titles.

Chris Grimes: 5:59

And you're still there and you're about to compete again, is that right?

Lesley Paterson: 6:02

Well, I wouldn't say I'm doing it seriously like I was. My full-time gig is now still on, so, however, I jump into the odd race and I'm less concerned about how fit I am. What I'm got it's not my main bag now, but I just love it. I love the community. I love being in the mountains. I've done it from the age of five. I mean, it's just in my DNA.

Chris Grimes: 6:28

And I couldn't help hearing that you've gone somewhere in altitude also to write as well. So ironically, to keep clear-headed, you're being light-headed when you're writing as well. I'm assuming.

Lesley Paterson: 6:36

Exactly. I'm hoping that something pierces something and I come up with some genius. But yeah, I came away right exclusively with my husband now, and often what we do is when we're writing the first draft of a script, we'll go away somewhere nice and different just for new stimulus and say, okay, we're going away for six to eight weeks and we're going to bang out as much as we can and that's kind of my time, just really kind of. Can I put some work in that? Otherwise it's easy to get distracted.

Chris Grimes: 7:05

And is adapted. Screenplay your specialism. I know that All Quiet on the Western Front was your own, you know. Re-adaptation of that. Are you working on? What's the other adaptation you're working on at the moment? Gosh?

Lesley Paterson: 7:17

we're doing a lot of different projects. At the moment We've got about 10 in the work. Some are adaptations, some are spec scripts or speculative original content. We're hoping to shoot a film in Scotland which is an original script by us in October fingers crossed. So yeah, we kind of run the gas between stories and adaptations.

Chris Grimes: 7:38

Talking of Scotland, I know that you're coaching. An entity where you coach triathletes is called Braveheart, beautifully Scottish.

Lesley Paterson: 7:46

Of course I know, I know, and our production company is now called Braveheart Entertainment Bob-omb.

Chris Grimes: 7:53

Bob-omb, very good. So it is my great pleasure to welcome you to the curated journey of the Good Listening 2 show. I'm going to welcome you shortly into a clearing and there'll be a tree. Then we'll shake your tree to see which storytelling apples fall out and then, hopefully, you'll have a dim memory of having thought about five minutes, to have thought about four things that have shaped you, three things that inspire you, and and and there's some alchemy, some gold, a couple of random squirrels and a cake. So it's all to play for. So here we go then. So where is, first of all, a clearing is a serious happy place, by the way. So where do you go? You might be there in your serious happy place, I don't know. But where would you say Leslie Patterson, triathlete, screenwriter? Where do you go to get clutter free, inspirational and able to think?

Lesley Paterson: 8:39

Generally it's the mountains anywhere in the mountains. However, there's one favourite place of mine which is called De Maillet, and that's in Scotland where I grew up. It's the most beautiful sort of hill slash mountain where I used to run every day after school. It would always make me feel happy and feel grounded, and it's got the most gorgeous views in every direction. Everything is unique and different, and my husband proposed at the top of it as well, so it's a very special place for me.

Chris Grimes: 9:08

Lovely Say the name again De Maillet. Did you say De Maillet?

Lesley Paterson: 9:11

And it's spelled D-U-M-Y-A-T, D-U-M-Y-A-T.

Chris Grimes: 9:18

And what's, which is where's it near in terms of just the georgraphy it's in Sterling.

Lesley Paterson: 9:23

It's in Sterling, in Scotland.

Chris Grimes: 9:26

Wonderful and so lovely that your husband took you back up there in order to propose to you. Very lovely, I know. So, if I may, then I'm going to arrive rather intrusively, if I may. I'm going to arrive with a tree now, a bit waiting for Godo-esque existentially. I'm going to shake your tree to see which storytelling apples fall out. How'd you like these apples? A couple of comedy props will come in at various points, by the way. So four things that have shaped you, first of all Leslie. So how would you like to interpret that?

Lesley Paterson: 9:56

Yes, I think probably it would be. My upbringing would be number one. So I grew up in a family of four. I was the youngest, so you're always kind of fighting for your place at the table, but I was rugged and played with the boys.

Lesley Paterson: 10:14

So my first endeavor into the spirits of who I truly am was when I went to watch my brother play rugby at the local rugby club in Scotland and I said to my dad dad, I want to have a go at that. That looks really fun, it's muddy. I get to beat up on boys. This sounds awesome. And he said well, there's no other girls playing, it's only an all boys team. I said I don't care.

Lesley Paterson: 10:39

So I jumped into this rugby team and I was the only girl in the whole of Scotland that was playing. So I would play all over Scotland and every time I walked onto the pitch there would be points, there would be giggles, there would be laughing, and I think what that did for me was create a resilience and I kind of I don't give a fuck. If I love something and I believe in it and I work in it, then I'm going to keep doing it, and so what ended up happening was I became quite good and of course, all of the boys surrounded me and supported me and I became one of the team. It didn't matter that I was a girl, so that was a big lesson for me early on.

Chris Grimes: 11:21

And a wonderful time in women's sport generally at the moment, because obviously you'll be aware that we're about the women's team or the Lions. The Lionesses are about to play in the World Cup final, so a wonderful time. Come on all good. So that's a great first shape. So playing a rugby and yep, so number two shape number two, so my dad would take me out running.

Lesley Paterson: 11:44

When I got slightly older I was no longer allowed to play rugby, so he would take me out running in the mountains of Scotland and it was such a I'm not religious, but sort of a spiritual amazing place to just kind of go over.

Lesley Paterson: 11:58

But it was all about community and it was all about running together and talking and telling stories and kind of. You know, what I learned was what community can help teach you how you can learn from each other's stories. And we were going up and this was actually my first time up to my and I was only 12 and it's a very, very long hill, and I was at the back with one of my dad's friends, you know, and they're all a lot older than me, of course and he said, leslie, he said you're going to get to talk. He said, and you're not going to walk, I don't care how small your steps are, you're going to run all the way up and I'm going to do it with you. And it was just like a lesson on segmenting, sort of there's your top of your mountain, how do you get there? One small step at a time, just keep going. And it's funny. I've never forgotten about that. And that was how many years ago, 30 years ago.

Chris Grimes: 12:59

And is your father's friend still with us so you're able to thank him for that?

Lesley Paterson: 13:03

No, I do Totally, and the best bit is is my dad still hangs out with all these bodies. They go away every year and they have a big holiday together. My dad's now in his mid 70s and this particular friend is now in his 80s, early 80s, and they still do it, and so, yeah, it was just like a huge, huge lesson.

Chris Grimes: 13:23

And what was the name of the gentleman concerned? Reginald, beautiful name.

Lesley Paterson: 13:29

Great name, isn't it?

Chris Grimes: 13:32

I've got a very precious Reginald in my life as well, actually, so that's very interesting. Oh my gosh, that's so lovely that he's still around and you've presumably had the conversation that you thank him for. That first nudge, if you like.

Lesley Paterson: 13:44

Yeah.

Chris Grimes: 13:45

I mean he must be a bit proud, considering what you've achieved since Fantastic.

Lesley Paterson: 13:48

All my dad's friends are yeah, for sure, and they're great guys and it's so fun to just hang out with them and have cups of tea and bits of shortbread and just kind of shoot the shit, you know.

Chris Grimes: 14:00

Yes, and your family are all very, very sporty, by the sound of it, if you're doing that from the get go. You talked about your brother being a mummy.

Lesley Paterson: 14:08

Yeah, my brother was. I mean, the whole family were all encouraged to do activities and sports and education. My parents were very well-rounded, All of these things were important to them, but they didn't push the rent. Push parents. I was just inordinately driven and had to kind of push them.

Chris Grimes: 14:26

And, of course, how you ascended to be world champion in such a hard I mean the extreme one. Xterra sounds like. That's obviously the clues in the title extra, extra hard triathlon.

Lesley Paterson: 14:39

Totally, and I think that's why I love it, because ultimately the sport is actually about overcoming the terrain rather than beating your competitors. I mean, of course it is that, but there's kind of a solidarity in the community that is, generally the courses are very mountainous and they're tough and the trails are hard and it's just brutal, and so you kind of link arms together rather than, you know, fight, and so, yeah, it just has a wonderful place in my heart.

Chris Grimes: 15:11

And when one wins at the sport you've become elite at. How far ahead of the rest of the field do you tend to come in in your heyday when you're winning?

Lesley Paterson: 15:21

So probably my best years were 2012 and 2013. And really I sort of exceeded anything I thought was possible and I started to actually beat a lot of the men and then some of the professional races. I was third overall out of all the men as well, so I would frequently have certainly my running was the strongest. I'd often had the fastest run out of all the men as well, so I was pretty competitive here for a while.

Chris Grimes: 15:50

So you're either like a greased weasel or a whip it, as they say, in terms of how fast you can run.

Lesley Paterson: 15:54

Yeah, both, I was called the Scottish Rocket.

Chris Grimes: 15:58

Ah, yes, I enjoyed researching that. So, not surprisingly, you're called the Scottish Rocket and you're still in other orbits now, which is fantastic. That's right, oh my gosh, we could be on to third shapeage now.

Lesley Paterson: 16:11

So definitely I think the big one is understanding how failure can bring growth. And you know, I was very competitive as a junior athlete and then ended up. I ended up sort of being a failure. Essentially, I wanted to go to the Olympics, and the type of format of triathlon in the Olympics is very different from other formats and you have to be a very good swimmer in order to draft in the bike to then come off and run. It's a little bit complicated, but suffice it to say I wasn't a quick enough swimmer and I just was very disillusioned.

Lesley Paterson: 16:51

The system that I had grown up in in the sport with the national body of funding in the 90s, was very much about sports science. It was not about art, it was all about numbers. And I didn't have the numbers. And yet I had the heart and I felt like I had so much more to give and I was told I wasn't good enough. And so I gave the sport up at the tender age of 20, completely disillusioned, sort of all the passion for it had gone and I didn't know what to do, and so I realized that I had to rekindle that passion in some form or other. And of course, I'd always been an artist. I was a dancer at the same time as being a rugby player.

Lesley Paterson: 17:32

I'd always wanted to sort of go into the arts as well as sport and I'd studied a drama it's undergraduate. So my husband got a job out in California as a professor at one of the universities and so I thought, well, I'm going to go back and I'm going to study, because at least then I'll figure out either what I don't want to do or what I do want to do. It's always about finding a forward momentum to get you out of that place of failure. So I went back and I studied theatre and film in San Diego and it was amazing. It just rekindled my love of life, because I was so doubting on myself, because I figured that, well, you know, I hadn't achieved what I wanted to, I was supposed to follow this path and I hadn't worked out.

Lesley Paterson: 18:17

But then all of a sudden I was rediscovering where I was, the person. And I think through that rediscovery, emotionally and through the arts, I then actually came back to sports, you know, sort of five or six years later, valuing of course that I'd never go back to it. But I think, just by knowing myself, I could then apply myself in a different way, and my husband always tells me it's to get to the top. It's a cargo net, not a ladder. So there's not just one way. There's many different ways. So find a way that works for you and that's ever changing. So that's what I'm doing.

Chris Grimes: 18:54

Sublime advice. It's lovely and all anchored in the first nudge up the hill. I don't care how you get there, but just put one foot in front of the other. It's the momentum towards, the action towards that's always going to get you there.

Lesley Paterson: 19:06

Totally Absolutely so. I think building momentum is always an important aspect of getting to a place of success and also really being true to your why in order to keep that momentum going. So every period of my life where I've reached something difficult that I've had to deal with, I always come back to the why. Why am I doing this? Why is it important to me? And that fuels the forward momentum.

Chris Grimes: 19:39

And have you written a book about this as well? Forgive me if I hadn't researched that bit, but yeah, kind of, actually, chris.

Lesley Paterson: 19:46

So my husband and I wrote a book together in 2017 called the Brave Athlete Can the F down and rise the occasion and what it does is it really digs into the brain mental model. So why we have thoughts and feelings that we don't like? My husband's a psychologist by training A real top psychologist. A performance psychologist worked with the Tour de France, has worked with top directors and surgeons and special forces. So what was wonderful was when I was out training and sort of having all of this experience and experiential knowledge, I would come home and say this is what I was trying to be like.

Lesley Paterson: 20:23

Oh my God, the science says this and that and this is why you're doing that and this. And, of course, we were coaching a lot of athletes, so we decided to put it down in the book. So we create this brain mental model and then we dig into questions that kind of athletes have, but really they can pertain to anything in life things like confidence, identity, motivation, body image issues, all of these things. So, yeah, it's a really fun book and, in fact, in the audio book, we narrate it as well.

Chris Grimes: 20:53

So I mean that doesn't separate. I mean it's definitely a methodology that needs to be scribed so that you can then share it as a philosophy, and it makes complete sense in the domain and the territory in which your husband works in as well. Completely Fantastic stuff, and it's so brilliant that you're just at the elite level of everything. There are lots of people that might do the odd track. I mean, there's a neighbor straight across the road who is a triathlete, but of course, to be a super athlete is something else and there are many people that might want to write screenplay but to actually have risen to the top of it. It sounds like you have this very clever habit of always getting to the top of the mountain.

Lesley Paterson: 21:31

Totally, totally and, I think, ultimately, what it's done. I'm an incredibly driven person, as you can well imagine, and it's just. It just is who I am. My husband said I'm like one of those wind up toys. You know. It's like just wind me up, point me in the right direction and hang on. And I think what it's come down to is that I've focused my entire life on the process, not the outcome. I love the mastery of craft. That's where my pure joy comes from, whether that's screenwriting, whether that's filmmaking, producing, whether it's, you know, sports, and digging into all the details and all the joy of being the best I can possibly be. Then the outcome essentially comes, but the joy comes from the process Lovely.

Chris Grimes: 22:20

So now we could be on the fourth shaping, unless we've covered that, in which case we'll go on to the things that inspire you. So what about a fourth shape?

Lesley Paterson: 22:28

So, fourth shape, I feel like they've all been sport, but this is kind of like a double shape edge, because it's one in sports and one in film. But it was when I won my first world title, because of course it was something I'd wanted from such a young age. I was in this prime position to do it, and it was in 2011,. And the world championships were in Maui and Hawaii, and I came out to swim in pole position as in really ideal for me, the best, the best was feeling amazing, got onto the bike and I had a flat tire, and this had never happened to me in a race in my entire career, or by that point, I'd been racing for 15 years. And I just remember thinking to myself oh is me? I can't believe it. Maybe this was never meant to be me, maybe I'm just one of those people in life that just are unlucky, like all that negative self-talk. And then I thought to myself well, you know what? I'm fit, I'm healthy, I'm lucky. Let's have some gratitude. Let's just give it every one I've got, because why not? Why wouldn't you? There's nothing worse than throwing in the towel.

Lesley Paterson: 23:38

And so I managed to fix the tire. A lot of people had passed me. But on I went and I ended up coming off the bike in fourth position 10 minutes down on the leader, with a 10K trail run to go, and you know was just feeling great. I just ran as hard as I could and I remember at the top of the mountain I could see the helicopter come over and that's a signal of where the leader is. And I thought, oh my God, I'm close to the leader. I can't fucking believe it. And I came down the hill and, lo and behold, I passed her with half a mile to go and it was such like a defining moment in my life. Just never give up, like never give up.

Chris Grimes: 24:22

When life gives you a flat tire, keep going.

Lesley Paterson: 24:26

Right.

Chris Grimes: 24:26

I love that.

Lesley Paterson: 24:27

And so I took I really took that to heart and I think that's why I kept on going with all quiet, because I was really. I was really solid on my why by why. I thought our take on the story was important to tell and why I thought we could do it. And so I just knew that I couldn't give up. And even when all my friends, all my family, even my husband, said, why are you doing this? Oh, my God, we can't do this. We're re-marketing our house, we're putting it on credit cards and using my race earnings, I just knew in my heart it would make it work.

Lesley Paterson: 25:04

So it's like the lessons from sport taught me to keep going. And then, of course, now that it works out with all quiet, it's like I'm never fucking giving up. Now I mean, when someone tells me I can't do something, I'm like are you kidding me? Well, you know, and the thing about it is and the thing about it is sorry I'm rambling here, but the thing about it is, chris is like it's not to say that you have a blind path and that you're not going to listen to advice, because that's the first thing you have to take on everything and process it and be self-reflective and you know humble about where you're at, where's the top. You know how do I get better. I take that on, take that on, take that on. But that doesn't mean you have to give up.

Chris Grimes: 25:49

And how would you be if you came second? By the way, because what's really interesting in all these stories? You've done it, you've dug in, you've won. As an in life, you're winning, but how would you feel if you came second? What happens then?

Lesley Paterson: 26:00

So if you hadn't overcome, come second yeah, I mean to be honest, I've come second many, many times. I've had many failures and you speak to any successful person and they've got you know a hundred times the failures to their success. But it's what you do with the failures, and I even hate to use the word failure, because you just learn and grow from it and take it. Why was this not? Why did this not work? How do you pivot, how do you be flexible? How do you progress?

Chris Grimes: 26:27

Yeah, Great philosophy. And now thank you for that wonderful, sublime shape. Now three things that inspire you, please, leslie.

Lesley Paterson: 26:39

I would say probably my mum and dad inspire me because of their unconditional love. What they did for us as children was absolutely selfless. You know, everybody has their faults, we all know that, but at the end of the day they would have done and they still do anything for us. So I would say that they're massively inspiration.

Chris Grimes: 27:05

And do you want me to ask are you a parent yourself, by the way?

Lesley Paterson: 27:08

I am not. I'm not actually Always thought I would be, but I think the drive in me is kind of kept that from happening in a way. And it's very difficult as an athlete, and then one that's sick and has issues, you know, to sort of be healthy enough to have children. So, but we're in a good spot right now. We have amazing issues and issues, and that's another. Another thing that inspires me is my family in general, you know, because I think through all of this you find purpose and meaning through your relationships.

Chris Grimes: 27:48

So you know, I think my family One of my absolute favorite quotes it's all about the relationship stupid. I say it often because it's about relationship to yourself most importantly, but it's all about the relationship stupid.

Lesley Paterson: 28:01

It is 100%, 100%. So another favorite of mine that always inspired me was Zulabad, when I was a year and a half late, so I used to pretend I was Zulabad.

Chris Grimes: 28:15

Oh so famous for doing it barefoot, wasn't she?

Lesley Paterson: 28:18

Yeah, I used to run around barefoot and you know, I don't know if she just kind of fought against the norm, didn't she, with what she did, and I absolutely loved that.

Chris Grimes: 28:31

Have you ever met her?

Lesley Paterson: 28:33

because of your admiration, I've not, I've not, but she actually, she actually Instagrammed me at one point, so that was kind of cool. Yeah, so Great.

Chris Grimes: 28:43

Lovely inspirations. No-transcript.

Lesley Paterson: 28:50

No, I just hope I'm inspirational to other people and I give them the strength to sort of try and reach for things that they thought were unreachable.

Chris Grimes: 29:03

And now we're on to. This is where, borrowed from the film up, this is oh squirrels, what are the two monsters of distraction? What's never going to fail? Squirrels, to distract you irrespective of everything else that's going on in your hectic and frenetic life.

Lesley Paterson: 29:18

Yeah, distractions for me. One is I'm obsessed with supplements and anything to do with health. Right, I'm just kind of obsessed, so that will distract me. You know, oh, there's this new supplement that does this and that, or there's you know this new sort of health gadget. I'm shocking and I spend a fortune, so that's not good. The other distraction is food. Anything to do with chocolate cakes, naughtiness or any any like. More of a distraction from me is like food that's like healthy, you know, gluten free, dairy free, but like looks amazing. Or you know, I get obsessed about food as well. So it's funny because my husband always says when he met me, there was like one pair of fancy shoes in my cupboard, you know, and it take me to the whole foods and that's it. I'm worse. I worse than the whole foods.

Chris Grimes: 30:15

And in terms of hedonism, I'm assuming you don't drink, then I mean that's a big assumption, so are you?

Lesley Paterson: 30:21

you know I don't, but it's not because of my sport. To be honest, I never have. I don't like the taste of it, so I'm very un-Scottish.

Chris Grimes: 30:30

And and but food. You can occasionally dive into a bit of a chocolate binge by the sound bit you can.

Lesley Paterson: 30:35

Yes, that's my favourite. Yeah.

Chris Grimes: 30:38

There is a cake coming up shortly. So now a quirky or unusual fact about you, leslie Patterson. We couldn't possibly know about you until you tell us.

Lesley Paterson: 30:48

I go to the toilet a lot. I am known for uh soiling a good few bushes when I'm out of the run.

Chris Grimes: 30:56

Great, cool fact, lovely. And is that because you, you know you've got an iron will, but sort of slack bladder by the sound of it.

Lesley Paterson: 31:04

Correct and the other edge as well.

Chris Grimes: 31:09

Very much information and marvellous for that. Wonderful. So we have shaken your tree, hurrah. Now we stay in the clearing, move away from the tree, and next we talk about alchemy and gold. Please, so when you're at purpose and in flow, what are you absolutely happiest doing?

Lesley Paterson: 31:28

Out in the mountains, either running or biking, thinking about a script or a story and what doing? What we call breaking the story. So when I've had a problem or an issue in a story and I can't figure it out and it comes to me in a moment when I'm out in the mountains riding and running, that is a thing of beauty, the two things that I love the most.

Chris Grimes: 31:52

And with your track record now, deliberate sort of analogy there. Because of the success of all's quite on the Western front, does that mean your doors open much quicker when you have an idea for a story now?

Lesley Paterson: 32:04

Yeah, definitely, definitely, and, to be honest, I'm such a hustler that I've built up a lot of great connections, both through sport actually as well. So I spend a lot of time just kind of nurturing relationships and finding the right kind of people that I want to work with, and it's amazing how you put out the right vibe since come together.

Chris Grimes: 32:25

And it doesn't surprise me that people perceive you as being a bit of a force to be reckoned with, because this is something that comes out to win the race, metaphorically and literally, totally. So I'm going to award you with a cake, please, and it can be a chocolate cake. So we've already established you like cake, but what cake would you like? Metaphorically, sorry, I can't give it to you in person, but what type of cake would you like?

Lesley Paterson: 32:46

A gluten-free Victoria sponge with buttercream icing and my mum makes the most amazing one you've ever tasted.

Chris Grimes: 32:55

And what's your mother's name? Please, just to give a big shout out to Mrs Joseph Patterson. I mean.

Lesley Paterson: 32:59

Is it Mrs Patterson? It's Fiona. Fiona, oh Scottish.

Chris Grimes: 33:04

Lovely, quintessential Scottish name. There she of the Victoria sponge gluten-free. Thanks very much. So the cake is yours. Now you get to put a cherry on the cake, which is the final, richly suffused storytelling metaphor. This is stuff like and we'll do it one at a time. What's a favourite inspirational quote that's always given you sucker and pulled you towards your future?

Lesley Paterson: 33:25

Everyone's fighting a battle you know nothing about.

Chris Grimes: 33:31

Lovely. What's the best piece of advice you've ever been given?

Lesley Paterson: 33:39

Stay true to your path and don't be persuaded by other people.

Chris Grimes: 33:45

Lovely. What notes, help or advice might you proffer to a younger version of Leslie Patterson?

Lesley Paterson: 33:54

Have confidence in your intuition.

Chris Grimes: 33:58

These are great staccato, really clear answers. I'm really enjoying that Wonderful. So we're ramping up to a bit of Shakespeare in a moment where we're going to borrow from all the worlds of Stedred, all the bittered wibbid billy players, and we're going to talk about legacy in a moment. But just before we get there, this is the past. The golden baton moment, please. So this is now your invitation having experienced this from within, who would you most like and enjoy passing the golden baton on to to be curated through the stories of distinction and genius in this way?

Lesley Paterson: 34:29

I would love for you to invite Carl Strathie. Carl is a director, film director and screenwriter that we are doing our next project with. He is a wonderful soul and very talented, and I'm excited to be spending some time with him this fall doing our films, so I think he would be great. He's got a wonderful Spielberg-like backstory Lovely.

Chris Grimes: 34:57

And thank you so much. And, by the way, a quick story for you which you might enjoy because of your sporting prowess About three months ago, when I thought of the new construct within my show of Pass the Golden Baton, please I had Roger Black, the Olympian, in my clearing.

Chris Grimes: 35:10

Oh, my God, and have you spoken to him? I've interviewed him and sorry you snagged a bit on your sound there, but I know we both know he only won silver in the Olympics. But I was able to pass him the Golden Baton in the clearing, which I think he found very amusing, which was good.

Lesley Paterson: 35:31

Oh my God, that's amazing. So funny story. I used to have the hots. I used to have the hots for Roger Black.

Chris Grimes: 35:37

Many people did. Apparently, he's a very gorgeous human being, obviously. Imagine my glee of coming up with his idea. And then the next day, I had Roger Black in my clearing. It was a bit of a result day, I'll tell you that was wonderful. So, yes, now then we're going to talk about Shakespeare and all the world's a stage. How, when all is said and done and, by the way, we can talk a bit more about your film in a minute as well All's quite on the Western front, obviously. But how, when all is said and done, leslie Patterson, triathlete and screenwriter extraordinaire how would you most like to be a remembered?

Lesley Paterson: 36:15

Inspirational, joyful and compassionate.

Chris Grimes: 36:26

Where can we find out all about you, leslie? On the old Hinterweb, please, if we want to find out more about you.

Lesley Paterson: 36:32

Oh God, yeah. So we do have a website, braveheartcoachcom, but there's a little bit outdated. But you can still send me an email through there, or you can follow me on Instagram. Leslie does try TRI same with Twitter. I'm not amazing at social media, so, yeah, so that's probably the best way, or just Google me.

Chris Grimes: 36:56

And you're very accessible, by the way because I found an email address and I wrote to you and within 20 minutes you'd got back going. Yes, I'll be up for that. So thank you so much for being so open. I mean you are, but that was just. If I may ask you, what was the instinct to go yes, straight away, without finding out more?

Lesley Paterson: 37:16

Yeah, I mean I like to. I like the way that you spoke. I looked up your website and I thought, oh, that sounds kind of fun and a little bit different. Yeah, and I just, you know, I like to support people that have energy for life.

Chris Grimes: 37:31

And thank you very much. It's been really appreciated. So, as this has been your moment in the sunshine of the Good, listening to Show stories of distinction and genius, is there anything else you'd like to say?

Lesley Paterson: 37:43

I don't think so. Just you know. Ultimately, to tell people out there, if you have a dream, just go for it. There's nothing better than fulfilling your passion.

Chris Grimes: 37:52

Wonderful. Leslie, thank you so much. It's been an absolute pleasure talking to you and your mission, if you choose to accept it, is to pass the golden baton on to Carl Strathe, as you said, and good luck with your next project. And just to say you know congratulations, and you know how extraordinary. You know the number of just accolades that you have in four Oscars best screenplay and best international feature Boomtastic. Congratulations Next time.

Chris Grimes: 38:21

So, ladies and gentlemen, you've been listening to the gorgeous human being that is Leslie Patterson. Good luck with the rest of your writing in Colorado and see you next time. Thank you, chris. So my thanks to Leslie Patterson, the Scottish Rocket. What an extraordinary conversation.

Chris Grimes: 38:37

Don't forget to check out the new website for the show at wwwthegoodlisteningtouchowcom, and you too can be my guest if you take a look at the various series strands that are on the website. Thank you for listening. Until next week, more stories from the Clearing and goodbye. You've been listening to the Good Listening 2 show here on UK Health Radio with me, chris Grimes oh, it's my son. If you've enjoyed the show, then please do tune in next week to listen to more stories from the Clearing.

Chris Grimes: 39:03

If you'd like to connect with me on LinkedIn, then please do so. There's also a dedicated Facebook group for the show too. You can contact me about the programme or, if you'd be interested in experiencing some personal impact coaching with me, carry my level up your impact programme. That's chrisatsecondcurveuk On Twitter and Instagram. It's At that, chris Grimes. So until next time for me, chris Grimes, from UK Health Radio. I'm from Stan. To your good health and goodbye. So, leslie, you've just been given a damn good listening to in this structure. Could I just get your immediate feedback on what that was like to be curated through this journey?

Lesley Paterson: 39:38

It was fun and it was different, for sure, and it makes you think a little bit more about where your life has gone and what you believe in. So definitely not your standard, so enjoyed it.