No wall exists

A shocking memoir from an ultrarunner about her battle with addiction and finding a way out

British ultrarunner Allie Bailey's memoir is a brutally honest and often shocking account of alcoholism, depression and severe mental breakdowns that nearly cost her her life.

With disarming vulnerability, heart-wrenching honesty and dark humour, Bailey recounts how running didn't save her – by the time her problems peaked, she had already been running for years, managing to win 100-mile races and break world records. Somewhere between the darkest excesses of the music industry and the simple beauty of the ultrarunning community, Allie found a space where she could listen, learn and put into practice the techniques that saved her life and changed it for the better. There is No Wall is a story about how the thing you love can help you achieve the seemingly impossible. Running won't save you, but it can give you the time to save yourself.

ALLIE BAILEY is an ultrarunner and coach, podcast host and occasional public speaker. She has completed running events in some of the most extreme places on the planet. She was the first woman to run a hundred miles across the frozen Khövsgöl Nuur lake in Mongolia and along the entire length of the Panama Canal. She has crossed the inhospitable Namib Desert three times, run the entire Outer Hebrides, and in the space of just thirty days, covered a 1,600-kilometre trail version of the traditional Land's End to John o'Groats route. Allie has completed over 200 marathons and ultramarathons around the world, but what is most remarkable about her achievements is that most of them were accomplished in the midst of a battle with depression and alcohol addiction. Although running eventually became a tool that bought Allie enough time to pull herself together after a series of severe mental breakdowns, it did not save her. In fact, it made her struggle much harder at times. After a serious mental health crisis in 2021, Allie finally admitted to herself and her loved ones that she was an alcoholic and began her journey to sobriety. Her dream jobs at a major record label and an adventure travel company became a thing of the past. Allie now coaches a wide range of runners and endurance athletes, helping them reach their full potential. She lives in Yorkshire with her rescue dog, Pickle.