Why....

A little over 5 years ago at age 47, I was 112kg and on the way to being another heart attack statistic... at least that's how I looked at it.

So I decided to diet... something I had tried before with some success. I cut out all snacks, ate breakfast, lunch and dinner only and for my dinners I ate salad and meat... no carbs. This was working almost immediately with weight starting to fall off.

At the time I lived right over the road from Rotorua's famous Redwoods and I thought, maybe the occasional run in the woods might help. 

First run was about 1.5 km and nearly killed me... but I am nothing if not stubborn, so I ran a bit further the next time and kept adding distance nearly every run. Soon running about 40 - 50 minutes, it was then that a friend said.. "so you will be running the Rotorua Marathon next" ... no way I was ready for that, so I entered the 10km run at the same event and finished 8th for my age group... but what was more important, I really enjoyed being part of the event.

So I took the plunge and entered the Auckland Marathon, giving myself nearly 6 months to get up to speed, with the Taupo Half as a stepping stone.

So away I went running on alternate days and slowly increasing the distances. I was getting the urge to compete again, to measure myself and, after a visit to the web, I found the Huntly Half... 'worth a go' I thought.

Bowled up on raceday, feeling great. Cruised out on what turned out to be the most boring course in creation - except for the last 4km - and while motoring along nicely I was introduced for the first time to the the distance runners nemesis...'The Wall'! 

Unfortunately this happened just before we started around the lake for the last 4km, so I didn't get to enjoy the only pleasant part of the course as I stumbled and struggled to the finish. I broke 2 hours though (1'56") and so I had something to be happy about. My first, but not last physical crash!

Leaving Huntly I had learned a valuable lesson... I was not ready... so back to work. I set myself a target for Taupo of breaking 1 hour, 50 minutes. Targets are great... Taupo time... 1'49" and, to me, more importantly... no wall, I was pushing at a steady speed for the whole race and it was only the last wee hill up to the park before the finish that killed me off!

Back to work and up with the mileage (funny how we still call it mileage... I suppose kilometreage is a bit of a mouthful), to get ready for Auckland.

Auckland was one of the best and worst days of my running life. catching the early morning ferry, with thousands of others, to the start line. Milling around, queueing at one of the thousands of portaloos and then starting in this mass of humanity to work my way through the streets to the Harbour Bridge. For someone training on the trails the bridge incline was not too tough and was worth every ounce of energy. Then down the other side, an unplanned pitstop cost me a couple of minutes, then on the road to the bays. All going well... until about 30km... well, then it all crashed. The worst thing is when you are still running out towards the turnaround point, knowing that every painful step you take has to be re-traced. Down to the last 6 or 7 km and my hips were breaking down, I was literally staggering along, stopping regularly and truly battling towards the finish. I went through 30km in right on 3 hours... the last 12.2km took me 1'35" to finish in 4'35" and promises of 'never again'!

That might have been it for my running, because I was deflated after finding it so difficult to finish... until I got lucky...