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I started ultra running in 2017 after watching a few friends and family run these crazy long runs. For a reason that is difficult to explain unless you've been there, I found it incredibly motivating.  I started with a 50km and progressed to 100km in 2018. In October this year I hit the 100km again, as a training run for the 100 mile (160km) at Tarawera this February. Running has always been a group effort - they say it takes a village to raise a child, it also takes a village to be an ultra runner. From my neighbours who...

Runners Wall. What does hitting the wall feel like? The wall. Every athlete knows what it is. Aside from the thing you bang your head against when completely frustrated at your children, the wall is something every athlete has either heard of or experienced...and if not, look out. It's coming.  For some, the wall shot up quickly. As soon as you had a thought about exercise, the builders came in and blocked the thought from travelling out of the recess of your brain. For others, you experience the wall 1km into a run on a rainy morning. If you're experienced...

Something that has been coming up a lot for me lately has been ideas around comparison. I hate to admit it, but it's something that I have to constantly fight against as I'm bombarded with people in my life (real and virtual) that are achieving the things that they have dreamed of...sometimes the very thing that I wish to be doing myself.  Comparison not only steals our joy, but it also stops us from achieving our ambitions. I remember so clearly our teachers at Primary School always telling us to run our own race on athletics day. When we would...

We aren't through 2020 yet! I've been challenged this week, month, (year!) over and over about attitude.  The words that we speak come from what's in our heart - and that can be a hard battle when you're in the midst of an ultra marathon, a final competition workout, or sitting in the chair at your job.  Yet I am reminded this week how blessed we are to be able to participate in a running event, with real people, real spectators (not cardboard cut outs and sound waves of clapping like the London Marathon). This weekend I get the opportunity...

When I first trained for Taupo Ultramarathon in 2018, I had a lot of people say to me 'you must really love running'. My reply was more often than not - no. I only ran twice a week, it was a bonus is if I had running in a CrossFit WOD, and to be completely honest, when there was, I tried to avoid it. I was simultaneously training for the NZ CrossFit Nationals as an individual, then as a team member, an event which would take place one week after the 100km. CrossFit was my big focus, and the ultra...well,...