“Moving to New Zealand probably saved my life. Before I lived in the UK, and despite having a gym membership (which I did use frequently), I wasn’t in the best of shape. I was on the slippery slope of eating the wrong foods and thinking a Body Pump class could save me.
Then I came to NZ on a working holiday visa with the intention of applying for residency. In that process I took up training for the Special K Women’s Triathlon – a 300m swim, 10km bike and a 3km run. That run was more of a fastish walk though. I’d always hated running.
But then I decided to train for Ironman!
And so my running affair began. I finished my first Ironman in 2005 and since then I’ve completed three more Ironman events, 16 marathons, and loads more distance events. Now my real love of running is with parkrun. It’s great that parkrun doesn’t require 15 hour training weeks, or any special equipment, nutrition or weekly massages. It’s 5k, it’s fun and I’ve made heaps of friends as a result.
I’m in much better control of my eating habits – although the weight has always been a work in progress, I don’t make it the be all and end all of my running. After all… might as well enjoy the post parkrun pastry!”
Alison @runswithabarcode
(Rotorua)
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Portraits of Runners + their stories
@RunnersNZ
