“I know exactly when I started running because it was a New Year’s resolution to run a minimum 10 kilometres every week from the 1st of January 2016. And I haven’t broken that streak. I’ve never missed a week in nearly 10 years.
I started because I wanted to try and be healthier and to just stick to a goal. But that’s not really why I run anymore. It evolved I guess into a bit of an addiction. It went from me trying to get a bit healthier, and it turned out to be something that I actually needed to cope and deal with difficulties in life. That’s one reason. The other reason is I am just a little bit OCD when it comes to collecting things…
I used to collect everything when I was a kid, and I think now as an adult, it’s turned into collecting runs – parkruns in particular. I’m obsessed with parkrun. I collect the courses. Actually I’m really annoyed now because I’ve run the Milford Track and I’m leaving, but I want to do Kepler fully, and Routeburn. I feel like I’ve done one of the Fiordland Tracks, now I have to do the others.
I’m never competitive, only competitive with myself. And I’m more of a road runner than a trail runner so I’ve started collecting marathons now too. I do a marathon every year and I’m trying to collect different city marathons. I’m a middle-of-the-pack runner, I don’t really care about times, I just want to go out and run, and enjoy completing something.
So, there are really four kind of reasons why I run. One was the general health aspect, which obviously is still a good one and still part of why I keep running. Two was my need to collect things. Three as an outlet for coping with whatever shit life is throwing at you. And then the last one, the fourth reason I run, which has only surfaced in the last year or two… and in the last three weeks in particular, is it’s my way of seeing the world.
I have started holidaying now with running as part of the plan. Obviously this trip from Ireland to New Zealand was the most intense version of that I’ve done, but it is definitely a great way to see new places. You can see much more things if you’re running instead of walking, you know? Like you can do Milford Track in a day. If I wanted to do that as a hike or walk, that’s four days gone out of my trip. Fine, it was one super intense day, but then I was able to do some other things while I was here, and I met some really cool people. So yeah, it’s seeing the world and meeting people.
I live in Dublin but that’s not where I’m from. I’m from Wicklow, which is actually one of the more mountainy areas of Ireland. Well… I know full well that the mountains in Ireland are really just hills. It’s funny, I did a bit of Kepler yesterday, the final few kilometres between Rainbow Reach and the Gates, and it had just been raining, so that trail reminded me of home. The undulating trail rather than super hilly stuff, it was really soft underfoot, really green and brown, and squelchy, and to me, it was just like running in the Wicklow Mountains.
I love trail running in Ireland and I love running in the shit weather, so I don’t mind if there’s been a bit of rain. I love getting out there for a run and coming home and you’re just absolutely filthy. And that’s the thing in Ireland – if you didn’t run in the rain, you just wouldn’t run. You can’t wait for the rain to go away or you could be waiting a week.
Ireland is great and there is a great little trail running community there. There are lots of trail races but the elevation isn’t like New Zealand. Like twice this week I’ve been higher than the highest point in all of Ireland! The top of MacKinnon Pass and the top of Ben Loman, they’re both 1200 metres or greater. And they’re not even your big mountains. The highest point in all of Ireland is Carrauntoohil, which is just over 1000m.
I’ll come back to New Zealand. I know I will. It’s not going to be in the next year or two, just because it’s so far, but 100% I’ll come back!”
Dave
(Ireland)
Photo taken in Milford
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