“We only started 10 months ago – from Josh literally saying ‘shall we start running?’
So right there and then we had to decide, what’s going to be the first thing we do? To start we thought let’s just see if we can do a 5K without stopping. And we did. And we were so sore and so tired the next day!
I think we started for the same reason, just wanting to get fit, but then we’ve both fallen in love with it for different reasons.
I had a bouldering accident two years ago. I fell off a bouldering wall and broke my ankle. I ended up having 7 pins and a metal plate put in to hold it together and I couldn’t walk for three months. There was actually a time in my recovery where I thought I might actually never walk… I might never run again. It’s funny, because I hadn’t been running since high school, but I remember being sat at home not being able to do anything, and thinking ‘all I want to do is just go for a run!’ I just wanted to go outside and run; to have that feeling of just being able to go places. You forget just how grateful you are for things like being able to move, or cook yourself a meal, or being able to take yourself into the shower. Josh had to help me with everything. So suddenly this thing that I couldn’t do, walk or run, meant so much more to me.
I really enjoy trail running. I feel it’s more my thing because it’s in the mountains and you can go wherever you like and explore these amazing places. Road running gets a bit repetitive and a bit boring, but trails are awesome and to run around New Zealand is pretty special.
We’re from England, in the northwest. I’m from Manchester and I’ve been wanting to come to New Zealand for so long. I was always attracted to the nature and the lifestyle. We’ve been here for 18 months now and absolutely love it. It’s so peaceful. It’s so slow. It’s so opposite to the UK.
Our first race is going to be Race Tekapo. We’ve entered the half marathon which I think will be a challenge – a physical challenge and a bit of a mental one too. For our first trail race I think it’s probably quite sensible, especially for where we’re at with our running right now. We didn’t want to dive straight into an ultra.
I do love trail running. It has that community of people who just enjoy and respect nature. And you can go out on a trail run and there’s no pressure to be fast. That comparison that I had previously found with running, comparing pace, looking at others who are faster and wishing you were faster, that’s not there the same on trails. It feels more like just being able to enjoy what your body can do. Every time I’m on a trail, I’m like ‘look at where my body’s taking me, look what I can see, look what I can enjoy’. I’m able to take it all in without the pressure of how fast I’m going. The other day we went up to Luxmore Hut, we stopped a lot along the way, and we saw so many mushrooms! Yeah, it’s just a beautiful community enjoying beautiful places.
I did not expect how much I would love running again. It’s nice to be setting myself goals and challenges – gosh, two years ago I couldn’t walk, and now I’m running up a mountain. That’s pretty awesome!”
Hannah @hanclayton
(Fiordland)
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Portraits of Runners + their stories
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