“I remember my first voluntary run. I was 12 years old. It was a gloomy Sunday morning in rural Te Anau in 2002. I ran three kilometres out to the end of our dusty gravel road, and back. I felt like superman as I strode back through the front door of the house. My six year old brother was transfixed by SpongeBob SquarePants, and was indifferent to my herculean effort.
The motivation to get me out the door was to lose 1.5kg to make the under 48kg rugby team. Not a particularly healthy motivator for a teenage millennial, but it got me out the door, and it made me feel powerful.
I remember waking up with this feeling of ‘I will go for a run now’. That’s a feeling I still get several times a week. Running has become the antidote to so many troubles throughout my life. At boarding school, miserable and lonely? Run it away. Feeling stressed about school exams? Go for a run. What should I do after I finish year 13? Run, the answer will be in on the trail. I’m a Student, I’ve eaten too much mi goreng, drunk too much beer, and anxiety levels are soaring….go for a run. I’m heart broken: run. I’ve moved to a new city, don’t know anyone: run. Changing careers and feeling like an imposter? Shoes on son!
Running is a tool I’ve used to ignite and enrich relationship’s. When you get out and run around with someone – it’s an experience you’ve shared. A little team. Maybe you chatted, maybe you didn’t. Maybe it was a long run, maybe it was 15 minutes. But you all shared that experience. I was running through a London park with my friend Hoppy recently. I remember collapsing into hysterical laughter about how terrific and wondrous our lives were. The run was the fuel that reminded me of it.
As I have become more competitive with running, I have been constantly humbled by the speed and talent of runners around me. I have come to realise that I am almost definitely never going to win the Kepler or Tarawera. That’s ok. As long as I keep learning, improving and enjoying, it’s worth lacing the shoes up. Someone completing their first 5k can experience similar levels of ecstasy as a podium at UTMB. Comparison is the thief of joy? I think that’s how the saying goes.
Then there are those run’s where you dig deeper than you thought you could. Where you really rip the cap off a bottle of mongrel juice. The strength that is borne from those experiences never goes away. You can keep drawing from that forever! Wooo! I shared a day like that last year on a Bob Graham Round. It was probably the best day of my life so far.
What I mean to say is: running is awesome. Chur.”
Michael @michaelmitchellhi
(Te Anau)
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Portraits of Runners + their stories
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