“I’ve always loved to run and have gone through all the stages of being a complete beginner, to chasing PB’s and coming back to running over the last 15 years. My first few half marathons were very forced efforts, the Huntly Half with my year 12 sports class, another at the end of Outward Bound and the Hamilton Half Marathon with my Mum. I then caught the triathlon bug and started competing in 70.3 events (1.8km swim, 90km ride & 21.1km run) where a half marathon felt like a semi-regular occurrence in my training plans and racing. I managed to do 6 halves, 1 enduro, a world champs Aquabike and countless half marathons in the space of about 4 years. Somewhere along the line it started to not feel so special. It was something I knew I could complete, I lost the love, had a few injuries, and a bike crash that forced me to take a complete break from any structured training.
Although this break was very needed, I put on a lot of weight, felt very lost and my mental health was declining. I knew deep down what the missing piece was, back to training we go…
Coming back into a sport you have previously been good at is hard. But my advice for anyone in the same position is to just start where you are. The little things feel so special again, completing a park run was a huge milestone and recently doing Race Tekapo 32km with my Mum (being my longest run ever) shows that if you put in the work, you can make it back to the sport you love again.”
Raya @rayahellyeah
(Hamilton)
Photo taken at Tekapo
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