“How my running career began? I was always a sporty kid at school. I loved athletics and was a handy 100 metre and 200 metre sprinter all through my schooling, but rugby was my passion – 100 percent! I played for multiple clubs, played a lot of Southland rep rugby, and even Otago for a season. For years I played, enjoying the game I loved – but in my 30’s I had a bad leg break, breaking it into multiple pieces, which put me out of rugby for a year or two. I came back and I kept playing into my 40’s. My body was starting to break down a few running friends (they know who they are) said to me, “why not try out running?” I thought to myself, I was never a long distance runner, but what the hell – I’ll go give it a go!!
I got introduced to the 5km parkrun about 4years ago and back then started with a time of 29 minutes. From there my love of running blossomed. My parkrun PB is now 20.07 and I’m taking on longer runs. I’ve done the Rakiura Challenge 3 years in a row, completed 4 Luxmore Grunts and one full Kepler Challenge, and multiple 10km and 21km runs throughout.
I’ll be totally honest – I’d be lost without running now, and I encourage so many more people to get out there, start slow, enjoy. The world is your oyster!
Now I have a running shoe collection that is getting out of control… but I’m sure every runner can relate!”
Todd
(Invercargill)
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Portraits of Runners + their stories
@RunnersNZ
