My Previous Running History

Like most kids raised in New Zealand i led a pretty active life style. My school holidays were more often than not spent at my grandparents who lived on farm, my cousins lived next door, we were pretty much left to entertain ourselves. We played lots of sports and roamed all over the farm, mostly in bare feet. bare feet were ok, as long as we washed them before coming in the house,  but i was under strict instructions from nana to keep my hat on, especially when playing under the macrocarpa trees.

I first ran races as a kid at the local athletics club, but showed no real talent. My Robotic style  involved lots of effort but very little fluidity, It was however enough to win me the odd third place in a 100m dash but i dont ever recall enough of the good runners ever being sick so that i could actually win a race. First place was rewarded with a 'prize' from the clubs tuck shop. Never having won i had no incentive to train. besides i think my parents saw it more as an opportunity to get rid of us kids for a few hours one night a week rather than as a sporting endevour.

I did do a little long distance 'fun running' before going to highschool, a couple of 5k's a 10k. The teacher coaching us ( who was relatively young and caught up in htis new jopgging fad) said i had potential, since i was usually found running with the faster group. But on arriving in highschool i started playing basketball as my sport of choice, my weekends were spent hiking and camping.

Fast foward to my early 30's. I started a new job and they had a gym and physical trainer on campus for the staff. I started running in my lunch breaks as a way to meet people from outside of my department and because they actually frowned on people working through their lunches, a novel idea to me at that time. I built up my miles trained hard and completed my first Half Marathon in just under 2 hrs. I shaved 12 mins off that time a few months later running a half in the waitakeres. But then I got poached, a firm made me an offer i couldnt refuse, and my new duties (like working through my lunch break again), and lack of gym put an end to my running.

Since then I have had to chase my kids around a bit, and i tryed to lead an active lifestyle, bike tours or walks with the family on the weekends, but didnt do any specific sport. I was blessed by nature with a reasonably good metabolism, and although my weight slowly increased with age, i was usually able to eat and drink what i wanted without too much regard.

So thats it, no years running on a Highschool cross country team, No College track team, No extended history of distance running, at most i flirted with it a few times.