My Running Journey

How the simple act of putting one foot in front of the other changed the trajectory of my life.

I started properly running in 2020. After a torrid 2019, coming away with some Mental Health issues I needed something to ground me. I stumbled across running more than anything. A lot of my anxiety was induced by the fear of my health and on this day in 2020, I was struggling with what I thought was some chest pain. Knowing my mind was playing tricks on me (I had been to the doctor a week prior and nothing was wrong) I decided to lace up the new pair of running shoes I had got as an early birthday present. 1.93k later I was done. Exhausted but accomplished, this run lay the first brick on the path of my running journey.

My first 10k.

I had no idea at all when it came to running. Like most people, I assumed to get faster you would need to run faster each run. So that is what I did. I also didn’t know anything about load management, so I should probably take it reasonably easy for the first 3-4 weeks of running. But I didn’t. I ran each day increasing the distance, to 4k,5k,6k, and 7k. I settled at around 7-8k for a week or so before I signed up for the Lululemon Sea Wheeze virtual 10k. I paid maybe $30 online to participate, but after I had completed the run, I would get sent a medal in the Mail. This is where the want to run a Half Marathon started.

My first Half Marathon 2020

Remember how I talked earlier about probably taking it easy when I first started running? Well, after the high that was the lululemon 10k I signed up for the Queenstown Half Marathon and quickly started following a training plan I found online. I had the goal of running under 1:50 and if you know me I’m an all-in type of guy. But after a few weeks, while out on an 8k run, I felt some pain in my Achilles. It was pretty bad, I pushed on when I shouldn’t have and finished up the run. I tried to run the next day and the pain remained, shit I might have an issue here. I booked in for the physio the next day, as you’d expect it was inflamed purely as a result of overuse. The body was not ready for the stimulus I was putting on it and as a result, this was its way of telling me to slow down. I put a hold on Half Marathon training and gave myself 3 weeks to sort itself out. With only a few weeks left until Race day. I revised my goal down to a sub 2 hour. I ended up running a 1:54:06.

The Full Marathon 2021

2020 New years eve dinner, we sat with some of Sam’s family friends talking about what we wanted to achieve in the new year. Obviously, off the high of running Queenstown, I said I wanted to run a Full Marathon. Keep in mind, I still had very little knowledge about anything to do with running. I didn’t know about fulling properly, HR training and HR Zones, I was a complete rookie and that transferred over into my Marathon training. I honestly don’t remember alot of what happened in the lead up to Marathon training wise but based on my Strava, I just didn’t do enough running plain and simple. I was just a bit lazy, had a goal of running under 4 hours and truly believed I could do it. My longest run in the lead up to it was a 25km and I as cooked by the end of it, The night before the race, we all decided to eat McDonalds and pizza as ou pre race meal. As you can imagine, terrible idea. I barely slept that night, excruciating headache, i almost was at te point where I didn’t run. That would of been the easy option. But we pulled ourselves together and made it to the start line. 8km in the Hawkes Bay sun was raining down on us and i knew it was going to be a long day. I decided at that point the 4 hour goal was off the table, but we were not gonna stop running no matter was happened. 25-42k were a complete slog, fighting off cramp and just willing the body to move but we got it done in 4:29 and some change. Just look at the pain of the face.

The Hiatus (3 months off running)

The Marathon was pretty traumatising and after my experience, I had no interest in running again. What followed was 3 months of almost 0 running (I think I ran on the treadmill twice)

That last big spike in the middle of May was the Marathon. Sad Strava stats to be fair, but I wasn’t doing anything. During that period I got into a pretty solid gym routine going at least 4-5 per week. Just no running.

The Lockdown (and new shoes)

We picked running back up coincidentally the same day that Cindy (Jacinda Ardern our Prime Minister at the time) sent us into another hefty lockdown. I’d happened to pick up a new pair of Hokas the week of. Managed to settle back into a pretty regular running routine for the rest of the year before heading into a training block for the Christchurch Half Marathon in April 2022. This race actually ended up getting cancelled but I went through a solid 10-12 week training program using the Run with Hal app. I had learnt a lot more at this time. I started watching Nick Bare at the end of 2021 and he had really helped progress my knowledge and really strengthened my love for running. He has continued to be a huge motivation for me.

Surgery

Not something I am open to talk about yet (maybe one day) but this took me out of action for at least 12 weeks. By far one of the hardest times, running had become so engrained into my lifestyle, heading into surgery I knew how hard it was going to be to not be able to do it. Not only for its physical benefits but for its mental benefits as well.

The Comeback

After 12 weeks, we got the all-clear to return to exercise and I was itching. But thanks to nearly 2 years of experience, I knew the road back would be a long and slow one and I took it very easy. Took about 7 weeks to slowly work myself back up to running 30k before heading into a 10-week block for the Auckland Half Marathon.

Auckland Half Marathon 2022

I had a very clear goal, sub 1:40 for the Half Marathon in Auckland. So we went to work, after I had built my foundation over the last 7 weeks I was ready to rip into it. Again, I did a 10 week training block with the Hal Higden app with it peaking at about 50km a week. It was also at this time that I started to document some of my running journey over on TikTok . I remember waking up on race day in Auckland, walking out of my Hotel and it just absolutely bucketing it down raining. We were in for a long and very damp day. Whenever it rains on a day when I have a training run planned, I always get out there and get it done. I don’t defer it or move it to the treadmill, I just do it in the conditions that have been handed to me, because what if it rains on race day? and on this day it did, and when it did I was ready for it. To be honest, it was more of a blessing than anything. It was a super humid Auckland day and the rain was the only thing keeping me cool. The race starts and we settle in well, except the 1:40 pacers absolutely took off, they were running way faster then what was needed so I just decided to run my own race from that point. Devonport was much hillier then expected but we made it through, the Auckland Harbour Bridge at the 15k mark was brutal, we lost time here but opened it up on the way down. We managed to finish really strong towards the end and lucky I did as I squeezed in under my goal time running 1:39:09.

Christchurch Marathon 2023

It was time to get redemption on the Marathon distance and this time we weren’t fucking around. I started to use Jeff Cunningham, Nick Bare’s coach and we set our eyes on a 3:20 Marathon in Christchurch. A flat course running at an average 4:44 per k pace. Audacious for me but I’m never one to back down to a challenge. We got to work early, my first 15k long run was the same day as my best friend’s wedding in mid-December. We basically worked on this goal for almost 5 months topping out at 80km for the largest week. I loved the process, I loved seeing results, knowing I was getting faster and stronger and adapting to the work we were putting in. Race day rolls around, I truly believe I can run sub 3:20, the work is done. What more can you do? We cruise through the halfway point about 30-odd seconds off pace, but we had been pretty conservative up until this point. But nothing could prepare me for hitting the wall HARD at about 35k, I just had nothing left. I trundled my way over the finish line in 3:28:07.

New York City Marathon 2023

I wrote a full piece of this mara which you can read here.

What I love most about the discipline of running is that it truly is you vs you. You are only as good as your last run/race, so if you want to move the needle, you need to put in the appropriate work. It is the true definition of delayed gratification, you can put in all of this work for 12-18 weeks and it either goes one of two ways, you either make your goal or you don’t and at the end of it you have two options, go again and TRY and get better, or leave it at that. I have lots of unfinished business with this sport, I owe it my life. Next up: Christchurch Marathon 2024.

- Mack x