Back in February, a few weeks after I arrived in New Zealand, I joined a running program designed to help members train for the Christchurch Marathon, Half-Marathon, or 10k which takes place in early June each year. The program, Run Canterbury, is based out of the university I’m studying at (the University of Ccanterbury, i.e. UC), but you don’t have to be affiliated with the university to join. It was a 12-week program which consisted of group runs twice a week, a training plan for your desired race, and a couple of sport-science/nutrition seminars.
Sounds fun, right? No? Well, you’re not alone. My high school self probably would have called it crazy and gone on to describe running as a terrible form of a punishment. As someone who played soccer throughout most of my childhood and high school years, running often took the form of brutal suicides across the field or laps of varying speed around the perimeter. However, in college, running took on a new meaning. It became a way to explore my surroundings and take a break from rigorous academics. For the next year, I ran with no real goal in mind. Some months were more consistent than others and I mostly went by myself. In my second year of university, I started thinking about running longer distances, starting with a marathon. I found a training plan online and tried to stick to it, but school (and winter weather) got the better of me.
Then I found myself in New Zealand where neither of those excuses applied. First, I was taking a lighter load while studying abroad and second, it was summer in the southern hemisphere. Stumbling upon Run Canterbury during the university’s club fair, I thought a running club might be a cool thing to try out. However, I joined with very tentative thoughts about completing a marathon. Mostly, I was just hoping to get back into running because I had spent January skiing almost every day (working at a ski resort has its benefits). Any advantage I had coming from elevation had worn off as well, so I hoped running with the intermediate group would be manageable. Prior to February 2019, the furthest I’d ever run was about 10 miles…so not even a half marathon. I figured with three months of training, I could I least accomplish a half, but for some reason, a small part of me could not shake the desire to run 26.2mi (42km) in one go.
The good thing was I didn’t have to commit to a particular event until early May. So I ran just to run, often asking questions about training, pace, race nutrition, and such. The weeks went by as I tried to balance academics, exploring the country, and running. In April, I took a couple weeks off to go backpacking and sightseeing. While it was an amazing trip that I’d do again in a heartbeat, I wondered if I should forgo the marathon. However, I completed a couple long runs at my desired pace in the weeks following my return which proved to be big confidence boosters. By the second week of May I felt good enough to pay the entry fee to the Christchurch marathon, meaning I was committed.
Before I knew it, classes ended and Sunday, June 2nd arrived. It was a brisk morning with temperatures just above freezing. Rain and wind were expected, but that didn’t stop over a thousand people coming together to participate in the race (see these articles for more reports on the weather conditions). I was nervous and excited and cold and happy. I almost couldn’t believe what I was about to do. Then we were off and running, battling the elements while having fun. I played it safe and started with a generous pace due to the fear of burning out later on, but even going at a comfortable speed, my shins started aching in the first few miles and my knee started bothering me before I had even reached halfway. As you might guess, this dampened my mood. I could only imaging what I would feel like at the end having issues early on. However, something interesting happened; instead of the pain getting worse, it eased away. That’s not to say my legs didn’t tire, of course they did, but the specific pains disappeared the further I ran. In fact, by the last 10km, I was honestly enjoying myself. Passing the last drink station (5km from the finish), I picked up the pace. Still feeling good, I ended up sprinting the last few hundred meters across the finish line with a time of 3:48:16 (hours:minutes:seconds), accomplishing my goal of running a marathon in under four hours.
Completing a marathon felt incredibly rewarding and looking back, joining Run Canterbury turned out to be one of the best decisions I made while studying abroad. The program and the people opened my eyes to the world of distance running. I loved how students from UC, students from nearby universities, adults affiliated with UC in some respect, and adults from Christchurch all came together to just run. I don't know how many running groups in the States are as diverse in that manner, but I'd guess they're not very common. The running community in Christchurch helped me realize the joy of running with others and reminded me of why I love to run. With only a week left in Christchurch, there are just a handful of runs left for me to participate in and I’m trying not to dwell on the fact that my time in New Zealand is coming to an end. Running with and learning from these individuals has truly been a pleasure. I don't think I would have found them if not for studying abroad (as opposed to just traveling). I’m seriously going to miss Run Canterbury (and the Run Canterbury Social Running Club) when I leave. Undoubtedly, Christchurch will have a special place in my heart because of this experience.