Article 1. Where I put my ambition in public, in writing.

Lessons from the Long Run

“By the time I graduated I was so burnt out that I can remember the sense of relief at the start line for my last race, knowing that I wouldn’t have to run again. It didn’t seem like there would be much more running in my future” - May 2013

It’s crazy the ups and downs you go through in life! From wanting to leave running behind completely after college, to standing on the start line for 100-mile events and competing against and aspiring to be the best in the world. It has certainly been a ride, a ride in which I’ve learnt a heap of different lessons. Lessons about myself, about others, and about the incredible sport of trail running and most recently ultra-running. Now I feel like it’s time to share those lessons with you, to let you know a little more about me and my journey so far, and to go on record with my ambition to become a full-time athlete

Now it’s go time!

One of the key lessons I’ve learnt over the last 20+ years, is that even though running may be labelled an “individual sport” it definitely takes a team to be able to help you get on the start line and to the finish line. Throughout my life, I’ve been super lucky to have had great support around me. From the times being encouraged by family, coaches and teachers as a youngster in NZ, through to most recently where I’ve had incredibly understanding employers and very generous supporters. (I have to shout out Michelle my partner here who has gone as far as to fall in love with trail running!). This has all led me to the point where I’m at today. Wanting to become a full-time athlete, but still sitting on the cusp. Getting a taste for what I want but still not quite there. I would love nothing more than to be able to sit here in 12 months’ time, and say that my full-time job is to run. To compete at the highest level, as frequently as possible and to make my mark on this incredible sport. In Kiwi terms, I feel like it’s the right time to give this a “real crack”

So here it is. Article one, where I put my ambition in public, in writing.

But how did we get to this point? 

A long time ago my first taste of friendly competition was racing every Saturday with the Whakatāne Harrier Club. Running was in the family growing up so it’s just what we did. Every Saturday my parents took me, my brother, and sister to Harriers, and we raced hard. There was a lot less training going on then, yet that didn’t deter from the competitiveness that was instilled in us. As a youngster, I hated losing. I guess on reflection, that’s lesson one from sport. You need to learn how to win and learn how to deal with losing. It took me a while to learn this one though!  

From those Saturday’s at Harriers, I then landed myself in my first trail race as an 11-year-old and ran alongside my Nana (thanks Nana). Toi’s Challenge is an 18km race in my home town and showcases some amazing coastal and native bush trails that really feel synonymous with my childhood. From here I felt a real connection with trail running and had some nice success. This passion I developed for running and adventure led me to try and follow in my dad’s footsteps and in high school I took up multi-sport. Dad was a real inspiration to me. A professional adventure racer and multi-sporter, he was the first North Islander to win the famous Coast to Coast in NZ.  

My grandparents played a huge roll in getting me active and loving the running community

13 - 23 years old, The Rollercoaster Years

Looking back on my high school years, I realise I was super lucky to have amazing teachers and role models at school. The Whakatane community pushed us to appreciate the opportunities that sports can provide. I really believe this community involvement is part of the reason why Whakatane has produced an amazing number of top athletes and Olympians, Lisa Carrington, Hayden Wilde, Sarah Walker, Nathan Twaddle, Karen Hanlen, Sam Clark, Benji Marshall, so many I can’t name everyone.

As I approached the end of high school, I realised there was an opportunity to get a free education competing for a University in the States. This opportunity rested on a fairly hopeless ability at track and with a slight potential to convert trail skills to cross country. Against the odds I was admitted to Eastern Kentucky University where I started my collegiate running career. On reflection I can look back with a bit of regret on my running performances at university. There was improvement from my first indoor track race where I failed to break 9 minutes in the 3000m, however, I was using my time at university more to get a degree, start a career in the corporate world, to make the big bucks, rather than improve my running to a post collegiate level. Despite this I put a lot of pressure on myself to perform. The combination of pressure, dread of workouts, and lack of inspiring training grounds took its toll on me. By the time I graduated I was so burnt out that I can remember the sense of relief on my last race knowing that I wouldn’t have to run again. It didn’t seem like there would be much more running in my future.

Getting the love back

This is when I returned to NZ, moved to Wellington, and found a job with PwC, and got back into Multisport. For the most part, I have very fond memories of these times. PwC supported me in my multisport/adventure racing endeavours. This allowed me to compete multiple times in China, take part in the Godzone Adventure race and the Coast-to-Coast Longest Day, achieving some good results in the three-discipline sport of kayaking, cycling and dare I say it running. 

Despite really enjoying the challenge of multiple disciplines, running is in my blood, so I joined the Wellington Scottish Harrier Club in 2017. Here I met some top runners, especially in the marathon distance. Marathon running? This was intriguing. Something further than 10km and half marathon and maybe a distance where my slow twitch, endurance muscle fibres wouldn’t be such a disadvantage. 

I locked in the Gold Coast marathon as my debut race and set about training through the NZ summer. My club teammate and mentor Nick Horspool was amazing in the advice that he offered me and as a training partner. I really enjoyed the increased mileage and longer marathon-type sessions. It appeared the increased mileage suited me and in my marathon training block, I went on to break my 5km and 10km PB’s in back-to-back weekends to become the Wellington Champ. These performances filled me with mixed emotions. Of course, I was happy to PB, but it made me look back at my college career and wonder if I had found a different training formula then what could have been. Anyway, I debuted at Gold Coast Marathon in 2 hours 20 mins and 5 seconds. A successful start.

I guess I was now a marathon runner! 

Another big step, but with inevitable bumps

I felt like I could really have a good crack at this (Kiwi slang once again for the international readers :-)). I ended up leaving PwC, started coaching under a sub contractual agreement and mentorship with Dougal Allan and started on my new dream of representing New Zealand in the marathon. I got my time down to 2:16:15 at Gold Coast marathon the following year, missing the world champ’s qualifier by 15 seconds. So this raised the question, how can I make the next step to better myself, and better my time. I believed that would come through training at altitude with the best in the world in Iten, Kenya. 

By this stage, it was 2019 and I’m pretty committed to cracking it as a marathon runner, so I went there and trained hard. However, instead of continuing and racing the Hannover Marathon in an elite field to drag me through for a quick time, Covid-19 happened. With my she’ll be right attitude I decided to stay on in Kenya and allow Covid to die out after what I presumed would be a worst-case scenario of a month or so. That as we know, did not eventuate. Bring on days of training, coaching, and getting into some serious YouTube deep dives. Here was where the initial seed of ultra-running was planted. For sure I knew about the ultramarathon, and I’d already competed in a couple of 100km events in China and the Kepler Challenges, but with the YouTube algorithms feeding me everything I wanted to see, I got through about every Western States documentary there is available. Those doco’s sparked something in me. 

I spent the next five months in Kenya training. Post Kenya and post quarantine I continued to pursue the marathon dream for a bit longer and I had good success domestically in NZ, winning the Auckland Marathon for 3 x consecutive years. However, I didn’t bite the bullet to travel and put myself in a position to improve my time. Covid restrictions as we know did eventually pass, but by this time I had made the decision to concentrate on trying to get to the infamous Western States ultra (100 miles). Writing this, it still feels like I quit on that dream to represent New Zealand in the marathon. However, just like opportunities present themselves in life with career changes, and other important life decisions, this I feel was one of the best decisions that I have made. 

Here we go!

Since the beginning of 2022, I’ve tested myself in different races and situations as I pursued my Western States dream. It feels a little cliche to say but I learnt so much from the races over the last 18 months that haven’t gone to plan. Which all culminated in an incredible first experience at Western States. The size of this event, meeting and training with incredible athletes, the response from family, friends and fans of the sport from all of the world has really opened my eyes to the fact that through all of the ups and downs I’ve landed right where I want to be. 

It’s time to continue to take lessons from the long run, to push forward and give everything I can to this sport. 

If you’ve got to this point, I hope it felt more like a 10k jog than an ultra-marathon!  I really appreciate all the support. My hope for this newsletter is that I can use my experience as an elite athlete, coach and adventure guide to provide some transparent, unique and detailed insight into my journey towards becoming the best I can be in trail running. And that in turn the lessons I’ve learnt and am learning along the way hold value for you and you can implement them into your life

I’d love for you to join my community as a Founding Contributor. This will genuinely help support me to realise my dream. For all those that contribute I’ll set up a 30-minute 1 to 1 video session where you can ask me anything, I’ll provide you with extra insight over the next 12 months and you’ll be able to leave comments and we can discuss the articles I post. 

Keep working hard, appreciate the support

Dan

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