Forgive me Strava for I have sinned; it has been 10 days since I last ran, and in that time I have found excuses in the weather and sore legs, along with drinking too much beer and eating too many ‘yellow’ foods.
I thought since this will be my third blog here on NZ Trail Run, I’d best be doing my introductions and get you up to speed. So…
These are the tales of my experiences as a slow runner of the trails, as the Kiwi Trail Snail.
In the real world my name is Brent and I’m the Operations Manager/engineer/dogs body for Revolution Fibres, a nanotech company in Auckland. Which is pretty interesting in it’s own right, but that’s not why you’re here. You’re here for the running, yeah the running.
I started writing my blog posts late 2015 as part of me being a CEP/Icebug Inspirer for the Hillary Trail Race where I ran the 16km event (my longest run at the time). Apparently people liked them, I enjoyed writing them, so though why not flog this dead horse for all it’s worth and keep going. After agonizing over a witty and snappy name I came up with The Ginger Runner, but then realized that was already taken and I’m not a redhead so I went with something more appropriate the Kiwi Trail Snail. Over at my website: TrailSnail.kiwi there are 20 odd blog posts (not all posts are odd), so if you feel so inclined please go and have a read and follow along at home, or on Facebook.
Fitting running in around work, wife and two preschool daughters proves to be a bit of a challenge at times. However getting out for a run has proved to be a great break from the stresses of work and noise of the house, and I’ve met some pretty awesome people and seen some awesome places. I’ve also started a trail shoe collection that’s starting to make my wife jealous of their numbers.
In what seems like a lifetime ago I was a competitive rower and rugby player, however for the past 10 years I’ve really only been working on expanding my waistline. Having decided to make a change at the start of 2015 I started jogging and was quickly enticed off the roads by friends who are into the trail running. Since then I have lost a good chunk of weight (20kg for now, 25 more for the goal), feel a lot better and have a new passion/obsession. I’m never going to be setting any course records but I’m down with that, I’ve done the whole super competitive sport gig before and now it is about the experiences, pushing myself and a cold craft beer after. I’d like to say the first two more than the beer but who I’m I kidding, I do love a good double IPA.
A few months ago I was loving my running but some niggles in my lower legs in the past few weeks have sucked a bit of the fun out of things. For the first few km of a run I’m getting sore calves and shins, and although they settle down it’s something that’s more than a little annoying. So armed now with a new roller stick, golf ball and a range of ways to abuse my legs with them from Chris, I hopefully be able to roll away the pain and get some training in before my longest race; The new 22km Tikitapu Run with the Tarawera Marathon, with the added bonus of weekend without the kids.
The Rare Kiwi Trail Snail 