Beating the Ring of Fire

Leg 1 – Chateau to Ohakune Mount Road (23.9km) – 'The Goat'

I’m running on two hours’ sleep. Don’t panic. It is what it is. The first wave of runners started at 3.50am. These are the serious athletes. Am I a fraud for joining them or should I have waited for the next wave five minutes later?

Those minutes will count for a lot at the far end of the day. Last year I was the sixth woman home and second in my age group.

Not bad for a 43-year-old working mum of three. I’m not expecting to beat that result this year. It’s a much tougher line-up: three times as many international entrants – and Lucy Bartholomew has entered, the Junior World Skyrunning champion.

Wow. How cool to be running in the same race as her.

Okay, let’s experiment with leg one. My husband always says my superpower is pacing myself so that I get faster toward the end of the race. But that means I potentially lose most of my time in this first leg. What if I push it here, just a little?

Might bite me later, but I won’t know if I don’t try. Don’t want to look back at this split and kick myself.

Padding up the road and onto the trail. Amazing night running. Phenomenal mixed technical terrain. Silence. The shadow of the mountain in the moonlight. Just me and the world.

And all these other runners. No idea where I am in