THE Long Game
4am in Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport. “What are you in Taipei for?” asks the woman beside me.
“An endurance running event,” I reply. “A 24-hour race where you run as far as you can within that time.”
“You mean a marathon?” She’s impressed, and turns to the next person in line. “This lady here has come from New Zealand to run a marathon!”
Further attempts to describe the nature of a 24-hour don’t land at all, so we accept that I’m doing a marathon and move on.
“Want to represent New Zealand in Taiwan?” asked the Athletics NZ email six weeks back. Does a trail runner shit (responsibly) in the woods? Suffice it to say, I was keen. Luckily a few others were too and we fielded a full team to represent New Zealand in the Asia-Oceania 24 Hour Championships, including some trail stalwarts new to the loopy track scene.
It can be a tricky event to explain, to non-runners, yes, but also to runners.
