RUNNING WILD IN PATAGONIA

DIEZ, NUEVE, OCHO...we are starting already? But we just got off the bus!.

SIETE, SEIS, CINCO, CUATRO...set the watch, quick selfie at the start line.

TRES, DOS, UNO...and it hit me. I was here. I was doing it. My dream of running in Patagonia was becoming a reality.

I felt a wave of emotion wash over me, and then settled in to a jog up to the starting incline.

Patagonia has fascinated me for years. Prior to moving to New Zealand from Ireland, I had spent time rock climbing and mountaineering in Europe and had read of the famous peaks in Patagonia that serious climbers attempt to summit.

Torres del Paine National Park is home to Los Torres – awe-inspiring mighty granite towers that rise dramatically into the sky from a high mountain lake.

I had dreamed of visiting this Park, but never thought that one day I may be racing in it.

Races and trail running became part of my life when I moved to Christchurch to join the post-earthquake rebuild effort.

I was inspired by the iconic Coast to Coast race and decided to learn – all at the same time - how to road