Going the extra distance for fitness

Sure, you can’t hit the trails right now. Eugene Bingham finds there are other ways to get your running fix in this time of lockdown.

Cometh the hour, cometh the runner. Every sport has its heroes. In running, there’s a pantheon of stars – world record-holders, Olympic champions, and mountain women and men. No-one, bar no-one, would have expected the spotlight to ever fall on someone running a marathon on a seven-metre-long balcony. But these are the times we’re in.

And so, as coronavirus shutdowns encircled the world, Elisha Nochomovitz became an unlikely champion to runners everywhere, pounding up and down his balcony at his home in France for 42.2 kilometres.

For 6 hours and 48 minutes, Nochomovitz went back and forth, worried that his neighbours would complain about the noise.

In normal circumstances, it’s a run that would have been ignored. But these are far from normal circumstances.

And so, when he uploaded the data from his GPS watch to the Strava website, which usually is a place for runners to share and skite about epic adventures or speedy sessions, it went viral (are we allowed to say that?).

His feat has inspired others – one guy in South Auckland ran 50km around and around his house – but it’s Nochomovitz’s effort that has captivated.

That someone went to such lengths to run a marathon speaks to the frustration people everywhere are feeling about being cooped up inside. It’s the kind of frustration you have when you know it’s the right thing to be doing but, still . . .

Six weeks ago, I ran 160 kilometres – through luscious New Zealand bush, around gorgeous Rotorua lakes, and over climbs that sapped my quads, during the Tarawera Ultramarathon.

Now, I can barely leave the house. And, no, before you ask, I’m not feeling sorry for myself. It is what it is, and we have to do this, New Zild – stay home, people! It’s just a fact of life.

So, as runners, how do we cope? Personally, I’m not about to run a marathon or ultra marathon around my house.

It takes a certain type of motivation to do something as downright monotonous as that.

Once, at home with a sick child almost 20 years ago, and feeling like I desperately needed to run, I lapped up and down the back lawn for an hour while he slept inside. Nothing about doing that makes me want to do it again.

Of course, under the rules of the lockdown, we can get outside for a limited bit of exercise. Initially, in the confusion, I thought the rules meant I’d still be able to drive to the forest nearby to enjoy the trails.

But, no, now it’s clear: you can’t drive anywhere to exercise. Start and finish at your back door – and don’t go crazy.

So, my beloved trails are off limits to me for a while.

Me and the loop around the block are going to get to know each other pretty well in the next four weeks. So, yeah, I plan on heading out each morning to run.

My local route takes me along the shores of the upper Waitemata¯ Harbour and, when I time it right, the sunrise is stunning. Why would I not want to keep getting up early to soak in the majesty and beauty of this planet we live on, even if it feels like we’re under siege from an alien invader?

Another reason I’ll do it is to keep up some sort of routine. I’m a creature of habit. It keeps me grounded and it keeps me balanced.

There’s not much about the lockdown that is normal routine. But the fact that I can still get out and run is at least a fragment of a life we usually lead (and that, hopefully soon, we can get back to).

Running is not life. There are plenty who, right now, are putting their lives on the line to protect all of ours and keep us going. Looking at you, health workers, emergency services, and supermarket staff.