A champion Kiwi trail runner and her life lessons
The running world that Ruth Croft inhabits is about as foreign to most Kiwi runners as you could possibly imagine.
For starters, she is so damn fast. Last year, she came second at the world trail running champs in Portugal, tearing through the field after a slow start; repeated her victory at the Mont Blanc Marathon; and knocked out a 2h 34m road marathon for kicks.
The proud West Coaster spends half her year overseas, competing in Europe, Asia, and the United States, sponsored by companies like Scott Running and Garmin. At European races in particular, she is a popular and oft-recognised star – something the naturally shy 31-year-old has had to figure out how to deal with.
On the face of it, it seems there is not much the average runner can learn from Croft. But back up the truck.
My Dirt Church Radio co-host Matt Rayment spoke with Croft for the podcast this week and when you listen, there are so many gems.
There is something in the grounded way Croft approaches life that means parts of her running rockstar ways are relatable to dirtbag runners like me. Take her attitude to what others might consider a catastrophe during an important race at the end of the season last year. Croft was competing in Nepal at the final of the Golden Trail World Series, of which she was overall champion in 2018.
The race was never going to be easy – climbing up to 3800m then dropping back down – but Croft’s day almost immediately went wrong. ‘‘At 4km into it, a group of 15 of us all went the wrong way,’’ she said. They had to retrace their steps to figure out how to get back on course, losing an hour. ‘‘So fighting for the top position was not really in the question any more.’’
But did she throw a tantrum? A few years earlier when the same thing happened at a race in China, she went dark about it.
But this time she had learned: ‘‘It is just a race. In the bigger picture, you just had to look around: we were in Nepal, and the race was going through these small villages where there was not a lot of money; and here we are, having flown across the world to do this race . . . it just put things back into perspective for you. Taking a wrong turn is not really a big deal.’’
I have never taken a wrong turn in a crucial race where I was running for the title (actually, I have never even come close to running in that kind of situation). But plenty of things go wrong in races, just like plenty of things go wrong in life. The test is how you deal with them. Do you stomp and scream, lash out, or blame someone else?
Or do you stop for a second and take a breath. You are experiencing something so many people never will. You are fortunate. And getting caught up in a negative mind-mince is not going to change anything a jot.
Perhaps that ability to turn
her mind has come from some time-out Croft has taken at the end of the past couple of years.
Once the global circus of trail races has stopped, she has headed to a silent meditation retreat. It seems incongruous for someone who spends much of her life operating at speed, often at events where people are whooping and hollering.
But Croft says it is exactly what she needs. ‘‘I think it is really important at the end of the season especially because I feel like when I am in Europe I am in this running bubble the whole time. It is really good to step away from running and everything about it and just have some time to focus on yourself and have a break from it all.’’
I do not have the same pressures as Croft. But I get what she means. Sometimes you need to get away from the machine, to take a break and let your mind disconnect. And it is in those moments, when you have got time to listen and think, that you realise we are all more similar than we are different.
Eugene Bingham and Matt Rayment are hosts of a trail running podcast Dirt Church Radio. Learn more at dirtchurchradio.com or get in touch via email dirtchurchradio@gmail.com