JOGGING JUGGERNAUT
KERRIS BROWNE AIMS FOR 10 ROTORUA MARATHONS IN A ROW
Kerris’ marathon milestone
It was 10 years ago that Kerris Browne had an “epiphany”. Aged 39 at the time, the Rotorua woman knew she needed to change her increasingly unhealthy lifestyle.
“I’d become unfit sitting around an office every day,” explains Kerris, who works as a chief executive at a sawmill. “I was eating the wrong foods, I was struggling to lose baby weight and not happy. I’d lived in Rotorua for many years, seen the impact of the Rotorua Marathon, so I said, ‘I’m going to do the Rotorua Marathon’.”
Little did Kerris know that her decision to transform her life through fitness and healthy living would have a seismic impact, and lead to hundreds of people getting off the couch and changing their lives the same way.
“I never started out with any real plan but to see my own life improve 100% through exercise, and now to be able to help others has been an amazing gift,” she says.
Born in Canada to American parents, Kerris grew up in Fiji, arriving in Rotorua as a 17-year- old refugee following the Fijian coup. She settled into the New Zealand lifestyle and eventually married husband Chris, with the pair taking over her father’s sawmill business.
The couple had two children, Aria (now 18) and Javier (now 16), but life was tough raising a young family and juggling business commitments. Kerris’ weight reached 80kg before the petite mum-of-two felt inspired to do something.
Training for her first marathon wasn’t easy. She describes her early fitness routine of jogging the 3km to home from work each day as awful.
“I’d walk a bit and then when a car came past I’d start jogging, only to walk again when the car had passed,” she explains. “In my head I’d try to run to the next power pole without stopping, or I’d try and reach the next power pole ahead before the car behind me would reach their first.”
But she kept going, and completed her first Rotorua Marathon in 2009 covering the 42km distance in five hours and 45 minutes “by running the first 10km and walking the remaining 32km”. She giggles at her lack of pacing and training knowledge back then, but explains that she was keen to get the same adrenaline buzz and so kept training, eventually becoming hooked.
Consistently chipping 15 minutes from her time each year she participated, Kerris eventually got her marathon personal best down to four hours and 37 minutes. She stresses that training for the marathon is less about personal times and more about the overall lifestyle transformation.
“Exercise has turned my life around,” insists the athletic 49-year-old. “I eat better, have far more energy, hardly ever get sick and my mood is a lot more stable. I don’t get as easily upset and I’m not as flighty as I used to be. What I’ve really discovered is it’s not the body that holds you back but the mind.”
For some time, Kerris trained out of established running clubs but found they didn’t meet the needs of novices. From this, she came up with Jogging the Powerpoles, a Facebook group aimed at beginners achieving a running goal, whether it be 10km, a half marathon, full marathon or trail run.
“I called it Jogging the Powerpoles because this relates to how many people start just like I did,” she explains. “It’s the first step on the ladder for many and a lot of people connected with that.”
Offering no membership fee to join the group, Kerris has watched the community grow, gobsmacked as it reached the point where she needed to expand the available fitness options. With more than 20 fitness sessions a week, Jogging the Powerpoles includes various run options, swim and bike sessions, and bootcamps.
The fitness fanatic, who is hoping to complete her 10th successive Rotorua Marathon next year and is currently training for her second Ironman NZ, today weighs a healthy 61kg and insists her future goals are focused not on herself but on helping others.
“I now have the confidence to allow my body to complete some big endurance goals, but to also be able to teach other people to train their minds and believe in what they thought was impossible is an amazing part of the journey.”