Every day is a marathon
After two weeks of running Forrest-Gump-like distances, Lucy Clark is growing accustomed to blisters and dehydration.
She’s aiming to run 3000 kilometres – the length of New Zealand – in 70 days.
And if she manages it, Clark will be the fastest woman to run the Te Araroa Trail, defeating the previous record of 77 days.
The 34 year old has already completed 750km when she’s spotted running in the scorching sun along the Waikato River.
But the Australian-based woman is relatively fresh-faced and chatty when she stops to speak with Stuff, despite having run about 45km that day.
She’s averaging more than a marathon each day. Her husband drives alongside her, stopping in planned spots so Clark can cram down food and drink.
Although she can’t seem to eat, drink or sleep enough, Clark says, crunching her way through a packet of chips.
Halfway through an interview, Lucy Clark goes pale and slumps under the shade of a tree.
‘‘Hang on. I just got a bit dizzy all of a sudden,’’ she says, as her husband Tommy rushes over with a bottle of orange liquid.
‘‘All right,’’ she says after about 10 seconds. ‘‘I’m good now.’’
The key to staying injury free is chowing down as much food as possible and sleeping nine or 10 hours each night, Clark says. She opts for plain, calorie-dense food such as cornflakes, peanut butter sandwiches and dozens of Clif Bars.
A handwritten note pinned to the wall of the campervan says ‘‘eat the elephant, one bit at a time’’. It’s relevant to Clark in more ways than one.
‘‘At night I’ll eat a block of chocolate but I’m actually not enjoying it, really. I just know that I’m probably not going to be able to eat as much as I’m burning.’’
Clark is no stranger to running, having completed a number of marathons, trail running races and a few ultra marathons.
‘‘But nothing of this magnitude. So actually, the first day of this trip I ran 70kms on 90-Mile Beach and actually that’s the most I’ve done in a single day. So it’s very much entering unchartered waters for me. Which is part of the fun. You’re on the knife edge of your limit.’’
Often she’ll stop and chat with hikers or be running with other people, who have tracked her progress through her Adventurous Lucy blog. Her husband, Tom Wright, says it’s been interesting stopping to chat with locals and experiencing the smaller towns of NZ.
‘‘You can go online for ages . . . But talk to a local, ask a farmer. He’ll tell you everything you need to know within five or 10 minutes.’’
Clark says Wright, ‘‘basically does everything except running’’.
‘‘He does all the food, he does all the washing . . . For the first four or five days he was my counsellor because I was in tears.
‘‘He’s got it harder than me I would say.’’
‘‘It’s very much entering uncharter ed waters for me. Which is part of the fun. You’re on the knife edge of your limit.’’ Lucy Clark