High Achiever: Reckons exercise saved her life.
Ngaroimata Reid reckons exercise probably saved her life.
Struggling with weight gain and in the shadow of post-natal depression she got moving.
While she’s never exercised consistently through her life, Ngaroimata says walking has been a bit of a “go-to place” for her.
It was her sister-in-law – someone Ngaroimata describes as “Miss Fitness” – who suggested doing the New York City Marathon together.
The furthest Ngaroimata had ever done was 10km, so she enlisted the help of the School of Sport at Unitec to get her on track with her training, diet and headspace.
“I was really committed to them as a group because they were really committed to me.”
Ngaroimata says she’s always been a big person so one of the biggest challenges was getting her weight down from 120kg.
She learned the science of training from the experts at Unitec, drop 30-odd kilos and clock hundreds of kilometres walking.
“I actually think that your network of friends and family, the people around you, is really important – in fact vital.
“Everywhere, every kind of milestone that I’ve met, they’ve been there.”
Ngaroimata travelled to New York with her husband, son and son’s friend in November 2015, it was laying out her gear the night before that it really hit her that she was actually going to be part of the 50,000 other participants to take on the NYC Marathon.
“I remember thinking to myself: there is no turning back now.”
Setting out on the 42km course that takes in the five boroughs of New York – Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens, The Bronx and Manhattan – Ngaroimata knew she’d be among the slowest walkers on the course.
She got a massive lift seeing her family in the heart of Brooklyn at the 12km mark.
But race officials were coming through advising runners and walkers that the sweep van would be coming to pick up anyone who didn’t think they could complete.
Ngaroimata was also warned that by the time the final sweep vans get to the finish lines the streets would begin to be reopened.
It only strengthened her resolve to finish.
“I think I was driven by fear, the fear of not finishing, the fear of someone taking that away from me.”
But she took a look around her and saw there were New York cops stationed on every corner, supporting the runners going past.
“What did begin to happen, which I feel was a bit of a miracle, at times when I was on my own people joined me.”
The final tough miles through Central Park were made easier when out of nowhere came her family, who walked with her to the finish line – something she knows wouldn’t have been possible if she’d been with the main bunch of runners.
It was the “cherry on the top” of an event that will be hard to beat, says Ngaroimata.
Ngaroimata is also mulling over her next event, maybe the Paris Marathon.
“And I know I could do it, that’s the thing,” she says.
“The other thing I realised is I love the fitness I get from training, I love it, love it, love it, and I want to keep doing it. “I can’t wait to be honest.” Ngaroimata travelled to New York City with Marathon World Travel, whom she highly recommends. `Judy and her team from Marathon World Travel were fantastic, and they made everything so easy, so that we just had to concentrate on our training’.