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Family – daughters Cheyenne, 15, and Amelia, 9 – provide a much-needed massage. A trophy made by daughter Cheyenne was presented to Maree on completion of her lockdown ultra-marathon.
An ultra marathon is an enormous test of physical and mental endurance for any runner – but Maree Leith went one step further, completing a 100km run during lockdown.
“A lot of runners felt quite down about all the events being cancelled, so I wanted to do it for myself and my mental health – to prove that I’m a strong runner,” she says.
Supported by her family ‘bubble’, she ran her “Hibiscus Coast Hundy” by going 100 times around a 1km loop through streets adjacent to her Stanmore Bay home.
Starting at 4.45am on April 23, she ran for 17 hours, coming in well after dark.
“During the day, my parents sat by the gate and watched me go around and my kids Amelia and Cheyenne and husband Steffan (also a keen runner) did some laps with me,” Maree says.
“I got funny looks from the neighbours and by 50km, they were starting to call out questions, so I met some neighbours for the first time in the 15 years I’ve lived there.”
Maree’s children set up an ‘aid station’, with food and drink, just outside her house.
There was no question that her fitness was up to the task – she had been training for the 100km South Island Ultra, which was originally scheduled for May. She has completed 75km before, coaches runners and runs local events such as the Get Moving series.
However, 100km on pavements around a loop course was a whole new challenge.
“Running on concrete for 17 hours was a killer. Generally ultra-runs are on trails, much easier on the knees and hips,” she says.
The lack of variation in the course was a big mental challenge and so was having home so close at hand.
“There were times when went inside for the toilet and I could have easily fallen on the couch and called it quits, but I had to go back out there.”
Everything started to hurt around 70k and after that, as well as having sore legs, Maree pulled a tendon in her foot.
“I was too close to the finish line by then. I knew the pain would go if I stopped, but I was ticking off the laps and focused on getting to the end.”
By then it had started to get dark and there were no supporters left outside.
“I had amazing support from my family, but at night it was lonely and of course there was no big fanfare at the end. The kids did a toilet paper finish line across our driveway and we gave a couple of cheers and that was it.”
Maree says it will take her a month to recover mentally and physically and not until the pain has gone will the scale of her achievement sink in.
“Nine years ago I couldn’t even run to the letterbox. I was overweight and unfit. I started with lampost running, then did my first 6km and went from there. My next goal is to conquer 100 miles (160km) but I definitely won’t do that around home!”
