Tarawera Miler Race Journal

Before the Race

After a disappointing UTMB ended my 2023 season I wanted to run a race at the start of 2024 that I knew I could do well at. I had been to New Zealand for Tarawera event last year, ran some trails in the area, and knew that it would be suited to my strengths.It was something that I could get excited about and takes place on terrain I could prepare for in Fort Collins even if it snowed a lot. I chose the Miler over the 100k because I can get more excited about that distance, and without Golden Tickets in the 100k, I figured neither race would necessarily be more competitive than the other (based on post-race UTMB index scores the two races ended up being comparatively competitive).

After a slow start to the training cycle in November, I started feeling good in December. I traveled home to Massachusetts for Christmas, and when I returned in the beginning of January, I tweaked my left hip flexor. Naturally, I proceeded to run though it and ran over 100 miles that week including a track workout with 9 miles of speedwork followed by a 24 mile long run. With six weeks to the race I was fit, but couldn’t sleep or put on pants and socks without pain. Luckily I had a PT appointment on the schedule. Craig told me to take a day off and then just run easy for a week, and gave me some exercises to address the issue. I started seeing progress and, after 10 days of easy running and moderate vert, I was able to get back to full volume. I never added back in long runs with big vert, but I figured running on the roads around Horsetooth Reservoir would better match the elevation profile of Tarawera anyway. A pain free sub 30 minute Towers Time Trial with no pain on January 30th gave me the final bit of confidence that my hip would be good to go.

I arrived in Rotorua 12 days before the race and stayed about a kilometer from the Redwood Forest, which the race would pass through in the last 10 miles. I found myself happy to be in New Zealand. It was nice and warm, but I still wore tights/pants and long sleeves for every run so that I would be ready for a warm race day. I had a pretty miserable run on the Western Okataina Trail and decided that that section would likely be the crux of the race. That first week ended up being my highest vert week of the whole build up. I also spent some time with Zach, Eric, Matt and Evan putting on the Born to Adapt Clinic. I got to bed before 9pm every night leading up to the race.

I cut back the vert on race week, moved into the host hotel by the finish in downtown Rotorua and made final preparations for the race. I managed to put together a great crew with two pacers. Tim and George would crew, George would pace for 20 miles and Simon, who had finished this race 5th last year, would pace me for the last 10 miles. I was excited to wear the newest version of the On trail super shoe - Cloudultra Endurance. I was also interested to see how my stomach handled 100g of carbs per hour with new nutrition sponsor Carbs Fuel - their gels have 50g compared to the 25 of most gels I’ve used. So just by keeping my same schedule of eating a gel every 30 min I’d get to 100g/hr.

As for the competition, I was confident that if I ran as I knew I was capable of running and I could manage the heat, I would win. I would be on the lookout for Sam Harvey (NZ) who had a great resume of back yard ultras (over 100 hours!) but hadn’t yet run a great traditional race and George Murray (AUS) who had won Ultra Trail Australia 100k in May, 2023. Mike Carroll (AUS) also had a consistent resume. The 2nd place finisher in 2023, Hajime Mamba (JPN), was returning, but his Strava indicated he had a stress injury and could barely run leading into the race.


Start to Outlet - Mile 18

Like Leadville, the race started in the dark at 4am. I woke up a little prior to 1am having gone to bed at 8, and got on the shuttle to the start. After a haka, they sent us off into the night. A group of about 10 or so runners took off. I was worried about letting so many go but was able to stay relaxed. The start of the race was mostly rolling dirt roads and slightly uphill. I wanted to get ahead on hydration, so I drank a lot of water/coffee before the start, which led to a lot of pee breaks. It’s kind of annoying, but I’ve learned that it's necessary for me.

There was a waterfall and some cool trail running before the aid station, but it was still dark so I couldn't see it. It looked pretty in pictures though!


Outlet to Rerewhakaaitu - Mile 40

I had sent a drop bag to Outlet so I grabbed some snacks out of that and refilled my bottles. There were a few more miles of trails and then we got onto forest roads. At this point I started to see runners ahead of me. Matt Dunn was the first and I sort of followed him, gaining on him a little bit mile by mile as we both passed through the field. I kept thinking that I had maybe gone out too hard, but that many of those in front of me definitely had.

There was a steeper uphill right before 50k and I caught up with Sam and George. Sam said they had gone out too hard and he was going to take it easy for a few aid stations. I asked him what place he was in, and he said that I was now in third. Mamba was just 50 meters up, working hard and then Matt. I moved on thinking that it would be the last I’d see of Sam. I blew by Mamba, who was struggling, and finally caught up to Matt. We were now at the front of the race!

After a big annoying downhill Matt and I stayed together for a bit and chatted as we ran on some more forest roads. We soon popped out of the forest and on to some paved roads through the open countryside. We were lucky that it was still cool and not too sunny. There were about 10k of these road miles until the aid station. Matt said he would run with me to the aid station and then drop back not thinking it was smart for him to run at 15 hour pace. He ended up dropping back after a couple miles on the roads as I was running low 7min/mile pace.

The Rerewhakaaitu Aid Station was where I’d see George and Tim for the first time. I thought I already had the race in the bag at this point…


Rerewhakaaitu to Buried Village - Mile 55

I still had my headlamp on my head leaving the aid station, so I walked for a bit and put it back in my pack. I started running again and turned around to see how far back Matt was. But Matt wasn’t behind me, it was Sam. He called out something like “Hey Adrian, looking good!”

We had a few more miles of paved road running and then on some dirt roads to the boat crossing. Sam was getting closer and closer and he was singing! He caught me just as I got to the boat so we would cross together. He took out his phone and took a selfie and posted it to his Instagram. The crossing was about a mile and took about 4 minutes.

We got off the boat and quickly came upon a little aid station. They weren’t ready for us, and we struggled to top off our bottles. Then there was about a mile of grassy, junky, trail along the lake before we got to the Tarawera Trail. I had run the Tarawera trail a week before and knew that while it was smooth, it was windy with lots of up and down, and hard to run fast. It was about 10k and, while in the woods, the trees were not too thick, and it was starting to get warm. The trail started with a pretty big uphill and I dropped Sam. I felt my lead extend over the first few miles and thought again that it would be the last I’d see of him. But before the final steep climb up from the lake shore, I heard the hikers I passed cheer for him right after me and then saw him just a bit behind me. I pulled away again on that last climb and again thought it would be the last time I saw him, but I was surprised that he kept coming back and when I got to the aid station, I told George that I couldn’t drop him.


Buried Village to Okataina - Mile 71

I drank some extra water at the aid station because I had run out on the Tarawera Trail, and cooled off with some sponges. Tim put some more sunscreen on me and I took off. I think Tim Day, the course director, briefed me that I’d be running with traffic on a road for a bit and then joining in with the 100k runners. I took off down the road. George and Tim stopped as they drove by and told me that I had a couple of minutes on Sam, but that he had stopped to sit down and didn’t look as fresh as me.

I was moving pretty well on the road, and then came upon the 100k runners. Soon after we crossed the road onto a rooty, single track trail. It was pretty crowded with 100k runners who I had to pass. Most were surprised by me. After that section I got a helpful escort from a race official on a bike. While it was a bit annoying to have to pass so many runners, it was also encouraging to get the cheers and the surprised remarks of “there goes the first miler!” I hoped I’d have the escort for the Western Okataina trail, but he told me I was on my own after the Millar Road Aid Station.

I got to the Millar Road Aid Station, and it was packed. Luckily race media was there to sort of push me in front of the line. I filled up my bottles and took off. I knew these next 20 mile would be tough and had been mentally preparing for it to be the crux of the race for the past week since I had run it as my last moderate long run, and remembered it being hot and hilly both ways.

I don’t remember too much about going out on the trail except seeing the 100k race playing out as they ran towards me and looking forward to running with George after the turn around at the Okataina Aid Station. I also was curious to see how steep the backside was. I think I ran pretty much the whole way on the way out, but figured I'd do some hiking up the back side.


Okataina to Millar Road - Mile 83

After the steep descent there was a little flat running into the aid station. I filled up my pack and bottles and hoped to find some bread at the buffet. I grabbed a honey sandwich that didn’t hit the spot, sponged myself off again, and George and I took off.

He told me I was doing great and that I kept showing up ahead of my projections. I thought that was a great sign. We finished the Okataina lollipop and headed back up the steep climb. I knew this would be tough and it was! I thought we handled it pretty well though. There was a long downhill and then another uphill that I could run. On the downhill back to Millar Road my left hamstring felt a little crampy, but was only a minor concern. I got back to Millar Road thinking I definitely had the race in the bag and would cruise to the finish.


Millar Road to Lake Tikitapu - Mile 90

As I got to the Aid Station, Majell with the race Instagram story, was there asking me about how I was feeling and what I was thinking about. I was feeling pretty confident that I would win and said something about looking forward to getting a pizza in town. While grabbing some potato chips from the aid station, I asked how big my lead was. Majeli said he didn’t know but that the tracker was estimating 15 minutes. That wasn’t as much as I hoped, but with less than 20 miles to go and with me still feeling good, I was still pretty confident but I knew we’d have to stay focused.

Then, about a mile later, Majell drove by and said that Sam and Mike had come in just 6 minutes after me - 2nd and 3rd place both!. I was shocked and began thinking they would both blow by me and I’d have to settle for third. Quickly, George was like, “Adrian, we’ve got 5k to the lake and then another 5k around the lake to the next aid station. How do you feel about a bit of a push?” I, after accepting that I would have to run hard said “I think we need to” and we took off.

I felt surprisingly good and my confidence was coming back. We got to the lake and Tim told us they were just 5 minutes back. So I picked it up even more. I felt like I was flying around the lake. George was encouraging me “you're Wout Van Aert on a breakaway, trying to hold off the peloton to win the stage!” and “there's no way anyone is running as fast as you are!”I felt a rush of emotion thinking about how fast I was running and how great it would feel to win in a true race to the finish. I was amazed at what my body was doing over 90 miles into a race.


Lake Tikitapu to Finish

I kept pushing through the aid station, grabbed maybe one final gel and swapped George in for Simon. I was pretty familiar with the last section of the course and knew I had one hill to climb and then it was all downhill. The first two miles with Simon were sub 7 and then we took on the big climb after hearing I was now 8 minutes ahead of Sam and Mike (I’m not sure where this came from, but at the time I thought that meant at Tikitapu). This hill was one that I had easily run up when previewing the course, but Simon advised me to hike and then focus on pushing the downhill through the Redwoods.That sounded good to me! Simon knew every little bump on the course, which was so helpful.

We made it up the hill and then picked up the pace again heading down to the Redwoods Aid Station. I was once again pretty confident I would win and had it confirmed when a friend of Simon told us that I actually had 19 minutes at Tikitapu. Simon responded “don’t tell us that!” I still sort of doubted that until it was confirmed at the Redwoods Aid Station. I ran though and sort of began to celebrate. It was just 4 easy, flat miles through the salt flats to the finish. The 18-19 minute lead at Tikitapu was confirmed.

We ran through the smoldering salt flats and on to the finish. At this point the adrenaline of being pushed had worn out and I just wanted to get to the finish and lie down. I got a little rush in the finish shoot and slapped the spectators hands before putting out my hands in celebration as I crossed the line.

Then, they started doing a haka! I was not expecting this and didn’t know how to act. smiled and then thought that I shouldn’t be doing that when they were doing something so serious/intimidating. I watched till the end, waved to the crowd and was presented with the trophy and asked to pick out a pounamu.

Then I sat down to wait for Sam and Mike, who were apparently both in the Redwoods Aid Station together. I was feeling a bit sick, but that quickly went away with some chips. Sam came in 29 minutes after me, I gave him a hug and took off. They told me that they had to weigh me before I could leave. I asked what would happen if I weighed too little and they said they’d have to hold me for treatment. I stepped on the scale and they said that I had gained 8kg and they would have to hold me for treatment for that too! We convinced them that they had written down the wrong number at the pre-race weigh-in - 57 instead of 67.

Walked to the hotel to shower and then into town for a pizza!


Post Race Thoughts

I’m proud of how I turned things around after the major disappointment that was UTMB. It was more special because I had to work hard the whole 100 miles to win this - something I’ve never had to do, but will need to do if I want to break the Leadville record. I ran the last half marathon about as fast as the first half marathon. Just a difference of 10s/mile -7:55 vs 7:44 pace with a 11+ min hill mile in there.

I’m also proud of how I was able to manage the hip flexor injury through January. I’ve never had to do that before, and there were times when I thought I wouldn’t be ready to run 100 miles. I’m so glad to have Craig (PT), Jonathan (massage) and coach Andrew to help me work through it. I was still not 100% sure it would hold up during the race. Despite that I felt like this was one of the best mental spaces I was in prior to an Ultra. I was so happy to be in New Zealand, my runs in the days leading up to the race didn’t feel like a chore, and despite the struggles with my hip, I knew I was fit.

My longest run in the build up was just 24 miles and ~3.5 hours.

I’m also pleased with how I managed the heat. After running well here and at Speedgoat on a hot day, I’m much more confident in running warm weather ultras and overcoming my demons from Black Canyon.

It's funny how I go into these races thinking that I want to pull away early and win easily. But it is definitely more fun and I can run harder when pushed all day. I was so impressed with Sam's ability to keep crawling back and glad he was there, being pushed by Mike. I suspect they picked it up on the way back from Okataina because they were racing each other. I’ve definitely learned my lesson!

I’m so glad to have had George, Tim and Simon to help me. It’s such an advantage to have a crew and pacers if you can, and they were rockstars. I’m not sure how I would have reacted if I didn’t have George there encouraging me in that moment when I thought it might be slipping away. It makes it so much more fun to have a team

With new sponsor Carbs Fuel, I tried eating 100+g/hr of carbs. I had tried this on a few long runs, but only for 2-3 hours and was not totally confident my stomach would handle it. I was prepared to switch from every 30 min to every hour, but was able to keep sucking them down pretty much every 30 minutes.