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Two marathons in two months - to help change the system!

  • Disappointing end

      1 November 2025

    Hi team,

    It has been around five weeks since the Dunedin Marathon. In that time I’ve been battling two separate bouts of sickness (one of which I’m navigating at the moment) and calf injuries that have killed off all prep for the Queenstown marathon.

    As such, I’ve made the bitter call to withdraw from the Queenstown marathon.

    I’m gutted, but take comfort in all the support you’ve given me throughout the journey.

    Thanks once more for your help and kind words and donations - they’ve honestly helped me push through in some tough patches.

    This journey ends but the path to a more just justice system continues.

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  • Dunedin marathon complete!

      19 September 2025
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    Phew, the legs have recovered and the body is back to normal after the marathon on Sunday! It was a pretty hectic morning with winds ranging from 30-40km/h and gusting up to 65km/h, so it’s fair to say that took a toll!

    The good news is I completed the marathon in 4:38:56, almost 40 minutes clean off my first marathon in 2019.

    This week is a recovery week and then it’s straight into prep for the Queenstown marathon. An eight week block including a two week taper - bring it on!

    Thanks again to all of you for your amazing donations, I’m very humbled by your generosity and I know the organisations will be stoked with your support!

    A special thanks also to Hannah who led a group of amazing support crew around the course to help me get over the line! So much aroha for you Han, but also to all of you who have supported me!

    Ngā mihi nui

    Matiu

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  • I’m pushing for more change!

      17 August 2025

    I’m so proud to have gotten to $2k, now I’m keen to see if we can reach $3k - all for two amazing organisations who deserve all the funding they can get.

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  • 4.5 weeks to go!

      13 August 2025
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    Kia ora team, very much getting to the pointy end of training now.

    I’ve been training a lot in the evenings of late as I’ve just not found time during the day. The evening runs have been an awesome source of reflection (and reflective material) for me. This running journey started on January 6 and here we are seven months later.

    Three and a half big weeks of training left (>50km per week) before the taper week to mentally refresh and prepare myself.

    As always I thoroughly appreciate the kind messages of support and the donations that have come through. I know the two organisations are just as grateful for your support as I am, so thank you dearly for helping me, and us, try to effect change.

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  • Progress update!

      14 July 2025
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    Kia ora, e te whānau.

    Well, with nine weeks left the training has lifted up a notch. Yesterday I did a 29km run, but not before really having to mentally dig deep before getting started.

    The journey has so far been six months in the making, and by the time I get to race day, it will be some eight months of preparation. Physically I have improved a lot, but mentally the exhaustion is real after half a year of doing some sort of running. This night shot is from a recent run but shows the length of these runs - I’ll often now start in the afternoon only for it to be completely dark by the end of it.

    That’s where I think the motivation from JustSpeak and Moana House kicked in and I realised the purpose of running with a purpose higher than myself. Without it, would I have got the run done? Fortunately that’s just a hypothetical. Engari me mihi ki ngā rōpū e rua, me o rāua whakaae I ahau.

    Nine weeks to go. Time to stay the course. Let’s get it.

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  • Week 1 update

      7 July 2025

    Tēnā koutou katoa!

    Thank you so much for the amazing support so far. It is definitely helping to power me on some of these wintry long runs I've been on recently.

    Currently my longest run is about 24km or so. A fair bit of work still to do, but I am still feeling confident about going under four hours!

    E mihi ana kia koutou nā koutou ahau e tautoko :)

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