Click photo to enlarge
Catherine Haig prepares for the Kepler Challenge at Rotary
Park yesterday. Photo by Peter McIntosh.
Catherine Haig likes adventure. Her next target is the
Kepler Challenge in Te Anau on Saturday.
She has lost 16kg in the last 18 months and this will make
the run easier than it would have been when she started
running four years ago.
Haig (46), a radiation therapist at the cancer ward of
Dunedin Hospital, is naturally a bit apprehensive about
facing the 61.2km mountain run.
"It's the biggest thing I've ever done in my life," she said.
That includes a 10-hour hike to the Everest Base Camp.
Haig likes to challenge herself and that is why she started
running 30 minutes a day in 2005She hated exercise when
forced to run around the block when she was a pupil at
Columba College.
"I hid in a garage until the keen girls came back," she said.
"I tried to avoid sport at all costs."
Running was difficult for Haig because she weighed 78kg when
she started.
It became easier as she started shedding weight.
Her friend Libby Reid, a nurse at student health, provided
the impetus for the weight loss when she persuaded Haig to be
a guinea pig in a study run by the Human Nutrition Department
at the University of Otago.
Haig's group ate a high protein diet and the other group was
on high fibre food.
"I lost 6kg in two months, kept the diet going, and lost
another 10kg," Haig said.
The diet was low in carbohydrates like bread.
The main ingredients were tuna, lean meat, chicken, fish and
a lot of vegetables.
"I had problems with my calf muscles when I first ran," Haig
said.
"It is easier on my joints now that I carry less weight."
Haig's weight has stabilised at 62kg and she is now able to
handle a six-hour training run with ease.
"After a four- to six-hour run at the weekend I give myself
some chocolate as a reward," Haig said.
Haig's training consists of three runs each week - 1hr 30min
on Tuesday, 2hr on Thursday and four to six hours at the
weekend.
She has a long run over Swampy Summit, runs the Waitati
circuit and has become familiar with the Kepler Challenge at
Te Anau with a six-hour run.
Haig, and her partner Grant Taylor, have a holiday home in
Ophir in Central Otago and run on the Rail Trail, and through
Thompsons Gorge from Omakau to Tarras.
She also spends two days lifting weights at the World Gym and
has had a monthly therapeutic massage by Rose Martin for the
last decade.
Haig runs for her health and for personal achievements.
She does not expect to be a champion athlete.
She will run her first Kepler Challenge on Saturday.
Her best times in other events are: Luxmore Grunt (27km) 4hr
36min, Auckland marathon (5hr 05min), Motatapu mountain
marathon (5hr 56min).
Her target time for the Kepler Challenge is between 10 and 11
hours.
At a glance
Date: Saturday, December 5
Distance: 61.2km
First held: 1988
Runners: 400
Race records: Men, Phil Costley, 4hr 37min 41sec,
2005.
Women, Zelah Morrall, 5hr 23min 34sec, 2003.
2008 results:
Men, Martin Lukes 4hr 56min 24sec, 1; Sam Wreford 5hr 03min
04sec, 2; Tony Fattorini 5hr 06min 50sec, 3.
Women, Chigaya Mase 6hr 06min 20sec, 1; Eveline Coombe 6hr
20min 51sec, 2; Jean Beaumont 6hr 22min 34sec, 3.
