Fraser had always harboured a desire to do a marathon, but admitted to always having an excuse.
"The excuses just ran out," he said.
"Besides, you can't beat Dunedin on a day like this," he said of the near-perfect conditions.
"I loved every minute of it - except, of course, the last 3km."
When Fraser (35) first floated the idea of running the marathon together, Steffens (34) was not that keen. But he tapped into Fraser's enthusiasm, along with that of Steffens' girlfriend, Lotte Adams (26).
The three had always been social joggers but never before had they committed to such an undertaking.
What committed them to a point of no return was Adams' father, Dieter Adams (57), of Auckland, entering the half marathon walk.
The three trained together for the past 17 weeks "in all sorts of weather", egging one another on. Adams then opted to enter the half marathon run and leave "the boys to do the glory run".
"It's all a bit weird now," Steffens said.
"We've spent 17 weeks training and now it's all over."
Their tactic was to avoid the hype of the start and not go out too fast.
The two latched on to marathon great Mike Stewart and used his pace judgement.
"We recognised him from TV and thought we'd tap in on his experience," said Steffens.
The tactic worked as the two finished well clear of Stewart, with Fraser clocking 4hr 2min 16sec and Steffens 4hr 2min 17sec.
Lotte Adams ran the half marathon in about two hours, while her father finished third overall and second in the open men's section of the walk in 2hr 28min 11sec.
After the race, Dieter Adams was organising the three to join him, along with Lotte's brother Ben and fiancee Iona, to form a team to contest the 160km Great Lakes Relay in Taupo next February.
