In March this year we travelled to Rotorua, NZ for Scotty to compete in the Vibram Tarawera 100km Ultra. He was accepted as an elite athlete to compete against some of the best ultra runners in the world, which was a huge accomplishment so early on in his running career. This was going to be his biggest race to date and a chance to meet some of the ultra runners he looks up to.
From the very first flight we realised it was going to be 'one of those trips' but didn't quite realise how far wrong it would all go. Each time something seemed to go our way, it ended up backfiring. We were seated in row 2 on our first flight so thought we'd be one of the first people off, only to arrive on the Gold Coast and be told that we were getting off through the rear door. After arriving in Auckland and hiring a car we had to navigate our way with a road map as quickly as possible to Rotorua. We thought we would have just enough time to get there for the fun run with some of the elite athletes which I had been looking forward to. Unfortunately we'd forgotten how long it takes to drive on the roads in NZ and with a lot of roadworks thrown in we arrived about 15 minutes late, missing the fun run. After doing our own run through the beautiful Redwood Forest we went and checked into our hotel. We were excited to hear that they'd upgraded us to a spa room, only to end up in fits of laughter when we discovered that the 'spa' was a single person bath with jets.
We had a great couple of days in Rotorua, running, eating out and looking around the place, in between media commitments and race registration. My great friend Sarah drove down on Friday night to spend Saturday with us and help support crew. It's lovely having friends that will do whatever they can to spend time with you, and I cherish those friendships. Scotty's dad and uncle also flew up from Christchurch to help support crew for the race.
To cut a long story short, the race didn't go at all to plan and Scotty was pulled from the race after 65kms. The doctor wouldn't let him carry on due to uncontrollably vomiting because of a severe gastro/viral condition. Up until this point he had been in the front group running with some of the top ultra runners in the world.
Meanwhile, we were waiting at the aid station for him to come through after not seeing him for about 5 hours. When my name was called over the PA and I was told that he'd been pulled out of the race my heart stopped. They couldn't tell me why or give me any other information other than that he was no longer in the race and was being taken by boat across the lake to another aid station.
After a very panicked drive we finally got to where they'd taken him. I don't think I've ever been so happy to see him in my life. We then had some quick decisions to make, which wasn't that easy when our main focus was Scotty's health. I was supposed to be driving back to Auckland with Sarah that night and Scotty was taking a later flight and would take the hire car the following morning after prize giving (at least one of us had to get back to work to keep paying the bills!) Scotty was in no condition to be driving back to Auckland, and he is bad enough at flying as it is without having to travel by himself in the state he was in.
We had to change all of our plans which meant letting the others down that had travelled to be there with us that weekend. One thing I always try to avoid is letting people down. Unfortunately in this situation it was unavoidable and our priority had to be getting Scotty back to Perth in one piece.
So, we changed his flight to return with me the next morning ($600 later) and we followed Sarah back to her place in Auckland that night.
Scotty was devastated that his big race had turned out so badly and even though I was feeling terrible about the whole thing, it was up to me to stay positive for the both of us and remind him that there was nothing we could do to change what had happened. We spent a lot of time talking about what had happened and trying to take as many lessons as we could from the experience.
Life doesn't always go according to plan, but all we can do is stay positive, learn, and grow. I'm a strong believer that everything happens for a reason. I know it's a cliche saying, but I find that it helps me to try and understand things when they don't turn out how I'd hoped or planned. Sometimes the reasons aren't obvious straight away, and sometimes it takes a long time to realise why something had to happen, but eventually everything becomes clear.
About a week after we arrived back in Perth Scotty was starting to feel like his normal self again and it was time to move on and focus on his next race.
We met some fantastic people while we were in NZ, some of which Scotty has kept in touch with and one who we met up with while we were in the States. Those friendships might last a lifetime, and for that alone, we can be grateful for our trip to NZ.
And I got to spend a couple of days with one of my favourite people who I hadn't seen in over 12 months, and for that, I am happy.
We have no control over what happens in our lives, all we can do is make the best out of every situation and move forward as quickly as possible without dwelling on the past.
'Life is just one big adventure!' Something I find myself saying quite often when things don't go according to plan. Laugh at the small things and learn from the big things. Try to take something good from every bad situation!
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