Planning to quit.

In my head, it went something like this….Like something out of transformers the truck rose up like the worst Decepticon, ‘there’s only room for one of us on this road, Tanya, and I’m a hell of a lot bigger than you are!’ (cue, maniacal laugh). So I made a plan to quit, and with that […]

45th Traverse Tales: 1st Instalment

Caswell Sound Ridge Heli Drop Point

As the heli flew towards the coast it was clear we weren’t going to have the bluebird day of our last recce. Dark clouds hung low in the sky ahead of us, and as we drew closer my heart beat faster. It’s amazing how other people’s perceptions can colour your own.  On the traverse recce, […]

Sportlike Hack #244: Get a theme song or mantra

Krayzie Kapers 100 Mile

‘I believe I can fly…whooo…I believe I can touch the sky…’ R.Kelly This was a running ‘theme song’ of mine for many years.  I can recall many a moment, pushing through the hard times and singing this one to myself with tears in my eyes as I overcame difficult times to complete a run or […]

My word of the year – Intentional

Rappelling Breast Hill

My word of the new year is INTENTIONAL. What does that mean?  Well, for me this means to actively create a life I truly love. To serve others, to nourish my own spirit, to add value to the world and to be present in my daily life checking in to see if what I’m doing […]

Personal Development – How-to Guide

Woman running in the mountains

Personal development, self-improvement – once seen as something only for those with problems, now an acknowledged pathway to success. I mean how can you live your best life without direction? I have always been intrigued by personal development literature.  I am highly driven to understand people and why we do what we do.  It was […]

Living my dreams

Woman Mountaineering

Living my life by design, my reality today is the dreams I had in the past. I decided I was going to climb mountains and be a mountaineer.  Like so many things I have decided on in my life, at the time I had no idea how I was going to do it.  But, I […]

You can create your future

Is there a story that you are holding onto that is stopping you from moving forward? A label someone else put on you? A label you put on yourself? In my past, I was so many things, things that could have defined my life and held me back. I was a high school dropout – […]

Small Steps

Naseby 100 Mile Race

100 miles, 160km – sounds like a long way, and it is. Here’s the secret though, it is achieved through a bunch of small steps, one after the other.  In and of themselves those steps aren’t much, but add them all together and you have a feat of human endurance.  The same goes for whatever […]

Quickfire Goal Setting Tips

Hiking in the Hawea Conservation Area

My goals are to climb a bunch of epic mountains, run some massive ultra runs, adventure far and wide, and make a difference in the world as I do it!  These goals drive me daily and I care more about them more than literally anything else.  Except for maybe puppies. Here are my top tips […]

Just don’t compare

Here’s one for my comparers. You know who you are.  You’ve probably worked yourself into a right state at some time or another because you just didn’t seem to be at the level of your friends, colleagues, team members 😏 We’ve all been there. Most likely when we are huffing and puffing, fearing that at […]

4 Top Sports Recovery Tips

Post run stretching

My top 4 tips for sports recovery and a history lesson all rolled into one! The Energiser Bunny just kept going, and going, and going. It just didn’t stop!  At least that’s what they told us. So we never saw the Energiser Bunny run out of energy, but I can guarantee you it did! So, […]

Live your dream life

Hiking on the Routeburn

There is a Chinese proverb that says ‘The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago.  The second best time is now.’ 🌲🌲 We’ve all heard the sayings: live like your dying, Carpe Diem – Seize the day! But how often do we fall back into the routine of daily life, the daily […]

Goal Checkpoint

What are your goals?

This is just a quick one. Goals checkpoint! Get those pens ready! 😉 It’s psychologically proven that if you put your goals down in writing, you feel more accountable to strive towards them!  I’ll start: Currently, one goal I have is to follow my training program consistently so I’ll be ready for a BIG adventure […]

Do you think you can’t?

Mt Alta Fastpack

🎶🎶 Where’s your head at (Where your head at) Where’s your head at (Where your head at)  🎶🎶 Now that we’ve taken a wee walk down memory lane with some early 00’s electronica, and you’ll have that hook running through your head for a while, let’s talk about mindset.  Firstly, I’d say it’s quite normal […]

Selfcare: Grounding and presence

Routeburn Waterfall

If you find yourself out of balance, here’s how to recenter and ground yourself, wherever you are: Set your phone down. In your immediate surroundings, find: Five things you can see. Four things you hear. Three things you can feel. Two things you can smell. One thing you can taste. Then breathe deeply for 30 […]

Empowerment

Women's Empowerment

Something that I have learnt over the last few years, is that to be empowered I have to go out and do the things – myself. What things?  The things that are hard, that scare me, that I don’t think I can do – the things that I would normally defer to someone else for. […]

Are you scared?

Mountaineering down climbing

I sometimes wonder if I went through all my insta captions how many times I would have said I was scared? I would say a disproportionate amount, because quite frankly, I do struggle with being anxious and fearful 😟 So I thought I’d find some other words that describe what I am when I am […]

Find your tribe…

Mountaineering Friends

Shout out to my tribes, the friends and communities I have found through my sports. These are people that come from all walks of life, but through our shared interests we find connection and create shared experiences and make memories to last a lifetime 🙌

Northburn 100 mile

Northburn 100 Mile

“What a F#@king Horrible race!!” But…buttttt on reflection, I’d 100% go and do it all again!   I could have written a report of epic sunsets, frolicking in crystal clear streams, unicorns and rainbows, the reality though was this race was largely a sufferfest for me.  Read on if you want to hear the whole sorry […]

Old Habits, Die Hard

Rock Hopping in Timaru Creek

When your default is making you feel bad, it’s definitely time to change the setting!   Old habits die hard, and while I still haven’t managed to quell my desire for reality TV (shh don’t tell anyone!) I’m working on another more insidious habit…the old familiar habit of negative thinking that had crept back into my […]

Changing Perspectives

Timaru Creek, Lake Hawea

I’ve been learning to take a different perspective recently…but I haven’t gone willingly.. This comes after 8 weeks of being out of the game with illness. 8 weeks, which felt like a lifetime, and in the thick of it felt like I would never get back to feeling like ‘myself’ ever again. I have to […]

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