Transforming her life with the Tarawera Trail Marathon

Running has changed Roxana Johnson’s life - from morbidly obese, to running her first marathon this November in the Tarawera Trail Marathon, she’s determined and inspirational.
 
Roxana is a banking technology business analyst from Carterton in the Wairarapa who decided to change her life around at the age of 41 in 2011 after a health scare.
 
At that time she was 105kgs and 5’2” – she challenged herself to do the Wairarapa Women’s Triathlon with 10 weeks training, coming through in the final few.
 
Realising how much work there was to be done, Roxana embarked on a fitness journey with significant milestones, including more triathlons, half marathons and ocean swims, often coming last but spurred on by the achievements.
 

Roxana Moore completed her first triathlon in 2011. Photo courtesy of Shine PR.

“Running has changed so many aspects of my life,” explains Roxana. “I hope I will always be able to do it.
 
“And this from a woman who would lie on the couch wondering whether getting up to find the remote was worth the effort? I can't believe I made my life so hard,” she says.
 
In last year’s Wairarapa Women’s Triathlon, Roxana showed how far she had come, with a top 20 finish in the Wairarapa Women’s Triathlon.
 

Roxana Moore has made a complete transformation going into her third year of triathlons, and will be running her first marathon at the Tarawera Trail Marathon in November. Photo courtesy of Shine PR.

“Then this year I decided I’d like to do more trail running and the word marathon entered my vocabulary.
 
“My friend worked as a volunteer at last year’s Tarawera Trail Marathon and told me how amazing the event was, so I decided to take on the challenge and enter.

“I chose this marathon because it was in the North Island, the scenery looked amazing, and so did the refreshment stalls - if I have to walk, it looked like the best scenery to walk through.
 

The Tarawera Trail marathon and 50km starts in front of Pohutu Geyser in the Whakarewarewa Thermal Valley, Te Puia, Rotorua. Runners running through thermal landscape. Photo © Graeme Murray.

“The event organisers emphasised the participation aspect too. I won't be fast, but I'm stubborn and I wanted to find an event where you don't feel like you are holding everyone up.”
 
The Tarawera Trail Marathon takes runners and walkers along a geothermal pathway, retracing one of New Zealand’s most important historical routes with stunning views of four lakes.
 

Runners descend along Lake Tarawera as the volcano (Mt Tarawera) looms large in the distance. Photo © Graeme Murray.

Starting at Te Puia’s world-famous Pohutu Geyser and finishing at Hot Water Beach on the shores of Lake Tarawera, the event is a point-to-point course that is unlike anything else in the world.