INNERVIEW: THE KIWI WHO CONQUERED THE DESERT

Conquered THE KIWI WHO THE DESERT

Hazel Harrison makes her way across the dunes at the 2021 Marathon des Sables. Image: Marathon des Sables.

It’s safe to say we’ve all been through a lot in the last couple of years. Not many of us have gone through as much as Hazel Harrison though, the New Zealander who’s recently returned home from Morocco, where she conquered her lifelong goal of finishing the iconic Marathon des Sables. In a candid chat with Vera Alves, Hazel spoke about her life, from her years as an army nurse through to her journey recovering from exercise addiction, signing up for her dream race in the desert then discovering she had aggressive skin cancer but going out and doing it anyway. It’s a true tale of perseverance, grit and the importance of never, ever, giving up.

Night has fallen in the Sahara and, tucked inside her tent, an exhausted runner wonders whether she can keep going. She’s halfway through the multi-day Marathon des Sables, running across the desert in Morocco.

It’s her dream and she’s finally living it – except it doesn’t look much like a dream right now. Hazel is vomiting profusely and struggling with severe cramps. The organisers come by the tents with print outs of the messages each runner has received online over the course of the day while they were out running. The messages from friends in Aotearoa elevate and overwhelm her. They remind her of home and the tough path she had to carve for herself to find herself here and now, under the infinite sky of the Sahara.

Eventually, she drifts off to sleep, on the lightest sleeping mat she can find, which she’ll carry with herself all day again tomorrow through another stage of the gruelling race.

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The next day, Hazel readjusts her plan, packs her bag and carries on. Many would quit, but not her. Not now, not ever.

Talking to her now, straight out of Managed Isolation Quarantine (MIQ) after flying home to New Zealand, you wonder why on Earth she’d ever even doubt herself.

Hazel speaks with the passion and determination of someone who can overcome anything – and she’s got her own personal history to back it up. In the lead up to Marathon des Sables, and in a cruel twist of fate, Hazel was diagnosed with stage 3 melanoma skin cancer. The diagnosis hit her like a tonne of bricks but she wasted no time fighting back. She was bang in the middle of her training for the big race and a few days after surgery to remove the cancer, she was back out there running (with her doctor’s approval).

Hazel is a former army nurse and these days she’s more of a Swiss army knife when it comes to her careers. A doggy daycare owner, a business coach, a running coach, a soon-to-be-published writer – but most of all, a woman passionate about sucking the marrow out of life.

She’s been taking time to reflect on her journey in Morocco. Marathon des Sables last year was even harder than in previous years, for many reasons. Covid cancellations and postponements meant the race happened 18 months after it was originally planned to take place so instead of the usual April date, it went ahead in October in the middle of a Moroccan heatwave, which meant running in 55-degree heat. One of her fellow competitors died during the race and nearly half of the starters field ended up dropping out before the finish.

Hazel described the race as ‘harrowing at times’ but also ‘brutally beautiful’.

“I absolutely did what I set out to do,” she says, proudly. “It was a race that had been on my bucket list since I was 19-years-old. I always knew it’d be the mental strength that would pull me through something like this. It was all about my mindset.”

A CHALLENGE WITHIN A CHALLENGE

In October 2019 came the diagnosis no one wanted to hear. Cancer. Stage 3 melanoma on her shoulder, to be precise. It was like a cruel joke from destiny, just as she was training for a multi-day race under the blistering desert sun.

“The diagnosis came in October 2019,” she reveals. “I had just done 100km in Australia in September as part of my training for Marathon des Sables (which was meant to be April 2020). It was pretty aggressive and pretty deep,” she says, adding that she is still on three-monthly appointments to check everything is under control.

The melanoma was on her shoulder, not ideal for a race that requires you to carry all your gear in a backpack.

But despite the challenges, quitting was never an option. Hazel spoke to her doctor, got the all clear to return to training and, with long sleeves and high SPF sunscreen, she managed to finish the race without a hint of sunburn.

It was just one of those bumps on the road that Hazel learnt to navigate around. From plan A to plan B, she had to race through most of the alphabet finding ways to adapt her plans and her goals and still make things happen.

“That’s perhaps the biggest breakthrough for me,” Hazel says. “Never be afraid to change your plan and to trust your options.

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The 2021 Marathon des Sables in Morocco was a strong part of Hazel’s life journey. Image: Marathon des Sables.

That was the biggest thing for me; have backup plans and don’t be afraid to use them.”

The delays and the health challenges thrown into her training came with the upside of teaching her to adjust. “I had time to learn how my body responds to different situations, different nutrition, etcetera,” she says, clearly seeing the bright side of everything.

Adaptation is, she says, her key to success. Her plans had to change many times throughout the last few years and she learnt to change with them. First with the Covid pandemic and then with cancer, Hazel had to re-evaluate and re-adjust it all. This skill came in handy during the race, when she found her brain was quite good at adapting to new plans whenever something wasn’t working.

“Some people get really hung up on their race plan and can’t adjust when something goes wrong,” she says. Her strength is in her ability to quickly swap plans and keep on running.

“My mindset was ‘anything can happen out there; I need to have the confidence and the knowledge to change my plan’. Some pretty good marathon runners out there would have been fine on a normal Marathon des Sables year but DNF’d this year because they couldn’t adapt. I’m a belt and braces type of person.”

RUNNING AS AN UNHEALTHY OBSESSION

Hazel’s mental strength is something she has worked hard to develop, but it hasn’t always been easy. A few years ago, the Wellington runner realised she was addicted to exercise. “I’d cancel appointments to go to the gym three or four times a day,” she says.

The addiction grew to the point that it affected her social life and, most importantly and worryingly, her health. She stopped having periods and ended up in hospital with a bad gall bladder infection. It was then she knew she needed to change.

“I had to stop it completely. I had to go cold turkey,” she explains. “For probably nearly 18 months I didn’t do any exercise at all. I was scared it would take a hold on me again.”

Hazel was in her mid-40s at the time and says that, as an older woman, the pressure to stay fit grew stronger. “I was playing high level field hockey, there was pressure to stay fit and I wanted to prove I could still get fitter as I got older.”

After a whole year and a half without exercising, Hazel felt confident enough to slowly reintroduce it into her life but she learnt to do it in a safe, mindful way.

“When I started to compete again I was really worried because to compete and get fitter, I needed to stick to a plan and there’s a risk things could escalate again,” Hazel recalls. “I learnt to train smarter, not do junk miles, respect my body and understand that I didn’t need to run six days a week.” She admits she ‘almost slipped again during the first lockdown’ in 2020.

“I was frustrated that Marathon des Sables had been cancelled so I started exercising every day again but I noticed what was happening and, instead, brought in mindfulness and yoga. I’m always having to keep myself in check. It’s not easy.”

She’s grown to love running, but does so from a respectful distance. Hazel makes appointments with herself to go on her runs and doesn’t cancel those. They’re just as important as any other meeting.

“I’m more of a lone wolf when it comes to running,” she says. “I don’t run with music. It’s my therapy, if you like. Getting in touch with nature, clearing my head, thinking through problems.”

Now back in New Zealand and her beloved Titahi Bay, Hazel says she is giving herself permission to enjoy running again. She’s also writing a book about her journey, including what she learnt from her struggle with exercise addiction, melanoma and her Marathon des Sables race.

The next big goal is already looming in the horizon – the inaugural Wild 100 miles (a race profiled in the previous issue of the magazine). It’s big and bold and scary – exactly the type of challenge Hazel has proven time and time again that she’s up for.

Hazel passes by some children as she races in the 2021 Marathon des Sables. Image: Alexander Davydof.

TAKING a rest during her race. Image: Kim Hutt.

THE New Zealander had been through a tough journey to get herself to the Marathon in Morocco last year. Image: Marathon des Sables.