At the end of last year, I sat down with some of the boys from our Ugly Boys Running Club to ask them a bit about what their year as part of the Ugly Boys whānau looked like.

What was the thing that made you want to sign up for ugly boys?

Heath Just a bit more motivation to get more active. I noticed, especially coming out of high school, playing lots of sports, and then going into uni life; I wasn’t really thinking about getting active or I was just being lazy. So having Ugly Boys there on a Tuesday and Thursday was some motivation. And I wasn't just doing it for myself, I was doing it with other people. Men's mental health was a great reason to get into being more active again.

Matthew It was nice being part of the group where we were all doing it for the same cause and for the same motivation; to get fit and do the marathon. It was pretty cool.

Ben  I agree with Matt and Heath, But for me, it was also a personal thing of seeing if I could mentally push myself through a half marathon. It was more than I could have expected, actually it was a lot of fun.

Heath  Yeah, having the boys there as well, you didn't want to not show up because then you would feel bad, like everyone else was doing the mahi and you weren't the person in there doing the mahi with them. So having that drive and being held accountable by everyone else. You'd see your mates around uni  and they’d go, “bro where were you on Tuesday or Thursday?” 

Ben At uni it's really easy to justify not going out to do exercise, like ah I don't have the time but with Ugly boys being at uni, you don't have to go anywhere for it. And all the boys hold you accountable so it makes it easier to get down there.

Before Ugly Boys, were you regular runners?

Heath  I did watersports and a bit of social footy. And I used to run back at high school. And so getting back into that mindset was real key for me to try and keep the running going.

Ben I stopped playing sports at the end of last year, so I sort of realised that I hadn't been doing anything compared to what I used to do, you know, the entire year, so ugly boys was just the perfect excuse to get back into it

Matthew  I was playing rugby for a while through high school and last year but was taking a break this year. So it's a different experience having a Tuesday and Thursday instead of going to training for rugby and just doing a bit of running instead.

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Do you remember what the first session you went to was like?

 Ben  Terrible. I looked at my Strava after and felt ashamed

Matthew  The first one I went to was just a 3km run, but it made me nervous for the 21 kms.

Heath  But that first one gave everyone a bit of a wake up call, like shit, I can't be just sitting around at home and doing nothing anymore. And that gave you the motivation to go to a gym set outside of our training or say, go do another run or swim, train or do something else to get you active, to make it easier for the next run.

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Did you know many of the people in Ugly Boys at the start?

Ben  I would have only known two or three others, but when you're just running with people and your mates go off a bit faster or you go off a bit faster, You end up just running with others and having a chat along the way and getting to know everybody

Heath  I knew a few people going into it. But there's 65 of us and I knew maybe 10 people and every week you had different numbers of people coming through and so while we're doing warm ups, you’d spin yarns with some random dude, “how's your day?” or after you get back, doing stretches and you just have conversations with someone you wouldn't necessarily have talked to before.

Matthew  They’re a good group of boys that you could always talk to, even when you're just running there next to them. Just at your own pace, you know, you’d just be talking to whoever.

Ben   Pretty much everyone was in the same boat, just trying to get on so everyone was really approachable

Did you have any expectations of what Ugly Boys would be like, did that change?

Ben  Going into it I was a bit nervous that everyone would be a little bit more of a runner. And it'd be a bit hard to keep up the pace but there were people at every level of fitness that it was really such a non issue

Heath  I had the end goal of the half marathon, but going into it, I knew some people that had done it previously. And they’d said, it's just a good experience to get in there and just meet a whole lot of new people and really put yourself out there and try something new.

Matthew  I think everyone had the same motivation but the training was pretty organised and I didn't expect that; we didn't have to plan anything. It was good.

Heath  Definitely rocking up and there’s already a run planned out for you and time slots for every category depending on your level of fitness was so awesome to see.

Aside from getting more physically fit, was there anything else that you were hoping to gain from Ugly boys?

Ben  I wanted to feel that test of your mental grit, not from just getting through the half marathon but committing to turning up twice a week and running outside of it, the time management and finding time for it.

Matthew   I think I was looking forward to meeting some more people from uni.

Heath   Yeah, meeting some more people around uni. And getting more involved in men's mental health stuff because I've always been interested in it but never learned too much about it, so having conversations with people who are running and learning all the different reasons why others were doing it, was really good to see.

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What was your number one highlight from being a part of a Ugly Boys Running Club?

All Oh, Silent Disco after the marathon yeah

Matthew  The whole trip down to Queenstown and back though was pretty hard.

Heath Going down in the vans, blasting music with the boys and getting into Takapō. Then going for a swim at Takapō and then jumping into the lake after the run on the actual day to Silent Disco and the traffic light underneath the tree was amazing. Amazing trip.

Ben  It was really a case of everyone being so friendly and so easy to get along with, that it just made the trip. Although you're going with a bunch of people that you don't know that well. It was just the best time

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Did you meet any of your goals that you had for yourself?

Matthew  My main goal was getting through the marathon without stopping but yeah. I got to 19km And then it was quite a struggle with the last two. But yes, getting to 21km was always an exciting accomplishment.

Heath  For me, I had a goal of getting under two hours but then two weeks before the run I tweaked my knee and had a partial tear and so I ended up getting down there. And I got through about 15 kms and then the last six were a bit of a wounding experience. But it happens and I made it to the end and was only 10 minutes past the time that I was going for. So I feel like if I'd had a good knee I would have definitely succeeded in my goals.

Ben I mean, it's the same with me just after getting injured a little while out was just... I wanted to complete it. And it was humbling. But it was so worth it at the end. I definitely think the goal for next year is the full.

What was your experience of participating in Running 72?

Heath  I liked that running 72 is in the middle of the time that we do the Ugly boys training, because it really helped give us that little bit of motivation that we're actually doing something that training has been put towards. Raising money for stuff. I don't know how many laps you boys ran, but I did a half marathon and a couple other laps throughout the days. And I know that my mates were doing perhaps a half marathon each day and they were Ugly Boys as well. And it was just great to see you've been running with these guys the past couple of weeks and you also know each other, so everyone's motivating each other to get around those laps and it was so cool to see.

 Ben Yeah, I think I put down maybe 20km over the days

 Matthew Yeah around there. It was a good indication of what the training had been put to as well. Running three kms it’s quite easy to get through, “oh it's just been one lap”, it's not too hard but it definitely built up.

‍Ben I also found Running 72 was really similar to Ugly Boys in the sense that, you'd be out all hours of the night and you just happen to be running at the same pace as someone. I met some pretty cool people just running around with them. Because you know you've not got much else to do apart from have a yarn while you're running.

What is something that surprised you about joining Ugly Boys?

 Heath  Just how open and friendly everyone was. Because when I got into it, I was not nervous as such, but I was expecting maybe half of the people to not really be that talkative. I knew it'd be an inviting environment, but I thought there could be a few cliques within the group. But honestly, especially when we were down in Queenstown, you could walk up to anyone and just have an instant yarn with them and it was an instant conversation straightaway. You’d be able to link up about someone you knew who knew someone else they knew or you did something that they liked as well and find out you had similar interests and passions and I just I loved how inclusive it all was.

 Ben I definitely feel, especially with Queenstown when everyone's going through that same mahi, going through the trenches together it really does create such a welcoming environment for everyone to just gel because you know you're just trying to make it through and do your best; it's like Heath said very inviting.

 Matthew  And in the same manner they were just good lads. Everyone's there for the same reason.

We talked about highlights but was there any low lights?

Matthew  The morning after the Silent Disco

Ben  I mean, I'd say for me, when I injured my knee. And then honestly, the lowlight was not being able to go on Tuesdays and Thursdays because I was just enjoying being there. The crazy turnaround from absolutely hating running my whole life to actually just enjoying going out for a run. And so when that was taken away. Then when it was a bit iffy whether I was going to be able to do the marathon. That was not great, but then I made it there and had a good time, it all worked out. 

Heath  Yeah, for me as well, injuries. I tweaked it while we were doing one of the Ugly Boy runs. And my flatmate had to come pick me up halfway through a run. And the same as what Ben was saying, just whether I was actually going to be able to complete the run was a lowlight. And during the marathon run, I got past that second checkpoint about a K down the road and it tweaked again, I was like damn, this is not looking good. I've got about six K's left from here but pushing through it and just knowing that we're gonna get there in the end. 

‍Matthew  I don't think I have any lowlights from the whole experience. I enjoyed most of it. But I probably wish I’d made more of the training sessions.

Okay, last question, How have your thoughts or habits around looking after your well being changed over the year?

Heath  For me, I realised that after taking so much of a break from fitness training or high level sport training, it really did affect my mental health and how I was looking at life, not life as a whole but just my motivation as a person. And then from getting fitter and doing more exercise, I found that my Uni work was able to increase, my productivity throughout the day. I just found that I was looking forward to going running and then when I wasn't running, I was feeling a lot better about myself just in general.

Matthew  When you go for a run, you just feel better throughout the day. If you do one in the morning everything's just a bit better. So on that front that was positive, but also having all the boys to talk to. I think it made you more confident to speak out to your mates, because you just had that experience talking to everyone else that was so natural.

Heath  Yeah, everyone's in the same boat, you know, you're rocking up just trying to put yourself out there.

Ben  And it was always a proper break from uni as well, being out and going for a run. It was great for how you felt and energy levels and motivation throughout the day. But also taking that hour to an hour and a half, just completely away from uni. Talking to a few bros and getting a bit of exercise in. I know a lot of time I went back to uni to study and being there all day. So Ugly Boys was a really nice break. To just de stress, and then you feel refreshed going back into it. Definitely.

Do you reckon you will join Ugly Boys again?

Matt + Ben Yeah

Heath 100% Definitely.

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