After finishing third at the 2015 Tarawera Ultramarathon, Núria Picas hilariously said, “No train, a lot of pain,” in reference to this being an early-season race for her. In the following interview, Núria talks about how the race was difficult, what she enjoyed most about running Tarawera, and what races… and expeditions she has coming up!
For more on what happened at this year’s race, read our in-depth results article on the 2015 Tarawera Ultramarathon.
[Click here if you can’t see the video above.]
Núria Picas Post-2015 Tarawera Ultramarathon Interview Transcript
iRunFar: Bryon Powell of iRunFar here with Núria Picas after her third-place finish at the 2015 Tarawera Ultramarathon. Congratulations, Núria.
Núria Picas: Thank you very much.
iRunFar: You went out fast today.
Picas: No, not at all. It was difficult for me to go fast because, “No train, a lot of pain,” in my legs. It was quite difficult because I’m not used to do this kind of races—very, very flat for me. It was a crazy race, but I’m happy.
iRunFar: What was the hardest part—was it how flat it was or was it the distance?
Picas: The whole race for sure. Yeah, maybe the first 10k for me was okay following Shona Stephenson, but…
iRunFar: Very quickly?
Picas: Yes, very quickly, and so hard. Yeah, sure. It was a miracle to finish third. I’m impressed.
iRunFar: You were sort of near the lead women for awhile, and then all of a sudden you fell back. Did you think of stopping?
Picas: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, sometimes, but New Zealand is a beautiful place. It’s a lovely country, and I thought, No, it’s impossible not to finish. You have to push to the end. The pain is only for 10 hours, but then what? I finish.
iRunFar: At the end, you were okay. Some pain, but…
Picas: Yeah, because I was in the river, and I took a shower, and now I’m okay. I only need a beer and then okay.
iRunFar: They have some.
Picas: Yeah, I know, I know. I go.
iRunFar: What did you enjoy most about today?
Picas: For sure the country. The whole distance, the forest, the bush—amazing—the river. Maybe the last 40k for me was quite different with flat and open, but the forest here is very different. I was looking all the time. The trees…
iRunFar: So different. Some of the trail is really nice. There’s narrow singletrack that’s really nice.
Picas: It’s impressive—doing a lot of zigzags. Zag, zag, zag! I enjoyed that a lot.
iRunFar: There was some fun out there.
Picas: Yeah, sure.
iRunFar: And some pain.
Picas: A lot of pain, but I enjoyed.
iRunFar: What else do you have coming up this season?
Picas: Yeah, this race for me was hard because I am training for an expedition next April in the Himalaya in Nepal. I’m used to climbing a lot, to do high mountains, to climb up and down. For me, this was so flat. But I’m happy to think about the new goal, to be in Nepal next April, and to try and climb one of the highest mountains in the world.
iRunFar: Can you tell us what that is or are you still working on the plan?
Picas: Yeah probably, Makalu, the fifth-highest mountain.
iRunFar: Is it a very technical climb?
Picas: No, not at all, maybe at the end and the high altitude is the most difficult thing, but it’s not so hard like K2 or Kangchenjunga or Annapurna because Annapurna is so dangerous.
iRunFar: A big spring for the Catalans in the Himalaya.
Picas: Yeah, Kilian [Jornet].
iRunFar: Do you have any races in the next few months?
Picas: Yes, Transgrancanaria probably. I would like to be there. It depends on my recovery. It will be hard because I tried to do my best but it was very hard for my legs. I need to take a good rest and think about go or not in Grancanaria.
iRunFar: There are some more mountains there.
Picas: Yeah, sure. More technical and not so fast like here. It’s quite different.
iRunFar: Congratulations on finishing today.
Picas: Thank you very much. See you in Grancanaria.
iRunFar: See you.
