Jared Gulian is the author of the blog Moon over Martinborough, where he writes about being an 'American expat city boy' growing olives in rural New Zealand. Never much of an athlete, at 18 he started running at dusk so nobody could see him. Now 42, he has gone running in broad daylight all over the world – from Chicago to Tokyo to Wellington.
What has been your favorite race/run so far?
My favorite race lately is Martinborough's Round the Vines. Martinborough is a small wine village with only 1,300 residents. You start and finish at the charming town square, and the course takes you through incredible local vineyards that aren't normally accessible. The entire race has a small town feel to it, which is really nice. In fact the race is a fundraiser for the local primary school. It happens in March every year, which is late summer here.
My favorite solitary run is up a stretch of road not far from our tiny olive farm. I pass cattle, sheep and vineyards. The land is on a raised terrace, surrounded by hills in the distance on all sides. It's wide open and the sky is big. Plus there's a great gravel road, which is easier on the old knees than blacktop or concrete. I wrote about it in Running up Te Muna Road.
What race or run would you like to run?
In Wellington, which is just a mountain range away from me here, they have a great run every year called Round the Bays. I'd love to do it. It's 7k and this year they're adding a half marathon. I've never run a half marathon and I'd like to put myself up for the challenge of that. Over 10,000 people participate in the run every year and the course follows the bays all around Wellington's amazing coastline. It happens in February, the height of summer.
City road or remote trail?
Depends on where I'm living at the time. The thing I like most about running is just putting on my shoes and heading out the door, wherever I happen to be. But even when I've lived in big cities I always tend to run straight for a bit of nature – park, river, lake, anything. So out here in the country I'm in paradise.
One more reason to fly to NZ & run?
Kiwis love outdoor sport, and there's a lot of it here. Plus the people are really friendly and the country is gorgeous. What's not to love?
Besides the famous multi-sport event Speight's Coast to Coast, there are heaps of runs everywhere you look. There's a good NZ race calendar at Cool Running.
One more reason to go running?
There's a great quote from the Persian poet Rumi that says, "There are hundreds of ways to kneel and kiss the ground." For me, running is one of them.
Read other 'interviews with a runner'.
