Heading to Hamburg - Caden Shields

I am due to fly to Germany this coming Saturday, April 16th for the Hamburg marathon which is to be run on April 24th. This is a very exciting opportunity for me as it has been 2.5 years since I have been able to run a major international marathon due to the limits on travel with the COVID-19 pandemic.

Two years ago, my wife Rachel and I were to be travelling to Rotterdam marathon and then continuing on to Spain for our honeymoon. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic we ended up spending this time in lockdown in NZ. I was obviously disappointed about this as I had been training well. However, I decided at that moment that this was a great opportunity for me to work on my weakness to become a better marathon runner for when the opportunity to race internationally arose again. I am glad to say that now two years on, I feel that I have done a lot to be better, physically and mentally.

Following Doha, 2019 world champs I was carrying about three different injuries that were not stopping me from training, but were affecting my performance in races and enjoyment of running. I have worked hard over the last two years to address these and I can say for now I am relatively pain free running.

Mentally, like many, I have had to face some hardships over the last two years. While I have reflected often that the difficulties I was facing were not as tough as others, they challenged my resilience and emotional control. I am proud of how I faced them .

In two years my wife and I have purchased our own home and have welcomed our son Fletcher into the world. I have also become self employed again which I am thoroughly enjoying. Having my own family and giving back to the community through my work brings great joy to my life.

My last two months of training for Hamburg have gone well. I feel prepared, but most of all I am excited to have the opportunity to take on world class marathon runners again and find out what I am capable of.

Thank you to the Bill Richards Trust, Athletics Canterbury, and the Don Greig Racing Stables for their support in getting me to this event.

April 10th