Chafing the Dream NZ – Details, episodes & analysis

Haere mai

The duo is back. Enjoy listening to Dwayne and Mal talking about recent race results from the local legend of Aotearoa, Ruth Croft.

We also discussed updates on training, our ideas on being fit versus fast, Dwaynes neck chafing, expectations of our current fitness, and Whangarei Half.

Share, make a comment, flick us a question. We want it all.

Lots of love.

Kia ora -

Second episode is here!!! No Dwayne this time, your lucky ears just to get listen your friendly American Mal Pal. I am interviewing my speedy triathlon friend, Tamsin Horne. She is currently training for Kona Ironman.

We discuss the love of our communities, how to keep getting after it in training, balancing being a mom and athlete and business owner, the frustrations of post seizure depression, the challenges Tamsin faces not being able to drive, and to just keep taking 1 step, 2 steps, and 1,000 steps.

I feel fortunate to have this interview with her. She is an inspiration and could basically be the female version of David Goggins.

I hope you enjoy this listen. Please like and subscribe to us. 👍

Welcome, haere mai to our very first episode of Chafing the Dream!

We’re a running couple—an American gal and a Kiwi bloke—who love talking all things running. Today we dive into some of our fav races, gels, gear, and a very brief synopsis of our story.

If you are someone that experiences chafing, lolly toes, vomitting gels, race shits, and bloody nipples then you are in the right place.

Haere mai- plenty of links to click on in the Spotify Shownotes so go to candy town.

Welcome to a jam-packed episode of local events and challenges. We start with our thoughts and the upcoming speaker, Bruce Fordyce regarding Comrades Ultramarathon. The world's oldest and longest ultramarathon. Next year will be there 100th year! Come check out Bruce's talk hosted by Masters on the Move. It is on 14th August at 6pm in Tikipunga Sports Park. Sign up here.

Next we talk about our training updates. The usual saga's of the duo. We move into the VERT JULY. This is hosted by TrailRunningNZ. Super cool event. Every day for the month of July you run 100m vert per day adding each day with another 100m. So 2nd July = 200m, 3rd July -300m and so forth.

For our RUN THE FOREST giveaway tickets we have tied it into the VERT JULY. We want you, our listeners, to guess how many days Dwayne will last on the Vert July. The two closest winners will get free tickets from SportNorthland to choose any distance from Run the Forest. For the giveaway send us via email (chafingthedreamnz@gmail.com) your name and number of days you are guessing Dwayne will win. (e.g., Mallory, 3 days for Dwayne). Good luck guessers!

We talk about Denika Clooney smashing our New Zealand races and her recent signing with Elon University. A speedy kiwi gal indeed.

We close talking about our upcoming event = Chasing the Coins. Details listed below:

Date: 22nd August 

Time:  Debriefing at 1:45PM, race starts at 2 PM

 Location: Clock Museum, Whangarei Town Basin

Teams and format: Each team will have 4 runners, you must have two women and two men. The teams will race to 6 locations around Whangarei. At debriefing you will be given a map and the 6 coin locations. You can divide and conquer however you like. For example, one runner can collect 2 coins from 2 different locations. Once your team has returned all 7 coins to Mal and Dwayne you have completed the event!! Yay! 

How to Register: Send your team name, team member’s names, contact details  (name + phone numbers) to chafingthedreamnz@gmail.com

Prizes: We will have plenty of exciting local prizes and runner related goodies up for grabs… like free burgers from BurgerFuel!! Who doesn’t love the Bastard.

Why we created it: We created this event because we love the idea of a fun competition with teams that brings people together. But you don’t have to be the fastest team to win prizes. We look forward to bringing all you chafers together.

Kia ora

You read that right. Mal has been knocked up with round #2. Dwayne's newest training partner, baby #2 will be arriving in December 2026. Mal asks Dwayne questions of how he feels when he found out we were pregnant, what has surprised him the most this pregnancy, if there are any goals before baby comes (hint hint Mal tries to convince him to do a 100k....we will see). We make a laugh out of a few topics and are excited to have Mal give better training updates. Come along for the usual banter and laughter. We seriously love all our listeners and all the comments we get.

Any mailbag questions or comments send to our email at chafingthedreamnz@gmail.com and/or send us a DM on our instagram.

Kia ora

Welcome to another episode . Wowza are we lucky! We got to have two legends, Katie White and Bradley Houghton give us their voice diaries to close out our Ring of Fire series. Before digging into the diaries we talk about 3 upcoming races:

- Kai Iwi Lakes Triathlon and Trail Race

- Run the Bays

- King's Backyard

It was honestly so nice and fun following along with their training and then hear their reflections of Ring of Fire . Very impressive on both ends!

Bradley Houghton was our first diary singer. He shares the highs, the lows, what he would change with his training, and his usual entertaining insights. You can read Bradley's newsletter here called Trail Running NZ. It is a laugh and off. All for FREE 99.

We close our diaries with Katie White. It was so cool to hear how the race played out for her. Also really sweet to hear her girls made it out to one of the aid stations and to see her at the Finish Line.

Finally, Dwayne and I are promoting the Northland 100 Entries giveaway event called the Watchless Race. This is held on Anzac Weekend, 26th April at 2PM at the Te Pohe Island Playground Carpark. We will announce the course the day of the event, in summary you are to guess what time you can run the course we provide (will be between 2-3km) and you are NOT be allowed to use your watch. Hence the name ;) Then the folks closest to their guessed times to run their actual times will WIN the free entry tickets to the Northland 100.

Looking forward to seeing y'all there.

Kia ora

Welcome to another episode with Mal and Dwayne. This time we are lucky enough to have MAGIC MIKE steal the show. He talks training, what it was like to race Ring of Fire, and his mental game during the event. We were lucky to ask him all the nitty gritty questions and are really grateful to have him on.

Mike Lea announced the upcoming "practice Backyard" event happening at Barge Park on 24th April from 10pm to 6am. This is a great opportunity to try out your gear, shoes, fueling ,set-up etc., before doing a backyard event. Reach out to His & Hers for registration.

Also, Dwayne and I are promoting the Northland 100 Entries giveaway event called the Watchless Race. This is held on Anzac Weekend, 26th April at 2PM at the Te Pohe Island Playground Carpark. We will announce the course the day of the event, in summary you are to guess what time you can run the course we provide (will be around 2-4km) and NOT be allowed to use your watch. Hence the name ;) Then the folks closest to their guessed times to run their actual times will WIN the free entry tickets to the Northland 100. Looking forward to seeing y'all there.

Hellllooooo

Episode 34 welcomes the golden boy of Northland trail running, Sam Rout!

Sam is one of a kind. He seems to know everyone in this town and will run with anyone but yet is also the speediest northlander and currently 3rd podium spot at TUM 50k this year.

Dwayne and Mal dig into Sam's training, set backs with his recent knee injury, and exciting upcoming races. We also have some good laughs about his start line at Huanui Race.

Thanks Sam for taking the time to be on our pod.

EXCITING ANNOUNCEMENT:

We have our first offical chafing the dream event. This is going to be held on Anzac Weekend 26th April 2026 at 2PM at the Pohe Island Carpark by the mad hatters football club. We will be giving the three tickets to the Northland 100 race in July this year for the top three winners. The event will be a "watchless race" where you won't be able to use your watch or phone and predict your time for a course that we choose. Again, the person closest to the time they predict will be winning an entry to the Northland 100!!!

Yoooooo

Haere mai! Welcome to another episode where we start off discussing global gas prices. But make a quick pivot to actual running content.

We update on our training, having the usual bugs in the house while training, and announce the Parihaka giveaway winners. Congratulation to Waimaria and Hannah! See ya at the start line ;)

We will be giving away 3 entries to the Northland 100 for all the distances with the exception of the miler. So you could sign up for the 15k, 57k, 82k, and 105k. Or win a free entry, just keep listening!

We also tease a "practice run" happening for the lead up to Kings Backyard Ultra. They will be opening Barge Park if you notify His &Hers event on the 27th April from 10pm to 6am.

Finally we get to the meat and potatoes of the pod. Our interviews or voice memos from Katie White, Mike Lea, and Bradley Houghton. They update on how their training has been leading up to the race, what they are most excited about, scared about, and what there expected time or goals are for the race. We are so lucky to have them on and sharing their insights :) Thank you Katie, Bradley, and Mike for taking the time to drop us some voice memos.

We end with a brief chafing story. Because we do try to be inline with our values of the podcast.

Keep chafing your dreamzzzzzz

Ma te wa

Haere mai

Welcome to a fun episode with Tara Wilson from Sport Northland. Dwayne and Mal ask details of how Tara ended up at Sport Northland, history of Sport Northland, what position she started (hint she was a barista at the local cafe), and details of our upcoming favourite local race, Parihaka Half Marathon. We talk about previous years where this poor race has been cursed from slips to cyclones. Tara shares with us the history and meaning of the Parihaka pōwhiri at the start of the race. Here is a link to check out the video.

Finally please enter our giveaway or enter your friend for a giveaway to Parihaka it can be any of the distances, the half marathon, the 12k or the 6k. It is such a beautiful event and Sport Northland always does a fantastic job bringing the community together. You can enter by commenting below on Spotify OR commenting on our most recent instagram post.

Don't forget to use our code "chafingthedream" for 20% off the Parihaka race.

Keep chafing your dreams <3

Mal and Dwayne