Rebekah Greene’s running career came full circle on Saturday.
The 26-year-old was back breaking records on the track she grew up dominating on.
Her time of 16min 30.85sec took three seconds off Shireen Crumpton’s Otago senior women’s 5000m record at the Caledonian Ground.
It was also her first since 2013.
Shortly after that, she left for the University of Florida, in the United States.
She ran some fast times throughout 2014 before several bad injuries intervened, as did a heart inflation that required three surgeries.
That made for several years of inconsistent training, which in turn made personal bests harder to come by.
But she has battled through it.
She has her health back and with it she has been able to train consistently.
Her form has come with it.
To return to the Caledonian Ground and claim another record was something she admitted was special.
‘‘I guess you take records for granted back then,’’ Greene, a marketing assistant at Silver Fern Farms, said.
‘‘After such a long drought of a record, it’s nice to get out there and show you can still run fast like you used to, and faster.’’
Green’s name is littered throughout the Otago women’s middle distance records.
In both the 1500m and 3000m she holds every record from 14 years up.
That includes the senior ones, which she broke at 19 and 18 respectively.
She also holds a handful of 800m records, as well as the girls 15-year-old 400m — which she dubbed the one she is most proud of.
Alongside that she attended two junior world championships, notably placing seventh in the 3000m in 2012.
‘‘I think just the age I was at, it was before I had many injury troubles.
‘‘You recover so quickly at that age.
‘‘I try not to compare myself to back then; it’s very different, what I’ve been through.
‘‘It’s cool to remember but not to dwell on and think ‘that was my glory days’.’’
Now back fit and healthy, she was still has big aspirations, and knows it is the time to chase them.
This year’s Olympics look to be out of reach, although she has an eye on next year’s world championships and the Commonwealth Games.
There was a little more to consider in getting there these days, though.
‘‘It’s just about juggling it with full-time work and now you have to pay your own way a lot more.
‘‘There was a bit more support at school age.
‘‘It’s just managing all those different things.
‘‘But definitely now is the time to go for it, because it’s a very short-lived career.’’
