Tauranga extreme distance runner, Nicola Wearne, third from left, with her running group at the start line of the Everest marathon. Photo/supplied
Fresh from a marathon at the top of the world, extreme athlete Nicola Wearne is already dreaming about her next adventure.
The Tauranga mother of two, who was diagnosed six years ago with rheumatoid arthritis, has just completed the Everest Marathon, a "brutal" run from 5380m at Base Camp to Namche Bazaar.
Now she has her eye on the equally demanding but very different marathon - across Lake Baikal in Russia.
"My body copes better in the cold than in the heat," she said, explaining why she prefers ice and snow to sandy desert runs. "The Everest run took me 12 hours. I thought it would take 10.'
"The first half was really hard because the terrain was just rocks and I couldn't breathe very well at that altitude.
"By the second half I was shattered and it was raining. You couldn't run because it was so steep - you just have to walk down basically. It was brutal but I ran where I could," she said.
The 15-day trek to the start line was almost as difficult.
The fortnight's climb is essential so that runners can adjust to the altitude and steepness of the track with rest days and practice runs. Even so, some did not make it and around a dozen had to be evacuated from Base Camp due to altitude sickness. One woman died.
"That really impressed upon me the risks of the environment and the fact that basically, it's two events - the trek in and the run itself. Physically I coped okay, although I hadn't done enough training and could have been in better condition. I think I was a bit naïve and casual about that part of it.
"The whole thing puts your body under incredible strain. You're trekking for five to eight hours a day and solidly uphill the whole time. We got to joking that "Nepali flat" means straight up.
"Then there are the sections they tell you are going to be a climb. You just have to take one step after another."
Ms Wearne, 44, manages her arthritis with fortnightly self-injections of the drug Humira - which she had to do while in camp halfway up the mountain.
She lost 5kg in three weeks and came home with a chest infection. In spite of the challenges, the whole experience was "just awesome", she said.
"I won't do the marathon again but I will go back to Nepal. It's an amazing country. The raw poverty is hard to deal with but the whole place is spectacular and the people I met were beautiful and very friendly. It's one of the best things I've ever done."
Ms Wearne's next challenge may be the 2019 Baikal Ice Marathon, a race across the frozen surface of a vast Russian lake near the Mongolian border. Apart from the physical demands of running on ice in sub-zero temperatures, the event was psychologically demanding because the route was in a straight line and completely featureless.
The idea to run it came from chatting to other members of the group who tackled the Everest Marathon.
There is a run in Morocco that also appealed but Nicola said she would need "to complete a hot run in Australia" first to sort out how cope in the heat.
For now, Ms Wearne is back at the gym three or four times a week and running up to 70km weekly - for the sheer fun of it.
"It would be nice to keep up my mountain fitness and I think I should enter a couple of races - maybe another marathon or two before the end of the year. What I really like is just to disappear for a couple of hours and go for a trail run. I find it relaxing," she said.
Ms Wearne often wears orange to support Arthritis New Zealand, which she describes as a supportive organisation.
She was happy to share her experiences in the hope it would help others who struggled with the disease.