Month: August 2015

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Parkrun – Hamilton, New Zealand

Date: 22 August 2015

Distance: 5km

Time: 31.44

Why not dress up to make your mark at Parkrun?
Although quite chilly, it was a lovely morning for a run.
From the Hamilton Yacht Club, just follow the path around the lake.
Scenic and well kept park.
Circumnavigating the beautiful little Lake Rotoroa.
Pathway cutting across and through boggy areas.
No wind or rain – yay!
Gerry on an leisurely morning trot.

Parkrun has taken the world by storm! And there’s no signs of slowing down – all over the world new Parkruns pop up and more people join every day.

This all started in 2004 in the UK with the Bushy Parkrun (formerly known as Bushy Park Time Trial) when it was founded by Paul Sinton-Hewitt. The organisers figured it would be a good idea to spread the Parkrun event to other locations and in 2007 new events started popping up across London and the UK. It has subsequently also spread to other parts of the world and roughly 13 countries currently participate in what is now a worldwide event run entirely by volunteers. The Bushy Parkrun is the oldest parkrun in the world. Continue reading →

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Manawatu Striders Half Marathon, Palmerston North

Date: 9 August 2015

Distance: 21.1km

Time: 1:40:46 (Gerry); 2:21:42 (Wouna)

Friendly Striders volunteers ready for late registrations on race morning.
The race features a nice long, straight sprint to the finish.
Wouna and Cheryl near the finish. Less than 2km to go and still fresh and happy.
Cheryl’s kids joined their mum in crossing the finish line.
More Striders volunteers helping out after the race.
Many hands make light work.

If you do any significant amount of distance training, you invariably end up running out of new routes in your region. And most likely, to simplify your daily routine, you end up regularly re-running the same routes day after day. In our case, our daily runs usually include Massey University and/or the Bridle Track along the Manawatu River.

As a result, lining up at the start line of the Manawatu Striders Half Marathon which covers, you guessed it, Massey University and the Bridle Track, I was not exactly breathless with anticipation about the course. Which is not to say that it is not a nice route – we just get so used to it that we forget that it’s actually quite special. Spoiled ay? On the bright side, I was aiming to improve on my time from last year, so that will keep things interesting. Continue reading →

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Hoka One One Taupo Marathon

Date: 1 August 2015

Distance: 42.2

Time: 5:00.52

Founding Member! 🙂 Nice touch for everyone doing the inaugural.
About 300 marathon participants, starting at Huka Falls.
A chilly, cloudy, misty, drizzly start.
Off we go, next to the Waikato River at Huka Falls.
Passing underneath the SH1 bridge. We’ve driven over the bridge many times, never expecting to be running under it!
A few short hills, reducing some participants to a walk.
Some open patches in the otherwise misty landscape.
Just follow the colourful stream of runners.
Cabbage trees lining the single track.
I love how they propped up distance markers!
Crossing the mighty Waikato as we turn back towards town.
En route back to Huka Falls. Just after the 8km mark.
Despite the cool conditions, the hydration provided at the aid stations was most welcome.
A close encounter with a hydroelectric power station.
Great off-road conditions, with mostly hard-packed tracks.
The warmth of the Wairakei Thermal streams looked very inviting on a cold morning.
A footpath next to the road.
Totalsport branded bunting marking the way.
Gerry speeding down the hills.
Through a redwood forest as the sun made a quick showing, before disappearing again.
Reaching the halfway mark just outside Taupo.
Marshalls making sure we crossed the roads safely.
Some minor chaos when we, together with hundreds of 10km walkers, hit the returning marathon, half marathon and 10km runners and walkers.
Two thirds down! This is the point where you really start wondering why you keep doing this to yourself.
Some entertainment provided by the can-can onesies near the 30k mark.
The long and winding road. A sealed walkway leading us all the way back to the finish.
The bagpipe player is a feature we remembered from our previous running of the Taupo Half Marathon.
The finish, yay!
Friendly volunteers braving all the smelly feet to help remove timing chips.
Delicious buns and chicken soup at the finish – a lovely touch.

If I didn’t know better, I would have sworn Totalsport created this new event as a sneaky way to lure people into trail running. 🙂

The Hoka One One Taupo Marathon is new on the calendar for 2015. Totalsport took over the reigns in 2014 for all events – a 5, 10 and 21km, adding the new 42km to their offering this year for both runners and walkers. And what a great addition, I must add!

The first half is a non-technical trail run while the second half is on-road. The second half is the same route as the original half marathon, with a couple of minor changes (like the short stretch shortly after the second turn-around point, that is now also paved. Previously it was an off-road dash back to the lake walkway). Continue reading →

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In it for the long haul – Manawatu Striders Winter Series

Date: 26 July 2015

Distance: 15km

Time: 1:39

At the start, Kevin getting ready to get the show on the road.
Running along the Bridle Track.
The track was still in the shade, making for a rather chilly start to the run.
Beautiful tranquil Palmy on a lovely sunny morning.
David making sure everybody goes where they should.
On Massey campus, a small uphill stretch before looping around a car park and back down.
Another out-and-back stretch, making for a more social run.
The only water point, nicely positioned so you pass it twice.
We were too late/slow for the biscuits, but coffee and tea were still on offer.

The weekend long-run is probably the most important item in your weekly schedule on your way to fitness. Without the long-run, your endurance will not improve. Especially for okes like us who like to go far and long.

Not wanting to miss out on the Manawatu Strider’s Winter Series 15km event (which was too short for our build-up to the Taupo marathon), our only option was to fit in another few kilometres before the start of the Striders’ event. Wanting to cover about 30km, we could either do the course twice, or just do our own thing on a different path. We opted for the latter, and at about 7:30 in the morning we started out from the race start-and-finish area, heading out west through the Esplanade, past the swimming pool, turning onto the Bridle track at the Holiday Park, and ran all the way to the far end of the track and back to where we started. From the Holiday Park to the end of the track is 7.5km, so out and back is a nice 15km run. Continue reading →