Author: Wouna le Roux

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Blue Range Hut blues

Date: 25 January 2021
Distance: 8km out-and-back
Time: 1:45 going up | 1:30 going down

An invitation came along for a walk up to a hut, which was the perfect opportunity to get my bum off of the chair and do something physical for a change. To be fair, we have started jogging 4km most days of the week for the past month or so to try and get back into some form of fitness and routine. It has been a hard slog, and sometimes a real challenge just to cover those 4km, but we have been going reasonably steady for the past month.

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24-Hour isolation challenge

Date: 24-25 April 2020
Time: 24 hours
Distance: 103km

Passing the supportive messages written by our neighbours provided a boost on each lap.
Paul’s sound system providing some good vibes.
Loving the drawings!
Living out of town makes for a laid-back, rural running experience.
Heading into the sunset. 🙂
Our aid station.
Late afternoon shadows.
Thanks to the tree-rich area large parts of the course is in shadow much of the day.
Always a highlight to finish a fifth lap.
Sunset silhouette.
Nothing better than hearty soup on a long run!
Midnight – one third down. Looking a little tired.
As we all know, ultra-running is basically an extended food-fest.
A very welcome dawn.
Still well-stocked, many hours down.
Counting laps. 1 lap. = 1.5k.
A Strava view of our aid station, and the corner in the middle of our 750m stretch, which we passed 136 times in 24-hours.
A hero’s finish, with Chariots of Fire on the boombox. Fantastic support by our lovely neighbours, Paul, Katy and the girls
These shoes were way past their sell-by date at the beginning of April. Yet, I still added more that 400 km to them in the past 25 days. Probably a physio’s nightmare, looking at the imbalances.

If anyone told me a few years ago that I would do a 100km training run, without it being an official event, I would have said, dream on. Not only is this physically a huge challenge, but also mentally. Getting your head around that distance takes some mind gymnastics. Getting your head around doing it outside of the support, comfort and camaraderie of others in an event, takes extra strong brain gymnastics. Continue reading →

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19 k’s for 19 days – a COVID-19 isolation odyssey

Date: 1 – 19 April 2020
Distance: 362.5km
Time: 52:56
Elevation: 8970m

Screen Shot 2020-04-23 at 6.42.04 PM

In the weeks leading up to the Level 4 lockdown in New Zealand, when everyone was stockpiling on toiletpaper and flour, my thoughts were focused elsewhere – to come up with some sort of physical challenge that would reflect a small part of the pandemic. And since running and walking is my preferred exercise, the plan would have to involve one or both. With 2019 being the year that the virus was first detected (hence COVID-19), nineteen had to have prominence. To just run/walk 19km is no challenge. Any abled body can do that, even if it takes you all day. The logical next step was to try and repeat the 19k for 19 days in a row, and just like that, the challenge was set. To make the challenge just a wee bit more challenging, I decided to try and do every day’s 19k in under three hours. That is rather swift walking if you are not a speedwalker, or a couple of kilometres had to be jogged. Continue reading →

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Taihape Gumboot Gallop recce

Race day is getting closer, and I was keen to experience the course myself first hand before the event. Curious to know what the terrain would be like underfoot and how hilly the hills actually are. We were also in need of elevation maps. The plan was to walk the whole course, which I figured should take me around three and a half to four hours. I ended up jogging two to three kilometres. Continue reading →

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Powell hut and back

5-6 February 2020
Distance: Approximately 18km out-and-back

Vege curry for tea.
Emergency soup, lunch, dessert and snacks.
Whiskey – a great tipple on a tramp.
Paraphernalia, and white gold.
Oops. My 24 litre pack is not up to the task.
Coffee and a last pack-check before heading off.
Mountain House shelter.
Lending a helping hand.
Powell in the mist.
Shenanigans in the wind.
Photo by Deon.

At short notice we, together with friends, decided to make the trip up to Powell hut, spending the night and walking back down the next day. Since Waitangi Day was on the Thursday, we decided to make a midweek outing of it, hoping to have the hut to ourselves. This turned out to not quite be the case. Continue reading →