Road running

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12 in 14 Holiday Hundred

Date: 6 – 17 July
Distance: 168km

I am still toying with the idea of doing the Northburn 100 next year. Actually, it’s more than toying. I want to, and plan to do it. Since I’m not getting younger (or fitter for that matter) I’m going to attempt walking the whole thing. Or at least start by walking for the most part, and perhaps try jogging bits on the last lap. But realistically that might be a big ask. I just don’t want to risk starting running early on and then be buggered sooner. Maybe I will be buggered just as much from walking. Question is, how long will it take to get to that point. Will I be able to go further or longer with walking rather than jogging?

At this stage I’m just trying to make it through winter, keeping our run-walks reasonably consist; five to six times a week.

What bothers me is that we did just that all through last year, and apart from a couple of months over Xmas where our training took a bit of a knock, we kept at it. And yet, I’m not getting fitter or faster. But to be honest, at this stage I’m just glad I can still move, as that is also becoming more challenging by the day.

For the school holidays I came up with the idea to do 12km each day for two weeks straight. That amounts to a 100 miles over two weeks. This is not remotely comparable to a 100 miles in one go, but it just wanted to see how this will affect me. And even though it seemed easy enough, I have hip and knee problems which are giving me a lot of grief at the moment.

My right leg/thigh is completely on the blink. To the point where I’m limping and am often in agony. I tried to foam roll and stretch my way out of pain, but that just worsened the situation. I have done this before where I manage to release fascia in wrong places, or the right place but neglecting another spot, or who knows what, but causing the issue to be worse that before doing anything. That’s always the problem with knowing a little but not enough. Or working on one area and neglecting the big picture.

I have very shallow hip sockets, and my theory is that weakness and tightness is causing the ball of my femur to move out of place, and that causes the pinching and pain down my leg. Whether anything can be done about it, is anyone’s guess. Strengthening the joint is probably my best bet. And on hindsight, this is what I should have done the past ten years since becoming aware of my hip problem.

During a stint like this one, there’s no hiding, unless you bail out, which is not something I like to do. So from the start I wasn’t 100%. That’s when I thought some foam rolling will do the trick. It has done wonders in the past. It’s just that without strengthening the muscles at the same time, it doesn’t stick. Only this time, I managed to do more damage than good. For the bulk of our 160km over two weeks, I was in quite a bit of pain, having to walk most of the way. Especially the last few outings. Which in itself is perhaps not the worst idea, as walking fitness is where I’m hoping to make a lot of gains.

Day 1. Linton (9km jog + 3km walk)

For the first outing I put on an old pair of shoes. Altra Superior. They’re not really old in wear and tear terms, but I’ve had them for at least eight years. I’ve always seen them as short distance shoes, and wouldn’t have attempted anything further than a 21k, and even that is pushing it.

Case in point. By the end of our outing, my ‘long’ toe (Mortons foot worse on the one side than the other) felt as if the tip was bruised and battered. It looked swollen and was very sore. I tried to ignore it, hoping it will magically heal overnight.

We decided to jog all the flats and downhills and walk the uphills. Day one done. So far so good, but ended up with a number of nagging niggles, including a sore toe.
[1:37]

Day 2. Linton (9+3km)

Needless to say, I wore a different pair of Altra shoes – one that can go the distance.

The toe was very sensitive, and sore to the touch. Having the blankets pressing down on it at night was painful, so I wasn’t sure how I would cope on the run-walk.

We went for the same approach as the first day; walk the uphills and jog the rest.

Slower, but glad I could manage despite all the aches and pains.
[1:42]

Day 3. Pacific Dr/Summerhill (6+6km)

It was a cold, and wet day. We had to fit it in before work to try and avoid the worst of the rain.

Pressed for time, this meant we nearly matched our quickest time so far on day one.

We followed a 2 walk, 4 jog, 2 walk, 2 jog, 2 walk strategy.

My toe was still giving me grief, and looked very inflamed and red.

[1:38]

Day 4. Linton (12km walk)

Our fourth day looked like it might not happen. The weather took a turn for the worse, and it was miserable outside. A freezing southerly gale was blowing, coupled with a drizzle, so we decided to don a tonne of warm and wet weather gear and walk to Linton and back.

It would appear that walking is more difficult that running. My shins hurt and I have a few other body parts that are equally unhappy.

[1:59]

Day 5. Pacific + Massey (8+4km)

The cold weather hadn’t subsided, challenging us with an icy southerly and only 7 degrees Celsius. To make the outing feel like it’s ‘shorter’ than it is, it helps for me to stay near the starting point. We parked at NW Summerhill, did two kilometres down Pacific Dr before turning around, passing NW again to head down to Massey.

We walked the first and last 2k, and jogged the 8k in the middle. This was out quickest outing yet.

[1:34]

Day 6. River upstream (4+8km)

For some change of scenery, we opted to go upstream from Firzherbeet Bridge. It was still very cold, turning an already difficult outing into a challenge. We went for a walk-two-jog-one approach. Sort of … (2 walk, 1 jog, 2 walk, 1 jog, 2 walk, 2 jog, 2 walk to be precise). With a totally buggered leg, and a throbbing toe, the walking started to gain prominence.

Later that evening I noticed that a red line was forming next to the nail of the long toe. It was still sore, and the nail had a blueish tint.

[1:45]

Day 7. Summerhill trails (4+8km)

Being a weekend day (Sunday), we decided to do the new highway, as that was up the hill – the opposite of what we’ve been doing so far. It was very cold, but at least there was no wind at home. But on arrival in the carpark an icy wind was blowing a gale, and despite multiple layers we were not dressed for it. So we turned back and did the Summerhill trails instead. To get the distance, we went through the Massey science centres, over the foot bridge and back to Summerhill shopping centre where we started.

My long toe was still sore and swollen. That night I tried to inspect it to see what was going on. Apart from being very sore, the red was bugging me. I trimmed the nail again extra sort and accidentally cut into the skin. That’s when some bloody water came out from the blister underneath the nail which I hadn’t noticed before. With the whole thing so swollen I wasn’t expecting a blister underneath the nail. Hooray, finally progress can be made. I put some antiseptic ointment and a plaster on and went to bed.

[1:50]

Day 8. Pacific Dr nooks and crannies. (12km walk)

From an altered walking gait due to a sore hip and knee, plus a toe problem on the other side, I developed a new blister. Never a dull moment. An no better way to lure out all niggles than a bit of mileage.

The chilly weekend weather stayed with us, and it was only 5 degrees C for our walk.

My long toe was still sore. It’s hard to believe that one little toe can cause so much drama. It’s like it just doesn’t want to get better. And maybe it’s because of the hammering every day. Only six more outings to go.

[1:59]

Day 9. Pacific Dr nooks and crannies (12km walk)

Despite a sore and buggered hip, thigh and knee (things are seriously out of alignment me thinks) we walked again after work in the dark.

I was surprised by the fact that no-one was outside. It was a lovely evening – not super cold and no wind. Yet, the flickering light of TVs is the only sign of life.

Day 10. Linton (12km walk-jog)

Another lunchtime run where we walked for the most part, but with the occasional jog to try and finish in a quicker time. It didn’t really make a difference, as an extended stop to give a little girl some attention (she came off her bike on one of the corners) took a minute or two.

[1:49]

Day 11. Pacific Dr nooks and crannies (12km walk)

By now I’ve almost given up on running altogether. My leg wasn’t getting any better, and the compensation caused my foot to become sore. The little bones felt bruised every time I tried to run. So walking it was.

Due to other commitments, we had a super early chilly start (in the dark just after 6am) watching the sky get lighter was pleasant. Unfortunately it was overcast, so no glorious sunrise. Not much in the line of wind made it a pleasant walk until people started driving to work.

We miscalculated the distance and ended up going a bit too far, taking ten minutes longer.

[2:09]

Day 12. Pacific Dr nooks and crannies (12km walk)

This outing had to happen after work, so we saw another sunset. All our after workday outings, where we couldn’t go over lunchtime, happened after or before work.

[2:00]

Day 13. Pacific Dr and Massey (12km walk)

It was a Saturday where we had a lot of things to do. Moving studio, collecting artworks and materials to go into storage, and the list goes on.

Exhausted we could finally do our walk, again just as it was getting dark. As it was the penultimate, and again with another commitment the Sunday night, we opted to have bubbly prematurely to celebrate.

[1:58]

Day 14. Pacific Dr nooks and crannies (12km walk)

We started the day trying to finalise a retaining wall we’ve been working of for a couple of months. We started good, things were going well, and then came the rain. This caused some slipping behind the wall and into the holes before we could fill it up with concrete, which meant we had to undo everything and start over. It set us back considerably, and a week-long project took months.

Lots of digging and shoveling mud, clay and stone. Sore and exhausted, we had lunch and went for our walk. Luckily with walking, one can have whatever you like for lunch without too many ill effects.

[1:53]

And just like that, we covered 100 miles. It’s unfathomable to think we have to do that in one go, over super hilly terrain. But it’s a start. And as I say, as long as we can get through winter okay, we can start training a bit more specific with regards to hills. Not that there’s anything remotely hilly enough near us, but an hour or two’s drive would help.

What bothers me is my leg situation. Although I struggled through the past two weeks, the pain is now non-stop, sore with every step. That is not the way to train. I have to get my hip dysplasia sorted. As long as the ball moves around in the socket, there will be pinching and pain. Foam rolling just aggravated it, stretching doesn’t help either. I am at my wits end.

Going forward, I might just try to keep walking at least. It won’t really help with fitness, but it feels better than doing nothing. Or giving up altogether. Will have to wait and see how things progress before making the final call about Northburn.

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Pillar to Pou

Date: 13 June
Distance: 36km
Time: 5:40

Friday started as usual; breakfast, then Gerry went to work. He was taking a half day, so that we could leave a bit earlier for the trip to Taupo. I made food and snacks and got everything packed in the morning, and by 2pm we were on our way.

We arrived at our accommodation at about 17:30, checked in and got the little fan heater going. It was quite nippy outside, but overall I think we were lucky with the weather. We could easily stroll the 600m to registration with nary a breeze as we watched darkness fall over Lake Taupo. Red at night, shepherds delight.

It is the second time this event took place and looking at the results, the first time wasn’t nearly as big. Less than 200 runners from my understanding. This time 1200 runners and walkers made it a ‘sold out’ event of which 180 were solo runners (which we entered as to allow for some running if we chose to), 18 solo walkers and the rest were teams. The plan was to walk the whole way, to see how we managed continuous long-distance walking at a reasonable clip. 

The event only started at 10:00 allowing for a relaxing beginning to a freezing (one or two degrees Celsius depending on which source you look at) misty morning. Our accommodation was about 100 metres from the river walkway (event course). Shortly after 7am Gerry moved our car to a parking spot right next to the walkway. This meant we could leave our food and extra gear within super easy reach. They have a drop bag area for participants without a support crew, but I didn’t feel comfortable leaving my phone or other valuables there. And I did not want to carry my phone on all laps – just the first and last laps to take some photos.

The plan was to do 36km, 5 laps. Each lap is 7.3km which, as anyone who knows me will know, is too long. If laps are involved I prefer shorter and preferably not longer than 3km maximum. Five laps in six hours meant 1:12 for each lap. I can’t walk that fast, so we had to jog a kilometre or so on each lap.

The nice thing about out-and-back laps (as apposed to loop laps) is that you see all the other participants all the time; coming from the front, or passing you from behind, only to be seen again coming from the front. It makes it very social, and we identified a young runner with a bucket hat whom we ended up looking out for. I liked his tenacity and eventually we rooted for him to win! Funny how you can get ‘involved’ in something or someone you don’t know from a bar of soap.

At the start and with the excitement of everyone dashing off, we decided to jog the first bit, at least until we reached the car after about 500 metres. We could then drop our multiple extra layers for the start which was very handy. After that we walked some before jogging a bit again after the turnaround point at the far end. This is also where the other waterpoint is (the first one being at the start and finish). Coincidentally we never ventured into the start-finish aid station the whole day. We had our own aid station in the back of the car with a variety of goodies: gherkins, prosciutto, date bread, date balls, jelly snakes, liquorice toffees, even hot home made soup in a thermos.

Once we were on our way on the first lap, fresh and rested, it almost seemed very possible to do six laps, 44km. I know I am definitely not in a place to do that kind of distance, but it is easy to get caught up in the excitement. We recalculated our run and walk times for each lap, figuring out how we can achieve a lap an hour with the least amount of running, but after a while I decided we have to be sensible. Haha. So we stayed with the five-laps plan. 

And just as well, as after the third lap I could feel my legs and especially my feet getting tired. We tried to finish each lap in exactly 1:08, meaning a wee jog of about one kilometre somewhere along each lap.  With a very small incline towards the halfway mark of the lap, we ended up walking the first half so as not to have to run the ‘uphill’. 

The Pou is located in Te Ātea, a gathering space devoid of vehicles The previous time we were in Taupo this area was still a road. The pou is a beautiful carving by master carver Delani Brown made from a 2,000-year-old Totara tree. The thirteen metal pillars surrounding the main pou represent the 13 rivers that flow into Lake Taupo. Outside the thirteen pou are four timber that illustrate the four compass points, the four seasons, the four elements, amongst others.

Free beers (Asahi), bananas, and apples were at the finish. We strolled back to the car, drove across the road and up the driveway back to our accommodation, fired up the little fan heater again, had a shower and some bubbly before sauntering another couple of kilometres to a restaurant for some delicious food.

I had aches and pains in places I don’t have when running that distance. Which is good, I guess. Just goes to show how different the two disciplines are. Lots of work still to do before March next year.

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Hatuma Lime half marathon

Date: 15 September
Distance: 21.1km
Time: 2:22
Previous:  2011, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019

After managing to finish the Kinloch off-road challenge last week, we decided to plan ahead and slot in some events to keep us going through the summer months, and building up to the Old Ghost trail run. Events have become so expensive these days that you have to chose very carefully which ones you want to do. The community events are usually cheaper, and with great spot prizes and cool vibes, what is not to like.

The Hatuma Lime half marathon is the one we’ve done most of all events. This was our seventh time, and I would go back again. Of all the community events we’ve done, this one is just great fun, and seems to grow in numbers and popularity. 

It is an hour and a half drive from Palmy, so we left early to be there when registration opened at 8:30am. Upon arrival, there was a very long queue in the paddock already waiting to get to the front. Due to another event, the hall and usual toilets were off limits, and standing in the breeze in the queue chatting to Matt and Sharon was rather cold. Apart from the breeze, the weather was great and perfect for running, although a lot of kiwis complained about the heat (at only 14 or 15 degrees). Unfortunately for me, that still borders on too cold, but while running, it was okay. Having said that, I would still prefer a warmer temperature.

Since we haven’t done an on-road half marathon in ages, I was keen to test where I’m at. The aim was to try and make it at a 7min pace, e.g. 2:28, but should the wheels come off, I could walk and finish in three hours if needed.

With 15 minutes to go, we lined up for race briefing, still shivering in the breeze. And then we were off. No sooner had we left the racecourse grounds, when Gerry and I found ourselves dead last. On the short out-and-back stretch in the road at the beginning, we could see everyone who took part. In the first couple of kilometres we were going at a 6:10 pace, and even though it felt reasonably comfortable, I knew I would not be able to keep it up.  

Every turn had a bunch of school boys marshalling, and the other marshals and water points were all very jolly, supportive, and with music. At the first aid station we took a banana. They only had whole bananas which we could luckily share, but it was still way too much. It sat in my stomach for a good few kilometres. Usually it would be cut into pieces.

I started to slow down a bit, but still kept the pace in under seven minutes per kilometre, until we hit the hilly stretch in the second half past the rail road. Every here and there I had to walk short bits to get up the hills, but I was surprised to be able to run most of the way. Near the air strip, I was going slower than I hoped. This carried on until the finish, with more walk breaks, even on the flats. At the finish, Gerry’s name was called to collect a spot prize. Unfortunately it was for a massage or something in Central Hawkes’ Bay, which he would likely not use, so he returned it, to which they gave him some tomato fertiliser! We’ve got fertiliser the very first time we did the event in 2011, and I always love a good practical spot prize. 

We didn’t stay for prize-giving, as we still had things to do, so headed straight home. Stopped for ice cream in Dannevirke (we were both exhausted from little sleep the night before), and the ice cream helped to get our brains functioning again. 

I’m not averse to road running. It is always a great way (for me) to gauge where I’m at. Running is running (including walking). Road, trail, off-road, mountain – it’s all just different approaches to the same thing, utilising different muscles and techniques. But all getting you from point A to point B on your own steam.

I had some decently sore hamstrings the next day, especially on the left inside. It is obvious I don’t use my body/muscles equal or symmetrical on both side. This is something I really need to work on if I’m to keep doing longer runs.

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Woodbridge Riverside parkrun +

Date: 15 June
Distance: 5k
Time: 00:31.25

Traveling by air is a waiting game. Just sitting around and waiting … waiting for flights, waiting to board, waiting to take off, waiting for food, waiting to get an innings in the toilet, waiting to land, wait, wait, wait, is exhausting at best.

I am less and less keen on the thought of crossing borders, simply because border control is a real pain in the arse (plus I am a bit of a nervous flyer). The whole ordeal is stressful. But to see other places around the world and experience other cultures and environments means you have to suck it up. Alas, it doesn’t get any easier. On the contrary. But I do love traveling around, or touring, by foot or car or even train. Walking from place to place for months on end would be my first choice.

While in Perth for the Aussie science communicators conference where Gerry will be giving a talk, we decided to do some events and see a bit more of the parks in and around Perth on foot. The one event would be a parkrun the morning after we arrived (sounded easy enough), and the other the Transcend 40km walk on 22 June, all going to plan.

But often things don’t work out as planned. There will inevitably be hiccups. For instance, the second flight from Melbourne to Perth was delayed. No surprises there. What was already a very long day, starting shortly after 6am in NZ, and ended at 11:30pm in Perth (3:30am NZ time), was also somewhat eventful. Arriving later than planned in Perth, we discovered that the car rental company who delivers cars to the airport, doesn’t deliver after hours. Should have read the small print. We took an Uber to the car rental, and were dropped of in the dark at night to a deserted industrial area. I was suspicious of everything that moved and didn’t move. They were meant to send us details for after hours pickup, but somehow that email slipped through the cracks. After about twenty minutes of cussing and cursing in the dark in the middle of nowhere, Gerry searched his emails again, and luckily found the email containing the details about the lock box that held the car key. Crisis averted. And thank goodness for roaming. What did we do in the days before smartphones.

Arriving at our Airbnb accommodation after 10pm, where we had a room in a house shared with others, it turned out one of the other residents took our key from the, yet again, lock box outside the house that is used for self check-in. Again, cussing outside, we had no telephone number to contact the host, or anyone inside the house. The house looked dark and we thought that everyone was asleep and didn’t want to make a racket, but Gerry knocked anyway. Eventually one of the occupants, the lady who took our key, opened the door and handed us the key. It would appear she had some or other safety concern – I battled to understand what she was on about. Had we arrived even later, we might not have been able to get inside. But everything worked out in the end. A miss is as good as a mile, as my mum always told us.

And here’s a funny thing; when you fly from NZ to somewhere in Australia, via Melbourne, your luggage cannot be checked through from A to B. Melbourne airport rules dictate that you have to collect your luggage, go through customs, and check it in again for the local flight. Maybe it is the same for any international to local transfer. But for some reason NZ doesn’t know this. It is the second time this happened to us (I forgot we had been in this situation before). We very nearly went for coffee at the nearest cafe, thinking our luggage is checked through to Perth, while all along it was going round and round on the conveyer. Should I be telling anyone at NZ airports that this is the case?

And to top things off, Qantas must have left our luggage outside in the rain in Wellington, as when we opened the suitcases, everything was wet. So excuse me for having a wet panty about air travel and customs.

Exhausted, but finally in bed, we had a surprisingly good sleep. Short, but good.

Perth has a lot of parkruns (19 if I’m correct), and we had five to choose from all within an 11km radius from where we stayed. This one, following the John George Trail, looked the best from the online photos, so we made uncommitted plans to do it. Bearing in mind jetlag, super late to bed, and no food whatsoever with us, apart from a few bags of rooibos (red bush) tea, which made it through customs. And incase you think I’m a rooibos tea fanatic for bringing no other edibles than rooibos on this trip, it was by accident that I had it. Everything happened last minute (due to a hectic schedule, coupled with an inability to make decisions), when I grabbed the small back pack I use for work as my hand luggage bag, which happened to contain some rooibos tea bags in a small ziplock.

When we woke up at 6:30am I somehow didn’t feel too knackered, so we had tea, got dressed and went to the parkrun. The sun was out, no wind, and only slightly cool. But a t-shirt and vest was enough for me, while most of the other runners were in shorts and t-shirts only.

The welcomes and announcements were made (poking fun at the kiwis for being a bit slow? As an expat I’ve never been able to fully understand the banter between Australia and New Zealand) and we were set off. The course is sealed and in a lollipop out-and-back shape; about 2km out, a 1km loop, and 2km back on the same path.

I was hoping to make 30 minutes, so was going out at a pace just shy of 6min/km. Quicker than I have run in about a year. I can honestly not remember when was the last time I could manage a 6min/km pace. I was obviously running too fast, I knew that, let alone continuously for 5km. My muscles felt tight – like they might tighten up and not release again, sending me flying. For the first two kilometres, I lifted my feet extra high and concentrated extra hard to make my legs work. It did cross my mind for a fleeting moment that a longtime family ailment (unidentified and undiagnosed) had finally caught up with me. Both my sister and brother have this thing where their muscles would completely freeze whenever they try to do something repetitive quickly. Neither of them can run, or swim, or do any sport. By the second step they try to take, their muscles would just contract and not release, rendering them incapable to move. At a normal walking pace, they are fine. We’ve collectively self-diagnosed it as a form of the fainting goat syndrome (myotonia congenital), for lack of knowing what it is. We’ve jokingly said that my mother wrapped then up too tightly as babies. And by the time I came along, she was more relaxed about the newborn.

I managed 2 kilometres at a sub-6 minute pace, but then the wheels came of slightly. I covered the next two kilometres at just over a six minute pace, still on track for a 30 minute finish at a push, but in the last kilometre I was brought to a halt and had to walk for a bit.

I contemplated my situation. The last food I had was shortly after lift off from Melbourne, some 15 hours ago (felt like days ago), which likely had something to do with it. Coupled with jetlag, I just couldn’t make myself go faster.

But the scenery helped. The park is beautiful; the track next to the Swan River, with eucalyptus, oak, wattle trees with patches of green open spots. All along the run we were accompanied by the sound of moaning ravins and chatty green cockatoos. After a short slow walk, I could jog again to the finish, but obviously missed the 30 minute goal.

It was the 402nd running of the event, with 224 participants. There’s a cafe (which supply all the volunteers with free coffee), playground and more. It’s is a gorgeous parkrun. The locals must be thrilled to have it in such a beautiful place.

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Wellington marathon on a good day

Date: 25 June 2023
Distance: 42.2km
Time: 5:18

They say that nothing beats Wellington on a good day. And we had just that – perfect weather for our marathon. Which really is a rare thing for NZ, let alone Wellington.

I have always said that I don’t want to attempt a marathon if I can’t at least finish it in under five hours. That is the time you need to qualify for things like Two Oceans (56km) and the Comrades (89km) marathons. But sometimes you just have to let go of these preconceived ideas and bite the bullet. 

We’ve entered for a 100 miler, which takes place at the beginning of December. While our training was going quite well for the first four months of the year, reaching 271km for the month of April, things went a bit pear-shaped the following two months. School and work commitments, in combination with crappy autumn and winter weather just compounded into not much running apart from two longish runs: the Summerhill Skedaddle in mid-May, which is the only one specific to what we need to be doing, and a 30k on the flat in Palmy. And that is the biggest problem – we do all our runs on reasonably flat, and often paved, terrain. Not at all what we should be doing, but I figured it will be okay for base-building.

While things got out of hand a little, especially during June (we only managed four short runs the last two weeks before this event), the marathon date creeped up on us and before we knew it we were making the trip down to Wellington. With a thermos with coffee, snacks, and sustenance for the run, we were on our way. Nina went with, and we picked her up by about 4:30am, some 45 minutes drive from our place. We’ve had quite a few 3am and 4am starts lately with work, so another one was not going to break the camel’s back.

We arrived bright and early, in time to quickly have breakfast, sign in, go back to the car, make loo stops, and drop off a bag with dry clothes at the finish to save us another trip to the car after the run. It was still dark outside. Gerry tried to take photos, but it was too dark despite the stadium lights around the start/finish area. (And thereafter something funky must have happened with the camera as almost all of the photos ended up blurry.) Just as the gun went at 7:15 (all marathoners started at the same time this year – walkers and runners), the sky started to turn deep blue. On our way out of the stadium and down the main road running by the light of the street lamps, the sky started to turn. It was a glorious morning with no wind, and a sea that was as calm as a lake. 

Unfortunately, the course had to be changed in the last couple of weeks due to a fire which included asbestos, making it unsafe to run through that area. So instead of running about 10.5km out, followed by a roughly 5km out-and-back-and-out-and-back at the far end of the course (to make up about 21km), before coming back the same 10.5km, the course was now a double lap of the 21km course (more or less – we went a bit further on the first lap, so that we could turn for the second lap before reaching the stadium). 

Since we were not really in a place to run a marathon (but it had to happen) we had to come up with a plan to cover the 42.2km without completely breaking ourselves. So we opted for a 500 metre walk followed by a 1.5km jog strategy for every two kilometres the whole way. We followed a similar strategy (800m walk + 1.2km jog) for the Trail Trilogy and managed to finish the 100km in 15:50. For this event it means we had 20 walk breaks totalling roughly 10km of the course.

As we were running out on the first lap I could not get my head around the fact that we had to do all of that again. The further we went, the less convinced I was that I’d make another lap. Luckily the weather could not have been better which made a massive difference to our spirits.  

What felt like forever, finally saw us at the first and furtherest turn-around point (at about 11.5km). I was surprised that they didn’t hand out something to indicate that you did all the out-and-back stretches, like they did previously(there was a timing mat on the 21.1km turnaround, but not this turn which was about a kilometre further down the road). Shortly after the start we ran with someone who mentioned that runners have taken shortcuts in previous years due to not begin checked. Not that I care – if someone does that, they are only cheating themselves. But of course this becomes a real issue for category winners and placers. Why someone would do that is beyond me.

With the course being an out and back (twice), we saw some familiar faces which was great. On the stretch near the airport on our way back, the frontrunners of the half marathon (which was a championship race this year) started coming from the front, and it wasn’t too long before they caught up with us again. The last 7km, and especially the last 5km, back to the stadium on the first loop ended up being a bit chaotic with marathon runners, 21.1km runners and 10km runners all going out and back on the same road. For someone trying to run a decent time, a PB, place or win, it must have been challenging. 

Back at the waterfront there was also a market and many other people out and about to negotiate. We saw an elderly gentleman turning around from a food cart (that was oddly placed on the side dedicated to the runners) and walk straight in front of one of the speedsters. I’m sure there must have been plenty of incidents, some pushing and surely some shoving.

Eventually we reached the 21km mark on Gerry’s watch, but the turn-around point was still nowhere to be seen. Eventually, not far from the ramp going back up the stadium parking area to the finish, we reached the turnaround for our second lap. I was already sore and having to go out a second time was tough, especially with the finish line less than a kilometre away.

We trotted on with our jog-walk strategy and the kilometres ticked by slowly but surely. I reminded myself that ‘this too shall pass’. Although we weren’t too far from the back, we started reeling in other runners and walkers. Of course some walkers were way faster that us, but we kept at a steady pace for the most part, averaging just over a 7min/km pace, which surprised me considering we were walking half a kilometre out of every two kilometres.

After 30km, the wheels started coming off for me a bit. Everything hurt, my legs felt numb, an IT band started to bother, it felt like the sciatic nerve was pinching in my right leg, and my feet were killing me. I reminded myself to cut back on the cookies and chocolates, and lose some weight. Surely that should help ease the pressure on my feet?

Admittedly the finish couldn’t come quick enough. I haven’t been as sore in a very long time. We managed to do the first half in about 2:30, and the second half in 2:40, moving time on Strava. So this excludes pee and water stops. It was a tough run, but I’m glad we went. Of course doubts about doing an ultra, let alone a 100 miles, started creeping in. Before our two months slack, we still planned on doing the WUU2K three weeks after the marathon, but I realised that will not happen. Unfortunately, that makes qualifying for the miler a bit tricky. We still need to fit in an ultra to qualify and there’s absolutely nothing on the North Island running calendar for July/August, apart from WUU2K. Damn those North Range Trio organisers for not running that event anymore! At least we have until the end of October to qualify, but I don’t want to leave it until last minute.

It’s been nine years since we last did the Wellington marathon, and things have changed. Did we get a goody pack previously? Nothing this time. Also no towels at the finish line, which was also a wonderful treat the previous time around. But still aid stations along the route with electrolyte and water, as well as bananas at the finish. And a lot of marshals and cheerers along the way.

We opted not to stay for prize-giving, but rather make the trip back home. After changing into some dry clothes, I shuffled down the ramp to the car, thinking how sore I would be after sitting in the car for two and a half hours. At least we had coffee and some frooze balls for the drive back. After dropping off NIna, it was just the final stretch back home, where a lovely warm shower and a cold bubbly awaited. 

I am super grateful the weather was fantastic. Had it been windy, super cold, and sideways sleet or rain, it would have been a challenge of note. 

Time to rethink our strategy for the next five months.

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Potential upcoming events include:

  • Halcombe 30k solo
  • Tekapo 50k
  • Blue Lake 24-hour
  • Crater Rim 83k
  • Cape Kidnappers 32k
  • Taniwha 44k