Road running

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Auckland marathon – 30 October 2011

Medals! The first time ever out of all the events we’ve done in NZ so far.
The Te Kuiti campsite on the pavement opposite houses.
To the back of the field. We were somewhere in the middle.
The front of the field, with the start banner way up ahead.
A sea of green (the official race T’s) with olive trees lining the streets of Devonport.
Sun coming up in the background. Willie (in green and blue) and me.
Willie, Gerry and myself in front of a (clearly very committed) Tonga RWC supporter’s house.
Supporter flags.
Drummers at the start of the Auckland Harbour Bridge.
Gerry and Willie on top of the Auckland bridge.
Me and Gerry, on our way down.
A loop at the bottom of the bridge, passing underneath towards the city.
Gerry running along the waterfront road on the second half of the race.
A Star Wars storm trooper.
Water cups everywhere with some runners still coming from the front on their way to the turnaround point.
unner dressed up in full leather biking gear – helmet and all. Must have been hot.
Auckland Sky Tower, close to the finish, visible in the distance. Still going strong.
Yeah! Only 2.2km to go, and we’re on 4:31. Still running without a watch, so we had now idea what our time was until this 40km mark.
The end. A wonderful run in lovely weather.
Gerry, me and Willie (on the other side of the Sky Tower).
In the bus on our way back to Willie’s car. Gerry chuffed with his medal!
Gerry, me, Willie, Alida’s dad Esra, and Alida at Piha beach, enjoying a bubbly.
Course map.

T’was a rainy day in Palmy when we left around two in the afternoon, heading for Auckland. Gerry and I decided to make a wee bit of a outing of it and packed the tent for a halfway sleep-over.

We took the road over Wanganui and onto the SH4 to drive a section that we haven’t driven before. New territory – hilly and curvy roads between farms, a beautiful area in the heart of King Country. About 20km from the Waitomo Caves, we stopped to overnight at Te Kuiti. Should the caves entry fee be affordable and time allows, we would make a trip in the morning, to see amongst others, the glow worm cave. However, neither turned out in our favour. So, off we were to Auckland, to Willie and Alida who kindly hosted us for the weekend. Continue reading →

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Koputaroa 21.1km, Levin – 16 October 2011

At the start. About 30 participants in the half marathon run. Almost clear skies after a very rainy morning.
Koputaroa School in the country not far from Levin.
Wonderful quiet country roads. The perfect setting for any long run.
A tunnel of lush vegetation.
Harry op die tremspoor!
A very friendly lady helper at the water spot, with dark clouds looming.
The section on SH57.
“Guess I should pretend to run up this little hill”.

Yet again, it was pouring with rain throughout the night. If we hadn’t pre-entered, a bomb would not have got me out of bed. I was so not looking forward to a drenched run.

As we drove to Levin, the rain started clearing (again, aren’t we lucky devils!), but my mood was for some reason “under the weather”. I just couldn’t imagine myself having to run 21 kms … We fetched our entries in the Koputaroa School hall and made our way to the start, which is just outside the hall in the road in front of the school. The race only started at 9:30 and as we lined up with about 30 other participants, the organiser briefed us about the route. Continue reading →

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Taranaki Daily News 21.1km – 2 October 2011

One supporter going the whole nine yards, in Wanganui. When we first passed, a whole lot op people were outside partying. They also had a van painted to match the house.
Another quaint sign in a paddock created with fencing poles.
At the start – Spider Man and all.
Runners in the distance making their way up a hill.
The sign that Gerry is nearing is a permanent sign that the school kids created, warning motorist that they are approaching a school and should drive carefully.
A little girl supporting her mom all the way as dad drove the car further up the road every few kilometres.
Another hill to negotiate.
These chirpy bees livened up the atmosphere for all who were in the area. We recently attended the Rollar Derby held in Palmy and the Taranaki team are known as the The Taranaki Rollar Corps Rumble Bees. We were wondering if these two are part of the team?
A wet finish – just to keep one honest.
Frozen to the bone with the finish in the background.
Gerry, myself and Marianne, with Des and Henriette in the front seats.

The Rugby World Cup is in full swing, and it is great to see all the supporters’ flags and messages on houses, in paddocks and on cars. Everywhere you look there’s support for people’s favorite teams which in NZ is, of course, the All Blacks.

All the way, as we drove to New Plymouth on Saturday, evidence of the country’s commitment to the RWC is visible as the world cup fever casts its spell on everybody. There’s no escaping the mania that plays off all around us – tonnes and tonnes of little flags representing all the different countries are hanging from every shop and restaurant, while loads of cars are driving around with All Black flags stuck in their doors. The occasional Irish, England or South African flag can also be spotted, but the black flags are hard to miss. An article was even published, giving stats about the amount of extra petrol your car will be using with the drag of each flag sticking out from your window. Continue reading →

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Hatuma 21.1km – 18 September 2011

Registration at the Waipukurau Racecourse. Gerry all smiles with him number and clearly unfazed about the distance ahead.
Shortly before “take-off” in the small town of Waipukurau.
The short out-and-back section at the start of the race.
Lake Hatuma in the background. Look carefully – this is the last time you spot the lake.
Gerry with the typical rolling green Kiwi hills dotted with cows or sheep.
The snow covered Ruahine ranges in the distant background that makes for a chilly breeze.
The quirky signs indicating the kilometre marks. A very nice touch to keep you amused. 🙂
Friendly supporters at the water tables making sure everybody stays hydrated. The water point at halfway even featured some porta-loos.
Not so much hanging in as hanging on!
Sweet as.
Barely hanging in, running through town around the 18km mark.
Prize-giving with close to 100 spotprizes – basically enough for half of the field! Gerry had his share in the form of a Makita cap from Carters.

Having relocated to NZ a bit more than a year ago, I am still trying to grasp the kiwi accent. For instance, one of the things that I’ve noticed is that the kiwi’s don’t seem to pronounce the letter “t” when it is in the middle of a word. Okey, I realise that it is a gross generalisation, but some examples include: butter becomes “bada”, better becomes “beda”, photo is phodo, water is “whoddah”, tomato is tomado and so on.

So, to my amusement I found it very interesting when overhearing one young lad talking to his mate at around the 8km mark of the run, saying something about the next “wa’rr” stop, letting it almost sound like a “war” stop. 🙂 It is a slight deviation to the more general “whoddah” pronunciation. Could the wa’rr pronunciation (the guttural sound) be more related to the South Island accent? Continue reading →

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Marton to Wanganui (66.37km) – 10 September 2011

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Running in the lovely country side, passing paddocks and farm buildings on the way.
Gerry, the small red speckle on the right.

After the Manawatu Half Marathon, Gerry and I worked out a serious training plan to get us (or should I rather say me!) over the Auckland marathon finish line at the end of October. I don’t suppose you can really call it a serious training plan, but for a typical knit-one-slip-one-type runner like myself, rarely covering more than 30km per week, the program looked like serious commitment. We basically planned to run at least 5 days a week and never to dip under 40km for our total weekly mileage. Ideally we’d like to do roughly 50km or more per week. It’s only been three weeks, but so far so good. Continue reading →