Trail running

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Windrush Windfarm Adventure – a fun walk, run or ride event

The start of all the events. Cyclists getting ready.
The runners/walkers in the 2.7km event taking off. Great to see so many youngsters taking part.
The almost complete field of runners and one walker.
Shortly after the start, already the first bit of a climb.
Probably the steepest down and uphill on the course. It’s steeper than the photo suggests, trust me!
The finish area of the cycling tour some 100 metres from the Windrush start/finish.
Trying to get to grips to the size of one of the blades.
Gerry passing 3 massive turbine blades in storage.
Lovely blue skies and a cool breeze made for perfect running conditions.
Cattle and sheep roam the farm.
When not on farm roads, you follow the mowed grass.
Another fairly significant climb.
Gerry speeding by in a blur with the Manawatu Gorge and River below.
A unique view on the Manawatu Gorge.
Happiness is …
Back at the finish.

After our “long-run” the previous day (about 10km) we decided to partake in the inaugural Windrush event of approximately 6km the next day as a “shakedown” (a term used by friends for the recovery run the day-after a hard session). Not that we are even close to double-sessions, cool-down/recovery runs or any other such technical things. But it sounded fancy, so there you have it :-).

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New Year’s Resolutions – the Easy (!?) Eight

Well, here we are – hard to believe it’s 2014 already! It’s the first day of the new year, and with Christmas, New Year’s Eve and all the festivities behind us, we can start to look forward to the year ahead. As corny and silly as new year’s resolutions can be, I guess it’s pretty hard to avoid – even if your main resolution is to not have a new year’s resolutions list, we all secretly have a few things in mind that we want to take on, achieve, improve on, perhaps even avoid or quit. Continue reading →

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Kahuterawa Classic (15.4km leg) – 16 November 2013

Participants arriving at the start of the race.
Mike Tennant, working towards completing 52 races in 52 weeks.
Some back of the pack shenanigans.
In high spirits, despite the challenging hills.
Running in such wonderful hill country makes the miles go by in a flash.
A great little single-track section in the middle of the run.
Running along the hills provide wonderful views of the valleys around Palmerston North.
The last main turn, towards a farm track leading back to the start.
What would a New Zealand country run be without a flock of sheep in the distance?
Hitting the farm track approaching the finish.
Almost there – running along the farm track just before the last long downhill towards the finish.

After a lay-off of ages (and I really mean AGES – it’s been 2 years since we last participated in a road race, and since then our training has been more off than on) we recently decided to make a concerted effort to get back on the road. And knowing ourselves, we realised this was not going to happen if we didn’t have something to train for. So we entered the Classic Hits Run Mahana Half Marathon, scheduled for 1 December.

To make it to a level of fitness that would more or less get us through a 21.1km race by the start of December, we set some intermediate ‘long run’ targets – a 10km run a few weeks ago, 12km the week after that, and then, as our first race in a long, long time, the 15.4km second leg of the Kahuterawa Classic, a marathon split over 3 legs and two days, hosted by our local running club, the Manawatu Striders. Continue reading →

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Pukeiti Puffer fun run (6-7km) – 1 April 2012

Gerry, me and Henriette – nervously ready for big things.
Numbered and ready for take-off!
Dark clouds looming just before the start.
And we were off!
Me and Henriette, still going strong early in the race.
Queu at the hanging bridge.
The marshal at the hanging bridge making sure no more than four people are simultaneously crossing.
Gerry, on the bridge.
A short sealed section at the turn-around point.
Too much energy!
Henriette on the way back across the bridge.
Roll-call at the finish, making sure that everybody made it safely back.

It’s been four months since we’ve done any running. I honestly don’t think the four 5km run-walk attempts to try and get us back on the road in February, counts for any level of fitness. I huff and puff pretty much like my mom’s bulldog just walking up the 50 metre little incline behind our house!

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Kahuterawa Two Day Classic – 19 & 20 November 2011 (43.99km)

Taking shelter from the rain before the start of the 15.42km event.
A handful of participants getting ready for the start of the walking event, with some threatening rain clouds on the horizon.
The field of about 20 participants in the 15km walking event.
Compared to running, passing other participants in a walking event seems to take forever!
Not far now. Gerry on the final stretch towards the finish, with the sun also making a surprise appearance.
The start of the half marathon run. Still rainy and windy.
Alister explaining the course before setting us on our way.
Gerry making the most of the lovely rolling countryside.
One of our busier moments on the run – the Kahuterawa Road out-and-back gravel section on the way to Black Bridge.
The drink station at the Black Bridge turnaround – me in last position.
Gerry and Alister (who manned the water table) having a chat while we take a rest at the start of the Greens Road out-and-back section.
When going so slow as we did, there’s time for playing around with photo opportunities.
Wonderful lunch in the Dransfield’s Woolshed. This race must be the best value for money in all of New Zealand.
Alister handling the prize-giving in the woolshed.

It’s official – I have well and truly run myself unfit. I guess that is what happens if you just pile on the kilometers, plodding away at the same pace without doing any quality sessions. And as we all know – when you go longer, you get slower.

When we ran the 7km section of this event last year, we promised ourselves to do the full event this year. But things don’t always work out as we plan, does it?

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