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Hatuma Lime half marathon

Date: 15 September 2019
Distance: 21.1km
Time: 2:17
Previous:  2011, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017

MC in action.
Cath and Cheryl joined me for the pic.
hi Anita!
Hey Kev!
Lots of traffic on the course.
Gerry practicing his selfie skills.
A lovely section before and after the last change over point.
When there’s “running” in a sentence it can only mean one thing ;-).
Less than two kilometres from the finish.

It was our sixth outing to Waipukurau for the annual Hatuma Lime half marathon, still the event we’ve done the most times of all. Hard to say why we go back almost every year. Maybe because it has by now become a “thing” – the event we’ve done most times? Continue reading →

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Cape Egmont Half Marathon

Date: 14 July
Distance: 21.1 (we measured 21.4)
Time: 2:16:10

Wet and dark at the start.
Not quite convinced of our own sanity!
The race is run on sealed country roads.
Awesome volunteers braving the weather.
A bit messy with no bin after the aid station.
An unsealed section shortly beyond the second aid station and relay team hand-over.
Did I mention it was wet?
Happy to be done with it.
Cape Egmont lighthouse.
Good to be out of the rain, but still cold and wet.
The tail-end Charlie.

When training and running trail ultras, one tends to run yourself unfit with regards to normal road running. Unless, of course, you do all the homework for both disciplines and can still manage to run a decent, consistent pace whether it be on or off road. They are for the most part two very different types of sport and specificity is key when training for the one or the other. As someone who certainly enjoys both (running is running to me) I try to enter a variety of events, both on and off road. Continue reading →

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Ultra-Trail Australia

Date: 18 May 2019
Distance: 100km
Time: 24:42

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At the finish – thanks for the pic Ali Pottinger!

It is not ideal to go into an event unprepared and exhausted. Juggling too many things meant a frantic last minute finalising draft chapters of my thesis to be reviewed while we are away in order to optimise time. Trying to remember what to pack in a very short timeframe did not help the stress levels. We left Palmy at 3am on the Thursday morning of 16 May for the drive down to Wellington for our flight at 7am. Allowing only two hours for the trip, I was holding my breath that something wouldn’t happen to prevent us from making the flight in time. Like a house or some such being moved (as often happens during night time) causing a hold-up and blocking the highway for an extended period. Fortunately, we had no issues, caught the shuttle bus from the long-term parking as we stepped out of the car, and made the flight to Australia on time. Continue reading →

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6 hours Te Arapiki a Tane and 24-hours Summerhill trails loop challenge

Total moving hours: 26
Total distance covered: 96km, including 12910 stairs (with a break between the two challenges)

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Trying to do a selfie in the middle of the night in the dark.
We made this, incase some nutters manages to complete a 100 miles in the 24 hours.

I love achievable, but wacky challenges. And this seemed like a good one for the Easter weekend. We are way behind schedule for our upcoming 100km event, and thought this should be a good gauge of where we are, fitness-wise. Each time we sign up for an event I have grand plans to do a certain amount of training, and almost always without fail other things get in the way. So we find ourselves yet again a bit undertrained for the UTA in less than four weeks time. Continue reading →

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Ka Waewae Tātahi o Te Awa Tupua

Date: 6 April 2019
Distance: 57km
Time: 8:22

Warm-up.
Race briefing by headlamp.
Beautiful views from early on.
Sun starting to come through.
First transition point.
Cosy kayakers on the river.
Transition point.
Gerry on his way into the Marae to top up his water bottles.
All the Marae in the area we passed.
Stil found the breeze really cold, especially on my throat and ears.
Transition point.
This little piggy went to …
Flying Fox accommodation.
Selfie time!
Transition point at 15km to go.
Fuck this shit. I’m done. At least that’s how I felt at the time.
More beautiful scenery.
Some amusing roadside scenery.
Finally at the finish, and what a great welcome we received!
A whanau celebrating at the finish.
Race bibs, and we ironically also finished in that order, event Ts and bling.

What could have been an “easy” jaunt in six to seven hours, turned into an LSD run of more than eight hours on our feet. Just as well, as that is exactly what we need in preparation for the UTA. In terms of specificity, we were well off the mark with this event, but it was a good way to force ourselves to get the time and distance in. Continue reading →