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Run Mahana 21.1km – 1 December 2013

Uhum, this was actually a wee bit of a stretch before the start.
Briefing at the Woollaston Estate parking area – the orange caps are the pace setters.
Gerry a few second before the start on a sunny day in Nelson.
On the 1.1km out and back section on the first lap, one could see the front runners. A rare sight for the back of the packers.
Gerry at one of three water tables. Some also had jelly sweets to keep the blood sugar levels intact.
A little helper picking up the used cups.
Always happy to see/be around olive trees!
Prices were up for grabs in the “Mohana” category for Movember.
A clown en route for a bit of entertainment.
More monkey business with just one km to go.
Gerry flying past the vineyard on his way to the finish.
Photo by Shuttersport. The two of us still up for a laugh and a bit of fun.
The famous sculpture at the entrance to the estate.
Lovely venue for the start and finish of the race.
Gerry and I with our Woollaston Sav’s courtesy of the farm.

When Gerry signed up for this event about two month ago, I could barely cover the 5km loop we’ve been using as training for about three weeks. Worst is, it’s mainly downhill! I certainly didn’t expect to run 21km two months later. But we kept at it, did our little training run almost every day and even started to add “long runs” on weekends to get us used to a bit more distance than 5km. Continue reading →

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Hit that perfect beat!

drum

Ain’t nothin’ gonna break my stride
Nobody’s gonna slow me down
Oh no, I got to keep on movin’
Ain’t nothin’ gonna break my stride
I’m running and I won’t touch ground
Oh no, I got to keep on movin’

Miniature music players have taken over. The ipod, and a mass of ipod-like devices, have become a ubiquitous part of running culture – clothing manufacturers are even styling running clothes so that your ultra-hip little music player fits nicely into some funky ‘i-pocket’. (Take a chance, take a chance, take-a take-a chance-chance!) As a result, running with music has never been more popular, and runners the world over have their personal customised playlists to keep them trotting along. (Beat boy! Beat boy! hit that perfect beat, boy!) 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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Apologies for the clutter


typingTo the kind people following this blog, we’d like to apologise in advance for some rather overzealous posting over the next week or so. We are in the process of replacing a couple of old blogs with this consolidated effort, so we’re just trying to catch up and get all those old posts into their new home.

This shouldn’t take more than the next week or so, so please bear with us – we’ll return to a more ‘normal’ posting schedule soon!

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Kepler Track – 23-25 December 2012

The highest point en route – Mt Luxmore.
Still bright and shiny at the start of the hike.
Gerry crossing the Waiau River at the start.
Lovely to walk in the shade of beech, kamati and podocarps.
Lake Te Anau in the back. We stopped for a quick lunch in the shade – hence the “shady” photo.
Tent pitched, fire going and a tipple in the cup. What more could a girl ask for.
Sunny and very hot once we reached the tree line, unsheltered from the tree canopy.
Leaving our packs in the path to climb the last bit to the top of Mt Luxmore.
here must be millions of similar pics out there – doing the touristy thing and get your photo taken by a fellow hiker at the beacon.
Lonely in the saddle since my horse died.
For miles and miles the path meanders on the ridge with magnificent views to both sides.
Taking a little break in the mid-day sun.
One of the two shelters on top of the mountain. This one being Hanging Valley Shelter.
At our final camp, covering every inch of exposed skin (preferably in more than one layer!) to try and avoid the pesky sandflies.
Very unusual bright purple mushroom.
Back at the start on Christmas day. Hoping next time we come down this way, we’ll the doing the Kepler track trail run.
Evidence of sandfly havoc when skin is exposed for just a short while.

23 December 2012 (15.1km) – Rainbow Reach car park to Brod Bay

It is exactly two years since our last multi-day hike/tramp. And to top it off, we haven’t been very active on the running front over the last year or so either. But we thought this hike would be a nice way to end the year and hopefully entice some new years resolutions on the active front.

Continue reading →