21.1km

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The Great Forest Events – Waitarere

Date: 8 April 2017
Distance: 21.1km
Time: 3:30
Previous: 2014, 2016

Race headquarters – new venue.
Follow the sign – not the arrow! 🙂
Nice to see Anita briefly before the start. She told me how she won the Taihape Half and got third place at the Martinborough Round the Vines female category! That’s fantastic – well done!
Seeing everyone disappear, while we were having a leisurely walk in the forest.
Graeme coming through the first water point.
As well as Derek, still going strong.
Fellow Manawatu Striders mate, Viv.
Graeme, Ross and another Strider.
Cheryl and Steph catching up at about 6km, having done 27km already.
We donned pink for the occasion – Cheryl’s favourite colour.
Gerry having a very easy run.
Cheryl and Steph, not even looking tired.
The girl of the moment – Cheryl about to complete her very first marathon.
Photo time! Not far now.
On the home stretch.
When we caught up with the 10 and 5km runners and walkers, the road got a bit congested, but didn’t slow us down at all.
Well done, Cheryl, on completing your first marathon! And Steph for running the whole way with her! As Patricia said – welcome to the marathon club. 🙂

A few months ago, a friend of ours won an entry for the marathon of this event. She has been keen to do a marathon for such a long time, and what better motivation than to win an entry. It was going to be her very first marathon and Gerry and I thought we’d like to join her. But, life had other plans, and we couldn’t get the miles done in time for a full marathon, so decided to join only for the second half of her run. Continue reading →

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Taihape Half

Date: 18 March 2017
Distance: 21.1km
Time: 2:29
Previous: 2015, 2016

Briefing inside the hall. Haven’t been inside before.
Was great to meet Anita before the start!
The winding road uphill in the first two kilometres.
Distance markers for the half, 10km and 5km runs.
Getting fancy with our selfies!
First water point with very helpful little volunteers.
The stream cut a massive gorge through the area.
David C and Graeme enjoying the day out as part of the walkers event.
No, I did not just poop that out! The first of some massive mushrooms. Haven’t seen them before.
David J, who came second in the 21.1km walk category.
Fun times at the water point at the turn-around of the dog-leg.
Not much blue skies this time around, but still a great day out.
Gerry having an easy morning out.
Derek going strong – another walker in the half marathon event.
A wee gathering in the middle of the road. Rob arrived and started very late, so we saw him on the out-and-back stretch.
Another one of the gigantic mushrooms. It’s the biggest one I’ve seen in my life!
On the last bit of the uphill, before the final kilometre or so downhill to the finish.

After a long hiatus and battling to fully commit and get back into things, I thought participating in an event might help me find my running mojo, so we entered the Taihape Half. (Boy was I wrong – it’s been a week since, and I’ve managed one run …) Not having done the hard yards, I knew this kind of distance wasn’t the “right thing to do”, but throwing caution to the wind, I figured if I take it really easy I should be able to cover the distance. Even if it means having to walk most of the way. Continue reading →

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Doing a hip hop on a half*

*Thanks for the title Graeme!

Date: 14 January 2017
Distance: 21.1km
Time: 3:23

Some members of the Manawatu Trail Runners FB group: Suzanne, Nikki, Amanda, Brett, Wouna, Gerry and Michael.
At the event base.
Des and Henriette.
Nervously happy to be out there.
With 540 participants all starting together, you better get yourself to the front if you hope to pose a good time. Luckily not something we had to worry about!
A gradual incline shortly after the start, helping to spread out the field before the first single-track section.
Any uphill was a good excuse for a walk-break.
Alternating sections of gravel road and single track meant that we didn’t have any problems with bottle-necks.
Jogging through a lush green section.
Had to do a few takes to get this pic with Mt Taranaki in the background.
Back into the forest.
Not sure why I thought that acting like a baboon would prove my steel.
So glad it wasn’t raining or wet going up and down these bare soil stretches.
Enjoying a beautiful morning out on the trails.
Heading back out into an open patch.
A downhill trot…
…followed by an uphill slog.
No getting lost with course markings in abundance.
Luckily we could side-step all the muddy patches.
A mix of sun and shade meant it was never too hot or too cold.
I guess the more competitive runners probably went straight through.
A very scenic stretch, with Lake Mangamahoe in the foreground and Mt Taranaki in the distance.
Running along the banks of Lake Mangamahoe.
Gerry on the first of the two swing bridges.
Still having fun.
The second swing bridge on the half marathon course.
Graeme having a blast on the swing bridge.
Some tree roots to negotiate.
A short stretch run in both directions. But this lot had done a few kilometres in-between and were well ahead of us.
A very curvy section where you really feel like you are going in circles.
A long incline after passing the event base the second time.
Gerry making his way through the young pine forest with Mt Taranaki up ahead.
Gerry photographing the photographer photograping me. 😛
Up and up we went. Just as well, as I had to walk lots anyway.
The Rocky Road stretch. Apart from roots, the only other semi-technical terrain.
Lots of steps, giving our heart and lungs a good workout.
These smiles must have been thanks to the fact that the end was just around the corner.
Very happy to have made it. And getting some medals to boot.
Running a doodle.

On all accounts, I should not have done this event. Apart from doing two half marathons, one in September and one in October, we haven’t been running for about five months, except for maybe the odd 3 or 4km slow trot-walk-run once every few weeks which is not even worth mentioning. And if there’s one thing I know, it’s that you don’t go running races unprepared. Mind you, I’ve never “run a race”. Rather, I participate in events – there’s a huge difference. Continue reading →

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New Plymouth half marathon

Date: 2 October 2016
Distance: 21.1km
Time: 2:31.27
Previous: 2011

In sight of the finish – a good reason to smile! [Pic courtesy of NP Joggers & Walkers]
A drizzly morning to start off with.
Runners and walkers huddled up under the pavilion roof.
New Plymouth mates, Henriette and Des.
A fair amount of participants in the 21.1km event.
Lovely downhill in the first kilometre or two taking you to the lowest point on the course.
Gerry having a very relaxed morning out.
Dark clouds coming from the sea.
And event darker clouds from the mountain side.
Happy helpers at the first water point.
One of the biggies in the first half – the hill that goes straight up.
Halfway! Yay! Downhill from here, right?
Gerry catching up after the last water point.
Beautiful countryside.
Happy to find some of my favourite colour!
Glad to have made it one more time to the finish of a half marathon.

We have now officially exhausted the last bit of our running memory. No more long-runs without a bit of training first.

When friends invited us to join them for the half marathon, I thought to myself, yeah, why not. So we entered, knowing very well that I’m tempting fate (more accurately, tickling the lion’s testicles) and it’s only a matter of time before the wheels come off. As it rightfully did. Continue reading →

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Running on memory

Date: 18 September 2016
Distance: 21.1km
Time: 2:21
Previous: 2011, 2014, 2015

If you’re not having fun, you’re not doing it right. 😀 Photo by Caroline Williams.
Shortly before the start, with all the Hatuma Lime Half branded Ts.
Gerry even donned his T from last year.
The out-and-back section, before heading into the countryside.
We started off on an easy jog so before the end of the out-and-back section we were already right at the back of the pack.
An easy run, with Graeme keeping us company.
Gerry and Graeme enjoying the open road.
A glorious day to be out in the country for a run.
Water point with fruit chew toffees! What a nice treat.
The third water point, signalling the arrival of the last quarter of the race. Water points doubled as change-overs for the 4-person relay teams, so were spaced roughly 5km apart. Plus a bonus water point roughly two kilometres from the finish.

All photos by us, except where otherwise indicated.

The Hatuma Lime Half Marathon reminds me of a mini-Rotorua marathon: once you’ve done the first busy section through town (in this case, the short out-and-back stretch outside the race course), you head into the country where on a good weather day, you cannot ask for a better setting while you make your way around a lake (Lake Hatuma here). Great community support on country roads where you can just cruise along admiring the scenery, until you reach the final quarter of the event – the stretch from the airport (a small rural air strip in this instance) which takes you back through town, not as scenic and also the toughest part to the finish. Continue reading →