32km

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(Wine-to)-Brine-to-Wine

Date: 3 April

Distance: 31.5km

Time: 3:36

Gerry at about 6.5km. The morning was just cool enough to justify starting with a second layer.
A drizzle to keep us cool.
Passing the middle bridge of the 3 Bridges event.
Nice walkway next to the river for miles and miles.
Not too far from the river mouth.
Gerry sharing high-fives with Graeme.
On the way back. We were too pre-occupied to think about taking pics between the last few kilometres and the start of the event.
By this time the sun was very hot!
Gerry going strong after about 21km.
A prominent feature in Whanganui.
City centre. Only about 7km to go.

I am finding it increasingly more difficult to write objectively about events. Simply because I love doing events! The vibe, the people, the support, the fact that you get your training done with others – what’s not to like? Continue reading →

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Running in circles

Usually, to go/run in circles would indicate that although you are doing something, you’re not achieving anything. But with circuit running it is quite the opposite. You do achieve a lot!

What is it about running around the same loop – preferably not longer than a couple of kilometres – that I find so appealing? Gerry and I did the Dawn to Dusk 12-hour circuit race in 2008, and if memory serves me well, we finished second in the mixed pairs division totalling 116km or so. I absolutely loved it! It was a one kilometre figure-8 loop around a school athletics track and other sports facilities. We set up “camp” right next to the course (as did everybody else all along the circuit) and swapped over after every three kilometres. You could tag it as you pleased: some runners swapped over every 5km, others every 10km and so on. It was a really jolly affair with supporters, friends, family and runners, all around the circuit.

Three kilometres sounded logical to us as all races complying with ASA rules had to have a water point (with coke!) every three to four kilometres. And the benchmark was three kilometres, not four. So we were quite used to running three kilometres, then walk a short bit through the aid station, before continuing on. It turned out a good strategy for us and swapping the timing/counting chip over was luckily easy as.

I am quite frankly amazed that we haven’t sought out more of these types of events over the past few years, giving the fact that we really enjoy this sort of thing.

You may wonder what is so special about running in circles? Well, I don’t have a simple answer. Maybe it is the fact that you can just go into a Zen-like trance, not having to think about anything, being comfortably numb; maybe it’s the fact that you have your own support every kilometre or two (or three – whatever length of loop you choose to do); maybe it’s the sense of achievement you feel each time you can count down (or up) a loop; maybe it’s the fact that you’re never far from your car/help should the weather turn super nasty, or you need to bail for whatever reason; maybe it’s because you don’t have to run with a hydration pack, and can add or take off clothing layers as the weather changes? Who knows. But for me, it is also the fact that distance just somehow seems shorter if you break it down into one or two-kilometre distance laps. It almost feels like I can carry on forever.

Recently, Gerry and I had to fit in a long-run as training for an ultra and decided to run the Massey University 2km ring road until we reached 32km. So, only 16 laps around the loop and we’d be there. That’s not so hard, is it? Being 2km, meant we could potentially get water/sustenance every 2km, but we opted to refuel roughly every 4km. Since we also broke it up into running one lap, then walking one lap, that meant we only had to keep track of doing the same thing eight times. And that’s making running 32km really super-duper easy! One would think it is very hard to keep track of how many times you’ve been around the same short loop, but believe my, it’s not! Your mind ends up being occupied by just that – keeping track of your loops. And each one feels like a massive achievement.

Admittedly, I also started noticing things on the road, like a blue paperclip. And every time I stepped over it, I couldn’t wait to see it again. Because that would mean I’ve done another lap! On the less positive side of “landmarks”, there was a piece of gum in the road, which really annoyed me. Who would spit out such a nasty piece of sh*t in the road? It sticks to everything, pulling nasty strands of gooey stuff that also gets stuck to everything. Needless to say, every time I passed the gum, having to sidestep the blob, I was annoyed again. But luckily the blue paperclip was chirpy enough, reminding me of a happy little character.

Maybe I should stop rambling on in circles before risking sounding like a real lunatic! 🙂

Just give it a try – you too may be converted to the simple pleasures of running in circles!

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Red Rocks Wellington Coastal Challenge – 32km (reduced to 28km due to bad weather)

Date: 15 November 2014

Time:  3:36.32

The friendly helpers at one of the water points (at about 19 to go?) offered to take our pic.
Mist and blustery wind at the Miridian Energy wind farm.
Runners huddled up behind the bus.
Dave Franks explaining the route change.
A goat (?) skeleton in the deserted part of the country.
The new start in the road leading to Oteranga Bay.
Within the first kilometre we were in our usual position as the tail-end Charlies.
The start of the Mid Monty at Oteranga Bay.
Intense concentration to fight the gale force winds.
Tough going on the rocky terrain.
Gerry finding his way back to the “road” after being blown towards the sea.
With the strong tail wind we only needed to lift our feet and automatically be propelled forward.
Luckily the rain stayed away and the day turned out not as cold as anticipated.
Lots of time spent running in loose sand.
Rather technical terrain, especially with the wind shoving you along.
A few stream crossings. We could mostly get across dry-footed.
Friendly helpers at the most exposed water station offering bananas, Gu Brew, water and Coke.
A lighthouse out at sea.
More challenging terrain.
I was very grateful for the more solid surface of the 4×4 track underfoot.
There’s no use trying to run all the sandy parts.
Sand.
And more sand.
Our scenery included distant views of snow capped mountains on the South Island.
Very tough terrain to try and run, especially for a slow-poke like myself.
Beautiful flowers lining the path to the next water point.
This water point had the privilege of a sheltered shed.
On-on.
Making our way round the southern most tip of the North Island.
The sun came through turning the otherwise chilly and windy run into a warm affair.
Approaching civilisation.
Run bits, walk bits, you’ll get there.
How do you run this terrain?
Back in a residential area, but being a coastal challenge, we stuck to the beach rather than running along the easier sidewalk.
Some rock hopping.
With the various distance options, we encountered quite a few other participants along the way.
Nice scenery along the coast.
A detour on the sidewalk.
Looking back at the coast line we came along.
The finish at Queens Drive, about 500 metres short of Lyall Bay.

The Auckland North Shore Coastal Challenge has been a popular event on the Total Sport calendar for the past 13 years. Given its continued success, they decided to extend the event to a series (the Coastal Challenge Series), comprising the existing North Shore event as well as 2 new ones in Wellington and Tawharanui, respectively. Numerous distance options were available – the Full Monty (32km), Mid Monty (25km), Mini Monty (19km), Bay Scrambler (13km) and Beach Hopper (7km).

So this was yet another inaugural event for us, which is always exciting, but does mean that not a lot of info was available beforehand about the event. Total Sport described the series as a “run, walk, wade, scramble and rock-hop”, so we knew we were in for something special.

Continue reading →

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Tora Coastal Challenge mudder madness – 32km

When you’re ankle-deep in the shit, you might as well enjoy it.
In the bus on our way to the Tora Coastal Challenge.
At the race headquarters outside Stony Bay Lodge.
Race briefing. Gerry clearly not paying attention. 🙂 (Notice the clean shoes!)
The start of the 32km run and 18km walk. The 18km run and 6km run and walk started later.
Hugging the coastline, the first few kilometres are on a dirt road.
The drizzle kept us cool initially, but turned rather cold on the ridges.
Runners disappearing into the mist.
Should have known at this point already what lay ahead.
Slippery terrain made going downhill as slow as going up.
Trying to find some stable terrain next to the path.
Streams crossing the road became a blessing, cleaning out the worst mud from your shoes.
Watery mud, sticky mud, or grassy mud – you choose. Shoes staying behind in the mud was a common occurrence.
Slip sliding away…
At times it seemed best to stick to the deeper water where the mud was less slippery.
The first bit of single track – just a muddy mess.
Very slippery on the steep downhills.
Our mud-coloured Wildhorses. These poor shoes will never be the same again.
When you’re not slipping downhill you’re slipping uphill.
Careful route negotiation leading to slow progress.
Any hikers doing the Tora Coastal Walk over the next few weeks are in for a surprise.
Gerry on his bum again. One of many falls on the slippery snot.
How do you run this?
The 18km cut-off point and finish for the 18km event.
Not much left of the walking path.
Very misty and cold on the ridges.
This may have been a single track before runners created new routes to get down the hill.
Muddy silliness.
Bum tracks coming downhill.
The main river crossing of the run.
A waterblaster was necessary to hose off participants before getting into cars and buses etc.

There’s no doubt that this event was a unique challenge, and something I will certainly never forget. The jury is still out, however, on whether it was a positive experience.

To be the proverbial stick in the mud (literally!), allow me to give my very subjective opinion on the event that’s now a week in the past. Just to keep the yin-yang intact, I’ll try to tell it as it was. 😉 At least my experience of the day as a very average (heck, maybe even below average), back-of-the-pack runner. Continue reading →