Date: 14 May 2016
Distance: 42.5km
Time: 4:37.45

Early morning with the sun just up over the sea.

The start banner up ahead and a sea of runners/walkers.

Wondering what is going to happen over the next five or so hours.

A lovely sunny day…

…with colourful streams of runners stretching out ahead and behind us.

Rob going strong.

Up on the first stop bank, being chased by Mr Farty-pants.

The stop bank went on for miles and miles.

There were quite a few spots where friends and family could support participants.

A percussion band made for some wonderful entertainment.

This little bridge bounced quite a bit – out of sync with your steps, which felt very weird.

Haven’t I seen this before somewhere? 😉

The halfway point and 21.1km start.

Gerry powering up one of the little hills.

The ‘pimped up’ Air New Zealand snack trolley.

Apple orchards all along the route.

A welcome sight after having no water points for a while.

Apple orchards …

And more apple orchards.

Some motivation on a shelter belt.

Yay! not far to go.

Crossing SH50.

Finally the vineyards.

Extremely helpful volunteers – running backwards with me to fetch a jelly snake. Admittedly I might not have managed to get going again if I stopped at that point.

Running through the autumn vineyards provided a nice change of scenery.

What we thought was a water point, turned out to be a supporters area.

Passing a supporter areas, with Graeme’s family in the background.

Have I mentioned that I just love olive trees?

Whoop-whoop!

The end is in sight.

Great to finish in such a festive environment.

Happy to be finished!

Graeme just after he finished.

And Rob staggering in. 🙂

The 5-in-5-in-5 team: Graeme, Rob, me and Gerry.

Our third event in the five marathons challenge was snugly sandwiched between two full working days in Wellington. How’s that for luck. We left home before dawn on Friday morning, returning at around dusk, quickly unpacked camera equipment and repacked running gear, and dashed off to Napier to be in time for registration. Unfortunately, we were too late for the Expo. Continue reading →