running

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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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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 →

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A “user-friendly” test in endurance

Some quick planning the night before, over a tipple.
At the beginning … there were two clean, non-sore runners …
After a while, the sun came through …
… and rumours of severe weather warnings seemed far off the mark.
Fuelled with fries (stupid, stupid), we suffered through a very difficult third interval.
Interval 4 around Massey campus was the first of the dark runs.
When will this end??
Around 2:30am, soaking wet, we were almost finished with our sixth interval.
Interval 7. Now we may as well push through. So close.
And what a wonderful treat to be joined by Graeme (all the way from Whanganui) and June!

When Gerry first told me about the Ultra Interval Challenge, I was very excited as this sort of thing is right up my alley. It is a worldwide initiative where everybody started at the exact same time, irrespective of where you are in the world. In NZ our starting time was 10am on 23 July. The idea was to run 10km every three hours over a 24-hour period. Therefore 8x10km, totalling 80km. Our initial intention was to turn it into a wee event, by having a base camp with supplies, access to toilets, etc, and hopefully, manage to lure some friends into joining, but then we got busy with other stuff and all but forget about the challenge. Continue reading →