running

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Hatuma 21.1km – 18 September 2011

Registration at the Waipukurau Racecourse. Gerry all smiles with him number and clearly unfazed about the distance ahead.
Shortly before “take-off” in the small town of Waipukurau.
The short out-and-back section at the start of the race.
Lake Hatuma in the background. Look carefully – this is the last time you spot the lake.
Gerry with the typical rolling green Kiwi hills dotted with cows or sheep.
The snow covered Ruahine ranges in the distant background that makes for a chilly breeze.
The quirky signs indicating the kilometre marks. A very nice touch to keep you amused. 🙂
Friendly supporters at the water tables making sure everybody stays hydrated. The water point at halfway even featured some porta-loos.
Not so much hanging in as hanging on!
Sweet as.
Barely hanging in, running through town around the 18km mark.
Prize-giving with close to 100 spotprizes – basically enough for half of the field! Gerry had his share in the form of a Makita cap from Carters.

Having relocated to NZ a bit more than a year ago, I am still trying to grasp the kiwi accent. For instance, one of the things that I’ve noticed is that the kiwi’s don’t seem to pronounce the letter “t” when it is in the middle of a word. Okey, I realise that it is a gross generalisation, but some examples include: butter becomes “bada”, better becomes “beda”, photo is phodo, water is “whoddah”, tomato is tomado and so on.

So, to my amusement I found it very interesting when overhearing one young lad talking to his mate at around the 8km mark of the run, saying something about the next “wa’rr” stop, letting it almost sound like a “war” stop. 🙂 It is a slight deviation to the more general “whoddah” pronunciation. Could the wa’rr pronunciation (the guttural sound) be more related to the South Island accent? Continue reading →

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Marton to Wanganui (66.37km) – 10 September 2011

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Running in the lovely country side, passing paddocks and farm buildings on the way.
Gerry, the small red speckle on the right.

After the Manawatu Half Marathon, Gerry and I worked out a serious training plan to get us (or should I rather say me!) over the Auckland marathon finish line at the end of October. I don’t suppose you can really call it a serious training plan, but for a typical knit-one-slip-one-type runner like myself, rarely covering more than 30km per week, the program looked like serious commitment. We basically planned to run at least 5 days a week and never to dip under 40km for our total weekly mileage. Ideally we’d like to do roughly 50km or more per week. It’s only been three weeks, but so far so good. Continue reading →

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Manawatu Striders Half Marathon – 14 August 2011

Fortunately the Massey sport facilities were available for the event. Prize-giving also took place inside the hall.
At the start, in a drizzle, freezing cold, although a number of people are dressed in shorts.
Nice long downhill on Massey campus in the first kilometre.
Our own bag pipe player.
Approximately a mile is run on the walkway next to the Manawatu River.
Mud and rain. A short off-road section at around the halfway mark. Is that a Teletubby en route?
Look Ma, it was raining. Yet again. Presumably Mt Cleese is in the background.
Gerry at 1km to go.
Frozen stiff, but happy with my spot prize.
The course map for the 5km, 10km and 21.1km.

“Ohhh, it’s raaaaining again, too bad I’m looooooosing a friend”. That is just the way it is. Don’t ever think you will have a dry run in NZ.

Gerry and I were thinking of doing this half, ever since we had to miss it last year. But after the wet and cold Mizuno/Taupo Half, as well as being out of town, we postponed entering (actually forgot to!) until pre-entries were closed and we had to pay the late entry penalty fee which is $10 more per person. So, to run 21.1km, we paid $50 per person … and then our South African friends complain when they have to pay R50 for a half marathon.

A very cold Antarctic blast was predicted to hit the country by Saturday night, bringing with it very cold conditions, snow, sleet and heavy rains, which were expected to reach Palmy by the Sunday – race day. We almost had second thoughts about entering, but the Manawatu events are all so very nice and well organised (there’s just something “homely” about them) that we made the trip to Sterling Sports shop in town on the Saturday afternoon to enter. The Striders had a table in the back, also selling the event T’s, which we would love to have, but just couldn’t afford on top of the entry. Maybe next time. Continue reading →

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Mizuno Half Marathon (Taupo) – 7 August 2011

The snow covered Raupehu (about 50km away from Taupo), hinting at the weather on race day.
In the backpackers kitchen, whipping up lovely dinners.
Two of the Downhill Demons and us. L-to-r: Des, Gerry, myself and Henriette.
Nervous smile? Me, Des (looking seriously in doubt, or maybe just peeved with all the pics been taken?) and Henriette.
Photograph by Super Sport Images. The two clowns with their arms in the air – Gerry and me. Gerry possibly demonstrating his superior ape-index. 🙂
Gerry, Des and Henriette – in the first kilometre or so. Still fresh.
Blue skies! Not for very much longer …
Mmm, dark clouds looming on the horizon.
Bag pipe player on a long slow uphill section.
Henriette nearing the halfway mark, doing very well. Still up for a smile and a wave.
On the way back, next to the lake.
A hop, skip and jump at the 5km-to-go mark.
Photograph by Super Sport Images. Some wind! Blowing me sideways and Gerry out of the picture!
Thank you! thank you! thank you! Wonderful soup and rolls at the finish.
Henriette at the finish.
Des at the finish.

While paging through the Runner’s World one day, I stumbled upon an advertisement for this event. Realising that it boast fields of 3000+ participants, including a huge walking contingent, this seemed like a perfect first 21.1km event for a novice. You could easily disappear in the crowds without running the risk of being dead last or drawing a lot of unwanted attention to yourself. I therefore proposed this to the Downhill Demons (we dubbed a group of lady friends who live in a hilly town, and who sometimes run from the upper parts of town mainly downhill towards the sea, the Downhill Demons) and am glad to say that they decided to join us. Continue reading →

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Manawatu Striders – winter series (15km) – 24 July 2011

Manawatu Striders.
A chilly start (not obvious judging from all the singlets at the front of the pack, but trust me…)
Gerry seeing to it that we get enough jelly babies to keep us going.
A nice little loop on Massey campus.
On the back-roads of Massey, with the Rugby Institute in the background.
A social out and back stretch between the Science Centres.
Done! Another one in the bag.

Another cool morning with an on and off drizzle, saw the third event in the Winter Series of the Striders – again a 5km and 10km event, but this time also including a 15km, which we decided to do as built up for the Mizuno Half in two weeks time.

The route follows the same basic course for all the events, but for each distance some extra loops and out and back sections are introduced to make up the distance. The additional kilometres are all run on the quiet roads of the Massey campus as well as the Science Centres’ site. Therefore another great event off the main roads, making it a quiet and comfortable outing spared from too much traffic.

We managed close to a 6min/km pace to finish in 1:33. Impressed with our attempt, especially taking into account our little less than desirable training routine, we returned home for a hearty bacon and egg breakfast.