running

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Manawatu Striders – winter series (10km) – 3 July 2011

Gerry in his Canterbury outfit – again! He really likes red and black running gear :).
Brrrrrrrrr!
Me, getting into the frozen “whiteware”!
Adding water to the windscreen didn’t work – it just froze instantly!
Chilly out, but a lovely clear morning for a brisk run.
Almost got derailed there … a very tempting prospect shortly before 3kms.
Not quite the coffee stop, but very refreshing nonetheless :).
Running through the scenic Massey Campus.
Hee-ha! Not far now…
… just another short loop through the Science Park opposite Massey.
Shortly before 9km. If the fresh air doesn’t do it for you, the lovely scenery will.

The song by Bob Dylan, called “Orange Juice Blues”, was ringing in my ears this morning, and I figured it might just as well be my theme song :). The words stayed with me all day… “I had a hard time waking this morning. I got a lotta things on my mind. … I have a hard time waking most mornings. And it’s been that way for a month or more”…

When we woke up, the first thing Gerry did, was to check the Metservice website for a weather update:  “-1.9 degrees celsius, feels like -3“, and suggesting however many layers of clothing to wear. I was really in a pickle, not having the foggiest idea (no pun intended) as to what to wear, and how many layers thereof (despite Metservices’ suggestions). You might need 4 layers when going out for a casual stroll in the park at zero degrees, but when running it gets a bit more complicated. Continue reading →

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Manawatu Striders – winter series (5km) – 12 June 2011

Me at the start of the walking event (except for a couple of eager beavers in front!) – the runners were to follow a few minutes later.
Directions to the event with lovely winter sun peaking over the trees.
One might think is was a hot summer’s day if you look at the dress code! We were less brave.
A short section next to the Manawatu River with the Fitzherbert bridge in the distance.
hortly after the 3km mark, running on Fitzherbert Avenue.
he turn around point clearly marked, but everybody followed each other to turn after the second cone leading to the little path on the left, which takes you to the other side of the bridge making us miss the route markers. The 10km runners went straight ahead for an additional loop around Massey campus.
Gerry, flying over the Manawatu River bridge on Fitzherbert Avenue.

We took a little hiatus from running since the T42. I just felt like I was running myself unfit, going slower with every run, which resulted in discouragement and general lack of commitment. We have entered for the Auckland marathon, happening at the end of October, and knew that we must get on the road soon, but the motivation was next to nothing. And with winter in full swing; rain, wind and generally cold unpleasant weather, just the thought of running made me run for cover. Continue reading →

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Running up that hill

King and queen of the mountains!

King and queen of the mountains!

When Wouna and I started running, we stayed in a hilly neighbourhood. No matter which direction you ran, you’d hit a hill within about a kilometer. Even our little 4km daily loop automatically doubled as a hill-session. One hill on our daily run was particularly challenging. When we first started running it felt totally insurmountable, and we were in awe of any runner we saw who actually ran over the hill. It ended up taking us a couple of months of running before the big day came where we were finally able to run all the way over it. We felt like we had finally joined some elite club of super-runners!

Even after this realisation that it was actually possible to top the hill without walking, it remained an important indicator of ability – each time we had a bit of a lapse in our running, or a layoff due to injury, the distance we could run up that hill before slowing to a walk, became a measure of our progress. Continue reading →

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Opiki School Country Half Marathon – 17 April 2011

Gerry, approximately 5km from the finish with some threatening clouds on the way.
Is that a nervous smile? Almost the whole field of participants are standing around waiting to get going.
Bede Gilmore, the school principal, explaining the course before setting us off.
A short patch of dirt road.
And then mud …
… and more mud. Planning the best path through.
Gerry getting water at about 5km into the race.
Route marker on a typical kiwi farmer temporary fence pole.
The finish “banner” aka the school entrance gate :).

After a week of wonderful, wind-free evenings and perfect weather, it started to rain the day before this event, coupled with some wind. As we got up on the Sunday morning, it was pouring, with a nasty wind, and it took all the motivation I had left in me to get up, get dressed and drive to Opiki, all along thinking that I will just check out the scene and bail before we even start.

Continue reading →

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Born to run

born_to_run

I’ve never considered myself the Bruce Springsteen of running – I wasn’t Born to Run.

In fact, the first time Wouna and I gave in to a nagging runner friend and joined her for a 5km fun run I was already past 30. And little kids of between 3 and 5 ran the shit out of me.

Maybe it was the shock of realising we weren’t able to run continuously for more than 2km, or the fact that kids that scarcely reached my knees easily ran away from us, but from that day we did our best to get better at the running game. Running together, we persevered, eventually managing our first 10km race, then a 21, then a 32, and then the wheels came off – the classic story of injury from over-use. We rested, cut back, tried again, this time getting all the way to completing a marathon at a pretty decent 6min/km pace. The sky was the limit, so we did more marathons, and quickly progressed to our first ultra – the scenic Two Oceans marathon in Cape Town. After this came injury again, followed by cut-back and rest, slow build up, eventually another marathon, and so forth, until now, about 10 years later, I would contend that we’ve spent enough of the past decade on the road (or on the trail) to be able to refer to ourselves as runners. Continue reading →