running

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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.

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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 →