running

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Hauraki Hundee – Trail Trilogy

Date: 16 September 2018
Time: 15:49.32
Distance: 100km (we measured 107.6km)

 

Pretending to nap behind the registration desk.
Race briefing at 12:45am.
And so it begins. Already tired from lack of sleep, but the 100km awaits.
Too dark to take photos, so this was the last one for the next five hours.
Me, Evander (?) and Elee (the tail-end Charles on the bike).
Lots and lots of flat gravel tracks.
Selfie-time.
Hedgehog scull.
The Hauraki Rail Trail must be the flattest track in the country.
One of the organisers ran in to chat to Elee and then joined us on the way back to his spot.
The first “hill” on the course going over the bridge.
About 700 metres long.
The Kopu aid station.
One of many similar bridges in the section between Kopu and Paeroa.
Team le Roux pic, thanks to Evander.
More than 50kms done, but a lot still ahead.
A few of these garden chairs were attached to trees in this section. 🙂
The turkeys in the front. Love their gobble sound. It always gives me a chuckle.
Passing under one of the roads.
Near Paeroa.
Running through Paeroa. We’ve driven through the town a few times in the past – never thought we’d be running through here as part of a hundee.
One of the road crossings in Paeroa.
Paeroa aid station, which is also the start of the half marathon.
Finally we reached the Karangahake Gorge which is the most scenic part of the course.
Just soldering on to the finish.
Some event signage en route.
On our way to the 1km long tunnel. The exit of the tunnel is just a tiny white dot.
Was it not for the lack of sleep, cold air in the tunnel and my tired body, the tunnel might have been quite enjoyable.
The four of us (Gerry, Evander, Elee and me) were within shouting distance for at least 99% of the course.
Jog time. As the kilometres passed it was getting harder and harder to start running after our walk breaks.
Great to see these two again, and they even “organised” a duck for our amusement (just peeking around the corner at the left of the bridge).
The final aid station.
Much more variety in the last part of the course.
Hitting a sheltered patch.
At long last we reached Waihi.
And got company on the road.
Cute little girls mimicking the Hauraki Rail Trail sign, showing us the way.
So tired, but so relieved to have made it to the finish.

As we were driving up to Thames on Friday morning, the thought of wanting to attempt a 100km run on the tiny amount of training we’ve done the past five months, was not something my mind was willing to deal with. It just ignored the prospect and pretended it wasn’t happening. Only after a good few kilometres into the race did it start to sink in that I was totally and utterly buggered. Continue reading →

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Catchment Ultra recce

Date: 22 June 2018
Distance: 50km
Time: 9:08

There was a time in my life when I thought it was pure madness to run anything further than 27km by yourself in a training run. It already took some brain gymnastics to run anything further than a 21km and not get a medal. But to run ultras you have to also do long training runs and while training for a 5-day stage race back in 2008, we finally got our heads around 23+km training sessions – without medals! We have always tried to do our extra-long-runs (e.g. further than 27km) at events. Events to me is not necessarily a “race”, but often just a LSD training run with the added bonus of having aid stations along the way. Continue reading →

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Kohitere trig track

Date: 25 March 2018
Distance: 15.5km
Time: 2:10

A glorious early morning start.
Mist in the valleys and tree tops.
The map of the course. We went all the way to Gladstone Road and back.
The only mud on the track.
Zigzagging up the cycle path.
At last a bit of down hill.
Gerry having a ball on the downhill.
Gerry and Nina heading uphill.
Some good viewpoints: Lake Horowhenua and Levin down below.
The track is mostly in the forest, protected from wind, rain and sun.
Shortly before we reached Gladstone Road, we crossed this scenic stream.
The final bit of downhill on the 4WD track.
We started seeing more runners and walkers on the way back.

Is it not funny how one always neglects your backyard? And I’m not talking about the weeds that are now thriving where once there was a productive and prolific vege garden behind our house. I’m talking about running trails and tracks that are so close that you always save them for another day. Continue reading →

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Queens Domain parkrun – Hobart (Tasmania)

Date: 24 February 2018
Distance: 5km
Time: 29:06

A field of 150 participants on a rainy day.
The first short out-and-back stretch to make up the 5km course.
Hard to imagine you’re in the middle of a city.
A lovely course that should be great on a good day.
Gerry on the 600 metre stretch of trail.
Wet, wet, wet.
The turn-around point at the carpark, near the start.
A new track surface being tested by runners.
By the end, the camera was all wet and frosty too.

Who would have thought that Hobart houses one of the most impressive art galleries I’ve ever had the pleasure of visiting. The Mona (Museum of old and new art) – originally (and officially still) called Monanism, is a antique, modern and contemporary art museum, founded by David Walsh, a Tasmanian millionaire. From the outside the building seems to be on a single level, but once inside, a spiral staircase leads down three large levels that are built underground into the Berriedale peninsula in a labyrinthine style. In contrast to the Guggenheim Museum in New York where visitors work their way down with a spiral, at Mona visitors start at the bottom level and work their way up. Entry is free for locals, whereas overseas visitors pay $28pp. Continue reading →

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Risdon Brook Track – Hobart (Tasmania) – unofficial parkrun and then some

Risdon Brook reservoir.
A lovely sunny day.
Heading up one of the hills.
A Tasmanian Native-hen (Gallinula mortierii).
We passed quite a few other track users.
A great outing.
Some welcome shade.
The dam wall.
Close encounters with a wallaby.

Our training took a turn for the worse the past couple of weeks, so the thought of a 101km event in 9 days time, is making me a wee bit nervous. After 19 hours of traveling, we finally touched down in Tasmania, and decided to walk the 1.7km to catch a local bus into town where we had to pick up the rental car. At $11 for the both of us, it seemed a much better option than the airport bus at $40 for us two. Besides, we needed to do some form of exercise after all that sitting. Continue reading →