Wellington half marathon

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Wellington Shoe Clinic Half Marathon

Date: 26 June 2016
Distance: 21.1km
Time: 2:12.48
Previous: 2014, 2015

I think my arms aren’t long enough for selfies.
Drizzly and cold weather conditions at the start.
Gerry, me, Rachael and Kathleen (who ended up doing 7 of the 8 Half Marathons to support Rachael).
The field of half marathoners.
Making our way down the ramp from Westpac Stadium.
Some drumming entertainment en route.
Rachael and Kathleen looking strong.
Lovely jazz along the way. Pity we couldn’t listen to them all the way.
An entertaining marshal at the 10km turn-around point.
Being an out-and-back course, you get to see everybody on the course.
Gerry rounding the halfway point.
🙂
Even if someone paid me, I would not have taken the dive.
With only a couple of kilometres left, I couldn’t wait to get to the finish.
Rachael and Kathleen crossing the finish line shortly after us.

Wellington is just one of those events – the ones you do because everybody does. And, well, FOMO (fear of missing out). And since the major spot prize usually entails free entry and a trip to a big international marathon (this year it was the Paris marathon), we decided to do the event and be in for the lucky draw. Why not? At the very least, it forces one to do your weekend long run, which might otherwise have fallen by the wayside. Continue reading →

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Shoe Clinic Wellington Half Marathon

Date: 5 July 2015

Distance: 21.1km

Time: 2:18.45

It’s been three months since our previous event. We took a couple of weeks off, travelled some, worked some more, winter rolled in, and with few events on the calendar as motivation or targets to work towards, we were very slack at trying to build up our fitness levels again. It’s not easy to get going again after a long lay off. I battled through every training run – the few we did manage to fit in between work and really crappy weather conditions.

Hard to imagine the Super 15 Rugby finals between the Hurricanes and Highlanders took place only a few hours prior to the start of this event. Everything was cleaned-up already.
Gerry and I shortly before the start. A bit of a nip in the air, but overall very good conditions.
Long shadows in the early morning sunlight.
Jazzy entertainment around the bays.
Gerry really having a walk in the park.
Hup hup hup. Need to get rid of some of that energy.
Look mom! The tooth fairy got hold of my tooth!
An out-and-back event, making it very social.
Yeah!
Are we there yet?
Finally Westpac Stadium, after the only “uphill” stretch, but then still a lap of despair to get the the finish.

Luckily the Wellington Half Marathon was on our calendar (not being ready for the 42 this time), forcing us to step out the door on occasions when you would much rather snuggle up in front of a fire. Unfortunately these occasions only happened few and far between, and for the most part laziness got the better of me. So with the minimum training and lots of trepidation, we headed south the night before. Friends had a house-warming party and what better way to carbo-load than with bubbly and pizza! Continue reading →