52 in 52 #14.... Concrete & Cobbles

The Fat Man Run marked the completion of the first quarter of the 52 in 52 Challenge... next step - get the next 25% done!

Next on the list was the Taupo Half Marathon, another special one for me as this was my second ever half back in 2006 and the first one I was prepared for (Huntly was an 'off-the'cuff decision).

The original forecast was for an overcast rainy day, this changed the day before to occasional showers... none of which we ever saw!

Lainy and I picked up Lance Hunniford in Rotorua, Lance was taking part in just his second road half... although these days a half marathon is a bit of a short sprint for him with his ultra training.

Got to the venue nice and early as is my habit, registration all went well, they had a bit of a problem with the shirts being too small, mine was a bit snug, but still fine for me. Caught up with lots of friends, Rog and Beaker from Hamilton, Rebecca and Mike from the big smoke, Lyndsey and Damien from Te Kuiti... even caught up with Kori Kita Queen, Kate Townsley who wasn't running but came down to say hello!

Also bumped into Michael Dall, Len and Bronnie Pemberton... and more...  
with well over 2000 entrants there were people everywhere.

The start was done in waves from the end of the marina, we then zoomed around the marina and out onto the lakefront. Right from the start I had trouble settling on a pace, too fast, then too slow... nothing felt quite right.

About 2km in the good old lactic in the hammy flared up again. This proves to me it is the harder road and constant tempo of road running that is causing it, as I had no problems on the trails of Fat Man. However it wasn't as bad as it has been in the past and I just eased a touch in pace and kept just below the 'too painful' threshold!

While, like Wellington, the Taupo Half threads its way along the water, the difference I guess is that Taupo feels open and exposed and I guess, because I lived there for a few years, not that special to run. Whereas Wellington felt intimate and special with the hills and cliffs one side and the water the other... but I digress.

We worked our way out to Mahuta Road where there is an 'out and back' section of about 700m each way... I spotted the every exuberant Michael Dall already well ahead of me and, after I turned, Rog Morris not that far behind... Rog (left) did me a huge favour by becoming the motivator to push harder and stay in front of him. Little did I know that catching me was part of the motivation that dragged him through to a PB!

Instead of retracing our outward run exactly, the return run takes a left and heads initially down to the brand new walkway along the lakefront... solid concrete footpath walkway (above), really hard on this old body but with no grass to run on it was the only option.

Off the 'footpath' and onto... cobbles (left), the fire and frying pan adage comes to mind. At least with some portions of the cobbles there was short grass or off track options quite often.


The Cobbles get most of the way back to town, then we were re-united with the road, back down and around the Marina and up that lovely little hill - the first time I ran this, the hill nearly killed me at the end, now, after several years of dedicated trail running it was just a bump and not so tough!

In the end a very respectable 1:44:40, just over 5 minutes faster than the first time in 2006 and good enough for 12th in my Division and 236th overall out of about 2300. 

After the event a group of us met up for lunch then back for the prizegiving - didn't win a thing - then back home with #13 in the books.

Not my favourite run, but extremely well organized and fantastic to meet up with so many familiar faces. Many find this their favourite Half and it is definitely one to try for yourself.