52 in 52 Race #11 - Ya gotta laugh...

Let me start this post by saying that Hawkes Bay in general have been the most welcoming so far on my road to 52 in 52. The people of the Hawkes Bay BNI have sponsored me generously and Cranford Hospice have attended races, kept in touch and even sent me wine!

This continued when I was given free entry to the Norsewood to Takapau Fun Challenge, a road half marathon between these small Central Hawkes Bay towns. Lizzie from Sports Hawkes Bay, who were organizing the event, bent over backwards to help and get me coverage... to the point where I found myself stopping in Taupo on Saturday morning in transit for a radio interview.

I had a great chat for more than a few minutes with the Saurday announcers and continued my trip. I was aware that the weather hadn't been great in the area, but that had happened before with the race eventually starting in fine weather - take Wellington who started 2 days after the worst downpour since the Wahine storm.

So I finished my 3 and a half hour drive to Waipukarau late morning and set about waiting for Lainy who was arriving on the bus from Wellington where she had been at a funeral. The bus was on time and I was able to greet her with the news that the race had just been postponed for a week... bummer!

I had hopped on Chris Hope's fabulous NZ Running Calendar site to see what options I had

for another run on Sunday - just in case there was one on Wellington or the Manawatu... but there was only one, the Sri Chinmoy in Auckland... ok, that will do!


So, back to Rotorua, with a nice stop for lunch in Napier.

Lainy would have come with me on Sunday but was not very well and we had an Open Home that day, so I left her sleeping as I set off from Rotorua at 4:30am! I like to get to all of my races an hour early at least, it is the way I work and with Sri Chinmoy starting at 8am....

 
First thing that struck me, the Sri Chinmoy people are fabulous, friendly, warm and genuinely interested in what I was doing. Funnily enough, the same Chris Hope mentioned above was there looking for a cruisy half. Michael Dall - who seems to be everywhere was there, and Jason Buckley who I had met on Facebook (as you do) and got to meet in person for the first time. 

I also met Madeleine Collins, definitely Shaun Collins from Lactic Turkey's better half! Also there was the lovely Anna Longdill visiting from the other end of the country for a run with a friend. Everyone seemed happy and friendly and eager to please - they even gave me number 52!

I travelled through rain most of the way to Auckland, but

as so often happens, the weather cleared about 20 minutes before run time into a lovely, if chilly, morning.

We started off our 8 and a bit laps of the Auckland Domain by heading off in the wrong direction for a little 'out and back' to make the distance up to 21.1km at the end. This was ok as we got to see everybody else in the race as they found their pace.

Then it was off onto lap number one, Chris Hope and I settled at a nice steady pace, me being reminded every now and then about my dodgy hammy.

The first lap was quite pleasant, the second was ok, by lap 3 I was not impressed and when we got to lap 6, 7 and 8 I just wanted it to end. The Garmin figures show that you have only done 164m of vertical climbing, but by the end you have had enough. 

A nature stop in the middle showed how 'un-serious' we were taking it, as we plodded out the laps.

It was an interesting experience, but not one that I will hurry to repeat (unless another race in cancelled). The plus part of it was a great run chatting with Chris, who is a neat bloke and enabled me to keep my sanity running around in circles. I guess 9 and a half hours (793km) of driving to get there may have contributed to my lack of enthusiasm as well.
 
After the race, the fantastic Sri Chinmoy people lay on breakfast, porridge, fruit, chippies... a lovely energy replacer. In the end Chris and I battled around in 1:49 for my second slowest road half ever and I was happy to have been able to tick off number 11... but not in a hurry to see Auckland domain again... for now.

52 in 52 Race #10 - Taupo Part 1 - Tauhara with Total Sport!

I ran the second Tauhara Trail Run two years ago with it's previous Race Directors and found it a tough but enjoyable run.

This year I was rapt that Total Sport had taken over the running... firstly because they have very generously sponsored me into all of their events and secondly because they give you a beer and a sausage (or two) after the event and finally and perhaps most importantly, they run bloody good events!


The other great thing about this run was that it was the first with the '52-in-52-Mobile'. Taz at Kaz Graphic Dezign had worked out a great look and so during the week I had been over to Hamilton where the great team at Signcraftsmen worked their wonders and transformed the humble Subaru!
 
Raceday dawned fine but cool and after a quick jaunt down the road I arrived at the race venue on Broadlands Road just up from the Motor Racing Circuit.

Checked in and picked up my number '52'... Nicola Carter of Total Sports looks after me well!

Total Sports events have a great reputation and so I think the numbers exceeded what was expected and so after the queue to the portaloos finally abated the race started just a touch late. 

Photo by Nadege Crocker

Photo by Nadege Crocker

Aaron and Nicola delivered Race Briefings to the waiting runners down by the start line and the waiting runners in the Loo line! THen on to the line for the endorfin loadup of the start and we were off...

 


A quick burst up and through the farm fields brought us to the quarry next door. Through the quarry and onto the forestry roads and trails, so ups and downs, lots of twists and turns and eventually spat back out onto another forestry road. It was along this road section that my hammy gave me a kick again, slowing me to a near walk for about a kilometre. Slowly though it loosened off and I was able to run at close to full race pace with just the occasional jolt to remind me not to push it too hard. This pattern looks like it will be part of my running right through to the Xmas break!

This was one of the tough bits of the race... a long slow slog over about 2km climbing just over 100 vertical metres. The hard part was watching those ahead cruising back down the hill.

Of course I eventually made it and got to be the one encouraging those on their way up, I would have encouraged Paul Charteris, Race Director Supreme for the Tarawera Ultra, but I was blinded by his white shirtless body!

Back onto the trails for some lovely forest single trail, lots of ups and downs, with slightly more downs in this section... preparing us for the last climb and it is a beauty... about 160 vertical metres in 1.5km. Struggling up here but pushed as hard as I could with the knowledge of the downhill just ahead.

Photo provided by Photos4Sale

Once at the top, it's back onto the farm for a big downhill gallop where my big downhill legs and the fantastic grip of my Inov-8 X-Talons had me zooming past several who were less than comfortable zooming downhill.

Over the finish and a much shorter queue to the sausages than at Xterra - Yay!!!

A really cool day, met a few new people after the race and signed off on race number 10!

52 in 52 Race #9 - Back to the Beach at Waiuku

Race number 9 took me to my most often raced Xterra Auckland event... at the Waikato River mouth out from Waiuku.

This race was also special last year as it was the first race for my daughter Kate last year. Kate has had some health issues and had gone off running any events, so I was rapt when she asked me if she could run this again to support me in 52 in 52.

So, early start, got the girls loaded (Lainy came too) and we were on the road only 15 minutes late! Normally on my own I leave well before the crack of dawn and get there nice and early and get a park close to the start... not this day, we were well away from the start line and had a nice hile along the muddy road where Lainy realized that trail run meant soft underfoot for everyone and that her boots were not the best!

As usual with Total Sports, everything was organized to a tee, All of the usual suspects were in attendance - Keith Crook, Steve Neary, Lesley Turner Hall, Mal Laws and more and the day, while a bit misty, was very pleasant.

Onto the race itself, steady start, hammy twinging, so kept it real easy up the first few hills. Once loosened up it became easier and I pushed it along at just below 'pain' pace.

After a short road and forst burst the course spits you put onto the sand along the Waikato River, and with the mist still prevalent it lent itself to a great pic with the runners disappearing into the mist (right).

Had a nice chat early on with one of my co-runners for 4 or 5 km's. I am finding that a chat with other runners really makes the race fly by and this was the case yet again. 

Waiuku is sand based, but a bit of mud thrown in. Forestry running to the fore with lots of ups and downs - about 720m of vertical climbing over the run. The last few km's though really make you work, with a couple of really sandy ups and downs and the last km or so is like running through a sandpit.

Thanks to Photos4Sale

All in all an enjoyable run... that came in at 20.9km... below half marathon, but that was ok, as I backtracked out and ran the last 1.3km with Kate and managed to get a great pic crossing the finish line (me for the second time) thanks to Allan Ure from Photos4Sale. I finished in 2:14:33, a bit slower than last year... but more than good enough for me on the day.

52 in 52 Race #8 - Wellington Half Marathon

I thought last weeks trip was a biggie... nope. This week I had to be in Gisborne on Friday for a BNI Meeting. This meant I either drove back to Rotorua and then down to Wellington, or just headed straight down from Gizzy... which is what we did. I say we, because the lovely Lainy had taken Friday off and came with me.

What a trip... that is a heck of a long way, even for a seasoned driver like me... what was worse was that we were heading straight towards one of the biggest storms in recent New Zealand history that had hit Wellington. We arrived at the Capital Gateway Hotel who had sponsored me for the event to find a Hotel with no power - they hadn't had any for 6 hours! We were too tired to worry... lay down for a kip and when we woke 2 hours later the power was on... great.

After a cruisy day Saturday - just a quick trip in the morning to registration and a few visits to friends and family - it was raceday Sunday and off early to the city.

The race started from the CakeTin... oops Westpac Stadium. We had been warned that all the Stadium parking was sold and not to park in the wrong place... so we finished up parking about 1.5km away (duh) and wandering down.

This was on a whole different level to the other events so far... 5000 entrants over the various events, there were people everywhere! Impossible to catch up with anyone you know - especially as my cellphone was in the car!

Outside the weather was fine, but a bloody cold wind made me wonder if I had enough clothes. We all lined up with about 15 minutes to start time... a great mass of humanity, nervously shuffling and stretching and chatting. Race briefing over the PA, then the countdown and we were off. 
 
First thing I noticed was that the wind was barely noticeable, running in a large group filtered it down to next to nothing (phew). From the big wide concourse we were funnelled into the overbridge and down onto the road along Waterloo Quay. I hopped on in the group behind the 1:40 pacer and felt quite comfortable. We left Waterloo Quay onto Customhouse Quay and then onto Jervois Quay and round into Cable Street.

Still feeling pretty good, the legs feel it more than the lungs on road runs, we made the left turn onto Oriental Parade and the big stretch around the bays. There really wasn't much to report around here, I was cruising along easily, taking lots of pictures - one lovely runner also took my picture for me too.
 
Round from Oriental Parade into Evans Bay Parade, still going strong all the way down past Greta Point, past the Aid Station for my first drink of the day and around into Cobham Drive and along past the Airport. We hung a left into Shelly Bay Road and cruised along passed the 10km mark, starting to see more and more runners heading in the other direction on their way back.

Then, just before the turn... PING!!! something went in my right hamstring. At first I though I was done for, very sore. Walked a bit, then shuffled and though, "OK, I can do this to the finish". The great thing was that the pain slowly abated, to a point where about a kilometre or so later I started to slowly stretch out again and speed up.
 
It was feeling ok and then next thing I was back at full race pace and better, Passing everyone that had passed me and feeling great but frustrated at the time I had lost. After a couple of km's at this pace I could see the 1:40 pacer about 400 - 500m ahead of me around the bays.

I kept pushing, but again with just under 5km to go the hammy pinged! Time to back off again, warmed up quicker this time, but still lost time. On the way back in we hopped oof the street and onto the wharfside area and again I was pushing hard.

Out off the wharves and along to the same overbridge we had gone out on and I knew the finish was right there... up the overbridge ramp and the hammy wasn't having it, and I finished at a shuffle... in a time of 1:40:17.... only 54 seconds outside my PB and my second fastest Half time ever! 

I should have been happy, but the overwhelming sensation was disappointment. 

Overall a great day, I love the course - and that's from a runner who does not like roads. I would come and do this again... I am sure there is a PB out there.