Manawatu Striders Half Marathon - 14 August 2011

Fortunately the Massey sport facilities were
available for the event. Prize-giving also took
place inside the hall.

"Ohhh, it's raaaaining again, too bad I'm looooooosing a friend". That is just the way it is. Don't ever think you will have a dry run in NZ. 

At the start, in a drizzle, freezing cold,
although a number of people are
dressed in shorts.

Gerry and I were thinking of doing this half, ever since we had to miss it last year. But after the wet and cold Mizuno/Taupo Half, as well as being out of town, we postponed entering (actually forgot to!) until pre-entries were closed and we had to pay the late entry penalty fee which is $10 more per person. So, to run 21.1km, we paid $50 per person … and then our South African friends complain when they have to pay R50 for a half marathon.

A very cold Antarctic blast was predicted to hit the country by Saturday night, bringing with it very cold conditions, snow, sleet and heavy rains, which were expected to reach Palmy by the Sunday - race day. We almost had second thoughts about entering, but the Manawatu events are all so very nice and well organised (there's just something "homely" about them) that we made the trip to Sterling Sports shop in town on the Saturday afternoon to enter. The Striders had a table in the back, also selling the event T's, which we would love to have, but just couldn't afford on top of the entry. Maybe next time.

As usual (it really feels as if this is happening every time!), it was raining during the night. Will we ever get used to the weather? Since the race only started at 10:00 (what a welcome change to the 6 o'clock starting time for all races in SA) we could wake up at a decent time and comfortably get ready, and head to the start. Arriving at the Massey University Recreation Centre, a drizzle left me no choice but to put on a rain coat on top of two warm layers. This time we also had gloves and I'm sure the Kiwi's might have thought us completely mad! Some were, as is normally the case, dressed in shorts and singlets. I just don't know how anybody in their right mind can do that. It was only 6 degrees, for heavens sake! But then again, if you're born in these conditions, I guess you get used to the weather. We saw one "supporter" in a pram - a baby, sitting happily in the rain swinging his legs. No worries, mate. :) That was such a nice sight - it made me think for days afterwards how protected we were from seemingly "bad" weather in SA. 

Nice long downhill on Massey campus in the first kilometre.

When lining up at the start we spoke to a lady who rather prefers trail runs, mentioning that the rain might spruce up an otherwise boring run. If you prefer trail runs, a road race can at times seem boring. For me, just the joy of running with other people makes up for whatever the run might throw at us, regardless of how boring it might seem. Especially if you run in places and on roads where you've never been before.

Our own bag pipe player.

The siren sounded and we were off. In the drizzle. It was fairly cold, but fortunately only a light wind. We ran through the Massey campus, before heading towards town, across the Manawatu River bridge, to cover a short loop in the Hokowhito suburb. At 5km, a time keeper shouted out your time as you pass - this also happened at the halfway point. What a nice addition to the race! We were on a 6min/km pace after 30min into the run, faster than I planned (this was supposed to be a slow long run), but with the rain and all, I just wanted to get it over as fast as I could. 

Approximately a mile is run on the walkway next
to the Manawatu River.

Between 6 and 7kms we experienced our own bag pipe player! Such a nice sound, it always brings back fond memories of past SA races. From there we followed the river on the Bridle walkway, through suburbs to go around the Awapuni Race course, and all the way back. When passing the halfway mark, we were on 65 minutes according to the timekeeper. 

Mud and rain. A short off-road section at around
the halfway mark. Is that a Teletubby en route?

I never realised how big a horse racing course is! 2.2kms? 2 miles? This meant it took some time for us to circumnavigate the track. When first reaching the area, the distinct smell of barnyard flavours immediately had me thinking about all the Irene Agricultural Research Centre races. But as we progressed, the smells changed as we seem to have reached the sewerage works. This was less nice, fortunately only for a brief period, and we also passed what I think could be Mount Cleese?

For those who don't know the story: apparently Palmerston North has the reputation as the most boring town in NZ. Why, I have no idea. I seem to be missing something, because Palmy has so much going for it, with all the science centres and being a student city and only 140km from Wellington. However, when John Cleese visited NZ and Palmy, he apparently mentioned at some point that if you consider suicide, but haven't gone over the edge yet, a trip to Palmy should do the trick! Hence, the locals dubbed the rubbish dump Mount Cleese. :)

Look Ma, it was raining. Yet again. Presumably Mt Cleese is in the background.

Strangely enough, we also passed the "unlucky" 13th kilometre at this point. The rain started clearing up a bit and from about 6km to go there was no more rain and we could dry out a little bit. It was very cold, but fortunately there was only a very light wind which makes the world of difference to the temperature!

Gerry at 1km to go.

Shortly before the 20km mark we had to run up a little hill on the Massey campus, to follow the road to the east back to the recreation centre, to finish in a time of 2:13:33 (only 34 seconds slower than the week before).

And here's another great thing about the Manawatu races - I know it may seem small, but believe me these little things makes the world of difference - they have chairs at the finish where you can sit to remove your timing chip! What a luxury. You cannot believe how difficult it is to bend down on sore legs to remove a timing chip, battling not to lose your balance, since you are too sore and stiff to properly kneel or bend down.

Frozen stiff, but happy with my spot prize.

At the prize giving, it turned out the one gentleman did his 99th half marathon. He also did 27 of the 29 Manawatu Striders Half marathons, with his slowest being only 4min slower than the first one 29 year ago! That's impressive.

I was lucky to win a spot prize! A 15 litre dry bag courtesy of Kathmandu. 

The Manawatu Striders really know how to host an event! Thanks to Al and the rest of the team for another wonderful race. We will be back next year.

The course map for the 5km, 10km and 21.1km.

Mizuno Half Marathon (Taupo) - 7 August 2011

Two of the Downhill Demons and us. L-to-r: Des, Gerry, myself and Henriette.

The snow covered Raupehu (about 50km away
from Taupo), hinting at the weather on race day. 

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.

In the backpackers kitchen, whipping up
lovely dinners.

I immediately drew up a training plan for the seven weeks prior to the event to try and keep Gerry and me on track to at least aim to be ready on race day. Not that a "training program" usually intimidates me to the point of commitment! So, as with most programs, we often derail, missing a day here, another there and before you know it, only about half of the training was done. Inevitably I often find myself at the start of events, not being really ready. But having done numerous 21s (32s, marathons, ultra's, etc) one tends to get a little blazé about the distance, so there we were - not a care in the world. Just happy to be there.

Nervous smile? Me, Des (looking seriously in doubt,
possibly about my mental state?) and Henriette.

As I've often mentioned in the past, a half marathon is a wonderful distance and by far my favorite. Long enough to make you feel that you've worked a bit and achieved something, while still short enough not to push you over the edge and off the road with injuries for extended periods, as is sometimes the case with longer distances.

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.

So, on the Saturday morning prior to the race, we collected all our stuff and were off to Taupo, leaving at around 12:00. It was fairly cold and rainy, and as we passed the snow-capped Raupehu ranges it just got worse! We reached the Rainbow Backpackers in a wet Taupo at 15:30. After unloading we took a brief walk to the registration area to collect our registration packs. The goodie-bags contained your race number, timing chip, some discount vouchers, Effergize multi-vitamins, banana, and strange (but lovely) pomegranate and aloe juice, amongst others. Sweet as!

Blue skies! Not for very much longer ...

We met up with our friends (who were also booked for the night at the same backpackers) to whip up a pre-race dinner: chicken pasta with sun-dried tomato, feta, olives, basil pesto and pine nuts. Yum!! Post diner it was time for the Australia/All Black game in the TV room/lounge. Taking our running buddy, James' advice, Gerry and I carbo-loaded on a couple of beers. You can't watch a game like that without a couple of handles!

Mmm, dark clouds looming on the horizon.

We all retreated to our separate rooms, dodging the rain and hoping the weather would not be too bad during the race. I awoke a number of times to gusty winds and pouring rain, just hoping it will all be gone by morning.

As the morning arrived there was no rain and neither was it too cold (the calm before the storm?) and although some serious clouds were looming on the horizon, patches of blue skies were visible overhead and we all decided against rain jackets. The four of us (Gerry, myself, Henriette and Des) walked to the start at the Tongariro Domain, some 400 metres from the backpackers.

The start was in a narrow road and runners were backed up quite far. This resulted in a series of wave starts, letting through batches of runners every 30 or so seconds. Very clever from the organisers as this helped tremendously to avoid a complete stampede in the first kilometre and the field of runners - some 2500 at this years event - were spread out nicely from the beginning, leaving room for the faster runners to pass without elbowing their way through. Since you wear a timing chip, your individual time will still be recorded.

Bag pipe player on a long slow uphill section.

We started on a nice short downhill section, but soon thereafter reached the first little uphill. We had to negotiate a number of these including some slow poisons during the course of the event. The race, in general is rated as fast and flat, so nothing too serious in terms of hills. We stayed with Henriette and Des for the first kilometer or so, before heading off. The course is described as a out and back loop. I was a bit confused with the description until I realized it looks something like a lollipop with a stick on both ends.

Henriette nearing the halfway mark, doing very well.
Still up for a smile and a wave.

The first 3 kms (the first lollipop stick) is run next to the lake after which you turn off to run approximately 7 kilometres on State Highway 1/Lake Terrace Road - the first half of the loop. Nearing the end of this section the front runners can be spotted some 100 metres to your right, next to the lake. You then reach the other short out and back section (about 2km in total, the second of the lollipop sticks) which brings you to the turn-around point and halfway mark before heading back, doing the other half of the loop. Our halfway split was 1:04:42. And after the loop you're back on the first 3km out and back section.

On the way back, next to the lake.

Up until the turn-around point the weather was holding up nicely and at times I was actually cursing for being dressed too warmly. The sun partially came through making two layers of clothing too many. I was seriously overheating.

A hop, skip and jump at the 5km-to-go mark.

Watering stations were spaced about 5km apart, supplying only water. For a big event such as this, one would expect an energy drink of sorts, as is often the case at the bigger races. Fortunately we were armed with jelly babies to keep our sugar levels intact. The water table shortly before the turn-around point was such a welcome jollification with friendly helpers, cracking jokes and lifting spirits all round. Good on them - I'm sure a lot of runners appreciated their effort.

Thank you! thank you! thank you! Wonderful
soup and rolls at the finish.

The return half of the loop included a little off-road section (parallel to the SH1 section, but next to the lake) where the weather really turned nasty. It started to rain lightly while a cold wind was picking up. And suddenly all thoughts of too much clothes were gone. I was seriously cooling down, cursing again for not bringing gloves and a beanie with!

Never a dull moment with New Zealand weather. I tried to go as fast as I could but having a bit of an issue with wind (where does this come from?), I found myself quickly very stressed, hyper-ventilated and out of breath. I've realized that it is the wind blowing in my face that effects my the worst - it feels like it literally "takes my breath away".

Henriette at the finish.

Des at the finish.

Photograph by Super Sport Images.
Some wind! Blowing me
sideways and Gerry out of
the picture!

After what felt like miles and miles, we reached the walkway (Lions Walk?) with some bushes and overgrowth on both sides of the road providing some much appreciated shelter for bits. It was unfortunately short lived and we were exposed again to more wind and rain, and temperatures dropped considerably.

From around the 15km mark, we knew that we had to rely on "leg memory", not having done our homework. It was cold and wet and I could feel my ITB starting to act up again, which had me very worried at times. But the end was in sight and the promise of soup and a roll at the finish kept me going!

The wind was still quite strong, but more from the side, while the rain was also picking up. It was uncomfortably cold being wet to the bone. Lots of supporters were on the route with kids that held up banners reading "Go Mum!" etc. At some point we passed a water table with a sign saying "Linda's water table" and on the little camping table were two bottles of wine and two glasses. You can't help but smiling, forgetting all about your own pain.

At last we reached the "one kilometer to go" sign and with a nasty little uphill shortly before the finish, we still managed a 2:12:59 for the course. Giant choc-marshmallow fish (and this is no tall story!) were handed out at the finish, while we also received an energy drink.

Being soaking wet by now, the continued rain became less of an issue. The wind and cold was another story though. We headed to the Great Lake Centre for a choice of mushroom or pumpkin soup with a roll, and we both opted for the pumpkin. Absolute heaven!

A huge event, well organized, and we learned during the awards (which happened outside in the cold and rain! with hundreds of people attending), that the oldest finisher was 82, while the youngest was 8. Another impressive stat was that a 75 year old lady completed her very first half marathon event ever! Imagine that.

Congratulations to Henriette on her first half marathon! And thanks to both her and Des for making the outing. It was great having some friends joining us for a run.

The only question that remains: will I be able to manage another 21km in a week's time?

Manawatu Striders - winter series (15km) - 24 July 2011

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.

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.

On the back-roads of Massey, with the Rugby Institute
in the background.

A nice little loop on Massey campus.

A social out and back stretch between the Science Centres.

Done! Another one in the bag.