- Mediocre immigrant Kiwi long and ultra distance runner into food, beer and running #anysurfaceanydistance
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Race report to follow for my loyal readers; all 3 of you! In the meantime, I finished in 30th place, taking 13 hours and 13 minutes to complete the course.
I had planned to go for a long run on Auckland Anniversary Day. While I ended up getting slightly more of an adventure than I had bargained for, it was a resounding success; I finished the day at Piha (having started at Arataki Visitors' Centre) absolutely knackered, utterly delighted and in relatively little pain. I learned a few lessons on my performance and my kit's performance along the way, and just as importantly I validated my initial race plan , which is now online. I *really* like how Strava strips out resting time. It makes me look so much faster. The Run I was joined by DB at Arataki Visitor's Centre at about 07:00 on Monday morning. He had responded to my advert on the HTR Facebook page and we were both gearing up for a bit of experimentation before the Hillary Trail Run at the end of the month. The basic plan was to try and simulate the first half of the race and run from Arataki to Piha (including the nature trail loop) with a view to checking target pa
Having signed up for The Hillary Trail Run nearly six months ago, it was finally my moment of truth and the moment of truth for the other 80 runners who had entered the full 50 mile / 80 kilometre race from Arataki to Muriwai. Whatever the result it was going to be one hell of a ride, and the day really did not disappoint. My wonderful wife who has suffered through my adventures and tolerated my bad habit of obsessively pursuing dubious goals once again supported me through the race, starting off with dropping me off at Arataki Visitors' Centre on scenic drive at 05:35am on Saturday 27th February. After a trip to the bathroom and briefing by the ever-upbeat race director, Shaun Collins, I and the other runners trouped over to stand underneath the inflatable arch which marked the start. Sarah Hillary briefly addressed us and wished us well on our adventure, and we were off and running through the dark up in the Waitakere Ranges. Arataki to Huia - Walk the hills The actual start
The Penny Drops. It was at about 8pm the night before the Tarawera Ultra that realisation set in of what I had actually signed up for. I was going to run the longest distance I had ever attempted, over ground I had never seen, following a couple of days of persistent rain. To understand quite how I got here, you need to be aware that beer, credit cards and internet access are a dangerous mixture, especially when my brother-in-law Craig is egging me on to enter an event. It is not so much that he isn’t supportive (he is, incredibly so, as is the rest of my family) or that he bullies me in to things (he doesn’t) but he seems to operate a kind of subtle guerilla marketing campaign when he knows I want to do something, but maybe need a bit of a nudge. I finally hit the “submit” button at 7:01PM on 20th December. “Hi Gareth, Thank you for your order. This email is confirmation of your purchase and is generated automatically by our online system.” I’m still s
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