Bursting to go...........

Well time to get back to the blog as I have allowed myself far too much time to elapse since I last posted about the Molesworth run.

Since the Molesworth I have been steadily getting back into training. I have been running 80-100 km per week which is more than what I was running at this time last year when I was also trying to fit in training for the Tarawera 100.

The Molesworth run took more out of me than I anticipated and it took about 2 weeks before I could jog and 3 weeks before I could run at a respectable pace.

I even ran on Christmas day  which was a first so I indulged less than usual over the festive period. We had a wee holiday in Wanaka with Moira doing the Lake Wanaka Half Ironman, so fitted in some hill runs there.

Moira on the run leg, Wanaka Half Ironman

View from top of Mt Iron, Wanaka

I adopted a training plan for the first time which advises several back to back runs. This means 2 runs of 3-5 hours each on a Saturday and a Sunday over the next 5 weeks. I am managing these quite comfortably  with a full pack to acclimatise for the Tarawera and North Face Blue Mountain Runs. I did however get lost on the Ashburton River Bed turning a 4 hour run into a 6 hour run, getting swooped by black backed gulls as I disturbed their nesting spots.

Lost on Ashburton River Bed

The Blue Mountain event organisers sent me a DVD of the event which left me with the feeling of "what have I let myself in for"! The ascent and descent is 5000 metres as well as being 101 km long. They also advise a compression crepe bandage in event of snake bites, which my UK based medical training did not really cover.

Today I did a 4 hour run up the Mt Hutt Ski road as I have neglected uphill runs in the last three weeks. The road itself is a bit dull but the views are great and the descent through black beech forest, makes it one of my favourite places to run. I am a bit daunted that the ascent/descent of the Blue Mountain Run is the equivalent of running up and down the ski road x4. Mental note to tackle that small matter when I get there.

Tomorrow involves a 3 hour run incorporating a 18 km run along the Ashburton river track as part of the Ashburton River Track Challenge event, so will be very familiar stomping ground.

Ka Kite

The Marvellous Molesworth ( well for the first nine and a half hours)

This weekend has proven to be a real expedition. Me and my team of Noel and John travelled to Hanmer in temperatures in the high twenties with me realising that I had been deficient in my hot weather preparations.

We arrived in Hanmer about 2 hours ahead of schedule much to son John's mirth regarding my obsession with not being late. The southern gate to the high country station opened at 6 pm . This was my first venture into this area, first impressions being that this was an unrecognised New Zealand desert.

After a two hour drive across to the Molesworth Farm Station we arrived to a tent village of running refugees on Friday evening. Everything was coated in a few millimetres of dust which had penetrated everything during the drive.

The day of the race dawned much cooler with a forecast for showers later. 

This is the view from the start  up the Molesworth Valley. This was the greenest part of the run.

This is me at my brightest at the start along with 20 other like minded solo starters, finger on the timer ready for the countdown to the start.

The steepest hill was the Davis Pass at 7 km after which the run was mostly flat or undulating. The event had plenty of activity with all the other solo runners and team runners with their support vehicles. The impression when running is completely different to driving as you are much more aware of the surroundings than you are in a vehicle. I genuinely enjoyed running in this stark bleak region.

Noel Morriss - vehicle support

Just another 20 km to go. As the final legs of the relay teams has left by now, the last 20 km or so were quite lonely but thankfully John and Noel were close at hand with the cloud rolling up Jacks Pass.

Downhill, 5 km to go, 25minutes to cut off,  therefore only 5 minute kms at the end of 80km. Unlike the Blues Brothers I did not have sunglasses or a full tank of petrol.

This was the hardest bit -  running downhill with 3kms to go is pretty sore on the quads.

Finally across the finish line.( 85 km). It was great to see Christy Rhodes and Rachel Holdaway at the end who had been leafleting in Hanmer for Beat Bowel Cancer Aotearoa. Many thanks to Maurice (event organiser with clipboard on the right) for keeping the course open for the tail enders, as at 10h 24mins I was outside the official cutoff.

The evening was celebrated with prize giving and  poetry recitals describing everyones experience. Many thanks again to Maurice for letting me speak a few words about BBCA, with an impromptu collection raising $230+ for  the charity. For good measure my poem was chosen as the winner so I am the Molesworth Bard for this year. I think this just demonstrates that slower runners have more time to think!

The Ballad of Molesworth

What can you say to describe The Molesworth?

Of what I can say it is definitely dusty,

With gel eating runners - notably gusty

And support crews all round, reliably trusty

But when you get to the cut off gate

It is there that you start to hallucinate

For a woman there, who is really size eight

Immediately appears, all lusty and busty

But of all the words, in your "a" to "zee"

Requires a new word in your vocabulary

As whilst the Molesworth is  certainly dusty, gusty, trusty and busty

It is totally,  utterly,  awesomely  Zusty.

( Apologies Dr Seuss)

Pre race jitters

Just 4 days to go.

This week has been quite cruisy. It is tempting to think that shorter runs means that with the extra time available you (i.e. me) can compensate by frequent snacking so a lock on the pantry door is not a bad idea.

Today hit the ominous temperature of 28 degrees, from which the air conditioning at work provided delicious relief. Funny how in NZ we spend half the year complaining how cold it is, only to complain how hot it is  for the other half. Therefore , this means that it will definitely be either a) hot for the run , or b) not  hot. Not hot means a  cold Southerly in my face (  +/-  rain/hail/snow) whereas hot will probably be a dry nor-west wind.

My support crew of Noel Morriss and possibly son John are nearly ready too. The aim is to travel Friday to Hanmer Springs, camp at the start , ready for the 8 am start on Saturday. Noel and John will stop in the van every 8-10 km to  proffer food and water, take photos and fix blisters. The running is sometimes the easy bit. The Beat-Bowel-Cancer-Aotearoa supporters will be at Hanmer distributing leaflets and running the information stand.

Best Regards.

Simon's Hill Expedition.

This week has culminated in 103 kms so a slow taper begins from here on in. Fundraising has steadliy reached close  to $1000 so many thanks for those contributions to BBCA.

Todays trip is 2 weeks from the Molesworth and saw a group of us explore the Simons Hill Station courtesy of owners Peter and Jane. The trip was 24 km with 681 meters of ascent/descent. 14 of us from age 4 onwards jogged/walked /mountain biked / 4WD'd in different combinations up and round Simons Hill. Simon was a maori boy from Banks peninsula who accompanied one of the party members that crossed into the Mackenzie Basin onto  the first sheep run in 1856.

Maggie  making sure that we get going up the hill

View of Mt Cook from top of Simons Hill

Halfway round. Mt Cook ever-present.

Probably the Best Barbecue in the world. Many Thanks Peter and Jane. This running lark gets really tough at times ( should I have seconds/thirds or fourths?).

Ka Kite.

18 days and counting

Work has been a little bit in the way recently so no more long epics in the last 10 days. However I was pleased to run a sub 3 hour 30km on Saturday, courtesy of my running mate Ronnie who is a seasoned Comrades Ultramarathon runner. He pushes me to do faster runs rather than just long slow plods which is a danger when left to just running on my own all the time. All said, I have still managed 117 km in the past 7 days.

Halloween passed with evil spirits being kept at bay by my daughters' lanterns.

The days are getting longer such that most of my runs  now start in daylight, so my werewolf antics are over for a few months. Weather been mostly sunny so mornings are pretty good.

Dawn Lake Hood

I will start tapering now as today was my final long run of 32 km before the Molesworth. Saw a weasel today which reminds me of my favourite joke

Q. How do you tell the diffence between a stoat and a weasel?

A. One is weaselly recognisable and the other is stoatally different

ka kite

Werewolf run

The combination of work and the full moon must have been getting to me as last night I went for a run in the mountains from Glenfalloch Station at the head of the Rakaia River, to Lake Heron.

Moon rise was 7.36 pm to the East

Arrowsmith range to the west

A full moon accompanied me for most of this run/walk. It became a bit cloudy around Midnight, but it cleared again from there. Every tussock looked like some unidentified animal so it is easy to see where the  imagination can run riot to conjure up all sorts of beasts and monsters. 

The run finished at 4 a.m. 50 km over 8 hours so this will help put some miles in the tank. Total of 121km past 7 days. Being too sleepy to drive back immediately, I had a snooze for a couple of hours to be woken by the sunrise shining on the Rakaia River.

 

Ka Kite

What doesn't kill you, chocolate will make you stronger

Mt Herbert - "North face"

The weekend has consisted of 3 runs around the flats of Ashburton. Today I took advantage of a board meeting in Diamond Harbour to go for a run up Mt Herbert. This is the highest point on Banks Peninsula, east of Christchurch, at 920 metres. Mt Herbert was named after Sir Sidney Herbert, the British secretary of war who was responsible for sending Florence Nightingale to the Crimea War. Thus, indirectly he was responsible for the birth of the nursing profession.

View of Southern Alps - stretches across an area 3x the size of Switzerland

The day started with benign spring warmth which progressively disappeared. The area is quite spectacular with its views but the hillsides are quite bleak having been denuded from fires and land clearances in the distant past. I ran past an area of skeletal dead trees which gave a graveyard eeriness to the run.

What trees there were certainly gave no doubt as to where the prevailing wind came from, as this stunted mountain totara , below, shows.

Fortunately as this was an "out and back" run/walk/stagger,  and the wind direction did not change,  I did not end up bald on one side of my head.

Running back up Mt Herbert after going partway along the peninsula summit track, I hit the wall.

Internal question : Why am I feeling so terrible?

Internal answer   : Because you nearly fifty, running up a stupid hill , it is  cold  and you are hungry

Internal Solution : Eat CHOCOLATE

Result                 : Yum. Caramello never tasted so good. Feel Better

Fortunately from thereon the run was all down hill so the 4 hr 17  min run saw me cover the grand total of 24 km with 1238 metres of ascent. This was one of the toughest outings I have done for a long time, so hopefully this will improve my endurance. Total of 94 km in the last 7 days. Managed to snooze through the board meeting without snoring.

Kia Kaha