ANZAC marathon sweep – Run Apricot Run

Christchurch Airport Marathon

June 5, 2016 apricotrunner Comments 0 Comment

I had been looking forward to Christchurch Airport Marathon for ages. I’d booked Craig and me Business seats on Emirates from Sydney and back, and had also booked into a nice hotel adjacent to the start. I’d had three weeks to recover from UTA50 and knew the weather would be quite cool – ideal for a marathon.

Things got a little tricky a few weeks prior when Craig’s uni studies saw an exam scheduled for the morning we were departing. Luckily I was able to switch his flight to the afternoon, and I drove to Sydney early Friday morning and had a very pleasant time alone in the Qantas lounge and then as only one of three Business passengers on the flight!

The next day we were up early and walked to Hagley Park where I did the parkrun. I love doing novel parkruns in places we visit and this was no exception. It was really cold and I was glad of my gloves.

The city itself remains in the process of rebuilding four years after their last nasty earthquake. Bib collection was from the race start/finish area right next to the Christchurch Cathedral that is still held up with heaps of scaffolding and bracing.

We then had a nice day in and around Christchurch, including a ride in their gondola!

Race morning was super simple – breakfast in the room and then down to the start line. It was very cold but thanks to the number of people there I did my usual trick of snuggling in close to some of the other runners for some added heat.

The first 10km was a lap of the town, including a run around Hagley Park. I started to warm up about 5km in, and stayed with the crowd, enjoying this pretty city. Around 8km I came upon a girl about 10 years old who was running along, crying. I asked her a little bit about herself and she said her name was Cara and that she had never run 10km before. She was an age champion in the area for cross country and athletics, and her mother and sisters were up ahead. She had no idea how far she had run and when I said there was only 2km to go she brightened up. We chatted for the next 2km and I wished her luck and cheered her on when we came to the part where the 10km veered off to the finish and the rest of the field turned for the loops out of town. We saw and waved to Craig at that juncture as well. He had been in the hotel room studying for his next exam and came down in time to cheer me on.

The rest of the race consisted of two loops out from the city. The first loop was longer and took in the outer suburbs, while the second loop retraced some of the first but turned at the river for the finish. I found the suburban running fairly boring but the scenery closer to town was nice. I stopped to speak to Craig at the end of the first loop and then moseyed on out for the second. I enjoyed the second loop because there were other runners who overtook me and then slowed and I overtook them etc etc. I sped up over the last 3km and finished well. I knew backing up with Perth the next weekend I’d be feeling it, so was pleased that I really enjoyed this event!

We had a late checkout arranged and then went out to the airport where we partook in some refreshments before boarding our plane for the trip home. It’d been fun.

Christchurch Airport Marathon was number 14.

Bayleys Mountain to Surf Marathon

March 5, 2016 apricotrunner Comments 0 Comment

I was excited to go to New Zealand for this marathon. I was going alone with just a backpack of gear and it was going to be quite an adventure!

New Plymouth is a town about an hour by plane south of Auckland. We’d no sooner taken off on that flight and the crew had run through the plane throwing food at us, than it was time to land!

The mountain mentioned in the title of the marathon, known as Mount Taranaki, dominated the landscape. I was staying at the same hotel as where bib collection occurred, and the buses left the following morning to drive up the mountain to the start.

All of the plans went seamlessly. This was another expertly arranged and managed regional marathon. The course started in the carpark some distance up the mountain, and runners then ran back to the coast. There was a half marathon starting at the midpoint of the marathon, in the town of Inglewood, with the event finishing in the village of Waitara.

The run went relatively well. It was fairly scenic and shaded, and the temperature was good. There were some boring bits along the side of the highway however knowing I was always just covering the ground toward the finish (without any laps) kept me in a pretty good head space.

The only issue I struck was that the electrolyte drink served at the drink stations didn’t agree with me. It was something called Sqwincher – tasted nice but caused me some real issues. My customary fast last kilometre was a non-appearance due to the cramping in my stomach and abdomen.

Never mind though, the people were very friendly, provisions at the finish very good, and again the organisation most efficient in having the buses arrive as planned to drive runners back to New Plymouth. I was pretty happy as this was my second marathon in a week and the times were roughly the same.

Bayleys Mountain to Surf Marathon was number 11.

Rotorua Marathon

May 1, 2010 apricotrunner Comments 0 Comment

Rotorua marathon is where it all started. Or rather, Craig suggesting we do the marathon instead of the distance I suggested, being 5km, is where it all started! Brand new to running – less than five months of experience – why not tackle a marathon?!

This is the ad I first saw in a magazine, only for 2010!

We commenced training 18 weeks out from 1 May 2010. I researched plans for walking a marathon and then found a Hal Higdon beginner marathon program. We went out walking three to five mornings or evenings each week, with a long walk weekends. Our children were six, 12 and 14 years at the time, with our daughter Emily swimming squads five mornings. The days we had to walk 30km or so we either arranged for someone to come by to be with the children, or walked 5-10km laps around our house, calling in every hour or so to ensure they were still intact!

Mid April 2010 we entered into our first race, the Herald Hill to Harbour 10km event in our home city of Newcastle, just to get a sense of how races proceeded and to try out our gear under race conditions. The Hill to Harbour starts with a 1km hill followed by a lovely downhill, and I was quite stunned when Craig went out so hard I had to jog to keep up! And then on the downhill, he started jogging! So much for the walk. I think we ran about 6km in the end. After that Craig suggested we try to run some of the marathon in New Zealand.

I’ll never forget the plane ride we had from Auckland into Rotorua. Tiny little plane with the pilot and room for about 11 people. We knew Rotorua was on the edge of the lake, and the marathon circumnavigated that lake. As the lake came into sight the enormity of what we’d undertaken became obvious and Craig let out a couple of expletives. The lady sitting in front turned to us and said “here for the marathon are you?”!

We stayed in a beautiful resort on the edge of the lake.

We spent the day before the marathon touring the geyser parks. At the time people asked us, and continue now to ask us, whether the township smelled of rotten egg gas due to the sulphur. In truth it didn’t – there was a section of perhaps 200 metres on one edge of the lake where the water seemed a little stagnant, and there was a smell there, but there was no smell at all in the town itself and certainly not anywhere around the edges of the lake.

It really didn't smell — It really didn’t smell

The evening prior to the marathon there was a formal greeting and haka for the “international competitors”, followed by a pasta dinner. At the dinner, surrounded by proper runners, we were in awe of their abilities and stories.

Marathon day was crisp and we started in long sleeved tops that we stripped off around 4km and left on the side of the road. We went back the next day and collected them! The first 15km was relatively flat and we ran along quite nicely. There was a killer hill just after this and we powered up it, passing heaps of people. Unfortunately Craig had a bit of a moment at the top of the hill and felt a bit dizzy. This scared us both and we backed off the pace and in fact ended up walking down the hill, which was a shame as it was a good downhill! We walked and ran the next 15km and came to the final 10km which was largely through an industrial area. While the rest of the run had been relatively picturesque, this section was terribly boring. Craig’s feet were starting to pack it in, and in fact he lost several toenails in the months afterward. His big toe has never recovered! At 40km we picked up again and ran to the end.

I remember crying as we came over the line, thinking what a shame it was to have subscribed to two running magazines and bought running gear, when we would never run again as the course for the last 10km had been so difficult! By this time Craig had stopped crying from the pain and was just so overjoyed!

The day after the marathon we went for a drive around the lake and marvelled at our own achievement! We were stunned to have made the distance and in awe of those who had run the whole thing. I think now in retrospect we were nuts, but look where we went from there!

We also toured a kiwi sanctuary. On the run we thought we’d seen a few kiwis, squashed on the sides of the highway. I mentioned this to the ranger who looked horrified and said there were only four kiwis in the area, and they were all on the island in the middle of the lake! She was furiously making telephone calls as we left!

A kiwi. Could have sworn we saw quite few!

Rotorua marathon was number 1.

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