Running in the Family

Today is the due date for our new arrival in the family. Obviously, I'm writing tonight, so the little one has not yet arrived. Any day now I'll be trying to fit runs around our firstborn as well as work, and although we have bought a pram which should allow for my impending son to come with me on runs, we're still likely a few months away from being able to use it for such a purpose.

So this weekend, I've had a bit of waiting time to fill up. My little sister, and New Zealand's top ranked orienteerer, Lizzie was visiting for the weekend, which gave opportunity to go running with company. Here's a picture of Lizzie trying to teach a swan to orienteer.

We started the weekend with a quick mountain bike ride along the Turitea-Green Road track. Having not biked for a long time, a few of the steeper and longer hills took a bit of getting used to. On Saturday afternoon we went for a run up to Harding's Park, which I wrote about a few weeks ago. This time, we started at a brisk pace along the Kahutarewa Stream, before tackling the steep climb up The Elevation. THis is where Lizzie's superior training paid off: about half way up she let me known that she's been training with a guy who recently ran a 5:45 Kepler Challenge: not too shabby. The run left me a little dispirited in a way, as she ran away from me a few times, but Lizzie does estimate she's at the fittest she's been in a long time, which can only bode well for her Orienteering World Cup races in January, where she hopes to use her 'game face' like she is doing here:


Today Lizzie went off orienteering up the coast, whilst I stayed around near a phone, waiting for baby to pop out. He didn't of course, so I took my phone and went running in a pine plantation up the Pahiatua Track form our home. It was a very warm day, my legs were sore from yesterday, and the hills were steep, but again I had a great time, and even found some mud and an old bulldozer.

One thing has become apparent this weekend, and that is that I should try running some longer distances prior to Tarawera in March. I'm giving some serious thought to running the Hutt River Ultramarthon next month, 60km from the Wairarapa, over the Rimutaka Incline, and down to Petone. It's mostly on 4WD tracks, with some on road, and with minimal climb, but should be good for some training miles. Maybe even pushing a mountainbuggy for a while!