Introduction

Welcome to my blog. The title originates when my primary athletic activity was competitive walking, but now that I am back to running it also includes that.

Not all content is accessible from the main page: for example, the rogaines, racewalking, and ultramarathon pages all include content that is only accessible from those pages.

Ultramarathons

Ultramarathons are any event longer than the standard marathon distance of 26.2 miles / 42.195km. Standard distances for ultras are 50km, 50 miles, 100km, and 100 miles. There are also 12 hour and 24 hour track runs, and multi-day "stage races".

I have currently (September 2012) completed 30 ultramarathons, plus 1 DNF at about 66km at the Molesworth Run. Reports for most events are provided below.

See also

Rogaines

Rogaining is the sport of long distance cross-country navigation. Events can be as short as 2-3 hours or the standard 24 hours. Teamwork, endurance, competition and an appreciation for the natural environment are features of the sport. Rogaining involves both route planning and navigation between checkpoints using a variety of map types.

GN Phillips and RJ Phillips, Rogaining, 3rd ed, 2000


The two main umbrella organisations for rogaining in New Zealand are: My reports for selected events are provided below.


Hiking and Mountains

The Hiking, Trail Running, and Mountains pages are all inter-related, but with some subtle differences:
  • Hiking is not an organised race, and may include Coastal Adventures, activities in the Mountains, and hiking in other locations;
  • Trail Running covers organised events, some in the mountains, but others on local hills and trails; and
  • The Mountains category covers both events and hiking in various places that can be classed as mountains.


    • Racewalking

    Racewalking only has to meet two technical requirements:
    • no loss of contact, as judged by the human eye; and
    • the leg has to be straight from the moment of first contact until it is upright.
    More detailed rules are here.

    I'm not particularly good at racewalking, often falling foul of the straight leg rule. But I still give it a go and here are the results of my endeavours.


    Running

    This blog is primarily about my walking activities, but sometimes I do run. Here are reports for events where I have run.

    Shorter Races

    I classify events as ultramarathons, marathons, rogaines, and "shorter events". So a "shorter event" is just something that is shorter than a marathon and is not a rogaine. Consequently there's a mixed bag in here: running, racewalking, half marathons, 10k and 5k races, , etc.


    Saturday, November 21, 2009

    Short Circuited Again

    PB210002
    The Tararuas, completely obscured by cloud and rain.
    Another training session around the short course for the Ultra Fun Run, only this time the weather was a bit wet and miserable. But it was a good training session and would definitely pay off if the weather was wet at Kepler.

    Another 6am start, just like it would be on race day. Started off with fairly heavy drizzle. Up to Cannon Point in 48:20, just a few seconds slower than last time. Views were all but non-existent with the low cloud and rain, so not much opportunity for photo stops.

    Although my legs felt tired and sore, overall I was going well. I tagged the gate at the start of the Mt Climie access road in 3:04:45 (3:15:33 last time). Made up a couple more minutes on the ascent (58:02 vs 60:43). Cold and wet up on top, so I changed into a dry polypro, dri-fit t-shirt, hat and gloves. Although this cost extra time and I was still 10 minutes ahead of the previous fortnight's time when I left the top (total time was 4:13:12 vs 4:23:26).
    On top of Climie...
    PB210005
    This time.
    		PB070047
    Last time.

    The descent was a little more slippery than in the dry, but it was still not too bad. The forest section had a lot more mud, with motorcycles (and possibly other vehicles) having churned up the track in places. Made up about 8 minutes on the descent to Collets Rd (61:51 vs 69:39).

    On the way down...
    PB210008
    This time.
    		PB070058
    Last time.

    Refilled a bottle at Mangaroa School and then headed home. The weather was starting to clear a bit by now and I was getting quite warm. Hat off, gloves off, but it was too much effort to take my jacket off! Back home in a total time of 6:03:51.
    Posted by Andrew Shelley
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