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.


    Sunday, June 19, 2011

    Wet & Windy Wellington

    Wellington always "turns it on" for the Wellington Marathon, and today was no exception. Some rain was expected, but only light showers, and wind was supposed to be 30km/h northerlies. The wind seemed to build throughout the event so that by the end we were struggling into northerly gales and being pelted by horizontal rain driven by the wind!

    First shower of rain arrived about 37 minutes into the run. It was a bit windy and cold around past the airport, but this is the most exposed section of the course, and it looked like we just had a passing shower. Turning north around Miramar Peninsular we were told to run on the cliff side of the road (on the right, facing traffic, although the road was closed). There was a bit of a head wind in some parts along here, but generally it was not too bad.

    Rounding the end of the peninsular and turning south it was pleasant to have the wind behind us. There was some good running along here with the wind behind, picturesque scenery away from any built up areas, and still early enough in the run that everything still felt good.

    Over the Pass of Branda we crossed a number of runners we knew coming in the other direction, including Pat Stitchbury, Perry Newburn, and Vivian Cheng. Went through the turn in 2:11: Quite pleased with that, we were both feeling relatively fresh, although my right glute was starting to get quite sore.

    Heading back the wind seemed to get progressively stronger, and by the time that we were back out of the built up area the wind was so strong that it was easier to walk when we were going straight into it. Along here I started to notice my right glute and right hamstring were pinching. It must have been starting to show because there were a few places where Heather asked if I was alright.

    After going back past the airport we turned into the wind again. Many more walks along this section as the stretches into the wind were longer, and the wind was much stronger. The rain also started in earnest and was almost horizontal as it was being driven hard by the wind.

    I got completely soaked through along this section. My polypro top and shower-proof nylon jacket were no match for the wind and rain. Although we were at sea level the weather felt like what I would expect on a mountain ridge. And because we weren't on a mountain ridge I didn't have my storm gear! I started to get quite cold so Heather gave me her seam sealed jacket to wear -- she was still warm and hadn't been wearing it, and it made a significant difference to my level of warmth.

    We started making the most of the weather, taking the opportunity to jump in puddles and splash each other as we ran. A good way to have fun when the weather was atrociously bad!

    I eventually finished stiff and sore in 4:46:58. Slightly faster than at Rotorua, but a lot harder than I would have liked. Probably again a case of not enough training, but at least this counts as a good training run for something!
    Posted by Andrew Shelley
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