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.


    Showing posts with label Living Vicariously. Show all posts
    Showing posts with label Living Vicariously. Show all posts

    Monday, June 17, 2013

    Everest - A time lapse short film

    Amazing photography and inspiring scenery. What more can be said?

    Everest -A time lapse short film from Elia Saikaly on Vimeo.

    Posted by Andrew Shelley 0 comments
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    Wednesday, December 19, 2012

    Found this amazing post today... the GlacierWorks page describes the image as:

    This gigapixel image of the Khumbu glacier was captured by David Breashears during the spring of 2012, from the Pumori viewpoint near Mount Everest. The Khumbu Icefall is clearly visible here, and one can easily see the hustle and bustle of Everest Base Camp below.

    Navigating through to the gigapixel image, a couple of green boxes will show up on the image. Any part of the image can be zoomed, but clicking on these will zoom in to some amazing detail. The green box on base camp is a lot of fun, it zooms in on a tent with a display of photos, including this image, and clicking on that zooms in to the image again!

    Posted by Andrew Shelley 0 comments
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    Saturday, May 26, 2012

    Living Vicariously

    Traffic Jam on Everest, 25 May 2012.
    Image genuinely stolen from facebook, the original album is well
    worth a look. But it is only with luck that a queue like this won't result
    in more deaths on the mountain.
    For years I have purchased the occasional climbing magazine, and particular Rock and Ice when they would publish special issues with accounts of "Epic" trips (i.e. when things go wrong). I also have a number of books on polar and mountain expeditions. There's something about the struggle against the elements that appeals to me, and perhaps to an extent resonates just a little with the physical struggle of ultramarathons.

    At any rate, from time to time I keep an eye out on a small fraction of what appears on the internet about climbing expeditions. Today, at the very end of the climbing season on Everest, I was reading the two posts below. Very sobering.

    May 24: Climb to the roof of the world, Grant Rawlinson, 24 May 2012
    The dangers of an overcrowded Everest, Andy Cave, 23 May 2012

    Posted by Andrew Shelley 1 comments
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    Wednesday, April 4, 2012

    UTMB: The Runner

    Inspirational trailer for documentary on the man who became UTMB champion at 60 years old.

    Posted by Andrew Shelley 0 comments
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    Sunday, November 13, 2011

    Shotover Mountain Marathon

    A promotional video for the Shotover Mountain Marathon, the inaugural event to be held on 4 February 2012. Looks absolutely awesome, will definitely add it to the "to do" list.


    Posted by Andrew Shelley 0 comments
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