Tip for the day: ignore Homer
Don’t get me wrong about Homer Simpson – he is a comic genius – but when it comes to life guidance I tend to seek inspiration elsewhere. I was reminded of this last night when 7in7 delivered another unexpected benefit in the form of an email from a friend who I had lost touch with [...]
Tough week at the office…
Having run just short of 100km in the past 6 days I finished off a tough week with the 24km XTerra race at Riverhead. What a mudbath! The course would have been tough in any conditions but today it was knee deep in mud and slippy as a bucket of eels. OK, confession time…. I broke [...]
1,000 gone…. a few more to go!
A momentous moment while out running today with fellow 7in7′er Wade (aka Shrek) Gillooly. Two kms in to our 18km volcano circuit I chalked up 1,000kms of 7in7 training runs – lucky Wade was there to capture the moment given the vast majority of these kms have been done solo. It’s a good start but [...]
Last chance to win
The first Friends of the Challenge prize draws takes place in just 3 days time – on Tuesday June 30th. Up for grabs are: 3 Mizone prize packs. Each consists of: A case of Mizone sports drink A Dry Gear running vest Mizone jacket Mizone cap signed by Mahe Drysdale Also, 2 magnums of great [...]
Let’s Pitango…
Time for a word about this wonderful sponsor. They have generously provided us with stacks of their mouthwatering ready-to-eat meals and I just can’t get enough of them. During a long run on a wet day I have caught myself fantasising about their soups, rissotto and pastas – which one to have when I get home? [...]
7in7 – it's the place to be seen!
We have just welcomed our 100th Friend of the Challenge – that’s 100 people, many of them previously strangers, who have kindly donated a total of $10,300 to the Leukaemia & Blood Foundation. Thanks to you all. But we still have a very long way to go to reach our $50,000 target. So please everybody, KEEP SPREADING THE [...]
How long will it take?
Did you know I am running a poll on the home page asking the question “how long will it take to run the 7 Great Walks?” If you haven’t already taken a punt why not have a go. The most popular choice at the moment is 55-59 hours. Hmmm, I wonder? Also, if you have any ideas [...]
Major milestone reached
Yeeha! With a small flurry of donations today our fundraising has cracked through the $10,000 barrier. Still a LONG way to go to reach the target of $50,000 but we WILL get there. THANKS to all who have helped us get this far. Cheers, Mal.
7in7 at 7
OK, big breakthrough in the publicity campaign…. the 7in7 hits the little screen… tune in to Prime TV at 7pm Thurs 25th June (most likely today by the time you read this) to catch the action. I met with Mark Richardson today – ex NZ cricketer turned off-road runner and TV presenter – and yakked [...]
Smell the roses, drink the coffee
With still 5 months to go before the start of the Challenge I am determined to keep training as relaxed and fun as possible – to “smell the roses”, enjoy the views, take a few photos, even stop for the odd coffee. Today was a great day for all of these. I set off while [...]
One good turn deserves another
I have bleated on before about the amazing support that I’ve been getting from all over the country, and this continues to blow me away. One way in which I have been seeking to spread the word about 7in7 is to get links from the websites of other event organisers. The latest such example comes [...]
Smash & Grab
First thing this morning I took a gentle spin around my local park to check on the niggly hamstring. It was a little sore but not too bad. Still, I decided today’s long run needed to be a very gentle affair and allow for a bail-out option if things got ugly. The plan was a [...]
Splat! Something a bit different
This weekend was the final two days of my overdue ‘recovery week’ so an ideal time to do something different. Paintball is not something I’ve ever really had a mad urge to try but 7in7 support runner Pete Swanson had a birthday and decided on this as an alternative celebration. All good fun but the [...]
Win a return trip to Australia
Another great addition to the list of 7in7 sponsors… Air New Zealand have joined the party. Amongst other things our national airline are putting up 2 RETURN FLIGHTS TO SYDNEY OR MELBOURNE as a prize in the Friends of the Challenge prize draw. To qualify you will need to be one of these special people [...]
Wiggles fan joins in the fun
In April 2006 I did the inaugral Oxfam Trailwalker in a team with three other old coots. We knocked off the 100kms (that we later discovered was actually more like 106kms) in under 15 hours and won the Veterans section. Two of these clowns, Guy and Pete, have been on the 7in7 team from the [...]
Thought for the day….
When you love the work you do and the people you do it with, you matter. When you are so gracious and generous and aware that you think of other people before yourself, you matter. When you leave the world a better place than you found it, you matter. When you continue to raise the [...]
Bivouac up for the Challenge
When I’m not out training I’m likely to be working on 7in7 logistics or trying to drum up support from corporate sponsors and individual donors. It’s a full time job but rewarding when we get a company like Bivouac excited about the mission. So it is with great delight that I announce the involvement of [...]
A fun weekend
On Saturday I partnered my old mate Pete Swanson in the Lactic Turkey ‘Nowhere near Piha’ Rogaine. This was based on a wonderful bit of private farm and woodland just north of Parakai. Pete was in devastating form with the map reading and for once I had the legs to stay with him as he [...]
Sponsor becomes a runner
Meet Kevin Bowler, CEO of Yahoo!Xtra and the newest member of the 7in7 running team. Kevin is a ‘born again exerciser’ and more used to sitting on bikes than running up hills. But when I first approached him regarding sponsorship he was immediately excited about the 7in7 concept and then starting murmuring “do you think I’d [...]
One for the hippos!
Another Wednesday another long run. After the deluge of rain over the past couple of days this was never going to be a dry one, but it turned out to be a total mudfest. I chose a circuit in the southern Waitakeres that I hadn’t done for years, and I’d forgotten just how gnarly and [...]
A moving story, a brilliant idea…
Anyone who has been involved in the NZ multisport scene over the last decade or so will know the name Neil Gellatly, a top athlete with an enviable track record at Coast to Coast and countless other events, and now author and organiser of the Trans Taupo - NZ’s biggest open water paddle/row event. Not so [...]
Hunua Heaven
On Friday I picked up our BaseJumper Overland Camping Vehicle from the good folk at RoadCraft – and this weekend we’ve been putting it through its paces. Last night was our first overnighter in it – in the Hunua Ranges – and a very comfortable success it was. Wife Sally and I [...]
Powered by burritos
I’m a real believer in a high protein diet to support an intensive training regime….. or put another way, I love my bacon and I love my eggs! So, when Jan, the owner of my local gastro paradise, Meola Kitchen, offered free breakfast burritos for the duration of my training I grabbed it with both hands. [...]
West Coast Cracker!
Another Wednesday, another long run. And what a cracker it was – a beautiful crisp, blue sky early winter’s day. Started out from Piha and headed north to totally deserted Whites and Anawhata beaches. From here found a ‘secret’ track that I had heard about but never been on – at first good going, then [...]
