A Big Weekend

4 big bunches of delicious All Good bananas - and we ate the lot!

Training got serious over the weekend, despite some pretty awful weather and quagmired track conditions. It was time for some big hills, big miles and big tests of the fitness levels – so where better to head than Karekare? From the door of our bach it’s straight on to a brilliant network of rough, tough but invariably beautiful tracks.

So on Friday night five of this year’s team (Lisa Markwick, Dan Roberts, Penny Kirkwood, Jane Manthorpe and myself) lay awake listening to the wind rip the roof off the house, praying that the rain would stop and the cloud would lift before the morning. Come 8 o’clock, fortified by Penny’s Porridge and a slightly improved weather outlook we were all set for the off. What a day! Along the way we picked up two more runners (Al & Guy) and assorted injuries – I nearly broke a leg slipping on a steep staircase, Jane fell sick and had to pull out after 30k, and there were plenty of other scratches and bruises as the Waitakere mud and tree roots did their best to destroy our morale. But we persisted and some 9 hours, 51 kms later arrived back at the bach and a welcoming log fire.

A short break in weather - above Whatipu

Sunday was to be another attempt at a 50 km day, this time with just a hard core of Penny, Jane and myself. But the route we chose was even hillier and even muddier (how could that be possible?) than Saturday’s. So with time running out on us we had to call it a day after 8 hours and 37 kms of grovelling, slipping, sliding, swearing and the occasional bit of running!

Two long days on the feet, 88kms under our belts and big smiles at the end of it all. A great weekend! Thanks to all who shared the experience and helped to make it special.

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This entry was posted on Monday, August 23rd, 2010 at 3:26 pm and is filed under Sponsors, Training and tagged with All Good, Karekare, Support runners. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.