For the last four or five weeks I've actually been out in New Zealand, visiting friends and family and generally winding down after an incredibly tough 2013. I took the chance to visit the charitable trust for which I am fundraising for in the London Marathon (The Starship Foundation). I was shown the site and gained a real appreciation for where the funds raised were going. In what should be a scary, sterile environment, the team there have looked at things from the kids views, by painting bright and vibrant colours, developing play rooms, designing lovely spaces and generally trying to take their mind off a very traumatic time. Who wouldn't want to support that? And if you do, please support here.
I also used the time out there to get a few runs in, and ended up covering nearly 300km over the time out there, including a Personal Best for my 5km time, and also several beach based runs for strength and conditioning, a few climbs up Mt Maunganui (including the King of the Mountain race which everyone should try once!)
The one run I looked forward to a lot was the Tongariro Northern Circuit. This is a stunning 43km loop (although my Garmin said 45.5km!) including the Tongariro Crossing (one of the world's greatest Day Walks), circumnavigating the Ngaruahoe & Tongariro mountains. It also gives brilliant views of the stunning Mt Ruapehu as well
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| The stunning Mt Ruapehu |
I planned for a 4.5 hour run, so took the necessary provisions including energy gels, energy bars, and chocolate as well as all the emergency equipment needed and first aid should it be necessary. I also made a few people aware of my entry and proposed exit time as well just so this was covered off in case something went wrong.
Well not much went wrong other than a complete miscalcuation of the difficulty of the track. Forgetting that the altitude sat somewhere between 1100 - 2000 metres above sea level for the whole track, it was a lot more challenging and slower than I predicted. 6 hours later including all the stops I stumbled out covered in volcanic dust and to the car. Looking through some of the photos though I just realised how beautiful this trail was. And how sparsely used it was - apart from the section that was part of the Tongariro Crossing, there was hardly a soul out there...
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| Looking towards Ngaruahoe (right) and Tongariro (left) peaks along the plateau. More undulating than you think! |
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| Repping the Starship Foundation top after crossing the warm (i.e. active) area behind me |
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| Selfie running through the lunar like landscape of the Circuit. Gives you an idea of the scale of things, this was all sand based trail which made it extra tough. Thankfully no blisters! |
All in all it was one hell of an experience despite struggling towards the end of it all (the last leg between a hut and the car was 14km of slight uphill gradient),a nd finished off with some NZ classics of Burger Rings & Primo Choc Milk. The real treat though was to come, as after this I had a short (3 hour) drive over to finally meet the rest of my family including Marcus, the wee fella who has inspired me to run the London Marathon (twice) in 2014.
There were some other runs of note, including a short, overgrown run on the Otawa Trig trail in the Papamoa Hills behind my parents house (it would be incredible to run this as a race if it wasn't overgrown! DOC should do something!), as well as a 20 mile beach run including a climb up Mt Maunganui at halfway. Had to time this with low tide, which involved getting up at sunrise and sharing the beach with very few others.
Back in the UK now I've got a few more runs of note planned including a preview of the VLM course (if anyone fancies joining me for the 42.2km course before running it!) and maybe a couple of trail runs. I've decided to withdraw from the South Downs Way 50 as the concept of raising money for this charitable foundation is much more important to me. Here's a few more photos anyway, hope whoever reads this likes them and is inspired to get out there!
