New Zealand, Aotaeroa, the land of the long white cloud.
I had been here just on forty years ago with three other blokes on a kontiki tour. For Anne it is the first time. Things have changed. We flew into Auckland airport a little late after Qantas decided to take a leaf out of Jetstar’s playbook and delay departure by thirty minutes. They then sent the notice of the delay two hours later while we were in the air.

Picked up the car at the airport, a neat little Toyota Yaris hybrid and headed downtown. We’d decided on an overnight in Auckland to take some stress out of arrival in case anything went wrong. Hotel was ok, a bit old but had parking and close to the piers for later in the week. Unfortunately this was the best night we spent there. Had a little shake out 12 km on part of the marathon course.

Tuesday we headed up to Paihia in the Bay of Islands. A pretty spot that would be very busy in Summer but not too bad in this, the late Spring. We did a couple of walks and a cruise to the hole in the rock but the weather was starting to turn with remnants of a tropical cyclone causing high winds and rain. Even the boat Captain described it as “a bit lumpy”

After a short intermission we headed back to Auckland for the marathon. This turned out to not as straightforward as we might have expected. We turned off the main highway and came down the coast to look at some of the beaches. Very pretty country. As part of the trip we headed to Waipu to look at a cave system that holds glow worms, a larval stage of a fungus gnat. The larvae hang from the cave ceilings and bioluminescence causes them to glow. We didn’t see glow worms but we did manage a flat tyre. And here’s where the fun started. 12 km out of a country town in a valley. All the Toyota has is an inflation kit and it didn’t inflate the tyre. The instruction manual is in Japanese. There is no mobile coverage. Hmmmm.

A life saver in the form of a nearby farmer suggested that there was some mobile coverage from the top of his property but seven or eight attempts at pressing one for roadside assistance and tell me your rego number and hold the line until it drops out please and we were getting nowhere. The farmer who seemed to prefer to be nameless but had a dog called Oscar gave us a lift to town where the men at the tyre shop were having a quiet after work ale. They replaced the tyre (our expense) and we were back to the car and on our way with many thanks to Oscar’s dad.

Back to Auckland.

We spent the night in Warkworth but I really can’t tell you much about it because it rained consistently all night and we wanted to get back to Auckland to see what could be done about the car seeing as we now didn’t have a spare or an inflation kit. Short answer is not very much.

Auckland marathon

Good night sleep on Friday before the marathon. We went to the expo held at a building called the “Cloud” which we thought was more like the idea of the sand worms from the Dune books. Everything seemed to be going ok for a four am wake up on Sunday to get to the ferry for the six am start. Could have done without the neighbours having a loud discussion of someone’s shortcomings from 2 am to 3.30 but there you go.
Out at a bit after 4.15. No rain but blowing an absolute gale. We gathered with some apprehension at the start but everyone knew what we’d signed up for and away we went. First couple of kms are always about settling in. I had a plan to be around or just in front of the 3.15 pacers and hopefully be in a group when we hit the wind. I found a nice group of about ten and settled in. The first half has all of the hills in it and the final one is over the Auckland highway bridge. Straight up and straight down. There was a prize on offer for the quickest up the one km on the bridge but with more than half to go I wasn’t playing that game. The group started to splinter at the half which went by in around 95 minutes. This was on target or slightly in front. I wanted 3.15 but knew I would tire in the second half so five minutes up the sleeve was maybe a bit willing but better than trying to make up time later.

An old bloke came past and asked me if I was 60+ like him. I only found out from the results later that he won the age group. I saw him again later but couldn’t ever really get close enough to challenge him. Heading south to the turnaround, into the wind. I guess we had gotten used to it or we were a bit protected and preoccupied but it didn’t seem as bad as earlier. Around the markers 30km down, wind behind or across and heading back to town. Starting to tire but had a time in mind and pacers to stay in front of.

At this point let me talk to you about time. Everyone knows time can be flexible. A good time is only a couple of minutes away from a bad time. A change in conditions can cause time to speed up and eke away while you watch on in desperation. In the case of this marathon I had several times in mind as a consequence of it being two events in one for me. I was running the Auckland marathon but also the Abbot Global virtual run. Why? Even curiouser.
I turn 65 in two weeks. That means I move up an age group. For qualifying for the World Age Group Championship age is taken on the day of the event. So I race in the 60-64 age group. In the virtual event on the other hand age is taken on 31st December so in that I fall into the 65-69 age group. The virtual run finishes November 5th and there are live results already. Quickest currently is 3.16.44, second is 3.21 and third is 3.31. First three get an invite to the world championships. So there was my great, good and hopeful. Similar positions for the 60-64 age group are well below three hours so guess where I’d rather be racing. Another point to bear in mind is that the virtual is taken off the gps track of my Garmin watch not the AIMS measurement which is used to certify the course. Most watches seem to read longer than the measured course due to not being able to run tightly around corners or the “racing” line on the course.

Back to the race. By 32 km official, my Garmin read 32.4 so a bit long but I was still strong and had about 50 minutes of running left to go, all going well. It was time to dig in and get the tough kms out of the way. Some soreness in the ankles and maybe a whinge from the hamstring but not slowing by much. We went over the rail bridge at 39 km and I wondered whether this might be the end of me but picked up with crowds around the pier area. At 39 km my Garmin said 39.1 so it seemed to be coming back to the measured course. Still had fifteen minutes as I came down towards the piers and was intent on not leaving anything on the course. Through 41 km and into a series of left and right turns. I was still about 400 metres from the finish when my Garmin ticked over marathon distance in 3.10.13. No, I didn’t stop there and ran through to the official finish in 3.11.59. (not 3.12).
So well under 3.15, well under 3.16.44 and a long way under the 3.18.44 from Melbourne two weeks ago. Whew!! Second in my Age group to the old bloke that went past. 163rd overall out 1763.
Received an ASICS voucher for my efforts but can only be used online and only delivered to a New Zealand address. Still to be worked out.

Get out of Auckland.

We went along to pick up a replacement car to replace the one with mismatched tires and no inflation kit and received a slightly older but still serviceable Toyota but not the Yaris. It works but doesn’t have the pickup or the information system. At least it stops the nice Japanese lady from talking at us on startup. Headed down to Rotorua via Hobbiton.

Yes, it rained, yes it was windy but good fun nonetheless. Very informative guide who could describe where parts of the movies had been filmed and how they were set up. Still raining. While not cutting the tour short, there was a keenness to get out of the rain and onto the complimentary ale at the Green dragon Inn.

Then on to Rotorua. For those who don’t know of Rotorua, it has lots of geothermal vents and there is steam coming out of the ground in many places including the park near the middle of town. Some of the pools have a slow boil continuously rolling with warnings that they sit at 100 degrees C. A byproduct of these vents is that the town has its own aroma, a slight Sulphur smell. Probably a good time to visit as the rain and wind keep the smell down.

Rotorua has its own marathon that involves one forty km lap around the lake. With the weather today we couldn’t even see the other side.

A bit of food haze after a big lunch so thought I would get the blog underway. Tomorrow we head further south towards Wellington and then on to the South Island.