Tag Archives: 10km

2012 Wellington Marathon, Half-Marathon and 10km

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Amy's race number (Adidas 10km)

By Jove, I did it.

Falling asleep last night, I could hear the rain pouring and the wind howling around our house.  Waking up (still a little hungover), it didn’t look much better.  But we went anyway!

By the time the race started, the weather was looking up and actually ended up being pretty good for a walk – cool, no rain and little wind (even along the waterfront).

I walked with a colleague and we aimed for 90 minutes from start to finish.  According to the race clock as we came to the finish line we crossed at about 88- 89 minutes, and the Map My Run app tells me we maintained a relatively constant pace the whole time.  Sweet.

It was a great collection of people – from serious athletes to protesters in chicken suits.  We saw a lot of people – the course doubled back after 5km – and I can honestly say we were beaten by five chickens, a handful of balding men in tutus and half the children in the city.

Regardless, it feels good.
I finished.  I did it!

And the free stuff is pretty awesome.  Work branded running singlets, all the fruit you can eat, and a towel.  I cannot tell you how excited I was to receive a towel.   New gym towel?  Think they’ll believe I ran the Wellington Marathon?

Of course they will.

10km Before Breakfast

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Rather than just turning up for the Adidas 10km walk in a few weeks, I thought it was worth having a go today to make sure I wouldn’t fall apart just over half way.

That, and after taking a rest day yesterday, I was itching to do something.

A 10km walk it was!

I took off from home and headed for town along the waterfront. Wellington is surrounded by water.  It makes it easy to find places to exercise.  Along this part of the waterfront especially.

The city council has made a point to make the area as walker/runner/cyclist friendly as possible.  And today, despite the wind and overcast sky, the whole waterfront was riddled with walkers and runners.

And every one of those people exercising were in the zone.  The sheer concentration on their faces only breaks to smile at people like me struggling, but at least working, to be a little more like them.  It has the feeling of a club – but everyone’s welcome!

At the halfway point (5km), I had just rounded the corner onto Lambton Harbour and could see the city across the water.  It was nice, despite the wind.  There were sail boats and everything.

See:

And after fighting against the wind for the first 5km, I turned around and walked back the way I came.  With the wind behind me, the walk home was much easier.

Though I back-tracked and covered the same area I had on the way out, I was able to see everything from the other angle – like seeing the planes take off from the airport.

I have to admit though, it was a nice relief when I came back to the populated areas and saw the signs that showed me I was only 1km away…

But I finished (I survived)!

Breaking It Down: The Goals, Pt II

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The only thing better than walking home along the Wellington waterfront at night is walking along the Wellington waterfront on a clear, sunny day with friends.
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So, rather than update my list of current goals to make up 10 relatively superficial goals, I’m only adding one more: complete the Adidas 10km walk on 24 June 2012.

My work is entering teams in each of the events held as part of the Armstrong Motor Group Wellington Marathon next month, including the 10km walk.

Why I’m excited about it:

    1) It’s my first organised running/walking sports event since high school cross country – it is something completely outside of my normal habits.

    2) Work’s paying, and supplying running singlets. I never joined any of the firm’s sports teams, so this will be my first workplace branded gear – almost unheard of for someone that’s been there over a year (I like my workplace and really, really want a shirt… It’s not sad at all!)

    3) My first event-branded shirt, too! Since work is paying my entrance fee, I can splurge on an event t-shirt (and add to my limited collection of gym gear!)

    4) I’m keen to get involved in next year’s Around the Bays 7km run and this feels like a good starting point since I’m a confident walker and still working on my running…

It’ll be good!
But I guess it’s time to invest in some decent shoes.