Skip to main content

Homeward Bound

Greetings from 40000ft

All too soon, we are on our way home from our adventures in New Zealand.

We finished our whistle stop tour back in Auckland, after travelling by train up through the North Island on Friday. It's been on our to do list for a while... and didn't disappoint, especially as we got to see snow-capped volcanoes.

 
It rained as we passed through Hamilton - pretty much the only clouds we have since the day we arrived - but the sun was shining again by the time we reached our final destination, a lovely apartment in the suburb of Ponsonby. The tricky journey through Friday-night traffic was worth it for the views...


Saturday was an early start as we made our way up to Western Springs Park for one more internation parkrunning adventure - 8am starts in the summer in NZ. It was a twisty course with 3 laps of the lake, with a couple of sneaky little uphill thrown in. But it was a good run and I managed to go a few seconds faster than last week in Tauranga.


We spent the rest of Saturday walking on the beach and climbing volcanoes over in Devenport, another Auckland suburd. The (long since extinct) volcanoes were just a bit smaller than the ones we had seen from the train on Friday but gave brilliant views of the whole city... it was definitely easy to see why Auckland is known as the city of sails.


A glass of wine and a cheese board whilst overlooking downtown Queen Street brought an end to our adventures, although there was just time for one more round of mini golf before heading to the airport.


Two weeks of November sunshine has definitely agreed with me... lots of inspiration for running, writing and many more travel adventures.

I'm just hoping it won't be too cold when we land in Manchester on Monday.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Well, that's a long way!

Race day was finally here.  After a difficult couple of weeks, I woke up on Saturday morning with a certain amount of trepidation after a very restless night's sleep and a couple of weeks of niggles, aches and tiredness. I reminded myself of the three goals I'd set for the race - start with confidence, enjoy the adventure and finish with a smile - and was boosted by some encouraging messages from friends and family. After a quick breakfast and a short bus ride, I arrived in Marlow for the start of the race. I wasn't sure what to expect and actually had no idea how many runners were taking part. My start time was 9.15am and it seemed like there were a couple of hundred of us setting off in the "competitive" wave covering marathon and ultra marathon distances. The ultra marathon route was approximately 33 miles involved an extra loop around Hambledon but we all started off in the same direction. My first race goal was accomplished as I started with

(Not) Sorry!

It has been a while since my last blog. There's been a lot going on. Sometimes life gets in the way of running and writing about running. I'd like to say I'm sorry but this post is all about being not sorry, hopefully not in a selfish "I don't care if I upset you" kind of way but instead with a spirit of "I've got my motivation and priorities back on track and that's a good thing". I'm not sorry that I've decided to taken a step back from local road racing. Last year, I raced so often between May and September, that races were almost the only running I was doing. I forgot to rest properly and my body took a hit. There was a reason for racing so often: I was chasing points and placings in the NSRRA. Winning my group was a real possibility and points in every race mattered. It would be wrong to say I didn't enjoy it... I loved the competition and the challenge and of course I enjoyed winning... but I realised I wanted this summ

What's Next?

My running career started with the simple goal of completing the Cancer Research Race for Life. My motivation came from my family, to show support for my Dad who was being treated for cancer at the time. I downloaded the NHS Couch to 5k app and ticked off each run on the print-out on my office wall  (it's still pinned up for extra motivation too). I was supported and encouraged by Mr T, sometimes with words, sometimes by running along side me. It was a realistic goal and I had the time to run 3 timers a week; Everything mostly went to plan and I achieved my goal. First Race, First Medal The longer I've been running, the more goals I've set, training to run half marathons, night races, relay events, marathons and eventually ultra marathons. The plans get more complicated (involving spreadsheets and a Garmin) and there have been a few more setbacks on the way, including overcoming injuries, illness and fear itself , but I usually get there in the end. Quote from B