12th June 2022
https://connect.garmin.com/modern/activity/8998585269
https://www.strava.com/activities/7293428918/overview
Race Day
I drove Nev, Jack, Doug, Cheryl and Matt out to Shakespear, leaving AK at 7:00, which was ok timing.
The weather was thundery and overcast. We got some rain just before the start of the run, but fortunately then nothing for the rest of the morning :)
Will and Barnaby has sneakily avoided this run by being out of Auckland, but the Run Like Crazy team was bolstered by Michal and Daniel, Prue and Grace, Ed and Helen and Hamish and Sam and our American imports of Doug, Cheryl and Matt.
Nev had brought only road running shoes, so I took pity on him and lent him my speedy new Hoka trail shoes. He'd better not beat me!! I opted to wear my trusty Solomon SpeedCross shoes which are heavy but super grippy.
Lets Go!
Nev and his brother Doug were talking down their chances, but Doug is a top age level triathlete with a recent 17:45 5km, so he was looking like trouble....!
We 3 started out on the first hill and kept a steady pace. I moved a bit ahead of Nev and Doug and had perhaps a 100m gap when we descended down the nice single track and hit the beach.
Very shortly afterwards, Nev went steaming past me at super speed - probably going 25% faster than me! I was running the rocks pretty well, but I'm just not brave enough (or coordinated enough) to run any faster on wet, pointy, angled, slippery, jagged pieces of volcanic rock with hidden holes and seaweed. At least the tide was out, and there were only a few places where I got wet to my knees.
I didn't have any falls or significant slips, and was super relieved to survive it intact.
By the end of the beach section, Nev was out of sight ahead, but I could just still see Doug a bit behind me.
The second half of the run consisted of a sequence of grassy hills up and down and repeat. In spite of the recent rain, they weren't nearly so muddy as in previous years, as the track quality has been improved with more gravel etc. After a few km, I spotted Nev ahead of me, and I slowly caught and overtook him. Not long after, with about 3km? to go Doug came steaming past at a fast clip, and I knew that I was too tired to stick with him.
End
Doug beat me by 1 minute, and Nev was 2 minutes back from me. Good fun.
Other team members did well and enjoyed the day, especially young Daniel and Jack (1st in under 13 for Mid course), and great to see Prue back on form with another age-group first place.
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