To the farm and back (26.2 miles)

So after we got back from the dive trip, I continued my running taper. Unfortunately, my hopes for my knee were dashed and it continued hurting sporadically. I must have irritated my iliotibial band when I hurt my knee and running on it was not helping. I considered not racing, but I really wanted to run THIS race. Instead I resolved to wear Sonny's knee brace and to take it easy, to not worry about my time or speed at all. I shifted my focus to simply finishing and not doing permanent damage. The day before the race I alternated between being supernaturally calm and completely panicked. It was fantastic and I'm sure Sonny loved me very much for it. I spent a few hours making sure everything was perfect and that there would be no surprises or stress the next morning.

Flatlay!

In the morning, I awoke before my alarm. I actually managed to get some sleep which surprised me. I was so excited and nervous all at the same time. I may have bounced on the bed a few times. I ate my normal breakfast - banana, strawberries, yoghurt and muesli. I also had two cups of coffee. Then I got dressed and Sonny drove me down to Orapu on the bottom end. We got there pretty early and so we sat around in the car, watching as the other runners arrived by car, shuttle, and taxi. Eventually, the race director arrived and so I kissed Sonny for luck and went to check in and get my bib. We got a race briefing (don't get lost, take it easy, this is a hard course), lined up, then counted down and we were off! I stuck true to my plan and did not sprint straight up the hill at the start like most of the other racers. I've run most of this course before, so I knew what was coming, how hard this was gonna be. I stayed easy and relaxed.

Photo credit: Leonie Wise (http://leoniewise.com/trailblazer-2015)

The first part of the race wound around the bays near Orapu then climbed back up to the top of the hill. After 5K, I was running on the longest road section at the top. I passed the first aid station, but didn't stop as I was still fine. Next was a very long steep downhill on pavement. On one of my training runs, I totally trashed my quads and could barely walk afterwards so I focussed on good form and light feet.

All these photos were taken on training runs, I didn't stop during the race

Eventually I finished the road section and started on the hardest part of the race. A section of trail that goes up and down three huge hills. Its pretty, but painful. I walked the steepest uphills and made up time on the downs. My strategy seemed to be working as I caught up with a good pack of racers who had taken off at the start. I passed a few people and then ended up leapfrogging with a girl about my age and an older gentleman. I would fly by them on the downs, but they kept running the ups and so would pass me again.

This cool jungle section is where I caught up with the main pack. I kept expecting T-Rex to burst out the first time I ran here.

At the top of the first hill. That tree covered hill to the right is my next obstacle

Yeah thats a rope. Its so steep you need to to help pull yourself up

After one of the more fun downhills, I stopped at an aid station to get my water bottle filled. I knew I had a hard climb ahead (see above), and wanted to make sure I had enough water. It was here that the girl I had been leapfrogging finally caught up and so we ran with each other for a bit down Poderi Crisci's driveway. She almost missed a turn that wasn't very obviously marked, but luckily my familiarity with the course came in handy and I corrected her. Eventually we turned up the track that heads straight up the second hill. She pulled ahead of me here when I slowed and walked again. I let her go, focussing on running my own race. I trudged up, over and down the hill, then started climbing the final hill - Trig Hill. At the top, I caught up with another racer and I passed him as I raced down Trig Hill toward Onetangi Beach.

Next time, I'm picking a FLAT race

At the aid station at the beach, they had slightly flat Coke. It looked amazingly good so I drank a cup. It was magical! I felt immediately better and revived. I bounced along the beach, until the course turned back toward Rocky Bay and the Sports Park - the halfway point and eventual finish. But first I had to climb 187 steps (!!!!) and then run through hilly vineyards with no shade. It was starting to get pretty warm at this point, and I soon lost my awesome Coke mojo.

Pretty vines

Hilly vines

I did however, make it to the Sports Park. Sonny was there, cheering for me as soon as I came around the corner. It was definitely a boost! I was overheating though, and feeling a bit crappy, so I stopped at the aid station there, under the shade of the tent, and drank some water and some more coke. I also re-applied sunscreen since I could feel my face burning. All this took some time and a bunch of the people I passed re-passed me here. I wasn't too fussed, I knew I needed this stop. Eventually, I was ready to get going again. I headed out down the Sports Park driveway to the second half of the course. The worst was behind me, all I had to do was a few more (smaller) hills. I plodded on, enjoying the scenery, lost in my own brain. It was hard, but I never once doubted that I was going to finish. That was the biggest surprise of the whole thing for me. I thought the hardest part of the day would be mental, that I would have to battle my head for most of the day. Surprisingly it never happened. I was tired, sure, and I hurt, but I always knew that I could do it.

The next piece of terrible was climbing up Vintage Lane, which is too steep to legally be a road. There was no shade, the sun was pounding on me, and I had to trudge up this terrible terrible hill. I even had to stop for a bit and catch my breath and get my heartrate down. Eventually, like all terrible trials, the hill came to an end. I headed down one of the last sections of trail. I knew I had to go up and down through a few more hills and then I would be at Rocky Bay. After that, I would hit Whakanewha Regional Park. At that point, I would have about 10K left. My plan was to try and pick up my pace at that point, and race the last bit. I figured I wouldn't hurt my knee if I pushed for just the last bit, plus I know the trails in the part really well. I run in the park all the time, and the trails there are wide, nicely groomed and very runnable. 

I was almost to Rocky Bay and just short of my 10K push point when I came upon the girl I had been running with earlier, crying on the side of the trail. I stopped to see if she was ok, and she asked if she could borrow my phone to call her partner. She was having major stomach issues - cramping and vomiting and was thinking about quitting. While I dug out my phone, she explained that the same thing had happened to her a few weeks earlier while running the Queenstown marathon. She had been forced to drop at 33K and this was supposed to be a make-up race. When I finally got her my phone, she called her partner. He gave her a bit of tough love, and basically said, are you sure you need to quit? She hung up and was starting to cry a bit again. I had a half second where I considered leaving her and pushing for my race but anyone who knows me knows it wasn't going to happen. So instead I told her I would stick with her, and together we would finish this race. She wasn't sure, but I said I would at least stay with her until the next aid station as no one could come and get her in the middle of nowhere on this trail. She introduced herself as Victoria, called Tors. As we walked along, I asked her what she had been eating and drinking. She had been eating ShotBloks so I knew she wasn't hypernatremic. I encouraged her to drink water, based on what I had read in my obsessive race report readings, it might help.

We plodded along together, and eventually she did start feeling better so we started running when we could and walking when she needed to. I kept telling her exactly what we had left of the course, trying to make it sound as easy as possible. It was nice, needing to take care of someone else made me not even notice how tired I was, or how much my knee was starting to hurt. I needed to be strong for Tors, so I was. Eventually we made it to the top of Trig Hill, with only 2K left, and all of it downhill. The race photographer was there, and she took a picture of us running. Just after we passed her though, she yelled Oh no! and said the picture hadn't worked. So we stopped to let her take another (not like we were setting landspeed records here).

Note the "Oh god, we're both so sweaty" spacing

The last downhill! All I had to do was run down a steep driveway, then around another vineyard, then over a bridge, around a corner and BAM! Unfortunately, this is where my knee, angry from all the stopping and starting finally gave up. I had a hot poker stabbing me in the knee, no matter how perfect my form on the downhill. I told Tors to go on ahead, but she said, "no way!" and returned the favor. I limped and hopped my way to Sports Park. We came around the corner and there was Sonny again, cheering and jumping up and down. He yelled at me to kick it in, but I had nothing left. Instead he took this fantastic shot of me:

This is my everything hurts and I'm dying face. Thanks Sonny for capturing it.

But, just like the rest of the race, I trundled along and eventually there was the finish line, complete with cheering peeps. We crossed, and immediately flopped down. Then I got back up and had some more magic elixir (Coke) and water. Tors ran off to the bathroom to puke one last time and I failed at introductions between her partner and Sonny. I was tired though, so I feel no guilt. I got my medal, and god it was a glorious feeling.

42.2 K, 26.2 miles, or the distance from my childhood home to our farm and back

When the results of the race were posted, I realised that I was only 10 and 5 minutes behind the 2nd and 3rd women. Makes me wonder if I mightn't have gotten myself a place and a bottle of wine award had I followed through with my plan. Oh well, instead I helped someone not have to quit two marathons in a row. I can't even imagine how terrible that would have felt.

Whats next? Maybe another marathon with Sonny - he's jealous and wants his own shot at the big ol' marathon. Maybe a 50K? Its only 8K more!