Waiheke Wharf 2 Wharf 2016 Water stations

I found a couple of photos of the fabulous water stations from the Wharf 2 Wharf 2016 facebook/ webpage. I thought I would share it here. All photo credits go to Waiheke Wharf 2 Wharf.

Waiheke Wharf 2 wharf 2016

Hannah and I ran the Waiheke Wharf 2 Wharf 2016 25km race on January 16, 2016. I am just playing catch up with the writing on this blog because I was busy with my PhD dissertation. Anyway, the last time I ran wharf to wharf was in 2011, and I only ran the 7km race. This year, for whatever reason which very quickly became unknown to me in the race, Hannah and I decided that we were good enough to do the 25km race... perhaps it was that only the 25km finishers were awarded a super-nice copper medal! Vanity :)

The race started early (8am), but we were already up at around 5.30am - took care of the dogs, had our coffee and a light breakfast, packed our extra clothes in a small back-pack, and off we went to Matiatia ferry terminal. A ferry would bring the runners to the start point at Orapiu. Reaching Orapiu, I went (together with at least 20 other guys) for a quick pee behind the bushes. Unfortunately for Hannah (and 30 other girls!), she had to queue up for the two available portable toilets.

The horn went off, and we started racing (I mean, slow jogging) up the steep slope! The race course (in fact, the whole island Waiheke) is famous for its steep slopes other than its beautiful scenery... but who is admiring the scenery when you can hardly breathe! The 25km race course proudly boasts about the three steep uphills before you hit the relative flat portion of the run. Our plan was to conserve as much energy as possible, but still fast enough so that we could get to the finishing line before it gets too warm, and we started melting in the hot sun! I was feeling relative good, running up those gruesome hills, and even have to wait for Hannah on couple of occasions. There were water stations about every 3km, and people in the water stations were dressed up in different themes - from pirates to red-hat ladies. That really helped to cheer me up during the race.

At around 11am, the last 5km, I felt that everywhere hurts and I am dying. It was 29degC out, there was no breeze, and exhaust from cars and buses were pushing the temperature higher. I was hungry, and (according to Hannah) I HIT THE WALL! I couldn't run anymore, my mind said run but my legs just refused to move. Hannah stayed with me on the last 5km, encouraging me,  giving me short distance goals... She would said "let's run to that corner and then we will walk.." "let's just try to run to that lamp post" "2 more km..." However, the only thing that went through my mind was "Why?"

Finally, we ran through the finish line, and with some awkward maneuvering,  volunteers at the finish line managed to put the prized medals around our necks! Yay! We made it (and I didn't die)!

Fast forward a week.... Hannah had convinced me again to go do a 47km run.... that story I will let Hannah tell you about it.

Defense of dissertation

I passed my dissertation defence on Friday! Yay! I was having sleepless nights, and was very nervous up till the days of my defence. I tried to calm myself (so did Hannah and my advisors), telling myself everything would be fine. However, it was hard not to feel nervous since my examiner is one of the top 5 scientists in my field. And I have been working on my PhD for the last 4 years (since 2012), and it seemed that everything would be a waste if I would to do badly in the defence.

On Friday, I woke up at 5am (don't really think I slept much at all), had my morning routine, coffee, practised a bit on the Q&A session with Hannah (yes, she woke up with me at 5am in the morning! Poor Hannah), and off I went. When I went to the room to prepare for my presentation 30mins prior, the examiner (Dr. David Bourne) was already there as well! We greeted each other and I am glad he remembered me (we had previously communicated with each other over emails a couple of years ago). He asked me how am I feeling, and I said I am nervous... His answer "You will be fine..it is a process. You will be fine. It is just my job to be critical about your thesis." With his answers, my heart stopped racing, and I felt more confident! The presentation went smoothly (I had already practised it at least 5 times myself, and twice with Hannah), Q&A session was more a wonderful exchange of ideas and knowledge, rather than an interrogation. I felt great, learnt a lot and before I know, three hours had already passed! Time for the examiners to discuss about my result! I excused myself and went outside the room to wait for their answer. I was tried (felt drained of all my energy!), and I was yawning non-stop. Out of the corner, Hannah poked around and asked me how were things going?!... I was so glad to see her, although I might be too tired to show my appreciation and happiness. I told her it should be fine. And FINE it is, a couple of minutes later, the defence chairwoman (Dr. Deidre Le Fevre) called me into the room, shook my hand and said I passed my defence. Dr. Bourne and Dr. Giovani Coco (HOD representative) also congratulated me. I only had some minor changes to my dissertation, but I am now Dr. Lee!

Dr. Bourne treated Hannah and I to a lunch at Scarecrow (an organic restaurant) after the defence. We talked about a lot more things than just coral microbial research.. we talked about trialthon, beer, science, diving, being young, being old and power rangers! It was great!

After lunch, Hannah and I went to the School of Biological Sciences, and told all my friends and colleagues there that I passed my defence, and we would be heading to CHICAGO!... (that would be a story for another post) :)