New Zealand or Bust!: Rotorua half marathon and 5.5 k

So this post will be divided into two parts (with pictures). The first part is written by Karen and the second by Cecil about our separate experiences.

Karen-

I love staying in Rotorua because we stay at the holiday inn and the beds are SO COMFY!! Like seriously I was so excited to go to sleep! It doesn't help that our beds in Wanganui are rock-like (uggg). Anyway we drove up the night before and grabbed dinner at a steakhouse called Ambrosia on "eat street". It's a place with lots of nice eateries and bars. Steak and veggies :).

The next morning we drove in VERY early to insure a parking spot. Cec started his race a little before 8:00am and I cheered him on and waited around because mine started 8:50am. Lots of people-watching to do.

The 5.5k (3.4 miles) started at the convention center and weaved through the geothermal say flats and seaside coast and Boardwalk. Beautiful views! Unfortunately, the paths were Tiny and there were a lot of people. I ran the whole thing, which I was very proud of as it's the first one since my illness a few years ago, but I spent a lot of it trying to pass people. I also was getting over the flu so I was hacking a lot lol. The only other memorable, and stupid, thing is they didn't allow headphones! I wore mine anyway and took them out around race marshals, I know I'm a rebel lol. Running is too boring without music!!

(The salt flats we ran across)

(Selfie! Notice my hood is up to hide headphones)

(The boardwalk across the geothermal area)

Cecil-

So the morning was chilly and I forgot my garbage bag (yes I said garbage bag. That way I can just throw away the garbage bag minutes before the race and stay relatively warm. Why wouldn't you just wear a sweatshirt? Because then at some point when you are running you get really hot and your pace suffers, and most runners are too cheap to just throw away a sweatshirt every race)

There were a good number of people, about 500-1000 so it felt like a real marathon!

The starting gun went off and of we went! There were people with balloons tied to them and I realized that they were pacers! Which was great because I was originally aiming to beat my time of 2 hours 21 minutes, my training had been going really well so I started following the 2 hour pacer. Knowing that his pacer was going to be fast I wanted to stay relatively close and my main goal was to finish, my secondary goal was to beat 2:21 and my ultimate goal was to beat 2 hours!

The pacing runners were the best part of the race unfortunately, the course was narrow and cramped and we spent a lot of time running right next to the road or on a sidewalk! We were also running right next to busy roads so there was a lot of cars and trucks passing us and all that exhaust... Most runners were hacking and coughing. But as the race went on the runners spread out and I was still hanging in a few hundred meters behind the 2 hour pacers. We got to the 10 mile mark and at that point I knew I had to make my move, I was either going to lock in behind the pacer and finish or I was going to take it easy. The pacer slowly started speeding up, from a 9:30 pace down to an even 8:45 and it was hard to keep up those last few miles but it was mostly mental and just pushing my body.

The last mile was the hardest because instead of a gentle easing course, there were some sharp turns which meant that you lost speed and your pace was disrupted. But the distance melted away, and I was able to cross the finish line at under two hours, and met a life goal!

I looked around to see where the medals were being given out because although I run half marathons for the sport, I also like to collect he medals! But there were no medals for the half marathon! But I established a new PR (personal record) for the half!

(Cec posing before the race)

(And getting psyched up to go!! I don't care if they yell at me about my headphones!

(A new PR!! Under 2 hours!!)

So Karen And I went back to the hotel got cleaned up and then went prawn fishing... Where Both Karen and I got a new PPR (personal prawn record) and caught 7 prawns! See a prawn catching video here: https://youtu.be/ViZxgFb6Oc0.