Kristie and I wanted to keep our running routine going while on holiday, and we couldn't have found a better place to do it than in the Hawkes Bay! The place is pretty much made for runners. There are trails everywhere! And not just trails that follow the roads, these are specifically for running and cycling, and they go through vineyards, up foothills, through estuaries, along the ocean, through small villages, etc.
Our first run was on one of the trails that ran between the river and the vineyards in Havelock North. There were some signs at the beginning of the trail that showed various routes and distances, but we just thought we would run until we felt a bit tired, and then come back; we weren't expecting to go much over 5-7 KM. However, before we really noticed it, we had run to Blackbridge, which the signs at the beginning of the trail indicated was 7.7 KM. So with the run there and back, we ran 15.4 KM! That was our furthest run so far, and we weren't even trying to break our record.
Along the limestone path, there were various gates to keep cattle from moving from farm to farm. You can see a photo of one of the signs on the gates. We did run along side various cattle along the way, but luckily, none of them were frisky!
We didn't have much of a summer this year, so every time we go out for a run lately, and I notice that each morning is getting a bit colder, I get a bit melancholy.
Today's run was another 6.8 KM run and we managed to get it done in under 43 minutes. That isn't as fast as or as far as the 7 KM fun run we did last week, but it is only the pre-training schedule before the 1/2 marathon training schedule. Plus, the fun run was on the flat, and we live in the hills.
We may have to reschedule tomorrows run for Sunday as all of the north island is going into a weather bomb! Cold, wind and rain! It isn't that we're wimps about running in the rain...ok, it's because we're wimps about running in the rain.
Oh, speaking of weather, during the fun run last weekend, the weather was spectacular, but only during the run. We started out the day under dark cloudy skies, and even about an hour before the race it was still kind of cloudy and cool, but about 15 minutes prior to the start of the race, we got mega-blue skies. All through the run it was sunny and pretty much windless and warm! Then after we crossed the finish line and started walking home, the clouds started rolling in. Why am I talking about this in the first place? Because ever since we've been doing these run over the last four years, they have always had glorious weather! It doesn't seem to matter what the year in general holds, be it hot, cold, rainy, windy...each year they have wonderful weather. Strange.
Here's the stats as of today:
We went to a late movie last night (Wednesday) and didn't get to be until midnight, so we shifted our running day and off day, so we'll run tomorrow. But you can check out the movie review at
Maple Glazed Kiwi.
It has been quite a long time since I've last posted, so I thought I'd start using Vespa Diaries as a running log.
Kristie and I are both training for a half marathon in June, and we started our pre-training a week ago. The pre-training consists of approximately 35 KM per week worth of running. We've actually been running for quite a while now, but most of the running that we have been doing is on weekends; generally one long run between 10 - 15 KM depending on how we feel, and our consistency in running.
As mentioned, we started the pre-training last week, and so far I have actually found the runs to be very invigorating as we generally are out the door and running by about 5:15 AM. Even last week, through my bout of insomnia, I still felt energetic on the runs.
I'll keep a running total of the runs that we've done on the blog as we go along.
