A long run around the Harbour
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I woke up to a howling gale this morning. Fortunately it died down to merely being a strong wind while I was having breakfast. I’m not particularly keen on running in the wind but I today was long run day so out the door I went.
The plan for today was to do a slow and gentle half marathon distance. I’d mapped out a run that should get me to just over that distance on mapmyrun.co.nz. I wanted to go for distance today and not pace as I haven’t had a long long run for just over two weeks as I only did 9K last week due to my chest infection and the week before I’d done 16K as part of a recovery week.
For the first two kilometers of my run I was pretty sheltered from the wind so it was a good opportunity to get warmed up. The next 12K were all into quite a strong headwind so it was head down and plod along. I ran the last leg of the half marathon course in reverse today as I’ve never actually run along that route. I took a photo of the Auckland Harbour Bridge from the Tank Farm.
I’ll have to run across that as part of the half marathon. I’m really looking forward to the experience but I’m not looking to the 1km uphill run. Its actually rather steep.
I started to struggle a bit from the 14K mark. I suspect the miles with the headwind were catching up to me at that point. I ate a milky way bar and had a drink and continued onward. At this point I was running through Ponsonby which seems to have nothing but cafes and bakeries on it’s main road! The smells were making me very hungry.
On my way through the Auckland Domain I ran past one of our Olympic marathoners. She was going in the other direction at a reasonable clip and that inspired me a bit. I managed to pick up my pace a little and by that time I was only 3km from home so it didn’t take me too long to get home to a celebratory egg on toast.
All in all I did 21.36km in 2:09:12 for a 6:03 min/km pace. That’s 47.1km for the week.
Next week I have an 11K race on Sunday so I’m looking forward to that.
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Wow. That’s amazing.
I have to say you and Marshmallow and others are really inspiring me. I actually ran for the first time in my life today — I was convinced I just was incapable! So, thanks!
Alexias last blog post..I ran. I RAN. I R.A.N. As in, didn’t walk.
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Nice work - impressive indeed. I am nowhere near running a Half-Marathon as a training run!
Vavas last blog post..A Chilly Morning 10K
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Nice job, Andrew. That’s a great time. You should be psyched about that!
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Isn’t it great that you can eat a Milky Way without any guilt at all. Good run. Looks like the sky was pretty dark.
Daves last blog post..Can you here my footsteps
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Wow, what a difference in those photos in yesterdays post. There’s only one thing that’s bigger, and that’s your smile - I’m sure that’s not coincidental!
Andrew(AJH)s last blog post..An early ride turns into an early jog …
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That’s a great start for October!
Aarons last blog post..Weigh In - 5 October 2008
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Thanks for the inspiration Andrew - I’ve been away from running for a couple of weeks, and this really made me miss it. Must get out today!
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6:03 min/km pace!! Damn, my fastest 5K run is about that pace, with downhills and all.
Well done!!
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This post has just blown me away. If only I could do half of what you do I’d be so proud of myself. Keep it going Andrew.
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