Hey! Five down, 2 to go.
Today I finished the marathon in Wanganui, took a quick shower, drove to the airport and got on a plane to Santiago. Arrived in Santiago just before I left Wanganui. Pretty cool, eh?
Paul picked us (William Tan and me) up at the airport and will be joining us for this marathon. William is on the same quest as I am, but he's doing it in a wheelchair. We're doing the last three marathons together.
Back to NZ for a minute. Several runners joined the walkers in the early start at 6:30. A 1:00 flight meant that starting at 7:30 would be too late.
The course was four loops of about 10.5K each. Along the river, we headed north to the first of three bridges. We crossed it, then went north a bit further for a loop through a park on a combination of grass, gravel, paved paths. Back under the bridge heading south to bridge #2 in the middle of town near the start. We crossed it, looped around under it, and crossed back. Then went on south to the third bridge. Again, we crossed under it and looped back onto the bridge to cross it, then looped back under it again and continued on to the finish. Three more times. Same course.
I wasn't feeling near as good today as I have the last couple marathons, but still stayed strong all day. Just needed to get through it in time to get on the plane. The lack of kilometer markers made it difficult to maintain a regular pace. Oh well. No sports drink on the course for the first two loops either. However, about 3K into the third loop I found a little baggie of chocolate pieces that some unfortunate runner had dropped. Cool! So, now I had a little more energy to burn.
Two, then three loops, only a little over 10K to go. I gave up on time goals and just concentrated on finishing. About 5:03 and I was done!
Now I'm in Viña del Mar, Chile, have my race number, met the race director, and ready to run in the morning. Got a bit of sleep on the plane, but hoping to get a good night tonight. Then it's off to Punta Arenas tomorrow night for the trip to Antarctica. All is good.
Today I finished the marathon in Wanganui, took a quick shower, drove to the airport and got on a plane to Santiago. Arrived in Santiago just before I left Wanganui. Pretty cool, eh?
Paul picked us (William Tan and me) up at the airport and will be joining us for this marathon. William is on the same quest as I am, but he's doing it in a wheelchair. We're doing the last three marathons together.
Back to NZ for a minute. Several runners joined the walkers in the early start at 6:30. A 1:00 flight meant that starting at 7:30 would be too late.
The course was four loops of about 10.5K each. Along the river, we headed north to the first of three bridges. We crossed it, then went north a bit further for a loop through a park on a combination of grass, gravel, paved paths. Back under the bridge heading south to bridge #2 in the middle of town near the start. We crossed it, looped around under it, and crossed back. Then went on south to the third bridge. Again, we crossed under it and looped back onto the bridge to cross it, then looped back under it again and continued on to the finish. Three more times. Same course.
I wasn't feeling near as good today as I have the last couple marathons, but still stayed strong all day. Just needed to get through it in time to get on the plane. The lack of kilometer markers made it difficult to maintain a regular pace. Oh well. No sports drink on the course for the first two loops either. However, about 3K into the third loop I found a little baggie of chocolate pieces that some unfortunate runner had dropped. Cool! So, now I had a little more energy to burn.
Two, then three loops, only a little over 10K to go. I gave up on time goals and just concentrated on finishing. About 5:03 and I was done!
Now I'm in Viña del Mar, Chile, have my race number, met the race director, and ready to run in the morning. Got a bit of sleep on the plane, but hoping to get a good night tonight. Then it's off to Punta Arenas tomorrow night for the trip to Antarctica. All is good.
1 comment:
Hope you enjoyed your brief Wanganui experience. I must have overtaken you somewhere en route in what was my first Marathon. I would have still been struggling to walk when you were running in Chile! Congrats on the 307 days for 2 marathon sets.
Tim (probably the only other American in the Wanganui marathon field and certainly the only other hasher)
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