Decisions, decisions
The other day I told you how I went over to Rangitoto to run the Dual Half Marathon course. We’ll I’m not sure I went into the specifics details, but in short the plan was to earn my final Hogwarts Running Medal from 2016, The Half Blood Prince Half Marathon on the Dual half marathon course – two birds, one ferry ….
Although I’ve been keen to run the Dual Half Marathon course for some time now I was still in two minds – you see whenever I’d envisaged running around a volcano and climbing a big arse island I’d always assumed that I’d have James with me (and he’s currently on the other side of the globe) which would mean that I’d have to be totally self sufficient, carrying everything that I may need (instead of making my pack horse/husband help out) – on the other hand being alone would allow me to move at a pace that is comfortable without worrying about anyone else – but, if my knee decided to pack up …
In the end I went f**k it and turned up hoping for the best (knee wise).
After paring back as much stuff as I could and putting it all in my hydration pack, I decided to forgo carrying a 2.5l water bladder for a couple of soft water bottles, even though this would cut down the water I could carry to 1l. Thankfully there is drinking water available at Home Bay on Motutapu so I’d be able to refill the bottles there before heading back to Rangitoto – simple!
I’m quite useless when it comes to hydrating whilst running, it’s usually James who reminds me to drink when we are out on on a longer distance run, this time however as it’s hotter on Rangitoto due to the sun reflecting off the lava on Rangi and the large open fields on Motutapu I would drink a little at every kilometer from the 3km mark (my watch buzzes on the km).
The Coastal Track was quite technical but relatively easy to navigate unlike the Motutapu Walkway. The navigational markers on Motutapu were few and far between (by vast distances). At one point I wandered around in circles trying to figure out where I was (which actually quite often happens to me lol). If I could offer one piece of advice it would be when you can’t spot any navigational markers look for the stiles in the fence line up ahead. All of those have been placed for people on the walkway and they’re quite easy to spot ahead in the distance.
As I was getting close to Home Bay (and it was hot out) I was drinking slightly more water than I had been but as I passed the Trig and headed down the hill I had about half a litre (give or take) left which was rather fortuitous as with less than 1km to go to the turn around point I reached this …
Although when I got there the cows were all laying up against the fence enjoying the sun. As I neared the fence I stopped dead in my tracks because it’s James who deals with cows whilst I run behind him trying to pretend there aren’t any. I hesitated weighing up my options deciding I’d do what I’d seen James do when we get to a field of cows.
I walked up to the fence, waved my hands and said loudly “SHOO COWS!”, that certainly got their attention because half of them stood up and stared at me. I was quite chuffed, this might actually work! So I continued, “Shoo cows! Move!” But these cows weren’t having a bar of it – instead of moving away they stood their ground and menacingly moo’d at me ..
So herein lay the dilemma these cows stood (mooing menacingly) between me and the drinking water. I looked to see if there was an adjoining paddock that I could run through but I was out of luck, the trail continued slab dab in the middle of this paddock, which incidentally had many many more cows in it – my mind raced, it’s all down hill, perhaps I could just run, really fast – but what if I started a stampede? Trail runner killed by a stampede of menacing cows ..
In the end I did what I always do when James isn’t there to protect me from killer livestock – I turned around and went back the way I had come eeking out the water that I had left. Next time I moan about zombie filled tunnels, remind me about these cows.
Till next time
