It is like riding a bike!

Just way more shite ..

So yesterday was the final Sober October boot camp and as I’d “excitedly” told you in an earlier post the plan was to run the 8.4 kilometre, Auckland Round the Bays course.

I’ve lived in Auckland my entire life and I have run the Round the Bays event once – that should tell you something about how non fun it is to run along the waterfront bay, after bay, after bay, after what seems like another one hundred bays is!  Although to be fair, it’s much nicer to run along the course unimpeded by a billion other “runners”, so that’s a positive.

It turns out that Kerry had combined the final SOHK Sober October boot camp and the final SOHK Run Club events together, which made his choice of a long run make sense and 10 of us met up at the Vector Arena start line.

James was always going to be able to hold his own, because running is one of “his things” (he can’t handstand though, so I consider us equals) however,  considering that everyone else had been running regularly for at least a month with the SOHK Run Club and I haven’t done any running of significance in years, I’m quite proud of myself for just turning up.

I was never going to be able to keep up with the rest of the group and my goal was to just keep at my own pace and attempt to run at least 4k’s without stopping as the last time I had run (back in Jan 2014) I had made it to 3k point.  I was still quite comfortable at 3k’s but didn’t quite make it to the 4k point, stopping 200m’s short.

In hidsight I should have just slowed my pace down even further from the very start but I thought I could hold a 6:30 pace as I felt quite comfortable (apart from the annoying waist belt that wouldn’t stay in the right place – but I digress).

James finished the route in just under 37 minutes and he doubled back and found me just coming into Kohi so he paced and encouraged me all the way to the end. Although I was abit annoyed with myself for not being able to run without stopping he was super proud that I did it at all (and as I’d considered giving up completely at around the 6k mark I guess I should have been too).

I made it in 58:14! (Well after everyone else .. but still) ..

I love the photo bomber!

I really don’t suggest going from no running to attempting eight as unless you’re a natural runner, super fit or just more pig headed than I am, as it’s kind of depressing being so shite that you can’t run the route without stopping (repeatedly in my case). I’d be “comfortable” running 5 kilometers just relying on my base fitness but that extra 3 was really just .. well shite. 😉

As our weekends have freed up now that Sober October is over, James and I had planned on doing a fun run in November settling on the Adra Charity Run at the end of the month but as I obviously need practice I’ve also signed up to do the Skechers Womens 6k in a couple of weeks.

Six k’s is a little more than I’d like to run, but it’s less than eight k’s so that’s something …

Wish me luck (or even better sign up and do it with me!)