When J and I officially settled on our honeymoon dates in New Zealand, one of the first things I did was start searching for races happening while we were there. I knew that having a race on the books would be a good way to keep up my Boston training, and racing internationally seemed like a unique experience to add to our action-packed trip. I certainly wasn’t looking for a trail race (after spraining my ankle during my first trail race attempt), but the Macpac Motatapu fit into our schedule and looked like a ton of fun. The event has a pretty amazing number of options: an 8k, a 15k, a trail marathon, an ultra, a tri, and a bike race. We opted for the 15k–it looked tough enough given the elevation gain (see below!)
The morning of the race we plugged the race address into Google Maps and for the first and only time on our trip, got ourselves completely lost down a dirt road to nowhere. After a few minutes of frustration we turned around and took a much more legitimate road the the race start in Arrowtown, which is outside of Queenstown NZ. The signage around parking was a little bit unclear but there was space on the side streets, so we found a spot and rushed over to the bib pickup.
As with everything in NZ, it was super low-key and organized, so within a couple of minutes we were all set and ready to go. They were really nice about taking our jackets at the bag check–the morning was super chilly but it warmed up fast. The restroom lines were also a breeze–the event starts were staggered and ours was one of the smaller ones, so it felt a bit empty in the start area.
When the start time came around we seeded ourselves into informal corrals, which were then set off in staggered waves. This was really easy and helpful to keep the narrower parts of the course from getting too crowded. The most surprising thing at the start was that almost everyone had a hydration pack on–which seemed a little excessive for a 15k with two water stops–but it was a tough course so I could see why a slower runner would want their own fuel! J and I were more than fine sharing my handheld bottle, though.
The race started up a steep pitch on dirt roads. It was hard to not run the whole way up but I insisted on some fast hiking to conserve energy (which paid off for sure!) Everyone was chatting and encouraging each other, and by the first water stop I was down to a tank and shorts. We stopped to use the “loo” since we knew it was the only option and took off again, continuing the climb as we looped through open pastures and up along golden ridges. The vistas were gorgeous but I definitely had to keep my focus on my feet–trails are tough! We wended our way up to the highest point on mostly single track, which sometimes was so narrow that runners couldn’t pass one another. J and I took turns leading, but at this point were had a good crew around us to keep pace with.
Once the downhill started we really had to keep our eyes down on our feet–the trails were a bit slick and super narrow, with some areas that had rope holds for balance. We locked into a few other runners and one of the Kiwis warned us that the much-anticipated river crossing was coming up. We were feeling good with 2k left and excited to laugh and splash our way across the shallows to the finish.
Well, we were dead wrong–the course looped us back and forth across the same river ELEVEN times! At some points the freezing cold glacial water was almost up to my waist. I do have to say I think this was a little unnecessary–no one loves soaking wet feet and we got the point after one or two times. But we took it in stride and ran it into the finish, ending well under our goal of 2 hours.
Post-race we hightailed it to a local brunch spot and grabbed some well-deserved mimosas–there were lots of vendors at the post race area but everything cost money (including the massage tent!), so we figured we’d rather sit and eat. It felt great to warm up and dry off in the sunshine.
Overall, this was a fantastic experience and I’m definitely looking forward to more trail races in my future–including my first ultra in just a couple of months. I’ll have at least another post or two about our New Zealand trip in the coming weeks–please let me know if there’s anything you’re curious to learn more about!
Do you prefer roads or trails? Have you ever raced internationally?
This past weekend, my running buddy Alexa and I ran the 
After a nice chat we made sure to use the boat’s bathrooms and walked off the gangway directly into the registration area. The bib pickup and bag drop were smooth and easy, and we were able to stay warm indoors at the ferry terminal, chatting with various running friends up until the race start.
After the 10 mile mark we ramped it up for the first of three sets of MGP miles–just as the course got hilly and stayed that way until the end. We cranked it through three miles in the 7:30s and then hung together until mile 15, when I was feeling good enough to speed ahead. The only downside of the small race size was that I was pretty much alone for this last chunk–but the water stop volunteers and cops were awesome and I kicked it into high gear for the last three miles–7:38, 7:57, and 7:10. Overall, I finished at around an 8:10 average (according to my watch), feeling fairly strong and happy. 
This was a huge and hugely successful week of training! First, this will be my last weekly update until mid-March–J and I are heading to New Zealand for our honeymoon on Wednesday and I’ll be mostly offline while I’m there. 
The sunset didn’t hurt either!
Today I enjoyed the gorgeous snow from an overnight storm and J and I did a morning yoga class–a great start to working out the kinks. This afternoon once most of the snow had melted away I did my recovery run. Onto two more days of work before we jet off–can’t wait!!!
Throwing it back to a few weeks ago, I had a fun morning at the Super Sunday 5 miler! I 
Things had gotten a bit chaotic at that point–turns out the computer systems were down so all check-in was being done by hand. This actually ended up delaying the race start by close to 20 minutes, which wasn’t super fun on a windy, cold day. By the time we lined up in the corrals I was ready to run fast and be done.
I kept my sights on Sarah, one of my speedy teammates (in the shorts), and by mile 4 or so I had her and another Oiselle gal, Katie, in my sights (red capris).
However, there was an AMAZING cover band so we stayed for a bit before scooting off to eat and change into dry clothes. Despite the hiccups before and after, the race itself was spot-on–the course was fast, well-marked and staffed, and 5 miles on the nose. It’s a great way to spend the morning of Superbowl Sunday, and we’ll definitely be back next year!
What a fun sports and running-filled week!! Any other Olympics fans out there? I definitely miss the running and gymnastics from the summer games, but I love watching the winter sports, especially the figure skating. We had people over to watch the Opening Ceremonies for the 4th Olympics in a row! Fun fact–Jeremy has actually been at all four of these parties, although for the first one we weren’t dating and he was just some cute kid from my kickball team 🙂 You’re welcome for the photo below. This year we repped Japan because we were gifted these amazing kimonos for our wedding from cousins who live there–pretty cool, right?
Wednesday I treated myself to a rest day and did a bunch of foam rolling along with my core and mini-band work. Thursday dawned super icy so I hit the treadmill for my tempo run. I had some technical issues with the interface on the mill at the gym, and as usual, it went by slowly, but I got it done. Friday was a super easy recovery run before a huge day of running fun on Saturday! I met up with some of the Oiselle gals for an 18 miler. It got up to 50 degrees and I felt pretty good the whole time! We ran on the Boston course and ended up with 852 feet of elevation gain. My fueling was on point and we even finished with a couple of strong fast miles at the end. As always, happy to have great company 🙂
After some recovery chilling I was out the door for more running fun! A big group of the O girls met up for the New Balance Grand Prix event. It was my first time attending a professional track meet and I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it was SO much fun and so exciting! The big stars of the night were Jenny Simpson and Emma Coburn–Jenny took home the W in the 3000 in an amazing performance! I also loved watching some of the other less familiar runners and events. Like the 60 meters, where the runners are going so fast they hit a crash pad at the end. Wild! Also, I run on this track every Tuesday so that’s pretty cool.
Wednesday I did my first workout at the Y near my house–it’s cheapest gym option that’s close to both home and work. They supposedly have fancy treadmills that can connect to TV streaming services but I couldn’t figure them out, so I made do with an episode of The Crown on my phone. Things to work on for next time!
Sunday J and I ran the Super Sunday 5 Miler! Despite some logistical hiccoughs, we had a fantastic turnout from the Oiselle gang and I managed a 20 second 5 mile PR. I have a recap of this race coming shortly, so stay tuned for that.
The theme of this week was: hooray for the cutback!! I definitely was feeling the accumulated stress of 3 weeks in a row at close to 50 miles, so was glad to be taking it a bit easier. I had some residual tightness in my right hip after last week’s 16 miler, so this couldn’t have been better timing. Monday I kicked things off with 6 really easy miles at 9:30 pace, keeping it light so my hip could loosen up. After some quality time with my foam roller Tuesday’s marathon pace run felt pretty good. I haven’t been running with headphones much recently, but I was definitely glad to have a little music to pump me up for this one! Tuesday was also the hubby’s birthday so we celebrated with delicious tacos and this amazing flourless chocolate cake. SO good.
Thursday was a beautiful 6 miles, the first 3 with a colleague who’s also training for Boston. Friday J and I went to a yoga class together and did some nice shoulder opening work–definitely something I don’t focus on enough!
Week 7–here we go! This one had some off moments but overall I made all of my training happen and ran outside every day, which makes me super happy. Monday was 7 miles with some snow flurries I wasn’t expecting, but it made for pretty scenery. Tuesday I had a track workout on the books so was excited to join the HHRC crew. This was a fun one–400s with 5 minute tempos alternating HMGP and MGP in between. It definitely kicked my butt but I was happy I went, as always. It’s really motivating to have pacers to chase and buddies to run with.
Man oh man, it’s hard to believe I’m already on week 6! This was a pretty textbook good training week–I completed every workout as planned and felt strong and solid as I inch up towards 50 miles. Monday morning I was up bright and early for hill repeats, which were at 5k effort up and jogging down. I really like these workouts because they force you to measure pace by effort vs. by the numbers–although I feel like my favorite hill is a little too “easy” for these workouts? Hard to tell! Either way, I’m huffing and puffing by the top 🙂
Saturday the weather was a little crazy–starting in the 60s and ending in the 30s during a 2 hour run! It was awesome to run with my pal Denise–she’s moving to Cali and I want to get in as many long runs as possible. Luckily she’ll be back for Boston–
Shorter and Faster 