Round the Vines

On Saturday Leah (& Her b/f Jase) & I competed in the 10km Round the Vines Run in Martinborough.

I’ve never really been over that side of the Country before and I must say it really is beautiful! I’m going to plan a weekend or long weekend over there at some point hopefully this year.

I also didn’t have my camera with me as I’m waiting for it to be sent back after a warranty claim so there is a distinct lack of photos on this post! (Sorry).

The run was very casual, we had vouchers from GrabOne so handed over our receipt and got handed a race number. No race pack, no timing tag, no map – told you it was casual!

You could tell straight away the people that were there for the fact that the run and walks were around vineyards, those that were there to have a bit of a laugh and those that were taking it seriously.

I told myself that I was allowed to walk some of it if I needed too, but in the back of my mind wanted to finish it within an Hour.

After having ipod issues earlier in the day then dropping it (it was an accident I promise!) and it started working again I got it all ready to go while we were in our bunch waiting to  start got the trusty Nike+ all set up and ready to go, the starters gun went off (with no countdown – again told you it was casual) and we started running, my music wasn’t playing for some reason then about 10 seconds in the ipod just jammed up and resetting it didn’t work either. I spent the first km or so running and trying to get it to work, which didn’t happen.

The first 5km were the longest km’s of my life, so I told myself I could walk from 5km-6km then I had to run the rest, I got to the 5km mark which happened to be near a water stop and began to walk, after about 300m I felt fine again so told myself I could start running then at the 8km mark walk for another 200-300metres and then run the rest.

Once I got to the 8km mark I was feeling pretty good considering so just kept on going. I was mega grateful for the water stops all over the course and don’t think I could have made it through otherwise.

Just after running through the Martinborough school and round a corner I caught a glimpse of the finish line and actually managed to speed up for the last hundred metres or so to cross over the line in 1.00Hour!

It was an awesome day in Wairarapa and there was good food at the end, bananas (not keen) huge jaffas, pineapple lumps and bottled water, there was also wine and fruit at the water stops which was pretty cool.

It was a really good morning and I would definately do it again as a fun event that can be taken seriously if you wanted to.

[Edit; to add photo, thanks Leah!]

Would you consider doing the Round the Vines next year?