If you follow me on Instagram you may have seen my recent posts about how beautiful our country is. I’ve always thought that but after doing the 10km Walk at the Taihape Half Marathon this past weekend it’s really got me excited about just how beautiful New Zealand is!
I haven’t participated in a running event in a VERY long time! In fact the last few events I have done half been duathlons or triathlons, with the exception of the short mud run I did for Wanganui Bootcamp and the Iron Maori my work entered I haven’t entered a race since my first half marathon!
A wee while back a couple of our Bootcampers were talking about doing the Taihape Half Marathon and it planted a seed. I thought it was about time I got back out and did an event as I’ve always enjoyed them.
Knowing the region I knew that there are A LOT of hills in that area! Considering I haven’t actually been on a training run since before that half marathon I knew it wouldn’t be a smart idea to try and bust out a half marathon, especially as I have my next Powerlifting competition at the end of April, just over a month away.
A last minute half marathon would leave me in pain for days, if not a week afterwards and I just can’t afford that break in my training at the moment.
This is why I decided to do the 10km Walk, 10km is a manageable distance and long enough to enjoy a lot of the scenery without being out on your feet for hours. My dad mentioned he was considering entering so I thought I should just do it since we didn’t have anything on that day anyway.
The good thing about smaller rural events is that they are reasonably priced, the 10km was only $25 to enter and entries could be done online which is always nice and makes life a lot easier.
The race was well organised. The sign posting for getting to the event was good, parking was plentiful (thanks to a farmers paddock) and the signage for the actual race was decent as well with markers pretty much every 1km.
I was a bit torn between whether I would run or walk the event however I’d had a bit of a niggle on my shins earlier in the week as I’d done some short sprints at Bootcamp without my normal running shoes, so decided to stick to walking.
The walk started right on time and there wasn’t the huge rush that there usually is at the starting line as the event was a lot smaller than most other events I have been to before.
We started out at a brisk walk, at a pace that had my shins and calves burning. My dad walks most days on the beach and always walks very fast so I was trying to keep up with him. I will say that it was tough going walking at that pace for the whole event as I definitely think it would have been less taxing to actually run!
The course started out on the road and saw us heading up a gentle hill for the first 1km, we then turned down onto a gravel road where we would remain for the rest of the walk, until we looped back and reached the road again for the final 1km which was obviously downhill.
The 10km track was an out and back course, which I generally don’t like as I like to see new things as I go along. However it was nice to know what to expect on the way back. On the way out to the turn around point we noticed that we were on a very slight decline, however on the way back to the finish that slight decline was a pretty big hill! It’s funny how perspectives can change!
Overall the course was very nice, it was so quiet out on the rural roads and the small number of people meant that you could really enjoy the track. The 10km was also timed so that you could see the start of the half marathoners heading back to the finish line as we were heading out which was quiet nice.
It made you pick up the pace a little when you were just walking a 10km and they had been running a 21km! In fact the guy who finished first in the Half Marathon took less time to do the half than it took us to do the 10km, whilst we were walking we were hoofing it!
We finished the 10km walk in 1 hour and 23 minutes and we were the first walkers back, we even beat a few of the runners which was nice.
I would definitely recommend doing the Taihape Half Marathon course as it was a nice course, not too hilly, a little sheltered at times from the trees, well run and BEAUTIFUL scenery!
Now to find my next event….