Round the Bays

Round the Bays is an annual 8.4km charity run held in Auckland. It has been going for decades and this year attracted about 75,000 walkers and runners.

I ran with the crew from my Hudson, my old employer. I was feeling a bit lagged after the long hot ride the day before, plus my ankle was still a bit tender and my Nikes are flogged out now.

The day was almost perfect for running, not too warm, reasonable cloud cover but no wind, I would have prefered a gentle breeze. I worked my way as close to the start as I could but not near enough to where I wanted to be. I know the day is a fun run and not a race, but the walkers are supposed to be on the left and I found my stuck behind families and prams and kids on bikes. Why can't these slow walkers start at the back. I am selfish I guess.

It took me close to 5 minutes to get to the start line after the gun went, and then I jumped the bushes and ran into the walkers section as that was moving faster than the runners. It still took another couple of minutes to even get running. The first 3 Km's is spent running around people walking in the middle of the road in large groups, so I of course got frustrated at a lack of rhythym and ended up going too fast. By Mission Bay I was feeling the pace and started to slow down before one of the Hudsun runners caught me and we ran together for a while before he moved off.

I left a bit for the final burst over the line and recorded a 43:40 from the start, by my watch and an official 47:47 from the gun. I was about a minute slower than last year which was OK and appeared to be 3rd out of about 60 in the Hudson crew, though some were walking !

My shoes need to go, there must be a split in the sole of my left shoe as it has been squeaking for a while now and was pinching my foot during the run.

I stopped for a couple of quick beers and a sausage and then went home to do the house work...