So this was the event last year that took me to my longest run I had done - 25km and run over the top of the Tararua Ranges. Due to running my marathon back in May, I wasn't going to run it this year BUT a week and 2 days before it, I discovered I had won a free entry into the distance of my choice. My initial thought was to run the 12.5 Humdinger like I had run back in 2016. After about an hour of thinking this, I had this crazy thought of why not make the most of winning an entry and do the Traverse again. This was a crazy thought because I had only run a handful of runs in double digits since May and the longest of these had been 12km. Oh well, once I had entered there was no looking back and changing my mind. Bring on Saturday 25 August 2018. Race day. I started my day with my tradition of coffee to wake me up and hopefully set me up. I think my travel mug sums it up quite nicely.
I caught the bus to the start with the wonderful Michelle (xrl8n) and then we caught up with Kel who I had run it with the year before. It was very cold at the start and waiting around the 20 odd minutes was hard!
9am came and we were off. I decided to just go at my pace. I could see Kel just ahead of me and Michelle further in the distance. I hoped I will keep that sight of Kel for most of the run but unfortunately, that didn’t happen. It wasn’t long and I pretty much felt like I was running on my own. The first couple of km is gravel and on an incline. I just kept telling myself just one foot in front of the other. I just needed to keep on moving forward. There was a bit of cloud and fog around as well. Quite pretty.
After that first section of gravel road came the four wheel drive section. The rain had made many ruts in the track which I tried to dodge as best as possible. Then came the mud and water. While trying to avoid some of the water, I sank into the mud which was heavy. After that, I did a combo of going through the water and dodging it. The deepest it got was just below my knee. Lucky for me, my feet didn’t stay cold for long even though they were really wet and it put it down to the great merino socks I had on. After about 9km I was trying to dodge one of those puddles, you know, taking the edge where it wasn’t so deep! Well, I lost my footing and down I went. Pain in my knee and one side a lot wetter than I had planned. I thought it couldn’t be too bad but then I spotted the holes in the tights and a little trickle of blood. I wanted to cry because it hurt. I wanted to stop but instead, I just carried on (and sent a quick text message to a friend as sharing the load sometimes helps!!)
I was glad to leave the four wheel drive section and get back onto the gravel. I tried to just focus on the beauty of the surroundings around me and it really was beautiful! The sound of the windmills is quite mesmerising. And you are running quite close to some of those big ones.
This was the hill that never ended!! Those pine tree you can see. They are still a part of this climb. And after already covering 19km my legs were totally feeling it. This was a hill I will honestly say I have walked both years. Knowing there is an aid station at the top kind of helps a bit but what helps more is knowing you start heading back downhill again after this. I didn’t even try the yummy baking at this aid station this year as by this stage I was feeling a little sick and I didn’t want to make matters worse.
With about 5kms to go, you can see the finish line down the bottom of the hill. It’s a bit mean really because there is still quite some way to go! I just watched out for the marks counting me down and was so glad to see that 1km to go! No stopping for smiling selfies this year! I just wanted to get to the end.
Running through the mud and slippery grass at Ferry Reserve marked the end of my second North Range Traverse and another amazing handmade medal to add to my collection. I was sore, tired and ready to see my family again. Just under 3:30 and I was done.
How did I honestly feel at the end of the run this year? I felt crushed. I knew that my lack of training had affected me a lot. I felt sorer than after running a marathon. But I guess deep down there is a little bit of pride as well but I still need that to surface a little more. I do know though that I need to keep on getting out there and giving things a go.
