I'm alive!

I proved something to myself at the weekend … something I’d guessed for a while. I’m no speedy Gonzalez!

About two and a half weeks ago I decided to enter the Point to Pinnacle half marathon... why? I'm not sure. But seeing as it started very near my house, I thought I'd give it a bash. The run was last Sunday setting off from sea level at Wrest Point Casino, and finishing 21.4km (13.3 miles) later at the Pinnacle at the top of Mt Wellington at (cough) 1,273m (4,176 feet). Here's my Google Earth mock-up of the course:


It went off without a hitch:

The running race started at 8am. I walked the 1km to the start … figuring that it would serve as a warm up, bearing in mind I had 21.4km to run. I saw several people doing serious warm ups along the way, though. One guy had muscles on his legs that I didn’t even know existed, and he must have been 45 years old (perhaps new types of muscles will grow as I age?) Well, I certainly got used to seeing people I wouldn’t have expected running up a mountain, and doing so with surprising ease.

I decided my tactics well before the race, and after having tried the course in two halves over the previous two weekends: Start at the back, run steady and probably finish at the back. I had a feeling that I’d be able to run the full distance and was hoping to make it in 2hrs 30mins – 2hrs 45mins. I wasn’t racing, I just wanted to get to the top.

After a hot weather practice run the previous weekend Ella decided to give the run a miss - she was still getting over a cold. Instead she drove up to the halfway point and walked up the trails. It turned out to be a hot day for the race, too, even though it was early. Although it was cloudy at the start, and the top of the mountain was shrouded in mist, we ran through the cloud, as you can see from the photos Ella took as she walked up.



So I set off at the back of the pack, and plodded along. After a few k’s I’d worked out the group I was likely to stay with for most of the rest of the morning. There were a mixture of larger younger guys (a bit like me!) and a few older larger guys, and a couple of women. I made the halfway mark a little ahead of my target time, but, seeing as the course went up the side of a mountain, getting steeper and steeper, I knew I was going to slow down eventually.

A common tactic to keep the body going on these sorts of events (and those much longer), is to take energy gels. I checked these out and chose not to take them in the interests of economy and wishing to avoid some of the crap that is in the gel. So I carried a couple of bananas in a small bag.

My right knee seemed to swell up at one stage, and I just hoped that it would stop hurting … and it did. Unfortunately the pain shifted to the left knee. It didn’t get too bad, though, so I kept on. A little over halfway I was beginning to overtake lots of walkers (they set off an hour earlier than the runners) and even a few runners. Lots of runners were using quite different tactics to me, though, and running for a while, walking, then running again. This was annoying as I’d catch someone up, then they’d set off running again, only to be caught again. I felt a bit like Elmer Fudd being tormented by Bugs Bunny! Still I wasn’t going to get lured into changing my pace, and I kept plodding on.

I had planned on conserving enough energy, such that at the final drink stop (at 19km) I could try and pick up the pace and get to the line in a bit of style (amidst the sweat and tears!). As it was, at 19km I was pretty much blown out, so I walked for a couple of hundred metres, before struggling to run at speed. I managed to do ok, but with 1km to go I slowed to a walk to summon up some more grunt. I fixed my eyes on a guy walking in front and caught up with him, told him that he was going to cross the line running with me, and proceeded to bully him over the line! I’m not quite sure where that came from, but he seemed appreciative. In this photo that Ella took he at least seemed to be talking to me!


The finish line:


I crossed the line at 2.42.06 placed 268 out of 358 finishers. Respectable enough for an unaccomplished runner that hasn’t run a half marathon before, let alone 1200 metres up a mountain.

I think this photo shows how high up it is:


There were coaches laid on to take all the competitors back to the Wrest Point Casino where the race started, and we were given a bit of a feed. I think that all the food and water I consumed did me good, as I haven’t had any serious aches and pains apart from a bit of pain in my knee, which I’m sure will get better soon.

It was great fun, and I’d certainly do it again … but I won’t be getting carried away and entering any crazy triathlons like my old housemate, Alec, who's documented his Iron Man experiences on his very yellow website (I wonder if it's supposed to be gold?)

Island of Falls

Since returning from my holiday in Europe almost two months ago we’ve taken advantage of the slowly improving weather. Spring is a bit nicer for our walking so that’s what we’ve aimed to do at the weekends. Just as I thought I was running out of my ‘Island of’ themes we chanced upon another one. Unintentionally three of these weekend walks have been to waterfalls – and that’s enough repetition for an 'Island of' bestowment I reckon.

As part of our Mount Wellington walks – we’re trying to walk as many of the trails as possibly in Wellington Park - we finally visited Wellington Falls. This was a good long circuit walk, about 16-18km with a good variety of paths, from boulder hopping to smooth tracks. The highlight of course was lunch, at the viewing point to the waterfall.

There were lots of yellow blossoms in the trees and a real spring feel to the forest.

Here's the waterfall, and with Ella in front of it, too.



Here's what one species of Eucalypt trees look like - incredible bark!



The next weekend we drove out to the small town of Snug – a short distance southwest of Hobart. There’s a signpost leading down a narrow lane that announces ‘Snug Falls’. We followed it and after a short way down a dirt road parked the car and walked a couple of kilometres to see the falls.

Here's the Snug Falls - with me at the bottom


The finest of the Falls experiences, in my opinion, was our trip to the Kermandie Falls. It’s not so much the quality, or the way in which the water drops, or even the setting (although that’s extremely good) but the journey to get to them.

We started out by driving down to Cygnet, to see a craft and herb fair. This turned out to be almost a non-event, but seeing as we’d driven 45 mins southwest of Hobart we’d planned a walk out there after the fair. Mount Field, which we last visited on our holiday in June/July 2006, is fairly nearby, so we’d decided to walk there. As we got close, though, Ella spotted Kermandie Falls on the map. It’s in the shadow of Mount Field so it shortened the drive a bit.

The walk started out in a recently logged (i.e. decimated) area of forest, but soon we were walking in thick mossy forest on a twisty-turny and very muddy path. It reminded us of the forest surrounding Frenchman’s Cap that we walked through last Christmas. It made for very slow progress. To cap it all the river was stunning and virtually filled with fallen trees and the falls were great. The path didn’t look like it was trodden often, so it felt even more special - as if few other people have seen them.

This shows how small trees grow out of large fallen trees!


Some of the ferny undergrowth.


The falls themselves


and Ella sitting on a tree near the base of the falls, and looking at the rest of the tree!