AMI Round the Bays

Ages ago, I blogged saying I had started running, then that I had decided to run Wellington Round the Bays and become a Heart Racer.  I left you here, with my C25k graduation.

Well, today was Round the Bays day.  And I did it!!!  I've officially done my first running race, and I loved it.  That's not entirely true, during the run, I hated every second.  But when I (finally) arrived at the finish line, I was very very happy.  All that hard work I have done for the last few months has paid off, and now, I can really RUN!

There really were times that I doubted that I could ever do it, and I've finally proven that I can actually be a runner.  Yeah, that's a pretty scary admission; I might become one of them - you know, the ones who get up at 6am on a Sunday to run up mountains?

I've learned some things in the last few months:

• despite being fat and lazy, there is actually an athletic person inside me trying to get out.  I am just one of those people who need to exercise, or I go crazy.  I have more energy when I exercise, and my mental health is much more stable.
• I can be a runner, and actually enjoy running.
• No one's laughing at me.  Today, I saw people of all shapes and sizes, and there was not one person I looked at and thought 'gosh, that person looks silly'.  Not ONE.  I bet no one looked at me like that either.
• Even if there are people laughing at me, I don't give a shit.  Running makes me feel good, and who cares if I look like I've been attacked by a bear when I've finished?  So do most other people!
• Running with music is okay.  Running listening to podcasts is okay.  Running listening to nothing is the most peaceful thing ever.
• Running up hills does actually make you stronger.  It sucks at the time, but my legs are much stronger now that they would have been if I never did the hill thing.
• Running isn't a good way to lose weight, you'll actually have to stop eating crap if you want to lose weight.  But running will make you (or me, at least) want to eat better.  What you put in is what you get out, and I'm not talking poop.
• Running, for me, is selfish.  I do it for me, and I do it to make me feel good about myself.  It's okay to do selfish things, it's okay to take time away from others to spend it doing something good for yourself.
• Doing something that you find difficult is more rewarding that achieving something that you don't find as much of a challenge.  I am more proud of running 7km than I was when I set swimming records or swam 20km.  Running is hard fucking work.  I've never found swimming such a mental or physical challenge.  It's nice having a challenge and achieving something that was hard for you.

So, what's happening next?

This period of the last 12 months or so is the first time in my life where I really haven't been training for something or being competitive.  I started ballet when I was 3 years old, and I did it until I was about 16. I used to have ballet 6 days a week.  I started competitive swimming when I was 7, and did that until I started playing underwater hockey competitively when I was 14.  I kept squad swimming until I was 17. I stopped doing races and stuff when I started doing representing Wellington in underwater hockey at 14.  

When I was playing underwater hockey competitively, I was training for between 10 and 20 hours a week, depending on when it was in the season.

Now I do nothing.  Well, I run 5-ish days a week, for 30m to an hour.  But comparatively, that's nothing.  I'm going to start training again.  I want to represent NZ at underwater hockey and underwater rugby.  And I want to run a marathon.  I'd also like to swim the cook straight, but that's probably realistically 8 years away.

To be able to do this, I need to start training at least 5 times a week for UWH/UWR, plus play twice a week (UWH) and once for UWR.  I also need to run at least 5 times a week.  I'm going to do the bridge to 10k program, then when I've done that, I'll start looking for a 1/2 marathon program.  I'd like to be able to do a 10k in June, and a 1/2 marathon at the end of the year, as well as the 1/2 marathon for round the bays next year.  Then I guess I'll start looking for a marathon to do.

Yes, I know this is 13 trainings a week and it probably sounds insane, but it's actually less that what I was doing when I was in peak underwater hockey training.  Granted, I have less free time now and it will mean that I'll have less of a social life, but I think the end result will be worth it.

What this will mean though is that I have to start running in the morning.  I am not a morning person at all, but UWH and UWR are at night, so that's not going to work out.  I'm not sure how I'm going to convince myself to get up in the morning and run, but I'm doing to try.  Tomorrow, I'm having a day off after my 7km run, 5km run and hard training session.  All I'm doing tomorrow is underwater rugby training, and that's only for an hour and 1/2.  On Tuesday I'll start a morning run (maybe) and also go for a swim in the afternoon.  I'm ready, and excited.  Let's fucking go.

Welcome to De Bretts

For those of you who have never been, this is DeBretts. It's in Taupo on the Napier-Taupo Highway, right next to the Hilton.



As I said earlier, I've been coming here for years - the first time, I was 10 days old. It's been at least a yearly thing since - my brother and I have grown up here.

Not much has changed over the years. The bathrooms have been renovated, and new unisex toilets and showers have added at the end of the toilet block. This is pretty cool - there are only 4 toilets and 3 showers in the girls' bathroom, and often, there is a line for showers. It's also good because when they're closed for cleaning in the middle of the day, you now have somewhere else to go.

The playground has changed a bit too - when we first started coming, it was bank with a slide going down in, swings and a trampoline. Now, they have this fancy thing:


Yeah, that is Lisa and Maggie Simpson you can see. There's a slide, a firemans pole (which was actually blocked off not long after it was built because some kid fell down), a rope ladder (to the right) and a rope with knots in it you're supposed to climb (but for which I never had enough arm strength :( ). There are also swings and a trampoline, but it's now dug into the ground - no more bouncing kids off the side!

This is the BBQ area. It's right next to the kitchen, and it's quite sheltered. We've had dinner here countless times.



When we first started coming here, were 2 or 3 cabins across from the playground (you can see one in the background of the pic of the playground). Now there are probably about 15 cabins. Over the years, some of the campsites have been subdivided and reshuffled as well, but we always get the same campsites. We're far enough away from the kitchen/bathroom area that we don't get the noise from that, and we're also away from where most people with young kids stay. We're far enough from the road that the road noise is reduced, and the site has a good view, and good sun, and good drainage. And it's very very flat. Arguably the best part about De Bretts is being so close to the Hot Springs. It's mineral water that is naturally (thermally) heated. There is also a day spa there which do fab hot mud and hot stone massages.

The downside to the hot springs is that they're down a hill. It's a pretty walk, but you have to walk back UP after you're all relaxed and tired.






The walk is worth it though!There's a chlorinated hydroslide, that goes "superfast", AND it's shaped like a dragon. Awesome. There's a chlorinated outdoor kids play area (by the yellow umbrella).


There are two connected chlorinated spa pools (both colder than the mineral pools), and (behind them in the pic) a chlorinated kids pool that's cold.



There are two mineral pools. The top one is hot - usually between 40 and 44C. The green of the water is a pretty accurate representation of what the pools look like.

The water is magical - it's a little bit oily, but very very dense with minerals. It's the best thing ever for curing sunburn, once you get over that initial pain of getting in the pool.



The hot pool at the top overflows over this waterfall into the cooler pool, which is usually around 36 - 38C.


The waterfall is over to the left of the picture.


The water is piped straight out of the ground, goes into a simple filtration system, then through two of these cooling ponds. When they're turned on, water gets shot through the air to be cooled before it drains into the top (hot) pool.
I'll try to remember to take a photo of them working tomorrow; it's pretty cool.



Anyway, that's pretty much De Bretts! If you're ever looking for somewhere to stay in Taupo, and you want to go camping, I would recommend De Bretts. Sites 73 and 74 and 75 are good camping sites, so ask for them!

Camping, day three. It's raining.

Last night, the met service issued weather warnings to most of the country. They said 'We know it's summer, but you're going to have lots of wind, lots of rain, and maybe some thunderstorms. Awesome, huh? You're welcome." So, being the prepared campers that we are, we secured the tents, and brought the umbrella inside, then went for a wander around to see the disasters that everyone was facing. This has become somewhat of a tradition for us to wander around and see how badly other people have put up their tents.

I saw this fab example. I took this picture this morning on the way to the bathroom. You'll notice that the door to the tent is not only open, but pegged open, as if it was done by design. The problem with this is that all the water gets in. They're oriented their tent the wrong way round, with the door facing into the rain. And with the door open, their whole veranda had filled up with water.

On the left hand side, you can see that the fly is touching the tent. This causes leaks. You can also see when the wind blows that they have things inside the tent touching the edges - another no-no when camping.



These are the same people who have a small kid and have spent their days sitting in the sun drinking. I feel sorry for the kid.

Rainy days when camping are good for going to the beach, the pool and the movies. I think we're going to see Megamind today, then will probably go to the pool this afternoon. I love going to the pool in the rain, it's nice and relaxing. And it will mean I get another cool bracelet to show you guys!

Camping, day two, version 2.

This is the second part of my day today, as the first blog was so long.

Part of my plan coming camping was to get back into the routine of running everyday. I was doing great with the C25k program, but when I hurt my shoulder, I had to cut back. My shoulder is now getting better (or I'm just getting better with the pain), so I'm back to running but about 2 weeks behind. I'm finding it hard to get back into it, and I'm almost considering going back a couple of weeks to ease back into it.

Tonight was the first time I have ever run in the rain. I ran down from DeBretts and down the lake edge.




Everyone seems to love running in the rain, but I'm not so sure. Running was also pretty painful because my bra rubbed on my sunburn. Ouch. The back of my calves are also burned :(


After my run and dinner, we went to the geothermal pools at DeBretts. The water is magical, it seems to be able to cure sunburn overnight. It hurts like a mofo when you get in, but once you're wet, the pain goes away and it feels much better. On the walk down the hill is this pretty waterfall.



This is the pool.



You can't see too much in these shots, but the top pool (closest) is very hot, then the pool on the other side of the waterfall (under the bridge) is cooler, but still geothermal, so you can't put your head under (there's a risk of meningitis). There are also 2 chlorinated spa pools that are cooler than the geothermal pools, and a cold, chlorinated kids pool. The slide is chlorinated (and pretty cold!). There is also a BBQ area, and a water play area for kids. There are private pools that are quite hot, and a day spa that do fantastic massages. I should get one while I'm here.

I also got this super sexy orange wristband. This gives me entry into the pools, private pools and slide. The slide was very fun, but I don't remember it being such a trek up all the stairs when I was younger!

Camping, day two

This morning I woke up at 3am, on the ground. Well, technically, I was still on my airbed, but it had gone flat. I have to say, that's the crappiest thing about camping. I pumped it up again, and it held out without getting too flat by the time i woke up at 6.30, with the sun streaming into the tent. I tossed up going for a run, but to be honest, I couldn't really be bothered and instead dozed until about 8.30. By 8, it started getting hot in the tent. There's nothing you can do to get rid of the heat in the tent; nothing.

I got up, and did some shopping this morning. I got some awesome new jandals! I love being able to fit kids sizes, they have much cooler patterns than adult jandals.



I also bought some sunblock because I have almost run out. Usually I get Cancer Society stuff, but I've heard good things about BananaBoat, so grabbed some of that.


Here's my sunburn from yesterday putting up the tent.


I also got burned on Christmas day, but that had already tanned up by boxing day. I really try to avoid getting burned at all because I've had some pretty severe sunburn when I was younger and stupider, and the last thing I need is skin cancer.

This is the view from our campsite. It's pretty amazing!



At about 10am, we went to the beach. It was about 24C today, although it's starting to get a bit overcast now.


We (Marcus, Daniel and I) went for a swim out to the buoy, about 200m away, and back. It was super cold when you initially get in, but once you're in, it was beautiful. The lake was surprisingly choppy.

After lunch, we went back to the lake, with our new boat. It can hold 2 people + a suitcase, and can take up to a 1.1KW motor. On a blow up boat. And it helpfully says all this on the side.





We also took down masks and snorkels and fins so we could go for a proper swim, and we went back out to the buoy, right along the beach and back. It's amazing, the top 1.5m of water are great and warm, then once you get down about 2m, it gets colder and colder. We only went down maybe 10m as it's pretty shallow until about 2km out, but the bottom was so cold it starts seizing up your lungs. I found a golf ball on the bottom, and we found some tyres and concrete blocks used as weights too. The only fish we saw were cockabillies that congregated around the tyres and sticks and things. Generally, the bottom was very very clean, but there were not very many fish at all. I saw 1 trout, but it was dead. I'm pretty sure it was a rainbow trout, but it was starting to decompose so the colouring could be off.


Anyway, here are some bonus pics from last night; one of the lake when we went down to hot water beach, and the second of the mummy duck who chased me, and her babies I was trying to pet. They seemed pretty friendly with dad though!