On 14th February instead of waking up to flowers and chocolates, I woke up at 5.30am in Punakaiki on the West Coast of the South Island of NZ and drove 45min to Westport for the Buller half marathon. It was overcast and mild; perfect weather for running. My technique felt really good the whole race. It was a nice feeling realising that all the drills and specific running technique training had a significant effect during the race. I managed to never run alone so the pace was changing with different surges from the guys trying to break away from a girl. The hills were noticable on the second half of the run when they became longer and the first part of my body to feel the fatigue were my quads. I went through the 5km in 17.06, the 10km in 35.00 and finished 11th overall, 1st woman in a time of 1 hour 15 minutes 56 seconds. And with this run I feel like racing now.. so I have just confirmed my entry for the Takapuna NZ Triathlon national series race this Saturday 21st Feb in Auckland. You catch this live on TV1 4pm-6pm.
