Karen and Kate's journey to Ironman and beyond

Now u might say what's car shopping to do with Ironman? Well, my darling daughter had a wee accident in my car last week and the number plates are all that's left! She walked away from the accident with a little bump, the car did a great job and saved her, but paid the price by being written off. The number plates were given to me last year whilst training for the first Ironman as I had been given the name - Ironkate. At the car yard I went in and said I want a small, manual, red car. No problem they said and showed me a few. I realised that actually the most important thing was, would my bike fit in the back. So the next day I brought my bike in to see if it fitted. Yes it did, then I went for a test drive. The car arrives next week, Red and black leather (imitation) seats. I'm very pleased with it.

Early Sunday morning, there I was, stumbling round the cluttered hotel room trying to put together weetbix and milk in a mug by the light coming from the half ajar bathroom door.  The room looked a bit like a clothes shop had exploded, our luggage when it finally turned up  the previous night, over a day late, had been accessed... shall we say...hurriedly. Cup of green tea, a quick kiss on the foreheads of sleeping whanau, an energy gel on the way out the door and I headed off into the dark, quiet, damp, and oh that's so cold Wellington.  Fortunately my brain was just working enough that I paused at the lobby to check with the slightly bemused night manager about how to get to the run venue. The Hotel had main doors leading to big roads on opposite sides of the building, I tended to walk out of either door and find myself heading away from wherever I wanted to be. It was a case of  "If I go out this door here I turn LEFT to get to the stadium...is that right...yes,...

After a week of anxious nail chewing about the weather, Friday arrived, time for our trip to Wellington for their midwinter marathon. The bags were packed with everything we could possibly need (plus some stuff we surely didnt...I mean, 16 barbie dolls?), dog was in the kennel, kids picked up from school, we were out at the airport on-time and so ready to go.  Then came 4 hours of sitting on the floor in the airport waiting area watching the morning flights still flying out in the afternoon to clear the backlog...will we go or wont we?  The kids enjoyed watching the world go by, their attitudes aided by a continuous flow of novel food items, and I reflected that if that was the worst thing of the weekend it wasn't too bad, after all, there was Saturday to recover and get everything sorted out. Arrive in Wellington at 10pm, passengers could't disembark, something about being unable to line up the door with the stairs, then finally it was off to say hello to the gloriously gig...

Who...I say who, decides to take the kids on their first plane trip to Wellington when it is in the grip of gale-force winds, heavy rain, snow in the hills? And I have to say, what kind of idiot decides to go from Auckland with a high of 14 degrees to run a marathon in said Wellington, with predicted rain, winds and start temperature of 5 degrees?  It will be interesting to see how many turn up on the day, with a pre-booked field of around 5000 (all distances) according to the organisers. Thank goodness for the big red shed and their two for one thermals sale.  Younger daughter is upset because I have said she is to wear warm socks and boots not the strappy sandals with a heel, older daughter thinks the idea of ice sounds really "cool". Yep, cool alright, especially for us wimpy Aucklanders.  Anyway, I'm refusing to check the airline website until at least lunchtime to see if our plane is likely to leave on-time, or at all.  Poor Wellington, had such a hard tim...

I have been doing over time for 3 months to help out at the hospital. It has also helped pay my Visa bill. I have finished the extra work and have reached a target on the Visa, so today I went shopping. I also had another excuse, my Nike sports watch had stopped working. I went into Rebel sports and they were so good and said yes I could have a new one. But I wanted to upgrade it to one with GPS. Yes I could do that and buy a heart rate strap to go with it. So $200 later I'm off to play with my new toy. I then went next door to Briscos to look at electric blankets. My little house is great but a little cold and damp. They were on sale $39:99. I had to think hard about this one, could I really afford it? I mean its a bit of a luxury! You can see where my passions are, running, biking, swimming, no problem with finding money, but an electric blanket well that's just a ridiculous buy. P.S. I did buy it though :)

I'm learning how to participate in social networking...being dragged slowly...not quite kicking and screaming...into a world where you get caught up in what can sometimes seem like a maelstrom of snippets and snatches of other peoples lives depending on what online thingys you join. Facebook is the case in point, I joined Moonjoggers , now I find my world intersecting with that of all sorts of cool people.  I watch as members achieve things of significance to them, shock horror, I feel constrained to hit that 'like' button which I have never before really understood, and sometimes I comment on the lives and activities of people I don't know, people who may live on the other side of the world, some who are asleep while I'm running and running while I'm asleep...and I'm really enjoying it. Sometimes I need to slow the mass of information, I do that by not staying logged in, but this is to me a whole new experience of socialising, about being a social animal ...

Monday night is swim night. Its also run night but I've have had a few weeks off due to my knee injury. This week its the day after my little run in the Hunua hills. So a little stiff and sore, so a swim seemed the most sensible thing to do. I was taking it easy and only doing 50 meter laps, the rest of the group were doing 100 meter laps. But that's ok, legs hurt. I noticed that one of my friends in the fast lane was in trouble and I went over to help. She had a splitting headache and could not move. Eventually we got her out of the pool and with support of another nurse it was decided that hospital was the best place to go. Now we have been swimming as a group for maybe 3 years. We meet 1-2 x a week, but there is basic information that we do not know. I knew that once at the hospital I would be asked: surname, first name, DOB, address, next of kin. None of that information did I have.   As I drove home after the hospital, it made me think of all the lovely frie...

How do these tapers come round so quickly?  I never feel 'cooked' for events, always think I'm not ready enough, and I'm sure it's too early to slow down and rest.  But Sunday I went out and did 28km in the pouring rain, clearly I have had the longest run I'm going to get for this event, probably in perfect Wellington-winter-style weather conditions though, but I have now run out of time to do more. Oh but my legs felt tired towards the end of that long slog.  I blame the spin bike session at Te Puru on Thursday night, that will teach me for ignoring the bike for 3 whole months, I lose my bike legs!  Probably also a lesson that running to and from the spin session might have been sensible during triathlon training, but a wee bit over-ambitious when volume has scaled right back during run season. This weekend I plan a nice 21.1km, its the Strawberry moon virtual half marathon (or 5 or 10km) organised by a fabulous international group of runners and walkers ca...

"A HAUNTING IN HUNUA" Sunday 9th June 2013, 10:00am start, Hunua Falls car park Yes - Its that time of year that you need to get wet and dirty.  This club event has been designed to have a difficulty rating between "easy peasy to survivalistic". Leg 1: Road Cycle, 30km. May have some flat sections. Leg 2: Run, 9km. Will I stay dry? Leg 3: Mountain Bike, 20km. Pure downhill pleasure. This was the advert for the multi sports club outing. Yes I can do that I thought, no problem.  The road cycle was down and up hills, most of which I had done. That's half the battle when you know you can do it. But it was raining, well actually hailing. I was well prepared, loads of layering of clothing and a hat. So up the hills we went and I made them all. Back to the carpark and a quick change of clothes. Dry ones, even dry socks. I went off with one of the ladies who had an injury to her ankle. It was going to be a good walk.  Over the bridge at Hunua falls and ...

The hardest part was walking out the door as the whanau was sitting down to dinner.  I had had my protein shake before I left work in order to allow time for the energy to get where it needed to, but I would have much preferred proper food as it steamed invitingly on the plates.  Anyway, out the door at 6pm, dark, cold, but mercifully not raining.  I trotted along in my own world, managed to startle a large rabbit as I ran through Omana Park, and arrived at the spin class to find that it was their first ever, with a whole lot of brand new bikes lined up.  I carefully chose a bike to one side, a row back from the front, all the better to see what was going on but remain incognito since I didn't plan on working too hard. What do you know, everyone else took the back rows so clever instructor, she simply wheeled the front row of bikes completely away and I was in the front.  Sigh. It was a good session, I got an excellent workout, if I was honest I would say th...

Bike ride in 7 weeks.  PANIC!  Only 70km says Kate who has been cycling most weekends. Undulating says Kate who trains out on the West coast where a mountain is called a 'hill'.  We'll take it easy says Kate who has been doing twice a week spin classes and trains harder than I race.  This could be embarrassing. I haven't been on a bike...for...a long time, my poor road-bike is still covered in Ironman dirt and sweat and is tucked behind the kids bikes in the shed.  Dusty, ignored, not quite forgotten, its neglected and reproachful visage looms up in my nightmares occasionally. I found an advertisement for a spin fitness class at Te Puru park which is in my home territory so I have signed up for a session tonight.  But it's a run day, marathon in 2 weeks, gotta run...what to do?  Why pop my cycle shorts on, tuck my sweat towel and water bottle into my fuel belt, run down to Te Puru, do the spin and run home of course.  Overconfident...lacking i...