Karen writes: Paeroa to Thames run
The Paeroa to Thames
run along part of the Hauraki rail trail was on Sunday, 28+km, it was a little
unclear on the actual distance. What a
neat run, well worth the 90 minute or so trip to get there from Auckland.
We were meeting up with Kate down there and fellow runner J and
myself headed off early in the wee green car. I made the rather silly decision of
heading round the coast rather than going into town to hop on the motorway for
the longer but apparently faster trip according to Mx Google. So we ended up on that very pretty drive, but it took a bit more time
than anticipated, especially when at Kawakawa Bay horrible grinding noises came
from the car innards. We stopped, couldn’t see anything dragging on the ground,
started off again, grind grind scree crunch. Oh the heart drops, feeling sick, to not turn up at a looked forward to start-line is awful, I've never done that before and to let J down as well. Ok, let’s turn around and hope it goes away, then we can divert off to the
motorway if it does. Hang on, some ancient memory of a similar noise rose to
the surface... slam into reverse and scoot backwards, ah stone in the brakes. WHEW.
So a relatively
uneventful the trip after that, arrived at the school in Paeroa where the start
was, how refreshing, close parking, free chocolate, and (mark of a quality event) real
toilets not portaloos. I haven’t seen such
genuine old-school school toilets since...well...I don’t remember them being
like that even in my day. Wow, a glorious example of working history, I've said before, with running you never know what you will see.
We headed off along
the route of the old railway line, glorious morning, and the running surface
was gravel so a little attention was needed.
A lot of attention however was needed for the multitude of concrete
cattle stops, and of course the flexible swing or suspension type bridges. Ever tried to run on one of those? They come up to meet you with every step, and
if someone else is also running (or walking), well, I found it was the weirdest of
sensations, going from novel to queasy on the longer versions. Since I’m known for my love of bridges, I’m
not complaining though, I got to see all sorts.
Special memories,
having to stop for mother duck and her flotilla of little ducklings crossing
the path from one drainage ditch to another, the big pond with so many frogs in
it the noise was almost painful, the strange kid who turned up in odd places, and
a picture perfect day running a flat if ankle challenging surface through a
beautiful landscape with the hills marching alongside.
The finish was at the
Thames rugby club. A novel method of making sure everyone stayed for
prize-giving was to not have the transport back to the start until after all the
formalities had finished. But hey there
was an ice cream truck, a sausage sizzle and more genuine vintage toilets. Perfect. It was so nice I would really like
to look at more of that trail, more info here http://www.haurakirailtrail.co.nz/. Now the picture isn't mine, I was running for a change and watching my feet not taking photos, I've borrowed it off the council website (call it advertising) and it gives an idea of things.
So we drove back
agreeing it had been a good day, several food and drink stops were made to sort out post event
cravings and if that is the only long run before Auckland marathon in four
weeks, we are ready, minimum done.
 |
| Picture courtesy of TCDC |
Now
swimming...ah...swimming. Yes. A swim. Maybe tomorrow.
