Tuesday, October 25
First I flew to Los Angeles.
When I arrived, there was a Delta employee in the jet bridge holding a
sign with my name. She was from Delta
Elite Services and asked if I wanted a ride to terminal 5. She drove me around the planes to the gate
closest to the Delta SkyClub, where I waited until my next flight. That was a new experience.
After a three hour layover, I left LA on a 15 hour flight to
Sydney, Australia. It was 11:00 PM
Pacific Time, but to me, it already felt like 1:00 AM. I had to wait until after the meal service
before I could try to sleep.
Thursday, October 27
What happened to Wednesday?
I crossed six time zones flying from Los Angeles to Sydney, but I also
crossed the International Date Line.
When I arrived in Sydney, it was already 8:00 AM Thursday morning.
I spent almost half the flight trying to sleep, but only
managed to fall asleep for half an hour.
That was enough to get me through the next day.
I’m getting better at packing light. Either that or I’m getting better at stuffing
things into my small suitcase. Including
the travel days, this was an eight day trip, but I managed to get by with just
a carry-on. That saved me time in Sydney. If I checked a bag, I would have needed to
retrieve it in Sydney and then re-check it before boarding my flight to
Auckland. I also didn’t have to worry
about a lost bag on a trip where I flew on two different airlines.
I had enough time between flights that I was able to have
brunch in the Sydney airport. Add
Australia to the list of countries where I’ve had pizza.
After one more flight, I finally arrived in Auckland around
4:00 PM. The airport is a long way from
downtown Auckland. A cab ride would have
been too expensive, so I took a Super Shuttle.
It normally takes about an hour, but traffic was horrendous. By the time I got to my hotel, it was already
6:00. Surprisingly, I didn’t feel that
tired.
I stayed at the Auckland Hilton, which is on Princes Wharf,
in the heart of downtown. It was a great
location for both sightseeing and the marathon.
I could walk to almost everything.
The Hilton is right on the water, and it has a nautical theme. There’s a small wing facing the harbor that’s
shaped like a sail. From just outside
the hotel, I had great views of the harbor, including Auckland Harbour Bridge.
The weather in Auckland was cool but comfortable. Late October in the Southern Hemisphere is
like late April in the Northern Hemisphere.
During my stay, I experienced high temperatures in the 60s and overnight
lows in the 50s.
Auckland has lots of good craft beers, so I tried to eat at
restaurants that were attached to breweries.
For dinner, I went to Brothers Beer, where I had my first pizza in New
Zealand. I had pizza in two new
countries in one day. This pizza had
bacon, pineapple, mango chutney and cilantro.
Hawaiian pizza is popular here, but the mango chutney gave it a local
spin.
By the time I left the restaurant, it was getting dark, and
I got to see what the Sky Tower looks like at night.
I had no trouble getting to sleep, but I woke up early and
couldn’t get back to sleep. Jet lag was
rearing its ugly head.
Friday, October 28
On Friday, I took an all-day guided tour. The bus picked me up at my hotel, but I had
to rush through breakfast, so I would be ready to leave on time.
My tour was actually two separate guided tours that happened
to be in the same region. The first one
was a tour of the Hobbiton movie set.
Hobbiton was the fictional home of the hobbits in the Lord of the Rings
and Hobbit movies.
The set used for the Lord of the Rings movies was built on a
1,250 acre sheep and cattle farm near Matamata.
After filming, that set was torn down.
When the producers returned to the same farm to build another set for
the Hobbit movies, the farmer agreed, but this time he wanted them to build
something that could be used as a tourist attraction when they were done
filming.
The set includes 44 hobbit holes, plus fields, gardens, and
other sights depicted in the movies. Our
guide pointed out which parts of the set were used in memorable scenes. I was impressed by the incredible attention
to detail. Some parts of the set took
weeks to build, but only appears on screen for a few seconds in passing shots.
Our Hobbiton tour concluded with a free drink at the Green
Dragon Inn and a buffet lunch. It was a
meal fit for hobbits.
The second guided tour was at the Waitomo Glowworm Cave. The Waitomo Caves are limestone caves with
lots of stalactites and stalagmites. The
cool, damp environment in the caves is a natural habitat for glowworms. Where we entered the Glowworm cave, it was
well lit, and there were large chambers where we could see all the limestone
formations around us. Then we descended
to a lower level, where a river flows through the cave. We boarded small boats to travel slowly
through this section, which is unlit.
In the lower section of the cave, it was completely dark,
except for the phosphorescent glow of thousands of tiny glowworms. They looked like tiny blue points of
light. Once your eyes adjust to the
dark, you can see them all over the ceiling of the cave. It was like looking at stars in the nighttime
sky.
Matamata and Waitomo were both a long distance from
Auckland. We spent hours on the road in
a large tour bus. We got to see quite a
bit of the countryside, and our driver told us about the history of the area.
When I got back to the hotel, it was late, and I was too
tired to go out. I had a light dinner at
a seafood restaurant at the hotel.
That night I got more sleep.
I still woke up at 3:00, but I was able to get back to sleep.
Saturday, October 29
On Saturday, I didn’t need to be in any rush, so I was able
to enjoy my breakfast at the hotel. They
had a buffet with a great deal of variety.
It was similar to breakfast buffets at nice hotels in Europe, but there
were also Asian dishes, like pork dumplings and local foods, such as yellow kiwi fruit.
After breakfast, I walked over to the Viaduct Events Center,
where the marathon expo was held. In
addition to my race bib and gear bag, I received a wrist band, which served as my
ticket for the ferry ride to the start.
Next, I walked over to Queens Wharf for a free walking tour
that started at 10:00. We started along
some smaller streets parallel to Queen Street.
Our guide gave us some of the history of the city, and told us how some
of the older neighborhoods have changed over time. If I was walking by myself, I could easily
have walked past many of the historic buildings without noticing them. After walking as far as the art museum, we went
through Albert Park and over to the Old Governor’s House. Then we worked our way back to Queen’s Wharf.
After the tour, I continued to explore downtown Auckland on
my own, starting with Queen Street. Along
the way, I was also scouting for a good place to eat dinner (i.e. a brewery
with pizza). I eventually settled on
Shakespeare Hotel & Brewery.
Sunday, October 30
Sunday was race day.
My alarm was set for 3:00, but I woke up at 1:30 and couldn’t get back
to sleep. This time it wasn’t jet
lag. It was pre-race nerves.
I was conflicted about what to wear. The temperature was going to be in the low
50s throughout the race, but it was also going to be somewhat windy. I noticed on Saturday that whenever I was
near the harbor, the wind felt cold.
There was also a chance of a passing shower later in the morning.
There are races where you go all-out for a fast time, and
there are races where you carry a camera and stop to take pictures. This was going to be the latter. With that in mind, I decided to wear tights
and an extra shirt. This was my third
continent as Cheetah Man, although I didn’t have room in my suitcase for the
matching hat.
The race started across the harbor, in Devonport. To get to the start, I took a ferry. The race started at 6:00, so I had to be up
early to board a ferry. The ferries
started running at 4:20. The ferry
terminal was at Queens Wharf, which was about a 10 minute walk, so I left the
hotel around 4:10.
As I was walking down Princes Wharf, I heard lots of
commotion. Apparently, the local bars
closed at 4:00 and the patrons who partied all night were just leaving.
I got to the ferry terminal in time to board the first ferry
to Devonport.
It didn’t take long to get there. The ferry terminal in Devonport had
bathrooms, so I took the opportunity to use a real bathroom before the
race. When I came out of the bathroom, I
noticed most of the other runners were hanging around inside the building. That made sense. It was still more than an hour until the
start, and it was warmer inside than outside.
I eventually made my way to the start area, took off my
warm-ups, checked my gear bag, and made a final bathroom stop. From the start area, we had this view of
downtown Auckland from across the harbor.
When the race started, I ran at a pace that felt comfortable. I didn’t have any goal pace in mind. Before the race, I had looked at a course
map, but not an elevation profile. I
knew Auckland Harbour Bridge would be a big hill, but I didn’t know if the rest
of the course was hilly or flat. I
quickly discovered the first half to be non-stop hills. On some of the hills, I started to get
hot. That was a reminder to throttle
back my effort.
I wasn’t looking at my watch. I wasn’t even watching for the kilometer
markers. I just tried to run a pace that
felt easy. On the longer hills, I
sometimes started to tire, but the rest of the time it felt easy.
Around 11K, we came alongside Shoal Bay, and got our first
view of downtown since the start.
As we got closer, the view kept changing.
Then we began the approach to the bridge. As we started the ramp up to the bridge, we
were greeted by these drummers. I was
reminded of Battery Hill in Burlington, VT.
The ramp up to the bridge was a seriously tiring hill, but I
broke it up by stopping a few times to take pictures.
Here's a view of downtown and the marina from the bridge.
While I was taking pictures, I was passed by the 4:00 pace
group. For the first time, I knew my
pace. I started too fast for such a
hilly course.
The downhill side of the bridge gave me a good rest, but I
wasn’t done with the hills. We no sooner
got off the bridge than we ran uphill again as we crossed a freeway. Then we began a long descent.
I don’t know if this descent was steep or if my legs were
weary from the bridge, but this was the only time it felt uncomfortable to run
downhill. I continued descending all the
way to the water’s edge. Then we ran
under the bridge.
After a few more hills and turns, we worked our way toward
downtown. Between 19K and 20K, I was
passed by two motorcycles. Each of the
drivers was telling the runners to keep to the side of the road. They were escorting the lead runner of the
half marathon. That race started an hour
after the marathon, and the leader was already approaching the finish.
Just before the halfway mark, the courses separated. The half marathon runners kept to the right
and ran toward the finish in Victoria Park.
The marathon runners turned left to begin a long out-and-back.
I reached the halfway mark in 2:01:47. It was the first time I checked my time. Within a few minutes, I recognized the
Hilton. We were going to turn onto Quay
Street, which is right on the waterfront.
I’ve done three international races this year, and all three courses
have gone right past my hotel.
The second half of the course never ventured away from the
waterfront, and it was fairly flat. The
hills of the first half left my legs feeling sluggish, but after a few
kilometers, I started to recover. Then I
started taking more pictures. Each time
I stopped to take a picture, I had trouble starting up again. My legs would feel stiff at first, but I
would gradually work back into my rhythm.
Then I’d stop for another picture.
Before getting out of downtown, I saw the leader of the
marathon coming back. He looked just as
fast as the leader of the half marathon.
As we left downtown, there were fewer spectators, but the
ones we saw were fairly colorful. This
woman appeared to have taken a wrong turn somewhere. Actually, she was from the UK, but this sign
was for the benefit of about 30 runners from the United States.
Next, we were greeted by these dancers. I’m not sure what type of music they were
dancing to.
As we got farther from downtown, I got different views of
the harbor.
On our right, we passed Hobson Bay.
Then after a bend in the road, we had a view of downtown on
our left.
Were these the same drummers we saw earlier? It seems like it would have been difficult to
pack up and move this far in such a short time.
We started getting big crowds again as we ran through
Mission Bay. The Mission Bay fountain
was on our left.
On Saturday, I always felt a cold wind when I was near the
harbor. I wasn’t feeling it now. I didn’t realize it yet, but the wind was at
our back. I started to get hot.
When I reached the turnaround, I knew I would be seeing the
same sights on the way back, so I stopped taking pictures. From here on out, I didn’t stop. Within a few minutes, I felt a drop. It was mostly sunny, so I didn’t occur to me
that it might rain. As it turned out,
there was one gray cloud, and I was underneath it. It started sprinkling.
The rain felt good.
It helped cool me off. Then the
rain stopped, and I started to notice the headwind. Now that my clothes were wet, the wind felt
cold. I went from too hot to too cold in
about one kilometer.
I felt sluggish, but I kept moving. I got a psychological lift when I could see
downtown buildings again. That was about
7K to go. Then I heard the drummers and
let the rhythm of the drums pull me along.
That was about 6K to go. After
passing Hobson Bay again, I had just over 5K to go.
I knew I was slowing down, but I didn’t look at my
watch. Finally, with 2K to go, I noticed
a runner with a sign on his back. He was
the 4:15 pace leader. Nobody was running
with him, but I assumed he was on pace.
I wasn’t going to break 4:15, not that it was a big deal. Not paying attention to my watch was
liberating.
I started passing familiar downtown buildings for the last
time. I saw the ferry terminal at
Queen’s Wharf. Then I saw the Hilton at
Princes Wharf. Then the course turned to
the left. The hardest part about passing
my hotel was knowing that after the race I would have to walk back the same
distance. It was about a kilometer.
After a few more turns, I saw half marathon runners
approaching from the other direction.
They had been running for just over three hours. I was surprised how thick the pack was.
After two more turns, both races finished alongside Victoria
Park. I finished in 4:17:43. The finisher medal depicts the Auckland
Harbour Bridge.
After making my way back to the hotel and getting cleaned
up, I had lunch at another brewery with pizza.
Then I stopped to get an ice cream cone for dessert. Dairy farming is one of the biggest
industries in New Zealand, so by eating ice cream, I was helping the local
economy.
After lunch, fatigue from the race and lack of sleep caught
up to me. I spent most of the afternoon
relaxing at the hotel to recharge. The
break gave me a chance to plan my activities for Monday. I didn’t book anything before the trip,
because I wanted to wait and see what the weather would be like. It also gave me a chance to do some photo
editing.
For dinner, I went to Brew on Quay. No pizza, but after a race, sometimes a
burger hits the spot. They also had a
wide variety of both New Zealand and import beers.
Monday, October 31
I usually fly home the day after a race, but I gave myself
one extra day for sightseeing. After
sleeping in and having a leisurely breakfast at the hotel, I walked over to the
New Zealand Maritime Museum. This museum has exhibits covering New Zealand’s
seafaring history, ranging from the ships used by Maori settlers and European
explorers to immigrant ships, merchant ship, fishing and whaling vessels,
ferries, and competitive yachts.
In lieu of lunch, I stopped by a small ice cream shop. I was still supporting those dairy farmers.
Next, I went on a half day dolphin and whale watching safari. We traveled out into Hauraki Gulf on a 65
foot catamaran. The region we visited is
a marine park inhabited by numerous species of marine mammals.
The crew included two marine researchers. They know the feeding habits of marine birds
and use the birds to find dolphins and whales.
The birds feed on the same small fish that dolphins eat. At first, we were seeing a few of the birds,
but we weren’t seeing them in large numbers.
After searching all around the gulf, the crew eventually spotted a large
flock diving into the water to feed. We
headed toward them, and before long, we were surrounded by dolphins. They were swimming beneath us and diving in
and out of the water. There were roughly
1000 of them.
For dinner, I returned to Brew on Quay.
Tuesday, November 1
Today, I'm flying home. It will take more than a day to get home, but I cross the International Date Line
again, so it will still be Tuesday when I get home.
In fact, my flight from Sydney to Los Angeles leaves at 11:00 AM and
will arrive in LA at 7:00 AM. That’s four hours of
my life I will get back, although I'll
spent a good portion of that time going through customs.
It's good of you to be so supportive of the local dairy farmers.
ReplyDeleteAnything to help the local economy.
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