Nige and I got the chance to have dinner with my coach, Greg, his wife Debra, and his two sons, Jarrod and Jeff. It was a ton of fun. Debra went all out and made an incredible dinner for us. We had a leg of pork, American sweet potatoes, yams (very different than the yams in the US), veggies, bread pudding, and for dessert, pavlova. Pavlova is a traditional Kiwi dessert mostly made up of meringue in cake form. She split it in half and layered it with whipped creme then covered it in fresh kiwis and strawberries. It was decadent and delicious. Nige brought a great bottle of sauvignon blanc from a vineyard in Richmond, about 15 minutes from Nelson. We went back and forth swapping running stories, Greg almost dying from a race in Austin, Debra running with a bloody nose, black eyes, and broken ribs. It was intense! We all laughed when Greg told us about the three people standing over him on the track as he passed out from exhaustion; the first a trainer asking “how many fingers,” the second a reporter, and the last his coach with a big middle finger in his face.
Life in Nelson has been great. The weather has started to get warmer, sunnier, and with fewer showers. I’ve done a lot of exploring in the trails that wind their way south away from the ocean. Hundreds of miles of track overlap and crisscross over never ending temperate forest. Rocks, pine needles, and soggy bog smear your legs and get stuck in your shoes. Everything is lush, green, and wet. I start some days up the trail and accept that I’ll probably get lost for awhile. It’s a good way to start the day. You feel a lot of emotions when you’re running on the tracks. You can feel alone one minute then come across a biking family the next, Mom and Dad waiting for their little girl, in pink bike and helmet, followed by her older brother. It’s a testament to how much the Kiwis love the outdoors.
It can also be scary. You stop dead in your tracks, “what was that”? Then you remember there aren't any bears or cougars in New Zealand. No reason to be paranoid. The longer trails can be disheartening, a small light at the end of the tunnel. But you eventually make it and realize how much you love seeing a parking lot, a sure sign of civilization. Running up and down hills and mountains, while may be Sisyphean, is a pleasant experience and a chance for self reflection. A friend once told me about the extremes of emotion he sometimes feels out on a hard run, “at the start you feel like crap and hate everything around you, but by the end you’re cruising along, smooth and effortless, feeling on top of the world. ” I like that. It wouldn't be fun without the shitty parts. No ‘ups’ without ‘downs’.
As I increase my mileage and put in longer runs, I’m spending more time alone on the trails. I’m learning it’s good to know how to be alone and am learning to be OK without constant entertainment. You can learn a lot about yourself. Maybe it’s a phase of independence I’m going through. Don’t get me wrong, I like having people around and I've always touted the benefits of group running. I get to experience that on some of my harder workouts with Greg’s training group. I prefer it that way, longer runs by myself and intense runs with a group. People give you energy, and running in a group, or even with one other person, can make it easy to cruise along and make hours turn into minutes. The group dynamic is amazing. You give energy, and it’s returned. The pack all moves in one direction, feeding off each other, queuing off each other’s footsteps, breathing, talking, snot rocketing. It’s like a pack of geese, or maybe wolves. Yeah, wolves are much more masculine.
Tomorrow we have a tempo run, or a threshold run. It means fast but comfortable running. Or running at a pace you can sustain for an hour, at the threshold between your aerobic and anaerobic limits. We’re running kinda fast for a kinda long period of time. Know what I mean? Anyway, so far I've spent my time here in Nelson exploring and getting lost. It’s been great! Sorry for not posting pictures, camera issues. Cheers.
What I’ve been reading lately: Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain
A view from down the street
