She'll Be Runnin' Round the Mountain!

You know that mountain I tramp on all the time?  Well this past weekend was the "Round the Mountain Relay", a 150 km (93 mile) relay run around the whole Mount Egmont!

With my original team falling through, I ended up being an extra member on a 5-person team from Wellington.  The rules stated that teams need at least ten runners, but these guys had orginally hoped to be hardcore and do it with only 7.  At the last minute they only had 5 people, so they were happy to take on some extra help (aka me)!

These guys were quite organized- they had rented a van and reserved a lodge near the start/finish.   They invited me to participate as little/much as I wanted to.  So I was brave and decided to spend the entire weekend with them!!

The lodge was quite awesome.  It was eco-friendly and ran on wind/solar/water power only.  It had a huge treehouse complete with a flying fox zip line, which of course we had to try out.

Whee!

The race started at 2:45 am, so that left about 3 hours for sleep on Friday night.  It was pitch black outside but the starting line was bright due to all the headlamps, taillights, and reflective vests. 

And they're off!

The run had 21 legs, all of different lengths and difficulties.  My teammates were quite hardcore runners, so I requested the shorter/easier ones.  I ran legs 3, 10, and 15 on the map below.

I began my first leg at about 3:45 in the morning.  What a rush to be running on the road in the dark, with only the light of your headlamp (and a tailight of a person in front of you, if there happened to be someone there!)

Here I am finishing my first leg, and Peter taking over (and some spectator wrapped up in a blanket!)...

Since we started at 2:30 (and were awake since 1am), it seemed like forever until sunrise.  But when it finally came, the mountain looked beautiful!  

We were quite awesome at the changeovers.   Here's Peter ending and Alastair (our fearless captain!) starting...

 (note the sogginess.  it was drizzly/windy most of the afternoon).  So much for a pretty mountain view.

In total I ran about 16 km's (all the other guys did MUCH more!).  I learned it's quite difficult to pace yourself, because you want to give it your all each time, but then you have to remember you have to do it again in another hour or so!

My last leg was the toughest.   But I made it!

I did the least of the hard work, but these guys powered through, especially at the end, and we finished the whole shebang in 11 hours and 50 minutes.   Ninth place out of 51 teams!  Not too shabby.

Here were are, right after running the last 100 meters to the finish together as a team!!! Soggy, tired, but happy.... and eager for some celebratory beverages :)

To Steve, Peter, Alastair, Dave, and Alex--- thanks for a fabulous weekend!  I couldn't have asked for a more diverse, hilarious, kind, adventurous and not to mention SPEEDY five men to run around the mountain with!