The weekend with a dirt duathlon event

 Hi,

What an unusual start to the weekend.  No boot camp.  Mike and I hardly ever get the chance to stay in bed late on Saturday mornings.  So that is what we did.  And the weather was yuck - so it made it extra specially nice to stay lounging around in pyjamas.

Mike made me an iced latte after brekkie (I made the brekkie).  Mmmm.  He absolutely nailed it.

Saturday morning home made iced latte

Mike nailed it

Looks like the surface of Jupiter

Smudge claims my lap

The rest of the day was lazy.  We did go to the supermarket to get provisions for the race day on Sunday.  And after we had tea, we packed for the race too.  Car and bags were ready.

The Forester's drivers side front indicator failed as we pulled up to the house late Saturday with our groceries.  Stink!

Anyway - up at 5.30am to get ready for the race.  Last minute things and brekkie.  All good.  We were packed into the car by 6.35 am or so and off to collect Callan, only a tad behind schedule.

At his house just after 7am.  Shuffle of the bikes to use his bike rack.  Piled into the car and we were at Z Mana to meet Chris at 7.21am.  Almost back on schedule.  Woot!

At Theresa's house by 7.45am and she piled into Chris's car and then we drove to Waiterere Beach for the Dirt Duathlon.

The farmer had lent a paddock, handily cropped recently by cows.  Full of evidence they had been there.  Chris noticed a plover nest with 4 eggs in the middle of the paddock where everyone walked and drove.  So we protected the nest and the angry parents squawked at us from time to time through the day.

Theresa got our registration.  Team 038.  And Theresa got a spot prize - yay!  Team:  Straight off the couch.

Me, Theresa, Callan and Chris - all supported by Mike.  Mike pitched the tent which was lovely to use at the end of the race as it was raining fairly heavily by then.

10am start.  We were green which meant we did the course backwards.  C - B - A.  B was a bike leg through the forest.  C was a short race on foot with map and compass.  And A was a bit longer (5km maybe) through the forest on foot.

We get ready for the race

Plover nest with eggs

Finished 3 hours and 9 mins later

Hot soup in the tent

It took us 3 hours and 9 mins.  We were one of the last to finish.  The fastest team did it in 1 hour 57.  I need to do more cardio and running to keep up that sort of speed.

Happy bunch

But it was great fun.  Chris and Callan navigated like a boss - we made no mistakes (which was lucky as missing a gate meant a 1 hour penalty), Chris was awesome on the bike.  Theresa can run all day.  Callan was looking out for me.  It was such fun.

The campground across from the car park paddock let us use their toilet block - that was a huge help.  I thought we would have portaloos.  :-)  Flush toilets - so good.

Finished just after 1pm and fell into the tent and enjoyed hot chocolate and soup from Mike (who had the camp stove fired up in the tent porch).  Eventually packed everything up and headed home in the Sunday traffic.

Home to shower and dry things out and a quick turnaround to have dinner at Sally and Andrew's place.  Caught up with everyone's news.  Malcolm and Marion are moving to Blenheim very soon.  Malcolm has work there starting August 1.  Wow!

On our way there we stopped for petrol at Z Hutt Rd and Mike took the opportunity to replace the indicator light on the forecourt.  Did it (and fueled the car) in 5 minutes!  Wow.

Back home and fell into bed and slept like a log.  Hahah.  My alarm at 5.30am woke me with a huge start.  Funny.

The week stretches before us.  Shortest day today.  And Wellington is turning on the cold, wintry weather.  Rain.  Bit of wind.  Yep - winter.

Here at work the heating system is also blowing out cold air for some reason. It's actually colder inside than outside! So I am feeling a little chilly here at my desk.  :-o

Have a great week.  Last week of exams for Toby.  Good luck, Toby!

Love,

Angela