Mike's weekend with running and Eurovision

 I'll start - I'm feeling sore but very happy with my 21k Personal Best* of 2 hours 15 minutes and 20 seconds.

The placings don't look so good, but I don't care. I beat all those people on the couch.

*OK it may not be a PB but I'm not really sure. I'll look up my past times if I can find them, and post them at the bottom.

Janine was aiming for 7 hours and smashed that. Benchmark for Queenstown in November.

We were on the road bright and early after I dropped Angela off at the airport for her Brisbane flight. Not too an eventful trip. Traffic was ... fun ... including dodging a fishtailing trailer. But we made it to Napier in good time for lunch.

We checked out the view from Bluff hill, with panoramic views of the logging port and a small fuel terminal. And apparently Mt Ruapehu, buried in the haze behind the Kawekas. Then checked into our cute little cabins, a short wander from town.

A tiny house each

We filled in the afternoon by going to, not just the Napier aquarium, but the New Zealand National Aquarium. I was prepared to be underwhelmed, but it was pretty good actually, with a Kiwi enclosure, enormous turtles, and Little Blue Penguins. Four stars would aquare again.

I'm SURE I've been here before.
Maybe somewhere else with penguins and feeding?

Glass roof - but WITH A TRAVELATOR. Fancy.
No need for strenuous walking here!

Yup they've got one of these too

This is art. To create awareness of the dangers of pollution and overuse of fossil fuels, school children have tied 12 km of nylon rope into shapes with thousands of plastic zip ties.
Yeah, I don't get it either.

After a hearty and filling 18" pizza from Vinci's just down the road, it was time for an early night. I set my alarm for 5:15am.

And we finished it all up

My half marathon bus left earlier than Janine's marathon bus, so I was out of the house and on my way without her. A quick walk down the hill led me straight to a highly efficient bus system and I was soon at the start line.

Gorgeous sunrise on the way to the bus

Before shot (anxious)

During shot 

After shot (exhausted - but happy. Honest. Can't you see the joy in my face?)

9 out of 10 nutritionists recommend a greasy kebab after a half marathon

The finish area was much better set up this year - they'd moved all the food and drink stalls to the field with the band and that made everything so much less congested. I got food and liquid into me and slowly came right.

GO JANINE!

I'm so photogenic that I made the marathon facebook page

I spent some time watching the marathon runners finish, inspiring stuff. Then Janine crossed the line over an hour faster than she was talking about. GOOD WORK JANINE. 

After Janine had recovered we bussed back to Napier and wandered back to our cabins. We were tired and not hungry, so we veged out to terrible reality TV on Bravo ("Botched - after my breast surgery they put my nipples back on too high") and ate cheese and crackers before crashing very early.

Sunday was EUROVISION and I was up early banging on Janine's door since she had the TV in her room.

IT'S HAPPENING

And much earlier in Sunshine Coast

Toast and Ugg Boots

The songs all seemed much more pared down and less over the top this year, although the Scandinavians didn't disappoint. Ukraine won with a good song and the UK actually entered something that wasn't terrible this year, and got 2nd!

Angela got captions which made it just that much better

We wandered up to Ahuriri, where the marathon started from, for a coffee at the Thirsty Whale before hitting the road. The weather got steadily worse and the drive was tedious but we were home in good time.

Monday morning and I don't feel too bad! Time to get stuck into my day. One day working from home then back into the office for me.

Looks gorgeous there

Happy cats here

PS: here are my half marathon times. OK so I smashed it in March 2021. That's my time to beat, though it's an unofficial 'fun run'.

Round the bays 21 Feb 2021 -- 2:16:02

Round the vines 20 Mar 2021 -- 2:10:09

Hawkes Bay 15 May 2021 -- 2:24:13

Kāpiti 14 Nov 2021 -- 2:18:42

Hawkes Bay 14 May 2022 -- 2:15:20