Country #3 - New Zealand

An absolutely stunning morning in Auckland and perfect for a run - sunny and in the low 60s. [18*] I had a bit of trouble finding the race this morning as the park was enormous but eventually, I got there in time for my race. I knew as soon as we lined up, that I would be the slow one. Most of these women were in a running club trying to get times to qualify or prepare for larger races. Oh well...slow and steady.

The one thing I forgot about was....Auckland = hills! What was I thinking? I know that Auckland is a hilly city but it just didn't dawn on me, until I was midway up the first hill thinking...how many more of these? Answer is two; one medium and one huge. What really helped was the AWESOME NZ playlist I had - thanks to all my friends I really plowed through this run with 44 minutes, but I was last by a long way and was lapped by three women doing the 10k.

The great thing when you are waaaaaaaaay last in a race, is that every single race marshall cheers for you, talks to you and encourages you so it is nice to have your own cheer squad.

It was a hard one but it was beautiful and fun.
Thanks Auckland!