super generic girl

the awesomely average life of a girl like all others


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I seem to have signed up for a 35km trail run in 2 months’ time

Oh hi, still there? Awesome. How’s it going? Done anything stupid lately?

Me? Oh, where to start?

Well, a couple of weeks ago, my friend P. told me he had a ticket to the Whenuapai half marathon for April 1. At first I read the email and thought “nope, not doing a half marathon in two weeks’ time without any training”. Then I thought about it some more. When I think too much, stupid stuff happens. So now I’m one sleep away from running my fourth half marathon in less than 12 months, this time with almost zero training (my longest run since the February half marathon was 10km long).

Then, last Monday, while I was at work not even pretending to cope well with last minute deadline-y stuff, an email came through from S. suggesting a 35km run in the forest taking place in exactly two months time. I read her email a good two or three times (ok, maybe ten) to make sure I wasn’t in some sort of work deadline-induced hallucination stage. It still sounded like she wanted to do a 35km trail run. So I called her to make sure she wasn’t the one who was high on something. She hasn’t admitted to it but she has to be doing drugs because I called and she confirmed that I’d read the email right.

Somehow, within two minutes of that phone conversation, I had registered and paid for this insanity too. And then proceeded to feel light-headed and panicky for the following, oh I don’t know, 76 hours.

Now that I’ve had time to sleep on it, well, nothing much has changed really. I continue to think this is, by far, the stupidest idea ever (and I’ve had some really stupid ideas so that’s saying something) and I continue to have no clue about how I’m going to survive that.

I mean, COME ON! My longest distance so far is 21.1km. On road. An even surface. And you might still remember the time I ran a 9km trail run and wanted to die afterwards. I don’t run uphills very well at all. This 35km run has a number of them, including a peak of 700m before we even reach the 5km mark. It calls for mandatory gear like a first aid kit and an emergency blanket. First aid kits are for when you get hurt. Emergency blankets are for when you’re lost and cold in the bush. If anyone is going to need those, it’s probably going to be me.

I know I have to get serious about this. I know. I’ve been reading about trail running in the past day or so – it’s a start. But giggling about about finding out that speed work on trails is called fartlek is not going to help me with this. (but, seriously, fartlek.)

Work at the moment is busier than ever and I’ve got a bunch of commitments coming up that I can’t (and don’t want to) get out of. So I’ve got to get organised. With that in mind, I’ve singled out three key things to focus on in the next couple of months:

Running

Not only do I seriously need to up my training, I need to shift from the road to the trails. Waitaks, we’re coming for you!

Sleep

I’ve been sleeping an average of five hours a night over the past few months and that’s just not going to cut it. I know I can’t realistically expect to start sleeping like a normal person from one night to the next but I think a goal of averaging seven hours each night is not too far-fetched. Maybe. Hopefully.

Food

Goodbye, processed crap! Well, on most days, anyway. Goodbye, 7th cup of coffee of the day. I miss you already! No, seriously, I do. I haven’t had any processed sugar (chocolate bars, cookies, lollies, anything!) for a solid five days now. A couple of days ago, I walked past a lady eating a chocolate and caramel slice and I nearly shed a tear. I’ve also been limiting my coffee intake to two a day (HOLY CRAP!) and replacing the afternoon cups with tea. I don’t know how much longer I can keep pretending that my grapes are M&Ms and, let me tell you right now, celery sticks definitely do not resemble Doritos. I’m going to allow myself a couple of cheat days here and there but, overall, this is it. And it sucks. At least for now. I want a donut. I want ten donuts. Damn it.

 

Yesterday after work, S. and I met up at the bottom of Mt Eden to try and do some hill training (something we have been avoiding like the plague for months). The plan was to do it on the road because we were really just going to focus on the climb but we ended up finding our way through a few offroad tracks up and down the mount and, I’ll even put it in writing, it was pretty damn fun. It was only a little over 5km in total so not enough to tell me anything about how that 35km one on the trail is going to go. I’m nowhere near ready for it. But what fun would it be if I was anyway, right?


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Cathay Pacific half marathon Auckland recap

Last sunday morning was awesome and it wasn’t even spent in bed like all sunday mornings should be. Instead of the usual routine of trying to sleep in while a cat gives me a less than friendly back massage and begs for food, I headed into town and ran my third ever half-marathon instead. Third ever and first of a plan of four for this year. After my first half in Taupo last August and the second one in Kerikeri in November, I was really excited about running a third one.

So excited I injured my knee a week before race day. Am I the clumsiest person you’ve ever met or just second clumsiest? With a bruised and sore knee, I dragged myself out the sunday before for a 15.5km run before deciding it was probably time to just jump straight to the part of the training that involves sitting on the couch eating lots of crap and feeling sorry for yourself. So that’s what I did. One 5km run all week and the knee showed little sign of improvement.

So on race day, I had to sport a super sexy knee brace and hope that I could end the 21.1km course without having to have my leg amputated or OMG a knee brace tan line. Spoiler: I still have both legs.

The data in the images is off my Nike+ app thingy (I call things thingy because I’m technical like that). The organisers of this event didn’t actually record anyone’s time which was kind of sucky for people like me who like to know exactly how long they take from start to finish. My nike+ isn’t always super accurate and actually think I ran more like 21.9km. I also only stopped it about 20 seconds after crossing the finish line so none of that is precise, just a good indication.

This wasn’t my best half-marathon time but it was, by far, the easiest half-marathon I’ve ever done. Nothing to do with the conditions – there were a couple of uphills to annoy my old-lady’s knee, the weather was maybe a little too hot and the staggered start didn’t exactly give me the whole adrenaline rush I normally get from these events. But for some crazy reason, I got really into it and felt amazing the entire time. I remember passing the 6km marker and feeling surprised because I felt we had only just started.

At about the 12km mark, I spotted my awesome friends (*waves!*) who had driven there to see me run. They followed me in the car for a while, stopping often for photos, high fives and just a whole lot of shouting my name. Not sure they have any idea how awesome I think they are for doing that but yeah, they are kind of fabulous that way. They left me at about 18km and drove to the finish line. I ran a really good final 3km along the waterfront, made slightly less amazing by the many walkers I had to dodge and the damn knee that kept on reminding me of its existence. I crossed the finish line only to realise and, pretty much as soon as that happened, my knee stopped hurting. It’s been three days, still not hurting. In fact – and here’s the real first! – nothing is hurting. I was walking around in high heels the day after, which was kind of a novelty for me.

So this is it. First half-marathon of the year done, three more to go. Roll on Rotorua! I’m pretty excited about kicking your ass in two months time!


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A letter to Samoa’s “craterman”

Dear self-proclaimed “da craterman, world famous in Samoa”,

I’m sorry I have been so busy I haven’t sent you the postcard I promised to send you from New Zealand. I still have the piece of paper where you wrote your address for me and I intend to have a postcard flying your way soon. I guess it’ll arrive at your family home in the village in Savai’i and you will eventually receive it on Saturday when you come down from your hut up near the top of the crater to get ready for church on sunday. Either way, I hope you like it.

Thank you for inviting us into your family home and introducing us to your family. Thank you for offering that we stay with you or at least have a meal next time we visit your island. I’m not sure we will ever take you up on the offer but it was incredibly sweet of you to invite us.

you've been warned.

I’m sorry I was so sick the day we met and couldn’t go up the crater with you. You were so excited that we had found you and wanted you to take us there. I would have made the effort of going on Saturday if you had said no to my Sunday alternative but, judging by how sick I was all day and how rough the road turned out to be, I’m really glad we didn’t. Still, I know how important going to church is to you and how Sunday is a day of rest for you and your community, which is why I’m even more grateful that you offered to do that.

one of his two fales near the crater

I admit I was a bit worried when we picked you up from your family’s house in Savai’i in our rental 4wd and you put what looked like old dry fish in the boot of the car, along with a basket full of taro and coconuts. When you said “this is for our lunch, I’m taking lunch for us to eat at the top”, I was all like “hells to the no!”, thinking that would have to be the most unsanitary meal I had ever had. When you asked us to stop at the store so you could stock up on beer, I said to C. that there was no way in hell I was going to eat that. He was reticent as well. I mean, you have to understand, we’re just a couple of silly little westerners with very weak stomachs. When, after a few minutes at the top of the crater, we went to the hut where you live all week long and you started preparing the taro and getting the coconut milk on the taro leaves and separating the fish with your hands, I got a little nauseated. And then you offered it to me and my mum and dad raised me so well I had to try. And, god damn, it was so delicious. One of the best meals ever, hands down.

taro leaves in coconut cream, taro and fish caught the night before

Your fale was only big enough for you and yet the three of us were there. I was amazed by the fact that you have a roof over your head but no walls. You have almost no possessions and yet you keep a book recording every single person you take up to the crater, as well as their nationality. You know how many countries have come to you. You told me you don’t mind the fact you’ve never left the island because you are lucky enough that the world comes to you. That was such a special thing to hear, considering how anxious I am to see as much of the world as I can. I should learn from you a little bit. I should learn from you a lot, actually.

walking around the crater and trying not to fall through one of the cracks

You take such good care of the road up to the crater and you are always worried about making sure the track is in good condition for anyone who wants to visit. Well, you don’t have to worry. It’s a great track and the crater was favourite spot on the entire island. You said you spend your entire days working on it and I believe you. It looks amazing. Hard work pays off, I guess. Don’t listen to the ones you criticise or say it should look better (you mentioned a couple of occasions when that happened, remember?). It’s a freaking volcano you’re looking after, not the botanical gardens. If they complain again about how it should have more of this or less of that, feel free to use those Samoan words you taught me. They’re be more than appropriate.

he's not kidding about the no rescue stuff.

I should learn to laugh as much as you do. I loved that you spent the entire drive up to your first fale telling stories and making jokes that weren’t even all that funny before proceeding to laughing like someone was tickling you really hard.

messages from past visitors

It was super adorable of you to get some ferns and make me a crown and say “There, now you’re the princess of the crater” before giving me a kiss on the cheek. I also saw how happy you were with the message I wrote in your book. I wonder if you’ve copied it into a piece of wood and picked a really nice spot on the road up to the crater for it, along with all the other messages people have left you over the years. One day, maybe I’ll see it for myself again.
Love,
Vera


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What I’ve been missing out on

Sunrises are right up there in the list of things I never expect to witness myself, along with polar bears cuddling baby owls and Nicole Kidman starring in a movie that I enjoy. And yet, I took this photo early this morning. While I was out running. By myself. Before 7AM. Getting goosebumps yet? Because that is some freaky stuff right there! I was out running before the sun was up. And as if that wasn’t already weird enough, I saw a lot of other people out exercising as well (including a couple of old men doing Tai Chi in the park near home). Was this some sort of gravitational unbalance that made us all fall out of bed before we were meant to? We may never find out… but it was enjoyable and I might actually do it again. 2012 is weird.


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10 random facts about my trip to Las Vegas

mandatory "welcome to fabulous las vegas" sign photo

It’s been a week since I returned from Las Vegas and I’m still not sure what to tell people when they ask me how it was. I don’t want to sound whiny and ungrateful and it’s also not true to say I hated it. But it’s fair to say I won’t be heartbroken if I never return. I guess it didn’t help that I was there for work and it is winter so days are short and I hardly saw any sunshine during that week. That said, with a good amount of money and super low expectations, I can see myself having fun there again. So anyway, here are 10 random facts about my week in Vegas and some random photos from the trip as well.

1. Flying business class is the shit. I know it makes me sound like Karl Pilkington (the one who didn’t want to fly to China and eat toad in case he liked it and couldn’t get it back in the UK) but the problem with being flown long-haul in business class (on someone else’s dime) is that economy class is now forever ruined for me. Seriously, having your own bed on the plane is amazing. Also, unlimited wine. Enough said.

Not a bad sunset on my first day there. Shame it was at about 4pm.

2. When I landed in Vegas and got out of the plane and into the terminal, I saw at least 100 slot machines before I could spot the sign for the bathrooms. Priorities there are just a little bit screwed up.

3. I have apparently become too used to the small scale of things in New Zealand. Everything in Vegas seems built for giants, from the size of the buildings to the size of their drink glasses.

Oh, America...

4. It is way safer than I imagined. Having watched about 34,560 episodes of Cops, I was expecting to have guns pointed at me. Missed out on that American experience, clearly, and met some really nice people instead.

5. The noise of the slot machines can get really annoying really quickly.

Someone get me a "I went for a walk along the Vegas strip and didn't get murdered" tshirt stat!

6. I’m now pretty used to getting electric shocks every time I touch my mousepad or call an elevator. Static electricity also meant I couldn’t wear my hair down without looking like I’d been sticking my fingers into power plugs.

7. I am terrible at packing for a trip on my own and will forget the most basic of items.

Fake Eiffel Tower. Not far from the fake Venice gondolas and the fake Statue of Liberty.

8. Some people’s stomachs can handle getting drunk early in the morning. Not mine.

9. I get why people talk about the fountains at the Bellagio so much. I’ve got no photographic evidence of having seen them at night but it’s okay because I remember it well and it was pretty damn cool.

A curry or a wedding? Decisions, decisions...

10. It is possible to function with only a very limited amount of sleep for days in a row. But then you’ll fly back home and crash and want to sleep for two weeks straight. With that in mind, nap time!


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Visiting a kastom tribe on Tanna, Vanuatu

When I got on that small propeller plane from Port Vila to Tanna, my only purpose for the 26 hours I would be spending on that island was to go up to the top of Mt Yasur on New Years Eve. In fact, going up to the top of that volcano on New Years Eve was pretty much the main purpose of my entire trip to Vanuatu. Anything else, I thought, would be bonus. Standing on top of that volcano is still one of the best experiences I have ever had and certainly a highlight of my trip to Vanuatu. And then, on the morning of the first day of 2012, we asked Tom, the Ni-Vanuatu that built the bungalow we were staying at on Tanna, if he would help us get to a kastom village.

I had done a fair bit of reading on kastom villages in Vanuatu and on the previous day, taking the long way round to the volcano, we had stopped at the main John Frum village for a few brief minutes. We wanted to find out more about these tribes and their fascinating way of living. Tom got his 4wd truck and drove us to the highlands of Tanna. We went as far as the 4wd could go and then hiked a little over 1km into the jungle to get to this tribe, completely isolated in the highlands.

To say we were amazed by what we experienced with that tribe would be an understatement .As the only two white people visiting them at the time, we felt like we had made a great group of friends (who, apart from two girls, didn’t even speak our language).

Speaking of that, as an aside, one of the things that fascinated me the most about Tanna, being a bit of a linguistics nerd and all, was the fact that the whole island is only about 45km long (so, really, quite small) and yet there are apparently five different languages spoken by the different tribes. Languages so different that different tribes cannot understand each other. Our drivers on the previous day had to stop to ask for directions and had to use Bislama (the Pidgin English from Vanuatu) to communicate with the guy they were talking to (the guy was holding a machete but thankfully communication was successful and no one got hurt). It is quite amazing to think that some of those tribes, living so close to each other by our standards, never even cross paths, never communicate. That’s how isolated they are. Isolated from the western world, isolated from neighbouring tribes. That isolation leads to truly special things like the survival of those different languages – how amazing is that? But anyway, enough with the linguistics nerdgasm.

We were welcomed to their common area and, among other things, one of the women tied a grass skirt around my waist – I should have remembered that I’d read that above the knee shorts were not appropriate attire for a woman visting a kastom tribe. Oops.

We only spent a couple of hours with them but they were filled with special moments. They showed us their traditional dances, hitting their feet so hard on the ground it almost shook beneath us again like we were still on top of the volcano, they showed us how they attack other people with bow and arrows and darts(and I showed them I’m a total loser when it comes to handling all of those), we planted kava and taro with/for them…

At one point, C. was invited to drink Kava with the tribe chief and went away while I stayed with the women. Women aren’t allowed to drink kava with men. I thought I wouldn’t be allowed to try it at all (and I can’t say the thought of not trying a drink made from roots of a plant that a group of boys chewed and then spat out was bothering me). But a few minutes later, while one of the two girls of the tribe who could speak English was explaining me that she had to walk a full day each time she went to English lessons on another part of the island, a little boy came and handed me half a coconut shell full of kava. I took a sip, my mouth went numb to the point when I couldn’t tell whether it was open or closed, I remembered that I was drinking what the kids had been chewing and handed him back the shell. C. later told me that the kid took my shell back to the men group and the tribe chief drank the rest of it as well as the rest of C.’s shell in one go. Respect. To minimise the effects of the kava, the chief then offered us taro and coconut he had cooked on the fire. I committed another faux-pas by looking at the chief in the eye as he handed me the food. He didn’t seem to mind too much, which was lucky because I saw how good those guys are with the bows and arrows.

One of my favourite moments was when, probably influenced by Kava (I’m kind of a lightweight when it comes to that sort of stuff), I decided to join them for some of the dances. The kids immediately held my hands and guided me through the different moves. They looked up at me every now and then and smiled and I smiled back and the fact that we couldn’t communicate with each other verbally was not a problem. In the end, every single person in the tribe shook our hands. A couple of the girls decided to hug me and touch my face with theirs so I got some of their traditional pain on my face. It was a gesture of friendship, I didn’t need to speak their language to understand that. I replied with the only Bislama I knew and just said “tangkyu tumas”.

What we got in those two hours was a unique glimpse into a way of living so different than ours, it is hard for me to get my little western brain around it. It is a way of life that has not changed in centuries and, judging from how happy these people are, is not likely to change anytime soon. In fact, from what I read and could gather in Vanuatu, it’s not like these tribes are unaware of western civilisation or alternative ways of living. They know other ways of life exist, they know about TV and other western inventions. They want nothing to do with it. And when you look at the size of their smiles, you realise they don’t need any of that to be happy. And you leave wondering why you do.


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halfway point

This year, I’m trying to up my training by convincing myself to go for double digit runs even during the week. I need to get used to the idea that a 10km run is a short run or else I’ll get stuck with the idea that the half-marathon is the longest distance I can run. So let’s practice: yesterday I went for a short 11km run. Except it didn’t feel short at all. It felt long and horrible and I didn’t actually enjoy myself one bit. The throat infection that prevented me from running for three weeks is still not 100% gone and even though I’ve started easing my way back into running after that short hiatus, I definitely feel a lot less fit than I was prior to getting sick. It actually amazes me how quickly your fitness levels drop when you are forced to take a break.

But anyway, I decided to run along the cycleway that goes parallel to the motorway near home. Choosing that route forces me to run a few kms each time because, once you get on the cycleway, you either run at least until the next motorway offramp or you have to turn around and go back the same way you came (which pretty much breaks the lame-o-meter for that run). I chose to head west for the first time and the image above is a blurry cell phone photo I took when I reach the halfway point on my run. I thought it was a good place to turn around and go back because: a) I was exhausted, b) it was starting to rain and c) it’s a road with my name on it.

I’m not sure I’ll be trying this route again. It was boring, scenery-wise,  and the cycleway to the west has some skinny parts that made me turn off the iPod to feel more confident I wouldn’t get hit by a cyclist trying to squeeze his way past me.  But it had a couple of hilly bits which were good because I was told the half-marathon I’m running next month (assuming no more bugs decide to rent real estate in my throat) has some fairly steep bits. Oh god. Another half-marathon next month. Oh god.

Because of the stupid sickness, this was only my second run of the year. By the end of January 2011, I had run over 100km in 30 days. This month will definitely be a much different story.  But that’s okay because I fully intend to kick ass in February. So there’s that.


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2012 started on top of an active volcano so it’s already officially an awesome year

Happy 2012, everyone! What you see above is Mt Yasur, an active volcano on Tanna Island (Vanuatu) violently spitting lava. We took this photo on the evening of the 31st of December, last week. This was how we said goodbye to 2011 and how we greeted 2012: standing on top of an active volcano, the ground beneath our feet shaking violently and the noises of a rumbling volcano echoing through the valley. It was pretty much the best new years eve ever. I didn’t see any fireworks, for the first time in my life on a new years eve, but I still had the best fireworks display one can ask for, courtesy of mother nature.

I have just returned from a wonderful trip to New Caledonia and Vanuatu and have about 6943 posts I want to write about the amazing time I had on those islands. But first, and you’ll understand my reasons for being a bit late to this, time to reflect on the 2011 resolutions and make some for 2012.

2011 was the very first year of my life when I made new years resolutions and actually carried them in my mind throughout the year, rather than forgetting them within the first week. Keeping those resolutions in mind made my year a truly spectacular one. It didn’t just end in a spectacular way, it was actually a really good year.

It’s not like anything particularly major happened. I’m still not a Lotto winner (possibly because I never remember to buy a ticket). But several little and not so little things made 2011 a really good one. I didn’t fullfil all my resolutions 100% but I worked on them throughout the year and having those goals made it feel like everything I did actually mattered somehow. To sum up:

2011 goals:

enter 12 running events – sort of check. I entered 11. Sickness led me to pull out of one in June and I thought I’d make up for it in December but sickness was, once again, to blame. Still, two of the eleven running events I entered were half-marathons – which is twice the number of half-marathons I was planning to run, so I’m pretty happy with that.

run a half-marathon – check! And check!

start a savings account – check!

travel to a pacific island – totally managed to blow this one off the scale! Within the past 12 months, I went from zero Pacific Islands visited to four Pacific Islands visited and I didn’t even have plans for any of these trips when the year started. *pat on the back!*

write more (for fun) – I didn’t do quite as well on this one as I’d planned but I did start this blog so that should count!

visit my family back home – Yes! And it was as amazing as always!

learn to swim – I’m going to put a green tick on this one because I actually hardened up and took a course back in July. Call me weird but I don’t like swimming. But I did it.

join couchsurfing and host someone – done!

do a multi-day hike – another green tick! It was just a 20km hike with a night at a hut but it still counts.

give up soft drinks – ha! Not sure what I was thinking when I came up with this one.

See? Not too bad. There were some other things I had in mind when the year started like get more into crafts and have little projects going on but that really didn’t happen and I abandoned that idea pretty early on.

What about this year? My goals for 2012 are actually not all that different than my 2011 ones. This year, among other little things, I hope to:

reach all my running goals for the year – which I’ve already blogged about here

eat better – something I sort of started in 2011, probably due to all the running madness, but haven’t focused on enough

waste less daylight – Sleeping in is overrated (now this will be a challenge…)

spend less, own less stuff – just because it’s a bargain, it doesn’t mean I have to have it. Actually, if it’s a bargain, it probably means I don’t have to have it.

and a few other things that were already on last year’s list (like visiting family again). So there you go, not much but enough to keep me out of trouble.

Here’s to a wonderful year!


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lately…

a stressful end to the year, a nasty throat infection, a whole lot of coughing, not nearly enough sleeping, another weird summer christmas that didn’t really feel like christmas. but on the bright side, the beach, sunshine (well, occasionally) and a holiday about to begin. you don’t even mind the crappy phone photos, do you? see you next year, when hopefully I’ll be infection-free and a lot more relaxed. Here’s to another year of fun and keeping to new year resolutions!


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RIP iPod, hello new running gadgets!

This morning, I went for my first run in five days, which is, in my world, an abnormal number of days without running. My last run had been on Thursday last week. My iPod stopped working on that same Thursday. Coincidence? Don’t be silly, of course not.

I had an amazing 10km run by myself after work that day, complete with pukeko sightings and everything. It was sunny and not too warm and I got to try out a new running playlist. By the time I got home, I hit the ‘stop’ button on my iPod and it gave up on life. The screen went completely white so I can’t do anything with it. I tried restoring it as the website suggested but it didn’t work.

Apple has refused to fix it for me, despite admitting that it is a known issue and completely unrelated to the crack on the screen (that the iPod has had since January). Eleven months, a few running events, hundreds of kilometres of training and two half-marathons later, I’m iPod-less.

I’m not sure why it had such an impact on my running schedule but, if I’m running by myself, I really can’t run without music. I almost feel bad about this handicap – it sort of reminds me of the joke about the blonde who died when they took her headphones away (yep, I really did just google that joke so I can link you to it).

Lucky for me, I have a new phone capable of handling all manner of apps and whatever else the cool kids are using these days. Yesterday, I loaded it with a few of my favourite songs to run to and downloaded the MapMyRun app. The phone is considerably bigger than my now broken iPod Nano but has one particularly great advantage over the iPod: it works.

It’s a good short-term solution and it may even be a good long-term one. Now I need to find out how long the battery will last for while simultaneously playing music, tracking my time/distance and stopping to take the occasional photo. If it’s anything less than two hours, I’m going to have to find an alternative because there is no way I’ll be able to run a half-marathon without music.

In the future, I may just have to suck it up and invest in a Garmin Forerunner (what I really mean by this is: hot damn, I want a Forerunner and now I’m just coming up with an excuse to justify it to myself) and a small mp3 player of some sort (maybe an iPod Shuffle, if I’m ever able to bring myself to give money to Apple again).

Tell me, what gadgets do you take out with you while running? Anything you really can’t run without?