Gutbuster

In a fit of apparent self-hatred about a month ago, I entered the Gutbuster race. It is a cross-country run around the Karori Sanctuary in Wellington, which as any local would know, is very hilly. It is 11.8km and 400m climb, which might not sound like much to you fitness bunnies out there, but was a reasonable challenge for me.

I did some appropriate preparation, including running the route a couple of weeks beforehand to ensure I wasn't going to collapse halfway in a wobbly pile of unfit jelly. I set myself a goal time of 45 minutes to the Meridian wind turbine and 1hr30 to finish. There was a prize for making the turbine in 35 minutes but prizes are for losers. Or rather, winners, but that's not very motivating. Besides, it was a hat and I don't need a hat.

Here's me at the start of the race:

Note how I'm speculatively looking off to the side to see if there's any way I can sneakily escape without anyone noticing.

From there on it was pretty hard work as my natural competitiveness argued with my lungs over whether I should run faster or slow down. Here's me about 20m from the finishing line:

I appear to be smiling. This was nothing to do with my state of enjoyment, but rather because I've just seen Mark, who came along to support me.

I made it to the wind turbine in 44:10 and finished in 1:20:54, with a (commendable, I think) placing of 28 out of 63 tough-as-nails ladies. And who knows, maybe next year I'll try for a free hat (but if I don't get one remember I said I didn't want one anyway).