Devonport Weekend

This has been a weekend that has been marked by

Beauty, Consfusion, and Excellence

Beauty

For those of you who have never been to Devonport, New Zealand (which is all of you whom are reading my blog) it is a place of BEAUTY. Devonport is a seaside town that overlooks Auckland City. Devonport was a major player in some navy battler, and has two memorial hillsides that pay homage to those battles. The photo above is take from Mount Victoria and the other memorial is North Head. Both hillside memorials contain old artifacts and tunnels that were burrowed into the hillside. This is all to commemorate those in the battles.

The town is a one street town. One Street in and One Street out. It has a similar vibe to that of Greenport, NY minus the Harley Bikers and the Stuck up Rich Snobs. The town is welcoming with many mum and pop shops, sidewalk cafes and seaside boardwalk. Parking is a premium and fought over. We have to park around the corner on a side road. We walk the town going in and out of everyshop in just over two hours. We then head to Mount Victoria located at the top of Main Street Devonport. Whinding our way to the top on this clear day to gather in the views that it has to offer us. The memorial is very basic an old underground missile and some of the air shafts for the burrowed tunnels. The cool thing about the air shafts is that they are painted like mushrooms to disguise them in a way. After Victoria we returned to our car to head over to explore North Head.

North Head is a larger version of Victoria. It contains more missiles and more tunnles. The tunnels here are capable of being explored, as long as you have some sort of torch, otherwise you will be found in complete darkness. Luckily for us our cell phones have built in flash lights. Pretty handy feature! We walk the tunnels and take in the Beautiful views that North Head offers. We drove to the top and we walk around the hill on its convuluted paths.

All in all we take in Devonport in just under 5 hours. On our way out we stop at one of those sidewalk cafes I spoke of earlier. It is a hip joint that is full with teens and young adults. All the sidewalk tables are taken and the inside couches are full as well. We opt to take our food to the alley way tables. The cool alley way offers us a selection of several tables and the fresh air that is welcomed after being stuffed in the cafe ordering your food. After we eat we head back home...

We took this trip to check out the sights and also because the next day is a road race that I will be doing. I had to pick up my number and my timing chip. Instead of just traveling there to get it and return we make a day of it. Plus North Head and Devonport are on the list of 101 things to do in New Zealand. I can say I have done close to 30 of those things. only 71 more to go!

Consfusion

A weekend that is marked with confusion is misleading. The whole weekend was not confusing, but Sunday morning was. We start with setting the clocks back 1 hour. On the eve of a race these means that I have to recalculate bed time, wake up time and departure time. I decided to get into bed around 10pm and wake up at 545 am. I need to wake up three hours before my race this way I can get a full meal in my tummy.

So after the confusion of the time situation we ge to the race and that confusion. They tell us that they will stagger the starts of the 5k and 10k with the 10k being first. The part that confuses me is how they do this. They line us all up and shoot of the 10k and then wait a few minutes and send of the 5k. I cannot work out how it happened but I managed to be started at the back of the pack. Whatever, I get started and get to the front of the 5k, and then I run into the back of the slow ass 10k runners. The course eventually goes onto the beach, not only that but it is high tide so there is only soft sand to be run in. We are on the beach for 300 meters, I have the duty of weaving in and out of the slower runners. After we get off the beach the 10k and 5k continue along the same path until there is a turn off. At this turn off I am supposed to pick up a cyclist to lead the way for me. And you guessed it, he is not there. I am left to tackle the course following signs and the slacking volunteers.

I am told different things from different volunteers..."Stay Left!" "Stay Right!" "Get in the Road!" "Stay on the Footpath!" I criss cross back and forth over the road and the foot path. I eventually get to the main road where I know how to go until the fork. I get to the fork and there is supposed to be a volunteer there to tell me which way to go. Of course he is SLACKING! sitting down reading a book, i go the wrong way until he yells at me to turn around and go the opposite way. As I ran back I jokingly called him a slacker, and got a good chuckle out of the crowd. Finally on the right path and all that is left is the steep uphill on the grass to the finish.

Excellence

As I run up the hill, that bike rider finally catches up to me. He apparently was riding next to the second place guy. I was 3 minutes ahead of him at this point. I run up to the hill, the crowd cheering on my excellence and victory. I cross the finishline, no clue what my time is, no clue if I ran the complete course. All I know is that it is over and as of right now I am the winner. The winner at this event receives a 250 dollar gift voucher for a free pair of shoes. I have to sit around to receive my excellent prize. (Shoes here are 2.5 times the price of shoes in America)((So shoes that are 90 dollars in America are 245 dollars in New Zealand)) A prize that will come in handy for a runner. They call the awards and I go up and recieve my award. They never announce my time. They never make note of it. It is not posted anywhere. The old course record was 1730 and I wanted that. I was not sure tho. Between the Beach, the Hills, going the wrong way and the Killer Finish it is hard to guess my time. I later find out that I ran 1640. I am the Most Excellent Runner (MER) to tackle the 5k course! Below is a photo of me with my Most Excellent Prize (MEP)

They also gave us a bag of protein bars, protein potato crisps and Knee Joint Relaxer?!?! Dont ask me what I am going to do with the relaxer.

This concludes my weekend of Beauty, Confusion and Excellence.