Saturday 10 September
Philip did a great walk, finishing 4 min ahead of the time our team organiser Kevin predicted for him and moving our team from 5th to 2nd place. My first leg started out with a steep down hill then was undulating. I have been only walking on the flat the past few months so was slowed on the uphill stretches but made up some time on the downhill. I finished the 7 km leg around 45 seconds slower than Kevin's prediction but had been unable to prevent the Taranaki team extending their lead to a few minutes.
Our team was still in second place when I started the 6th leg which was a largely flat 8 km stretch. I knew that the Trentham team could be close behind since they had brought two young boys to walk for them who were capable of speeds I had not achieved. After about 2 km I was passed by Stuart from Trentham. I managed to stay within 20 m of him until the last 500m but I didn't have any sprint left in me at the end as he did. (This was the only leg he did). It was very hot during this leg and I found it quite difficult. We were a bit behind Trentham when Philip took over but he soon put us back in front. Unfortunately we couldn't could them off in the last two legs so finished third overall. 66 km in 7:10.
One of our club members dropped something heavy onto his foot during the week and was unable to walk his designated leg. I agreed to do a third leg for their team that was more than an hour behind my own team. That meant waiting around a bit and seeing more of the other walking and running teams than I have seen in other years. I enjoyed that. It is a friendly, fun event through scenic valleys. I really wasn't looking forward to walking that third time. I imagined my legs would lock up and prevent me going any better than 7 min/km.
I tried to make sure I was upright and walking in an easy steady rhythm. I was feeling very relaxed and there was a gentle side breeze to keep me cool. I found I was feeling much looser than anticipated and I actually enjoyed that last 5.7 km. Philip took a couple of video clips of me during the leg using his cell phone. The quality of the clips was not great but I looked noticeably different to my other clips. My style looked a bit like John Leonard, one of our club members who has a great style and who never has warnings or penalties from judges. This was another illustration to me of the dangers of trying hard. Once there was no pressure on me in this leg I relaxed into a great technique. It is very heartening to know that I was able to put in to practice some of the things my pilates tutor and coach have been telling me.
I have an appointment to see a podiatrist on Wednesday to work on some issues with my feet that may be contributing to my style issues. I am feeling very positive about seeing some real improvement in the near future.
My overall result for the day was to walk 20.65 km in 2:11:47. That would give me a pb for half a marathon, even if the last 350 m took 2:30 min.
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