Buller Half Marathon 2011

What an awesome lead up I have had to this race.  It would have to be one of the "MUST" do half marathons in New Zealand.  If not for the scenery then for the whole social aspect.  The whole town of Westport gets behind this.  They open their homes to billet competitors, they line the streets to clap and cheer you in and then they put on an all day party in the park.

We traveled down to Westport on Friday.  Its a nice 3 hour drive and on the way you drive over the whole course so I took a photo every 15 secs and I will stitch them together to make a video so you can see what the whole course looks like. 

I was very nervous about this years race.  I wanted to bet my time from the year before and of course win the race.  There was some stiff competition and I was sure it was going to be a hard one to win.  With some pep talks from my coach, I changed my focus on the race and just put my effort into focusing on my time.  2hours 11min was the time to bet and I was not sure that I could do that.  Buller is an undulating course and is tough.  I spent the night before the race massaging my leg and foot with ice gel as I had an injury surface in the few days leading into the race.  When I woke in the morning, my leg and foot was not feeling too bad.  Infact I took the strapping off as it was annoying me more than the injury its self.  I had my usual 2 weetbix for breakfast and headed back to bed for an hour.  Got up at 6.30am and headed down to catch the bus to the start line.  Everyone in my bus seemed to be first timers and they all had the "wide eyed possum" stare and they sat chatting nervously.  The group near me were from Melbourne and asked if I had done this before and when I said it was my 4th time, I instantly got pumped for details and tips. 

We all marched off the bus and made our way down to the start.  Runners were to line up first with walkers behind.  Walkers were to start 5mins after the runners ...... Note I said "meant to"  The first thing you notice when you get near the start line are the sand-flies...Westport is notorious for sand-flies and they joke that they are so big they can fly off with you.  They are hugly annoying.  The second is the huge ques for the 5 porta loos.  Its only 7am.....race starts at 8.30...you may as well join the que now as it will take over half hour to get though....unless you are brave like some of us and just zip into the bush and hide behind a tree.  The weather this year was PERFECT!!  low cloud, no wind and about 18degs...there were even a few little spits of rain.

8.30 comes and the gun goes off for the runners.  I had grabbed another walker, an English guy called Peter and told him to follow me to the front of the walkers as often they dont wait.  It was very lucky I did that, as just as the last of the runners sauntered over the start, they said...ok walkers way ya go.  I didnt hesitate, I hit the go on my watch and I was off.  Now the problem with this is.....................for the 1st couple of km's we are allowed to us up both lanes on the road.  A head of me is 800 runners spread out over 200ms as they slowly thin out.  It is like trying to walk through a wall ..... I was aggressive this year and just yelled at people to move or coming through...in the end I went up the grass verge and blasted past.  Runners dont like being passed by a walker and especially on a hill.  I got the whole range of comments.....some flattering ...some not so.... but you just ignore them and focus on getting through everyone.  My first km was 5:47 which was slower than last year due to hitting all the people so quickly.  It was here that the first racewalker passed me.  Wendy had caught me up and tore past me and headed off to take a healthy lead.  Peter from England come up next, we chatted very briefly and then he took chase after Wendy.  5km was passed through in 28:04 (hmmm a new pb I thought to my self)  I settled into my pace now and just kept pushing after Peter and Wendy.  My hamstrings were feeling a bit tight now and my foot was aching but not enough to hinder me too much.  I pushed through the 10km mark in 58:19secs (another pb!!)  but now I knew it was going to start getting tough.  I wanted to do the next 10km in under 60mins..........or as close to it.   I was more hungry for a 2hour time for the 20km mark.  The half way is on a long straight and I was able to look ahead and see that Peter had passed Wendy and that Wendy was about 300m a head of me.  I grabbed a drink and also grabbed my gel that I had in my back pocket.  I took half the gel and hoped to feel the effects quickly as I was starting to hurt and I knew that I had two km of undulating hills ahead of me.  At the 11.5km mark I looked ahead of me and noted that Wendy only seemed to be 100m in front of me.  I had not expected that to happen so quickly and oddly passed her by the 12km mark.  I pushed hard for the next km to put some distance as I was not sure if she had picked up to sit behind me or not (I dont look behind me in a race - no point if you are going as fast as you can)  I went up the last hill ...this is the 6km to go sign.....and you look down and see the town .. all you can think of is....Yay its all down hill now!!!!  and this was the point that my race was to start.  I picked up the pace and tried to do the math with what my time was now and what it might be when I finish..........but my mind was mush and I couldnt get it.  I hit the 20km mark in 1:58:34  OMG!!!! I have done it...I have finally broken my 2 hours..........I just had 1.1 km to go and its the longest 1km of the whole race......you walk down the main street and it just goes on and on.  All the people of Westport were out on the street, clapping and cheering.  They had groups of people with drums and they were drumming us in.  It really lifts you and helps you push for that last little bit.

I rounded the corner and new it was only 400m to the finish.  My legs were starting to buckle under me...I could hear people chanting my name.....I thought I was hearing things....but there was my friend and her family all waving and screaming and chanting "go nyle, go nyle".....so I dug it in for the last surge home.  Turned into the park pushed hard and nearly stumbled as you go up over the cycle lane into the park and it changes to grass for the last 20m.  I hit stop and was almost to scared to look at my time. 

2:05:32 is my official time .................Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!  thats 6mins off my time from last year.  I just cant believe it.  I kept looking at my watch in case I was seeing things and even had to get Shane to read it back to me.  My first txt was to my coach to thank him .......and he was very very pleased!!

Buller Half Marathon 2011