2008 Buller Marathon

Feb 9th 2008, I joined the line up for the Buller Half Marathon. I was a "Buller Virgin" and felt so over whelmed by the enormity of the event. As far as I could see behind me - was a sea of faces. Eager and nervous eyes steering ahead waiting for the gun to go off. I was lucky and nabbed a great spot on the front line of the start. The weather was high cloud and everyone was praying it would remain that way for the whole event - prayers were answered!!!

As the gun goes off you round a corner over a bridge and start climbing the first of many rises. I cant call it a hill or steep but it was still a grind to push up at pace to try and gain some distance from the other walkers. The runners had started 5 mins ahead of us and it was not long before I was passing weary runners that had dropped off the back of the pack and were either jogging or walking slowly.

I kept a steady pace for the first 5 km, picking up a couple of other walkers that came up behind me. Once I had warmed up and caught my second breath I really didnt feel like having company so I plugged in my Ipod and off I went. Half way came and went in such a blur. The drink stations were so well placed that you just paced your self from one to the other. My friend Yvonne was walking in the rec group not Race Walking like me. She is a little quicker than me and my goal was to catch her. At the 13km mark I came within 20 feet of her till she looked over her shoulder and saw me...........then I couldnt gain on her. But remained close behind.

Walking over the final hill to the sound of a pipe band was just inspiring....fantastic stuff. I think from memory the hardest part of the whole race was walking up the main street in Westport.....it just felt like it went on for ever. I did however manage to case down and catch the 2nd recreational walker and passed her on the finish line to finish in 2 hours 25min. A personal best. Gained me the official result of 3rd overall and 2nd female race walker. My coach was 1st female....(but was only 3mins a head of me)

This was the best organised event I have entered to date. I cant wait till next year.

My new tatttoo

I have always had a fasination with Egypt and the Egyptian religion. I have wanted to get an Egyptian tattoo for many years but never found the right one. About 2 months ago I found it. The Eye of Ra. So I got it for myself to xmas.

5 Generations get together for Xmas

A most treasured photo..... 5 generations.

Katie-May 6 weeks old.

Plus a 7th generation of Eldest daughter having a daughter first.

We all got together to met up before xmas. It was so wonderfull having family all around. Aunts, uncles, cousins and grand parents galour.

Great Great Grandma with Katie-May.

Dont they both look so beautifull.

Blenheim Womens Triathlon 2007

Dec 3rd was the Blenheim Womens Triathlon.

I came over and entered it again hoping to beat my time last year and place top three.

The day was high cloud but extremly hot and dry.

The walk started out with my friend zipping ahead of me and winning the walk leg by 30 secs.

I still powered along after her though thinking I would catch her up on the bike leg.

Here I am just getting into top gear trying to pick up as much speed as I can after being delayed in the shoot for 30 odd seconds while they let a car go by.....grrrr....and again I was delayed at the round about as well.... so each time I got closer and closer to Yveonne I had to sit and watch her get further away from me.

I must have made up some time as I did pull in behind her at the end of the bike leg. She had a quick trans and raced away to the pool before me. I just couldnt get my legs working and so wobbled after her.

It came down to a race in the pool with her not being able to swim so she ran in the pool and I swam. She ended up beating me by 3 seconds. So I was placed 2nd over all and I bet my time from last year by 4 mins. I am very very happy with that.

Dad, Grandad and Great Grandad....all in one

Today my dad came over from Aussie to catch up with us all and to meet his first Great Grandchild.

It was an awesome day, so much to catch up on. It was just so wonderfull being near my dad. It doesnt matter how old you are......to a daughter.....your dad is the most important man in your life.

Here is Shakara, Granddad, Teagan and Kayne.

In all the excitement we forgot to get a photo of me with dad. Next time!!!

Katie-May ... still in her nightie, checking out the tall dashing man that was holding her. The moment I took this photo she flashed her Great Granddad the biggest smile.




Just melts your heart .......

Katie-May Castle Wells

October 30th, 2007 at 5.47pm Katie-May was born via C-Section and weighed 8lb 14oz.

After a long night and even longer day, it was finally decided that baby was not moving along as she should be and C-Section it was.

Teagan, Josh and Katie-May are all doing fantastic. Josh (dad) is a little frazzled by it all and Teagan is just tired and sore......as can be expected.....................as for Katie-May, she fed all night and slept all day wondering what all the fuss was about.

I truly think she is the most exquisite wee baby.

This is a family photo of Teagan, Josh and Katie-May

Teagan gave her the middle name of Castle in honour of her Great Grandma. Her middle name was a family name of Hard Castle. Teagan thought that Castle would be a nice way to honour her and carry on her name.

We all go across to Blenheim soon were we will have a 5 generation photo. With Great Great Grandma, Great Gran, Nan, Teagan and Katie-May. Infact it will be a time for the whole family to get together and met the latest family member.

Teagan also carrys on the family tradition of Eldes Girl has a baby girl first.

My Baby haven a baby...

Teagan (my oldest daughter) turned 21 this month. I cant believe it was 21 years ago that I looked just like her picture here. They say her due date is 20 October but I can't see her going too much longer. She is at that frustrated "just get it out stage" she is bored with just sitting around waiting. Doesnt matter how much we all say.....sit...enjoy....relax...............she just cant wait. lol Something every mum can sympathise with. This is teagan with her partner Josh. Keep popping back as it wont be long now till you read the announcement that I am a Grandma or Nana or Gran or Nan......hopefully by then I will have made up my mind what I want to be called.

Woodbourne Half Marathon 2007

19/08/07

Picture perfect blenheim day. Not a cloud in the sky nor a breath of wind....and we are up at 8am getting ready to enter a half marathon.

I had brought a GPS to use and so we decided to head to the river and set it up while we waited until it was time to start. Of course we had our "babies" with us Casey and Trixie our dogs. Well you wouldnt pick it but this was to be the day that Casey just had to go off and find the deadest and smelliest thing to roll in. She stunk the car out so badly. hahaha So shane had to head down to the river and wash her while I raced and then he had to contend with wet smelly dog for the rest of the day.

We lined up at 9am for the walkers. The main contenders were Sharon (my coach) and Richard (winner of St Clairs) the three of us headed out together but Sharon burst away quickly so I stuck with Richard for the first quater but he was much fitter than me and slowly pulled away.

Here I am at the 5km mark checking my GPS to see how far I had gone and what my pace was. It was this feature that helped me to keep a steady pace the whole way...I must admit that the step hill at the 10km mark absolutley wiped me out. Even in the read out on the GPS it clearly shows I slowed down after that.

I could still see Richard and Sharon some distance ahead of me until the 15km mark and then they had a race between them with them swapping lead many times.

With Richard taking the win in the end and sharon very close behind him. I finished the 21km 3rd and in 2 hours 32 mins. I am thrilled with that time and it shows me that I have gotten quicker, unfortunatly I pushed myself a little too hard and over extended my right knee and am now off for at least a month to let the little muscle in the back of the knee heal. But at least it will heal.

Next race - Spring Duathlon at Rabbit Island, then training for the Waimea Half Marathon Oct 27th.

Winter Duathlon Rabbit Island

Sunday 15th July, -1 frost on the ground. Its 9am and I am out at Rabbit Island........its freezing!!

But it is the start of the winter round of Duathlons.

I had been naughty and have done little training at all.... still for fun thought to enter.

It is a beautiful day, clear blue sky, sun shining and a frost that looks like snow. I took the lead from the start (sexy blue wee beany aye!!) I didn't feel my toes still the start of the bike leg lol...

It was a short race today with a 2.6km walk, 11 km mountain bike and 2.6km walk to finish.

The bike leg was really hard. Biking in sand and pine needles was really tough. It felt like I had a flat tyre the whole way around.

The views over the bay were fantastic. Crystal clear day, calm sea...just magic really.

Getting off the bike and heading out for the second walk was odd. My legs had pumped up soo much from the bike ride that it took a while before I could really walk properly.

But I finally got them going and finished in around 1 hour 20mins. But I won the walk section and also my age group................first competion as a 40 year old.....now that sucks!!

Trip to New Plymouth

It was Nana's 80th birthday and we were to be her surprise present.

In the photo is Steve, Diane, Nana, George, Mum and Shane.

We were meant to fly up but due to it being school holidays we were unable to get flights, so after much discussion we decided to drive up. We booked the last ferry on Thursday night - this left picton at 7pm but due to bad weather we didn't arrive in to Wellington until after 11pm. With torrential rain the drive up was not the most pleasant. We arrived in New Plymouth at 3.45am and was thrilled to hear that Diane had filled the hot water bottles and we had a nice warm bed to climb into. I get migraines (I hate them sooo much) but anyhow as it would turn out I woke up Thursday morning with one forming and it stayed with me until Sunday night. Needless to say, I took a lot of painkillers and was high as a kite for most of the weekend but I did manage to hide just how much pain I was actually in..........I think I am getting used to them.)

Lucky for us we missed the tornado's!!! but we did have the first day with wind and rain. Saturday came quickly and it was so exciting to finally meet with the rest of Shane's family. Cousins that he has not seen himself in over 10 years!!

Here is the gang....Paul, Karlene, Belinda, Teresa and Shane.

We had an awesome night, sitting around the open fire drink in hand and listening to all the stories flow.

Shane took me to Pukekura Park on Saturday. What an awesome park. We went up to the little zoo at the top and spent ages watching monkeys and otters race around.

There were many little walks that zig zag through the whole park and a huge water fountain. I loved the waterfall - It would have been lovely to see it going at night as it has lights behind it....

On Saturday morning I headed out garage saleing while the guys went off on the bikes. Here is a photo of the likely lads.

Family time

Last weekend I got to met the newest member of our family. My cousin Kirstie's baby girl Kiera. Plus it was also her engagement to wayne too.

It was so neat to catch up with Aunty Row and my cousins and their family too. I really dont get enough time to see them all as much as I would like too.

I will add some of the photos that were taken on the day.

Shakara getting some time with Kiera.

Teagan is the hair dresser of the family and just loves doing peoples hair.

St Clair Half Marathon

I stumbled onto this site about 6 months ago and thought what a cool thing to do. It is a 21km walk/run through the vineyards in Blenheim/Marlborough on Saturday 12th May 2007. Totally cross country with stop banks to climb up, swamps to walk through, fences to climb and a creek to cross. I challenged my step sister to do this with me just before Xmas and she was so keen that she went on line and paid for her spot almost immediately. Sadly by the time I went to pay for mine they had all sold out. Only 200 people were able to do this one. Anyhow, Gina kindly gave me her entry as my birthday present so I was able to go.

Two days prior to this it poured with rain and had become really cold. So far in all my events I have been really lucky and have not yet done one in the rain. I really thought this was going to be my first. We drove over from Nelson on the day and thankfully it was a clear sky.....well it was 7am so couldn't see past the fog really.

The walkers were to head off first with the runners starting off an hour later. With the grass full of dew we were off.

I led out for the first 200 m then this guy just blasted past me like I was ambling like a snail. I figured it was not worth it trying to keep up with him as I have never walked 21km before and new it was going to be tough. My toes were frozen and I wished I had worn better socks. I kept thinking that if they didnt stop hurting I was not going to be able to finish. (The joy of inheriting gammy toes as the long toe hits the end of my shoes and really hurts)

One thing that really annoyed me was an older lady that was running started out with us and she ran beside me for almost quarter of it then she caught up with the guy in front of me and run behind him. (I notice that they still have her time in the walkers results!!!)

The cloud lifted and like a very typical Blenheim day. It became hot. I had dressed for a cold day so found the heat hard.

I found it really odd with this event as the guy out in front had such a lead on me that once past the 8km mark I hardly ever saw him at all and behind me was the same. I could no longer see anyone behind me. So I found it hard to keep pushing myself to keep going quickly and I was so afraid I would get lost. They said to follow the blue pack strapping that was on the ground but when you pop out from the vineyard row you are not sure of which row you should head down again. So I felt a little disorientated at times.

I think the hardest part of the race was the last 5km. It really breaks you. Your body hurts, your feet are killing you and you just want to stop. (luckily I had been warned of this by a lady I raced against the weekend before and I took her advice and had lots of carb drinks in my pocket.)

Climbing the fence was extremely hard as there was only 2 km to go and to lift your legs up to climb on a wine barrel was actually alot harder than I thought. My legs just didn't want to bend up that far nor push my weight through so I grabbed the fence and dragged myself over.

I saw the finish line and was so thrilled that I had at least finished. I had made a guess of what time I wanted to do it in........the weekend before I walked the Nelson Half Marathon and did the 10km walk in 1hour 13min..... so I thought I was really pushing it but would like to finish at 2hours 30min. My official time was 2 hours 29min. How cool is that. I got my picture in the paper too. All finishers got a bottle of St Clairs wine, what I didn't know was that all the first place winners got a Magnum of it. So when I crossed the line and got my hand shook and the bottle thrust at me I looked down and saw the size of and instantly thought "oh YEAH" and that's when they took my photo. So yes I had a huge grin on my face.

The next problem was the reporting in the paper about the event. They put the caption under my photo correct but in the results listed me as a man!!! last time I checked I was still a girlie. So I contacted the paper and they were most sorry so said they would correct it. Which I must say they did but with the correction they printed my time wrong. They gave me the time of the second place getter. lol .............. You just cant get good journalism can you.

Taylors Womens Triathlon

Its Sunday 1st April, normally it would be a great April fools joke to get up early and push your self to breaking point but today over 500 w0men in Nelson did just that.

I was one of them.

I woke up Sunday morning and ripped back the curtains expecting to see the rain that had been forcasted. You can only imagine my joy at seeing blue sky and sunshine. It was going to be a fantastic day.

As I raced around the house getting my gear in order, Shane was out in the garage giving my bike the once over, checking air pressure, seat height and that gears all changed smoothly. What a champ he is.

In all there were 298 Walkers and 258 runners. I made sure that this year I was going to get a good start and made my way to the start line to line up in front on the best side of the road. We all stood around chatting nervously waiting for the start.

I led out from the start but the sound of fast moving feet came up from behind and I was over taken by a very fluid and fast moving lady (beside me in the black) she proceeded to pull away from me leaving me in her dust. I stayed in second place with my rival from Blenheim behind me.

Each time I would glance over my shoulder there she would be and 297 other walkers all stomping after us.

By the time we made our way around the 3 km course back to the bike transition she was a good 100m in front of me. I found my bike, threw my helmet on and raced off to the road to mount my bike. Leaping on my trusty stead I peddled off after her determined to catch her up. I caught her up half way round the 12km cycle way and zipped past her and pushed myself to up the tempo to try and get some distance between us before entering the pool (my weakest)

I pulled up at the next transition and gave my bike to a catcher then tried to get my legs to function. They had turned to jelly at this stage and were refusing to do anything that closely resembled a race walk. But upon looking over my shoulder and seeing the person I had worked so hard to catch and pass strutting my way spurred my legs into gear.

We raced into the pool area and entered the pool side by side. I thought I was toast for sure as I was having trouble getting my breath and was wondering how on earth I was going to get on in the pool. But as luck would have it, she called out to me - thanked me for the race and told me to go for it as she cant swim. I thought she was having me on but it didn't take long to see that she really couldn't swim. So all I could do was flip over and back stroke the whole way.

After the race I met up with her (Yvonne) and we are now going to met up and train together from time to time. She is just learning how to race walk and can help me to find the right style as well. So a good friend gained.

Here I am at prize giving receiving my big silver tray and a printed plate for the event. I also won a smaller plate for winning my age group plus a spot prize - I picked a printed tee shirt so I can remember the day.

Now it is back to training hard so that I can do the next three events in faster times.

ASB Womens Triathlon

Today I entered the ASB Womens Triathlon. This is a 200m swim, 12km bike and 3 km run/walk.

Here I am getting ready to start the swim. I am adjusting my attractive looking googles ... hehe...

I ran out of the pool, grabbed my gear and dragged on my shorts over wet legs and grass covered feet.

Helmet on, glasses on and off I race. 3 laps and I must say that the last lap was a grind. It may not have been a steep street but it really slowed you down and your legs and butt complained bitterly!!



With the bike ride over I headed out to complete the walk. For the first time I got a really bad stitch which took for the first lap to go away, so the second lap it was head down and go.



I won the walkers section of this event.....yayayaya.... I won a $50 voucher and also got a spot prize - a bottle of wine. Turns out that there was an error on the day and they mucked up the times. I was placed 2nd with Rhonda Murphy from Blenheim winning the event, they missed her when she crossed the finish line.


So needless to say, I am now writting this up while waiting for my wine to chill.


Next event in Round 2 in the Rabbit Island series then The Taylors Womens Triathlon

Duathlon At Rabbit Island

Sunday 18th Feb,

Entered the Rabbit Island Duathlon. Decided on the duathlon as I am not a strong swimmer and the thought of a 750mt sea swim did nothing for me.

I also decided to run in this instead of walking. First I ran 1.25km

which I did ok on.......gasp!!!!

Grabbed my bike and did a very fast 7km ride (16mins - one of the fastest for the day) then off to finish up with a 2.5 km run.

After the bike ride my legs felt like jelly and it was now mid day and very hot. I really struggled with the run this time, but still managed to finish 2nd over all and win my age group.

Striders Half Marathon

On sunday 14th January I entered the Stiders Half Marathon. It is a handicap race were you are not aloud to wear watches. You had to guess how long it would take you to complete the half marathon or the 10km walk. I had no idea of how long it would take me so guessed 1 hour 20 min and 10 seconds.

All week the weather had been awful, heavy rain and very very muggy. So I was most surprized to wake up on sunday and see sunshine.

We arrived at the Maitai at 8.30am to find heaps of people. I had no idea how popular this is here. There were 50 walkers and approx 150 runners.

I got off to a great start and stayed just behind the blonde lady No 226. We chatted away and I was surprized to find out that she represents Nelson in Walking events and she was amazed how well I was keeping up with her. I stayed near her for the first 5 km but then my shins and hips were getting abit sore so I had to swap back to normal walking. On the way back a couple of the race walkers passed me and they all chatted as they went past. It really is a social sport. Every one was really helpfull.

Here I am coming in to the finish. My offical time was 1 hour 14 mins and 3 secs. I had made a personal best by 6 mins!!! how great was that. At the prize giving I found out that I won my age group and was 6th over all.

Not bad for a unfit nearly 40 year old...hahaha

NZ National Triathlon Race 3

Today we got up at 5am and got ready for me to enter my first National Triathlon. I had entered into the Tri My Sport section which is run first. It has a 350m swim, 15 km bike and 4 km run.

I must admit to being daunted by the sea swim. Even though I can swim well enough and can swim double that distance in a pool there is some thing scary about doing it in the sea.

At 7.30 our race started. We all put on our very attractive swimming caps and struggled into wetsuits and at the horn raced off for the start of the swim leg. By half way I was totalled exhausted. I had swollowed more than enough sea water - yes I have seen that email going round with the big sperm whale....... There was another lady who was not a very good swimmer too so we stayed together. I was 2nd last out of the water and run up the beach to get on my bike.........running while trying to wriggle out of a wet sticky wet suit is an art I have yet to master but at least I didnt fall on my face. haha

I managed to get my suit off and pull on my shorts and top. I didnt bother with socks and just rammed my feet into my shoes and was off. The TV crew were filming in the transition area and it felt rather odd to be half way through dressing to look up and find a camera 12 inchs from your face haha

The cycle leg is my favorite and I made up some time in that passing 6 people.

Here is me on the second leg of the run section. I was really worried about this as I am a walker not a runner. I really didnt think my knee would hold out for the whole 4 km but I surprised my self by running 90% of the race, a huge effort on my half.

My finishing time was 1 hour 16min. My final results were 15th in the Tri My Sport Womens section. In total there were 20 women and 14 guys so with 34 in the seriers its a good turn out. I am thrilled with my progress and now have a goal to train towards. I intend to do this again next year and better my time plus enter the chch race too.

Marlborough Womens Triathlon

Sunday 3 Dec 2006. Its the event I have been training for. I entered the very first event when I was 14 years old so I was keen to enter the 25th annual event.

We turned up at 7.30 am and it was a picture perfect blenheim day. Even the pool felt warm.......hmmmm silly me to even think that one .

498 women entered on the day - 159 were walkers. I had entered in the Walkers as I am still to heavy to run. The event was a 5.5km walk/run, 13 km bike ride and 100m swim.

All shapes and sizes enter this event. Its a fantastic starter for any fitness and it feels awesome just to finish.



The race started at 10am with runners on one side of the track and walkers on the other. After a count down we were off. To my surprize the runners were holding me up and with in 100m there were no walkers any where near me. I was out in front and off like a rocket.

The walk took me 38.47 mins


I jumped on my bike and headed off for the 13 km ride up redwood street, down wither road and up taylors pass road. I have a computer on my bike that tells me my speed etc. While coming down whither road I got up to 60km....lucky no police were around with radar or I could have got a ticket ...hehehe....
I finished the bike leg in 28.26 min

I raced my bike to the rack, tore my helmet off and then ran off to the pool.

Thinking to myself, yay only 2 lengths and its all over, a nice swim... easy as. What I forgot was that the surface of the pool may have been warm earlier in the day but after 200 women have stirred up the water it would be freezing. I jumped into the pool and wow, it was like being punched in the chest. I couldnt breathe or move. It was soooo cold it literally took my breath away. So instead of swimming freestyle, I flicked over and did back stroke just so I could breathe. At last it was over. I had finished the whole race in 1 hour 10 min. A fantastic effort.

Sadly there was a major muck up with the times as I was also entered into a business team, my time didnt come over to the individual walkers. I had a feeling that I had done really well but they didnt call my name for the top three places I was rather mystified. I rang the next day and there were all ready on to it.

It turns out that I won the walkers section. How cool is that. I win the trophy and they are bringing it over to me this week.

My next event is in two weeks at Rabbit Island. Tri my sport - 350 mt swim, 15km bike and 3.5 km run. There is no walk optioin in this one so I will try to run and walk most of it.

The Lakes to Renwick 2006

Today I entered the 90 km road race from Lakes to Renwick.

I was meant to have entered with my girlfriend Jo, but she was unable to make it.

It was so daunting when I started out. There were 60 riders in my group and I suddenly felt very out of my depth.

Whoever said it was all down hill to renwick has never riden it!!!!!! There were some long gentle climbs that did catch you out but most of it was flat or slightly downhill.
At times I riding at 45km and had an average speed of 30 km but when the racing pack of riders past me, I had to check my speed as they left me in their wake. Man they were fast. They finished in 1 hour 40min...a record I am told.

At the 65km mark my back was hurting and my butt had lost all feeling and there were fleeting moments that I really wanted to pull up when I saw shane next and quit. But in those moments I also reminded myself why I was doing this and pushed on.

I think the worst part of the whole trip was the last 10km, that has to be the longest straight ever!!!!! The wind had changed direction and was more front on until you rounded that last corner and head down into Renwick. I looked up and it just went on forever. But at long last the Broadbridge stock yards came into view and the finish. I finished the whole thing in 2 hours 42 mins.




And here I am, I have just gone through the finish and am returning to shane at the car. See still smiling!!!

Rabbit Island Half Marathon

Two weeks ago a friend of mine asked if I would like to walk the half marathon with her and two others. Each of us would walk 5km and I thought....what a cool thing to do. So I was happy to accept. Well two days before the event her two mates decided she was not going to be competitive enough and pulled out to walk the whole thing on their own, so not wanting to let my friend down I suggested we still enter as a team and do two stints of 5 km. So the team name of "Double Trouble" was thought up and entered.

Saturday 28th October - it turned out to be a wonderfull day, full sun for the event and no cold wind. Excellent!!! My friend Jo headed out for the first leg and completed that in 40 mins, then I did the second leg in 38 mins.


Here I am whizzing past 2 people (I am in the white top)


The mistake I made was.......... after I finished my first 5km I headed over to shane and sat down for about 10mins. Boy did my legs tell me off when I went to stand up.......silly me should have walked around a little to cool down.

By this stage it was really hotting up and I could feel my face starting to burn but before I could go get sunscreen, wee Jo was back and I was ready to do my last 5km leg. Jo was a little slower this time at 44mins.

I raced off and passed 6 people but by the 4km mark my legs told me that they were very unfit and that I was a wicked person for putting them through this. I was still able to walk but no where near as fast as I had been so my last leg was done in 40 mins. Total time of 2 hours 43 mins. But the best news of all was ...... combined we bet both her friends who thought Jo would walk too slow. Yay and we came in 9th out of 35 teams.

We had the best day and yes both of us were very very sore for a few days after. I hobbled around for 3 days but my legs feel great now and are ready for a huge bike ride next weekend.