What with all the excitement about my trip to Tanzania and then the cruise around the Baltic, I forgot I’d signed up to do the Taupo Half Marathon a fortnight after I got home.
It shouldn’t have been a major mission, as I had taken away numerous changes of exercise gear, with every intention of alternating days of running with sessions at the gym to maintain my new-found fitness.
My tough trainer had told me he would be very disappointed if I returned after five weeks and was back to square one. I live in fear of disappointing him.
I was such a girlie swot, I had even asked for a training programme to take with me. I also Googled the ship we were sailing on, to find out the standard of gym equipment.
But after the exhilaration of climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, I felt I deserved a week off while on safari. And besides, the Serengeti wasn’t conducive to going for long runs.
We were safe enough while in our Jeeps – the lions thought we were bigger than them.
But if I’d got out of the vehicle, laced up my running shoes and started lumbering across the savannah, the carnivores may have thought they’d struck the culinary jackpot.
Part Pumbaa, part wildebeest, I may as well have put parsley behind my ear and laid myself out on a platter. Exercise was a no-no while on safari.
Then, when I got to the ship, my resolve crumbled. I could have joined my shipmates for a two-mile walk around the decks every morning, and then “Stretched and Surrendered” with Vlad, the shipboard PT.
But as tempting as stretching and surrendering with Vlad sounded, sleep seemed like a better idea – and the gym was so tiny, you couldn’t have swung a small cat in it, far less a 10kg dumbbell.
So the exercise gear went around the world and saw none of it, trapped as it was at the bottom of my suitcase. When I realised the Taupo Half Marathon was upon me, I’d done very little to prepare.
However, that’s the great thing about running with a group. There are all sorts of them around – I think the YMCA has been going the longest – and they are a really good idea if you’re thinking of taking it up.
My good mate, Gaz, set up GetRunning after our novel on running marathons was published. Five years on, he has people of all shapes, sizes and capabilities on his books. Some, like our mighty mouse, Juliet, can whiz around a half-marathon course in an hour and 40. While others, such as my gorgeous colleague Niva, go at their own speed and will come in with the walkers.
It doesn’t matter what pace you travel at – there will always be someone to run with and plenty of people to support you when you train in a group.
Down to Taupo we travelled, and although watching the Chiefs take out the Super Rugby title again over a few wines was possibly not the best preparation for a half, we all presented ourselves at the start line, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.
My mate Ange and I ran together, which I thought was very good of me because she’s tall, long-legged, gorgeous and doesn’t sweat. Still, the conversation’s interesting enough that I can forgive her.
Although you feel like you’re never going to be able to trot round 21km at the start, before you know it, you’ve chatted your way through 10km, then 15, and suddenly, blow me, you’ve shuffled across the finish line.
A big thank you to all the volunteers and supporters who make the Taupo event such fun – in spite of my lack of training, it was one of the most enjoyable runs I’ve had.
When you’re not reading her column, listen to Kerre on Newstalk ZB, Monday to Thursday, 8pm to midnight.
