Drought

It has been raining at Stillwaters for two days now.

Two days of soft, cool rain tipped from the cup of life to replenish the land. Trees have lifted their shoulders again, and look less defeated than they have for weeks. Flowers raise their dusty faces to the sky.

It's been a hot, dry, windy Spring, and there is drought in Hawke's Bay. We are lucky to have minimal stock - three pet goats are all we run here, and they are hand fed and watered.

The birds seem to be enjoying the rain with the most exuberance. Pukekos are splashing in puddles, up to their bony red knees in places, while thrushes stand with their heads to one side on the sodden lawn listening for worms. Two tuis fed on the flax flowers on our deck last night - their throaty song on leaving sounded like thanks.

The earth is replenished, the crops waking and sighing with joy, and the soil darkening to black with the long hoped-for rain. Tonight I will splash and dance with the birds, as my soul too is quenched.

Let it rain...

4th to last... again

Eighteen months ago I was a couch potato with ambition. I would get fit, do a race or two, and maybe even do an ironman. My first triathlon was the inaugural Rotorua 1/2 Ironman in December 2006.

2km swim, 90km bike ride and a largely off-road 22km run. I came 4th to last in a field of 700ish. I was hooked!

In March 2007 I lined up with 1100 others for Ironman NZ. After a very long day I came home - in my second triathlon - in 4th to last place.

Next was the Rotorua marathon a couple of months later. I had to walk as an Achilles tendon injury sustained in IM training kept me slow. I entered the race as a runner though, in case I got the urge to trot a little (fat chance...) At the halfway point I was on target for a 6h walk, when I met an 80 yo man doing his 80th marathon. He was with a friend, but struggling. I became his doctor for the next 21km. We finished in 7h 15, making me.... 4th to last again... (among the runners that is).

Two weeks ago the Round The lake bike ride took place. 160km around lake Taupo. Lots of hills, 9000 riders (or thereabouts). I had diarrhoea and vomiting, one spare tube and two punctures, a broken bike shoe, some pillocks throwing a bottle at me from a passing car.... it was a long day.

Just near the finish I passed a man riding a hand cart and his support person. Before rudely passing them I was second to last...but managed to finish in 11h 06min 30 sec, I came in - 4th to last.

This year I will train harder, I will swim further, bike more hills and walk with ferocity (the Achilles still hampers my running).

This year I will be 5th to last or faster....

Please..... :-)

Ironman NZ 07 Race report

IMNZ 2007 Race Report (From right near the back of the back of the pack)

3am Ironman morning – a beautiful full moon smiling on a mirror-like lake.No wind, no swell, and surprisingly no fear. For the week leading up to this point I’d been experiencing waves of fear – perhaps these hot sticky sweats and palpitations are what menopause will treat me to in a few years?

3.30 I had an interview with a documentary maker. We sat lakeside and chatted. The fear stayed away – perhaps it was going to gang up on me at the start line? I had my breakfast of hammer perpetuem. Not the poached eggs that Cam Brown swears by, but this is what I trained with.

5.30 body painting. FF on the leg. Checked the bike. It’s all a bit unreal. Said ‘hi’ to Cameron in T1. Pumped tyres, checked out the hot bods and very cool racked bikes. Despite the loudspeakers and rocking music everything seems eerily quiet. No one (including me) looks anxious. Perhaps I got the day wrong?

6.30 wetsuit on. Hi to some friends and into the warm, still water. Being a very nervous swimmer I had planned to start from shore and give the pack a minute or two. Coach Wendy had told me better to go deep and to the rear, and start on the gun. I felt so serene I could almost have handled the punch up near the pros, but stuck to the deep water plan. The waka and the karakia caused tears to well up. Other athletes were crying. Still it was quiet… The crowd counted down …

7.00 the gun went off and we were at it – Ironman 2007.

What a buzz!I smiled through the whole swim. At one point I rolled onto my back and laughed. A year ago I couldn’t put three strokes together. Three months ago I freaked out in the Rotorua Half Ironman swim and seriously thought of giving Ironman a miss for a year. It was happening now – I was living the thing I’d dreamed about and trained for.

8.41 Out of the swim. There were still people in the water behind me!

I walked to T1 as Wendy said she’d slap me if she heard I’d run it, as my Achilles tendons were inflamed and very sore. The announcer was another coach and friend. We hugged. I got onto the bike, my smile as wide as it could be and headed out through the crowd. I was wearing pink, and had a pink Allen bike. I thought people were yelling ‘Go Vicky’. Later I realised it was ‘Pinky’ .

The first quarter of the race went by quickly. I was passed by almost everyone I beat out of the water, and in the whole 8 h 24 I was on the bike passed no-one. It was an awesome experience none the less. Briefly – before I was lapped going back through the forest into town – I was the first rider behind the ‘lead cyclist’ vehicle. I wish I had a photo of that!

Fellow athletes were amazing with their support too. I heard encouraging remarks from a good portion of the field as they rode past in the other direction – usually a good couple of hours ahead of me.Turning at Reporoa the second time I was told that Cameron Brown had won the men’s race. No one knew the result of the women’s race.

The wind was getting up and it was hot, but the only way home was one pedal revolution after the other. Having never done anything like this before I was uncertain how much I needed in reserve to get through the run, so determined not to cook myself on the bike. I quietly believed that I would get home. I hadn’t come all this way to leave without a medal…

It was disconcerting to see the Portaloos being taken away from the bike course while I was still riding. Had to nip into the forest for a nervous wee in case there was no toilet at the next support station.

1720 Finished the bike 10 minutes before cut off. Got a great reception from the crowd as I set off on the run. I think they were sufficiently lubricated by early evening to pour out their love all over the back of packers.. it was wonderful to feel their support.

An Achilles injury meant I had a run-walk plan in place. The tendon tightened up so much when I attempted a jog that I changed plans ands walked the full distance. The crowd was amazing – so supportive, lots of positive vibe all the way till

23.36.38 when I came home.

What a day – the weather was an apology for last year. The organisation went well, and the fellow athletes – many of whom waited at the finish for the tail-enders were fantastic. The Taupo crowd couldn’t be bettered.

All in all an AWESOME day. I will be back next year – hopefully considerably faster. I hope to catch up with you all there. Perhaps I could even pass one or two of you ;-)

Special thanks to Jack McKenzie for your encouragement pre-race. Let’s co-ordinate our outfits next year?

Spring...

Yesterday the equinoxial winds were barrelling down the hills towards the lake which lay yet unruffled at the foot of Stillwaters. The cabbage trees and weeping willows stood firm, and mother ducks shepherded their babies into the leafy shelters to wait out the weather. The ducklings are young enough to take themselves lightly - any alarm sends them racing across the surface of the water like triathletes eager for the best swim start. One group of nine ducklings in their yellow and brown racing suits shimmied through the red water fern barely getting their feathers wet as their mother followed them under the leafy veil of a willow. Safe again...

The wind dipped lower, the leaves of the cabbage trees clacked together, still dry from winter's drought. The willows danced in their new green finery, they had been bare sticks a month ago.

A solitary dab chick swam like an Egyptian, its head nodding forward and back as it winched itself across the ruffled water.

Californian quail motored down the path beside the lake. Their quaint brown dress-coats barely moving as their wind-up feet flew across the newly mown track. I disturbed a nesting golden pheasant who flew from beneath my feet with a plaintive rusty-duck alarm call.

Phil the goat (full name Felicia-jolly-good-go-at) pulled at her chain and dragged her hut a centimetre closer to me as I sat on the grass. Phil is losing her winter coat and looks straggly and unloved. I pulled some of her old coat out, and it flew like candy floss on the freshening wind towards the lake. Perhaps it will appear woven into a soft warm nest next season.

The early evening light illuminated the still waters that give our place its name, as the lake become darker and more alive, churning and chasing the bird life from the centre of the water towards nests and shelter.

Coffee called, and I rose to return to my home through the trees. A triple line of blackwoods form a cathedral trail back along the foot of the lake. An old birdnest cartwheeled across the floor - pefectly constructed and sadly empty. The swallows in the trees squeaked their protest at my intrusion, and a pair of nesting magpies gargled nastily.

The golden night light picked out the contours of the surrounding hills, and lit the tops of grasses being thrashed by the wind. Each grass tipped by a tiny fairy light that winked in the waning light. The wind began to drop, the pukekos screamed from their nests in the greening raupo.

My coffee steamed and I sat warming my hands and watching through the lounge window as darkness and quiet fell again. Home and safe.

Spring...

Would You Still Follow?

Would you still follow?

If tomorrow there was absolute, incontrovertible proof that Jesus was not the son of God, just a great man who lived a long time ago, would you still follow Him?
Would you stick to his ideals of truth, grace, peace and love if there were no eternal reward for doing so?
I have been reading some Philip Yancey, and one of the men he quoted pondered this same question. After much consideration I feel such deep and overwhelming love for Jesus that I would follow Him.
Would you want to join us???