It's taper time!

So I now have a matter of days left before we fly out to New Zealand for the Tarawera Ultramarathon next weekend. Since signing up for the race a couple of months ago time has absolutely flown by. The past couple of weeks have been pretty low key, especially after having a really paranoid 2 days where an old injury flared up last week. I think the majority of the "niggle" was mostly in my head as after a massage with Nathan and some acupuncture from my physio Ali, things came right within a couple of days.

The last few days have been busy in patches where I have been in front of the laptop trying to work out a bit of a nutrition & hydration game plan for the race. This period of time for me is almost the time where I get rid of any nerves that I might have for the race. As most who know me well will know, I am generally pretty chilled out and a bit of a clown on race day as I love having a laugh and having fun as thats why I do it, so I get through the serious stuff before the race to ensure everything runs smoothly.

Since my brief encounter with the paranoid niggle last week, I have had a couple of really great runs which brought back confidence after losing a little for a couple of days. I have been speaking to quite a few people lately asking where I think I'll finish and what time etc. Doing my race splits it's kind of hard to get a gauge of where I might sit. All I know is that I am super stoked to be running my 2nd 100km race, in New Zealand and that regardless of what time I my or may not run it's going to be AWESOME!!

We fly out Wednesday night and arrive Thursday afternoon when we will then drive to Rotovegas to make the 5.15pm fun run. I'm really looking forward to seeing Dad and my Uncle who are coming up from Christchurch especially for the race, and its going to be incredible having the two guys who got me into running and motivate me to run there supporting me along the way. It's going to be a massive buzz seeing them with Liz and good friend Sarah at aid stations along the way.

One other thing I think worth mentioning is the Race Director Paul has had to change the course due to fire risk. So now at the 60km mark, we turn around and head back to Lake Okareka which is where the 100km now finishes. This basically makes the run tougher, hillier and more technical. The course change doesn't really bother me too much and I think running on scenic single track beats forestry road any day of the week. Hopefully i'm still thinking that at the 60km turnaround :)

Not many photo's this week, just a couple of nice ones from running with Liz up at Bold Park yesterday as I periodically misplaced/lost my camera for a while there :)

If my Suunto is ready I must be right...?

Not a bad view from Bold Park

Liz and her fancy new Hoka's

An Emu that scared the s*#t out of me on a run last week!