Do More Trailrunz: New Zealand Trail Runs

The Southern Muster - Sky Run

2012-01-14T20:35:00.001-08:00

I'll admit the title of this race sounded alluring - sky run made me think of flying through the mountains like Killian Jornet. The race was in the mountains but I was not flying.

The The Southern Muster - Sky Run took place in early January at Snow Farm, Cadrona. To help orient the North Islanders, this is about halfway between Wanaka and Queenstown. In themselves, two of the most beautiful places in New Zealand. Snow Farm is a popular cross country skiing area in the winter and serves as a high-altitude training camp in summer. So, it was little surprise that when I walked in to the registration area, practically every top olympic distance athlete in New Zealand was there (I am pleased to confirm that Andrea Hewitt is just as cute in real life as she appears on TV).

I chatted with the super-enthusiastic Adrian Bailey before the race. He's been race directing for a couple of years now and has started his own company, called ActiveQT. Took me a while, but I figured out ActiveQT means active Queenstown - and not active cutie.

BTW everyone - Adrian is the organiser of the Pure South Shotover Moonlight Mountain Marathon on 4th February 2012. I predict it will become an instant classic on the NZ offroad running calendar (that's code for - DO IT!).

Adrian gave us the rundown on the course (I chose the 20k over the 5 and 10k options) and set us off. The coure is a fairly hilly 5km loop through the crosscountry ski area. The run dropped gently down some gentle roads and kept on going. It was probably the easiest start to a race ever - constant gentle downhills. Then we made a sharp left-hand turn and went uphill through an alpine bog. Every footstep (of mine at least) seem to make the landscape move up and down. We scrambled up a steep bank to get out of the bog and turned in to some hills to ascend back to the start. One lap down.

Adrian is directing traffic (both on foot and mountain-bikers)

The most popular trail runner in the Southern Lakes area - Morgan Garandele (left) and myself

OK, I challenge you to think of a better place to stop for a post-race beer than this (it actually was the closest pub to the race venue).

My plan was not to run too much of this race, since I'd hurt my knee a month previously. But enthusiasm overtook me and I kept on going, laps 2,3 and 4 and I was done. Not my fastest half marathon time by a (I have no clue what the time was), but definitely faster than the Speights West Coaster and The Goat a couple of weeks beforehand.

Thanks for Adrian and the ActiveQT team for a great high-altitude trail run. Thank you South Island for some sun. Oh my GOD was it was good.

Paul Charteris
- January 2012

Crushing rocks at the Goat Alpine Adventure Run

2011-12-04T14:29:00.000-08:00

Well my race-plan was to crush rocks - but in the end they smashed me.

There are trail half marathons, there are challenging and tough trail half marathons and then there's The Goat. As Race Director Jason Cameron (himself a classy trail runner) says: "the Goat is 3km of running of 18km of hope". I agree.

While there's no way around it - the Goat is a tough run - it's within the ability of most people to finish. But you have to work for it - and when you are rewarded with a Speights at the finish-line you know you have earned it. The true sense of accomplishment over this rugged alpine environment is why every Kiwi runner should tackle this race at least once.

Getting used to the rocks early in the run

The trail seems to just disappear in to the alpine mist

I am cracking a massive smile early in the run - towards the end I was certainly not as cheerful.

The race starts at the Whakapapa ski field (well above the Chateaux) with five waves. I placed myself in Wave 4 (the second slowest), and had secretly hoped to catch a few of the Wave 3 runners who took off 5 minutes ahead of us. After a mild 2km downhill we veered sharply left on to the rocky trail, where my lack of technical trail running skills were sorely tested for the first time. I was ok on the uphills, but picked my way gingerly (perhaps too gingerly) past the rocks on the downs. All in front of me and behind were a stream of runners appearing as blobs of red, blue and yellow as they picked and weaved their way among the rocks.

Untitled from trail ruNZ on Vimeo.

Runners descend the first major zig-zag of the day. Take a look at the huge trail of runners down the hill at the end of this vid.

You need to be both very fit and have excellent trail-running skills to run The Goat well. I have neither, but I more than make up for that in self-belief and (although not apparent to external audiences) cockiness. The rock wall of death certainly too care of that. Let me explain that before we met this wall - we'd been though half a dozen creek crossing, clambered, slipped and slid down (and up) some muddy banks. But this was different. This rocky gnarly (piece of shit) hill swallows up the track in a jumble of rocks whose sole purpose in life is to demoralise runners on the first weekend of every December. Although the view from the top is spectacular - the only satisfaction you get is knowing you don't have to climb that thing again.

Stuck in a rut - this run can bury you up to your armpits

weehoo! some open running through the tussock

From the tops we descended a series of wooden boardwalks past Lake Surprise, past the DOC hut and to the base of the waterfall. We're now 5km from the finish-line - which is so far above me - it's hidden in cloud. The only way to get there is to climb up the side of the waterfall - which is incredibly beautiful (but I was too stuffed to take photos) and carry on climbing, climbing and climbing and climbing some more. At last I reached Moma's Mile (so named because tough, grown men are heard to cry out for their mothers) and just climbed a little more.

At the top of the rockwall of death

Along the boardwalk near the lakes on the final big downhill.

I finished in 4:25 - which I was pretty pleased with (yes - I was pleased with a half marathon time of 4:25!). In all honesty, I though I was tipping over the 5-hour mark, so I was delighted with that time. Results are here.

Post-run, I enjoyed a beer with allblack legend Ian Jones and announcer extraordinaire Mark Watson at the Powderkeg, following by a highly-entertaining prize giving.

Thanks to Jason and the The Goat Alpine Adventure Run Team - I am sure you partied in to the night, I was sleeping like a nana-goat.

Paul Charteris
November 2011.

Speights West Coaster Half Marathon

2011-11-29T09:51:00.001-08:00

Speights, for non-New Zealand audiences is a beer typically drunk by tough rugged characters who have earned it. Tasks that qualify for earning a Speights include stacking the woodshed and shearing a flock of sheep. Running the Speights West Coaster half marathon which starts and ends at Bethels Beach on the west coast of Auckland is also a speights-earning feat.

The event was put on by the well-known Totalsport crew - who are (in)famous for staging a number of scenic, yet challenging trail runs in the upper part of the North Island. My running has come right as of late so I decided to venture north and see what all the fuss is about this run. Looking at last year's times - it woud be a slow one.

Splish, splash and we are off on the start of the West Coaster

At the start-line, this reminded me a lot of the PCTR races in the San Francisco Bay Area, not surprisingly - since their runs are often on the trails overlooking the west coast of the United States.

The start was very exciting, we had a small river to cross after a few hundred metres, followed by a muddy bog and a nice long climb. Dropping down to the other side we were greeted with the first of many spectacular coastal views as the trail makes it way up and around a number of bluffs and snakes its way around the steep hillsides.

I think that the nice rolling Rotorua trails have made me soft - because these were real trails. They form the northern edge of the newly-formed Hillary Trail -the 70km track where tough guys like Malcom Law from Running Wild NZ and Shaun Collins from Lactic Turkey like to run in mid-winter wearing only their norsewear socks and eating only seagull eggs and saltwater along the way.

The half is an out-and back and I was feeling good at the far-end of the run so I tucked in behind a couple of talented young ladies who were setting a nice steady pace on the way back. The traffic was heavy at this point with half marathon, 30k and marathon runners all jockeying for position on the return to Bethels Beach.

Runners approach the summit of the half-way hill

Norman Chan - makes his way to his 100-marathon goal - the hard way.

The gals help set the pace on the half marathon return

I think the wind has blown my hair all crooked

About 18km in to the run I hit a bit of a wall and started walking a little more - but I was not alone in that respect, many others were walking around me - and (to my great pleasure) I was able to start overtaking runners towards the end. All done with 3:44 on the clock. Even though I was well down in the field, I was super-happy that I'd completed a very very tough run - and got to see some of this wonderful Hillary Trail.

BTW - you Hillary Trail Runners are a tough bunch.

Paul Charteris
November, 2011

XTERRA Trail Running Challenge Waihi

2011-10-08T20:08:00.000-07:00

Surprisingly, the challenge in XTERRA Trail Running Challenge Waihi was not the uphills – it was the downs. I’d entered the 19km long course event – which was the New Zealand National Trail Running Championships. Coming off a series of foot injuries (I’ll spare you the sob story) and not being very fit, I expected to get punished by the uphills. It ended up being the downs that were my undoing.

This TotalSport event is the culmination of their winter trail running calendar. In among the impressively large 250-strong field were some of New Zealand’s top trail runners – some of whom were vying for national honours and the chance to represent New Zealand at the World Championships in Maui.

I was there to take in the scenery – and brag on the Internet that I’ve been to a place called Dickey Flat.

After Race Director Dave Franks let us go (he’s blowing his tooter in the photo above) we had two swing bridges in very quick succession. To avoid all sorts of calamities we were only allowed to walk these one or a few runners at a time. It was a nice relaxed way to start the race – and allowed the bovines a chance to check us out.

The next challenge was the 200 metre long miners’ tunnel (Waihi is a gold mining area from way back). Thankfully torches were placed along the tunnel floor so we could kind of see where we were going. My arms were flailing above me since I was warned that tall blokes might whack their heads on the tunnel roof.

This is some serious tunnel action

We are now 1 km in to the race – we’ve had two swing bridges, sweet single track by a river and tunnel. This was turning in to quite an adventure.

I settled in to a rhythm along the beautiful track alongside the river. There were superb views on very nice smooth sunning surface. 3.5km in we hit an abrupt hill which soon flattened a little on to a gentle uphill gradient – up – and up – and up. This was a monster climb on an ideal grade (i.e. just enough that I could run it). The views over the canyon (to use a North American word) were spectacular – and were eerily similar to fond memories of running in the American River canyon.

The track along Karangahake gorge

Kristian Day passed me on his uphill – he was happy as a dog with a tennis ball – smiling all the way as he led the marathon field by a wide margin.

Once we were over a steep pitch at the top – I was hoping for a nice gentle downhill. Not so – it was a steep, slippery downhill – and my shoes had zero traction. Being a cheapskate – I was wearing a pair of trail running shoes that I had worn down to zero tread – and now I was skiing down in the mud to pay for it.

Part of my holey muddy shoe - I am such a cheapskate trail runner. Photo courtesy of Mal Lw from Running Wild NZ

A brief uphill again, before turned down some gnarly, rooty track to the finish-line at Dickey Flat. I was super-duper stoked to finish. I’ve not had the most productive trail running season – but the smile on my face at the finish says “I love this game”.

All smiles at the finish-line - Photo courtesy of Mal Lw from Running Wild NZ

Thanks for Dave and the Totalsport crew – another wonderful day in a stunning location.

Here are your national champions for 2011:
Female
1 - Angela Simpson 1:49:47
2 - Rachel Bowie 1:52:21
3 - Rosana Carnachan 1:54:56

Male:
1 - Stephen Lett 1:32:02
2 - Chris Morrissey 1:33:53
3 - Nick Hirschfeld 1:35:02

Running in the inaugural 3D Multisport Race, Rotorua

2011-06-13T01:43:00.001-07:00

Last weekend, the dream-team of Andy Fuller on kayak, Rotorua Mayor Kevin Winters on mountainbike and myself doing the run entered the premier multisport event of the Expand-A-Sign 3D Rotorua Off-Road Winter Multisport Festival.

This superb new event is the brainchild of Neil Gellatly, a well-known Kiwi mulsisporter and endurance athlete.

Our team was called ‘Kevin’s Keeping Us on Track’. Andy had an 8km paddle on Lake Okareka, Kevin a 30km mountain bike in the Whakarewarewa forest and I had a 12km run though the tracks near the Redwoods.

Having the Mayor on-board meant we were the target of every other team out there – including our (new) arch-rivals ‘Two Flats Whites and a Fluffy’ This was the team of local café owners. Morgs from Zippy’s café was one of the two flat whites while (ultra) Brendon Arkwright from Abracadabra’s was the fluffy. My job was to take down Brendon.

The Kayaking machine Andy Fuller is out on his own

Andy had us out to a great start – about 8th place off the water – and giving Kevin a good lead on almost every other team. He was barely behind world champion multisporter Richard Ussher (who went on to win the individual title).

Morgan arrived a T2 and handed over the Brendon (dammit) and the wily South African buck-rabbit zipped in to the forest at top speed chasing Richard Ussher who was a scant 2-3 seconds (and one lap) ahead. Events and Venues’ Martin Croft, meanwhile had already started the run – so I had two runners that I really wanted to catch on this 2-lap circuit.

Kevin Winters is all concentration as he pedals through the Whaka Forest

Mayor Muddy came in a few minutes later (all grins) after having finished some of the sweetest mountain bike single track available anywhwre. I took the race timing chip and was off into the hills. The run course starts by climbing up towards Tokorangi Pa (the same route as the Tarawera Ultra. start) where I was ready to hurl my breakfast. From the summit we came crashing downhill zig-zagging between the Redwood trees. The single track was easily the most fun – although the track clearance must have been done by some short-ass athlete because it seemed like I had to duck under every ponga on the track.

I emerge from the single-track, you gotta love running in the Rotorua Redwoods.

Even though I work only 5 minutes from the race start – these were some new tracks I had not discovered before, so congrats to Neil and the team for putting on a sweet-as run.

It was a superb event, the fluffies crushed us – but we had a superb time.

Thanks to Neil and Kat, we will be back again next year for the second 3D multisport race.

Paul Charteris
June, 2011

Return to racing at the Big O

2011-05-27T23:43:00.000-07:00

After a 7 month hiatus with all sort of foot problems, I returned to racing with this years Big O trail run very near my home in Rotorua. O stands for Okataina - the lake that the run circles. The race entry form tells me that O stands for awesome - which is fair enough - it is an awesome run.

I did not take a photo of blue bum on purpose. Blue bum ran through the middle of my scenic photo.

I chose the 19km option- a sensible move since my feet remain untested on anything longer than about 15km as of late. The run started at Crater Farm which is a big chunk of land between lakes Okareka, Okataina and Tarawera. It’s an impressive piece of real estate. If you’d like to buy the farm – it’s for sale at around $4-6 million.

The 19km run starts on the farm at Miller Road – between the Okareka and Miller Road aid stations on the Tarawera Ultra. We ran through the farm with absolutely spectacular views out over lake Tarawera. After negotiating a few fences and scrub – we bush-bashed our way on the Eastern Okataina walkway. For those of you familiar with this track – we popped out on top of the plateau between lakes Okataina and Tarawera.

I was feeling pretty good – and ran quite solidly through the Eastern Okataina Walkway. I was even passing runner. Me! – passing runners - holy hamburgers! Eventually time and distance caught up with my right foot and I started getting minor (then extreme) pain in the arch. I walked the final 4km in to the finish line and enjoyed some sausages.

I am proud to have finished my first trail running race in along time. I loved it – the track – the people – the course (of course). It’s nice to be part of something as a runner again. Thanks to the Lactic Turkey guys - I will be ebakc next year - and not just because I won a free entry.

Cheers, Paul (again a runner)

2011 Tarawera Ultramarathon stories

2011-03-23T22:01:00.000-07:00

Here are some stories from the 2011 Tarawera Ultramarathon run, in no particular order:

Andrew Eberhard finishes the 60k (and his first ultra). See his youtube video of the day

Mick Tarry from Christchurch conquers the 100k - while rasing funds for charity

Grant Guise (3rd place in the 100k)

Team Five Fingers (inlcuding Barefoot Ted, Max, Ruby and Kugs) in the 85km relay

Great article in the Bay of Plenty Times (PDF) and in the Rotorua Daily Post

From 20-year-old Kristian Day (4th place in the 100k)

My build up to the 2011 Tarawera Ultra 100km was a relatively new experience to me, having only ever raced one ultra before hand- the 2010 Kepler Challenge. Even so I figured I had read enough blogs or books to adequately prepare myself for the beast and was far more excited than nervous when I lined up at 7am on Saturday morning.

I remember moments before Paul started the countdown Kerry Suter turned around and said some words I would carry with me the entire day “Run smart till the 60k”- then we were off.

The first few 15 minutes or so I found myself sticking relatively close to whoever had a head lamp and deciding not to worry about where I was in terms of position until I could see properly.

By the time I had reached the water tower around 5km’s into the race I had found myself latching onto three other runners, at the time I had no idea who they were but decided I liked their pace so would stick with them and take my chances.

Eventually sometime between the water tower and the first aid station at Lake Tikitapu we had started talking and had realised I was with Sam Wreford, Vajin Armstrong and Grant Guise, of course I knew who these men were and immediately felt as though I may be abit out of my league in terms of pace and position. I decided however I would just stick with them and see how I went.

Kristian (without shirt) runs with Sam, Vajin and Grant. The top 4 finishers of the 100k race are all here. Photo courtesy of Jamie Troughton

I reached Okareka 20km into the race in 1:36, by this stage Vajin and Sam had started to pull ahead of me and Grant on the road section and although we could still see them, I think both me and Grant knew we probably would never catch them again. After Okareka I ran with Grant almost the entire way to Okataina Lodge, the only time we wouldn’t run together was when Grant would stop to pee. By this time Grant had decided to voluntarily walk some of the steeper hills, he would often ask if I wanted to run ahead, I knew he was far more experienced than me however and decided to follow his lead which I think ultimately was the right decision. I remember around this time starting to feel quite queezy, more than likely the result of the sickening gel and sports drink combo I had been ingesting the previous 3 hours. I decided to ditch the gels and eat solid food from the aid stations and also get my crew to dilute my drink bottles before they handed them too me, this helped a lot.

Grant and Kristian running together. Video courtesy of Jane - thanks Jane :-)

Both me and Grant hit Okataina (37km) at the same time with a split of 3:16, by this time Vajin and Sam were some 5-10 minutes ahead of us, but we still had a 20+ minute lead over whoever was behind us so weren’t to worried about being caught. At Humphries bay (46km) I was feeling pretty bad and realised I was having a harder than ideal time sticking with Grant, soon after we left he pulled away from me and by the time I reached Tarawera Falls at 60k he had fully dropped me and I was running alone for the first time the entire race.

Has anybody seen my shirt? Kristian Day at the Tarawera Falls Aid Station. Photo courtesy of Hadley Craig

The 10km stretch between Tarawera Falls and Titoki were probably my darkest moments of the entire day, I had no Idea how far ahead Grant was or how far in front of 5th place I was, I felt pretty miserable to be honest, I knew once I got to Titoki at 70km I could get Ruby my Pacer, I just didn’t know if I could get there.

It’s amazing what a friend can do for your spirits after 70km, and I immediately chirped up when I picked up Ruby. I quickly ate some food (mostly watermelon) and we headed off to Awaroa. I had decided before the race I wanted to run the last 30km in no more than 3hours, 6 minutes a km I figured would be achievable and was confident in my ability to maintain an even pace over the relatively smooth forestry roads.

The Awaroa loop aka “the 5k loop of despair” soon emerged in front of us, and I was expecting a harder than ideal time dealing with it, fortunately I was surprised I managed to deal with it quite well, completing the loop in just over 30minutes and hitting the 80km mark in a time of 7:39. Ruby asked the volunteers at the aid station if anyone had entered since we had been past and I was glad to hear nobody had. This gave me at least a 30minute lead on anybody behind me and put to rest any fear of being caught. It was just now a matter of settling into a rhythm and pounding out the last 20km in 2hrs or less. By this time Grant was over 20minutes ahead of me and I knew I would never be able to catch him, he was far more experienced than me I later found out he just killed the last leg.

This late in the day I was glad I had a pacer; Ruby would let me stop at aid stations and walk the up hills provided I injected pace on the flats in order to keep my total average speed at 10kmph. She had also told me I was definitely going to get a sub 10:00 and if I stayed on pace, although I couldn’t win I could still break last years record.

The last 10km was a mixture of swearing, spitting and absolute agony and I was just waiting for the next aid station and an excuse to stop, even for a few short seconds. The last 2km over the golf clubs was by far the most disgusted I’ve been my entire life and by this stage I hated everybody, I just desperately wanted to stop I was literally almost in tears. Then almost out of nowhere we saw the cones to the finish line.

Running down the finish line was probably the happiest moment I’ve ever experienced in any race. The mixture of emotions one experiences is almost indescribable to someone who hasn’t been there before. My finishing time of 09:37:49 had meant I had stuck to my pace, finished 4th and beaten last years first place by almost 10 minutes.

In reflection I think the whole race went pretty well and I couldn’t have asked for a better result, but to say it was all my own doing would be simply egotistical and stupid so there are a few people I would like the thank:

Paul Charteris, his amazing volunteers and aid station crew. You guys were bloody fantastic and made my day so much easier.

My mother and Grandfather for your awesome support, having a fresh water bottle at each aid station and putting up with my swearing at the later stages.

Grant Guise for your awesome company up to 50km, you certainly made it an experience and can’t wait to run with you again.

Ruby Muir, thank you so much for your great company and support over the last 30km I don’t think I would have ever made it to the end without you.

2010 Kepler Challenge

2010-12-05T10:22:00.000-08:00

Just a quick note. I travelled down to Te Anau with a bunch of friends to take in the epic Kepler Challenge - a 60km trail run race that is New Zealand's best established and easily the most popular trail run in the country. World-famous trail running photographer Glenn Tachiyama and I hiked to the Luxmore Hut to take pics and videos.

Here's a video showing the scene above the hut.

it was a truly wonderful weekend and Kepler is an outstanding race in every respect. My congratulations to the race organisers for putting on another very very classy event.

All the photos are here. I hope you may find a photo of yourself or one of your friends. The first batch of photos are of the Kepler Challenge runners near Luxmore Hut. The downhill runners are past of the Luxmore Grunt race and the fial photos (with the grassy background) are Kepler runners near the finish-line.

Cheers,

Paul Charteris
- December, 2010

Enjoy!

Too early to retire from trail ultras?

2010-11-05T13:33:00.000-07:00

No, not too early. Now's probably a good time for me to hang up my trail running shoes - when it comes to ultra's at least. A series of setbacks (I get every foot injury known to humanity) indicates that I need to take it easy on the super-long distance stuff and focus my energies on something that's not going to cripple me.

I'd say these shoes have done their dash

It not that I don't like them, I love trail ultra's more than anything else. The freedom, exploring, adventures and being out with friends for the better part of 8, 12 hours or more. There's nothing like it, running through the mountains, around lakes, forests and enjoying the world's wild places.

But for now I’m done. Someone else can have my Kepler Challenge spot, Mal, you’re going to have to run the Reese-Dart without me mate. Western States? probably never again. From now until the foreseeable future, I am not going to attempt anything (running-wise) longer than a half marathon, but hopefully I can walk some trail marathons and ultra-long distances so I’ll still be exploring.

I know that if I don’t give my feet a break now, I run the risk of massive and irreversible injury, comntinued bone loss and possibly arthritis. For now, the best thing would be to gently pad along through the forests, jogging a little here, walking a lot there and keeping active. Maybe I'll be healthy enough in a couple of years to get back in the game, who knows?

Although this totally sucks from a personal point of view, its also a really bad look as the Race Director of a trail ultra. Rest assured, you’ll still see me on the trails and I’ll continue to do my very very best to help grow and promote trail running in New Zealand and the ultra-distance aspect of it.

On the plus side of all this, I work and live right in the middle of some of the best mountain biking, open water swimming and paddling places on earth. It might be time for a new hobby.

Cheers, Paul
November 6, 2010

Gorilla method used at Mountain Race

2010-10-30T13:44:00.000-07:00

... and I was not the only one - read on to find out what the Gorilla Method is and why it was used.

Kawerau's annual Mountain Race is without a shadow of doubt the steepest and quite possibly most insane short run in New Zealand. How steep?

Picture this. The run start at 30 metres (90 feet) elevation. At the top it is 820 metres (or 2690 feet). You "run" this is in only 3.6km. Holy crap!!

If this run was a full marathon distance - you would run from sea level to 30,000 feet. That is a couple of hundred feet higher than Everest. And since the run is the same distance down - you'd run another quad-crushing marathon (and 30,000 vertical feet) back down again.

Prince and Princess of the Mountain, 2010 from trail ruNZ on Vimeo.

This is the start of the Prince and Princess race for the kids. There are some mighty impressive young athletes here.

So, as I wait on the start-line every year I am nervous as hell. This year was the 55th running of the event – and some special medals were dished out to all finishers. Even though I know I am only doing 7km today - it is a honest-to-god hard hard hard 7k. if I finish in under an hour and a half, I'll be very pleased. Hopefully, the other 150 runners are as nervous as myself. We start with a climb up the road and then a relatively flat spot for about 300 metres. A few younger runners rip it up ahead of me, full of enthusiasm.

Yellow dots go up and blue dots go down.

Once we turn off the road, the serious climbing starts. My legs instantly go in to very low gear, walking up the steep single-track trail while some runners scramble past. On to the skid site (one-third of the way up), I am too pooped to run - but my walk is the same pace as most of those running around me. Now, we hit the mountain proper. I put my head down and refuse to look at the summit. if you even attempt to look up - even if you think you are close to the top - it is game over. The summit is always a long way away.

On the uphill right near the start. I am a white-boy in this photo, but I'm pretty black at the end of the race. I did not take my camera any further since I needed my hands free for climbing

Now the race, for me, gets interesting. We're about 25 minutes in to the run and ahead of me runners are getting picked of every 2-3 minutes. Invariably its those younger runners who went out hard at the start. The main trick here is to never ever stop. If you stop (even for 10 seconds), you'll completely lose momentum and it's game-over. The vegetation and roots get a hammering in this run as I pulled myself up the hill to take the pressure off my burning calves. On a couple of rocks, the runner in front of me stood on my fingers while Josie Jones was hot on my heels behind me the entire way up.

2nd place getter Shay Williamson leads Sjors Corporaal up the mountain. Sam Clark is ahead of them both at this stage - he finished 4th to Chris Morrissey Photo courtesy of Brian Sisam.

Me (at a much slower pace than the gentlemen above). Photo courtesy of Brian Sisam.

About half-way to the top, I went in to Gorilla mode, leaning on my knuckles as I went up. Using four limbs is better than two I figured. I was not the only one to adopt this technique, one of the quick Australian runners used he went Gorilla also. At the top in 1:02 (that's about 17 minutes per km - or 27 minute miles), our Mayor (Malcom) asked how I felt. Absolutely buggered.

The downhill is worse that going up. It is shit-scary the on the steep bits and barely runnable on the less steep bits. I tried to stay on my feet the whole way but fell a couple of times. Mostly I just 'monkeyed down' swinging from tree to tree, which helped break my momentum. As with previous years my quads were completely shot before I reached the bottom. The final hill climb at the end was ridiculous since my legs were wobbling hunks of jelly. No matter how hard I tried to run, i just did not have the legs to do anything more than a light jog home in 1:36.

Would I do it again? Hell yes. It never gets easier, I just hope some sort of senility will settle in allowing me to forget how tough it was in previous years. I joined Sjors Corporaal (who won) in the river at the finish-line. He was delighted with his win – but he’d fought hard for it this time against 16-year old Shay Williamson.

Congratulations to the Kawerau Harrier Club and the Kawerau District Council for putting on yet another outstanding Mountain Race.

Blue skies at Blue Lake

2010-10-01T21:02:00.000-07:00

I posted the flickr photos here (sorry some of them are blurry)

The spring sun shone brightly on the inaugural Tikitapu Trail Run near Rotorua. Marcus and his team at N-Duro events bought this run to the Blue lake area - with the course winding its way through the trails in the world-famous Whakarewarewa Forest. I knew it would be a spectacular course – because Marcus knows this area almost better than anyone else in New Zealand – so he’s able to connect tracks that most of us don’t even know exist.

Start of the Tikitapu Trail Run Half Marathon from trail ruNZ on Vimeo.

Start of the Tikitapu Trail Run - Thanks Marcus! We ran around the lake from left to right as you see it and ran over those big hills behind the lake about half-way through this video.

There were two main distances– the half marathon (which I chose) and the Adventure Run – about 3km shorter with some bush-bashing trail action. After some weeks of misery, the sun burst out at the start-line on the shore of the Blue Lake. We ran anti-clockwise to the far end of the lake (incidentally – this is the same track the Tarawera Ultra. takes en route to the first aid station), before a quick turn uphill and we were parallel to the Green Lake.

After a hefty initial climb (admittedly, I went anaerobic during this stretch), we had a sharp (an unexpected for me) right-hand turn and faced a steep climb on some singletrack. At the top, we had a flowing downhill before another one of those right-handers and more steep climbing on single track. This happened a third and final time – this time on to the Tuhoto Ariki Track – a spectacular bush track. Tuhoto Ariki is dual-purpose (used by mountain bikers also) , so it’s a classic kiwi bush track that is perhaps a little smoother than your average DOC track. It is a simply superb track to run and requires some great trail running skills to move well.

Tikitapu Trail run - Kiwi bush from trail ruNZ on Vimeo.

Serious trail running skills are required for this stretch through the native bush

After slipping, sloshing and scrambling a few times through the bush I made it to the top in pretty good shape although it was a long, and at times technical, climb. We were rewarded for our efforts with a colossal downhill on Tawa Road. How much down? Let me put it this way – the National Downhill Mountain Biking course only starts two-thirds of the way up this monster. On the easy down a shuttle bus was chugging up the hill with about 25 bikes on the back. In addition to being a trail running paradise, this forest is also once of the best mountain bike areas on the planet.

Right near the bottom end of Hill road (yes- it is one continuous hill), the course veered off to the left and took in yet more single track. I swear to God, that man must live in the bush to find all those trails! The course soon joined windy road and back to Blue Lake. About 500 metres from the finish, we were taken on yet another new track (I am pretty sure Marcus and Dean made this one up the day before) and were promptly deposited at the finish-line.

A truly sweet day – on some great tracks and a great way to enjoy the Kiwi native bush. I think this event will certainly grow in 2011 and will become a favourite of for many trail runners.

Flying and laughing at Arthur's Half

2010-09-18T14:43:00.000-07:00

The flickr photoset is here

That would be Arthur Lydiard, the greatest coach of running champions the world has ever known. The Totalsport team put on this half marathon race in the Waitakere's in West Auckland on the same roads that 'Arthur's boys' trained on before. The half marathon is run in conjunction with the Lydiard Legend Marathon - a run advertising itself as the toughest road marathon in New Zealand (probably no exaggeration there).

My fears of becoming caught out in the ‘storm of the century’ prove to be unfounded – with a few swirling winds around and only brief (albeit heavy) rainstorms beore the start. I chatted with Dylan from Five Fingers NZ and Aaron from Totalsport for so long that I was barely ready by the time the starting gun fired.

The half marathon is a hefty affair on its own accord. Although ultra-purists might scoff at running 21k's (and on roads at that), it’s no easy doddle. Up until an hour before the start, I was unsure if I would start- a couple of recent toe setbacks left me unsure if I could even walk. Deciding to HTFU, I put the race number on my walk shorts (I did not even have running shorts) and decided to give it a go.

Early in the run I am confronted with two of my greatest weaknesses - fish and chips and kebabs.

The run started with some gentle rolling terrain I was quite happy with my hill climbing, which seemed to be reasonably effortless for me (most unusual). A lot of runners overtook me on the early hills, although I noticed by their breathing that a lot were pushing near their own limits. We had some decent ups and downs

Heather, a local Bay of Plenty trail runner overtook me early on (along with a lot of other runners), but I eventually started clawing my way back on the longer, gradual climbs. Steep hills are not my forte – but ‘forever hills’ (quite logically – hills that climb forever) are my friend. Fortunately, this run had a huge ‘forever hill’ right at the middle and I had the pleasure and pain of pushing my way up this monster.

'Forever hills' go on - forever

By the time I hit Scenic Drive (which should be re-named Scenic Run), I was really hitting my stride. I’d chosen the lightest trail running shoes ever invented (the New Balance MT 101) to tackle this run so all I had to do was maintain running form and fly down the hill. And fly I did, the last few km, I felt like I was chewing up real estate faster than I have in a long time.

These crazy cats were the loudest on the course - they were great fun.

I finished with a huge smile on my face, I’d conquered Arthur’s Half in 2:05, run every step of a forever hill, embraced swirling and squirrely winds and smiled pretty much the entire way. It takes a pretty special event to drag me off the trails – this is most certainly one of them.

Thanks to Aaron, Jenny and rest of the Total Sport Team. Arthur would have been proud of all the legends out there.

Paul Charteris,
September, 2010

Great Naseby Water Race 2010

2010-08-29T16:37:00.000-07:00

The flickr photos are online here

Some of the 50k and relay runners at the start-line.

This weekend, I ventured south for only my third South Island trail run. Although many outside the ultra-running community have not heard of the Great Naseby Water Race, it is most certainly one worth travelling the distance for. This 50, 80 or 100km run takes place at 2000 feet above sea level in Central Otago. In August it's still fairly cool, with the nearby curling and luge still open at this time of year. Jamie and Aileen Sinclair at the Race Directors, a couple who simply love this event and are truly dedicated to the sport of off-road ultra-distance running.

The event started small four years ago with 13 runners. This year there were 65, double last years field. The 100k runners started at 6am in the dark. I bunked in with Lisa, Rich, Lisa's Mum (aka Momma Bear) and an amiable Frenchman named Morgan. Morgan had warned us the previous night to be careful not to contract giarrhooea - a uniquely French-Kiwi disease which (like many thing in trail ultras) involves bodily fluids moving at paid pace. Morgan left at 9am on his 80k odyssey. I lined up with Lisa, Rich, Heather, Grant and about 35 others for the 50k. My plan was to run as far as comfortably possible in five fingers and then switch to shoes for the remainder.

Andrew Shelly - doing the 80k and in contention for most fashionable runner of the day

We set off down a forest track which would up a small hill and on to open roads. Over the first hill on the road, we had an incredible view of the snow-covered Southern alps ahead of us. A couple of left turns and some long gentle downhill’s on the forest roads and we came to the intersection point of the figure 8 course. Naseby is a 10k course. I had planned on 5 loops. Out the back of the course, there were some gentle climbs and decent downhill’s. At the furthest point on the course, we started running along the water race. We'd following this water course pretty much the entire way bay to the start finish-line. Its is relatively difficult to get a fast time, there are some small hills that ascend or descend with sharp corners at the summit or the dips.

Great Naseby Water Race from trail ruNZ on Vimeo.

An overview of the intersection in the middle of the Figure 8 at the Naseby Water Race

The Figure-8 gives you plenty of opportunity to see and talk to other runners. Lisa’s Mum parked her car in the middle of the Figure 8 and was always on hand to take photos, cheer on runners and hand out supplies. It’s a superb course- lots of variety and very well suited for long-distance running. It reminded me very much of running along the trails in Auburn, CA. In fact, it was so similar it was spooky at times.

I did the first lap very comfortably, but my feet and legs started to hurt a little on the second lap – and my pace slowed as a consequence. At 20km, I was walking more then necessary – a lack of fitness and some soreness in my legs and feet. Grant Guise, the eventual 50k winner in 3:47 lapped me just before I hit the 20km point – he was exactly two laps ahead of me. I stuck with the five fingers for a further 5km and switched to normal trails shoes.

Vivian Cheng - doing what she does best - smiling and running a very long way.

A recurring left-leg soreness eventually prevented me from finishing. I did 35km in total. 25km in the five fingers and 10km in trail shoes. My total running time was not that long, I seemed to have a surprisingly (to myself) good pace while I was running. I was disappointed not to finish, but very happy with how far I did get – considering my recent leg troubles. At leastI ended the day in better shape than a local trout or rabbit - whose carcass littered the course. I felt a little bit like a fish out of water myself, with everyone else putting in very respectable runs. Well done team.

The best part of the weekend, exploring central Otago and meeting friends gain on the trails. That’s what it’s all about. Easily a race I’d recommend for the future – and well worth travelling for.

To Jamie, Aileen and all my South Island mates – see you again for Naseby 2011.

Rich with his well-deserved Speights in between Jamie and Aileen.

No Tarahumara at Tauhara half mara

2010-07-11T00:18:00.000-07:00

.. but there were plenty of everyone else. (I have to thank Andrew Shelley for that brilliant piece of alliteration in the title).

Here's the complete set of photos on flickr

On one of the sunniest, calm, cold and superemely beautiful winter days in living memory - the 2nd annual Brooks Offroad Half Marathon kicked off in fine style. Driving through Reporoa from Kawerau, the ground was white with a brilliant hoar frost. On the same morning, the South Island recorded some of the coldest temps since 1947. Rising above the fog, Mt. Tauhara had brilliant sunshine. Nick Reader from Epic Events really know how to put on good events - and this run was no exception. He's probably more famous in trail riding circles, but has been branching out in to non-motorised events, including the Whirinaki Quest and Crank Taupo.

Race Director Nick Reader with Mt. Tauhara in the background

A big crowd of runners and walkers gathered on the Landcorp Farm sheep paddocks ready for a fun 21km of forestry running.

Among them, Sjors Corporaal was wearing brilliant orange (showing his Dutch heritage). Sjors insisted on this just being a training run - his intention to add an extra 10km at the end of the half marathon. Sjors has a habit of winning most races he enters - so he deservedly took a bit of a ribbing about his 'training run'. This was my second half marathon in the new Vibram Five Fingers, I had (over-enthusiastically) run Toi's Track the previous afternoon so I was pretty sure my feet and legs would not be too fresh for this one.

we're off - start of the Brooks offroad half marathon

From the start we zig-zagged through a quarry area, and on to some forestry tracks and roads. Most of the early part was downhill and an easy warm-up. A sharp right-hand turn and we had our first decent climb. A runner behind me said ‘be prepared for lots of hills today’ I heeded her advice and decided not to push hard, early.

In to some pretty thick forest in the middle of the pine plantation, we were flagged on to a new track. It looks like this track was only a few weeks old (at most), it was incredibly fun with steep downhills and very tight twisty turns as it snaked around the trees. A long but gentle uphill bought us to the Million Dollar View turnaround. A chance to take a couple of photos (and be thankful I was at the top) before heading for home. Another left hand turn and we began a few short gentle up and downs through the trees. Around the 13km mark, the course signaled its intentions to kick some arse with a series of short (and moderately steep) up and downs. This was turning into a surprisingly demanding half marathon run.

There were a few more rocks on the trail in this section and my feet were beginning to feel a little tender. Picking my way gingergly between the stones I probably lost a fair bit of momentum – but this run is part of a 2-3 year long-game to develop bullet-proof feet through minimalist running. At the 17km mark, we started climbing the final 2-3km long hill. At this stage, it was impossible to tell the runners from the walkers. We were (mostly) all dragging ourselves up the hill at walking pace. At the summit, was one of the most rewarding sights in trail running – the finish line with nothing but easy downhill clear skies and cheering crowds in between.

at the summit - the start/finish line is well below me on the right hand side of this photo.

Crossing the finish-line with Tarawera Ultra. aspirant, Glenn Larsen, a blazing-orange Sjors was 2-3 minutes behind me. He’d won the half marathon and completed his 10km extra loop in the same time I had run 21.

A great run. Not an easy run. Absolutely superb start/finish race venue – in fact quite possibly the nicest trail run race venue I have ever been to ( and I can name quite a few). Thanks Nick and Jodie, I’ll be back next year.

Cheers,
Paul Charteris

The Tarawera Ultra. philosophy

2010-07-05T00:20:00.000-07:00

Whoever bought these kids to last years race - can your bring em back again in 2011 - they were fantastic!

I am days away from opening up entries for next years Tarawera Ultramarathon. It'll be a little bit bigger, more social and a whole lot better than before - but basically it's just a footrace through some beautiful country with amazing people.

It's easy to over-hype an event, most scenic this, toughest, hardest, longest, ball-crushing that. But it's just a run. I could try and talk the run up using big emotive words but there's simply no point. The event is what you make of it - and everyone is different. Here's why I put the race on...

I love running through the forest. It's my favourite thing in the world, when I am fit and healthy and running through the bush, I am free man. On those trials I have had a number of moments of pure joy and soul-crushing agony on these runs, but it is without a doubt when I feel most alive. Putting on the Tarawera Ultra. is all about sharing this joy, this freedom, this love. Yeah, I know it sounds like the rantings of a hippy run-love-guru, but I am ok with that.

The Bay of Plenty contains some world-class scenery and I am proud to have been born and bred here and return here to live after spending more than a decade overseas. This event is an opportunity to show the area off, to be proud of where I live and the people I hold dear. Those of you that travel to this race - from close by and far away, increase the mana (prestige) of this event by donating your time to join us here in the Bay of Plenty.

Finally, there's the sense of community. This event is an epic shared experience and a lot of genuine and long-lasting friendships form from these types of events. It's hoped this community will continue to grow, to become even closer yet more eclectic as the years progress.

That's my mate Scott. We have not seen each other for about 15 years - since we were flatting together in Palmy and we owned a cat named Nutty. Then he turns up on the start-line of Tarawera.

Here is a nice article about last years race ...PDF

Well, that's it. If I ever thought I was going to make a living from this event (the previous two years have not broken even), those hopes are long gone. So, there's no financial motivation. Maybe I'll turn a fat profit in the year 2035 or something - but I doubt it.

I hope to see as many of you as possible at the 3rd running of the Tarawera Ultramarathon Run and Relays on March 19, 2011. Until then, as ever, run free and love widely.

Nga mihi,

Paul Charteris
July, 2010

Scion, nice work if you love trails (and trees)

2010-06-12T03:14:00.001-07:00

See some photos of last Wednesdays lunchtime run from Scion and one that I did a couple of weeks earlier.

Only days after I arrived at Scion - they had the annual Prisoner Dash 5k Trail Run. In this photo Kat shows how she is going to ride a thoroughbred stallion to victory.

Just before Christmas last year I hugely fortunate to receive an offer to work, as a science communicator at Scion, a Crown* Research Institute in Rotorua. A little background here. (* for overseas readers, Crown means Government)

My education (more than a decade of it at Universities in New Zealand and the United States) is in animal genetics. I love science, however the more I became immersed in the field, I realised that I really enjoyed communicating about the research rather than doing the original science-y stuff. When I arrived back in New Zealand, burned out from a five-year stint in Californian biotech, I was not immediately inclined to re-enter the science scene. I had vowed my science days are over.

My lunchtime runs usually start with this climb - it's always fun to try and catch the mountain bikers.

Enter Scion - the major provider of research related to the forestry industry in New Zealand. Think of anything to do with wood and forestry (go on – I’ll give you ten minutes here to do so) and I can guarantee you that Scion’s 300 or so staff in Rotorua do research on everything you have thought of – and ten-times more. To some on the outside, the research may seem a little arcane. Science often appears that way. But knowledge of the physical, chemical and biological systems that describes everything from what goes in inside a cell to how a whole forest functions is vital for New Zealand’s economic future. More than that, this knowledge, skills and creativity are essential to the ecological future of our nation.

Anyway, I got the job. Here was my chance to realise one my life’s goals of becoming a superb science writer - and an above-average mediocre trail runner. The thing is, Scion is smack-bang right next door to one of the best trail systems on the planet. It makes sense that if you are studying forests, it is handy to have a forest on your doorstep. In Scion’s case it is the Whakarewarewa forest. Rotorua, being a major overseas tourist and recreation destination has developed a trail system that is truly superb. The Whaka forest is intensely managed as a massive research laboratory, a recreation resource, an ecological resource and as a commercial forest. Depending on where you are in the forest, the management goals shift.

A pretty sweet track through the Redwoods (on the Yellow Trail for you locals)

It’s not surprising that every lunchtime, I lace up my running shoes (or just go barefooted) and head in to the forest. On a sunny day, there may easily be 50+ Scion people out there –walking (often with their dogs), running or mountain biking under the trees. The trailhead is a one-minute run from my building (it’s OK to be jealous). From there, the trails split, weave and cross-cross like a spiders web. There are single tracks, forestry roads, hills and flats – take your choice. In about fifty days of running on these trails, I have run on a new piece of trail probably 30-40 times.

So, if you are ever in Rotorua and feel like a lunchtime trail run. Just get in touch we’ll disappear in to the forest. I’ll even treat you to lunch at the Scion Café.

Cheers,

Paul Charteris
June, 2010

T42 Marathon - No country for soft men.

2010-05-01T18:51:00.000-07:00

There's some photos here ... read on if you can bother with all the self-loathing.

I sat on the plastic chair, 36km in to the run. I was morally and physically defeated. I was thinking back to my DNF at Western States and quite frankly I felt like a miserable failure. I'd made it this far in to the inaugural T42 marathon but could not push any further. I felt embarrassed for myself.

Early on - the run starts high up on the volcanic plateau before plunging trough a series of canyons (to use a North American term).

The Central Plateau is hard country, its big, hilly, wet rugged and unforgiving. The orignal loggers in this forest were big, tough hard dudes - I found out that I am not like them. When Jason Cameron from Plateau Events and the TotalSport guys decided to put on a marathon right through the guts of this country, I figured it would be a challenge. The T42 Marathon is along the recently developed 42nd Traverse mountain bike track. From the map, it's a net downhill course with some decent climbs thrown in. (for Californian runners - the profile looks almost identical to the canyons with big drops followed by big ups). The 42nd traverse is so-named because it follows the 42 degrees south parallel.

T42 Marathon from trail ruNZ on Vimeo.

About the 25 km mark. The T42 marathon track goes through some rugged country.

I hitched a ride with with Jo Petersen. At runner check-in we were told we needed to clean our shoes for didymo. I thought a bit of a scrub and a spray with disnfectant would do the trick - but oh no - our shoes were dunked in a bath and handed back to us. Enjoy your wet footwear boys! All for a good cause though. There were about 80 of us marathon runners and we were chasing at least a couple of hundred mountain bikers who had zoomed off about half an hour ahead of us.

The early parts of the trails were nice and open and relatively flat, for some reason I was having trouble getting in to a rhythm. This was not helped by a particularly nasty face-first fall (on a downhill) about 5km in to the run. I got up but was pretty well caked in blood down one side of my body. At around the 10km mark I finally found some gogo juice in my legs and started to stride it out a little. I had thought the steeper sections - which consisted of big up and downs - would play to my strengths, but somehow my body did not respond.

It's wild out here boy. Anything can happen in the middle of nowhere.

As hard as I tried to push (and I pushed pretty hard), I had no gas in the tank. It was probably a case of being very much under-trained and under-prepared for the terrain and the track. The running conditions were slightly tougher than I had expected. It was probably not so much the track- but my lethargy that forced me to concentrate on the running rather than flowing freely of the ground.

For the most part, it was fairly smooth, but pretty well sprinkled with rocks that were embedded in its surface. This meant that I was looking at my feet more than I had anticipated.

Even though I cut the run short by about 6km (missing the long gentle downhill to the finish), this is the longest run I have completed since June and my pace was well ahead of my effort on the Routeburn the previous week. Not all was lost.

Huge thanks to Jason and everyone from the totalsport team for what was an epic and truly memorable run. And, I got to spend the day with some cool trail runners and mountain bikers (unlike those that took the easy option to run the Rotorua Marathon). Again I feel like a douche for DNF'ing on guys, I promise to do better next time. This is no country for soft men.

Paul Charteris

Wild, rugged Routeburn Classic

2010-04-27T03:11:00.000-07:00

I have some photos here - but not many since i did not want to get my camera too wet in the rain.

The Routeurn Classic is a 32km adventure run on one of New Zealand's seven "great walks". It is a classic trail run in every sense, remote, mountainous, rugged and simply wild. Straddling the Fiordland and Mt. Aspiring National Parks the trail runs through a World Heritage Area- a well-deserved label. If the title of "World Heritage" can be applied to trail runs - the Routeburn Classic would certainly deserve that label.

Overlooking a mountain tarn - about an hour in to the run on the Routeburn Track.

With a 5 am wake-up call on race day and the rain bucketing down, it paid to be prepared. From the briefing the night before the Race Director - Evan (A.K.A Big Sexy - and one helluva funny bloke) had informed us we needed to take a beanie, two thermal tops, thermal pants, a whistle, survival blanket and rainjacket on the run. I thought this was overkill but I was to be proven wrong.

About 320 of us lined up on the main road to Milford just before a summit on the road. Despite the hooter failing to hoot - we were off and running up the Routeburn Track [translation: we Kiwis call trails, tracks]. On a single track with a gentle uphill for most of the first part, we were pretty bunched up. Mostly I walked, which was just fine - the majority of runners around me were running so I felt pretty comfortable keeping pace with them at walking speed. Around an hour in, we'd climbed high enough to get some great views of the valley. The trail twisted and turned through incredibly dense beech forest, the trail was soft, the rain light but constant. It was one of those runs where you feel very much alive.

Runners negotiate the rocks around a waterfall.

We bombed down through the bush to the McKenzie Hut. At this quick drink stop the aid station guys told us we had a few rocks to negotiate over the next section. They were not wrong. Almost immediately out of the hut the trail turns upwards and begins a series of long hairpin turns as it climbs ever higher, above the tree-line and toward Harris Saddle. I started to put on the burners here- after a few years spent in the Western States canyons, long lazy uphills have become my speciality and I was quickly moving up through the field and feeling pretty good. The rocks on the trail were brutally honest test of technical trail running skills. Unfortunately, I don't have rock running those skills and so my progress was slowed more than I would have liked. By the time we go the Harris Saddle hut I was feeling great. The temperatures had dropped markedly and I was forced to wear a second thermal shirt and my beanie to keep warm.

Good looking runners making their way up the hills on the Routeburn Classic.

We were now up with the Gods. At high altitude I could see the permanent snow and ice on the mountain tops across the valley and the thunderous waterfalls that come off them. In the middle of all this wild scenery Mickey Mouse was cheering the runners along. How bizarre.

Near the Harris Saddle, the cloud lay thick all around us - reducing visibility to only a few metres. Even with the cloud, there was little point looking at the views - those bloody rocks simply refused to give up - littering the downhill trail. I really wish I could run rocks better - I suck at rocks.

Sporting two thermal shirts and a stylish beanie as I descended from the Routeburn Falls hut.

At the Routeburn Falls hut I fueled up and started running down the trail that was rapidly running out of rocks. Evan had told us the night before that the trail would turn in to a highway at this point- he was right. It was great running over gently undulating singletrack through the dense beech forest by the Routeburn river. Simply magical. The smell of bangers on the barbie drew me to the finish-line somewhere just over five hours. Despite my slow pace, I was very pleased with my endurance and truly grateful for the opportunity to run on one of New Zealands truly iconic tracks.

Thanks to Evan and the team at Goodtimes Events for such an amazing running event. A true adventure. goodtimes goodtimes

Update: Here's the blog of Grant Guise - the winner of this years Routeburn. what a stunning run he threw down!

Paul Charteris, April 2010

3 years wearing Vibram five Fingers

2010-02-27T15:19:00.000-08:00

This is not a barefoot running article. This is a Vibram Five Fingers (vffs) article. Barefoot Ted put me on to these suckers about three years ago. As with many things, he was way ahead of the curve and the vff revolution must have reached a million feet (and more every minute) by now.

In New Zealand, Vibram Five Fingers will be coming to a store near you in May, 2010. So, Kiwis, this is what you can expect given the vast majority of people have been wearing vffs for less than a year - or not at all. Here's my review, plus user tips.

Hiking the Tongariro Crossing: February, 2010

Buying them
You NEED to physically try them on. You may have funny shaped (or length) toes and the sizing on vffs is not exactly the same as for normal shoes. Do not buy them online first-time round. Get your second, third and fourth pair online.

Comfort, support, ease of use etc.
All good. they are super comfy, albeit a little tricky to get in to when you first buy them. Once they mould a little to your toes, they are quicker to slip on and off than a normal pair of shoes. I use injinji socks in mine about 80% of the time - and usually always when running. The injinjis add a little comfort.

Wear and Tear
My first pair of vff sprints lasted just over two years and I trashed them like no tomorrow, They are are super-well made, tough and durable. I did a lot of trail running on abrasive volcanic ash so I eventually wore holes in the forefoot of both shoes and needed to replace them with a new pair. After two years of constant use, some of the stitching started coming apart - but it was no big deal. A less heavy-user (i.e. using them for walking, hiking, boating etc.) will get a longer lifetime out of them. I am very pleased that the hole I made in these vffs was on the forefoot and the heel showed almost no sign of wear and tear - I must have been fore to midfoot striking.

Balancing on a log - Whakarewarewa Forest, Rotorua

Gripes
The only real gripe I have is the heel does not fit well. The back of the heel of the vff sticks out from the back of my foot. This might be just me though. Others may not have this fit problem. Does not affect performance or comfort.

Foot morphology
Here is where it gets interesting. In three years, I have noticed the following changes in my feet:
- increased muscularity over the entire foot
- increased foot width (my toes poke out the sides of my shoes now)
- greater spacing between toes
- greater neuromuscular control of my toes (i.e. I am starting to be able to independently wiggle them).
- Higher arches

and for the rest of the body...
- massive improvements in calf muscle strength and muscularity
- huge gains in running form (no longer a heel striker) and a more relaxed and softer foot mid stride.
- Big gains in uphill running ability (able to engage more calf muscle strength)

Injuries
I have heel spurs, (bad genes) that sometimes causes achilles bursitis when I run. I hope the barefoot running will minimise the number of incidences of bursa flare-ups. I run up to an hour a day in vffs. Quite a bit of this training is at a very slow pace over technical terrain (roots and rocks). I cannot remember the last time I rolled an ankle and I have never have any injuries from training in vffs.

Using them
Obviously, you can use them for pretty much anything, I wear them to work, business meetings, running trails and climbing rocks at the beach. If you have been wearing normal shoes for many years, i would recommend...

1. Walk in vffs a few weeks first before you start running. Remember, you are coming off (in some cases) 30+ years of shoe wearing and your foot shape and musculature has likely suffered a lot during that time. Wear them to work, to the supermarket - in fact wear them everywhere to give you feet the chance to adapt to being "barefoot".
2. Hike a lot in them on nice smooth trails (bush tracks) to start with, graduating to more technical and gnarly trails as you gain confidence
3. start running those gentle trail and then start running on more gnarly trails as you gain strength, confidence and technical ability.

- For the record, I still run longer races (longer than half marathon) in "normal" running shoes. I'd eventually like to run trail ultras in vffs, I just need to build up my foot strength up to that level.

In my mind, I like to pretend I am a san bushman of the kalahari - treading lightly and swiftly over uneven terrain. I like to around and over rocks and roots in an agile, swift run. Good fun.

Don't be a dumbass and take them straight out of the box to run fast on the roads

Have fun, run lightly and run free.

Paul Charteris

- disclosure - I am sponsored by Injinji toe socks. But, they are so good I'd recommend them even if I wasn't sponsored by them.

Sun shines on Tussock Traverse

2010-01-30T23:39:00.000-08:00

Onward and upward! The 2010 race season started with the Tussock Traverse

I have some photos here on flickr and here are some photos from the previous days walk on the Tongariro crossing.

My 2010 trail running calendar kick-started with the fifth annual Tussock Traverse. This 27km point-to-point climbs through the dip between two active volcanos in the Tongariro National Park, namely Mt Ruapehu on our left shoulder and Ngaruhoe on our right. Ruapehu is the higher, larger mass and still has snow on its flanks - even in mid-summer. Ngaruhoe, is a steep canonical volcano. The ground we were ran on was shaped by volcanic flows that regularly come down the sides of either mountain as well as ejecta that gets spat out the top during sometimes violent and spectacular eruptions.

The Tongariro National Park was the fourth National Park established in the world and one of 25 5 mixed cultural and natural UNESCO World Heritage sites. getting to run in this area is a privilege. Jason Cameron from the Park Lodge in Tongariro teamed up with the Total Sport Crew to put on this event. On hand were 25+ volunteers spread out over the 27km of the course.

The walkers left at 8:30 - an hour ahead of around 200 of us runners. A few minutes before the start we were joined by Dawn Tuffery and Kerry Suter from the Hamilton Hawks running club. They had just run over from the finish line and were on track to complete the "Tu55ock Reverse". I was a little nervous before the start (I always get nervous when the bus ride to the start of a race takes an hour - you know it'll be a long run). A few quick intro.'s at the start and we were off. The start is probably the hardest part of the entire course - a fairly tough uphill on the road. I broke down and walked very early. Energy saved here could be better spent in the latter stages of this run.

About 5km in to the run I was happy to stop for photos

Once over the hill we hit a couple of plateaus that were strewn with rocks. It was just enough to break my stride - but not hard going. A few short climbs and steep downhills took us up, over and through some sandy-bottomed formations between the lahar flows. There was barely a cloud in the sky and we had incredible views of both mountains - it was sheer exhilarating running. I stopped to take a few photos but after the 7 or 8km mark didecided to just keep on running.

Tussock Traverse 2010 from trail ruNZ on Vimeo.

The course turned to cut a line between the two mountains and wound its way gently uphill. The trick was to keep momentum. Sticking your run in to "Terminator-mode" helps here- just keep on running at a constant effort, rolling with the terrain. It was not tough going but the changes between up and downhill coupled with the uneven ground were just enough to break my momentum. I tend to be a lower to the ground type of runner (i.e. not a gazelle) so sudden changes in terrain can wear me down. The side of the trail is often quite high with a single groove running down the middle, Kerry Suter summed it up well describing the feeling of slalom skiing through the course.

At the 19km mark the trail reached its near high point (after a decent climb) and became generally smoother and downhill. On the uphills it was impossible to tell which athletes were the runners or walkers - we were all walking. On the flats and downhills us runners would start jogging, while the walkers held their pace. A couple of km later, we rounded a corner at the top of the hill to see the finish-line - the Chateau way off in the distance. Easy, all downhill. Wrong.

The final downhills included some technical bits of trail so it was not all smooth sailing to the finish. Right near the end, we joined a very popular waterfall track and being a summers day the pathway was shared with 40-50 backpackers of all nationalities. They seemed genuinely excited to find themselves in the middle of race and were happy to cheer us on. We ran through some nice beech forest alongside a creek, I was sorely tempted to jump in the water to cool off. After 3:41 of running, the finish-line on the lawn of the the spectacular Tongariro Chateau was a very welcome sight. A great chance for a cold beer among friends and time to swap stories. I was about 20-minutes slower than I had hoped for. Considering I did the Tongariro Crossing the previous day - I was not disappointed with my time.

The Tussock Traverse is a great run. No question. It contains some nice terrain (not too tough - but a decent challenge), a well maintained track, plenty of variety and truly spectacular scenery. The volunteers were terrific, the post-race beer and sausages were appreciated and the barbeque buffet at the Park Lodge was just what was required to re-fuel and think about planning the next one.

One final word to the race organisers: Thank you for all of your conservation efforts. Please plant my tussock in a nice scenic place :-)

New Ohope Half Marathon

2009-12-25T23:50:00.000-08:00

Dear Reader,

One of my new projects for 2010 is putting on a half marathon, 10k fun run/walk and Doggie Dash. The Doggie Dash idea was inspired by a post I saw on scott Dunlap's blog a few years ago. it showed him (and his famous pug, Rocky) belting down the road in an organised canine mayhem.

Please read on...

The new beach-side New Fitness Fusion Ohope Half Marathon was born from convenient geography.

Paul Singh, the co-owner of Fitness Fusion, a local business that sells and rents high quality exercise equipment, likes to test himself with a half marathon each year. Armed with a Garmin one Saturday morning he set off from his house on Ohope Beach, ran around the harbour, down to the Pohutukawa trees at West End and then home. Back at his front porch, he clocked in his run at 21km. Bingo!

The Ohope Half Marathon will be on Sunday April 4. This Athletics NZ-sanctioned road run starts in a park overlooking the Ohiwa Harbour, hits a few rollers straight off near the golf course but then, hugging the coastline, is almost entirely flat.

Ohope Beach, just 6km over the hill from Whakatane is a major draw card for holidaymakers, with its 11 kilometres of golden Pacific sand and safe swimming waters.

The Ohope Half comes four weeks before the Lion Foundation Rotorua Marathon. "Athletes preparing for the full marathon will be in near peak condition and I'd expect many will blast out a marathon personal best at Ohope" says Race Director Paul Charteris. "I've already heard from a couple of athletes looking to break NZ records at this event."

"We're hoping a lot of athletes targeting Rotorua as their big race of the year will want to bring their family and friends to Ohope for a fun weekend as well as get in a wickedly good training run."

Race day will also feature a 10km fun run/walk taking in the quiet streets of Ohope as well as some of the beach. A new kind of event is the 5km Doggie Dash- a run or stroll with your dog. Funds from the Doggie Dash will go to support the Whakatane SPCA.

To see race details or enter online, go to:
New Fitness Fusion Ohope Half Marathon

Paul Charteris,
December, 09

Great Cranleigh Kauri Run 2009

2009-11-21T11:40:00.000-08:00

Even if the race organisers had not included the adjective "Great" in their race title, I would have instantly added it in there after having run the race yesterday. The Great Cranleigh Kauri Run is a point to point 32km trail run from Waikawau Beach to Coromandel township. I'd heard previous reports that it was a tough one - although I'll admit that even last weekends 19km Toi's Challenge felt tough for me since I was not in great shape. What a difference a week makes!

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Here are my race-day photos on flickr

A couple of videos too
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I crashed with the Hamilton Hawks on Friday evening and made my way to the race start with them. Due to sand, grass, technical sections and lots of uphills Kerry Suter had recommended I go with the lightest shoe possible so I pulled out a well-worn pair of New Balance 790's. It proved to be a very good choice. The pre-race briefing was held in a farmers paddock adjacent to the beach. In this classic Kiwi rural scene under the old Macrocarpa trees you'd almost expect Wal Footrot and Dog to appear at any minute looking for lost sheep.

Thankfully Sjors (at left) ignored all my pre-race advice and went on to win. Photo courtesy of Jamie Troughton - DScribe Journalism

2009 Kauri Run start from trail ruNZ on Vimeo.

We're off - thanks for the photo Charlie from the Hamilton Hawks

The race started on Waikawau Beach with the waves thumping the shore to our left. In front of us we could see 2km of soft golden sand. Due to a high tide there would be no fast running along hard-packed sand this year - everyone was in for a slow start.

Running on sand is hard work - I must make an effort to look serious. Photo courtesy of Jamie Troughton - DScribe Journalism

At the end of the beach we hopped a small stream and turned in-land toward some very large looking hills. It was along this first section of the trail that 1,500 kauri trees had been planted as a result of this race in previous years. Each runners entry fee is used to sponsor a tree as part of the Kauri 2000 programme. The track (i.e. trail for North American readers) gently snaked uphill. There were several stream crossings that many runners initially tip-toed through. I was wearing my Injinji socks (impossible to blister) so I was happy to crash though the water. Towards the top, the hills got steeper but luckily I was warmed up so it was possible to get in to a run-walk rhythm. The first aid station was at a scenic lookout with great views back over the beach behind us. From here we ran across the ridge-top through farmland with incredible views both left and right to the ocean. The 13km runners split from us at around the 8km point, they had a gentle down hill, we had...

Runners come through Aid Station One. All of the Aid Stations were very generously stocked - a huge thanks to all of the volunteers.

OMG! talk about hills. The central divide section started with a long gentle climb before hitting 15-20 sharp hills in a row. Some were small and runnable, others were vicious nasty brutes that required some delicate pacing to avoid blowing up. This is where I think I had some advantage. Despite not being in great shape, I have tackled some stupid-tough hills earlier this year so I knew how to pace myself. On hills that were runnable, I'd lose ground, but the crazy-steep hills that were only walkable were all mine baby! Once the steep hills stopped I was able to continue running quite comfortably. At around the 16km point I was starting to feel a little tired but the terrain had relented with more gentle slopes and, finally, some easy rolling ground. I was feeling amazingly good (unlike the previous weekend so I decided to "run this one out" instead of lolly-gagging around with my camera.

Typical views from this part of the course. since we were running along the ridge of the peninsula, we had ocean views on our left and right. This is a VERY well though out trail running course.

At around the 21km point we hit an aid station at the road. I was still feeling fine and we had another giant uphill looming in front of us. Fantastic! I was sick of running anyway. At the top I met Andy Reid, the race director. He was on his own manning the aid station - what a great guy. He said the trail had a few ups and downs until the trig - which was the highest point on the course at 560 metres. He was not wrong, this 2km stretch (and it might have been less) was the gnarliest section of trail I have ever been on in a race (outside of a pure mountain race). It was steep up, steep down, uneven and strewn with roots. For me, it was completely unrunnable. The descent from the trig was no less hairy with ultra.-steep downhills and grassy tracks. It was fortunate the trail was dry - on a wet day it would have been an impossible negotiation in my slippers.

I did not wear a watch because of these guys. I did not want to know where I was on the course when they finished. Kerry Suter (in red) finished second, Sjors Corporaal was first

On the final run in to town I had to walk some of the gentle downhills. My feet had taken some massive stone bruising through the thin shoes. I lost maybe 10-20 minutes, gained much more than that on the beach, ascents and grass tracks. Running through town I was deliriously happy and relieved to make it to the finish-line in one-piece and around an hour faster than i had predicted. A beer, a cider and catching up with my mate Richard whom I had not seen for ten years capped off the end of a perfect day in the hills.

Thanks to Adventure Racing Coromandel. Keep on hosting great events and planting lots of trees and you know I'll come back.

Relieved - obviously

Paul Charteris
- November, 09

Toi's Challenge: NZ's most beautiful trail run

2009-11-14T20:56:00.000-08:00

I recently read an article that described Toi's Challenge as New Zealand's most beautiful trail run. This kind of thing is very important for us trail runners (well, us not so speedy ones). We appreciate a little scenery mixed in with our hills, dirt and coronary shocks. The 18.5 kilometre Toi's Challenge is a true gem, it takes in Maori pa sites, coastal scenery, beaches and native bush. A truly iconic Kiwi trail run. And it even has Kiwi's. Real ones! The Ōhope Scenic Reserve is ecologically important, supporting nationally significant pohutukawa forest and North Island brown kiwi. The race itself is put on by the Whakatane Harriers, who once, again organised a superb event with a safe, well marshalled course, dozens of volunteers and oodles of spot prizes.

Start of Toi's Challenge, 2009 from trail ruNZ on Vimeo.

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Here's a nice video showing the start-section of the Toi's Challenge course overlooking Whakatane out to Kohi Point (we run out to Kohi Point)

Here's another video showing the view of view from Kohi Point

Scenic photos of Toi's Track on flickr

Race Day photos on flickr

All videos, including Race-day videos

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I lined up at the start-line tucked in safely ten rows behind the course favourites of Sjors Corporaal and Kerry Suter. Sjors had been training on longer distances the Spring and he had an extra weeks rest after the mountain race so he was ready to improve on his time from last year. Kerry is on a 790-day+ running streak so he's not about to let anything stop him. He was also sporting his new Ron Hill running gear - which looks like really nice stuff.

The start along the flat streets was a chance to slowly increase the heart-rate. I knew that once we hit the first steps my BPMe would go through the roof - and it did. I walked most of the climb to the top of Toi's Pa. Encouragingly, I managed to stay with most of the athletes around me who were running this same section. It was on the scenic ridgeline that I took my camera out and started snapping some photos. My running was feeling pretty good but I made the decision that getting some nice photos and video took priority over running a fast Toi's. Besides, the track around Kohi Point and Otarawairere Bay provides some of the most scenic trail running in New Zealand.

After the first climb to Toi's Pa, we have a few ups and downs on our way to Kohi Point

At the far end of Otarawairere Bay is a short section of beach coated with crushed shells. This makes for a cruel running surface that you just have to slog your way through, fortunately you are "saved" by some steps and another short uphill before descending to Ohope Beach. Ohope Beach is a beautiful long sandy beach with perfect hard-packed sand for running. I planned to run the inside line closest to the water when i spied my friends from Phoenix Health with an aid station. I gladly accepted a drink from Ann Petersen. She also gave me a cup of coke and took my photo. At the turn-off from the beach the relay teams changed over. My mates Erin Matt from Eastern Bay Podiatry were there fixing up feet. They would end up having a busy day with one broken ankle and a couple of very severe sprains. This is a technical trail and no walk in the park.

Running over the rocks at Otarawairere Bay

Up the hill a little further I caught my mates Janine and Annette. Janine and I were in primary school together so we go way back. Annette's husband Sjors had had already finished the race (and won) but we had an hour left on the trail before our own glorious finish. My lack of fitness caught up with me big-time on this section which has mainly through native bush and a little farmland. I was walking almost all of the hills - except the very tiny ones (ten steps or less). I had the demeanor of an old Labrador dog at this stage - lethargic but carefree. Fortunately this run ends with some decent downhill and I clocked in at 2:30:10. Exactly half an hour slower than last year. I felt decidedly less fit but I was encouraged since I finished about 15 minutes faster than I had thought (even accounting for all the photos and videos). Next year, perhaps there will be an official double Toi's run (the Toi Toi).

Toi's Challenge 2009 from trail ruNZ on Vimeo.

The next two runs in the Triple Crown series are the Kauri Run and The Goat. Two tough runs, but also two worthy challenges.

Thanks again to the Whakatane Harriers and all the wonderful supporters and volunteers. Truly a fine day for New Zealand's most beautiful trail run.

- Paul Charteris
November, 2009

Ultramaratón Fuego y Agua

2009-11-02T14:53:00.000-08:00

I first met my good friend Josué Stephens in Urique - a small town nestled in the bottom of Copper Canyon, Mexico. I instantly knew this guy loves to run trails and have some amazing adventures. It came as no surprise when last year he announced the first ever Ultramaratón Fuego y Agua on Isla de Ometepe, Nicaragua. This year, Josué and his (now) fiance Paula Ring are busy preparing to host their second annual Ultramaratón Fuego y Agua coming up on December 12.

The perfect host for this event, Josué is a child of missionaries and spent the first ten years of his life in Mexico and Central America. A little older, he enjoyed returning "for adventure and to quench his thirst for the beautiful culture." Falling in love with Isla de Ometepe, a volcanic island on Lake Nicaragua, he dreamed of working with the people in Fair Trade, environmental and economic sustainability. After getting hooked on ultrarunning, it all came together and Ultramaratón Fuego y Agua was conceived.

Isla de Ometepe is a volcanic island located on Lake Nicaragua (also known as Lago Cocibolca) in the Southwestern region of Nicaragua. The two volcanoes, Volcan Maderas and Volcan Concepcion form most of the island. Volcan Concepcion (1610 meters) is considered an active volcano but has not had a major eruption since 1957. Volcan Maderas (1394 meters) has a crater lagoon and is surrounded by cloud forest and thick jungle. Its slopes are dotted with petroglyphs and stone idols. The forests of Ometepe are full of monkeys, tropical birds and rare insects, plants and flowers. Both volcanoes are now protected as national forests. Isla de Ometepe is full of legends surrounding the volcanoes and its former inhabitants, the Nahua. The fertile volcanic soil makes Ometepe an agricultural phenomenon. Coffee, cacao, beans, rice, tobacco, bananas and many other fruits are plentiful on the island.

Pre-race relaxation

Portions of race entry and donations are used to host Calzado para Ometepe, a children’s race for local islanders. The children’s race promotes running, fitness, healthy eating and awareness of the island as an endangered environment that must be cared for. All participants of Calzado para Ometepe receive a pair of running shoes donated by supporters and participants of Ultramaratón Fuego y Agua.

Additionally runners and volunteers are encouraged to participate in the annual Isla de Ometepe Pre-Race Trash Pickup. This organized effort promotes local awareness of the island as a natural resource that must be preserved and maintained.

Get out there and run!

Royal Mountain Madness

2009-10-31T13:35:00.000-07:00

Update: Photos are now on the flickr set

The monolithic volcano of Mt. Putauaki is impossible to miss. It sits at one end of the town of Kawerau (my hometown) and beckons all-comers to conquer its slopes once a year in the King of the Mountain race. Make no mistake, this is a true mountain run. The field is comprised of some serious talent, including Sjors Corporaal (defending champion), Chris Morrissey (several times King) and 15-year old Shay Williamson – a local phenom. Also in the mix are running enthusiasts (like myself) and a huge contingent of locals - a bunch of really good sorts up for a fun day on the mountain with their mates.

The event is organised by the incredibly active Kawerau Harrier Club, with fantastic support from the Kawerau District Council.

From the start-gun I ran somewhat comfortably to the start of the first major climb on the single track. There were a fair share of pretenders this year that cracked in the first 500 metres - they started too hard and were reduced to walking at the top of the first hill. It's going to be a long day for you fullas. At the start of the single track I went pretty near my aerobic limit, my breathing was pretty laboured and my legs felt heavy. It's a tough uphill and there's no easy way up other than to push on through the pain. Fortunately, the stabbing pain in my calf from last year did not return. I'd climbed the mountain a couple of times in training so I think my legs were primed for the steepness of the climb.

The start of the race - note this is one of the few parts of the course that is on the road.

From the start of the single track it's only 2.1km to the summit, a distance I covered in about 40 minutes - some clue as to how steep this sucker is. Once we hit the meat of the mountain I was pretty much alone with very few runners around me. Most of the time I was bent-over pushing my hands down on my quads for extra strength. Sometimes I'd grab at plants or rocks on the track to haul myself up. My lower back was starting to ache from bending over and pushing on my legs. Near the top, I started to overtake a couple of runners that had run out of steam. The fatal error in this race is stopping for any reason, most of these runners had made the mistake of stopping to catch their breath. It's pretty much game-over once you do that.

This photo (and some in the flickr set) is not actually from race day - but this is what the track looks like near the summit.

King of the Mountain Run: Kawerau New Zealand from trail ruNZ on Vimeo.

I took the video (above) a couple of days before the actual race to show the view from near the top. The start-line is in the town of Kawerau well below us.

I am a timid runner when it comes to technical downhills and this course is without doubt the most technical downhill I would ever wish to run. Those runners with even a hint of good downhill technique can just blitzkrieg down to the bottom. My technique was to run and hop my way down the easy stuff and swing from tree to tree on the steeper slopes. I felt a little like Tarzan of the Mountain. I finished in 1:36. Quite a respectable time but a little slower than last year. But the sense of accomplishment, - oh what a feeling. The mountain has been conquered and I am at peace with her for one more year.
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Here's how the day unfolded at the sharp-end of the field (words by Steve Brightwell from the Kawerau Harrier Club).

Morrissey dishes out Corporaal punishment

The redness all over Chris Morrissey's face was as much royal flush as a sign of exertion as the Norske Skog Tasman Kawerau King of the Mountain returned to his throne today (Saturday). Morrissey (Papamoa) had allowed a six-year winning streak to be broken last year when he gave the annual race up Putauaki a miss.

Return of the King! - Chris Morrissey. Photo by Shaun Wright

In his absence Galatea's Sjors Corporaal had seized the crown and when the Kawerau race went to its 54th edition the scene was set for an epic showdown.

With brilliant weather and the field just two entrants short of its 140 competitor limit, the pair set about a cat and mouse chase to the 823m summit before plunging back to the finish line in a little over 49 minutes. In the early part of the race, Corporaal showed he was not about to surrender without a fight, leading the field to the 600m drink station.

The pair were closely shadowed by 15-year-old Shay Williamson and another junior Coast to Coast 2009 two day winner Sam Clark, both of Whakatane.

With Australian Neil Labinsky, the Pomona King of the Mountain Race record-holder also in touch along with super veteran Colin Earwaker, the climb over the next 200m to the summit still allowed for plenty of tactics.
As expected, Morrissey made his move up the final bit of the climb, attacking the field and hitting the summit first.
From there on it was throw caution to the wind, or lose. Morrissey chose the former, with Corporaal unable to close the 20 second gap and Williamson a further 20 seconds back.

And that was how it stayed to the finish line, with Morrissey crossing to a rousing applause. Clark came through for fourth with Earwaker fifth.

In the women's category, defending Queen of the Mountain Oksana Isavnina managed to hit the summit first, but the effects of recent injury saw her overtaken by fast finishing Australian Maree Stephenson who now holds titles both sides of the Tasman.
Whakatane's Karen Hanlen claimed second with Isavnina hanging on for third.

In other battles within the race, Wellington mountain running doyenne Barry Prosser won "The Old Boot" trophy awarded to super veteran competitors based on a two minutes per year of age handicap basis.

Earlier in the day, the Prince and Princess of the Mountain races to 270m above sea-level for runners up to age 13 saw Taumarunui's Zara Murrihy retain her title narrowly from Opotiki's Tori Robinson, while Whakatane's Denny Adamson claimed victory in his race from nine-year-old Kaya Corporaal - the Galatea farmer's son setting what was to be a family pattern for the day.

2009 XTERRA Trail Run Championships

2009-10-24T11:58:00.000-07:00

Update: Photos have now been posted on my flickr set

2009 XTERRA New Zealand National Trail Running Championships: One of the prettier start-lines for a trail run through an avenue of trees in the Rotorua Redwoods.

Rotorua is a trail running paradise and the perfect location for one of the biggest events on the Kiwi trail running calendar - the XTERRA NZ Trail Running Championship race. The race was put on by Aaron and the team at totalsport who are well known in NZ for great trail running events. One of the downfalls of being known as the "ultra-guy" is that peer pressure pretty much dictates that whatever race I sign up for, I am obliged to sign up (ready or not) for the longest distance. The same was true with the XTERRA Nationals. Waking up on race morning with the flu, running a half-marathon was pretty much the last thing I wanted to do, but this IS a national championship and, besides, I could just go on a leisurely stroll through the forest and put in a 3-4 hour half marathon. Twenty minutes before the start, I was going to walk, ten minutes before the start I was getting hyped by the atmosphere of the race and at the very last minute before the starting gun I decided to run. Me and my big fat stupid running ego.

Running up Tokorangi Pa Road, early into the run.

About 300 of us gathered under the towering Redwood trees. I positioned myself right at the back with the walkers. There was simply no way I was going to book a ticket to the world champs in Maui so there was no point pretending to be a fast runner. To enforce the point, I took my new camera on the trail to snap a photographic record of the long-course. The start was basically identical to the start of the Tarawera Ultra. It's uphill for most of the the first 3km though some nice singletrack to Tokorangi Pa Road and from there the run rolled gently up to the high point where we had stunning views over Lake Rotorua (well worth stopping to admire the view). Down past the water-tank on the far side the field began to thin out a little. The long gentle downhill stretches along the forestry road were an opportunity for me to regain my breath from the uphill push and use my leg length to stride it out and reel in some of the runners ahead of me. At an aid station on the lowest point of the course, we turned on to some sweet singletrack trails and zipped in and out of the trees.

The bright yellow flowering gorse bush serves no useful practical purpose on earth other than to frame trail running photos.

It was at around this point that I figured I might be the only guy left out here. Not to worry, it's always fun to run trails with the gals, none of whom seemed to mind too much when I took their photo -and a few even tried (not altogether successfully) taking photos of me. Our little group (i.e. myself and the trail gals) were at the furthest point from the finishing line around an hour and a half in to the race, just when the winners would be coming home. My hill running skills were pretty awful so I kicked it into ultra-walk mode and barely lost any ground on the runners ahead of me. One of the nice features of this course is its variety, we had some incredibly fun single track, some steep downhills, steep ups, gentle slopes, rocks and roots. A true trail running course - quite appropriate for a national championship. I have run in the Whakarewarewa Forest maybe 20-30 times and was (pleasantly) surprised that Aaron and his team found new trails that I had never been on before.

All smiles on the final downhill towards the finish-line

The final downhill to the finish was unexpectedly tough. With this darn flu I was sporting a raging headache that rattled my brain with a "ke-thunk" with every downhill step. Screw this, I decided I was close enough to home that I should just walk and concentrate on taking photos of the many happy runners along the trail. I finished with a time of 2:29 - good enough for DFL in my age group. Not exactly a triumphant return to the trail running race scene - but God it felt good to be out on the trails again, enjoying one of the finest forests and trail systems in New Zealand. It's something about those trails that just makes you feel alive.

Thanks to Aaron Carter and the team at Totalsport for another wonderful event. See you at next years nationals, where maybe I'll be gunning for a World Championship slot :-)

Useful links:
XTERRA New Zealand
Totalsport Races
Visit Rotorua
Visit the Redwoods

- Paul Charteris
October, 2009

King Corporaal favoured to retain title

2009-10-07T16:31:00.000-07:00

With less than four weeks until the annual Norske Skog Tasman Kawerau King of the Mountain Race, predictions are starting to firm up in favour of Galatea farmer Sjors Corporaal retaining the title he won for the first time last year.

The race course on 820m Mt Putauaki in the Eastern Bay of Plenty averages a 33% incline with scree and volcanic pumice making the ascent arduous even for tough guys while the descent often proves the adage "fortune favours the brave".
In successive attempts Corporaal has shown he's happy to throw caution to the wind on the downhill and in last year's winning run was able to extend his lead over Whakatane junior Daniel Jones on his way to the finish line. With Jones now in the USA on a running scholarship, 2009 is shaping up as another race where a promising junior tries to topple an established king.

For several years that was the case with Jones and six-times winner Chris Morrissey who, by not defending his crown, installed his young adversary as the title favourite in 2008. Corporaal's bursting into the limelight therefore caught most pundits by surprise and many are looking to Whakatane schoolboy Shay Williamson for the upset this time round.
Williamson ran to third outright in his debut on Putauaki last year - a result that left Australia's King of Pomona Neil Labinsky gasping; not only for breath. While Williamson has been performing strongly in club harrier events, Corporaal has kept mostly below the radar of the Eastern Bay clubs but has certainly been doing the work.

Not generally renowned for his outright speed - instead being a master of gruelling races across difficult terrain (he's a two-times Goat winner) - Corporaal nonetheless recorded the second fastest 5km time during last month's Red Stag relays in Rotorua coming in ahead of the likes of Tauranga's Ben Ruthe, and the MacDonald twins, Ian and Kyle.
It's a fair bet he's also been putting in the hill work to go with it.

Sjors winning The Goat. Photo courtesy of infonews

Other pretenders have also been showing good form. Labinsky simply owned Pomona in July with a record run on the Queensland hill, but that won't count for much on the NZ mountain. With the crown all but on the king, other classes also look to have solid favourites. Rotorua's Colin Earwaker and Oksana Isvanina took the veterans and women's titles respectively at their first attempt in 2008 and both are expected to return. Williamson is at the shortest of odds to take the junior crown.
Spectators and wannabe champions will all know how it pans out shortly before 1pm on October 31 when the 2009 winner hits the finish line.

Entries are now being taken. Details at www.kawerauharrierclub.co.nz

Prepared by Steve Brightwell
on behalf of Kawerau Harrier Club

Kawerau's King of the Mountain Race

2009-09-28T15:50:00.000-07:00

In October, there's one race I anticipate and fear more than anything else. The Norske Skog Tasman King of the Mountain Race in Kawerau. The event is both beautiful and fearsome. At midday on Saturday October 31, we'll set off with a gentle 200 metres of flat ground. That's where the easy part ends. Around an hour later most runners will have reached the 2796 foot summit of Putauaki (or Mt. Edgecumbe). Along the way, they'll scramble up twisting scoria single track, pull themselves up using branches, weave through toitoi and at finally catch their breath with a brief respite at the top. The reward is one incredible view over the Eastern Bay of Plenty before plunging downhill through a kamikaze bush track.

Yellow dots represent the up-course. Blue dots represent the down course. Distance is about 4.2km (2.6 miles) each way. Total elevation gain is around 2600 feet.

The nervous field is usually comprised of a good number of talented runners from as far away as Auckland and Wellington, together with some tough Kawerau locals looking for a bit of early season training before next years rugby season.

Among this years contenders include the tough pig hunter, Sjors Corporaal from Galatea and Onepu's Sam Clark who is putting in massive raining volumes for the adventure racing season. At only 16, Shay Williamson from Whakatane may well be one of the most talented mountain runners of his age in New Zealand – and possibly the world. His 2nd place finish last year well and truly put the rest of the field on notice. Rotorua's Oksawa Isavnina should triumph over a traditionally competitive Women's field. The winner will finish in an incomprehensible 45 minutes. Several runners will go sub-60.

You'll be supported by aid stations throughout the course, back-up helicopter rescue (hopefully not needed) and the expert race management of the Kawerau Harriers Club.

Should you do King of the Mountain Run? Hell yes. It hurts like stink on the way up (especially if you're not fit), but the reward is huge and it’s an incredible adventure.

Go on, sign up and get your arse kicked!

Check out the youtube videos from last years race...

Bay of Plenty Running Adventures

2009-09-22T02:03:00.000-07:00

Māori originally voyaged from Eastern Polynesia to the region, and other parts of New Zealand, in the late 13th or early 14th centuries. They named the Bay Te Moana a Toi (the sea of Toi). Toi, or Toitetuatahi, was an ancestral explorer, to whom Māori throughout the North Island are linked.

Later, Pākehā knew it as the Bay of Plenty. The name was given by Captain James Cook, who circumnavigated New Zealand in the Endeavour in 1769–70. Cook was alluding to the region’s abundant resources. Evidence of these resources exist just five minutes walk from my home. Shallow depressions embedded in the hillside in the middle of Kawerau are the remains of kumara pits. These are storage areas the Māori used to store their sweet potato – or kumara. A few minutes walk (or a one minute run if you want to tear up the singletrack) takes you to the old sulphur pit and adjoining hotpools, while a further then minutes away you can jump in the Tarawera River.

For the trail runner and adventurer, the Bay of Plenty is an apt description. There are a myriad of trails traversing the hillsides, hugging the coastline, looping round lakes or (best of all) end at a wilderness hotpool. My trail running buddy Amber decided to pack up her van, blow off the big smoke of Auckland and embark on her inaugural trails and hotpools adventure. When I caught up with her on day two of her travels our first conquest was Mt Maunganui, a simply beautiful coastal trail run around the base and a brisk hike to the top. The views were amazing along the coast. It was a clear spring day with a decent ocean swell, the surfers were out in force but the swimmers will wait another month or so before they start crowding the beach. The salt water hotpools provided a relaxing end to the day.

Amber at Mt Maunganui (indicating Day 2 of her trails and hotpools adventure) and myself near the waterfall in Whirinaki Forest.

The following day, we dropped the van at Blue Lake and continued to Whirinaki Forest. Amber had researched the waterfall track and it sounded perfect Ii.e. not too hilly or long). We ran along the Moerangi Track for around a kilometre before turning off and completing a gentle 10km loop that largely followed a tributary of the Whirinaki River. It was another spot on choice – towering trees, dense forest, just the feeling of being alive surrounded by pure nature. It feels like there's almost more oxygen and life in this forest than your lungs can cope with. On the way back home, we stopped in kerosene creek (so named for its sulphurous smell). My definition of heaven is something like today: a trail run followed by a dip in a wilderness hotpool.

The photo does not even begin to do it justice. Pure luxury - every trail runner should have a wilderness hotpool to jump in to after their run.

On Saturday the Whakatane Harriers (or more appropriately – one sick bastard named Jim) put on a 10km sufferfest run (called the rollercoaster) on his farm near Opotiki. Jim is a phenomenal endurance athlete (both runner and adventure racer) who conspired with his neighbour to plot a run course that took in every nasty hill within spitting distance. Despite my bitching and moaning it was a really fun adventure, I especially liked how the route was littered with bones at one particularly nasty corner (they were femurs too). The run was followed by a nice cup of tea on Jim's porch overlooking Ohiwa Harbour.

On Sunday I ran the Edgecumbe to Sea 9k fun run – and won! Wahoo. Well, I beat the eight other runners (and some five-year old cyclists). The event was a fundraiser for my old school. It was wonderful to see a couple of my old teachers from Edgecumbe College. It was 20 years ago that I was a 7th former (senior) in that high school. At that time, running to the sea would have been simply incomprehensible.

Cheers, Paul Charteris

Moerangi forest run in Whirinaki

2009-09-09T14:57:00.000-07:00

There are a few times in trail running that you discover a trail so beautiful, smooth and perfect for running that it simply takes your breath away. The new Moerangi Track in Whirinaki Forest Park would have to be one of the best one-day trail runs in New Zealand, if not the world.

Last weekend the secluded Whirinaki Forest Park celebrated the 25 year resolution of a sometimes bitter conservation argument- in favour of permanent protection of the giant podocarps - the rimu, totara, kahikatea, matai and miro - which have grown there for millennia. There were two opposing camps, in one side were the loggers and the local people who relied on forestry for employment and on the other side were the conservationists. The conservationists won, with the aid of heavy artillery in the form of Dr. David Bellamy from the UK – one of the best known conservationists in the world. The losers were the logging interests in the area and, unfortunately, the local people. The town of Minginui dwindled from 300 residents in the early 1980's to just 80 people today.

Stopping near a little waterfall - about an hour in to our run

From old growth springs new life. One of the worlds ancient forests was saved. Now a source of pride for the Iwi of the area – Ngati Whare, these forests can provide employment in the future through eco and adventure tourism. One of these activities is mountain biking. The re-alignment and upgrading of the 35km Moerangi Track (PDF map) More than a year of work was spent on this track to provide new recreational opportunities for a one-day point-to-point mountain bike ride, a two-day hike or (as we were to discover), a one-day run.

Here's what the mountain bikers thought of the day...

Jo Petersen and I assembled in remote Minginui with 60-70 mountain bikers and were given a free bus ride to the Okahu Valley. We ran the final 2km of dirt road to the start of the track. Despite being the first weekend in Spring, snow blanketed the tops of the densely forested hillsides. Local Iwi along with many proud members of the Department of Conservation gathered at the start of the track for a Karakia to officially open the route. Not knowing how long the run would take us, we opted to start running and let the mountain bikers catch up to us later.

Hanging around at Rogers Hut. Note how the Deer Stalkers wear camo to blend in with the hut. You must be at one with your natural surroundings.

After a short, slippery uphill start, the entire 35km of track was amazing, gentle gradients, no steep ups, downs, rocks or roots. It was very mountain biker and runner friendly. Running through gently rolling trails in this densely forested valley were kept saying how amazing, incredible this track was. After an hour we had built up a sweat and were completely out of superlatives.

From Skips Hut especially as we climbed into beech forest and ran through snow (Jo pictured at left in the snow), forcing us to come up with another completely new set of superlatives, snow in the Bay of Plenty in spring! The track gently descended from the snowline into another densely forested valley to Rogers Hut. The local Deer Stalkers had promised to cook us a feed of sausages but we decided to push on. From Rogers Hut, the track pushes deeper and deeper into this incredibly remote valley with the rivers and massively forested slopes to keep you company. The beauty of this trail is not in its grand views but in the rich forest all around. With all of your senses, you feel alive when you are in places such as this.

A long gentle downhill from the snowy tops through beech forest

After Moerangi Hut as had a decent long runnable uphill to the Moerangi summit. The first of the mountain bikers caught me right near the top and I managed to hold his wheel for about ten minutes. I felt pretty pleased my pace had held them off for 25km. Once over the summit we had 9km of downhill al the way to River Road car park. Like the rest of the track, it was wide and open with sturdy new wooden footbridges. It was quite easy for two runners and a horde of mountain bikers to share the track on the same day.

Arriving back in Minginui I had a feed of sausages, ending a (near) perfect day. My friend Heidi (who was there mountain biking) said she got to meet David Bellamy after her ride. I am exceedingly jealous, getting a hug from David Bellamy would have made it perfect.

Thanks to the Department of Conservation and the Iwi of Ngati Whare for all of your hospitality. A special thanks to the organizers of the Whirinaki 25 Celebrations for providing us this wonderful recreational opportunity. Thanks for the photos Jo. This is a trail run I would recommend to all Kiwis and to trail runners from all over the world.

1st Birthday: Starting a Trail Running Business

2009-08-28T16:42:00.000-07:00

A minor milestone passed last week as New Zealand Trail Runs (NZTR) turned one year old. You could call me an unintentional entrepreneur since my working visa expired in the US last year and I was forced to quit my job and leave the country. The truth is, NZTR was an idea that had been brewing in my head for a couple of years before I formally started the business. Starting NZTR was not so much a forced but a true chance to do what I love and a strong desire to share this with the world. Call me dreamer, I call me an innerpreneur (Thnx for the link Ted).

I've made my share of mistakes and 180-degree turns as I feel my way around the market trying to work out what people are interested in and what I can feasibly deliver as a one-person operation.

Plan A

The original business model was to provide trail running tours in New Zealand, these would be expansive multi-day (up to about 14-day) tours where I'd take trail runners around the country and support them on epic runs. Nice idea but I later discovered it would be hellishly hard to implement since each National Park required me to get a permit to act as a concessionaire. The cost (considerable) and time (even more considerable) to obtain even a single permit for a single park saw that idea shelved.

On to Plan B

A casual conversation with local Whakatane endurance sport guru and event coordinator Mike van der Boom convinced me that the idea of putting on the Tarawera Ultramarathon would seem like a winner. From a business perspective it seemed solid enough in terms of increased interest in ultra's as well as filling a market gap in terms of location and distance. Furthermore, it passed the sniff-test, the Tarawera Ultramarathon is exactly the sort of event I would want to do myself – it's just a fun, challenging, adventurous run. Game on.

Getting started was the tricky part, the major barrier, being a lack of capital. At times I didn't even have the money to feed myself let alone feed an advertising budget or graphic design, safety plans or DoC permits. My only course of action was to get sponsors on board as quickly as possible with the hope their presence would both help legitimize the event and perhaps also provide material support. Thankfully, some amazing organizations and business believed in me and what I was doing and they helped me to go.

and Plan C?

Plan B worked out well, the Tarawera Ultramarathon was a success even though it ran at a small loss (hey, we can't all be sell-out ultra's). Along the way I learned a lot about business planning, financial control, taxation, event management, marketing, and communication. These are skills that can be expanded upon to help grow the business. I've thought a lot about the next steps, there are a couple of avenues in ultra. running that have not been explored in New Zealand as yet. One is the multi-day run format for which our Southern Alps would make for an unquestionable world-class event. The second is to put on single-day adventure runs in remote and unexplored parts of New Zealand. This might be a weekend adventure that incorporates a Marae stay and has strong elements of Maori culture.

The most satisfying moment was putting on the Tarawera Ultramarathon and then receiving such wonderful comments from the participants. I was also amazed at the help and support I received from many volunteers at this event. It filled my heart with pride, proud to be a Kiwi, proud to be a trail runner and proud that finally I had done something where I made a difference in the lives of others.

Cheers,

Paul Charteris

Elevation profiles of trail ultramarathons

2009-08-19T14:54:00.001-07:00

Kim Ransfield from Christchurch is one of the more enthusiastic trail ultra-runners you'll find in New Zealand. Now that he has his sights set on competing in Western States one day he asked me how the Tarawera Ultra. course compares against the big US races. The result is shown below, where I have obviously crudely photoshopped Stan Jensen's course profile image. See the original here.

Obviously, Tarawera occurs at a much lower altitude than these iconic mountain races. Don't let the elevation profile fool you, there are still some decent hills in the Tarawera course but it does not have the huge long pulls like Western States or Angeles Crest. Good luck this weekend all you Leadvillers!

If I ever get the urge to hammer railway spikes in to my calves and repeatedly hit my quads with a baseball bat I'll enter Hardrock, failing that, maybe Barkley.

Cheers, Paul

A multi-day Stage Run for New Zealand?

2009-08-07T19:05:00.001-07:00

My worst-kept secret of late is that I am knee-deep in planning an epic multi-day stage run here in New Zealand. The first of it's kind for Kiwi-land. There are a number of these events around the world that myself and my friends have enjoyed doing. They range from the large Marathon Des Sables or Racing the Planet Namibia to more low-key events like the Western States Training Camp. I have been working through a number of questions over the last 12 months, among them being:

1. Why is there no multi-day stage run in New Zealand?
A: No-one has had the inclination to organize one. Not through laziness, it's just that there are few Kiwis who have been exposed to this type of racing or adventuring on the world stage. I have spoken to many of the New Zealanders who have competed in these vents world-wide and they have all come out in very enthusiastic support of this type of event coming to New Zealand.

2. What are the hurdles?
Like any properly managed event, there's a considerable amount of planning and preparation required. Permits need to be sought, permissions granted from landowners and routes plotted through some of the remotest and spectacular parts of the country. Fortunately, I have a small army of willing South Island trail ultra-runners who would be more than happy to spend days exploring trails. Seems to me like the funnest job in the world.

3. When, where, how long and how much?
The Southern Alps Stage Run will be in the middle of the New Zealand summer. The exact chosen location (it will definitely include the South Island High country) or distances will not be revealed just yet. I am not being deliberately obscure, I'd just like more feedback from runners in planning this event before finalize the details. I have completed a exhaustive (well, I am exhausted) market analysis of these events and they average around $US 500 per day of running. I would only charge a TINY fraction of that for this run.

4. How can you help?
If I could ask just one small wee favour, please take a very quick (3-4 minute) survey that will help me better plan this event. I'll be sure to send you a packet of genuine New Zealand gingernuts if you leave helpful comments.

Survey here

Much appreciated!

Paul Charteris
PS I am VERY excited about the possibility of such a spectacular run!

Yeah I know - another gratuitously scenic photo.

Book Review: Born to Run

2009-07-18T01:27:00.000-07:00

BORN TO RUN
A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, And the Greatest Race The World Has Never Seen
By Christopher McDougall

There's been a quiet running revolution taking place these past few years. The signs have been all around, an explosive growth in trail running, sold-out ultras, chomping into the paleo diet, primal fitness and even kicking off your running shoes completely in favor of going it barefoot. Its no wonder too, society has become safe, sanitized and boring dragging many things, including the pleasurable pass-time of running, down to a level of mediocrity and boredom. Exhibit A, the treadmill.

Luis Escobar's original photo of Billy and Caballo became the cover image for Born to Run

Some of us just don't run like that. We run because we enjoy it, we crave adventure, it's an expression of who we are. It's like this for Christopher McDougall, author of Born to Run. The book reads at once like an anthropological study of the evolution of long distance running but also as a story of personal transformation from a journalist transforms in to a trail ultra-runner.

I met Christopher in June when he came to the Western States training camp. He was in good company, the room was packed full of trail ultra-runners, all keen to hear his story because they could relate to it so well. Luis Escobar was on hand to give a Copper Canyon slideshow. It was Chris' original Men's Health article "The Men Who Live Forever and Luis' photos that captured my imagination and compelled me to run the Copper Canyon Ultra. in Mexico last year. That and the fact my US Visa had expired and I needed to leave the country fast.

Reading Born to Run is like reading a race report written by a close friend – but with a mass audience in mind. And that friend can really write. Chris provides a superb narrative of the Copper Canyon Ultra. and the eclectic cast of characters that make up that race. Perhaps some literary license is given to describe the event itself. It's not that tough run, the trails are generally good and much of it is on road at the bottom of the canyon. The true beauty of the event lies in the spirit of Korima (sharing) and the chance to run free with some of the most amazing runners left in the world – the Raramuri. Born to Run provides a wonderful depiction of the area, the Raramuri people, the Copper Canyon Ultra. and Caballo Blanco.

Race-day footwear. Note the tread on the bottom of these Huaraches.

Caballo is the man whose dream and vision enabled all of this to happen. He may not look like a revolutionary leader (albeit, when I met him his nose was bashed and battered), but he is. He, and others like Ted are leading us, back 2.5 million years BN (Before Nike) to a time when we began running upright, effortlessly and forever. It was that long ago that we hominids began to run down our food through a practice known as persistence hunting. In this book, the lines of evidence that point to the evolution of long distance running in Homo are compelling and the story behind the research equally so. I would encourage all readers to check out Dan Lieberman's original research also.

This man is a revolutionary - the revolution is 2.5 million years in the making.

For me, Born to Run has been the richest and most rewarding of reading experiences. Fresh memories were ignited as places, stories and people were described in great detail. I laughed at the description of Ted's never-ending stream of consciousness, I know exactly the canyons Billy and Jenn got their asses lost, smell the cooking at Tita's and remember the Raramuri following me to Las Alisos before the race. They wanted to run, it was pure enjoyment for them. That's the way it should be for everyone. To echo the words of Caballo himself, may we all run free.

It's simply a great book, I recommend it!

- El Kiwi Salvaje!

Trail Running Tribes

2009-07-16T23:10:00.000-07:00

As a senior in High School exactly 20 years ago, I had it all planned out. I would go to University the following year, graduate four years later, get a job, get married, buy a house and have kids, pretty much in that order. Boy, was I ever wrong, I got the University part right although I came dangerously close to becoming a life-long student after ten years and two point something degrees later. The career path started out straightforward before I realized my true calling, I turned my back on a decade worth of study, said "screw you" to Biotech and become a trail runner. Marriage, house, kids? Yeah, right.

I can tell you more about genetics of the New Zealand sheep industry than you care to imagine.

At 37-years old, this is not the social circle I would have guessed at 20 years ago. Replacing the family model is a network of friends and acquaintances that share a common interest. Instead of a family I have a tribe. Quite simply, a group of people connected to each other and to an idea. In his book Tribes, Seth Godin says we have been forming tribes for the past four million years. We simply need a shared interest and a way to communicate to maintain the tribe. It's in our DNA, not only were we Born to Run (that's next weeks topic by the way), we were born to belong. Our survival depended on it.

Before the Internet, tribes were local are loosely interconnected. Now they're truly global and getting tighter. Social media such as facebook and twitter allow updates and feeds from one member to the followers as well as ongoing discussion. Blogs, being more one-sided rarely engage the tribe, although occasional posts like Craig Thornley's "The Max Factor" certainly generated buzz. Interactive applications like Bryon Powell's pick the Western States top runners contest gave us "experts" the chance to show-off our superior trail ultra-running knowledge. All of us probably belong to a few tribes although we tend to be most active in those areas were are most interested in. I'd place myself pretty squarely in the Trail Runner Tribe (with sub-tribes being ultra-runner, Northern California, New Zealand, Davis Runners/Triathletes and Club Mas Loco). The nexus graph below shows my tribe (via facebook) as at July 09. Click here for the dynamic online version.

Tribes of my life. Disconnected dots represent former work colleagues, high school, college friends and past loves.

There are no clear leaders among the tribes I belong to, although I'd wager you can certainly find leaders among the various sub-tribes, Barefoot Ted for barefoot running, Caballo Blanco for Club Mas Loco. On the nexus graph above, some people like Scott Dunlap, Sarah Spelt and Mark Tanaka sit near the epicenter of the graph, these are cool people and we share many friends in common. These would be the last people that would ever get tossed out of the tribe. Are they leaders of the tribe? Yeah, sure, these are the sort of people I have followed and ask for advice. I am not alone, obviously others do too.

To be inside a tribe you need to have an outside. The demarcation is important since it helps describe how cohesive the tribe is. There are few who might think trail running is nuts as such we are not a very cohesive tribe. However, trail ultra-running has certain rites of passage (you need to run greater than 26.2 miles on trails) and has often been attacked by other runners as being a group of slow, under-talented and ego-driven maniacs. This, combined with our smaller size, tends to make us a more cohesive group (that, and the fact we share stores about bodily functions).

International sunbathers club, Jez Bragg (UK), Simon Mtuy (Tanzania) and myself (New Zealand). Photo taken by Nick Ham (UK) on the Tahoe Rim Trail (California).

Tribes can be mobilized en masse (such as Baracks Obama's online fundraising) or to serve a greater good. At this stage, out trail running tribe has not really been mobilized to any great extent. I imagine if a large enough stimulus came, (say building a dam on the American River and hence the end of Western States) we would use every communication tool at our disposal to band together.

Similarly, marketers and product manufacturers have barely begun to tap the potential of the tribe and tools that connect it. We trail runners tend to be a little wary of that sort of thing in the first place, but when someone I know personally uses and praises a product and others chime in with similar thoughts, I certainly take notice. You could place thousand dollar ad in a running magazine every month for a year and I'll ignore it. If just one of my most-respected tribe-mates told me it’s a good idea – I'll buy it.

What tribe are you?

Paul Charteris
- member of Team Injinji, Club Mas Loco, Haight Ashbury Ultra Society (HAUS), the winter quad-balls group, Wortons Market Western Burgers eaters group … among many many others.

Leaving Western States - feet first

2009-06-29T07:11:00.000-07:00

I've joked many times that the only way I'll leave the Western States 100-mile Endurance Run is crossing the finish line at Placer High School or getting carried off the trail - feet first. The latter happened. About 6am Sunday, a full day after the race started a team of medics, rescue and fire department volunteers strapped me in to a stretcher and carried me off the trail at mile 82. I dropped at Third Gate, about half way between the Green Gate and Auburn Lake Trails Aid Station. I had torn my right calf muscle sometime in the previous day but failed completely to diagnose this. I guessed (wrongly) that the soreness was due to tightness, a natural result of running a long way over rugged terrain. My three year Western States dream ended with me lying on my back staring at the trees. Six burly rescue personnel carried me 0.8 miles uphill from the spot where I finally sat down on the side of the trail, unable to move another step.

The start: A high and happy place

The day started as I dreamed it would. An incredible buzz of excitement at the start. I choked back a couple of tears as the clock counted down from two minutes to one and then finally, to the start. There's no hiding the fact this race means a lot to me. I was enjoying the moment of feeling fully alive.

Happy- 10 minutes before the start

My plan all along was to be in the slower third of the field through the high country. As we climbed a little higher towards the escarpment and I could see the runners ahead and behind I figured I was placed nicely towards the end of the field. Not running a step in the first few miles of a race may seem foolish but it served me well as I reached the top with little effort. My breathing was easy and my legs felt fresh. Jez Bragg and I had spent the previous seven days at altitude, for Jez it would pay-off big time as he recorded a stunning third place finish!

Another advantage of a slow start is getting caught in a conga-line of runners on the single track trail on the other side of the escarpment. This would force me to keep my pace slow. In many places I was jogging or just walking. Taking a potty break before Lyon Ridge, I lost my 25 runner conga line and had the rare experience of running completely alone through the Granite Chief Wilderness area for about ten minutes.

By the time I arrived at Lyon Ridge with Matt, Karalee and Ling-ru I was feeling great and still far back in the field, probably just slightly faster than 30-hour pace. I thanked the volunteers at Lyon Ridge before leaving. I am embarrassed to say I forgot to say thank you many times during the event.

Pacing off Matt Keyes, Karalee Morris and Derek Semanski, we worked our way through to Red Star, climbing the hills at easy effort and floating the downhills. Coming in to Red Star Ridge, I felt like I was easing my way nicely in to this run. With nothing but a mild case of "jungle butt" beginning to form, I was feeling fine. Nothing too bad that some strategically placed bodyglide couldn't fix (trust me – you do not want details). Red Star to Duncan usually beats me up on short training runs so I was decidedly nervous. There were simply to many runners around me keeping me occupied to notice the terrain. It was on this section that I began over-taking some of the other faster starters who were beginning to fade a little while my pace held steady. Matt and Derek were near me, an excellent sign since these two know how to pace this race.

Duncan Canyon: Mile 23.4. 3:40 elapsed. 220th place.

Coming in to Duncan Canyon Aid Station, I was feeling very confident. Being a crew access point, I grabbed a Vespa from Peter and took in a lot of cheering from the sidelines. I am not sure if there were supporters out there who knew me or if the looked up my number in the race booklet, either way the support was loud and well-appreciated. I took in a lot of cold liquid and proceeded to walk out of there. Everyone was taking a good long walk break after having run over Red Star Ridge. I was perhaps the first of my group to start running again and started the cruise down to Duncan Creek, an easily runnable section. Steve Itano and Rena Schumann were with me – both fine runners so I was in great company. Unfortunately, my friend Nick Ham from the UK had a bad stomach and was beginning to suffer. At Duncan Creek I wet everything I had for the climb out of there, I was feeling refreshed. I passed Anthony Brantley coming out of there – another runner I hoped was OK since he's usually way stronger than I am. I was a little concerned I may be pushing the pace a little fast since I was starting to reel in a lot of runners. My effort seemed quite low so I decided I needed to back my body and keep moving.

At Robinson Flat: Mile 29.7. 06:50 elapsed. 183rd place

Oh the crowd! What a spectacle. I have never run through a tunnel of people before, but there they all were lined up on either side of the road. Amazing. I got my blood, salt and feed intake data all checked by a the sodium study group, a process which was amazingly quick. My smiling chief crew person, Lindsay Meyer was on had to hand me another Vespa and some dry Injinji socks. My feet were fine, but a change in to dry socks was a smart preventative move since I had thoroughly drenched myself in Duncan Creek. Thank you Lindsey, I was so relieved that you drove all that way just to see me for a couple of minutes. The crowd must have had me pumped up bigtime – as soon as I left the aid station I was flying. I remember thinking at the time "I am running like Bruce Labelle"

Coming in to Robinson Flat - I was delighted with so much crowd support and (of course) my crew.

To Miller's Defeat Mile 34.4. 08:04 elapsed. 148th place

I walked most of the way to the top of Little Bald Mountain a mile after Robinson Flat to let the liquid in my stomach settle and allowing my legs to warm back up after the break at the aid station. The top of Little Bald is back up in high altitude so there's no need to push this hill. Another 14 miles of runnable net downhill is to follow. On this section I concentrated everything I had on two simple things that would become the game-changer. Running form and hydration. I was constantly focused on running tall, light and keeping my weight over my feet. For hydration I'd sip on Gu2O and water (one in each bottle) every five minutes. I would finally lose sight of Matt's yellow shorts ahead of me just before the Miller's Defeat Aid station – which had moved down the road another .8 miles.

To Last Chance: Mile 43.8 09:34 elapsed 135th place

The top of Little Bald Mountain to the edge of Deadwood Canyon, I call the "transition zone". It transitions out of the high country and in to the canyons. Having long legs, I knew I had the advantage of being able to cruise this section relatively easily if I could maintain energy levels and running form. On the descent to Dusty many runners ahead of me were reduced to a walk while I was feeling comfortable running the long gentle downhill. The same through to Last Chance, I knew I only had to keep on running and the race would take of itself. There are a couple of little uphills around Pucker Point that have slowed me in the past but Steve Itano and I cruised over them, we were having a great day.

I was not just having a great run, I was having a dream run. This is how I had pictured the race in my mind and I was ecstatic, I seemed to be running the perfect race.

To Michigan Bluff. Mile 55.7 13:20 elapsed. 129th place

I have run between Last Chance and Michigan Buff more times than I care to remember, so I knew every rock, hill and tail-less lizard on the trail. I took the descent to Swinging Bridge very easily, partly because I am a scaredy-cat runner on steep downhill's. Right near Swinging Bridge Derek caught me with his usual super downhill running style. Derek, Karalee and I soaked in the creek about 200-yards past the bridge so we would be cool for the hike up those mean switchbacks. I hiked Devils Thumb joined by two Safety Patrol guys right behind me. They wanted to know all about New Zealand, unfortunately after about the tenth question, I said I really need to just breathe on this climb, they graciously understood.

At the top of the Thumb I was triumphantly happy and not about to let simple polite applause greet me. THE THUMB – YEAH! I roared at full voice at the Aid Station responded back with huge cheers. At the medical I was only 2.5 lb. down in weight and feeling fine. The only thing the medical team said was to make sure I use sunscreen in the future. There were some signs of carnage beginning. I rocked out of there and ran smoothly to the edge of Eldorado Canyon.

On the descent, my right calf started tightening up. I figured this was most likely from the climb up the thumb and it would work its way out soon. By the time I reached the bottom of Eldorado, the calf was very sore and I had been forced to walk nearly a mile of the downhill. I was frustrated at losing time on a part of the course that I had trained myself to move through so efficiently. I cooled down with a sponge and some cold drinks at aid station and walked up the hill – soaking wet. I climbed exactly as I had practiced dozens of times previously in training, slower at the bottom and accelerating out of the top. The heat was never a factoring the canyons, perhaps because I had another point of focus, my calf was now starting to bother me on the uphill too. I knew I needed some attention at Michigan Bluff.

Coming in to Michigan Bluff

At Michigan Bluff: The first of many massage sessions this day

The Massage Zone. Michigan Bluff and Foresthill.

Running in to Michigan Bluff, I needed that calf massage more than anything else (including water). I lay on the table while the temporary massage therapist (the real one had gone out an a false rescue in the canyon) tried to work my leg. I basically said she was hopeless and jumped off the table. I was starting to get frustrated. My pacer Ken Parnow and Lindsey were again on hand with a change of socks, some welcome nutrition and thankfully a change of shorts also. I walked out of Michigan Bluff but was again soon running, a very encouraging sign having come through the two largest canyons and now running further than I ever have done before.

Beginning the gentle climb before descending in to Volcano Canyon

Climbing the gentle gradient to the top of Gorman Ranch Road I startled a huge black bear just a few yards away. He ran off huffing and puffing, I got a shot of adrenaline to add to the caffeine I had begun to take in at Michigan. The climb to Bath Road was very emotional. For months I had been hoping that Dan Moores would be healthy enough to be here on race day. Sadly it was not to be, I got a photo taken with Elke Truscott and I left that aid station with a heavy heart. The cheers of support from the Auburn Running Co. crew were amazing, the runner I was with said I must be one popular guy.

Coming in to Foresthill was a spectacle. Easily the largest crowd I have ever seen in ultra-running. My name was being yelled from both left and right, I was in such a happy blur that I could not work out who was cheering me on, but I am sure I had lots of friends out there in the crowd – thank you ☺ As happy as I was with my reception, I was thoroughly bothered by the calf muscle that would not quit. After taking my vital signs (the medics said I looked great) I tried for another massage to get the knots out of my calves. Gordy and his chiro-buddy double-teamed me. It had no effect and I was forced to leave before I would lose too much time on the table. Ken handed me my lights and we started for Cal Street.

I had reached Foresthill in 123rd place. The highest I was to climb in the raking all day.

Leaving Foresthill with Ken: The crowd support was huge. I was simply amazed.

Through to the River Crossing: A Dark and Unhappy Place

Ken and left Foresthill together. I was delighted to have him with me. Being a keen young local ultrarunner, I was hoping to provide him with his first Western States pacing experience. We ran pretty solidly down to Cal 1, turning on the headlamps about halfway down. This was the Aid Station I was most looking forward to – staffed by my friends from the Golden Valley Harriers Running Club. They had done a great job in a hot-as-hell location, I am proud to be a memver of such a fine running club.

All smiles with the GVH'ers at Peachstone (Cal 1)

Immediately after Cal 1 I started having difficulty running. The pain was persisting in my calf. Uphills were becoming a real hassle since I could not stretch out my right calf to its full length. Downhills were also getting worse as the eccentric contractions seemed to stabbed in to the back of my leg. Well over 90 minutes later I arrived at Cal2 where I jumped on a table for another massage. Along the way, Ken and I had stopped in the darkness on the side of the trail to massage the muscle out. Nothing had any effect.

At Cal2 One kind volunteer just wrenched on my leg, pressing deep into the muscle, icing and massaging again for about half an hour. Runners came and went, I stayed on the table trying to get some relief. Finally, after an eternity I got off the table and walked downhill. As much as Ken tried to get me running, I just could not run, the pain was ratcheting up and my range of motion was diminishing. The walk to Cal 3 and Rucky Chuck was starting to become a hobble. The same massage was repeated at Cal3, trying to gain mobility. All though this time I kept thinking that either recovery would come with the next massage when the knots were out. Eeither that, or I could walk it in to the finish. I was well ahead of the cut-off's but starting to lose time dramatically.

I spent over an hour in this position at various aid stations during the night

My poor pacer was forced to pace around at the aid stations while I tried to get this leg moving again.

Mile 78: Frozen at the River. Down to 160th place.

Over five and a half hours from Foresthill I arrived at Rucky Chuck. The Monsters of Massage were there and I needed a massage more than anything. Almost immediately, three massage therapists set to work on my calf trying to relieve the tension as I winced in pain with every touch. Ken very kindly shuttled back and forth to the aid station getting broth and calories in to me. Chuck Godtfredsen promised to kick me out 10-minutes after arriving but he saw my condition was genuinely serious and let me stay on for an extra half an hour. I saw perhaps 20 runners pass me by while I was lying on the table. Eventually Chuck nudged me out the door and I gingerly crossed the cold river.

Mile 78 to 82. The final push from darkness to daylight.

The freezing cold water from the river seemed to help, I was able to push uphill with only a moderate amount of pain. In fact it became so tolerable, I was able to speed up a little and push on to Green Gate, passing other runners. I was still hours ahead of the cut-off but was confident I could either walk it in to the finish or the calf would come right and I'd be able to run.

We sat down for a couple of minutes at Green Gate. Ken diligently changed the batteries on the headlamps for the additional two hours of daylight we had left and we started walking out of there. Immediately things went back to bad, the worse. The calf had seized up again and walking was a pure struggle. Every step I had taken in the past 15 miles was painful but now the pain was at a whole new level. I was near 30-40 minutes per mile pace and each mile seemed to take between 5 and 10 minutes longer than the previous one. I was staggering badly. Each time I stepped off the trail to let a runner pass me, I fought to regain my balance.

After 30 miles of battling through gradually increasing pain and loss of mobility, I knew could not longer make it to the next aid station. I had thrown everything I knew (extra salt, over one hour of massage, stretching, Tylenol, ice, the river) at this calf muscle at it failed to respond completely, The only responsible thing to do was to drop somewhere that I could be easily rescued. Third Gate (about mile 82) between Green Gate and Auburn Lake Trails was that location. Ken left me the rest of his food and drink and I sat down on the side of the trail. I shook his hand and thanked him for being a great pacer. He ran ahead to get medical help.

Alone with my thoughts

I sat alone on the side of the trail. The sun was beginning to rise as three years of hope, training and planning were fading. I was only slightly disappointed in the end result but satisfied in knowing I had given this race everything. Battle scarred runners passed by and I offered my support to all of them. "Just checking my shoes was the story I told them "keep on moving smoothly". But soon my time to leave the trail would come.

A medic come down the trail accompanied by my pacer. He took my vital signs saying I was perfectly normal. Unable to bear weight on my leg anymore, I rolled into the stretcher closed my eyes and I was done.

in the greatest, with the best

2009-06-19T08:33:00.000-07:00

What is the greatest ultra-marathon in the world? Comrades in South Africa, Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc in France, Switzerland and Italy or the multi-day Marathon des Sables in the Sahara. Truth is, it's a personal judgement. A European ultra runner might say Spartathlon but many North American runners and many trail ultra-runners around the world say it's the Western States Endurance Run.

From 1849 through to the late 1890's the California Gold Rush saw the largest migration in American history as thousands of prospectors traveled from Eastern States to make their fortune. The Western States trail was a transportation route from Salt Lake City, Utah to Sacramento in California. The 100-mile section of this trail from the high Sierra mountains to the western foothills in Auburn where we will run is a beautifully preserved section of that original trail. At just over the half way point in our race, we pass through the small town of Michigan Bluff. The town has a population of 35 permanent residents, while in the 1850's it had a population of around 10,000. Some other places we'll pass through on race day like Robinson Flat, Last Chance and Deadwood supported a healthy population of residents but you have to look hard to see any previous signs of human occupation. So, there's history. There is of course also the famous race beginnings when a stubborn, shaggy hard-man named Gordy Ainsleigh decided to run the 100 miles in the first place. Each edition of the event over 35 years adds to that rich history.

For me it's personal. I got in to endurance sports when I was 32 (I am 37 now), initially with triathlon. I was extremely overweight - with the needle edging me closer to being obese than towards normal weight. In spite of doing triathlons for three years, I never ran. It was simply too tough for me. The only times I did run were during races. I sucked. The first run I did "voluntarily" followed two months of hiking. I rand from the Auburn Overlook to No Hands Bridge. And you know what, I even ran most of the way back up again. This was in early 2006. I felt a huge sense of liberation. Here was something that could allow me to take back control of my life. It is not coincidence that my first run would take me to No hands Bridge, if I ever run I told myself, the one and only race I ever want to do in my life is the Western States Endurance Run.

Just keep on running past those yellow ribbons, photo by Joe McCladdie from last months training camp.

In New Zealand, we have an appropriate word in Maori, it is mana. Mana is defined in English as authority, control, influence, prestige or power. It is also honour. People have mana as a result of their birth, their actions and their group. Places of significance and objects can also have mana. The mana a person is born with sets them off, but the way that they conduct themselves throughout life will either strengthen their own personal mana, and by that the mana of their tupuna (ancestors) , or weaken their own personal mana. Humbleness is a very highly valued trait in the Maori world. Many of great Maori leaders are very humble people, hence part of their greatness. The people sing their praises, thereby heightening their mana. These great leaders you will never hear singing their own praises. It is not that they are trying to be humble, it is that they just are.

The Western States Endurance Run has mana. The history, the trail, the organization, the 1,000+ volunteers, crews and supports all add to the prestige. It makes us as athletes proud and truly humbled. The athletes themselves provide power. So many of the world's best trail ultramarathon runners today have chosen to be a part of this race. Many are coming from France, Italy, Tanzania, Japan and the UK to compete. Many of the top US runners also have been training for 24 months-solid, just for his event. All of them are nervous, from the great seven times Champion like Scott Jurek to a first-timer like myself. All of us will be humbled by this race, some of us will be defeated by it entirely. Whatever the outcome, we are thankful for the opportunity to run in the greatest race, with the best.

Paul Charteris
19 June, 2009.

12 Trail Running Questions

2009-06-17T09:53:00.000-07:00

Nancy Hobbs from the American Trail Runner Association sent out some questions to help with her upcoming book: The Ultimate Guide to Trail Running. Since Nancy loves the trails more than just about anyone else, I was happy to oblige.

1) When and why did you start running trails?

I started running in January 2006, so I have been trail running for three and a half years. I started primarily to train for triathlons because I was an awful runner. Before I started running, I hiked those same trails for two months. Every weekend I would do a long hike. That help build up my legs and cardio output so that when I started running, it came easily to me. The first time I ran on trails was from the Auburn Overlook to No Hands Bridge on the famous Western States Trail. The first trail race I competed in was the Double Dipsea - it left me unable to walk properly for a week.

Start trail running on gentle trails - such as this coastal track around Mt. Maunganui in New Zealand

2) What have you learned from trail racing?
Do not start out too fast, no matter how short the race is. Also, hike the hills if your breathing becomes labored and/or your heart-rate starts to climb too high. Some runners that come from a road racing or triathlon racing background have a difficult time with hiking. They will not only end up suffering, they can have a complete melt-down if they try to push the hills too hard in longer races. I have seen it happen many times.

3) What is your favorite trail and why? (name of the trail and where it is located)

It is the Tarawera River Trail, located near my home town in Kawerau, New Zealand. There are spectacular waterfalls along the way, beautiful swimming holes and fresh blackberries in the summertime. It is just an incredibly peaceful place to run.

My favourite swimming hole on the Tarawera River Track, New Zealand. More photos here

4) What is your most memorable prize from a trail race?
I won 50kg of maiz (corn) at the Copper Canyon Ultramarathon in Mexico. This was donated to the Raramuri people of Batopilas. It was in a small way, Korima sharing something with them while they shared with me their gift of running free.

5) What is your favorite food for longer distance runs or races?
Put some nutella and almond butter together in a soft pita. The extra fat is great for long distance running, nutella is just like Italian Brown Herion to me.

6) Do you have any stories about running with your pet?
I don't have a pet, but my friend Caren runs with her Pomeranian, it's depressing getting passed by a fluffy little toy dog doing a long run on hard trails.

7) Do you have tips for someone new to trail running?
1. Go minimal, wear a cruddy old t-shirt and shorts (or no shirt if you can get away with it). Leave the cellphone, iPod water, food and drink at home. You'll be more at one with nature.
2. Walk the tough hills and smile, in a short while you'll be strong enough to run them.
3. Don't worry about breaking your ankles, every newbie worries about this. Trail running strengthens ankles like nothing else.
4. Read Scott Dunlaps blog.
5. Eat berries, nuts and fruit that you find on your jouneys (provided they are safe).
6. Enter a race that you are unsure of even finishing

8) During a trail run have you ever had a pleasant, or unpleasant encounter with an animal?
In 2007 I was pacing Australian runner David Eadie down by the river during the Western States Endurance Run. It was late evening, he looked over his left shoulder at something in the river. A beaver came swimming towards us with a sizeable log in its mouth. Despite being near the top 20 in the most competitive trail ultra. in the country, we stopped awhile to take in the scene.

9) What is your favorite trail race distance and why?
50-miles. It is a distance I can run the entire way when I am at my peak and is certainly challenging enough that I never know for sure if I will complete any given race at this distance.

10) What type of course markings do you find the most helpful during a trail race?
Ribbon. Using the same colored ribbon with black stripes indicating the direction of a turn certainly helps.

11) Have you ever been lost on a trail run, or in a trail race? What happened?
I have a pretty good sense of direction, thankfully.

12) Do you take safety items with you when you run -- ie: map, cell phone, pepper spray, etc.?
No again. In fact my favorite runs are the ones I like to call my 5-I runs. Five Items allowed only: 2 shoes, 2 socks (Injinji) and shorts. That's the beauty of trail running. You are free.

Best of luck with the book Nancy.

Cheers, Paul Charteris

final preparations

2009-06-16T08:56:00.000-07:00

The Western States website says 11 days until race day. My first-ever 100-mile run is rapidly approaching and with each ticking day I get myself more and more excited. Without too much navel-gazing, here's where I'm at:

Health
Last week an old injury, achilles bursitis flared up. Now a week later I can finally walk on my left heel without pain. With a bit of luck this injury will heal itself 100% before race day. The last 3 weeks have been pretty rough, I had giardia three weeks ago, following by a violent (but short-lived) stomach bug last weekend. Both episodes combined to rob me of over a weeks of training but I also dropped 5 lb. and I am now down to my lightest ever adult weight of 185 lb. The program worked so well, I infected Caren, Ling and Peter and they too experienced the same miraculous weight loss that comes with violent puking. It's an amazing program for anyone wanting to shed surplus weight before race day while getting mandatory rest.

Fitness
I have had some cracker training runs (and even entire weeks) where I have run/hiked the canyons exceptionally well and continued to run strongly through to Foresthill and beyond. This has been very encouraging. Of course, on race day I have a whole lot of miles of high country to go before I even reach those canyons. I think my greatest gain in the last year has been in running form. My cardiac output and leg strength seem the same as last year while my efficiency of running seems improved. Needless to say my confidence is high, despite the minor health setbacks.

Donald and I plan to be all smiles at Dusty Corners on race day also. Photo courtesy of Scott Dunlap.

The Support Team
Some runners have splits, pacers, crew, equipment, nutrition etc. so dialed in it is scary. I now have a pacer, Ken Parnow from Auburn. Ken is a great young guy with a simply stellar track background. This year marks his first foray into trail ultra's and he'e been eating em up for breakfast. I am not sure if I have a crew or not and I have not got my running shoes yet. Needless to say I don't fuss too much over details. I plan to get to Robinson Flat sometime around lunch and be on my way to Cal 2 by nightfall. That's about as precise a plan as I am ever going to have. Don't get me wrong, I have a strategy and I know the course like the back of my hand, I just don't have any times or splits in my head that I can tell you.

I'll have some friends out there along the course. If you can hand me a Vespa, make me a nutella-almond butter sandwich or feed me some flan, I will be happy. Mostly, I look forward to seeing friends out there and hearing gossip about where the leaders are at.

If you see me out there, please do say hi (or even gidday!) that will make me very happy :-)

Jennifer waves while I float in Eldorado creek - like Gollum. Photo courtesy of Melissa Johnson

In the next 11 days I will...
1. Take it easy on my feet so the achilles bursitis heals naturally.
2. Hot (i.e. 170+ degrees) sauna every day (even the day before race day) to open the pores of my skin and get used to sweating profusely. Sometimes sauna 2x per day
3. Hike 1-3 hours on rolling trails. Hopefully, I do not irritate my heel doing this. I'll wear layers of wool to make sure I stay nice and toasty.
4. Eat a Very Low Carb (VLC) diet for the next week. I'll eat an abundance of high quality protein, some fat (from meat, nuts flaxseed and avocado) and vegetables. Since my exercise rate has dropped considerably, this eating regime will help me drop even more weight by race day.
5. Maximum intake of the highest quality Omega-3 fatty acids possible. I'll take 6000+ mg per day, sourced from diet and from Nordic Naturals Ultimate omega. This is an anti-inflammatory insurance policy, helps with blood circulation and thins the blood. All good for race day.
6. Stretch and hang every day. I like to hang from bars (like a monkey) to stretch and lengthen my body. I'll also get a massage and chiropractic adjustment. Anything to gain an inch or so in height to make maximum use of my naturally long legs. I'll pay particular attention to lengthening the hip flexors and hamstrings.
7. No running until race day.

The next blog posts will briefly describe what I intend to do on race day (other than run lots) and will provide the big list of bloggers to follow.

Cheers,

Paul Charteris

Western States: The complete training log from April to early June

2009-06-10T11:36:00.001-07:00

The end of the first week in June and now just three weeks to the Western States Endurance Run, my first 100-miler. It's been weeks since my previous post due to spending a lot of time on the trail, a bout of Giardia and general laziness. Here's a summary of the previous few weeks. For brevity, I'll just post the sort of mileage and type of running I am doing rather than long reports on these runs. Many runners looking to run Western states for the first time might like to use this as an indicator of how one runner trains.

April: 277 miles. 8 runs longer than 10 miles. 2 runs longer than 30 miles.
May: 303 miles. 11 runs longer than 10 miles. 2 runs longer than 30 miles.
June (thru. June 10) 107 miles. 5 runs longer than 10 miles. 1 run longer than 30.
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Daily training mileage. The x-axis is date, starting April 1 and ending June 10.

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Week ending April 5: START TRAINING

Say what?? Start training so late. I had been injured prior to this date so did not have much running under my belt except for what I had done in January and early Feb. Almost the entire month of February and all of March were a complete write-off due to foot injury. The Sunday run was hot, dry and hilly - just like the Western States canyons.

M. 0
T 6 miles hard hills: Whakarewarewa Forest, Rotorua
W 6 miles: flat to rolling forest roads, Tarawera Forest
T 6 miles flat to rolling forest roads, Tarawera Forest
F 6 miles hour flat to rolling forest roads, Tarawera Forest
S 3 mile tempo run: Rotorua Redwoods. PM: :3 mile barefoot, Rotorua Redwoods. With Hamilton Hawks Running Club.
S 15 miles hot, dusty hard hills: forestry roads in Tarawera Forest.

TOTAL: 45 miles.
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Feeling very happy run so much the very first week back from injury.

Week ending April 12: BEGIN THE ODYSSEY

M 15 miles. Western Okataina Walkway.
T 0
W 8 miles. Flat Forestry Roads. Tarawera Forest.
T 6 miles hilly trails, Awakeri.
F 20+ miles rolling hills, forestry roads. Day 1. The Mountain Bike Odyssey. Te Mahoe to Murupara
S 20+ miles hilly, native bush. Day 2. The Mountain Bike Odyssey Murupara to Whirinaki
S 20+ miles rolling hills, forestry roads. Day 3. The Mountain Bike Odyssey Kaingaroa to Taupo.

TOTAL 89 miles. A huge week considering this is early in training cycle.
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Week ending April 19: BYE BYE NZ and HELLO USA!

So nice to see and run with many friends again on the trails.

M 0
T 5 Miles. Kawerau forestry roads
W 7 miles Rotorua Redwoods.
T 0
F Travel to USA
S 0
S 50 Diablo 50-mile. Extremely hilly. in 13:20.

TOTAL: 62 miles.
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Week ending April 26: RECOVER from DIABLO 50-MILER

M 0
T 0
W 1 mile run (this was supposed to be 6 miles), + 3 hours walking
T 6 mile run
F 0
S 20 miles Canyons: Michigan Bluff to Swinging Bridge and back
S 15 miles: Quarry Road carpark - Browns Bar - (almost to) ALT and back.

TOTAL: 36 miles
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Week ending May 3 MONSTER WEEK with only 4 days of running.

M 0
T 34 miles. (MB to Dusty corners, return via Pucker Point) on Western States Trail with Marty, Matt and Derek
W 14 miles. Auburn-Cool, return on WS Trail
T 0
F 0
S 43 miles. (MB to Swinging Bridge, back to Drivers Flat). on WS Trail
S 12 miles. Quarry Road, Browns Bar and along WS Trail.

TOTAL 103 miles. The most running I have ever done in a week. Time for a nap
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Week ending Sunday May 10: Six Solid Days of Running.

A simply perfect training week. Excellent mileage, consistent running. No really hard hills (except K2) so most of it was pure running instead of run-walking.

M 0
T 16 miles: American River Parkway. Flat trails.
W 10 miles: Davis. Flat trails
Th 6 miles: Davis. Flat trails.
F 20 miles. Auburn Overlook-No Hands-Stagecoach-K2-Cool-Overlook. Hilly trails
S 14 miles. Lake Natoma Loop* + 2 extra miles towards Beales. Rolling trails.
S 8 miles. Cantelow Road. Rolling/steep hills on paved road. About 90 degrees warm.

Total: 74 miles
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Week ending Sunday May 17: I LOVE THE F***EN CANYONS!

This weeks goal was to recover from the previous week while trying to get as much running in as possible so that next week I get time to rest for training camp the following weekend. It's probably counter-intuitive, but I'll stick with my Kiwi-logic. Two days in the canyons with two moderately long runs in between made this a tough week. Exactly what I needed at this stage.

M 0 massage and stretching
T 2 barefoot on treadmill. Weights.
W 28 Wortons Market in Foresthill to the Pump (near Devil's Thumb) - return. Canyons + heat = tired.
T 10 Fooresthill Divide Loop trail
F 0
S 19 Cool- Goat Hill - ALT - return via WS trail
S 20 MB - Turkey Hill Road - Eldorado - Swinging Bridge. Return via WS trail.

TOTAL 79 miles.
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Week ending Monday June 25. Western States Training Camp

Taking it easy early this week because the weekend is going to be a killer. I had planned to run 50-miles on Saturday but the bottom of my feet were quite tender when i pulled in to Foresthill. I called it quits at 32 miles. I felt super-good except for tender feet. Sunday, I ran really well down to the River. I felt strong and confident. Monday, ran hard to Quarry Road.

M 2 miles easy trails + 1 hr. hiking
T 2 miles easy trails + 1 hr. hiking in heat
W 3 miles flat
T 8 miles (Miller's Defeat to Robinson Flat - return)
F 0
S 32 miles Day One WS Training Camp. Robinson Flat to Foresthill.
S 19 miles Day Two Ws Training Camp. Foresthill to white Oak Flat.
M 20 miles Day Three WS Training Camp. Green Gate to the Finish.

TOTAL 87 miles.
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The week ending Sunday May 31: YOU SICKO!.

It was supposed to be a rest week, it turned into a COMPLETE rest week.

T 0. Rest day
W 5 miles fast- Davis Arboretum
T 4 miles. Rockville Hills Park. Tummy feels funny so I abandon less than half way through my run.
F 0 Giardia! Oh crap.
S 0 sick
S 0 sick

TOTAL: 9 miles. I guess my body was due for a complete rest. Not to worry.
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The week ending Sunday June 7 BOUNCE BACK!.

The bouceback week from last weeks sickness. On Thursday I ran a super-fast (for me) ten miles on rolling trails. That evening I stayed with local runner Elke Truscott in Auburn. Peter Defty, Jon Olsen and I coordinated our running and I ran a ripping fast 24-miles from Michigan Bluff to Rucky Chuck. The following day Peter, Ling Caren and I ran Duncan Canyon to Foresthill. I got cold at Robinson flat so I avoided Little Bald Mountain and Pucker Point - running the road instead. I had a great run, I started feeling low in calories towards the end but some gels from Jeff Riley revived me at michigan Bluff and I was able to run to Foresthill with ease. My last day in the canyons before race day. Feeling very very confident.

M 13 miles. Flat trails on American River Parkway.
T 10 miles. Mix Canyon. Hilly road.
W 0
T 10 miles. Rolling trails, Rattlesnake Bar
F 24 miles. Michigan Bluff to Rucky Chuck.
S 34 miles. Duncan Canyon to Foresthill (freezing cold in the high country).
S 4 miles. Undulating trails, Rancho Seco Park while watching the TBF TRI for REAL Triathlon.

TOTAL: 95 miles.
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This week: I guess I had better taper

M. 0. Weights and massage
T. 3. Flat easy run in Davis, with 3 layers of wool and a woolly beanie. Trying to get some heat training.
W. 10 miles. Lake Natoma (in wool for heat training)

the 10,000 hour rule

2009-05-20T09:39:00.000-07:00

Do the best trail ultramarathon runners in the world the best because of raw natural talent or is there something else? The short answer is yes. In his book, Outliers, Malcom Gladwell points out that the problem with this view (natural talent) is that the closer psychologists look at the careers of the gifted, the smaller the role innate talent seems to play and the bigger role preparation seems to play. Gladwell notes:

“The idea that excellence at performing a complex task requires a critical minimum level of practice surfaces again and again in studies of expertise. In fact, researchers have settled on what they believe is the magic number for true expertise: ten thousand hours.”

Why does someone like me finish in the middle of the pack while others like Scott Jurek or Nikki Kimball can choose any race to focus on and will (almost) invariably nail their desired result? A small part is natural talent. Both Scott and Nikki are undoubtedly very talented athletes, but neither rose to the ranks of crushing national and international class competition in long distance track running or in the marathon.

Perhaps it is no coincidence that both Scott and Nikki were Nordic skiers in their early careers, a sport that allows you to train and race consistently over the winter months. Assuming their summers were spent running and/or biking they would have been training almost year round. This gave them a huge advantage over other pure runners, allowing them to get in hundreds (if not thousands) of hours more training and get closer to the ten thousand hour goal than others might.

Second, given are both driven athletes, the fact they did not achieve the pinnacle of success (say Olympic representation) in their twenties probably kept them driven to succeed into their thirties, an age at which ultra-running talent is usually at a peak Scott Jurek will be 35 at Western States, 2009 while Nikki will be 38.

Scott and Nikki are easily among the most successful trail ultramarathon runners of their generation in the United States.

Are Scott and Nikki the most talented of their generation? Likely, no. There's likely a whole cadre of extremely talented runners in the United States that are focused on winning NCAA national championships or gaining Olympic representation. This talent got them recognized as youngsters, trained by the best coaches, placed in the best schools and raced against the finest of their peers. Olympic representation is a lofty goal and great for the few that make it. What happens to these runners after their careers are cut short in their mid-twenties? Probably very few explore other types of running since they have not been exposed to it. - Obvious exceptions are Max King and Michael Wardian.

Scott and Nikki had the good fortune of being exposed to trail running and the possibility of running longer than a marathon, possibly by chance of location, friends and other social forces. In a way, they got lucky. Imagine of both had taken up jobs in downtown Chicago rather than living in trail-friendly Seattle or Bozeman. I doubt that either would have had any inclination to become trail runners. Talent and hours of practice alone are sometimes not enough. When and where you live can be critical.

Both athletes are well-know for their views in nutrition. Scott is the famous running Vegan while Nikki is at the other end of the spectrum will hunt her own game in her home state of Montana. By all accounts, both athletes eat extraordinarily healthy diets and likely spend a lot of time making sure their bodies are well nourished. Since diet plays a large part in ultramarathon success, add in the number of hours spent preparing vegan "ultra-formulae" , hunting down and dressing a bull Elk towards those 10,000 hours.

World class ultrarunners don't rise from nothing. They are invariably the beneficiaries of hidden advantages and extraordinary opportunities and cultural legacies that allow them to learn, train hard and make sense of the world in ways others cannot ... It is only by asking where they are from that we can unravel the logic behind who succeeds and who doesn't.

Have Scott or Nikki accumulated ten-thousand hours in practicing their craft? I don't know. I suspect when you add in years of ski racing, trail ultras, reading, learning massage, physical therapy, nutrition, competing at races... they may be among the few in their 30's that are near this 10,000 hour mark. And that's what makes them the best.

- Paul Charteris

ADDENDUM: I forgot to add in the original post. Near my hometown of Kawerau there are two 18-year old endurance athletes who are good friends, Daniel Jones and Sam Clark. Daniel has won every junior running title imaginable in NZ, has competed in mountain running world champs and has placed in the top 2 or 3 overall in every single run he entered in 2009. His father Neil is one of the most successful adventure racers the world has ever seen. Sam Clark won the two-day coast to Coast adventure race, NZ's most prestigious event on his first try, he completed the Tarawera Ultra effortlessly and has only ever lived off hunted game and homegrown fruits and vegetables. Both Sam and Daniel are getting in to pig hunting with their Dads. Should these kids be groomed for adventure racing or running greatness? No. A typical pig hunting day for these kids might involve 10-12 hours of hiking, navigation, river crossings, sprinting after pigs and hauling massive chunks of meat back home, all over some of the most inhospitable terrain known to man and pig alike. A few years spent pig hunting and these young athletes will be closer to ten-thousand hours at a younger age than almost any of their peers. After their formative "pig-years", should they choose to do so, both Sam and Daniel will dominate the world of adventure racing for a decade.

Training like a marathon runner

2009-05-12T14:21:00.000-07:00

Besides being a test of endurance, strength and persistence, The Western States Endurance Run is still just that. A run. A philosophy I have held on to for some time now is that training like a pure trail ultra-runner can make you a very strong and fast hiker but quite possibly a lousy runner. For instance, for those of us not fit enough to run up the canyons (like Skaden and Lantz), doing a workout that only includes canyons makes you a strong uphill walker and downhill runner. yes, you do need those skills, but you also need to run through the canyons at the end of it all.

This week, on the back of a mega-miles the week before I decided to train more like a marathon runner* rather than like an ultrarunner. This meant no trips to the canyons, little walking and more consistent shorter runs.

My aim of these runs was to:

1. Run the entire way (minimize walk breaks or stop and socialize breaks).
2. Focus on running form, particularly working on a mid-foot landing
3. Run in the heat of the day (usually at 1-2PM) to get some heat acclimation

On Point #2. On each run, every minute or so I would visualize there is a photographer on the trail or road desperately trying to take a photo of the underside of my shoes. My goal is to land mid-foot so that it becomes impossible for them to take the photo. This visualization trick has helped me move my centre of gravity forward to my mid-foot and has made me a better runner. See the video below (you might need to click the link and watch on the YouTube site) and note how easy it would be for a photographer to capture an image of the underside of the foot (screen at right) while this would be virtually impossible for the same shoeless runner on the left screen.

The week unfolded as follows:

Mon. OFF
Tues. 16 miles: American River Parkway. Flat trails.
Wed. 10 miles: Davis. Flat trails
Thurs. 6 miles: Davis. Flat trails.
Fri. 20 miles. Auburn Overlook-No Hands-Stagecoach-K2-Cool-Overlook. Hilly trails
Sat. 14 miles. Lake Natoma Loop + 2 extra miles towards Beales. Rolling trails.
Sun. 8 miles. Cantelow Road. Rolling/steep hills on paved road. About 90 degrees warm.

Total: 74 miles

Cantelow road near Vacaville in mid- summer

This coming week will comprise fewer runs but they will, on average, be longer, hillier, harder and hotter. I'll be careful about this coming week not to go overboard. The Western States Training Camp at the end of the following week will be exceptionally tough. I plan to push myself right to the limit by running long on day 1 and 3 of camp.

* The caveat here is that I have never entered or seriously trained for a "normal" marathon so I really have no idea how most normal marathoners really train.

Cheers, Paul Charteris

Breaking the 100-mile barrier

2009-05-03T19:46:00.000-07:00

No, not in one day, that will come in 55 (OMG!) days. This is the first time I have run more than 100-miles in one week. It's been an extraordinary five week progression from not being injured and unable to really walk properly in late March to some mega-miles (for me) in early May. My worry is that i may be overdoing it, caught up in the exuberance of the whole Western States thing.

Among the highlights of the week were,
- Having a great run with Derek, Matt and Marty through the canyons
- Running into the Oregon gang (and later AJW) on the trail multiple times.
- Chatting with Greg Soderlund over morning tea in Auburn
- Wondering how Peter survived freezing temperatures without his shirt in the canyons on Saturday.
- Rucky Chuck Falls in flood
- In N Out Burger

I don't have buckle-mania and I'm not going to flogging myself for the sake of a little silver. Instead the mileage has come about mainly because I have had some wonderful training opportunities and I have implemented some subtle changes that have made me a better runner. These are:

1. Running form. I have been paying particular attention to maintain myself in the "Alexander Neutral" body position as much as possible when running or walking up hills. This has reduced my energy output per mile and allowed me to run more freely. The only other aspect of my running I have been extremely conscious of is foot angle. I have been trying to run with my toes planted down and the foot hanging free in the air. Basically, I am trying to land on the mid-foot as lightly as possible rather than thudding down on my heels like I have in the past. Being a larger (ultra)runner, running as lightly and smoothly as possible is of critical importance.

2. My upper body weights program has helped pay dividends by keeping my upper body upright during longer runs to avoid slumping. I need to get back in the gym again.

3. I have started to gain back some of the trail technical skills I have lost while in New Zealand. Sure, we have some wicked trails in NZ but there's very little like the canyons where you might run for four miles solid on one downhill over rocks and leaves. There's a definite skill-set required for these hills.

Here's how the week broke down:

Mon. Rest
Tues. 34 miles. (MB to Dusty corners, return via Pucker Point) on Western States Trail with Matt, Derek and Marty. We met the Oregon gang along the way and had the pleasure of hanging with them for a while.
Wed. 14 miles. Auburn-Cool, return on WS Trail
Thurs. Rest
Fri. Rest
Sat. 43 miles. (MB to Swinging Bridge, back to Drivers Flat). on WS Trail. Lots of non-Miwok runners were out there, despite some awfully wet conditions. 11 hours of running.
Sun. 12 miles. Quarry Road, Browns Bar and along WS Trail. With the GVH (Golden Valley Harriers) running group. Again, soaking wet.

TOTAL: 103 miles +/-

Cheers, Paul

Return to the Western States trail

2009-04-27T09:24:00.000-07:00

Saturday marked my return to the Western States trail for the first time in nine months. I cannot even begin to describe the number of times in those nine months I have thought about each and every section of that trail, visualizing running sections in the dark, where will nightfall hit, where will I see daylight again, ascending Devil's Thumb. It was truly a homecoming to a place I know and love (and some hills I hate).

Last Chance Trail sign near Devil's Thumb

Saturday's canyon run with Peter and Ling-ru was a quiet and gentle affair. Peter and Ling did their own thing from Michigan Bluff to Last Chance and back. I took things much more sedately, just easing into a gentle run. By the time I had reached the pump I had barely even broken a sweat. From the pump, I continued past the Tumb and descended to swinging bridge. On my return back up the hill I took out my camera and tried to photograph every runner coming along the trail. Being the weekend between Diablo and Miwok, there were a few of them out there.

My priorities for this training run were:
1. Have fun and socialize as much as possible
2. Mush my quads a little on the downhills.

Here is a the photo album of a morning in the canyons...

At the end of the run I hung out with Tony Lafferty, Rena Schumann and Karyn Hoffman. We watched all the runners come in and out of the canyons. In addition, we got to meet all the dogs of the Bluff who came over to see and sniff us over the course of the morning. A nice fun day with a great bunch of people.

Cheers, PC

Crushing Diablo 50

2009-04-22T13:15:00.000-07:00

Running 50 miles is hard. Add in 13,300 feet of climbing, an equal amount of descent, heat and the odd rattlesnake, that 50-miler becomes particularly challenging. Welcome to the Pacific Coast Trail Runs Diablo 50-mile Trail Run. I knew this race has great organization, dedicated volunteers, pretty wildflowers and plenty of hugs, but those can only go so far. There's a lot of hard, hard work to be done to get through this event in one piece.

The infamous elevation profile. Click the image to make it bigger and you'll see there's some massive gain/loss in this one. I included the Boston elevation profile as a comparison because many of my running and triathlon friends ask - why are you so slow? Look at the freakin hills. There is simply no possible way to compare times or speed from an event like Diablo with any road marathon. THIS is why I am slow

This particular 50-miler falls at the right time of year and has the terrain and heat that is making it a fast favorite among local runners with Western States aspirations. I timed my visit to the US specifically so I could include the Diablo in my WSER build-up. Although I completed Diablo before, this had a lot of unknowns. My base training has not been spectacular, I have been training alone in the NZ summer so I've had no other runners to compare my pace with and I was unsure if my quads were conditioned enough for the downhills.

I was lucky to grab a ride down with my buddies Derek and Matt. In the nine months since I last saw them, they have taken to growing their hair out so I felt a little out of place with shorter hair (I thought 2009 was going to be the year of the Twietstache). The weather was nice and warm already and the start and warmed up considerable with hugs all-round as I saw many friends I have missed these last few months. It's always nice coming home to a community that you know and love - the Northern CA trail ultra. community is that community for me.

Wendell started us off and I resisted running completely. Instead I hung with Matt and Derek, then with Danni, Steve, Melissa, Keith (Mr. Banff Trail Trash) and Chris for the first half of the major climb to the summit, walking pretty much the entire way. Along the way, I stopped for a potty break, which put me right near DFL barely 40-minutes into the event. Fortunately, I have done some hot hills this (Kiwi) summer so I was used to this sort of terrain and the ascent to the summit seemed completely effortless. Along the way, I carried no water to Juniper Aid Station. I am a camel at this sort of thing so I knew that my nice hot cup of tea from the morning would see me through. At the top I was feeling quite well controlled with no signs of fatigue but we're at very early days still.

Me in front of a train of talented trail runners. Photo courtesy of Calvin Wong and PCTR.

On the descent I caught a few runners who seemed a little unsure of the loose trail surface soon joined Matt, Derek and Melissa just before Juniper Aid Station. They dragged me out of the Aid Station faster than anticipated so I had to run to catch up with them for the big downhill. Along the way we stopped for a group portrait (below). A characteristically shirtless John Nichols had joined us by this stage as we set of to hammer us some quad meat. Along the way I dunked my shirt into a horse trough which had some nice goldfish. None of the other runners wanted to come over and check out my goldfish.

I need to grow my hair longer. Photo courtesy of Calvin Wong and PCTR.

It's always really neat coming down from Juniper Aid Station. The downhill is super-long and in one place we go over an insane convex hill that is so steep you cannot see the bottom even through the trail proceeds straight in front of you. The photo below shows some of the scenery as we head down the massive hills (photo stolen from Leslie's blog). Down to Northgate and the start of the 5-mile loop. I got a big hug from beth Vitalis - who was already 5 miles ahead of me. I had forgotten how some of this trail was quite technical with a big descent into the shade and some parts of the trail surface beat up by the hooves of the local bovines. After dunking my shirt in a couple more creeks I was back the Northgate Aid Station again. Along the way I saw a rattlesnake on the trail - Matt yelled out "Bill, snake!" to Bill who was just behind us. I thought he said "Bull Snake" which I assumed was harmless and just carried on up the trail. Along the stretch through to Rock City I became unhinged last year. I could not run no matter how hard I tried and was incredibly fatigued. This year was 100% different, I started gaining confidence and did not slow down, slowly we started to catch up with some familiar names like James, Molly and Jack.

The out and back to Finley Road was I had remembered was quite long with one or two hills. This year it seemed like all hills. I still had momentum to carry me along OK although the off-camber and slightly beat up portions of the trail were starting to exact a toll. Bev Anderson Abbs was the first runner coming back (where the hell were Skaden and Cooper?) followed by some talented guys. Rick Gaston was running like a super-star as ever with Donald running and rambling soon behind him. Eventually Skaden and Cooper made their appearance, "Mr. Casual" and his brother "Mr. No Worries" were out for a steady run after having completed a double century bike ride the day before. Gundy, Karyn Hoffmann and many other friends were out there on the trail - all of them looking good. I met Leslie for the first time on the trail today so she snapped my pic. I had been dunking my head in any body of cool water I found along the way and the result was this funky new hair-style. Very trendy.

Will Gotthardt and Caitlin Smith had all the goodies at the Finley Road aid station - including unlimited quantities of ice. I down a can of ice-cold coke, tried not to dawdle too long and set off back up the road to make my way home. It was a hard climb back. I knew not to push it too hard but to keep moving forward with a purpose. Despite my pace seeming to slow, only Chris managed to catch me on the return to Rock City. Surprisingly, I can get quite competitive in these sort of things and even though its largely a game of personal battle, I still hate to be overtaken.

Molly soon joined us and we three pushed out of Rock City and on to the summit. Immediately leaving the Aid station there's some downhill which is mental torture since we know we are only digging a bigger hole we have to climb out of. Somehow, the climb did not seem all that hard. I remember being totally wasted on this climb last year but I kept on pushing up this one with some ease. Having said that, Chris was still ahead of me and even had time to snap some amazing photos - like me dragging my bedraggled ass up the hill (below). Along the way I managed to walk past some other runners and even run some sections along the flatter bits to Juniper. I was really starting to gain in confidence, although I knew the final downhill can be punishing, I was looking forward to a strong finish. The final climb to the summit was the only point at which my climbing started to become a little labored. A super-quick turnaround at the summit and I was back for the final downhill.

Climbing the big hill - image courtesy of Chris.

My mantra on this section was "ultra-hunting" pretending I was stalking other ultrarunners and all I had to do was keep on moving and soon they would fall victim to my advances (BTW, this is why most dates I go on - fail). The ultra-hunting mentality worked and pretty soon I was at the top of the north summit with brilliant golden sunshine on the hill before me. Scenic, but dangerous. I had no headlamps and needed to get down off the mountain as soon as possible. My technical downhill skills are not great so I inched my way down in many places where I imagine others were running. At the very bottom of the hill I reached the stream right on nightfall. John Nichols caught me (also without lights) and we ran together into the dark. It was exciting running without knowing quite what is in front of you, we could make out the general terrain of the trail, but some small details were invisible to us. Fortunately, we were only 20-30 minutes from home so our nighttime adventures did not last too long. Great fun, at least I did not get lost with the wild turkeys this year.

My total time was 13:20. About 15 minutes faster than last year, but I felt stronger and more confident all day this time around. My quads took three days to recover. I only managed to run a mile on Wednesday- and that was pushing it. Next up - in the canyons baby!!

Diablo 50-mile
Race website
Official Results

Blogs
- Rick Gaston
- Danielle Coffmann
- Donald Buraglio
- Lelsie Gerein

Cheers, Paul Charteris

The Odyssey continues

2009-04-12T21:11:00.000-07:00

Coming off the back of organizing the Tarawera Ultra. I was feeling out of shape and extremely anxious about my chances of ever completing western States. So much so, I had seriously contemplated not buying a plane ticket to the US. My left ankle had swollen after a very short run causing me to hobble which suddenly left my right big was inflamed and tender. Suddenly a lightbulb went off. I was having two gout attacks. I checked myself into hospital within the hour, got some hard drugs and spent the next three days open-water swimming and doing weights. Within three days the inflammation was completely gone.

On Tuesday I treated myself to my first sports massage in nine months as well as my first new pair of running shoes in about 500-miles. Lesson learned, being a cheapskate does not always pay. With now loosened muscles and new shoes I decided to try my luck with a little running in the Whakarewarewa Forest near Rotorua. My little run turned into one and a half hours of hills. I felt great. Maybe I had not lost as much fitness as initially thought.

As if the run of my life was not enough, Andy Jones-Wilkins got me fired up by suggesting that Western States would be a better event without us 100-miler rookies at the starting line. I owe AJW a big thanks since he REALLY got me fired up and led me to hit the trails with a vengence.

Admittedly, I'll be one of the few runners to start this event without having a previous 100-miler under my belt. It just adds to the personal challenge for me and it adds to the excitement for my supporters since they will be able to follow if I am charging on ahead or am crashing and burning somewhere after the canyons.

Here's my busy two weeks of training.

Tuesday: 1.5 hours hard hills: Whakarewarewa Forest, Rotorua
Wednesday: 1-1.5 hour flat to rolling forest roads, Tarawera Forest
Thursday: 1-1.5 hour flat to rolling forest roads, Tarawera Forest
Friday: 1-1.5 hour flat to rolling forest roads, Tarawera Forest
Saturday: AM :45 tempo run: Rotorua Redwoods. PM: :45 barefoot, Rotorua Redwoods
Sunday: 4 hours hot, dusty hard hills: forestry roads in Tarawera Forest.
Monday: 4.5 hours: trails on Western Okataina Walkway
Tuesday: Rest, weights
Wednesday: 1.5 hours trails and forestry roads, Tarawera Forest
Thursday: 1 hour hard hills, Awakeri

The following three days were spent running as a two-person relay team with Jo Petersen in the Mountain Bike Odyssey. Jo is training for a six-day race in Namibia so for both of us, running three long days in a row suited our training schedules perfectly. A huge thanks to Mike Van der Boom for allowing us to run on this incredible adventure. The Odyssey is a 260km bike ride from Whakatane on the East Coast to Taupo in the Central North Island. Most people completed it in three days on their mountain bikes. We completed it (well, maybe about 25km short) in teh same time on foot.

Friday: 4 hours moderate hills on forestry roads from Te Mahoe to Murupara.
Saturday: 5 hours hills on single track trails and forestry roads. Whirinaki Forest
Sunday: 6 hours flat forest roads to rolling hills. Kaingaroa Forest.
Monday: Rest, weights

Endless miles upon miles of running in the Kaingaroa Forest. I spent about six hours running in here yesterday from the bottom right of this photo towards the top left.

This coming week, I have the following planned:
Tuesday: Massage then a two hour run on trails
Wednesday: 1-1.5 hour run
Thursday: 1-1.5 hour run
Friday: Squeeze in a run if possible and fly to USA
Saturday: Rest and catch up with friends.
Sunday: Diablo 50-mile with the old gang, California.

Good times coming ahead, I can feel the pull of the Western States trail becoming stronger with each day.

Cheers, Paul

The Tarawera Ultramarathon: A personal expression

2009-03-24T02:09:00.000-07:00

I have not discussed the Tarawera Ultramarathon much on this blog, since I have preserved this space for my own training and thoughts on nutrition and the importance of trail running in my life. The Tarawera Ultra. was run this past Saturday (March 21) and was the first race I have directed. Upon returning from the US in July, I have been busy putting this event together from start to finish. Nine months from concept to execution. I had the advantage of racing/volunteering/pacing/crewing in numerous hugely successful US trail runs, including Western States, Way Too Cool and many PCTR trail runs. It was this same experience, vibe and community that I wanted to re-create in my hometown.

Kawerau, in the Bay of Plenty where I live is a sometimes-maligned town. We have few new employment opportunities and a high level of welfare dependency. For outdoor enthusiasts we have an amazing climate and some of the most beautiful geothermal areas, forests, lakes and rivers in New Zealand just outside the back door. Us locals are proud of our town. Despite our small size (population, 7,500) we have a very active Harriers running club. Through this event I wanted to share two important elements of my life; trail ultrarunning and my hometown. The Tarawera Ultramarathon is not an event I organised as a business, it's an expression of who I am.

The journey got kick-started by visiting Mike van der Boom. An outdoor sports enthusiast, he quickly became a huge supporter of the event. His unfailing support continued right through to race day - even as his wife Sarah was entered in the event - running 80+ km, or more than twice as far as she has ever run in her life. The concept took shape as more groups began to come in enthusiastically behind the project the Kawerau District Council, TOI-EDA, The Rotorua Energy Charitable Trust and Mighty River Power. With the support of these backers and the express permission granted by local iwi groups I was able to establish the vent would be run within the health and safety and environmental guidelines as required by the Department of Conservation. Months of paperwork had been chewed up but the result was a carefully considered event that left me more appreciative of the cultural and ecological significance of the area as well as cognizant of health and safety considerations.

The start-line. Nine months of work, for this wonderful moment!

Finally, I was able to tell the world the race was on. At this point I hit a low spot, I had sunk months of work into this project but had absolutely no budget left to advertise the event and really very little I could show sponsors other than a dream. Eventually, I started gaining traction, using web 2.0 networking tools message-boards, selective blogging and a brand-new website, I was able to start getting the word out there. I targeted the US audience first where the response was usually "wonderful event - but I cannot afford it for this year" and later the NZ audience with some magazine and web-based articles. My late traction in getting advertising rolling meant that I could not target potential entrants in many local races. I must say i found all of the other New Zealand race directors incredibly supportive and enthusiastic. Aaron Carter from Totalsport as well as Shaun and Phil from Lactic Turkey were great supporters.

Only in the final couple of weeks, the race really started gaining some momentum. Entries jumped from around 25 three weeks out to 67 on race day. Most entrants were individuals and were competing in their first ever ultramarathon, in either the 55km or 80km distance. The number of relay teams was much lower than I had anticipated, I was hoping more relay athletes would like to share this experience. Nonetheless I was amazed when the pre-race briefing meeting on Friday evening was over-flowing with some standing outside under the Redwoods, straining to hear what was being said. It was a truly proud moment for me to see so many people there, with a mixed sense of excitement, fear and anticipation of the run ahead.

Some of the super-volunteers at the Okareka Aid Station. Photo courtesy of Dawn Tuffrey

The following morning I had the pleasure of starting off the group of runners from the Redwoods Forest. I quickly briefed the volunteer groups and sped off to oversee the entire day. I had a wonderful team of volunteers at both Rotorua (start), Kawerau (finish) and all points in-between. Fortunately, my job was as simple as driving around delivering drop bags, surplus supplies and minor volunteer coordination between safety patrol, course marking, aid stations and finish line. The individual volunteers are too numerous to mention. Some of you I have known and trust for years, some others I only just met on the morning of the event. I thank you all for your help that (in the words of the race-winner, Kerry Suter)...

"...your ARMY of volunteers did an AMAZING job. What seemed like a logistical nightmare, ran like a well oiled machine. Best trail run in the country. No question."

Sarah and her pacer in the Tarawera Forest section of the course

I learned a lot about event management over the course of the day. Some legitimate issues arose in course marking, the distance and some runner safety issues. All of these will be evaluated and modified for future events. Over all, it the single achievement I am the most proud of in my professional career. All of the volunteers, supporters, sponsors and of course the athletes have indeed boosted the Mana of my house and also of Kawerau.

Ngā mihi nui me te aroha, nā Paul Charteris
- Kawerau, New Zealand

From foot to mouth - a change in focus

2009-02-25T22:12:00.000-08:00

Since hurting my foot three weeks ago I am still not running. As a result I have to make major adjustments to my training regime to avoid a serious loss of fitness. My first approach was to get in some good long walks on the hills - about 2-4 hour walks at "race walking pace". I figured this would be good low-impact exercise.

Unfortunately, I have a couple of underlying physiological conditions that count against me. 1. I have a history of gout, this means that when I injure part of my foot I get a hyper-inflammatory response - often in another part of the foot. This low-level gout attack can leave me unable to walk properly, often for days. 2. I have bone spurs in both feet (which are exacerbated by running), so when I have inflammation in my feet, tendons get pulled tight over the spurs setting up a cascade of further inflammation. The perfect storm of foot injuries.

Back to the training, the long walks were fine but each time my foot would become inflamed a couple of days later leaving me hobbling. Long walks (over an hour) may be a no-go for another week or two. Time to focus on what I can control. Eating. I did not think my diet was too bad while I was training. I would sneak in a couple of pies and perhaps also milky bar chocolates. But if I ran two hours a day, how bad can this be. Turns out very very bad. On fitday.com I punched in the numbers. The results came back as "Paul's Nutritional Nightmare".

Thats a whopping 4,300 calories. I need 2,220 calories to maintain my body weight. Given that I burn say 800 calories per hour (a very high estimate) on a two hour training run, I would still gain weight on this diet. The pies, I reasoned, were good training fuel (they were) since they are high in protein and fat. Shockingly, they have more grams of carbohydate than grams of fat and protein combined. The ice cream and the milky bar are just pure sugar-bombs. I had simply no idea the icecream was so incredibly high in calories and sugar. Despite eating so much during the day, I would be famished after my runs, so finishing off three large lamb shoulder chops was no problem. Pile on an extra 1200 calories please.

Here's the macronutrient profile of that day.

Note that half of the calories (52% ) are derived from fat. That's NOT a bad thing. The total calories is certainly a worry. Protein is low at 19% of calorie intake and carbohydrate is high at 29% of intake. Here's what I would change to start losing some weight.

1. Cut the nut consumption down a little to reduce total calories. Switch to walnuts.
2. Replace fruits with vegetables which have a higher fibre content.
3. Eliminate the junk food. Icecream, meat pies and milky bars can go. Good riddance.
4. Substitute leaner meats instead of those fattier chops to reduce caloric load.
5. Take the cheap bacon out of my morning omelettes since this bacon has sugar added.

Here's the result from todays food diary (10 days later than the entry above).

and the nutritional profile...

Note the following:
1. Almost purely paleo. Except for the tiny bit of milk in my cup of tea and the fish oil caps, everything here can be hunted or gathered.
2. Much lower caloric load (almost half!!) and I do not feel hungry since I have plenty of lean protein throughout the day.
3. Higher vege content and lower fruit content. I'd up the fruit content if I was training harder. I have no qualms about eating fruit, I am just keeping the quantities low since I am not working out much.
4. A greatly increased proportion of calories from protein (i.e. 2.5 x as high!!)
5. Very low carbohydrate content - and all the carbs (except a tiny fraction from milk) come from excellent fruit and vege sources. Incidentally, all fruit and veges are local - within a 10k radius of home.
6. Still a high fat content - largely from the meats but also a fair portion from eggs and walnuts.
7. This is a very strong anti-inflammatory diet (which my foot needs right now). Even mustard is anti-inflammatory.
8. The beef is 100% grassfed.
9. Note no added salt to any foods. Some pepper on the chicken and beef to season.

This is a typical weight-loss diet for me. If I stuck to a diet like this (as I have done in the past) I can expect to lose 1-2 lb. per week consistently. For the record, I am 196 lb and 16% bodyfat. That's already a 3 lb. loss from 10 days ago. Once my foot heals, if I can increase training volume and keep my diet discipline, I will really start to lean-up.

Here's to a healthy and happy fighting weight by the last weekend in June!

Here's the excellent original article that inspired the eating change courtesy of Mark's Daily Apple.

Cheers, PC

Dusty Trails lead to trusty socks

2009-02-24T14:55:00.000-08:00

If you had to pick the worst possible time to run the Western States Trail it would be the weekend after the Tevis Cup. Tevis is the original endurance event on the historic 100-mile Western States Trail in northern California. The event celebrates the spirit of the Pony Express which passed through this wild and rugged landscape from the Sierra alpine to the gold country foothills. A couple of hundred pairs of hooves can churn up the high country trail during a dry summer as we found out. Soon after leaving Lyon Ridge (pictured at left) the trail became so dusty that we had to run a minute apart to breathe clean air and see where we are going. Arriving at camp in Robinson Flat my shoes were completely covered in dust.

I removed my shoes to see what had been aggravating my feet. There were a couple of large blisters on each foot. Being a newbie trail runner I had not idea what to do with these things. Newly found running companion Nancy Warren grabbed my foot and drained the blisters with a needle sterilized in the campfire. She had finished Badwater a couple of weeks earlier and recommended Injinji toe socks that she said nearly everyone was wearing down there in Death Valley. Returning to civilization I tried my first pair of Injinji Tetrasocks (I like the Performance Mini Crew ) and have not had a blister in the years since.

Injinji Performance Mini Crew Sock - friends for my feet

I use these socks pretty much exclusively while training. They felt a little funny the first time I tried them on but after about five minutes you don't notice it. I like the way you can naturally spread out within the shoe. I think it probably helps recruit more of your foot muscles into the running process.

These socks are one of those products that just works damn well - I am not going to change a sure thing. So, I am pleased today to hear from Paul that Injinji Australia (yes- that does include New Zealand) have agreed to add me to their team, joining other cool runners like Lisa Tamati, Jonathan Gunderson, Scott Dunlap and Luis Escobar. I am not a "race-winning" athlete, rather I like getting out there, exploring and seeing what I am capable of so I am particularly thankful for the opportunity that Paul and the Team from Injinji Aus. Have provided me. I hope I can be a good ambassador for their brand.

Cheers, PC

on doctors orders

2009-02-14T00:15:00.001-08:00

I have never been a very good patient. Whenever I see a doctor I usually self-diagnose the problem and use the doctor to confirm my diagnosis or otherwise have them look at me quizzically as if to ask "what the hell are you talking about?". Normally, this sort of attitude keeps me way from the Docs office, but when I woke up on Wednesday with a mysterious new foot injury I rushed to the doctors office immediately for their expert opinion. The X-Ray confirmed no broken bones in my foot so possibly a stress fracture or tendon rupture/strain. Enough to put me out of action for a few days.

The group starts their run at the Tarawera outlet. The 50k point of the Tarawera Ultra.

On Saturday a few local runners from Whakatane rolled in to town to tackle the last 30km of the Tarawera Ultra. course. My regular training buddies, Jo and Sarah were there but were joined this time by Ross and also by longtime family friend Brian (doing his first ultra.) along with Cheryl and Sue who have teamed up to complete the relay option. I drove with them to the Tarawera Outlet on a chilly morning for this time of year. Desperate to join them on the run, but knowing full well I couldn't, I watched as they sped down the trail past the waterfalls and I drove down the road to meet them. I barely had time to soak my foot before they came zig-zagging through the bush alongside the river. Driving behind them I snapped a couple of photos of them as they ran along waterfall road in the Tarawera Forest.

Starting the Tarawera Forest section. Just after the 55km mark of the Tarawera Ultra.

Back at the Kawerau Thermal Pools three hours later (you won't be doing THAT sort of time on race day!) everyone was happy for such a nice run. Sarah had led them through some nice patches of cutty grass and blackberry (those will be gone soon too) before getting herself lost and taking the alternate route to Kawerau. Ross and Jo had correctly followed the Buddles Creek trail and stayed on course for all but the last few hundred yards when Ross decided on a kamikaze plunge downhill behind the old sulphur pit because he could see the finish line.

Later that afternoon I joined Sjors Corporaal and his group of local hunters and farmers from Galatea in the annual Tawhiuau mountain run. Sjors is a true mountain goat, being teh defending champion of the local King of the Mountain Run. The route takes you up the 1,000 vertical metre Mt. Tawhiuau on the edge of Te Urewera National Park. Having being told to take it easy with my foot, I figured it would be OK just to walk up the hill.

The walk up was only one mile as the crow flies but it took an hour. This view is from half way, looking over the Galatea basin and Mt. Tarawera in the background

It was a tough walk and my calves were protesting like crazy right at the start. The vegetation in the valley down by the creek started as dry scrub, transitioning to regenerating manuka bush. As you ascend the mountain the forest started to become denser and give way to mountain beech. The ground became moist, a sure sign that cloud hangs around these mountain tops for days on end.

Finally, near the summit I could see my breath in the cool moist air. It was incredible, I had climbed from a true hot dry summers day summers day to a cool mountain summit. The views at the top showed endless ranges stretching into the distance in the Ureweras. The descent was trickier than climbing up. I slipped a couple of times on the moist roots and took my time gingerly making my way down. I did not want to aggravate my foot. At the bottom, we all had a great feed of wild venison and wild pork on the bbq - it's great having a few local hunters in your midst! My foot held up fine through all this. I think I should be OK to do some decent long walks, but still no running for a week or so - just to make sure.

Cheers, PC

Hot stuff in the Tarawera Forest

2009-02-07T18:39:00.000-08:00

Hot what?
If your goal race is in late June there's little point heat training in February. True enough, but we are in the midst of a heatwave here in the Eastern parts of New Zealand, so there is little choice but to train in the heat and adapt to it. My February has started with a bang with four fantastic runs completed thus far. The first of these runs was a beautiful evening run through the Tarawera Forest - along River Road on the Tarawera Ultra. course. It was one of those sublime runs when I felt strong, the evening was cool and the forest was alive with bunnies running in and out of the blackberry bushes. For my second run, I decided to run around Mt. Putauaki. Taking a hint from some local runners I found a series of connector roads and ran around the mountain in a quick two hour run at just a fraction under my half marathon pace. The mountain is shown in the background of the photo to the left.

Sarah and Jo tearing up on the hills. No trees, no roots, rocks. Just hills and sun. Tough-guy running.

Run three was in the Tarawera Forest where I completed a big loop under the trees and avoided the heat. I scouted all the possible water sources since I knew I'd be out running these roads with Jo Petersen and Sarah Van der Boom a couple of days later. Jo is a well-respected ultra runner here in New Zealand. He is a desert racer and will be out racing in the Namib desert in April. Sarah is a newcomer to trail ultra's. She'll be completing her first Ultramarathon at the Tarawera Ultra. in late March.

Here are some more photos

Suffice to say it was a hot run. We attacked the major hills early in the run when we were still fresh and climbed up to some long hot exposed forestry roads. My new buzz-cut ensured my head got fried by the intense summer sun. I should have been more sensible. Jo and Sarah were out there for three and a half hours. I started to get low on energy after three hours and came in something like 20 minutes behind them. They had already jumped in the river and were cooling off when I arrived. Despite bonking at the end of this run (which is not necessarily a bad thing at this time of year) I have had a few good days of running and I am very pleased with how things are progressing.

- Paul Charteris

January training for Western States

2009-02-04T23:50:00.001-08:00

January was the start of the build-phase of my Western States Endurance Run (WSER) training. In November and December I ran perhaps 3-4 times per week but without any real consistency. My goal for January was to run consistently, which I (partially) achieved, having run about 20 days. Here's my January routine:

1. Picking blueberries in the morning 5 x per week in bare feet. My feet are a lot stronger and tougher, the antioxidants are a bonus. I'll argue that this blueberry picking is all good training. You are on your feet for hours at a time in the heat, twisting and turning those legs muscles in all sorts of angles to reach the berries. I think that being barefoot and outdoors for a long time is extremely valuable (it sure beats being indoors - in an office).

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2. Running in the forest (about 20 times this month). My aim is to make the running become routine and comfortable. Sorry I do not record distance so I cannot provide any mileages.
- Longest run: almost 5 hours
- shortest run; 25-30 mins.
- 5-6 of these runs were on hard, hilly, exposed and hot forestry roads. A great simulation for the canyons on a hot summers day and good for mental toughness.
- 2 x mountain ascents (about 1800 feet vertical each). Same steepness as the Last Chance side of Deadwood Canyon.

Laying leaves at the memorial of the birthplace of Tuhuorangi. Tuhuorangi was the Paramount Chief of the Te Arawa Tribe. A son of Rangitihi, he was a sixth generation descendent of Tama Te Kapua, captain and navigator of the Te Arawa canoe which made landfall in Maketu in 1350. This site is regarded as uruuru whenua- a place where passengers deposit small offerings of grass, fern or twigs in order that they might enjoy a safe journey. This is the 71km mark of the Tarawera Ultramarathon

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3. Weights 3 x per week. I use relatively light weights. The big rugby players in the gym make me look like Mr. Chicken Man but am training to run a long way (with handheld water bottles) rather than tackle big tough smelly rugby dudes. All exercises are with dumbbells. This routine is made to simulate running with water bottles. The main reason is to prevent slumping and hunching during the latter stages of a 100-miler allowing me to maintain an upright running posture with clear open airways. No rest between exercises. I complete one set of the routine below. All exercises are at 26 reps on less stated otherwise:

1000 - 3000 metres rowing as warmup on the Concept 2 Rower.

- Decline bench press
- Incline bench lying row
- Incline bench press
- Bent over rows
- Dumbbell rear deltoid row (x 30)
- Pushups (to exhaustion)
- Dumbbell rear deltoid row (x 30)
- Pushups (to exhaustion)
- Dumbbell rear deltoid row (x 30)
- Standing alternating bicep curl
- Standing Arnold Press and standing upright row combined
- Dumbbell flys combined with bench press and triceps press
- Alternating hammer curl (lift opposite leg when doing curl) (x 30)
- Alternating hammer curl at lower weight (lift opposite leg when doing curl) (x 30)
- Alternating hammer curl even lower weight (lift opposite leg when doing curl) (x 30)
- Standing dumbbell press from hip across body and lift to opposite side
- Lat pulldowns
- Low to high cable woodchoppers
- Lat pulldowns
- Low to high cable woodchoppers
- Dumbbell freestyle (until exhaustion)

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4. Swimming in the river. The weather has been lovely and warm so many of the long runs have finished with a cooling swim. Sometimes I find a swimming spot where I can pick wild blackberries from the river bank. Heaven.

Myself (left) and Neil Jones at an undisclosed Bay of Plenty location. We were scouting a new adventure race course. Mike Van Der Boom took the photo. Neil is one of the world top adventure racers - he has won almost every title there is to possibly win the sport.

Something must be working. My first two runs in February have been outstanding- both two hour runs in the forest and I felt relaxed and comfortable at a good pace. More photos to follow this coming weekend when I go out running with friends. Happy training everyone.

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February Goals
- Run six days per week. Increasing consistency, mileage and intensity from January. I'll hold this six day routine right through to June.
- Continue with the blueberries as long as they last (at this stage, the berries show no sign of slowing down)
- Stick with the weights routine. Increase workouts from one set of the above to two sets in late February.
- Try to get in one to two marathon distance runs in the latter half of the month.
- One no-nonsense balls-out tough mountain race (it's an ascent only, but I'll hammer the downhill also).
- Prepare for Kaweka Challenge (and extreme, tough 51k run in early March)

- Paul Charteris

Western States Base Training

2009-01-15T17:19:00.000-08:00

"I walk a lonely road
The only one that I have ever known
Don't know where it goes
But it's home to me and I walk alone"
Source: Boulevard of Broken Dreams - Green Day

The new year means we now have have license to talk about Western States from now until the end of June, at which point, we have six months to reminisce before starting the cycle all over again. I have been quite diligent about part 2 of my previous blog post on outstanding nutrition and consistent training. I have run for 13 out of the last 16 days -all on trails or forestry roads and for a minimum of about 40 to 50 minutes. Three evenings ago I ran up a monolithic volcano and had views out to Whakaari - a volcanic Island on the East Coast all the way to Mt. Ruapehu and Tongaririo on the Central Plateau (a distance of about 200 miles). Around me in all directions were endless miles of forests, punctuated by pockets of farmland.

Logging some January miles on hot dry exposed forestry roads.

Two evenings ago I ran during a torrential thunderstorm and got soaked to the bone with the warm summer rain. Yesterday I baked myself under the hot afternoon sun running hills on open forestry roads. I had views of lake Rerewhakaitu and the adjacent Mt. Tarawera. I was hoping to find some hotpools in this area, but unfortunately I didn't. I know they must be all over aver that forest. My diet is still total crap, but at least I am beginning to find my running legs again - slowly. A few more weeks of this and I will be in strong running shape. None of my training runs have been over two and a half hours thus far - the next step will be to start lengthening them out when the shorter runs start getting too easy. The nice thing is that I have amazing trails and forestry roads to train on and some of the most beautiful crysal clear rivers and creeks to jump into and cool down after my runs. I am very lucky.

It's difficult to train alone. All the local runners are targeting big events in February or March, so they are approaching peak shape. There are only a few local ultrarunners (no-one else in my small hometown though), so it's hard to explain the concept of Western States. In the meantime, I walk a lonely road.

Cheers, Paul

Finishing strong at Western States, Part 5: Interview with Peter Defty

2009-01-12T17:33:00.000-08:00

Today's interview is with Peter Defty, a mentor to myself and a huge supporter of the Western States Race. He has been involved with the event in many capacities; integral with the Cal1 Aid Station, providing rafts for the river crossing, a long-term pacer for Simon Mtuy and more recently as a product supplier through his involvement with Vespa Amino Acid Supplement. Peter never tires about talking about Western States and I respect his opinion, so I used this opportunity to pick his brain

1. You ran an amazing sub-24 hours at Western States in 2006 (the hot year) as your first 100-miler, where did that performance come from?

First off: I am honored to be chosen amongst the elite group you picked to interview for this topic...

Several factors worked synergistically that day so I was able to run sub-24 despite the conditions.

I had trained to do the distance with many of my runs on the course so I knew exactly what to expect.

I do well in the heat.

I did a fair amount of form specific training so I could be as efficient as possible.

During the first few hours of the run I noted quickly that I had not quite tapered as much as I should have. While I felt fine I noticed that it was not one of those days where I felt super strong wanted to run hard. Noting this was important because I pulled the throttle back a few notches and cruised through the high country and the canyons....don't get me wrong, it was not easy and was hot as hell, but I stayed even throughout the run and by doing this I was able to run hard the last 38 miles.

I train to burn fat, eat lots of RED MEAT (which I call "Poor Man's Blood Doping") for the iron, and used VESPA All-Natural Amino Acid Supplement. The combination allowed me to run on few calories.....naturally toward the end I used gels and Coca-Coal and perhaps a Red Bull at the very end to get done but the advantages of optimized fat metabolism are HUGE!

Peter (characteristically shirtless) coming into Duncan Canyon at Western States, 2006.

2. If you had ONE REALLY GOOD training tip for someone preparing to finish strongly at Western States, what would it be?

One tip? . . . do not underestimate what it takes to do a 100 mile run...... Everything changes beyond the 100 K distance. The 100 mile distance, WS in particular, is the new Marathon, (in the case of WS its the new Boston Marathon) when it comes to that defining human achievement experience. Now I am not in any way poo-pooing doing a Marathon here but, as any 100 mile runner knows, a Marathon distance is quite doable for most people, despite what it has often been portray as....well, now with the growth of training groups and with almost every major city hosting at least one Marathon it has become mainstream and, while still an achievement, that Everest-like quality once given to doing a marathon, is gone......Western States is the new Everest for distance runners..... Soooo, all this being said, to do WS in under 30 hours requires a person to really assess their ability, their committment to the training, planning, diet and fueling ...everything, and even this does not assure them a thing! So many people dream of doing WS, get in, continue to dream the dream, and then get a hard reality check on race day.....the reality check needs to be made before and then constantly during the 6 months of training and that is not fun and gets old!

3. Lets talk numbers. March April, May: about how many miles per week (on average) did you run during those three months?

I think my mileage average was around 65 miles per week but that is an average. I strongly recommend periodization training. I was learning in 2006 and noted clearly that after a long long run I needed at least two weeks to recover enough to really push myself to another level or even achieve the level I was on.....so the average might be 65 but there were weeks with a lot more and others with a lot less.

4. Breaking down those months again, what would a typical training week look like for you?

Depended upon where I was.....as I started out I was running during the week and doing speed workouts (which I highly recommend) but as those long weekends inthe canyons starting to be my weekend venue I ended up just running a little during the week to loosen up as my work schedule combined with the runs slowed my recovery....in other words I spent the week recovering so I could run the following weekend....it sucked.

5. What did you learn from your 2006 WS training that you would change?

I would focus more on getting my speed up...definitely, I think I spent way too much time doing super long runs and it hurt my cruising speed and I was not recovering quickly enough to be able to do a speed or tempo run during the week.....I will definitely do more speed and 12-22 mile tempo runs and push myself so when I run at 100 mile race pace it is effortless.

6. Being local, you get to run on the course quite a bit. Is there a specific training run on the Western States course (e.g. Michigan Bluff to Last Chance – return) that you think really helps prepare you for the event?

For me, knowing a course really helps me mentally...it keeps my mind in the right place like music does for a lot of runners. I think various runs help and if you have the logistical support to do one way runs on the course is best but the one out & back run that I think is the best is the Foresthill to Dusty Corner and back run....you warm up to Michigan Bluff, run as hard as you can to Dusty Corner via the road (not Pucker Point) , then turn around and head back . This simulates how a runner will feel when they get to the canyons and have to run them then also how they will feel at Foresthill when they still have 38 miles to go.

Peter with his trusty steed - The Ultravan, shown here at Duncan Canyon, early June, 2008.

7. Do you have a specific time of your training cycle that you focus on one aspect more than others, for example on endurance, strength or speed?

Focus on maxing your speed early in the year while its cool and your mileage is not too high or hard. In the spring use periodization trining as you ramp up the long runs so you can really recover properly at the new level then be ready to push to a higher one. Try to keep tempo runs in during this time. After the Memorial Day Training weekend, two weeks after I recommend doing those tempos and focusing on getting back as much speed as possible.

8. I know you are always saying "get off the f____n" bike! Did you do any cross-training prior to WS 06?

No, I ran. I mean we evolved to run and it is the most efficient way we can move ourselves around. I cannot say enough about good form...about being effortless in movement so you are not burning up calories and creating tension and pain etc. so my focus was placed entirely on movement. I did Alexander Technique lessons and lots of massage and body work.....th one thing I did not do enough of was stretching.....I would definitely do more of this in the future but very CAREFULLY!

9. Similar to (4), if you had ONE REALLY GOOD race-day tactic to ensure you run strongly right through to Placer High, what would you do?

The really GOOD Race Day Tactic I recommend to everyone is what they do in the previous year to prepare for WS.

10. I know you and Bruce Labelle (who has run a a sub-16 hour Western States) have very certain ideas about the type of running you should be doing in November and December to prepare for Western States in June, can you share your philosophy on that?

Sure, I mentioned it earlier....speed...focusing on getting as fast as you can at distances like 10 milers or half marathon distance...this means track workouts like 400 m / 800 m repeats, interval workouts etc. Its cool then and the mileage is low enough where you can push the intensity. This also helps to develop aerobic capacity which helps fat metabolism.

11. You are a huge proponent of running form being a major part of 100-mile success. Can you briefly explain your running form philosophy?

Alexander Technique....this is nothing but a means to get humans back to their natural, balanced and tension free way of movement....it is VERY subtle and takes a few years to really start to see noteworthy changes but I cannnot say enough about it...in fact, I am a much better runner today, even though I am older, than I was in 2006...it requires committment because it is so subtle but it is a way to run better, feel better and stay injury free.....watch how a toddler moves, how balanced and effortless they move and run...that is how we should move. I see so many runner out there who are literally killing themselves due to their form and muscle tension....it should be free and easy like watching Tirunesh Dibaba run the 10K. See the book, Master The Art of Running.

Peter running Tahoe Relays - mid June, 2008. Simon Mtuy sitting on the fence.

12. Is there anything you would like to add?

I think the whole concept of the right diet (virtually all Paleo Diet) and Optimizing Fat Metabolism is HUGE! Now I know you are well aware of this as are a few other people but it definitely is not conventional wisdom. What really got me paying attention was this past summer and fall when Ling-ru Chu, Devon Crosby-Helms, Jon Olsen and I started to play with VESPA to see what our "Bonk" threshold was...all of us found that by training, just the right amount of fueling and using VESPA the amount of caloric intake went to a trickle and we ran and felt better in the process...also recovered quicker....this all came to a head when Ling ran Rio Del Lago 100M and ended up 8th overall and ended up 1st female (passing the lead female with 5.5 miles left in the race) and took in less than 1500 calories the entire time!

Thanks very much Peter. No doubt we'll have many more camping adventures and high country runs between now and the end of June - PC

Outstanding nutrition and consistent training

2008-12-26T10:32:00.000-08:00

A lot of this article was based on Gordo Byrns excellent article, Marathon training in the real world.

I went for a five mile trail run yesterday on a moderately hilly course and felt awful. No excuses, I am unfit and overweight. Well, I'm fitter than the average Kiwi which makes me way fitter than the average American. I am just nowhere near my peak shape. Huffing and puffing down the trail I looked more like a recreational runner on a guilt-trip for eating too much Christmas pudding than the bad-ass Western States runner I have the mental image of being. I feel like I am reverting to my old lazy and fat self - as pictured below. The before photo was taken in October 2005, three months before I started eating Paleo and took up trail running. The 2008 was taken on a trail fun run in Tahoe on the morning of would have been Western States 08. I am about 30 lb's lighter in photo 2 (190 as opposed to 220) with a lot more muscle.

Credits: Facchino Photography and Warren Jones Photography.

I am determined to run the best race of my life at Western States 2009. I will have waited three and a half years for this one race and I do not intend to blow it. In fact, I'll state this right at the outset.

"I believe I can run a 22-23 hour Western States".

I know deep down that I can do it, I have to be incredibly disciplined and smart about it.

Here's my short-term plan to get back into shape. Outstanding nutrition and consistent training. If I really focus and work hard on just these two things, I know I can achieve them.

1. Outstanding Nutrition. For me, 80% of performance gains will be from improving nutrition. It's not just the weight-loss and improved body composition benefits. The other main benefits is reducing inflammation, eliminating illness and staying injury free. An optimal diet will be strongly anti-inflammatory with no processed food of any sort. I'll eat plenty of good meats, fish, vegetable, fruits, nuts and berries. Also high quality omega-3 supplements. I was very disciplined on tis regime in early 2006 and the results were dramatic. This dietary regime is not easy at first, especially since I'll be weaning myself off steak and cheese pies. But the payoff will be fantastic! Even during April and May when the endurance training gets really serious and I hit the canyons every single weekend, I still believe 80% of my performance gains will come from nutrition.

2. Consistent training. Running every single day. For the for two months of 2009, I plan to run or hike every single day, hopefully for more than half an hour a day. Consistency (not huge hills, speedwork or super long distance) will be my basis to getting fit again. I'll add barefoot hiking, open water swimming and weights into the mix also because I enjoy these activities.

Here's the basic training plan for January and February

- Five days per week: 1 hour of running.
- One day per week: 2-4 hours of running
- One day per week: 2-4 hours of hiking
- One day per week: Open water swimming (more if the weather gets hot)
- Three days per week: weights for one hour combined with core strength

Total: about 15 hours of exercise per week.

I am keeping it really simple. The fewer things I have to do, the better I will do them. To eat excellently and train consistently. I have absolutely no desire to beat myself up over the shape I am in now, just a desire to improve every single week for the next six months.

Cheers,

Paul Charteris

Finishing strong at Western States, Interview 4: Nikki Kimball

2008-12-23T12:50:00.000-08:00

Nikki Kimball is one of the elite trail ultrarunners in the world. She was named female ultrarunner of the year for 2007, in recognition of wining the incredible double of Western States and Ultra Tour Mont Blanc. In June she was kind enough to run with me on the Tahoe Rim Trail. We had a very one-sided conversation as we ran along at 7,000 feet. Sorry Nikki – I really needed more oxygen :-) As the defending Western States champion she'll share a little about her preparation for the event and how to finish strongly. Other interviews with Nikki can be found courtesy of the Rutland Herald and The Bozeman Daily Chronicle.

Jennifer, Nikki and Nikki's Aunt Mary on the Tahoe Rim Trail in June. Photo courtesy of Jean Pommier.

1. How has your 2008 season gone? As defending champion, I am sure you were fired-up for Western States. But, with that cancellation you nailed the Tahoe Rim Trail 100-miler, finishing first female and third overall.

2008 was a bit of a rebuilding year. I had some very good races, winning 3 fairly competitive 50 mile races and US 100 mile nationals. However I had some big disappointments as well. As you know Western States was cancelled, which was tough on all of us. Another big disappointment, also a situation which was out of my control, was 24 hour national championships. I trained all fall for a flat fast 24 hour course in hopes of setting a new national record and earning $8,000 for my effort. The Ultracentric 24 hour race promised, on its web site and per phone conversations with the race director, to be run on a 1 mile course with 9-9.5 feet of elevation gain per lap. Unfortunately the course had over 80 feet of gain per lap (measured by altimeter), and was run on a very crowned (slanted) road. I decided to run for 2 hours to see if a record was possible, and clearly it was not. I ran another 2 hours pretty hard to get a work out so that I could start training for The North Face Challenge in San Francisco 3 weeks later. But my heart wasn’t in it. Planning on a season ending 3 weeks earlier than it did, I just couldn’t get my self physically or mentally prepared to race. So, somewhat burned out and physically out of shape, I ran TNF Challenge with the primary goal of having fun. I loved it! I met lots of great people, loved running in the bright sun, long absent from my Montana skies, and caught up with many of my ultra friends.

2. You like to chase after large tasty herbivores through the wild country of Montana. Do you use those trail ultra-running make you a better hunter? What do you like to hunt?

Ultra trail running and hunting go very well together. I hunt deer, pronghorn and elk. My running background gives me the fitness to hunt areas other people might not go. Hunting takes me walking many miles over rugged country which certainly helps me to maintain strength for climbing and descending trails. It’s also a good way to stay active while taking a couple weeks completely off from running after the season ends. Interestingly, hunting increases my appreciation for the wilderness, in a way that running doesn’t. I move very slowly much of the time I am hunting. I’m alert to noises, sights and smells I don’t notice when running. I’m off trail, alone or with a partner or two. I’m enjoying the same areas I run, but in a very different way.

3. If you had one REALLY GOOD training tip for someone preparing to finish strongly at Western States, what would it be?

REALLY GOOD training tip: Train for heat. The heat is what makes Western States, Western States. Working and living in Montana I don’t get much heat exposure prior to WS 100…..it’s usually still snowy in the mountains here in June. But I do hang out in saunas a couple times weekly before the race. Bodies need to be accustomed to heat in order to sweat most efficiently.

Blasting up Corrall Pass at the 2007 White River 50-Mile. Photo courtesy of Glenn Tachiyama

4. Lets talk numbers. March April, May: about how many miles per week (on average) would did run during those three months preparing for WS08?

So from mid March to mid April I ran nearly zero miles per week. I fell hard running on an icy downhill, showing off, of course….. Anyhow, I sprained my ankle and spent much time pool running at first. Within about 10 days I was able to ski in a high-top boot. We had great snow all the way through April, so I trained on skies.

5. Breaking down those months again, what would a typical training week look like for you?

In a typical week, I am sure to do one track session (repeats anywhere from 800 to 1600 meters for anywhere from 2-7 miles total), one tempo workout or race (5k-100k), one overdistance day (which is combined with tempo if I race an ultra), and general running with hills/roads/flats….whatever type of terrain I plan to race next. I know I’m not being specific. I’m not being evasive, I simply do not record my training. I did that for many years, and found it took the fun out of it for me. I think people should generally maintain training logs. But if it turns what you are doing into a job, it’s not worth it.

6. What did you learn from your WS training that you may change for subsequent assaults on this race?

I learned that the world doesn’t end when a race doesn’t happen….actually I learned that many years ago, but it’s good to be reminded of things bigger than running races. Knowing the relative unimportance of racing helps take performance pressure away.

7. Do you have a specific time of your training cycle that you focus on one aspect more than others, for example on endurance, strength or speed?

Yes, strength work occurs most aggressively in the winter (ski racing helps with this). Endurance ramps up in mid winter. I start speed work about a month before my first serious race of the season.

8. Similar to (3), if you had one REALLY GOOD race-day tactic to ensure you run strongly right through to Placer High, what would you do?

Really GOOOOOOD tactic: If it’s hot, soak in a river crossing for a few minutes mid race. Time spent there will be made up when your core temp is lower than that of everyone around you.

You'd be flying too if you had #1 pinned to your running shorts and it's the biggest race of the year. Photo courtesy of Glenn Tachiyama

9. When, will you start focusing seriously on Western states 09, is it a January 1st sort of thing or does crosscountry skiing and snow-shoeing dominate the winter months?

Skiing and snowshoeing dominate my winters. In mid march I start to focus on running. Unless the snow’s still good….then I ski until May! You can read more about Nikki: Ski racer to Ultra-Runner here.

10. Do you like to beat up on the guys out there on those long gnarly trail races? (I hope so, because you are really good at it).

Yeah, I like to beat up the guys, the Betties too. Tahoe Rim 100 this summer was a perfect example. We all seemed to have this pent up energy from WS100 and started the thing like we were shot from a cannon. Some very fast, experienced folks dropped, there was lots of vomiting (like, more than usual), lots of bonking, just carnage everywhere you looked. The top group of guys beat the snot out of each other, leaving just 2 for me to chase during the final 25 miles. And Jenn Shelton, Bev Abbs, Sean Meisner and I beat the crap out of one another so much initially that I ran 2 hours slower the second half (and I had the least slow-down of the group).

- Thanks very much Nikki. I hope you have a wonderful Christmas and new year in Montana.

Life's a Beach

2008-12-19T21:21:00.000-08:00

Whenever I feel whimpy about training and attempt to find an excuse not to go out and run, I'll head on over to Leslie or Danni's blogs to see them training in some sort of magical outdoors freezer. Suddenly a slightly drizzly day at 20 degrees C does not seem like a bad proposition. In fact, its perfect running weather.

Yesterday, under clear blue skies I ventured over to Tauranga to meet up with Bruce and Alison Trebilco at Smiths Sport Shoes Tauranga. My Google research had told me these guys are certainly one of the best running stores in the Bay of Plenty. I was not to be disappointed. They had all the cool stuff there - including a video image a video gait analysis and (thankfully) my favourite shoe - the Asics Trail 2130. We had a great discussion about the upcoming Tarawera Ultra, the trail running scene and the inevitable East vs. West debate on who has the best runners. In the Western Bay of Plenty, they have Ben Ruthe In the Eastern Bay of Plenty, we have the entire Jones family. It was great to meet someone so passionate about running and in-tune with what's going on. I laced up my shoes and hit the trails around Mt. Maunganui. This is an incredibly popular and scenic run. Every Kiwi holiday maker and quite a few overseas visitors were out there strolling around the mountain. Quite a few of us were running - shedding fat cells so they can be replaced by Christmas pud next week.

Running the the trail around Mt. Maunganui. The red flowering trees are Pohutukawa. A native coastal species that flowers at Christmas time. They are very beautiful. Photo courtesy of a bemused Dutch tourist.

Today, the weather was not so fine, but I was in the mood for a long run. I love running through the Tarawera Forest so I parked my car on River Road and ran the slightly uphill route to the Tarawera Falls. I took a few detours off the trails along the way to explore the river and got my legs ripped to shreds by blackberry bushes in the process. The light, warm rain washed the blood away quickly. After filling my bottle from the river and taking a couple of e-tabs I was feeling a lot better and started running for home down the forestry road. A couple of miles later a car pulled up. A guy leaned out the window and said "I am a trail runner too - would you like some coke?" Hell yeah. Someone had sent me a trail angel. I graciously accepted his offer and filled one of my bottles with the elixr of the Gods. Thanks anonymous runner. I felt great for the entire run back. Total distance: 20-miles or 32km.

Me being a total poser. Running down River Road in the Tarawera Forest

Here's another shot of those Pohutukawa Trees from my run around the Mount. New Zealand's Christmas tree. Merry Christmas everyone.

Waikaremoana Great Walk (run)

2008-12-14T12:20:00.000-08:00

Brief: A 46km technical trail run through incredible Podocarp Forest on one of New Zealand's famed Great walks.

New Zealand has a system of nine official Great Walks through areas of some of the best scenery in the country. The huts and tracks on the Great Walks are of a higher standard than other tramping tracks. This makes them slightly easier to run. A few weeks back, Mike and Sarah Van Der Boom invited me to come and run the Lake Waikaremoana Great Walk. This is situated in Te Urewera National Park in the Eastern Part of the North Island. Joining us would be Stuart Mills, one of the fastest ultrarunners in the UK (he won London to Brighton this year). I knew Stuart would have to take his game down a couple of notches to be as slow as me. He has won five and placed second in seven marathons already this year. Local ultrarunning celebrity Dr. Jo Petersen had already warned me that Sarah was running really well so I knew she would be strong over the 46km distance.

Moss covered red beech forest on the top of the Panekiri Bluff. This area is often shrouded in mist. This is exactly as we saw it during the first few hours of our run.

I had hiked this track 12 years ago with my buddy Thomo when we were in our mid-20's. If I remember correctly it was a three day hike for us. It was pretty tough work with a full backpack. We had a 6:30am start at the Onepoto end of the Waikaremoana Great Walk. This meant we'd have the Panekiri Bluff to climb on the first section of the run. This is about a 600 metre (1800 foot) elevation gain. Fortunately, the track was fairly easy, although there were many steeper and technical sections which were unrunnable. On top of the bluff on a clear day you have a magnificent picture postcard view of the entire lake. Not for us, we were enshrouded by mist which added to the mysterious and wild atmosphere. The landscape was dominated by mossy beech trees on the steep hillsides and to our right the bluff disappeared into nothingness below us. We reached Panekiri hut in 1:58 (usually a 5-hour walk). Stu had predicted it would take us 1:58 and he was correct - right down to the second. This was to set the pattern for the day. Stuart has an amazing sense of pace and time and would predict our arrival to each hut along the way to within 1-2 minutes.

At Panekiri hut we met four schoolgirls from St. Mary's College (that's High School in NZ). They said that three other groups of their classmates were out on the track ahead of us. We started dropping altitude off the bluff down towards lake level. We overtook the other three successively fitter groups of St. Mary's students along the way - each group as excited as the other to see runners out doing the whole trail in one day. In turn, we were super impressed this group of 15-16 year olds would tackle this entire trail on their own with no adult supervision - good on ya gals!!

This is what the trail looked like as we ran through the mist for the first five hours.

I was feeling much stronger and running at a higher level than I did a couple of weeks ago at the Heaphy. However, this trail was a little more technical, with a lots of tree roots and some short very technical downhills. This added up to make running smoothly and continuously quite difficult until we were quite a way into the run. I was really pleased this trail was testing my technical trail running skills to the limit. Shortly after reaching the Waiopaoa Hut, the track met the lake for the first time. The run around the lake was mainly easy trails along the waters edge - albeit muddy at times, punctuated by short steep hills as you climbed over bluffs along the lake edge or made your way over a peninsula from one bay to the next. We stopped fr ten minutes and chatted with a fisherman who had caght a couple of beautiful trout earlier than morning.

Stu and Sarah were running really well together, they were both very strong and were chatting the entire way. I think that somewhere around six hours into the run Sarah had officially completed her longest run ever - a great effort!! The sun had now come out and we had a beautiful crystal lake on our right and red beech trees towering over us on our left. I was so tempted to ditch the whole running gig and go for a swim.

Near the end of the run the sun came out. This photo was taken near the Kiwi preservation area.

At the second to last hut my lack of consistent endurance training was starting to show. We were now about 33km into the run and I was starting to get fatigued. Looking back it was likely a combination of lack of training and the terrain. At the time I do not think I gave the terrain enough credit for beating me up. There were few sections of more than 2-3 minutes of solid running before we had to negotiate roots or steep ups and downs. This means were were covering the ground lot more slowly than you would on an open Californian Trail. I think the punctuated running combined with my lack of fitness to practically stop me in my tracks at the 40k mark. I was pretty much done. For about half an hour I had to walk, I simply had nothing left in my system. At the penultimate hut (Whanganui) I downed the rest of my calories and began walking out. Luckily I was able to run again and ended up finishing in 8:31 for the 46km. Stu and Sarah had a great day and had finished exactly half an hour ahead of me.

Thanks Sarah and Stu for a wonderful run, fine company in an incredible place.

- Paul Charteris
December 2008