Comments on: The Auckland Half Marathon

By: William Chong » Blog Archive » Highlights from the 2008 Auckland Marathon

Sun, 24 May 2009 22:03:15 +0000

[...] Damian did the halfmarathon [...]

By: Damian

Damian — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 03:36:01 +0000

But are you aiming for anything higher – a marathon perhaps?

It would be nice to be able to complete a full marathon and is something I’d like to do before I die. But I’m also a realist and realise that if I attempt it at my current level of fitness it will actually be cause of my death. Who knows? Perhaps I’ll be fit enough next year?

(As an aside – I see that the 1st place in the full marathon did it only quarter of an hour slower than it took for me to complete a half marathon! What a machine!)

By: Ken

Ken — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 03:26:00 +0000

Running – that brings back memories. I agree it’s addictive (I think like anything if your repeat an activity 20 or 30 times you start to feel guilty if you don’t keep on doing it). I used to enjoy 1/2 marathons and even got up to running 32km most weekends but couldn’t ever achieve a marathon. The started to find I couldn’t maintain the activity and ended up walking instead.

Still, I found the psychological advantages of running and walking was the main benefit. (And now I listen to my mp3 which is another benefit).

It’s good to have a physical activity/exercise which you can look forward to and find that it is not a chore.

But are you aiming for anything higher – a marathon perhaps?

By: Dale Campbell

Dale Campbell — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 09:38:39 +0000

Jack,

here in the beautiful South the sounds of the natural environment are quite enjoyable

We’re pretty stoked with our view (Onepoto Domain is basically our ‘back yard’), but that’s hardly a match for a vineyard framed by a mountain range (as I saw on your blog)!!!

(Insert bitter jealous remark here)

-d-

By: Jack

Jack — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 09:00:20 +0000

Congrats! Did anyone warn you running is addictive? As for the mp3 player, I guess in Auckland you may wish to drown out the noise of traffic, here in the beautiful South the sounds of the natural environment are quite enjoyable And I agree those training books are great when starting out and yes it is surprising and motivating to see how quick you improve. The down side is how quick you can lose fitness too.

By: lemmingz

lemmingz — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 04:16:17 +0000

Haha – I must say that training with an iPod really does help pass the time. Though having too many accessories brings about charges of “poser” from some people…

By: Dale Campbell

Dale Campbell — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 03:55:14 +0000

(whoops, my tag didn’t work – mean to strikethrough the ‘listen to mp3’s as I train’ bit…)

By: Dale Campbell

Dale Campbell — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 03:54:15 +0000

Well done, Damian!
I’ve (in principle! ) recently started an exercise programme as well. I even went all the way and got a mp3 player so I could listen to mp3’s as I train… look the part…
-d-

By: Damian

Damian — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 03:06:49 +0000

Cheers William!

Yeah, I think I might just do that. A friend is already trying to get me to do the Cathay Pacific one as well as one in Rotorua early next year. I don’t want to become a running bore though.

Perhaps if I try again next year I’ll look at improving my time but this year I was content to just finish.

By: lemmingz

lemmingz — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 02:45:48 +0000

Well done on successfully completing the half marathon. I enjoyed running it too, though I think I could have done better. Will you be running it again next year?