Helen Holiday Half Marathon

Last Saturday (December 16th) I ran my first trail half marathon in the GA mountains. It was run by Run Bum and is billed as one of their more fun and "easier" trail runs. It started and ended in Unicoi park in Helen GA. The temperature was right at freezing to start the race at 9 am but it warmed up to the 40's later in the morning. I decided to run in shorts with a long sleeve shirt and it worked out pretty well.

I haven't really been running much long distance and I've certainly never run trails with so much up and down run. Going down the hills was definitely really hard on my legs, particularly towards the end when I was getting tired. At about mile 9 (I think) there was a creek crossing. I guess I should have read about the course ahead of time because I was not prepared for that :).  It was about 15 yards across and about calf deep. It was of course very cold but what bothered me most was how heavy it made my feet and legs feel running afterwards. And of course I didn't have dry socks or shoes to change into...oh well.

Showing off my shirt and medal from the race

I felt really good during most of the race. Running in very cold temperatures always helps me. I was continually trying to find people just a little faster than me to try and keep up with and challenge my self. I was definitely started to suffer the last few miles but I was pretty impressed with how I powered through it. I managed to get 35th (time was about 2 hours even) out of about 250 runners. Not too shabby. And more importantly...a ton of fun. The had a guy playing bagpipes as we rounded the lake early in the course. It sounded really cool. Creature Comforts was at the finish serving us their Tropicalia IPA in our new pint glasses. It is always a great beer but it tasted unbelievable after finishing that race. I hung out for a while, had some snacks, watched others finish, and enjoyed my beer before heading home. Maybe next year I'll bring the family and stay for the post race part at one of the local restaurants. These Run Bum and Yeti trail races are so much fun.

New Zealand - Nov-Dec 2017

I had the wonderful opportunity to go to New Zealand for a leptospirosis conference on the north island and then travel to the south island to give a seminar at the University of Otago. I'm not going to write much  because I'm lazy and I'd rather just share photos but it was an amazing trip and I'd love to go back. The people were great and the scenery is not to be matched. We had a great time birding, running, and hiking anytime we could squeeze it in. Hopefully Diane and I can go one day.

Our first hike and birding on North Island (Palmerston North)

Can you believe this is a fern? The diversity of ferns here is insane!

Check out these spores on the underside of the fern leaves

A fantail near the hotel in Palmerston North

Cow and sheep farm we visited for conference

View from the top of the property at the farm - it's higher than it looks

Hike number 2 that Renee and I did

Swimming hole

I don't like heights but this was sturdy and I walked across with no problem

After we hiked above the snow line for a bit we had to turn back because we had run out of time. We saw a few folks earlier who slide down the snowy part on their butts and it looks like great fun so we decided to give it a try. It was actually much steeper than I though once I got into position to slide down but it was the most fun I've had in years. Felt like a kid again :)
The link below will show you the video of it on Youtube...check it out!

https://youtu.be/GK14h4WTKB8

We were hoping to make it to Mueller hut but we only had about 4 hours total. We did make it above the snow line though!
 

Forget the name but this was about an our north of Dunedin

Dunedin train station - they say it is the 2ns most photographed building in world...behind Sydney Opera House

Yellow-eyed penguin

 

I think I added about 23 new species to my birding life list but the big three were seeing the Little Blue penguin, Yellow-eyed penguin and the Royal Albatross. Unfortunately it sounds like the yellow-eye population in rapidly declining on the mainland and may disappear in the coming decades. We were lucky enough to see 3 come in from the ocean in the evening after a day of feeding at sea. Learning about and seeing the albatrosses was also amazing but I couldn't get a good picture. Did you know they only come back to land once every 2 years to mate. They are at sea the rest of the time and can drink sea water! Those were highlights but I must say I also fell in love with local Fantail and Tui birds.