After the aborted ironman I found myself with strength to bicycle and run in Auckland. In fact, Juergen even found us a 5k running event in downtown Auckland on Tuesday night.
The Loaded Hog 5k is a really clever little event. An upscale waterfront bar hosts the event every Tuesday evening at 6pm. Runners pay NZ$6 (450-yen) to enter the race which goes out-and-back along the harbor, starting and finishing at the bar. Then, upon finishing the 5k, the runners head to the bar's waterfront patio and trade their numbers for a pint of beer (or soft drink), creating a nice little social event. At 7pm awards and random prizes are handed out. The whole thing is quite friendly and casual and convenient, for the price of a drink you get a race thrown in.
I jogged the 5k with Takako - finishing in about 24 minutes, toward the back of the field of 150. As I expected there were a lot of strong runners in a little event like this in New Zealand. Juergen finished in 10th place in a strong time of 17:47. Many of the NZ runners noticed my body mark numbers which I still haven't completely washed off from the triathlon. Everyone was very knowledgeable about the ironman and very sympathetic. This is really a fine country despite the unstable weather.
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