The Queen of the Amazon

People always tell you that life goes quickly. When you are young you don’t tend to pay much attention, because when you are in your 20’s you’re never going to be 60 right?

I always remember an explanation I heard once that perfectly connected the ageing process and time – when you are one, a year is your whole life, but each year that goes by, it becomes a smaller percentage of your life, and therefore time moves faster the older you get.

The years tend to blur into one, and let's face it if it wasn’t for Facebook memories most of us would be hard-pressed to remember what year we did what in. The thought of this happening to me scared me, so two years ago I came up with a plan to stop the years becoming a blur - I needed to do something new each year!

My first new thing was to play AFL.

After moving to Victoria three years prior I had slowly become accustomed to watching it, and I thought what better way to learn than to play.

I had a great year, and I made some wonderful new friends.

It was one of these friends who is the reason why I chose Queenstown as the destination for my 11^th marathon.

Kirsten ‘Red Dragon’ Pocock, Red for short.

We first became friends after the footy club comedy night.
As the story goes, we were walking to catch a tram from Brunswick to the city when a rather intoxicated girl offered us her unopened can of pear cider. To which we both said yes and proceeded to share it on the tram ride. No judgments made, just a new friendship.

Red had been in New Zealand this time last year and suggested the Queenstown marathon as an option. It looked like a very picturesque one, plus I had never been and had always wanted to go.

So that was that. Marathon 11 would be in Queenstown!

Upon telling my sister Sally my marathon itinerary for the year she said she would like to come to New Zealand with me. Our last holiday together had been to Greece 6 years ago, so we were certainly due for another adventure.

We started planning after Easter and decided that we would take two weeks holiday and fly to Queenstown for the marathon, then slowly make our way to Auckland.

To be fair, Sally did most of the planning with the help of our cousin Ellie. This was highlighted upon Sally’s arrival at my house two days before we flew out. Sally had a whole folder and book of our itinerary and suggestions of what to do, see and most importantly eat. 

My single page of planning looked very inadequate by comparisons.

Lucky I have Sal!

Flying into Queenstown is unreal. You come in through the mountains and when you get off the plane you are surrounded by the gigantic snow-capped peaks – just stunning.

Unfortunately, the excitement quickly wore off as we went through customs and one of the sniffer dogs jumped up at my backpack, and then sat down.

Oh god. This is not good. I am no expert, but I have watched border security a few times, and the dogs always sit down when they smell food, or even worse DRUGS!!!

My heart began to race as the customs officer asked me to place all my luggage on the ground.
It was like when you get pulled over for an RBT, and even though you haven't had anything to drink, you still panic.

Oh my Goodness! What was in my bag??

The beady eye beagle starred at my backpack now sitting helplessly on the ground. He took one sniff and then walked away. False alarm said the officer, and just like that, we were free to go. Thank goodness!

We picked up our hire car and drove into town to go to the race expo to collect my bib.

Placing my home dot on the expo map

The town itself was a bustling hub of activity. No doubt the marathon had a lot to do with it, but it is also a popular weekend destination and a hit for backpackers. It made for a very eclectic vibe.

Queenstown reminded me a lot of Canada, but then you also get a European feel from all the tourists.
The best part is it's less than a 4-hour flight from Melbourne and so cheap! I'll definitely be going back.

After we had picked up my race bib we went to check into our hotel. The charming Heritage Queenstown Hotel. The vistas from Heritage Queenstown are the stuff of postcards. Crafted from centuries-old-schist stone and cedar, and according to the website “this comfortable and sophisticated hotel is the perfect place to mix business and pleasure.”

Good, I thought, as I am in the business of running marathons, and after I am done, I’ll be all about the pleasure!

After we had settled into our humble abode we set off back to town in the hunt for bananas and dinner.

After about an hour search for ripe bananas, I started to wish I had of tried to sneak some in past customs. The best we could find was some very green looking ones that didn't have a hope of being ripe by the morning.

But Sal had hope. She brought three of the lightest green bananas she could find, put them in a brown paper bag, and when we got back to the hotel she put them in the cupboard where she said they would be ripe in the morning.

And they were.

Lucky I have Sal!

The marathon started at 8.20 am at the Millbrook Resort in Arrowtown. It was a 30-minute drive from Queenstown, but we set off nice and early to make sure we were there in plenty of time.

We arrived at the resort just as the half marathon was starting. This caused a brief moment of panic as we thought it may have been the start of the marathon. Luckily we quickly worked out it wasn't, however, there were some not so lucky half-marathoners making a frantic dash for the start-line as they actually had missed it.

We made our way down to the marathon start-line where there was a buzz of activity as all the other runners started to assemble.
I made a last-minute toilet stop, slathered myself in sunscreen, went over the race plan with Sal once more before making my way into the starting chute.

I positioned myself near the back of the first wave and listened to the MC's countdown to the start. At about 4 minutes to go someone must have accidentally cut the power to the generator, as all of a sudden the MC went quiet and the inflatable starting arch deflated and fell to the ground, much to the amusement of all us runners.

It seemed like it took them forever to fix the problem. I was envisaging us all having to run over the top of the arch now lying in a heap on the start-line.

But, just in the nick of time power was restored, and the arch sprung back to life. There was a great cheer from the crowd, and the MC was quick to remark that it was all part of the plan to add extra excitement to the start.

Arrow River

Boy was I excited. I had been looking forward to this marathon for a long time, and now here I was just seconds from the start.

Three, two, one and we were off!

Once out of the resort we were onto sealed roads, and after a bit of climb, we were cruising downhill, before running into the beautiful historic gold mining town of Arrowtown.
It really was such a picture-perfect place, there was a band playing and the whole town came out to cheer us on.

Once we had run through the town we made a left-hand turn onto the trail that ran alongside the Arrow River. The trail was just wide enough for you to comfortably run two abreast, and as we were only 2 km in, the pack was still together, causing us to file into pairs as we snaked along the river.

There was something very militant about the formation that made me feel as if I was an Amazon Queen running into battle. The thought caused a surge of adrenaline and my pace responded accordingly.

Though it didn't last for long as it was a very undulating course. We were constantly going up and downhill which started to slow my pace.

I tried hard to run up all the hills, but once we got to Lake Hayes one of the hills got the better of me,  and I found myself walking it. I was a bit disappointed in my lack of hill fitness, but at the same time I remembered why I was there, and how lucky I was to be running in such a breathtaking place, so I decided rather than let it disappoint me, I was going to enjoy every step.

Sal was at all of our checkpoints, and it was always so exciting to see her, and her cheers of encouragement always gave me a new burst of energy.

Sal and I

Queenstown marathon is certainly the most beautiful marathon I have run, but I also have to put it up there with one of the more challenging ones. After 25 km the k's were starting to drag, and it took a lot of willpower to keep turning the legs over. I was doing my best to enjoy every step, but I was also starting to hurt.

Just as I was contemplating walking there was Sal, unexpectedly, up ahead cheering me on. Seeing her was enough to lift my spirits and rally for the home straight.

Hitting Queenstown was the most amazing feeling!

Until I realised that my Garmin was wrong. It ticked over 42.2 km and the finish line was still a mile off.

Gee wiz, I thought I had been using my willpower earlier in the race, but that was nothing compared to what it took to get me to run the last mile. And as if that wasn't enough of a mental challenge, they decide to put a hill in the last 500m of the marathon!

I made it through, and as soon as I crossed the finish-line the euphoria wiped out all the bad feelings I had experienced and I was left feeling elated and proud of finishing my 11th marathon for the year.

The finish-line

Sal was there to give me a big hug, and then we sat under the shade of a tree to compare stories of our morning. She had had a lovely adventure, and apparently the most amazing egg and bacon roll that still holds the record for being her favourite meal of the whole trip!

Now that the hard work was out of the way it was time to head back to the hotel and start the pleasure part of our trip!

And what an amazing trip it was. New Zealand was just amazing and I am already looking forward to going back sometime soon to explore some more of the beautiful country.

Euphoria 

Happy running x