Paul Petch

Getting back out there…

Today was simply glorious and with a sunny and perfect day for exploring some trails in the Porthills- off I went. The original plan was to meet up with Jane- but she called early this morning and had to bail due to her legs not wanting to “play” today. Fair call too…..as we all know how it feels to have had a hard week on the dirt! Anyway, I scooted to the bottom of the Mount Vernon Track and headed upwards- walking a bit-running a bit- warming up nicely with a bit of a stretch here and there. With the recent rain which has been seemingly non stop for months- there were some magnificent mini falls and lots of running water. I’ve not been up this track for sometime and it was lush- but greasy as hell.

Today was the maiden voyage of my new trail runners- some North Face 105 Ultra GTX XCR’s – and straight away I knew that we were going to have a good day together! What a sure footed runner these are. Amazing infact- but I’ll talk more about that later. Today’s mission was to head up Farm Track and meet up with Mt. Vernon to then take the Crater Rim tracks all the way to the Sign of the Kiwi & then back. Since the New Year I’ve ventured out on and off to run bits of the Crater Rim for no more than an hour- and today I wanted it make it a bit longer out there. I also wanted to see where I’m at with my trail fitness overall and if the months of gym work have made a difference!

Half way up the track to the look out post- my Garmin flaked out on me so that was that. In a way though- it was not such a bad thing as I had no cadence or distance to care about….which is nice. I would like the heart rate “bit” to work though- but sadly that stopped working a few weeks ago. Something tells me that I need a new training tool *sigh*. From the look out post I continued on the tracks made by sheep and then hit the steep Farm Track….and returned to “run a bit- walk a bit”- and repeated until I popped out onto the Summit Road and then the second half of Mt. Vernon. The legs were feeling pretty good- the Achilles were a tad tender….but seeing as they have not seen hills for a while…I was not surprised. My philosophy of power walking on steep stuff seems to be working quite well too- and to be honest a far more sensible approach for me as nothing is gained on stupid steep terrain when running other than dead calves and less energy on the fun bits!

I love the Mt. Vernon track..and rock hopping and stepping is what it offers. The best part of the day was then upon me as I trotted off along the tracks towards the Sign of the Kiwi. Rooty, greasy and technical….and I loved it. It was only last October I had the pleasure of running these fine tracks as part of the annual Crater Rim run and I’ve been hooked ever since. The North Face Ultra’s were extremely confidence inspiring with such a grippy tread and stable feel as I dropped down off roots and wet rocks. As for the Gore-Tex inner liner…it blew my mind as I chose to run through the mud and wet….and felt nothing. Brilliant. On some sections there was some ice too…..which shows just how much sunlight this side of the hills get throughout the winter. ZERO. Great fun!

Hitting the Sign of the Kiwi I had mixed thoughts. I was not sure if I would re-trace my steps of head along the road side for a few hundred metres and then bash through the bush to the Traverse track or head back the way I had just come. Having experienced just how sloppy the tracks were on route I opted for the Traverse and why not….as that track is fast and flowing! Half way along I bumped into Zane on his swanky new single speed trail bike….and boy oh boy it’s nice! Having not caught up with Zane for sometime it was good to talk bikes for a few minutes before I headed off. Mount Vernon was over and done with swiftly and then I hit the descent down the Farm Track….well half way….where I then hit the sheep tracks back through more greasy and nasty stuff back to the scooter.

The down hurt a little- as usual- but I recovered fairly quickly after a leg stretch and photos. The last section was tricky as hell and I was feeling a tad weary by this point- and it did not help that I had run out of food and water sometime ago. Those skinny sheep tracks are tricky at the best of times…never mind at speed and in the wet! Again a big shout goes out for the North Face Ultra’s….they were very sure footed as I ran downward. By the last KM or so…all I could think of was that ice cold Coke at the service station :)

Sat sipping a Coke I felt pretty good. Sure, I’m gonna feel it tomorrow….well….maybe for the next few days…but it was a fantastic day out there and one hell of a introduction back to longer trail runs. Roast dinner and self saucing pudding for dinner tonight! All up I was out there for about 3.5 hrs today….and I loved every minute of it!

Porthills Christchurch from www.paulpetch.com on Vimeo.

Related posts:

1. Port Hills Crater Rim 30KM trail run
2. Weekend run (week one) – Port Hills
3. The Flying Nun track – Port Hills
4. Another weekend- another run!
5. It has been a wee while…

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 4th, 2010 at 6:18 pm and is filed under Runs & Walks and tagged with Farm Track, Mount Vernon Track, North Face Ultra GTX XCR, port hills, sign of the kiwi, trail running. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.