To Fern Burn Hut And Back

The work/training balance went from bad to worse. What do other people do for a living that enables them to train long distance running!? Obviously not work on vineyards because I am finding it hard enough to wake up in the morning for work, let alone trying to find any sort of energy for a training run as well!

We went from rearranging foliage wires and hiking around the vineyards, to picking up and removing buckets of rocks. It just made everything hurt.

There is NOTHING glamorous about working on a vineyard!

So the day in the week I had put aside to go for a long run became the only day I would go for a run at all. Saturday morning. To manage 14.5km and 16km the last two Saturdays without running during the week, that’s not a bad level of fitness built up just by working on the vineyards!

Last weekend, after my 16km run in the morning, Claire and I went hiking up the Motatapu Track near Wanaka. We walked up to the Fern Burn Hut about 7km up a gully. A really great overnighter tramp, a really great opportunity to  get out of Cromwell and do something a bit different. Check out the gorgeous little fluffy Paradise duckling friend we made on the walk back to the start.

 

NZ Paradise ducklings have a follow-or-die tendency, so when he (assuming he was a boy…not really sure at that age) wandered up towards us on the track and then proceeded to follow us, we couldn’t leave him behind. There was no sign of the rest of his family except for a pair of adults flying overhead. Acting on advice from some locals we took him around to the Wanaka Boarding Kennels and Cattery where the lovely owner was thrilled to meet our little friend. She knew just how to care for the duckling and had another young duck who would love to have a little buddy.

 

Claire’s health (explained previously) has since taken a bit of a turn for the worse which has put her in hospital for a while. Her news came the other night, just as I was about to get all comfortable on the couch in front of the TV, so instead I put on my running shoes and went for a quick 10km run.
With the help of the Cystic Fibrosis Association of New Zealand, I have a donations page set up through GiveALittle, my campaign is titled Brenda’s Quest for CF. In the week that it has been active $NZ805 has been donated so far, and there is still 5months to go! Now if that isn’t motivation enough to get out and run!

Until next time, thanks for reading!