There are only 28 days in February, so I only just nabbed this Trig in time. Although, I did log two trigs in January, so could I have called one of those the Feb one??
I've hijacked Wednesday night run with Clare. This is a tradition nearly a year old now, and we were contemplating tonight that it's been very successful. It's planned, and calendared, and we both rely on it, which means we drag our sorry arses there, even when we don't feel like it. And we never regret having gone. Last year we ran right through winter, on the easier trails at Summerhill, with our headtorches and by the light of the moon. Summer running contends with the heat, which is harder and not half as exciting!We're on a schedule tonight, so we drive to the end of Reid Rd to get a head start. The plan is to run along the paper road, cross Te Puke Quarry Road, through the paddocks, lower bush loop, bag the trig, and be home in time for swim squad. Unfortunately the best laid plans fall to pieces when we come across a poor calf, in a bad way, lying prone on the track. This results in the 'mad rabbit' run which you'll note on the Garmin.
We can't work out where the farmhouse is which works this land, and we're indecisive about the best place to go for help. This leads to a couple of kms of running back and forth, showing our worst emergency management skills, trying to work out where best to go for help.
We end up at the Looking Glass Gardens, where the lovely lady is more concerned about our health than that of the sick calf. I guess we look a bit haggard after racing down the road. She promises to ring the farmers, and we leave feeling not quite certain she has the right location or urgency to match our own.
We head back up the hill, but can't just abandon the poor creature so Clare goes Grizz Wylie and breaks down some branches to try and create a sun shelter. We even endeavour to share some water from our bottles, but still can't get the calf to respond.
Our second hill repeat is from running back down the track to the road, hoping to show the farmer which way to come. We give up 10 minutes later, and go to half heartedly bag the trig. Running past the dying calf twice more is heart wrenching.
As we run back to the car, uncertain we've been any help at all, we notice a couple of vehicles in the paddocks. We decide to try once more to get some help. There is a man attending a cow, and I exclaim "Are you a vet???" then notice his overalls and long gloves, just removed from the cow. Not my finest moment.
Anyway, two weeks later, we run the trig again, full loop as intended. It's only 6.4km, but we enjoy the gradual inclines rather than some of the gut buster hills we hit down at Summerhill. It's nice to hit our stride and maintain a run pace rather than our accidental run:walk. We have heard that the sick calf was put down, but that we also got to see a tiny calf, freshly arrived and resting in the sun.You win some, you lose some.
WHAREOTETARAKEHO A4JK
