It was the first run for a new NACHO in sunny New Zealand. And it was sunny; Auckland harbour was resplendent. It was Peter Smith's first 5K race, and his first rocking NACHO orange. The run (as always it seems) is a little chaotic. It takes place at 18:00 amongst the rush hour traffic around the waterfront—but most drivers know to keep out of the way of the runners (and a few walkers). Peter started out too too fast, but settled into a steady pace and finished with a PR of 20:10 (official), which nearly two minutes faster than his previous PB. He was 19 out of 77 (and who knows how he did in his age group (M50-59).
Always a keen rabbit chaser, when passed by a runner at the 3Km mark he took the opportunity to wind them in, overtake them, and then to stay ahead of them.
What was the best part of the race? Aside from the a new PR it was the long cold drink at O'Hagans (an Irish Pub) at the end of the run.
Now he is keen to do a sub-20 5k—how hard can a 10 second improvement be—so he plans to be back soon.
