Not the Start of 2014 I was after.

2013 was pretty tough on us as a family financially, however right at the end of the year we sold our house here in Rotorua to clear some debt. The family home in Bulls did not sell and we were not going to give it away... but it looked like it would be ok and we were looking forward to a bright new year.

Unfortunately I was rocked very early in the year with the unexpected passing of a very close friend down in Lower Hutt. Phil and I had been friends for nearly 30 years and his leaving us at age 52 was a tragedy for me and his family and many others. So the week before my first race of the year I was down in the Hutt Valley for Phil's funeral and then, a week later, Lainy and I were back for the start of the 'run home' for 52 in 52, The Hutt River Trails Half.

We were very lucky that The Settler's Motor Inn gave us a
room for two nights and they were wonderful hosts.

The Hutt River Trails run comprises of several events, the longest being an Ultra that starts on the Wairarapa side of the Rimutakas and finishes at the Petone foreshore... my good friend Clive Start was a starter in this for his first Ultra. Michael Rodliffe was also down from Auckland for the Ultra - the first of an amazingly full-on start to the year for him.

There was also a marathon and the inimitable Ross Steele was down from Tauranga to add another marathon to his growing list... the marathon started from the Wellington Kart Club at Kaitoke - the venue for Phil's funeral the week before ironically. Nat Thompson from Tauranga was also down for the Marathon.

The Half Marathon, my choice to start the year, started at Moonshine Park by the Moonshine Bridge in Upper Hutt. There were a good scattering of runners there for the start and we watched quite a few of the marathon runners heading through before our start time.

This was an interesting race... officially a trail race, the trails was pretty much like a gravel footpath and the most we climbed in the whole race was the climb to cross the river bridge at Avalon. I caught up to and ran with Ross for a while opposite Stokes Valley.. always great to chat to, although he was very low key in standard running gear for this race.

The toughest part was the wind, while not a true Wellington howler, it was still very steady and for a few km's around the Avalon area where we were right out in the open, it got tough. About here I caught up with Norman Chan, but didn't get much chance to catch up as he disappeared into the trees to answer natures call!

Then we were back into areas with a bit more protection and the speed came back up a bit. I was quite happy with my pace and enjoying being in a race again after a 'massive' 4 week layoff.

The trail was windy enough to stay reasonably interesting, following the meandering Hutt River. There was a nice stretch nearing the through Petone and it was here that I caught up with Nat Thompson, I was amazed how far ahead of Ross and Norman he was until I realised than he had started earlier. He was still going pretty well though for someone in his first marathon.

Finally we were on the last stretch, to the very end of the Hutt River and along a short stretch of the waterfront in MacEwan Park and over the finish. 1:44:49 for 4th place in the half. Not a bad start to the year... running wise anyway. A nice shower and back for the prizegiving where I caught up with Clive, Patricia Stichbury I finally met in person. Rebecca Edgecombe was there as well... very pleasant afternoon. I also got to meet a lady to become the talk of the Ultra community two months later. Jo Johansen won the womens Ultra by a massive margin and finished 3rd overall in her first marathon.

We had a lovely dinner that night with Phil's wife Vicki and shared a lot of stories and a lot of laughs. But the start of the year was not done with us yet. As we drove home the next day, Lainy mentioned that she had not been able to feel the side of her face since waking up. She had not mentioned it as she thought it might come right. The next 3 days were spent in Palmerston North Hospital getting a series of wrong diagnoses, before being allowed to head back to Rotorua and eventually to Waikato Hospital for more test.

Now as I write this quite a while later, we still don't know for certain what the problem is, but it appears to be MS. No driving for Lainy and limited work... back to where we started before the house sold... life is meant to be a challenge I guess... we will get there!