We have DONE IT! Christchurch SBS Marathon....

We have completed our bucket list of completing a Marathon! Let me tell you, IT WAS HARD!!!
It's post 4days of the marathon and I'm still "feeling" it in my body and my MIND!!

MASSIVE CONGRATULATIONS to;

• Duane Peterson (you did it hard brother running on your own but you did it bro, you are the man!)
  
• Vanessa Hunter (my sister who came all the way from Melbourne to do her first ever marathon, what a legend! And NO, I don't owe you we are even for you getting me to do the 1/2 marathon 3yrs ago! haha)
  
• Tracey Tauwhare (4months post giving birth to our beautiful little daughter Maaia, isn't she an inspiration.....me thinks so too :-)
  
• Scott Tindall (Scot, you are truly kicking some serious ass this year, from Feb 09 to now in body, mind, spirit transformation, keep it up brother!)
  
• Joel Simmonds (The first one home out of us, I've written about Joel and how he has over come injuries to complete his first marathon! Inspirational!)
  
• Sarah Peterson (Sarah's goal was to run 10km and SHE DID IT, great stuff Sarah and we have you on record for saying you will do a half next year :-)
• Nick Keen (Did his first EVER half marathon under 2hrs! He said, he hit the wall with 2km to go, but obviously still broke 2hrs!! You the man brother! This is all while still lifting tin 2x p/w too i.e. Dead lift from 40kg to 100kg in 8wks!!)
  

You are a inspiration to me and I have no doubt to others reading this!

Although people may think we are "mad", I can assure you we are not, we are just a human as the next person but decided to make ourselves a bit unique and entering a club of less then 1% of the population who have done a marathon!

Lastly, what would we be without Whanau (family and friends), f### all!

So thank you all so much who came from up north (the Beckham whanau-Tutu, Petrina, Jae, KT! Linley and Noms and of course my mum too who came from Melbourne to support us! You all did a marvelous job of spreading yourselves out over the course to cheer us on and give us sugar hits along the way!!

To everyone else who gave internet support or just showed your face along the journey someway some how, thank you very much!!

Anyway, rather then blabble on let's watch the video to see the energy at the start and the energy at the end!




Joel Simmonds


Tracey Tauwhare


Vanessa Hunter


Duane Peterson


Scot Tindall


Sarah Peterson

5 Tips for Marathon

What you can do to enhance your 1/2 or full marathon run!

1) Drink 3ltrs of WATER!
You will want to drink 3lts of water on Saturday and at least 2lts on Sunday before the race! Don't ask why now, there's no time for "understanding" you ought to just DO! :-)

2) Breakfast before you run!
This can be a tricky one because if you aren't a natural breaky eater then you will struggle to put some food in your gob!

Here's how you can plan it out on Sunday:

• Wake at 6am to 6:3am (start drinking a glass of water, this will also help you go do poo's :-)
  
• Eat at 7:30am (porridge or spaghetti on toast with eggs, super smoothie,) something high in carbohydrates with some protein and fats)
  
• 8:15am at EHP Studio
• Run at 9am
  

3) Go for a light jog/walk on Saturday
This is merely to get rid of any nerves you may have or to lighten the mind of any "stuff" you may have.

4) Ensure you have drank 3ltrs on Saturday and 2ltrs on Sunday morning
I know it's a repeat BUT it's huge :-)

5) Pre pack your gear Saturday night!
You should "know" that you have to do but encase you don't let's go over it.

• Meeting at EHP between 8-830am (turn up in running gear i.e. shoes, socks, tape on blisters, thermal just in case it's freezing, vaseline for shaving (nipples/groin), water bottle)
  
• Bring change of clothes for shower
• Bring some recovery food i.e. fruit/energy drinks
• Bring your family and friends to catch up after wards (from 2pm onwards)

There is soooooo much more to your first marathon BUT this is a great place to start, don't overwhelm yourself with "stuff" just follow this list and if you forget something. So what? We'll make do with what we got!!

See you on Sunday!

P.S I would wish you luck, but I belive more "luck" is ALWAYS around, it's just more if you 'notice' it and make something of it! :-)

Do you use your injuries as an EXCUSE!!!

Virgin Marathon Update:

32km was ticked off this weekend & NOT by me!!!

I wanted to share with you a text I got yesterday. I spoke to one of my best bro's yesterday morning (Saturday) & he said he was going to "knock" of 30km......

30km...... I said to him, "bro, let me know how you get on"!

At 3:45pm I got a text;

"Just got home from my biggest run. Unsure of distance but will drive it later to see. Was on the road for 3hrs & 15mins! Wow!

Then at about 8pm another text;

"32km's bro. Had to stop about 20km to get sugar hit from garage. Walked the block after that but otherwise plodded along most of the way"!

My bro's name is Joel & I wanted to share with you his accomplishments, because this is a HUGE friggin milestone 30km & we are 4wks out to the due date!!!

I'm "stuck" on 23km with a f***** brick wall in front of me that is self created!! BUT hearing of Joel's successes has givin me the kick up the a.s.s I needed to break down this mental barrier I have at the moment!!

So use Joel's success as I will to help you to achieve things you haven't done! You don't know Joel so his success of 32km may NOT have an impact on you, but I do so here's a little brief to help you "get to know him more"!

Joel's Injury list:

• Broke his leg & dislocated his ankle from rugby league 3yrs ago (his nephew my son, went into the ambulance with him to hospital) where I saw them put it back in. To see the pain (which he doesn't remember) on his face was heart breaking, I can assure you!!!
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

• I think from memory Medial ligament (or ACL) reconstruction on knee 4yrs ago, had 3months off work & first week back hurt it again (not work related)!

• Operation on wrist 5yrs ago had about 3months off work from that!
  
  
• He once pulled off 38 tackles in a game of rugby league, now if you don't know rugby league that is HUGE amount of tackles to pull off!! We use to have competition on how many we could do, needless to say he SMASHED me in that one, my best was 27!

Joel is still yet to hit 30yrs of age as well, that is still 3yrs away!!

So there you go, Joel is NOT someone who has simply lived the good life & never experienced some form of "pain" along the way.....so unless your injury list is more impressive then this, don't use your "injuries" as an excuse to NOT do stuff.

Find a way to make it happen!

Spida Hunter

P.S. Payment for marathon is NOW due, late fee takes effect from May 11th at 12am. Yes that means you pay more! So go to the MAIN SBS marathon site now and sort it out!

Breaking down Mental Barriers.....

I can be a bit slow to "get it" sometimes but oh well, it happens!

Here are 2 books that I think are MUST READ for anyone embarking on a "running journey"!!

The first I've talked about many times before called, The Ultra Marathon Man












This book is nothing short of INSPIRATIONAL!!! I mean have you EVER thought of running 200miles in 1 clip?

Me either, after all what they hell are you running away from? Why would you do such a stupid thing?
Or something simliar to those thoughts!!

Let me tell you, that Dean Karnazes book is AWESOME! It will give you an insight into his mind and body of who and what he is. This is NOT a book of immature ego, saying I'm the greatest type bullsh#t..

This merely is a collection of his experiences!

His other book is called 50 Marathons in 50 Days!

This is a bit more of a "How to" book for running marathons etc... to be honest it didn't have the same impact for me as his first one, however it taught me alot about running.

In saying all of that, it still gives some awesome stuff into the task of running 50 marathons!

In this book they also did "scientific tests" to see how much damage he would accumulate over the 50days on his body!


The results may shock most people, but I'm not surprised at all!! I loved the fact after 50 marathons he felt a little "un-easy" with himself, so he did Forrest Gump and ran....and ran and ran...............1300 miles later he stopped and went home!

So why am I sharing you this other then suggesting 2 books to add to your personal collection?

I have NEVER really got "running" except to improve fitness for sport and once I learn't anaerobic type conditioning I pretty much 'ditched' aerobic running for fat loss, fitness, sports performance!

But now I get it!!

I mean the amount of "mental barriers" you can smash through (and sometimes get smashed by them) is amazing. I love how training for a marathon makes you face "you" as a person and who you are!

Or I should say this is how I'm using the marathon training. I'm NOT concerned with time or placings, I'm all about crossing the finishing line!

I ran past 22km the other night, which for me is HUGE, I mean I KNOW I can do 22km but beyond that is "unknown" and a bit scary.....so every time I've got to 22km I give myself a massive pat on the back and justify the beer I have after :-)

The problem being was I was scared of going to the unknown of beyond 22km. Why? Well all sorts of reasons but the reality is, it's nothing more then my mind playing tricks on me and me buying into those tricks!

E.g. Have you noticed when you get close to the "end" of something i.e. running X km or last little bit of gardening etc... that you all of a sudden get "extra tired" or "something" pops up before you say, "I'm almost there, not long to go now" and then it centers you to focus on the task at hand?

The other night I ran to the 22km mark and had all the noise in my head to stop me, "you have done primo Spida, it's the quickest you have ever ran, you can stop now!!"

As I stood there, I replayed what it was really about! Nothing short of F.E.A.R (False Evidence Appearing Real), so I quietly said. I'm going to continue running and see what happens!

1 extra km later I ended back home having ticked off running past 22km! Thank you very much, I've now gone to the "dark side" of the unknown and I KNOW from real life experience that it's nothing more then 1 step after another regardless of "how" many km you have done!!

If you are keen to join me then go here to sign up i.e. joining up means you don't have to run you can just show your support by signing up to the marathon newsletter.

1 last thing I wanted to share with you about the marathon journey, is that I love how exercise/running/weights etc.... can strip away all the layers of bullshyt to the human ego and leave you with nothing more then a naked and sometimes insecure little human who is truly you!

What's your bucket list?

How would you like to "tick" something off your Bucket List in 2009 and be part of an exclusive group of 1st timers?

This bucket list is for 1st time virgins only (exceptions can be made for those that are willing to share their experiences with us ''first timers')! Oh by the way, that's half or full marathon-er virgins!

If you have never done a half or full marathon before and would like to tick it off your Bucket List before you kick the bucket then read on..... if you have never thought about doing a marathon but interested to learn about the journey of 1st time "marathon virgins" then read on.....

First let's get the issue of "What is a Bucket List" out of the way!?

The term Bucket List comes from the movie with Jack Nicholson and Morgon Freeman, about 2 old men who find out they are going to die from cancer. They come from 2 different backgrounds i.e. Morgon Freeman is very "wealthy" in the family sense and Jack Nicholson is very "wealthy" in the monetary sense.

Basically, these 2 make a list of things they want to "tick off" before they "Kick the Bucket" and use each other to spur them on to achieve what they have always wanted, but never done!

This is the the theme behind you reading this web page and deciding if you want to "tick off" or "cross off" a half or full marathon from your list before you "kick the bucket"!

To read more on this please click here

What a way to finish 2008!!

I couldn't think of any better way to finish 2008 then how I did.

I completed a half marathon on December 30th 2008 (unofficial half marathon). I have a circuit that is 10.7km from my house which I completed twice in conditions that were not ideal for running!

The heat here in Christchurch has been awesome post xmas and this particular day was the best we have had because we didn't have any wind!! I worked in the morning on the bike (part time postie) then went straight to the beach to meet the kids and Tracey where I spent 3hrs in the sun swimming with them before heading home to prepare for the next day (new years eve party)!

This particular day apparently got up to 30degress I can assure you that I didn't run at the peak of the heat but it would of still been at least 25degress by the time I started my epic journey!

Why an epic journey?
1) I choose not to be a runner, in fact I had only been for 2 other runs of 10km prior to this monster of a run! I don't run because I believe you can get more "bang for your buck" doing other forms of exercise in a metabolic fashion and you will get more then just aerobic fitness from working in this way!!
2) It was stinking hot and if you have ever been to NZ, you will know the sun burns here!
3) I took my son on the first leg of the run where he biked 10.7km, 5days prior he couldn't even ride a bike (very well) and today he bugged me and bugged me to go running so he could go biking (since we had gone biking every day since the 26th! To be honest, if he didn't bug me, I wouldn't of gone!

5:00pm rolled around and I could see Kayleb (my son) eyes getting more disheartened at the fact I was saying, I'm pretty stuffed son, we probably won't go running today.

I started reading 50 marathons in 50days by Dean Karnazes (the same psychology as putting on music to get you pumped to lift the tin) and after reading chapter 6 United we Run, on how one girl called Sarah just made it through to her first ever marathon and how much character she had to do it even though everything in her body, mind, soul, spirit was wanting to quit and the group she was with pushed her to the finish line.

My boy comes up to me and asks, "dad are we going running"? My body and mind saying NO from all day in the sun (and 4:30am wake ups for meditation then work), I thought f*%$ it, lets go then boy!

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The first 3kms
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6pm we start our run and his bike. I'm going to be completely honest and say the first 3kms almost broke me. My body and mind were tired, after all I had been in the sun everyday since xmas and been up at 4:30am from Monday!

I'm huffing and puffing and Mr Negative is rearing it's ugly head with thoughts, you can't run half a marathon, it's too hot, your too tired etc.....

Then as I'm thinking how I'll just do 1 10km loop, my boy asks.
"Are you okay dad"? "Mr Negative is trying to come out son and my mind is playing tricks on me" I respond while huffing and puffing.

He then pops out with what was to become my saving grace, "your doing awesome dad, I'm proud of you!"

Holy shyt, I start thinking as tears well up in my eyes. "Thank you so much son, that is exactly what I needed to hear"!

Here is my 5yr old son, telling me how proud he was of me and later telling me, "you can do it dad, don't let Mr Negative play tricks on you", you can beat him"!!

First 3km down and I now find my rhythm and most importantly the mental/spiritual capacity to push on knowing that it will all be fine.

So 70mins later and in between stopping for Kayleb to catch up or get him across the road, or a drinks break for him we roll back round to the house where I drop him off and have a quick toilet stop! To embark on the 2nd leg of this unofficial half marathon.

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2nd stage of 10.7km
and NO Kayleb to
support or was it
him support me?!
=================
I had found my rhythm now running and Mr Negative for the mean time was tucked away in the basement hopefully for the rest of the run..... yeah I would be so lucky........

Actually, nothing really started happening for me until the last 3km. I mean I had found my groove, sure I was tired physically but I was already that before I started so nothing new their really.

The last 3km felt like the first 3km for me except I didn't have Kayleb telling me his little positive affirmations. So I was saying them to myself instead, after all I didn't want Mr Negative to come out and give me the big slap across my body and allow me to take a short cut and justify it through however means I could, now did I!!

I did stop twice to walk for about 30m, for me it was more a "gathering of thoughts" to get my head back in a space of Mr Positive rather then burn the candle at both ends so to speak!

Then I would trott off again, like a snail or that is how it felt anyway!! One thing, I did notice was sooooooo many people where saying hello or waving to me! How is this, I was wondering amongst my many thoughts, I've been for 2 other 10km runs and you would get 3 other people saying hello?

Is it because they can see I'm in a world of pain?
Do they admire I'm running in ridiculous heat?
Do they think I'm a "nutter" for running in this heat?
look how slow he is going he may as well walk!

These are just some of the thoughts I had while running to explain why so many people where acknowledging me, after all I would have had about 10-15 people saying something or waving!!

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Then the last 2km
came and so did
Mr Negative...
================
I finally hit my rail road tracks which are like heaven for me because I'm on the last stretch of run before I turn off to my house! So I give it a big hug an off I trot again before it all began like it started! Mr Negative comming back to visit me like a virus he is. This is where I walk for the 2nd time to "gather my thoughts" and to push away the hunger pains.

However, Mr Negative isn't finished with me, he reminds me how hungry I am and how much sugar would be great right now and how heavy my legs are........ as I'm pounding the pavement, I see 2 teenager girls eating candy floss which is like lotto to me at this point. As I get to them they say "hello" and without even 2nd guessing myself, I think once again "f*&^ it"! Excuse me, can I have some of that candy floss, I'm starving! They become my saving grace for the next 100m as they say "sure"! So I tear some off and put it in my mouth with the thoughts hope this stays down!

100m later, I'm back to be even more hungry then before.... So I start walking again for the 3rd time which was the best thing for me because I didn't want this to be a run where my ego takes over and I enter the mindset I will run NO MATTER WHAT, not today, this is about completion not how big is my ego!!

Then with about 1km to go, I'm thinking, man I would love Tracey (my partner) and the kids to turn up right now. 50m into my walk, it's like I was thrown a life line. I see them in the car and Tracey is throwing chocolate out of the car. God bless her......



Then she walks Kayleb across the road to my sheepish/fatigued reply of "thanks". Where he will run the last 300m with me after offering me the choice of 2 more chocolates (1 was for him). After we both scoffed them, we trod off, me in a world of mixed emotions of Mr Positive and heavy legs, Kayleb in his PJ's and socks.

2hrs and 30mins later and 21.4km later I was home. Having a beer, making a smoothie, eating dinner (which I could hardly do) and soaking in a cold ice bath!


What a way to finish 2008! Thankyou so much to the kids Sommah, Kayleb and of course to my lovely missus Tracey who is so supportive of me embarking on exercise challenges!! Isn't it interesting when you are down and out, you truly know who loves you and who talks of it. Turning up unannounced to me is "showing" love not talking of it and this is one of the reasons we get on so well, because we both believe in words don't mean jack crap when you don't have the behavior to support your talk!!!

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Some other
thoughts while
running.....
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1) I'm going to run or make public the fact I want to do 2 marathons back to back i.e. 84.4km. I've been "thinking" about it but too chicken to make it public due to the norm of failure, other peoples perceptions etc......
2) I'm also going to raise money for charities in this epic journey. I'm going to attempt to raise 100,000 dollars
3) I'm going to put together a "virgin Marathon-ers" group to complete the Chch SBS half or full marathon on 31st May 2009 so others can tick if off their bucket list! (Stay tuned for these updates because you don't want to miss this opportunity to be part of it!)
4) I love clarity exercise can give you once you have broken down or peeled away the the immature ego!