First, a result I missed last week:

Peter Stevens ran at the “Last Chance PB” event at Palmerston North last week. Fielding Moa put on an excellent gig on a cool, calm night with the new stunning blue mondo track and more than half of the entrants set a PB or season PB.
Peter ran in the 1500 (B) race, and ran 4.27.85, to take 8 seconds off Richard Brent’s Wellington MM55 Record (4:35.8 set 2008). A great way to end the track season. 

Scottish Social Distance Running

Michelle reports from the Scottish Emergency Planning Group:

It’s the first week of Wellington Scottish going virtual, and our #socialdistancerunning has had a strong uptake, which is really great to see. We know it’s a challenging time so, more than ever, we need to stay connected to each other and maintain the awesome running community spirit we have. We will continue to host virtual events, On The Run has started a ‘Postcards from Quarantine’ series, and some of us are going so far as to organise group Zoom chats to keep in contact!

Results

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We won’t have any official results for the March challenge until next week, but there have been a bunch of quality submissions so far – keep them coming!

In the 5km Time Trial handicap, Stephen took the tactics to whole new level by scoping out a route that was downhill with a tail wind:

Others amongst us should have taken some tips from Stephen: 

As if Herms doesn’t have enough to deal with currently as a doctor at Wellington Hospital, she had some unexpected challenges while completing her 2 minute plank:

There have been some really excellent faces drawn as part of our ‘Just For Fun’ challenge, like this masterpiece from Brent:

Walter got a little more creative in his interpretation of a ‘smiley face’, and drew a picture that we can all relate to right now:

James got even more creative again and drew the cause of all the chaos right now:

The March challenge will continue until the end of tomorrow, so if you haven’t had a go at one of the challenges there are still 24 hours to ‘enter’. While we recommend using Strava in order to stay as connected to everyone as possible, you don’t have to be on Strava to participate. You can use the Google Doc form to submit your results: submission form

When you’re not out running, check out our new On The Run podcast, ‘Postcards from Quarantine’, where Simon finds out from various club members the different ways they’re coping with lock-down. Our first episode features Paul Barwick, who was forced into self-isolation before the rest of us after coming back from Hawaii: no subtitles, sorry

If you’ve been for your daily run, listened to the podcast, and are still in need of some more Scottish goodness to get through lockdown, organise a Zoom chat with your usual running group! Trail Queen Thursday went properly virtual last week, with our ladies going for their runs solo then meeting for a drink and chat afterwards:

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April’s virtual run challenge has a focus on hills!

  • Weekly Challenge – Incorporate your fellow isolation mates in to your exercise routine (with their consent). Walk the dog, use your flatmate as a kettlebell, do a savasana with the cat, get creative.
  • Monthly challenge is Hills – How many of your local climbs have you ticked off? See if you can run a personal best time up your local peak
  • 2-minute mission – How many press ups can you do in two minutes?
  • Strava art – Draw your favourite body part.

We’ll have some new challenges for you every week to keep you interested. Make sure you share them with us by email or on social media so we can give you some encouragement.

What’s coming up

Athletics NZ have announced that it is going to be putting together an Athletics NZ Virtual Race Series, with solo challenges, virtual 5km/10km challenges and even relays. Keep your eyes peeled for dates/routes/challenges as they’re announced.