Hi Blog Followers – Welcome to another weekly addition of my Blog, courtesy of Coach Ray’s Website of www.CoachRay.nz where with the year coming to an end, as we hit the festive season, I thought I’d summarise my highlights of the year…
During the year of 2019 I deployed overseas with work for seven months, as such I was unable to attend Ironman NZ in March, as the weekend it was on, was the weekend I deployed. Well in all honesty I could of completed Ironman, then gone from the Awards Ceremony to Auckland Airport, leaving my better half with a car full of Ironman gear. Considering the better part of the week, being the only week I took Leave prior to deploying would of been taken up with compulsory Ironman commitments, I elected to focus on family first – No Regerts lol!
There were three major accomplishments that I focused on during the year (2019) and a number of minor ones: such as the 6 Hour Cycle for the Royal Air Force Association Charity; the Triathlon for fundraising for Elijah North which I am extremely proud of; the Running Relay on the Base we were stationed in; the US Army 10 Miler, to name a few. But the first of the major accomplishments was the 7 Peaks Challenge, where one had to climb 194,914 feet on a Jacobs Ladder to simulate climbing ‘The World’s Seven Tallest Mountain In The Desert’. This Jacobs Ladder would become a love / hate relationship, and every time I turned up I would climb 5000 feet (or steps) at a time. I would have a quick drink break after every 1000 steps and back into it, finishing completely drenched in sweat with thigh muscles screaming at me, only to return 2 or 3 days later for more… Why – a free Finishers T-Shirt, So Why Not!
The second of the major accomplishments was the 1,000 Km Challenge, of covering this distance during ones deployment (most sane people that are up for the challenges do one or the other – I did both). So on the days I wasn’t clocking up distances on the Jacobs Ladder, I was either hitting the treadmill or the roads. Unfortunately, I picked up a foot injury of over-pronation in my left foot right at the start. I could run on it okay but it would give me grief for the rest of the day. The Physio realised I wasn’t going to miss out on the free T-Shirts, so persuaded me to do most of it by walking, this added to the time, let alone did my head in… Why do it? A free Finishers T-Shirt, So Why Not!
The third of the major accomplishments was achieving the Erin Baker Award, promoting the Taupo District and receiving the Erin Baker Award at the Waikato Sports Awards, after I returned from deployment. Whilst this was started with last years activities, the activities also rolled into this year. The first activity was the Taupo Half Marathon in August 2018 running along he beautiful lake front; the second being the Around Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge in November 2018, where I started with a headache and finished with a borderline migrane (bugger); the third being the Kinloch Olympic Distance Triathlon in February 2019, where I did a little extra on the cycle due to missing a turn (bugger x 2); and the fourth being the Swim Across Lake Taupo where I was as blind as a bat with goggles that failed and remained fogged up the whole way (bugger x 3). But being invited the Waikato Sports Awards and welcomed on stage amongst such talented athletes from their respective sports was truly humbling, and with my wife I attendance.
So from here, I guess I better start looking for some events to keep me entertained for 2020. Take care team, regards John Humphries (Aka Humps, Aka UltraHumps).
UltraHumps will be writing weekly blogs as he continues his journey and raising funds for Charitable causes.
Read Humps article from last week here:
All his previous articles are stored here: