Hi blog followers
What a busy week I have had shifting house from Wairoa to Waipukurau in a three day window, and heading over to Port MacQuarie Australia for a family wedding on the 4th day (the third wedding in as many months).
Amongst the mix, I still managed to get Coach Ray’s training regime completed, although I had to swap a couple of days around due to time constraints. With busy days I was often up earlier than usual to complete my training. Seeing the sunrise for the final time when out on the bike in the East Coast of Wairoa was quite surreal.
Once I arrived in Port MacQuarie for the wedding, I went for a long run and hit the roads of the Ironman Australia circuit, running a small piece of the bike circuit, but mainly running a lap of the run course, past where the swim enters the river mouth.
This bought back great memories as Ironman Australia was my first full Ironman back in 2012. Well actually the New Zealand Ironman was supposed to be my first Ironman a couple of months earlier, but the weather bomb cut the course in half.
Running the course has given me a hunger to return to Ironman Australia in the not too distant future, particularly as my sister lives in location.
I do however wish to focus this blog on the Invictus Games, which the New Zealand Defence Force has both current and former members competing. Their Coach is our Qwik Kiwi Coach – Coach Ray.
The enclosed photo is from when I was passing through Wellington Airport this week to head to Australia, and bumped into Aroha who is a colleague of Coach Ray and also a Rehab Physical Trainer for the Army. Due to my historical injuries she knows me well (she did enjoy the time I used a stretchy band around my foot when it slipped of and pinged me in the face, providing laughter all round).
The other photo was when I arrived at Sydney Airport. The advertisement for the Invictus Games was great. It made me think of how Coach Ray and the Team were getting on as it was about the time of the Opening Ceremony from Prince Harry.
I get back to New Zealand at the end of Labour Weekend and back into Coach Ray’s training as we head to the second event of eight for the UltraHumps Journey to the Cameron Brown Award and Iron Maori / Port of Tauranga Legend Series, being the Iron Maori Quarter Ironman.
Regards
John Humphries (aka UltraHumps).
Humps will be writing weekly as he continues his journey raising funds for the Fallen Hero’s Trust
Read Humps’ article from last week here:
And all his previous articles are stored here: