Waitangi Day means... an interval run!

Tuesday 06/02/07 - Waitangi Day:
Had planned to be out the door by 7am for my run, despite it being a holiday - both to beat the heat and before the busyness of the day took over...

In the end I was suffering from lack of sleep (again) and a bit of a headache, but dragged myself out of bed at 7.30am. Luckily it was still only 17deg C when I headed off and there was a bit of a breeze.

Todays session was the first set of structured intervals I have done since Auck Half training in Oct. My mindset wasn't really in the right place for intervals, but I reminded myself about the doing "easy sessions real easy, hard sessions really hard" mantra and decided I would give it my all.

Brisk walk warmup: 5mins
Steady paced hilly run: 15mins
Intervals: 4mins Hard, 2mins Jog, 3mins Hard, 90secs Jog, 2mins Hard, 1min Jog, 1min Hard.
Easy paced run:10mins (for a total of 39 1/2 mins and approx 8kms)
Brisk walk cooldown: 5mins

Yes, I did have to jot the intervals on my hand before going out, so I could remember them! My run began on the country road where I used to do most of my walking when I wasn't able to run. The first 15mins were over undulating hills but I kept the pace up, knowing that after the intervals there would not be much speed left in my legs! When I hit the main road, which is much flatter, I started the intervals. As I knew it would be, the first 4mins at Hard pace ("breathing laboured & impossible to hold a conversation") was a killer. The first 3mins of it seemed to take forever and I was struggling to maintain it - then suddenly I found another gear from somewhere and the last minute was exhilerating! I lengthened my stride and although my breathing was hard out, I felt like a gazelle! My jog recoveries were done rather slowly but still moving forward, not on the spot. By the end of the Hard intervals I was fairly buggered and the last 10mins of the run was done at an easy pace.

I was very hot and sweaty by the time I returned home and would much rather do these sessions in the winter like before! Still, main thing was that I completed it and was satisfied with the effort I put in.

Now - why, you may be wondering, am I posting pictures of two of my fave native NZ birds? Well as the title states, today was a public holiday for Waitangi Day. Like these birds (the Kiwi and the Kea) its something unique to NZ. Thanks Sara (Morsey Runs) for asking what it was about. I guess it really depends on who you ask, as it means a lot of different things to different people...

If you asked a historian they'd tell you its to commemorate the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840. The treaty, which is considered to be NZs founding document, was signed between the indiginous (Maori) people and the European under Governor William Hobson, at Waitangi in the Bay of Islands, which is in the far north of the North Island. (Not too far from where I ran the Kerikeri HM, BTW!!) It wasn't commemorated until 1934 and only became a public holiday under the Labour government in 1957. During the 1970s and 80s (and even 90s) it came to mean more about protesting over Maori rights, land claims, and racial division than it did about the treaty itself. For my generation, it has been full of controversy and protests and stirred up racial disharmony. Over the years governments have tried to change the name to "New Zealand Day" without success. Maori activists have used it to raise awareness of grievences and up until only a couple of years ago most of the protests turned ugly and violent - police had to be out in force and Helen Clark (PM) was spat on by a Maori protester at a ceremony at the Treaty grounds a few years back. Its only been the last year or two, now that Maori have their own political party with seats in the House and alot of land claims have been settled, that things have calmed down a little. Of course there are still some protests, but at least recently they have been mainly peaceful. This year theres controversy over the Maori Sovereignty Flag not being offically recognised... but in my opinion it wouldn't be Waitangi Day without contention.


To a Pakeha Kiwi chic like me, it doesn't represent "NZs National Day" like its supposed to do. I don't believe it recognises and embraces what it means to be a NZer. It's merely about an important piece of history from 167 years ago. Talk of having a seperate "NZ Day" is getting stronger. To me and my family (and I believe, a large portion of the population) its really always been about "having a day off"! But I respect that others, especially Maori, have a different view and its more significant to them. Still, I'd rather give you pics of birds than Maori!

Apart from my run, my morning was spent in the garden in the sun and the afternoon was Courtney's to spend how she wanted, being the last day of the school holidays. She chose: lunch and Monin sodas at our fave cafe, shopping (she had $15 burning a hole in her pocket from doing chores over the holidays), followed by an icecream, going to the park, then baking banana muffins at home! I've created a monster!