The title does not indicate and weekend that was in fact "weak", rather it is in reference to how weak I apparently am, which translates into a tough hike for me come Christmas time. Jeff saw this as an opportunity to encourage me to "train" for our hike. Seeing that our first day (and first 15 miles) is mostly uphill I had to seriously consider busting my butt for the next 2 weeks to make this hike a little easier. So it began Friday with a 75 minute vinyasa flow class that was really tough. That was enough for one day, and it was only day 1 anyway. That night Jeff was exhausted from 5 long days of picking baby apples so we watched "Mulholland Drive" that we rented a few days earlier from the library. Jeff fell asleep and I would have liked to know it was supposed to be somewhat surreal before going into it, but it wasn't horrible. It kept you interested, but left you with many questions. I would give it a 4 out of 10... Jeff would give it 2 eyes closed hahahaha... not funny but I had to...
Jeff had another early day ahead of him at the orchards on Saturday, so I went to the Saturday market by myself. We are saving for or future plans so I got the essentials: broccoli, asparagus, and this amazing hallah loaf we discovered a few weeks ago. It was about 1 pm and I had put off "training" long enough, and decided to do the 1.5 hour hike to the "Center of New Zealand" by myself. Jeff and I have done it before so I knew it was safe, but it is also pretty challenging if you start from Founders Park. I did it in the allotted amount of time, and jogged a bit on the flat parts, but it was really hard, and I had to take a couple breaks, but I did feel stronger (and very sore) afterwards. I could tell 6 days in the orchards weren't exactly energizing and exciting Jeff so I suggested we try the Founders Organic Brewery and split a bite to eat, just to get out for a little while. Upon arrival we saw an American boy on Jeff's basketball team (he and his girlfriend are doing the same thing we are) and his girlfriend having a beer in the courtyard. They invited us to join them so we grabbed a couple beers and talked to them for a bit. The beer was really good, but Founders was closing so we couldn't grab a bite or continue to sit in the courtyard, so the other couple suggested we grab a beer somewhere else. We went to the beautiful restaurant Harry's in town. It was a bit pricey, but the beers were apparently really good (I had cider), and splitting an entree is pretty cost effective. It was wonderful having a night out with this couple. The girl and I sat and talked about shopping, careers, and the States, while the boys jabbered on about business and sports, and whatever else boys talk about. It was a lovely night, until the ride home, where we turned right into a D.U.I checkpoint. (I think the legal limit here is about .04%) They make you count to 5 near a wand-thing and it tells you whether you have alcohol on your breath. Of course mine said yes, but this guy was so confident I'd be fine, as was I. I pulled over and instantly had to be breathalyzed (something I have never done before), and I don't know what it read but it was low enough to pass, as it should have been considering I had a small beer and a cider within 4 hours, but still it was scary as hell.
Sunday was a bit less eventful, with Jeff being able to sleep in and slow morning of cooking breakfast and reading. We went into town to take some pictures to give friends and family an idea of what Nelson is like (coming on a post soon!) and it happened to be the Santa parade! It was exciting to see what seemed like the entire town gathered on the streets for a parade of singing, dancing, and SANTA!! It was a beautiful day so Jeff suggested something outside, preferably to help aid in my "training". the choices were the bird sanctuary hike (which is harder than Center of New Zealand, I think, but so pretty) with my filled pack on or jogging the sanctuary hike. I opted for the jog because my back was a bit tight. It was indeed beautiful, but really hard, and super frustrating when I hear Jeff (too far to see him) 100 meters up the hill encouraging me. grrr. Thank god Monday was rainy because I wasn't doing too much moving around.
To continue my training I did a 3 mile run along the Maitai river in Nelson. It was breathtaking and the grass had just been cut, loads of flowers were blossoming, and I saw my first Starling and Bellbird in New Zealand! It wasn't too tough of a run, but has a few challenging hills. I do feel stronger though, and feeling results really does motivate me to work even harder. Hopefully by the 25th, getting up that first 15 miles of hills will be a piece of cake! :)
I have work today at the airport cafe or I would write more, but expect a post about books, Nelson, and Queenstown on Thursday!
Cheers!
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