Auckland (Half) Marathon

My buddy from Penn State Nate, and I went up to Auckland early Sunday morning so that I could run the Auckland Half Marathon yesterday morning, which I did, satisfactorily, but not stellarly. I love this running around in "exotic" places stuff! Now that I have fully conquered NZ, I shall have to move on to Oz or some small Pacific marathon, maybe?
I ran the course in 1:49 when I did the Christchurch Half in 1:43 in June; the chief difference is the biggest climb in Christchurch was the curb ramp to the sidewalk whereas this morning was all up and downs. I also got to run across the Auckland Harbour Bridge - they closed a lane for us. That was cool because the bridge normally carries the motorway across to the northern suburbs and if you try to walk it, you are really inviting some kind of high speed interaction with a half ton of steel. The weather started out ominously - when I got to the ferry terminal at 5am (ugh!), it was threatening to rain. But the rain never showed and the threat kept temperatures at the perfect level for the rest of the run. And then the sun came out as soon as we crossed the Harbour Bridge (16 km in) and remained nice and sunny all through the finish line and the post-race celebration. And what a celebration it was! The Company social club put up a tent and grills and coolers, so for twice as long as the race lasted, I was sitting with coworkers and friends drinking and chowing down on some fine grilled dead animals. What a way to end a race!