Hunter Valley

My friend Chaia invited me to go tho Hunter Vally this weekend. As Hunter Valley is one of the major wine district in Australia and the main activity normally travelling around the Vineyards, wine tasting, I was easily persuaded. I signed up to stay with her friends in a small cottage at a vineyard and was looking forward to a weekend of sampling delicious beverages.
How wrong I can be!
The main event for the weekend was running! There were 4 categories, Marathon, Half Marathon, 10k and 6.25k. It was just to choose. Having not done much running in the past 18 years I had to go for the 6.25k one, but even that is not easy being terribly unfit. We did have some fun first. Friday evening we drove up from Sydney, had dinner in a pub and then watched cricket and drank beer at the cottage. On Saturday we fit in 3 vineyards before registering for our races. There were 7 of us staying at the cottage and we had 2 x Marathon, 2 x half marathon, 2 x 10k and me at 6.25, so a fair mix. In the evening we carbo-loaded with pasta and beer and watched more cricket. A very nice day!
So Sunday, race day... I had found my old running shoes, bought a pair of shorts and was lent a "Woodstock Runners" singlet. We headed up early as the Marathon runners started at 8.00 am. Then they all took off at various times in the morning until it was my turn at 10.00. I set off way too fast, so when I came to the first hill there was nothing left. I walked up the hill and then set up at a more moderate speed for an unfit Sissi, around 8 min/km. I kept this average speed. Running probably at 6 min/km and walking up the hills. When I came to the last hill I was overtaken by Brendan, who was just finishing his Marathon! But, I finished in 49 min, 41st place out of 71 and although I hurt in many places now - it felt quite good. May well go with them again...