So my posting has been a bit lacking recently, probably because I am now a fully fledged, employed, real human being. I’m settling in to my life in Queenstown and my new job, but no longer feel such a free-spirited nomad, inspired to run and write by each new destination. However it’s a nice change to feel grounded and have some sort of home and routine. 

The routine in question revolves around my employment on the world famous Queenstown luge. What, you don’t know what a luge is?! Ok so I was a bit hazy before I went and saw it myself…maybe New Zealand famous might be more accurate… But it’s a cool job all round: riding the luge; seeing people having fun every day; being in hundreds of go pro videos wearing an oversized raincoat; and working with fun people. It was these fun people who lead to my most recent run being, well, a bit of a struggle. 

Despite following the golden gospel of “beer then wine, you’ll feel fine (wine then beer, you’ll feel queer)”, I didn’t exactly feel fine on my last day off. Maybe I’ll always feel a little bit queer after a night with the lugies. But I would not be defeated by those jäger bombs. I donned my trainers and packed my gym bag. I was going for the double whammy; run to the gym and then pump iron!

It’s a nice flat route along the lakeside to my gym, which is around 7km. Theoretically easy peasy, but not that day. The great thing about running in beautiful places is that stopping to take photos is a great excuse to have a breather and is completely acceptable. I lived by this and punctuated my journey with photo shoots and stopping to gaze. My steady pace gave me time to notice the details I might usually miss; the many mushrooms popping up now it’s autumn; the tiny mouse jumping through the grass by the track. As it always does, the fresh air flushed my body of toxins and self pity and I hit the gym ready to PUUUSH. Despite taking an hour to run the 7k, it was a fruitful foray. I must go and investigate those fungi varieties more closely on my next day off…