Christchurch Earthquake – My Head’s Not In Training Mode

An article by Debi Hazelden    3 Comments

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Most of you reading this will be based in Christchurch so you know the devastation that has come with the Feb 24^th 6.3 earthquake. I don’t want to dwell on it. It’s just such a sad time for all. I was on the 4^th floor of a building in the CBD at the time. Along with about 52,000 other people working in the CBD. 

Air New Zealand has been great by putting on $50 flights to and from Christchurch so people can get out or in if they are wanting to catch up with family and loved ones. I’ve even heard a girl flew from Perth to Chch for $50 NZD. I don’t think she was supposed to get that though – supposed to be only Trans-tasman which means NZ, Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne. Flights from anywhere in the world were only $400 to chch also. Go Air NZ! 

The day after the quake my flatmates flew out to Cambridge and I flew to Gisborne to see my sister and niece. Flights to Gisborne are usually $500 each way so I couldn’t pass up the chance to go spend some time with my lovely sis. Obviously no facilities are open in Chch so I got a wee bit of training done in Gisborne. I had 2 swims and 2 runs, then it was time to fly back already! It was a quick one night stay. 

My sister took me to the fishing club for tea which was nice to get my mind off things. I helped Zoe do a colouring competition and I went to my niece’s assembly and saw her talk on the microphone. They got to say what they were good at – she said “I’m good at swimming”, so cute! I managed to get in a few good swims and runs in Gisborne while I was there. My sister is a personal trainer so was standing in the rain yelling at me  

Zoe at School

Lisa, Zoe and I on our way to the Fishing Club for tea

Back to Chch and I found a bunch of people on Facebook gathering a group together to shovel silt yesterday. I did that for the morning then shoveled silt in my own backyard and tidied the garden for the rest of the day. 

Check out my pom-pom bushes and trees!

A group has started in Chch called the Baking Army to help out the volunteers and whoever needs it. So I baked a batch of muffins for them also. Cinnamon muffins with cream cheese frosting. Although I didn’t get time to drop them off so I gave them to Briar when she took me to the airport. I also baked a slice to take home to my parent in Hamilton. 

Yum yum chocolate fudge slice

Packed up my bike and I’ve booked a flight to Hamilton to stay with my parents. My office is in the CBD and has been red-stickered so it’s likely to be demolished. They have possibly secured a new premises in Hornby to start in a couple of weeks. In the mean time I can work remotely while I’m in Hamilton. 

I think it’ll be good for me to get my head out of this space and try get a routine back together. At the moment I don’t really care about training or racing which is understandable. I’m glad Scott wasn’t here for the earthquake – he was in Wanaka. Otherwise his head might be in a different space too. 

In Hamilton now and working from my parents house – it’s great hearing the sound of cicadars are so loud! Great that I can still do my swimming in the mornings too. I’ve got my bike up here this time so I can pretty much do all my training just like normal – for a week anyway until it’s back to having no pool for a while I guess. 

Ironman NZ – Taupo 2011

I’ll be heading over to Taupo on Friday ready to be a supporter for my boyfriends (Scott McNab) first ironman. It will be something to help get my mind off the tragedy of Tuesday. I just can’t wait to see him crossing that finish line. I’d say I’ll be crying with joy if he completes it in his goal time, which I think is 9.5 hours. I guess never having done one before it’s quite hard to have a goal time. But let’s see how it goes!

Scott can be very strong mentally and I think that’s mostly what an ironman is so fingers crossed. Otherwise I think I’ll be trying to avoid him all evening as he won’t be a good man to be around haha. And even completing it I’ll be so happy for him. It’ll mean I have myself an Ironman – woohoo! And for everyone else racing – I think you are all amazing! 

Good luck also to Nadine Voice, Nadia McLaren, Jacky James & Keegan Williams I hope you all have a great race!