Saturday-
Around midday a few interesting characters started appearing below my window for the worldwide Anonymous demonstration.

They were pretty much silent (which I appreciated since we have a noisy protest down there every other week with megaphones & chanting), they just stood there with signs, handing out pamphlets, they even dressed nice.

Unfortunately I think their cause was lost on the Auckland public. Not many cars honked in support (was it the confusing signs?) & no one wanted pamphlets. I’m just not sure there has been a huge amount of exposure about Scientology in NZ media. We’re just a little behind.. maybe more concerned with who invented the jandal .. (lol, jandal isn’t recognized by spellcheck. Say something?)

Then comes the god-awful sound of… bagpipes. Frak, it’s St Patrick’s Day too.
So, in the middle of the Anon meet-up comes a parade of drunken Irish catholics.
The juxtaposition was brilliant.

And of course it is Auckland, so a St Patrick’s Day parade isn’t complete without kung-fu, singing buddhists, dancing Koreans & Japanese, clowns on bikes, everything you can think of that has nothing to do with a historical roman catholic takeover in Ireland.

How traditional!
Sometimes this town just has no clue. Doesn’t anyone realize that the Christmas, Easter, Auckland anniversary, St Patricks & whatever else parades are all the same darn parade just with a few tweaks? Just swap Santa for a fake pope & ..

Hey presto! It’s a St Patricks parade!
Yeh religious holidays bring out the best in me.

Sunday-

I did the Round The Bays run! I jogged most of the way & made it in an hour (exactly). I could’ve halved the time easily if the event was planned better (prepare for rant).

I had never done or watched a Round The Bays before & learnt a few things the hard way-

1. Don’t over-estimate the public.
2. Most people that participate are not athletic, & most intend on doing the whole thing at a snail’s pace walk. And not even an energetic walk, just a slow meandering stroll. It must’ve taken them all day.
3. Crowds & people in general are annoying.
4. When all these things are combined it adds up to a bitching Em.

Seriously, this thing was so poorly organized I couldn’t help but laugh. There were a few rules to keep order & safety, but unfortunately there were no staff there to police them & all hope flew out the window. No bikes, skateboards etc allowed. People who are walking (not running) must stick to the left & the runners on the right. Sounds easy enough right? You’re forgetting lesson number one I mentioned earlier.

Unfortunately I didn’t realize that if you’re a runner you really have to be at the starting line early. I figured everyone would be running since it’s called a “run”, so I didn’t give it much thought. I figured I’d be slow compared to everyone since I hadn’t trained for it.
I’m running the first km or so & all is good until I reach a stop. There are so many people in front of me I can’t get through. Thousands of people slowly crawling along (think what it would be like to try running through the dense angry moshpit at a music festival). I’m weaving in & out, in & out (probably adding a few extra kms to the trip), avoiding bikes, kids on scooters, floats(!), drunken novelty teams, cigarettes, prams. It was mayhem. Not what I was expecting at all. I was hopeful to get a good time on my certificate but realized early on that wasn’t going to happen.

So I get to St Heliers (in double the time of my goal) & there is a big carnival & concert, a huge mass of people panting, sweating & vomiting etc. I skip that & get on the bus-from-hell going home before the herd catch up. There are no seats left, nothing to hold onto, vomit again & this bus is weaving around suburbs I’ve never heard of, taking almost as long to drive home as it did for me to jog there!
I’m sore today. My quads have disowned me since I skipped the after-run stretches for the bus & yeh, I learnt my lesson. Next year I will be there super early with the real runners, leaving the herd behind. I hope for a very different experience. Above all though I am happy that I under-estimated & surprised myself. I have better endurance than I thought & am actually fitter than the average Joe & Jill Public.
Hoorah for self-discovery.