Epic camp mini NZ - day 4 - The Final Grind. Murchison to Nelson.( 152km 1400m asc, ~ 400m swim, 2km run )

Had surprisingly the best sleep on Sunday night in Murchison, even in the 1970's porn movie style motel room, but it had the comfiest bed :-). My legs didnt feel too bad when I woke up considering the day before, had a bit of food fatigue so couldnt force much down for brekky other than chopped apple and peanut butter with a bit of banana. It had looked a pleasant morning but by the time the grupetto was ready to roll, it was drizzling which got slightly heavier for a bit. Ugh. It was 35km on the highway to the St Arnaud turn off which is rolling but a net uphill, the road was not too busy but any traffic that did come seemed to be a huge logging truck; for us which always seemed to occur on the part of the road that had zero shoulder. Most of them were pretty good although it does feel a little like Russian roulette at times. Once we turned off at St Arnaud, its a very quiet rolling road which winds up by the Buller river ( guessing the source must be Lake Rotoiti...). I have to admit I was feeling a bit dark about the whole thing, my right glute was burning and I felt a little annoyed about the bumps in the road so guess I needed to eat more. ....... We rolled in to the lake front greeted by the local gang of sandflies, bees and of course the other campers who had had a nice leisurely break to rest the legs... 15 mins til eliminator run start time. Eh ?!! Shoved down a half pack of Gu blocks then we did the first 500m just as a warm up off our times, Rebecca and I were off on the 30 sec handicap and we had also been in the same bunch so we lamented the lack of rest in our legs !! Needless to say once we hit the 2nd lap ( 50 m smash it downhill, 450 m run hard ) we were both eliminated although looking at the 5km times people submitted I'd say there was a LOT of sand bagging!! I trotted another 1km by the lake track to get the legs moving differently then it was swim time, hopefully to get away from all the winged pests that were gatecrashing our party. It was pretty fresh in there ( ice cream head +13 deg ?), but oooohhhhh so therapeutic on the muscles, super clear, deep water and bonus was I didnt spot any eels lurking underneath. Almost felt like a new woman when I emerged from the lake - even better I had fresh full cycling kit to change into, sure my bum would be thankful too. Scoffed a wrap,shrouded myself in a cloud of DEET, a bit of pizza, some fruit, bit of choccy ( hmmmmm, def underfueled this morning) then we were off under the illusion of a fast 88km of net downhill to Nelson which started with a bit of a climb , rolling , then a reasonable slog up to Tophouse saddle. Our little group of 4 had splintered apart by now but I had some music to keep me company and distract me from abject misery and deep existential nihilism. Its a super quiet road but was grey and bleak up there, almost with the threat of rain. The road then turned onto a rolling road which led to Wakefield, it had a few pinchy climbs interspersed with long false flats ( both up and down ). Arrived at Wakefield and an enthused bunch of campers at the aid station, had a quick pee stop and grabbed some food and bent to peer pressure to leave with everyone else so again, didnt get much rest and as anticipated, the speed bunnies sped off and I tried to hang on as best i could but eventually my foo foo valve did blow butonly 18 km to go. Nicole kindly waited on me in Richmond as was worried I didnt know where I was going ( I didnt really know where I was going ) and we manged to wind our way through the bike paths and do an extra tour of the wee estuary by Monaco and add 4km on... !! Rolled in to a reception of coffee, hot chips, smoothies, beer... bloody brilliant!! Final dinner was a tasty 3 course repast at the Anchor Inn.... another camp ticked off!! Thanks to Gail and Kylie for their unwavering support and enthusiasm for us all and to John for his excellent organisation and route choices. Herding a load of hangry cats takes a special type of person !! I'll write an epilogue in next few days to wrap up my personal thoughts but for now ( back home as I write this) I had better tackle the mounds of smelly, damp kit that needs washing and psych myself up for dealing with work tomorrow. :-(