New Zealand, Day 1 (or, Marathoning: A Great Excuse to Travel)

As I've said previously, running marathons is a great excuse for traveling, both domestically and internationally. Earlier this month, I finally managed to get to New Zealand. I was originally supposed to get to New Zealand and (for the third time) Australia back in 2020, but a certain pandemic got in the way. And back then, I was set to run a marathon in both Auckland and Sydney, not just Sydney like this year. Oh well. I'm glad I finally managed to get to New Zealand, even if I didn't get to run the North Shore Marathon.

Day 1 started with my arrival in Auckland. After I finally got through customs and arrived at my hotel, it was still too early for me to check in, so I decided to meander for a little bit and get somewhat of the lay of the land. There is lots of construction going on, since they are putting in a subway system in the city. One sculpture that stood out along my route:

As I continued around, I came to a decent view of the Sky Tower, which was immediately next to the hotel where I was staying.

 (always great doing the view from the bottom)

A little while later, I was able to check in and hit the treadmill for a bit. (After all, I was still in my training cycle for Sydney.) A quick shower and change, and jaunt out to get lunch, and then the rain mostly cleared up towards late afternoon. Given the outing on Day 2 wouldn't be getting back until just before sunset, I decided to give the observation deck of the Sky Tower a shot on Day 1, lest it be nighttime when we get back after Day 2's outing. Not the best of conditions, but still not so bad -- decent visibility.

In addition to these vistas, they also had some plate glass panels around the deck where you could look straight down -- about 1000 feet to the ground below:

I couldn't  bring myself to stand on the glass. Am I really considering going to The Edge when I'm in NYC in a few months? Hmm...

Going up one more level enabled even better views.

A little later, I wound up going to the buffet dinner in the hotel restaurant and then just calling it an early evening. Hell, I had been up since about 6am EDT with only bits and pieces of naps on the plan ride Down Under. I needed to hit the sack to be ready for the Best of Both Worlds tour on Day 2.