Weekly Sunday pack run/walk/schmooze/chat/mosey/catchup/get-even-fitter

TL;DR: Sundays 8am; a variety of running and walking groups from Kilbirnie's ASB Centre, from 30min walks to 2hr+ runs. Take your pick.

Context: Each Sunday we meet at the ASB Centre at 8am: saunter in through the front entrance; up the huge set of stairs right in front of you; then it's the first meeting room on the left.

Once arrived: unsure who to say hi to? Look out for me :) I'm the tall ginger dude.

We rent the meeting room between 8am and 11:30am every week, so you can bring and securely deposit your bags, packs, other personal effects, even the occasional gorilla if you charm the Centre's staff well enough.

We've got several walking and running packs: the exact number jumps all over the place depending on numbers: attendance is all over the place, depending on each person's mood, season, the tranquility and/or horridness of the weather, rain, heat, chocolate levels, all kinds of things. In practice, we typically have 1-3 walking packs and 1-3 running packs, segregated by fitness and/or enthusiasm and/or sadism.

Exercise routes, distances and times? Random each week! From week to week, we might bounce across Miramar Peninsula; next, squiggle down past Houghton Bay, Island Bay, Owhiro Bay; the week after, jump over Mt. Vic, past Parliament and into Karori; anywhere and everywhere. The fastest running pack often trains for full-length marathons (42km), and occasionally jogs all the way to Petone and back.

Here's a sampling of recent routes:

• https://www.strava.com/activities/7256140343
• https://www.strava.com/activities/7218837073
• https://www.strava.com/activities/7181540429
• https://www.strava.com/activities/7143600395
• https://www.strava.com/activities/6778869759
• https://www.strava.com/activities/6743130855
• https://www.strava.com/activities/6708491327

Speaking of Strava, we've created a corresponding weekly Strava weekly event page: https://www.strava.com/clubs/576244/group_events/1188552?new=true Do join that too if you use Strava.

Concerned you might not yet have the fitness to keep pace? It's all good, don't be put off by all this talk of marathons, that kind of training is strictly opt-in. Most members simply pop along for fun and enjoyment. For walkers: if you can walk around the block, us walkers would love to have you along. For runners: if you can jog 3km without asphyxiating, us runners would love to have you along.

Additionally, each pack also houses ginormous variations in fitness. It's completely typical for individual members to announce that, today, they can only jog for half an hour before branching off solo and back to your place. All good. If that's you, do chat to your pack leader first, and they'll happily adapt today's route to pass closer to your house or other exit.

Our walking and running packs typically pinball about greater Wellington for anywhere between 30 minutes and two hours, before returning to the ASB Centre. We have bikkies and drinks prepared and ready for returning members zonked and triumphant after once again dealing the morning merry hell. The Centre itself has a gazillion top-notch showers and changing rooms, free for Runners-and-Walkers use.

Finally, once showered and resplendent and glistening, some of us love to pop along to a nearby cafe for a late breakfast/brunch/whatever-the-cool-kids-call-it-these-days. This is not, strictly speaking, an official part of the Runners-and-Walkers morning's itinerary ... but what the hell, we'd still love to have you along. Our traditional port of call has been Kilbirnie's Skipping Stone, but its proprietress has throttled back its opening hours and workload due to pregnancy. Sundays closed. Fair play to her, so a gang of us instead traipse to Centennial Cafe, over in Rongotai. Fab place. Fat has been burned and muscles now strain and tummies now rumble, so order up a feast and get stuck in, yumyumyum. Same time next week!