The Big Ō


The Big Ō

Once a year I have to go to Ōtautahi Christchurch for work. This is not traditionally a place of thriving for me. It still has strong associations of the misery of living in the family home, drinking way too much and being ugly and mean and having no hobbies. When I went last week it was as a person who hasn’t drank in nearly 3 years and keeps telling people that they’re training for a half marathon.

The city is looking good. When you see it with fresh eyes it really is pretty. The botanic gardens were a sight and all the new buildings seem a bit less blank and same-y, or maybe I’m just getting used to them. I didn’t take any photos of the flowers and fountains, but I did get a picture of the dystopian Timezone.

On the first night I went for a long run (aiming for 20k, flaking at 16k) following the Ōtākaro Avon river out towards New Brighton and back. I planned out the route at work the day before, excited about being able to do a different long and flat run but also thinking about all the high profile violent crimes that happened in the city when I was growing up there.

Thankfully aside from looking a bit eerie in some places, the Red Zone was very chill. Much of the corridor next to the river has been used to create picnic areas, playgrounds and community gardens. I saw cyclists, runners, kayakers, rowers, coaches on bikes accompanying the rowers, kids on bikes and dog walkers. There are many cool bridges. The loop around Avonside was the most untouched, if you enjoy the fallow experience head there. I thought about returning with a bunch of wildflower seeds, but that might be a bit presumptuous for land that wants to be a swamp.

Aside from running I spent some downtime looking at shops, including visiting my primal mall, South City. They have my favourite shop there now (Reduced to Clear), the stock was all the same as the one in Porirua but it was still relaxing to look. When you’re trying to regulate your emotions you don’t really want a lot of new information.

I found out today that I could’ve stayed on for the weekend and participated in the City2Surf running event, which follows part of the same route I took. I also fired up Mapometer and sketched out a 40k run, following the river all the way to the estuary and back. I can’t run that far at the moment but maybe one day. All in all it was one of the least triggering visits I’ve had. Covering all that ground and shrinking all that sprawl in my mental map gave me a sense of ease that’s usually missing. The work side of things went better than usual and the food was good. If you ever have to go on a trip that you’re dreading I can recommend taking your running shoes hitting the trails as long and hard as you can.



Do you have an ambivalent relationship with your home town? Sound off below Purgies!