It was one of Wellington’s beautiful afternoons so Peter Heidenstrom and I took a drive around to Seatoun to smell that beautiful sea air and have some lunch in the sun. He was a man full of wisdom and over his years had gathered many interesting stories which I loved to listen too. Today I was seeking his advice as I always valued his opinion, I had gathered together a lot of information on this Blue Planet Run Adventure and wanted to know what he thought of this exciting challenge I might be embarking on. For me personally it seemed perfect as it was mixing my love for running, travel and a good cause, and this cause being extra special because it would be running for a global environmental issue and our role would be to create awareness and funds for the lack of safe drinking water that kills up to 2.2million people a year by running around the world for 95 days.

Peter ordered his favorite fish and chips, I had a chicken salad and underneath a sun umbrella outside we chatted about the Blue Planet Run, he showed so much support and enthusiasm that by the end of our lunch I was absolutely convinced it was the right thing to do. Peter always seemed to give me that reassurance when I needed it and I will miss our little chats, dinners and lunches enormously. I was so looking forward to keeping him up to date with all my adventures around the world during this run, but I can take comfort knowing he will be in spirit with me every 10miles I do in every country I pass through!

On hearing of his passing I dedicated my 10mile run to him as we ran towards Berlin, Taeko handed me the baton, we read the water message and then dedicated the run to Peter, I thought about him every step I took, his sparkly blue eyes, his good sense of humor, the way he use to open the car door for me, his love for fish and chips at the Fisherman’s Table in Oriental Bay, his passion for calligraphy and his natural teaching ability and of course his love for athletics. But what I really admired about Peter was his ability to endure and never complain when he was going through a rough time with his health - he was an absolute inspiration!