Perth Marathon 
.
Perth Marathon
. 
Wanneroo Nationals 8km Walk 1989,
6 foot the race photos and recovery
6 foot complete resultssays I was 819th of 877 starters, with 34 DNF's and 4 outside the 7 hour cutoff. To complete this race in under 7 hour cutoff still a source of major elation 3 weeks later for me as this has been a major goal of mine since I setup this blog in 2005 (6 years ago). Only regrets are that the time (6hrs 53min 07 secs) is a bit slower than I was hoping for, and that Kathryn and my children Jacob and Jordan couldnt be there. However that could be fixed in future years maybe, and very minor regrets in the face of huge joyous elation.
No internet connection at home on the PC at the moment due to unpaid bills, not sure when I can afford to get it up again could be weeks/months away. quads sore for 4 days after 6 foot. Calf sore for last few days hoping to be running this weekend again...in the meantime I have very limited internet options on my phone, at libraries when I am not working 50 hours and at my parents etc..Here are a sample of my 6 foot race photos...heaps more on facebook...blogging in detail will have to wait til later....
UPDATE 2nd April 2011...Preoccupied with more important things like paying the rent. The last few weeks have been a desperate struggle. At library now, trying to make a start on blogging before my memory of the events becomes too hazy. Probably won't finish blogging today but hope to do so at the bottom of this post during the month of April or MayIve run a 6km in 35min (HR 153), and did a walk/jog 6km with my wife Kathryn in the last week or so. Thats all since 6 foot. Pathetic. No injury issues so far, so probably well and truly ready to hopefully get training and racing again soon now I've had 3 weeks off.
Am going to try and start blogging about my 6 foot experience on the bottom of this post. It will be a work in progress over several weeks, and I hope to get to linrary internet enough to complete it in April, so check back onto this post each week if you are interested...;
6 foot complete resultssays I was 819th of 877 starters, with 34 DNF's and 4 outside the 7 hour cutoff. To complete this race in under 7 hour cutoff still a source of major elation 3 weeks later for me as this has been a major goal of mine since I setup this blog in 2005 (6 years ago). Only regrets are that the time (6hrs 53min 07 secs) is a bit slower than I was hoping for, and that Kathryn and my children Jacob and Jordan couldnt be there. However that could be fixed in future years maybe, and very minor regrets in the face of huge joyous elation.
So massively, massively happy to get this race done!!!
2/4/11;
Just getting to the start line in this race was a massive challenge in itself. First there is the issue of the costs of airfares and accomodation. I got a big payout in October 2010 so I took advantage of that to book my airfares (about $400) from Perth to Sydney and back then, and also one nights accomodation on the Friday night before the race, as I knew that come March I would struggle to have the money and it would be hard to get anyone else to finance my running obsession. I did however hope that I might be able to save up and pay for Kathryn and my children to fly there also, and to book a saturday night also. As it turned out thats was totally not an option and I had to take out a secret cash converters loan to pay the $135 entry fee. Finished paying that off in late March. Before all of that I failed to get an entry spot and had to go on the waitlist in early December 2010, and finally got my entry offer in February. Then there was hassles getting to and from Perth airport, which is a costly tricky affair, and I ended up spending the night at the airport on the way back as I couldn't afford a taxi. With better planning maybe this could have been avoided. Then there was the trainfares from Sydney to Katoomba. The massive kindness of Mark and his wife in letting me have a room at their apartment on the Saturday night free of charge.
Also my cousin in Sydney put up with me for a day and drove me to the airport. Other big financial issues and other major hassles post race, so all in all a big logistical challenge to get to the start line, and then recover in the week after the race. I am not trying to have a go at anyone about this just merely sharing some of the challenges involved for someone with limited resources. Anyhow enough about that, its time to start posting about the race itself.
RACE REPORT;
Mark and Rhonda kindly picked me up from my hotel on race morning as arranged. After a week of mostly 3-4 hours sleep per night, I had managed 6 hours of sleep on the night before, and felt refreshed, energized and ready to go with a resting heart rate of 38 beats per minute, my best one for the week, so felt good. The lightning and heavy rain show from the night before had disappeared. One of my powerades was leaking so drank that before the start. I'd picked up my racepack the night before at the Carrington, and met a few other runners there including Glenda, Nigel and Liz Hubbard (at Subway...ex-West Australians from Booragoon area!!! how freaky is that), and Colin Jeftha the race guru!!!. I felt like I was in a very good dream, hard to believe it was real, that I was actually in Marks hire car heading to the parking area to catch shuttle bus to the start. The parking area was very well organised. Short bus ride to start. Caught up with coolrunners Plu!, flying emu, running angel and go-girl at the start. They seemed pretty cool people, nice to meet people I only knew from online. They called us in to wave 4 (The first 3 faster waves had already started)...and I got a spot towards the back, with Jane,Glynis and Sanet (from the Darlington C-team, and all did 6 inch in 2010) nearby. Also spotted Arrrtgrrl I think near the front of the wave.
Then we were off, and before long the narrow trail started to go steeply downhill, only room for 1-3 runners alonside each other. Then it was single file. I tried to pass as many people as I could in this bit, as I had heard about the steps, and I wanted to gfet to the 15km mark in a good time. My rcae plan was not detailed, but simply get to river crossing (15km) in under 2 hours, get to top of Pluvi (26km?) in under 4 hours and get to finish in 6-7 hours.
Then we hit the steep slippery steps, and it felt so surreal like going through a rainforest. Slow progress and already the quads very sore...Chatted with Clay from melbourne for a bit (blue shirt in my photos)
on the way down the steps. It was a big challenge staying upright an balanced. Eventually we finally got to the bottom. Then it was a 4wd track where I was able to start running hard.
update 23/5/11;
In this section I could see the incredible views back up the cliffs, and I stopped for 4 min for a pitstop. Ran hard for awhile and caught up with the group clay was running with...
Probably worked a bit too hard, so had to back off a bit.
My memory is a bit hazy now a few months later, but I know we climbed over some of the steps that cross fences, and got a cheer from some spectators near the first drinks stop. Started to get some single track stuff, and some hills. Nothing major though. I think I ran with one of the Cool runners in the 1000 day mileage challenge very briefly during this section maybe. Eventually we got to some very narrow and dangerous single track kangeroo track type trail where we were forced into single file. This was about 10km-14km into it. I was still running at a good pace, and avoiding drinks at this stage mostly...At one stage about 10 of us got stuck behind a bloke in a dark blue top who was going very slow and would not step aside and let us through. Some of the runners were complaining about it, but I just waited, and when I saw the thick bush thin out a bit I seized my opportunity and jumped and sprinted hard through the bush alongside the trail, and managed to pass the bloke in the blue top and a few others behind him. Almost lost my footing but kept balance somehow... Big ankle injury potential in this section. Eventually about 5-10 runners also got past and they were pushing me at a pace faster than I wanted up to another little bunch of runners. I was keen to stick with a good pace until the river crossing, but I could tell they wanted to go much faster, so I stepped aside for about 3 of them, and tried to settle my pace down a bit. I was aiming to get to Coxs crossing in under 2 hours, anything better than that would be a bonus. We passed a very rickety looking bridge over the river valley, and did a few taxing ups and downs as the single file track continued. I stayed with a small bunch, although a few of them went further ahead on their own. Was starting to feel a bit tired, and when I got to the river finally with Walter and Glenda (who I met briefly at race pack collection the night before and by accident just happened to be running at similiar pace to me at this point...) just behind me, I was glad to make it in 1hr 51min. It wasn't that deep, in fact my attempt at swimming didn't work too well, so I pretty much waded through waist deep water... I couldn't be bothered putting my shoes in plastic bags, but I am glad I had them with me as they protected other things in my hydration pak from getting wet. In hindsight I probably would have been better off taking my shoes off, as they filled up with small gravel which was horrible. Took awhile to get that out of my shoes after the river crossing. I was very happy with my time up to this point. I lost several minutes sorting out my shoes here...But if I had not done that, no doubt blisters would have forced me into a DNF, so I had to do that.
Then it was the start of the hills towards minisaddle.
PLUVI and MINISADDLE (800m of ascent in about 10km)
Straightaway I could see it was going to be a struggle. I worked hard, but was finding that jogging was not really that easy, and I was stuck in a walk a lot of the time. Had some good chats with a few others. But they were all going past me. It was obvious my hill strength wasn't good enough. In addition the pack I had on my back with several litres of drinks was making it very hard, the extra couple of kg to drag up the hill with my normal 78kg or so was a lot. Jane, Glynis and eventually Sanet all passed me on the hills, (They got to Coxs Crossing 10 minutes behind me) and they all looked strong, especially Jane and Glynis. After Mini-saddle, I was struggling and made big use of a drink station. Basically walking heaps, and only trying to run every now and then. Wasn't walking fast really either. I think we crossed some more creeks at some stage too, some were a bit hard and my feet got wet, but not too bad. I remember this big switchback. We also started to get passed by the utes from the Rural fire service volunteers from about here onwards occasionally on mostly gravel 4wd track...Incredible scenery!!!, but mostly just trying to keep going up...Drink stations total oasis points from here on, and I started to use the drinks in my pak a lot. Eventually I saw the straw brooms of the sweepers below as we got into the teeth of the Pluviometer.... I felt gone!!!!!!!!!!! I could hear them and the pacers (I later found out their names were Jane and Robyn) below, and me and some other runners started to worry about getting swept. I really started to wonder if a DNF was what I was headed for here. However I figured I had come this far so was going to fight as long as I could to stay in the race...I was really struggling to keep moving up the hills, and almost overbalancing, plus felt light headed every time I tried to jog instead of walking...Sometimes I leaned over close to the ground almost in a crawling position trying to get up the neverending hills... The pacers caught us and started to encourage us and give us the verbal kick in the backside to keep at it... I knew this was it, my last chance to stay ahead of the pacers before the top of Pluvi. I knew if I could get to the top of Pluvi and some flatter ground I might be able to get some running going again. So I dug in and tried my hardest to keep walking with the pacers. They were picking up rubbish, and really encouraged me and a few other runners heaps. A few of us got going and I remember a girl from the UK say "we cant let the sweepers get us"...I think she did get swept though...Just before we got there I saw a bloke in a black shirt wearing KT52's sit down on the gravel about 100m from the top. I could hear the sweepers behind me, and I knew I had to give my all to get to pluvi 25-26km mark (800m of elevation since coxs crossing at 15km) soon, to have any chance of staying in the race. I got there in 4.09.48, and the bloke in the black shirt about 50-100m behind me who gave up and sat down got swept. One of the pacers made a cool comment here about how we could relax now for a bit.I took another runners advice in this section to drink my last sports drink...Then the heavy rain and lightning started, and I started to run away from the sweepers...just occasional runs at first punctuating lots of walking, and as I started to recover from all the ascent, I started to run harder and more often, and I knew I was doing well when I started to pass lots of people.
24/5/11 update THE BLACK RANGE;
We were still essentially ascending, and gained another 400m of ascent in the next 15km or so, although there was some downhill and flat sections eventually. I tried to settle into a good rhythm and figured I was a good chance to beat the 7hour cutoff, if I could keep at it for the last 19km of this 45km race. However I knew I had to attack with everything I had to have any chance... Saw the sag wagon of the sweepers go by with sad runners stuck inside it being taken to the finish...
Caught up to a bloke with an injured leg, and we passed some pine trees I think with about 10km to go. Was pretty happy with my split here and it was quite flat terrain and I felt really confident at this stage, for the first time in about 3 hours. Then after an aid station with those wonderful firefighters the course seemed to swing around to the left, and there was steep downhill, which I ran hard, and passed a few more runners, and there formed a bunch of us all going hard at it. At the bottom of the hill it got very wet and muddy, with some massive puddles, and extremely slippery mud. Tried to keep feet out of the puddles a bit, and then there were two short but very steep hills to climb. Very similiar sort of hills to the ones I had run in Lesmurdie with BBC and AP in training. a few weeks before...I was able to maintain good momentum through here and didn't have to walk too much. My quads were getting very sore, and everything else was numb with pain too. Ignored the extreme fatigue and tried to keep pushing hard. Another drink station, and we crossed a bitumen road with about 5km? to go. Then it was back to single up and down track similiar to just before Coxs crossing, and also a few steps...Again I tried to keep pushing hard and keep passing other runners. Pitstop again, and then started to run out of intensity, just couldn't find anything more in the tank, and a few runners passed me....With about 3-4km to go last aid station, and I knew I was a pretty solid chance to get in under 7 hours, but also knew I had not much more to give, and that as another runner had told me (the last 2km is a miserable,miserablly hard descent). I thought I could make it, but knew if I dropped my guard I might still miss breaking the 7 hour barrier.
THE LAST 2km and the finish!
The last 2km was sooooo hard. It seemed to go on for ever and ever and I started to really worry I would not make the finish under 7 hours. My quadriceps were just screeaming out in pain, in this 400m descent in the space of 2km. I had never tried to do anything like this before, and I was already mega-spent anyway...Also it was slippery and a narrow single track. I was extremely worried I would lose my footing and go sprawling into the bush thatfell away below me. It was a bit scary, especially when other runners wanted to pass me on this section which a few did. I caught up to one person I think, but mostly was just trying to move as fast as I dared, and as fast as my quads would allow me to which wasn't very fast, basically shuffling along...Extreme pain for about 10-20minutes. Pretty significant rain, muddy kangaroo track...Then I started to hear the announcer below, and my emotions took over, somehow I kept going and after what seemed a neverending bunch of twists and turns, Jenolan Caves appeared like a mirage in the desert below. A hidden building below, I saw hundreds of people there, and a concrete path with metal safety railing stretching down to it...I glanced at my watch and knew I was going to make it with a few minutes to spare...
The rain was pouring down but I was feeling about as happy as I have ever felt, crying inside, as the finishline stood there 10-20meters away, some people cheering, I heard my name called a few times, and I may as well have been in an Olympic final, thats the feeling I felt...unforgettable.......Sure I only just made the cutoff by 6 minutes, but it was just an unbelievable emotional mix of elation and relief. A major goal achieved, and hard earned in nearly 7 hours of slog...the time on Pluvi where I thought I would not make it, the hassles I endured for weeks and months just to be in this race. It was all so totally worth it......I think I now know a bit more why Deakes cried when he won the world 50km walk in Osaka a few years back.....Special moment, so glad I was blessed to have experienced this. Have heaps of people to thank from over the years who helped me get there... A little disappointed with the time, but the main goal achieved, and a lot of lessons learnt I think. My first thought was thats it, I don't think I ever want to do this again, its done and thats it....In the weeks and months later though I have decided I would like to try it again, although It would be hard to top the emotional highs and lows of this experience. I think if I am ever good enough to qualify for Wave 3 or 2, then I would try and go back, maybe even next year, just to try and get a faster time, but either way, Ive done something I wanted to do since 2005, so thats mission accomplished in my mind...Afterwards I found Mark and Rhonda, and chatted with everyone I could, including one young girl (I think her name was Bria?) who was doing a touristy visit to the caves, not knowing there would be a race on...Caught up with a few people, got some HOT chips, and continued living the dream, including chatting with other runners on the bus, until our bus got stuck behind a fatal car accident on the way back, and we had to get a train back...Surreal experience...felt like I was on a school camp for this bit...I see now why so many people rave on about this race, and feel very blessed to have conquered it, and most of all been part of the experience in 2011!!!!!
That ends my 2011 race report I think!
No internet connection at home on the PC at the moment due to unpaid bills, not sure when I can afford to get it up again could be weeks/months away. quads sore for 4 days after 6 foot. Calf sore for last few days hoping to be running this weekend again...in the meantime I have very limited internet options on my phone, at libraries when I am not working 50 hours and at my parents etc..Here are a sample of my 6 foot race photos...heaps more on facebook...blogging in detail will have to wait til later....
UPDATE 2nd April 2011...Preoccupied with more important things like paying the rent. The last few weeks have been a desperate struggle. At library now, trying to make a start on blogging before my memory of the events becomes too hazy. Probably won't finish blogging today but hope to do so at the bottom of this post during the month of April or MayIve run a 6km in 35min (HR 153), and did a walk/jog 6km with my wife Kathryn in the last week or so. Thats all since 6 foot. Pathetic. No injury issues so far, so probably well and truly ready to hopefully get training and racing again soon now I've had 3 weeks off.
Am going to try and start blogging about my 6 foot experience on the bottom of this post. It will be a work in progress over several weeks, and I hope to get to linrary internet enough to complete it in April, so check back onto this post each week if you are interested...;
6 foot complete resultssays I was 819th of 877 starters, with 34 DNF's and 4 outside the 7 hour cutoff. To complete this race in under 7 hour cutoff still a source of major elation 3 weeks later for me as this has been a major goal of mine since I setup this blog in 2005 (6 years ago). Only regrets are that the time (6hrs 53min 07 secs) is a bit slower than I was hoping for, and that Kathryn and my children Jacob and Jordan couldnt be there. However that could be fixed in future years maybe, and very minor regrets in the face of huge joyous elation.
So massively, massively happy to get this race done!!!
2/4/11;
Just getting to the start line in this race was a massive challenge in itself. First there is the issue of the costs of airfares and accomodation. I got a big payout in October 2010 so I took advantage of that to book my airfares (about $400) from Perth to Sydney and back then, and also one nights accomodation on the Friday night before the race, as I knew that come March I would struggle to have the money and it would be hard to get anyone else to finance my running obsession. I did however hope that I might be able to save up and pay for Kathryn and my children to fly there also, and to book a saturday night also. As it turned out thats was totally not an option and I had to take out a secret cash converters loan to pay the $135 entry fee. Finished paying that off in late March. Before all of that I failed to get an entry spot and had to go on the waitlist in early December 2010, and finally got my entry offer in February. Then there was hassles getting to and from Perth airport, which is a costly tricky affair, and I ended up spending the night at the airport on the way back as I couldn't afford a taxi. With better planning maybe this could have been avoided. Then there was the trainfares from Sydney to Katoomba. The massive kindness of Mark and his wife in letting me have a room at their apartment on the Saturday night free of charge.
Also my cousin in Sydney put up with me for a day and drove me to the airport. Other big financial issues and other major hassles post race, so all in all a big logistical challenge to get to the start line, and then recover in the week after the race. I am not trying to have a go at anyone about this just merely sharing some of the challenges involved for someone with limited resources. Anyhow enough about that, its time to start posting about the race itself.
RACE REPORT;
Mark and Rhonda kindly picked me up from my hotel on race morning as arranged. After a week of mostly 3-4 hours sleep per night, I had managed 6 hours of sleep on the night before, and felt refreshed, energized and ready to go with a resting heart rate of 38 beats per minute, my best one for the week, so felt good. The lightning and heavy rain show from the night before had disappeared. One of my powerades was leaking so drank that before the start. I'd picked up my racepack the night before at the Carrington, and met a few other runners there including Glenda, Nigel and Liz Hubbard (at Subway...ex-West Australians from Booragoon area!!! how freaky is that), and Colin Jeftha the race guru!!!. I felt like I was in a very good dream, hard to believe it was real, that I was actually in Marks hire car heading to the parking area to catch shuttle bus to the start. The parking area was very well organised. Short bus ride to start. Caught up with coolrunners Plu!, flying emu, running angel and go-girl at the start. They seemed pretty cool people, nice to meet people I only knew from online. They called us in to wave 4 (The first 3 faster waves had already started)...and I got a spot towards the back, with Jane,Glynis and Sanet (from the Darlington C-team, and all did 6 inch in 2010) nearby. Also spotted Arrrtgrrl I think near the front of the wave.
Then we were off, and before long the narrow trail started to go steeply downhill, only room for 1-3 runners alonside each other. Then it was single file. I tried to pass as many people as I could in this bit, as I had heard about the steps, and I wanted to gfet to the 15km mark in a good time. My rcae plan was not detailed, but simply get to river crossing (15km) in under 2 hours, get to top of Pluvi (26km?) in under 4 hours and get to finish in 6-7 hours.
Then we hit the steep slippery steps, and it felt so surreal like going through a rainforest. Slow progress and already the quads very sore...Chatted with Clay from melbourne for a bit (blue shirt in my photos)
on the way down the steps. It was a big challenge staying upright an balanced. Eventually we finally got to the bottom. Then it was a 4wd track where I was able to start running hard.
update 23/5/11;
In this section I could see the incredible views back up the cliffs, and I stopped for 4 min for a pitstop. Ran hard for awhile and caught up with the group clay was running with...
Probably worked a bit too hard, so had to back off a bit.
My memory is a bit hazy now a few months later, but I know we climbed over some of the steps that cross fences, and got a cheer from some spectators near the first drinks stop. Started to get some single track stuff, and some hills. Nothing major though. I think I ran with one of the Cool runners in the 1000 day mileage challenge very briefly during this section maybe. Eventually we got to some very narrow and dangerous single track kangeroo track type trail where we were forced into single file. This was about 10km-14km into it. I was still running at a good pace, and avoiding drinks at this stage mostly...At one stage about 10 of us got stuck behind a bloke in a dark blue top who was going very slow and would not step aside and let us through. Some of the runners were complaining about it, but I just waited, and when I saw the thick bush thin out a bit I seized my opportunity and jumped and sprinted hard through the bush alongside the trail, and managed to pass the bloke in the blue top and a few others behind him. Almost lost my footing but kept balance somehow... Big ankle injury potential in this section. Eventually about 5-10 runners also got past and they were pushing me at a pace faster than I wanted up to another little bunch of runners. I was keen to stick with a good pace until the river crossing, but I could tell they wanted to go much faster, so I stepped aside for about 3 of them, and tried to settle my pace down a bit. I was aiming to get to Coxs crossing in under 2 hours, anything better than that would be a bonus. We passed a very rickety looking bridge over the river valley, and did a few taxing ups and downs as the single file track continued. I stayed with a small bunch, although a few of them went further ahead on their own. Was starting to feel a bit tired, and when I got to the river finally with Walter and Glenda (who I met briefly at race pack collection the night before and by accident just happened to be running at similiar pace to me at this point...) just behind me, I was glad to make it in 1hr 51min. It wasn't that deep, in fact my attempt at swimming didn't work too well, so I pretty much waded through waist deep water... I couldn't be bothered putting my shoes in plastic bags, but I am glad I had them with me as they protected other things in my hydration pak from getting wet. In hindsight I probably would have been better off taking my shoes off, as they filled up with small gravel which was horrible. Took awhile to get that out of my shoes after the river crossing. I was very happy with my time up to this point. I lost several minutes sorting out my shoes here...But if I had not done that, no doubt blisters would have forced me into a DNF, so I had to do that.
Then it was the start of the hills towards minisaddle.
PLUVI and MINISADDLE (800m of ascent in about 10km)
Straightaway I could see it was going to be a struggle. I worked hard, but was finding that jogging was not really that easy, and I was stuck in a walk a lot of the time. Had some good chats with a few others. But they were all going past me. It was obvious my hill strength wasn't good enough. In addition the pack I had on my back with several litres of drinks was making it very hard, the extra couple of kg to drag up the hill with my normal 78kg or so was a lot. Jane, Glynis and eventually Sanet all passed me on the hills, (They got to Coxs Crossing 10 minutes behind me) and they all looked strong, especially Jane and Glynis. After Mini-saddle, I was struggling and made big use of a drink station. Basically walking heaps, and only trying to run every now and then. Wasn't walking fast really either. I think we crossed some more creeks at some stage too, some were a bit hard and my feet got wet, but not too bad. I remember this big switchback. We also started to get passed by the utes from the Rural fire service volunteers from about here onwards occasionally on mostly gravel 4wd track...Incredible scenery!!!, but mostly just trying to keep going up...Drink stations total oasis points from here on, and I started to use the drinks in my pak a lot. Eventually I saw the straw brooms of the sweepers below as we got into the teeth of the Pluviometer.... I felt gone!!!!!!!!!!! I could hear them and the pacers (I later found out their names were Jane and Robyn) below, and me and some other runners started to worry about getting swept. I really started to wonder if a DNF was what I was headed for here. However I figured I had come this far so was going to fight as long as I could to stay in the race...I was really struggling to keep moving up the hills, and almost overbalancing, plus felt light headed every time I tried to jog instead of walking...Sometimes I leaned over close to the ground almost in a crawling position trying to get up the neverending hills... The pacers caught us and started to encourage us and give us the verbal kick in the backside to keep at it... I knew this was it, my last chance to stay ahead of the pacers before the top of Pluvi. I knew if I could get to the top of Pluvi and some flatter ground I might be able to get some running going again. So I dug in and tried my hardest to keep walking with the pacers. They were picking up rubbish, and really encouraged me and a few other runners heaps. A few of us got going and I remember a girl from the UK say "we cant let the sweepers get us"...I think she did get swept though...Just before we got there I saw a bloke in a black shirt wearing KT52's sit down on the gravel about 100m from the top. I could hear the sweepers behind me, and I knew I had to give my all to get to pluvi 25-26km mark (800m of elevation since coxs crossing at 15km) soon, to have any chance of staying in the race. I got there in 4.09.48, and the bloke in the black shirt about 50-100m behind me who gave up and sat down got swept. One of the pacers made a cool comment here about how we could relax now for a bit.I took another runners advice in this section to drink my last sports drink...Then the heavy rain and lightning started, and I started to run away from the sweepers...just occasional runs at first punctuating lots of walking, and as I started to recover from all the ascent, I started to run harder and more often, and I knew I was doing well when I started to pass lots of people.
24/5/11 update THE BLACK RANGE;
We were still essentially ascending, and gained another 400m of ascent in the next 15km or so, although there was some downhill and flat sections eventually. I tried to settle into a good rhythm and figured I was a good chance to beat the 7hour cutoff, if I could keep at it for the last 19km of this 45km race. However I knew I had to attack with everything I had to have any chance... Saw the sag wagon of the sweepers go by with sad runners stuck inside it being taken to the finish...
Caught up to a bloke with an injured leg, and we passed some pine trees I think with about 10km to go. Was pretty happy with my split here and it was quite flat terrain and I felt really confident at this stage, for the first time in about 3 hours. Then after an aid station with those wonderful firefighters the course seemed to swing around to the left, and there was steep downhill, which I ran hard, and passed a few more runners, and there formed a bunch of us all going hard at it. At the bottom of the hill it got very wet and muddy, with some massive puddles, and extremely slippery mud. Tried to keep feet out of the puddles a bit, and then there were two short but very steep hills to climb. Very similiar sort of hills to the ones I had run in Lesmurdie with BBC and AP in training. a few weeks before...I was able to maintain good momentum through here and didn't have to walk too much. My quads were getting very sore, and everything else was numb with pain too. Ignored the extreme fatigue and tried to keep pushing hard. Another drink station, and we crossed a bitumen road with about 5km? to go. Then it was back to single up and down track similiar to just before Coxs crossing, and also a few steps...Again I tried to keep pushing hard and keep passing other runners. Pitstop again, and then started to run out of intensity, just couldn't find anything more in the tank, and a few runners passed me....With about 3-4km to go last aid station, and I knew I was a pretty solid chance to get in under 7 hours, but also knew I had not much more to give, and that as another runner had told me (the last 2km is a miserable,miserablly hard descent). I thought I could make it, but knew if I dropped my guard I might still miss breaking the 7 hour barrier.
THE LAST 2km and the finish!
The last 2km was sooooo hard. It seemed to go on for ever and ever and I started to really worry I would not make the finish under 7 hours. My quadriceps were just screeaming out in pain, in this 400m descent in the space of 2km. I had never tried to do anything like this before, and I was already mega-spent anyway...Also it was slippery and a narrow single track. I was extremely worried I would lose my footing and go sprawling into the bush thatfell away below me. It was a bit scary, especially when other runners wanted to pass me on this section which a few did. I caught up to one person I think, but mostly was just trying to move as fast as I dared, and as fast as my quads would allow me to which wasn't very fast, basically shuffling along...Extreme pain for about 10-20minutes. Pretty significant rain, muddy kangaroo track...Then I started to hear the announcer below, and my emotions took over, somehow I kept going and after what seemed a neverending bunch of twists and turns, Jenolan Caves appeared like a mirage in the desert below. A hidden building below, I saw hundreds of people there, and a concrete path with metal safety railing stretching down to it...I glanced at my watch and knew I was going to make it with a few minutes to spare...
The rain was pouring down but I was feeling about as happy as I have ever felt, crying inside, as the finishline stood there 10-20meters away, some people cheering, I heard my name called a few times, and I may as well have been in an Olympic final, thats the feeling I felt...unforgettable.......Sure I only just made the cutoff by 6 minutes, but it was just an unbelievable emotional mix of elation and relief. A major goal achieved, and hard earned in nearly 7 hours of slog...the time on Pluvi where I thought I would not make it, the hassles I endured for weeks and months just to be in this race. It was all so totally worth it......I think I now know a bit more why Deakes cried when he won the world 50km walk in Osaka a few years back.....Special moment, so glad I was blessed to have experienced this. Have heaps of people to thank from over the years who helped me get there... A little disappointed with the time, but the main goal achieved, and a lot of lessons learnt I think. My first thought was thats it, I don't think I ever want to do this again, its done and thats it....In the weeks and months later though I have decided I would like to try it again, although It would be hard to top the emotional highs and lows of this experience. I think if I am ever good enough to qualify for Wave 3 or 2, then I would try and go back, maybe even next year, just to try and get a faster time, but either way, Ive done something I wanted to do since 2005, so thats mission accomplished in my mind...Afterwards I found Mark and Rhonda, and chatted with everyone I could, including one young girl (I think her name was Bria?) who was doing a touristy visit to the caves, not knowing there would be a race on...Caught up with a few people, got some HOT chips, and continued living the dream, including chatting with other runners on the bus, until our bus got stuck behind a fatal car accident on the way back, and we had to get a train back...Surreal experience...felt like I was on a school camp for this bit...I see now why so many people rave on about this race, and feel very blessed to have conquered it, and most of all been part of the experience in 2011!!!!!
That ends my 2011 race report I think!
posted by trailblazer777 | 3/19/2011 06:53:00 pm
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