Bloated Goat 5 hours 43minutes of amazing Wungong Gorge trail moments (mission accomplished)

Magnificent photos by Dennis Tan from Paparazzi on the Run.

Pre-race hydration pack. Jamming 2 Gatorades and a powerade and 2L of water into my pack along with Chomps and a few Gels and other things. Carried another powerade as a handheld, so in all took 2.4L of sports drinks and 2L of water with me and refilled the water at the 16km aid station, so drank at least 5L of drinks during this race, and it wasn't really enough during the 5 hours and 43minutes...
 I knew it was going to be a long tough morning on the trails with warm temperatures ahead. One of my training buddies and fellow UTA aspirants looks on.




Bloated goat the first 4 hours 56min couple of K's from the finish the stravadata

Got through first 16km cutoff in about 2.23-2.25. At this point I was racing strongly but still had a bit to play with

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Going for my first Gatorade and second sports drink at aidstation 16km into the race after 2 hours 25minutes. Was 5min under the cutoff at this stage and the heatwave had not kicked into high gear yet. Also refilled my 2L of water here (wise move for the next 3 hours), and drank a complimentary bottle of Upbeat beetroot juice. jettisoned 2 of my sports drinks bottles into the bin provided. Quick pitstop as I knew it was going to be a tough mission ahead.
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. Seemed warm weather from the very start... Had lots of strategies in place to deal with heat including frozen necktie, 2 powerades, and 2 gatorades. Rode Lijn and NE ridge were as tough as ever, but found some momentum on the valley floor, and also near the foot baths in Bungedore Park, although surprised by a short but steep climb in the North east sector.

 These three photos at the top of a climb about 10km in at the beginning of the footbaths, taken by Ben O.

My phone started playing Jupiter VI song "Running" by itself in that area which helped.

 The descent down to Aid Station one was hard as usual especially with my shoes having very little tread left now, my ankle issues to beware of (twisted both of them about 4 times all up during the race, but nothing serious this time...)... and also the fact that the incline of this descent (Powerline to brook segment) is too steep for me with my high centre of gravity to descend quickly on... That turned my aid station 1 split from a comfortable 215-2.20 into a "a bit close for comfort" 2.23-2.25, but still well under the pre-race cutoff of 2.30, so happy days, although maybe got a bit slack at times in Bungedore Park.

The climb up from the creek is always a challenging one for me, and today was no exception. No sign of the snake, and descending lower Mojo was a surprise for me. Running with Mark from Rode Lijn to NE Ridge, and then at 11km JC started to work past me, and pretty much the same people from there onwards. Met one of the Rogue runner blokes. Fantastic to see familiar faces marshalling like Ben H and Ben O. By the time I got to Woodstock singletrack my legs were tired and not interested in attacking. But I passed 2 blokes at the top of that one, and I saw one of my training friends at the bottom of Woodstock so I expected she might catch me soon. At the top of Mojo I tried to get running again. Used Chomps from about 79minutes onwards at regular intervals, and drank my Powerades. Scored an Upbeat drink at the aid station, and a water refill which was very very precious later in the race. I was trying to average under 10-11min per K, after going after 7-9min per K in the first 15km or so... The tricky descent and then steep climb on west side of gorge was challenging. Again saw a glimpse of J's blue hat at the bottom of this one, but continued dueling with the same group of 4 or 5 runners that I did for most of the last 15km of the race. No zip, but still running the flats and walking the hills well, and even running some of the descents...

My motto/theme song  of  "walk the hills, run the flats" which I used at six foot track many a time, and learned from someone else I forget who now, was in full swing about 4 hours into the race on the big switchback ascent and descent.

 These two photos taken by Alan.

Body core temperature started to become a problem about 25km-27km, with lots of direct sunlight sections (about 32 degrees in the shade but about 36-40 degrees in the direct sunlight). Ascents getting really hard to deal with physically and mentally. Realised I was going to struggle to finish under 5 hours 30min but still in with a chance. Garmin started shutting down, running out of battery life as per usual, and it completely died at 27.9km, which was also about the time my body started refusing to take in Gels and burping them up... I stopped the chomps about 24km in... Gatorade burp, and feeling the heat a lot... Water still going in ok, although by 5 hours I was struggling even to absorb water. I was getting pretty dehydrated and overheated. Just wanted to get to the end. Tank Climb with 2km to go a bit demoralising, but I stuck to the task and got through it. Hundreds of Monarch butterflies out there including some mating. Ice from the back of Ben O's Ute, and a spray from BB's spraygun helped, and I resisted the temptation to detour to the creek (which would have blown out my time too much) ... Dug deep about 20 times in the race to stick with it, and it felt like a cross between Six Foot Track and 6 inch on a hot day... Urine colour after this run was dark orange/brown so is that pretty dehydrated!? especially considering my fluid intake was high throughout... Thanks God, my wife, and all the wonderful trail running people for such an incredible experience. If I am to do this one again I would prefer to be 69kg next time or at least have cooler weather and shoes with better tread. Amazing day.

Probably wasted a lot of time in various sections, but didn't anticipate how shattered I would be towards the end. Was fairly confident of maybe going under 5 hours in first 20km, but lots to learn from this race. Overall I think I had a good hard go at it. Excellent training for UTA although a painful strugglefest towards the end.

The march to the finish

The final march to the end, with no garmin option available. Actually I think I have miscalculated should be 46min... makes little difference... Surprised the worn out old garmin 10 survived for 4 hours 56min thats almost the maximum 5 hours. Must have charged it real good the night before. Surprised I lasted 5 hours and 43min in those conditions on that course without serious injury or giving in... pleased with my effort in this one... dug deep about 20 times at least to stay with it.... persistence pays off, and probably tapered much better for this race than I did for Melbourne Marathon, and probably needed to...especially as I only made it with 1min and 59 seconds to spare with the revised extra 15min heat policy cutoff extended to 5.45... So in the end MISSION ACCOMPLISHED just....