Half (15km)the KHT UP run with BB and friends and about 7km b4

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9:20 AM on Sunday, May 27, 2018

Dell/MtGungin, Kattamorda Lockwood Rd to Mundaring with BB and friends

Slept in a bit, (good in one way because I managed two much needed 8 hour sleeps which I need for UTA100 recovery, much better than the usual 4-6) so decided to drive to The Dell, with the aim of running to Mt Gungin summit before 10am and before BB and friends got there. A bit of a risk, because if my timing was wrong I would miss the group and the whole morning would be a bit of a wipeout, (although i could run solo and heaps of options) but it worked well because by Lockwood Rd I had found the group of 12 runners. Really nice to see BT, S, and J, and also a few other people I know. Excellent mix of some faster runners and some more cruisy runners... perfect. Pleased to see that BBs navigating was exactly (except at the old oak tree (1860s?)which i would avoid and this is the first time i have crossed tiger snake creek) as I have navigated on the KHT, (i did use her notes and map to help me learn this trail especially south of the dell) so we both have the course accurate. First time I have actually run all the way through Tiger Snake Creek, and actually maybe not as bad as I thought, although in summer it might be a different ballgame. Took lots of photos, and generally had a fantastic time chatting with various people enjoying the run. Legs started to get heavy in the last few km before Mundaring, as the pace stepped up a bit. By Mundaring I was rather tired and didn't relish a solo 11km back to the Dell, so got a lift with Stephen. Really cool to be part of this. :-) Thanks BB for organising and Thanks God.

Triumphant UTA100km finisher 24hrs33

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7:54 AM on Saturday, May 19, 2018

UTA100 4000m+Vert 24hrs33min15 (Recharged watch at CP4 and twice while running)

My first 100km finish. First time racing above 60km, and over 10 hours. Was able to attack Furbers 951 steps at the end quite well, but got a bit slack towards the end and missed my PR by 14 seconds... https://www.strava.com/segments/4267134 (99m averaging 18% but steeper than kokoda for some of it...some parts its dead flat running under cliff overhangs)(16.43 plays 16.29) However the 16.29 was done pretty fresh in 2016 the day after my Six Foot DNF at 30km, so I am confident I am strong enough to PR it when fresher...

In some ways felt I could have gone much faster, but with the resources I had, and the extreme obstacles both terrainwise and vertical ascentwise, vertical descentwise, and more than 10,000 steps going up or down (probably took over 100,000 steps during the race (the 8hrs on Sunday showed up as 47000+ on the step counter)), time spent at CP4 recharging watch for 50minutes, fueling at Cp3, CP4, Cp5..., some photos and videos, lots of adjustments and stops to get gear along the way, I lost a few hours in time...
That said I had an outstanding crew in 6-time Ironman Triathlon finisher Lee and his wife Bec. They have both run a few half marathons as well, and Bec has done UTA22. Lee is a firefighter and high level cyclist, so their experience with fueling, and charging watches was crucial to my success. Without their help I don't think I would have dealt with the challenges of fueling, watch charging and my doubts over whether I could go the distance, plus the nocturnal factor, and not having a definite racing buddy to pair up with in my wave 7.
There was a few people from Perth I could have tried to team up with...Problem with racing in pairs though is that one of you ends up sacrificing hours of racing time to help the other person along ( I would have been the slower one in most cases, and I start faster than most people for the first few hours so I'm a difficult person to pair with)... Also another a friend loaned me a powerbank and I had my powerpod as well but those two options were slow charging ones. The powerbank was light though so I used that while I was running, plus the cord for my powerpod is almost broken...My headlamp broke the week before the race so i had to get a new one at gear check which i managed to get done in Perth 1 day before I flew out. Blessed in so many ways to be a successful finisher in this race under the 28hr cutoff... I am sure that I could go a few hours quicker with better gear, especially a watch that costs $500 or more...

I don't think my conditioning is as good as last year but my legs have a few years of mountains ascents thanks to UTA CP4 DNF last year, UTA50 in 2016, Mt Toolbrunup in August last year, lots of Mt Trio and a DOUBLE bLUFF kNOLL with a 3rd bluff knoll the next day in April 2017, Six Foot 45 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 11x6inch, Bluff kNOLL HALF last year, and averaging around 7000-8000m vert for 4 months this year and last year (including the 10000m months in April, and one 4000m+ week in April...) Bloated Goat race x2, and Lark Hill 50km, plus the 9hr session in the Gorge a few weeks ago all had may well prepared for this significant extreme challenge, and when I hit the 1.58 on just popping out to the weir a few weeks back I knew I could start strong as well...
They brought back the Ironpot mountain challenge obstacle this year with the better weather, and that was an extreme trail runners delight... did a video at the top, but the real extreme stuff was on the descent and ascent, very much like the toughest trails in the gorge...so training on those and the goat course certainly came in handy for Ironpot... Also the grip of the Saucony Peregrines very helpful on descent of that and in getting through landslides and also the 800m descent into Jamieson valley at 3am...
Nellies Glen 400m ascent seemed much easier this year, so maybe that is a result of the 18x extended Kokoda type sessions or the Gorge 9hr session where I clocked up almost 2000m vert... My race goals going in were sub 20 hrs (turned out to be very unrealistic with my knees and low end gear, inexperience with 10hr+ races...), get to CP4 in under 10hrs (officially 9hrs 53min so I achieved that), and try and catch wave 6 in the first 5km (impossible because they changed the wave start times from 10min apart to 18min apart due to putting 50km waves in between 100km waves this year), but I did catch the 50km wave, and eventually caught the wave 6 (100km) people later... (after CP1 I think)...but then it was mostly stragglers, so that didn't last long, so I couldn't ride wave 6 towards wave 5...(who started even further apart as well...)...Threw in a few 5min K splits with the heavy pack early on which was hard work but got me in good position and I came past Juliette in Landslides (wave 6?) ...she must have passed me after CP4? cos she finished about an hour ahead of me...
Got through Tarros Ladders quick this year... Darryl caught me just as we came into CP2 at Dunphys camp, but I exited quickly...I used my own supplies and the only aid station stuff I used was a hammer gel from CP2, a few gels and bars at CP4, and hot drink at CP5... I used my drop bags at CP3, CP4 and CP5, and carried about 5litres of drinks in my pack... I'm used to that, and fussy with aid stations (Had reusable cup which I wasted $10 on at expo (forgot to grab my Perth Trail Series one in the rush to pack Wednesday night), but didn't use it) so that worked better for me... Also had shirt and shorts I planned to race in hidden under my first aid stuff in my pack throughout the race which if I had found that would have given me more space in the pack, so a few errors due to being rushed, but nothing major that impacted my race much there...
I think overall it was of those races where all the major things went well, really blessed in that way as this is an expedition type race, where a lot of the mandatory and non-mandatory items are crucially important to success...
Ironpot mountain Darryl got past me (see video), and Kathleen and Jack were running ahead or behind me there as well, plus Mark and Cheryl came past... All these people I have trained or raced with in Perth...so nice to see familiar faces have a bit of a chat... Then at CP3 I saw a Wild Goose hat, and then realised it was Bri (back for her 2nd 100km, and she PBed in 22hrs?)...
At CP4 I put my thermal pants on (so cold! without them once nocturnal zone came...) and put my fleece jumper on pinned number to that, ended up running with one glove as I like the grip of a hand without a glove... After CP5 I scrunched my jumper so I could warm up my hand (without a glove ) inside the jumper... Had my slazenger $15 watch over the top of the jumper, and put the garmin 235 ($244 on afterpay from Rebel sale) over the glove which allowed me to connect the charging strap to the powerbank and tuck the powerbank into my fleece jumper sleeve while I was running...Ok but going down giant stairway was a bit concerned I might drop the powerbank (400m drop at night alongside the 3 sisters)... Coming into Giant Stairway I saw a massive possum in the tree above... At about 63km some bloke behind me asked me why all these runners were going in the opposite direction and we couldn't work it out until Wayne showed up and told us he had done 95km... heaps of surreal experiences including sound of massive waterfalls while going up and down about 8000 steps up and down the sandstone cliffs at night... asked one woman if she was from Japan and she says "Chin...Beijing"... the Chinese? blokes power napping with Ayups still turned on while on steep clifflike trails at 4am... surreal as... At the finishline bloke asked me about Jacobs Ladder on the racwe microphone in front of the crowd (small one by 8.28am!!! hahaha) so obviously he has been to Perth...? Jonathan, Kathleen, Jack and my crew at the finish, towel, medal, post race gear check for jacket and snake bandage... Euphoria plus... battled microsleeps like in my courier driving days for the last 5 hrs especially used a few pepsis but avoided excessive caffeine... Thanks God!!!!!!!!!!! YEEEEEEHAH!!!!

https://www.strava.com/activities/1586149172