When I finished Canberra last year I remember thinking I would never be able to run the 6ft track. It seemed too big and too long! I had another goal in mind post Sydney Marathon but that had to go on hold for another 6 months.... so on a run with Bernie and Deanne the plan was hatched to aim for 6ft to keep me occupied. I will be the first to admit that the prospect of such a big race scared me and I was not convinced of my ability to even do the training let alone line up and finish. So my plan was to just focus on training really hard and consistantly and not think too much about the big day..... I would cross that bridge when I got there. I am so thankful to have trained with Bernie and Wayne. They have been so incredibly generous with their knowledge of 6ft and ultras and I felt like they took me under their wing. They played such a big part in me getting to the start line feeling confident and prepared! I was so dissapointed to have not shared the expereince with Bernie but she will be back fitter and stronger. I know how hard she trainied and the dedication she puts into her running.... this will be a small blip on her 2007 screen.
The few days before race day dragged and I felt like I was waiting for Christmas. I went up to The Edge on Friday morning and helped out with setting up and giving out numbers for a few hours..... this helped to settle my nerves and gave me something else to think about. Now in the lead up to race day I had adjusted my inital race goal of sub 6hrs to 5:45. I then spoke to Sean about my race plan and he had told me I was in 5:30 shape and to not underself myself. He gave me instructions to start out steadily, to get to the top of Pluvi with the goal to run strongly the final 19kms. Haha he also told me to not walk the hills.... "you are a runner not a walker, I do not care if they are dolly steps...." So I adjusted my mind set to a 5:30 time. Now I was feeling really nervous. I had no excuses. So Friday night I bit the bullet and put it on paper and committed myself to 5:28 splits.
I learnt a few things from my crappy Sydney expereince.... so I had made sure I had properly carbo loaded, I was well hydrated, had my plan fixed in my mind and was 100% committed to not starting to quickly and to run my own race. I told Bec to not tell anyone my time and when people asked responded "sub 6hrs".
On race day I was so nervous I felt really sick. I get nervous even before a 10km race so I knew it was all nerves and once we were in the car I would settle down. I had my trusty crumpets, jam and sport drink for breakfast and we were on our way. My lovely sister and husband were great at keeping me calm and telling me how well I would run. We pulled up and I almost exploded with excitment! I was jumping out of my skin.... lets roll!!
It was a brilliant atmosphere and I was so excited getting to watch the earlier waves go first. I had a great little spot to the left of the start line and I was reafy to jump in the front of wave 4. Now we has run down Nellies Glen twice in training and I felt really confident on the steps. So my plan was to get a good start down the stairs so I could then just settle into a really relaxed pace and not feel any pressure to make up time.
So 8:35am.... Kevin counted us down an we were off. I had lined up with Will and it was great to have someone I knew to be silly with, but he was off like a stunned rabbit! It was really slippery on the steps and I was thankful to get to the bottom unscathed. So now I had to be patient. This was where I needed to be smart. I settled into my pace but felt like I was going so slow and people were flying past me. I commented to another guy to have a good look at them as we would pass them on Pluvi. I kept telling myself to be patient. I was feeliong full of energy and was itching to speed up but am happy to report I stuck to plan. At megalong road we passed The third wave sweepers and started to catch third wave runners. I ran up pinnacle Hill and was feleing really relaxed. By now my nerves were going and I was starting to really enjoy the run.
I was running with Sue, another strider and it was great to have someone to chat to. Sean had instructed me to make sure I drank enough and had carbs early in the race.... avoid running out of energy after pluvi. So my plan was to have a gu and sports drink evry 5km and a salt tablet evry 30mins. It helped to have the race broken up into little 5km chunks.
At about the 12km mark as we were running down to Cox's river I had my first ever running stack! I put my foot onto a granite rock and it just slipped straight from under me. I landed on my left knee and took most of the brunt through my arms and shoulders.... my new gloves just paid for themselves!!! I got straight uop and kept running and then notice I had blood running down my leg. Ray will be proud of this stack. My elbow was also feeling really sore and I got a little worried.... but it just stayed at a dull ache.
You could here the Cox's river rushing along side us as we ran down and I realised that I was going ot have to get wet! In training the river was low and we just scampered across rocks. Sure enough the river was high and it was waist deep on me. It was quite cold and really refreshing....but also washed away my blodd! No dramatic photos for me!! I reached Cox's river in 1:38, 4 mins earlier than my plan. I really did not feel I had run to quickly and started to get a little excited.
I had some dried pinneapple and sports drink at the aid station and had a quick chat with Stephen Jackson. Now for the fun stuff. I decided to not worry about my shoes and socks as they would dry quick enough in the sun on Mini Mini. So I geared myself up for the 4.5km climb up Mini Mini. I decided to run/walk as I was feeling really good. I had been practicing my climbing at the gym and knew I was pretty strong even if I was walking. I passed Plu here and gave him a quick hello. I ran anything that looked runable, even if it was 50ms. I was passing a lot of people here and I started to really work on relling people in. At the lemon tree yard aid station I had some Coke and was a new convert to the joys of warm coke! I could not believe the lift it gave me and took off to knock the rest of the hill over. I was pretty happy to reach the top and wasted no time and got straight into running again.
The downhills here are pretty steep heading down to Allums creek and I could feel a stitch from the previous aid station. Once I had crossed over Allums creek I continued to run up the beginning of Pluvi. I knew I would be doing more walking than running so I was taking advantage while I could. It was a really odd site making my way up Pluvi. People were already looking really tired and some were in obvious pain. I decided to just really focus on getting to the top as quickly as possible. I stated to fous on strider singlets and reel them in. About 3/4 of the way up there were some bike riders that were standing cheering. This really fit female gave me a big cheer and said I looked really strong.... this gave me a huge lift. I started to think about what lay ahead and was preparing myself for a tough final 19kms. We reached the top of Pluvi finally and I crossed the mats at 3:09:36. At this point I had a rush of excitment and butterflies..... I was aiming for 3:14 so had 5mins in the bank.
Now I was feeling tired and the legs were definately feeling the effect of a 3km climb up the mountain but I was straight into running and started repeating to myself "I am a runner not a walker, dolly steps, just keep going". The black ranges are a bit of a blur....at some point I passed 2P and Sebastian who gave me a really encouraging cheer. I just felt like a woman possessed! I started thinking.... this is possible. If you just hold it together you can do this! At each aid station I just how far to the next one and then told myself...ok only 2km to run.
A psychological advantage of starting in the final wave is the sheer number of runners that I passed along the way. I really used this to motivate myself. As I would pass I was thinking not only are you passing this person, but they started 20min ahead of you. Now I did this not in a malicious way but I needed to do anything to keep my positive vibe going. I knew that the hardest part of the final 19km was that it appears to just keep going and going. There is also a lot more up hill on that final 19kms than people expect. The other runners were really great I was thankful for all the " hey your going great, keep it up". I just gave people a nod and kept going. I was feeling really strong and others were doing it really tough.... hard to know what to say to people. That is what is so amaxing about the race. Evry one is in there own persoal battle to keep going.
I reached Deviation in 4:09.... 7 mins ahead of schedule. Now I started to feel confident. I was also in a bit of disbelief. Maby my watch is wrong....did I accidently stop it somewhere????
I said to another runner.... 10km to go, time to reel them all in. He laughed and said you have been doing that since Pluvi, then he peeled away. I wanted to go with him but flet a little unsure if I could maitain that pace for 1okms! I remebered Seans words..... nothing silly her, no surges, keep it constant and consistant. I did some math and thought if I do 7mins kms I will get there in about 5:20. I started to grin like a mad woman and took off. I knew I had more than enough left for that!
I was determined to run te whole 19kms but the final sharp nasty hill before the road made me walk. I felt tingling in my hands and I knew I needed some more sugar.... thankfully I also knew that the road crossing aid station was less than 1km away. I was so happy to see the road, have some more coke and was suprised to se Don Juan there!! It was lovely to see his happy face but can not remeber what he said to me.
7km to go.... or a lap of the bay! Woo Hoo! I could sniff the finish. I picked it up a bit here and passed a few more people and realised a 5:15 was a definate if I held it together and if I could really run hard on the down hills maby even less. WTF!!!! I could not believe this was me running!
I was haniging out for that final 3km but once it arrive I was wishing it was over. that final descent was a killer! My abs were really hurting from all the bracing I was doing because of how steep it was. I kicked a huge rock and felt both legs threaten to cramp, so I backed off the pace a bit as I really wanted to finih running and not limp home. I could here the crowd and I was starting to get really overwhelmed. I was crying and laughing and felt so happy. I passed an early started and just as I did that both calfs started to cramp! No way.... not in this life time. There was a fair bit of swearing... sorry to all those around and I just started doing little dolly steps until I was off the rocky stuff onto the pavers.Then I heard my sister yelling my name and you would have had to cut my legs off to stop me!!! I knew Ray was about 200ms away and I was now beyond excited! I saw him and he was yelling for me to go, go, go! I just smile and said check out the time!!!!
The finish chute is amazing!!! So many people and they were all yelling my name.... or it sounded that way! I heard the announcer say "wow shes happy!!" I was high fiving and having a ball! I stopped my watch and it said 5:15:34. Then I had Bernie, Deanne, Bec and Amanda there giving me a hug. Wow! Hahaha then I kept thinking I must have turned my watch off accidently at some point. Surely that is not my time! So I waited patiently until Kevin had the results up and I could confirm that yes I had finished in 5:15:34, 6th in my age group and 34th female!!! Now I was surprsied but so was evryone else. There were quite a few people who were almost speechless... I have decided to take it as a compliment :-)
I am still reeling about it! I loved that whole experience. It was tough physically and mentally and too hard to really describe or do justice to! I take my hat off to all those who completed the run..... what a mamouth effort!
Thank you to my lovely sister, husband and mum! They had so much faith in me and were not surprised by the result. Ray never doubted me and knew I would do it. I am so lucky to have such an amazing family.
A special mention to Tony who obviously took my advice literally and blasted his way up Pluvi and along the range..... nice way to break a record!!! Seriously what an awesome run!!! To all my favourite people, you know who you are and I let you all know regularly how much I love you all! So I am not going to drag this ridiculously long post out any longer!!
Let me just say, there is fire in the belly and I know I can do a lot more than I give myself credit for. I am looking forward to alot more exciting stuff to come this year.... bring it on!!!!!!
sorry I can not be bothered to do a spell check....I have had enough!!
