I’d apologise for the length of this report but it’s my blog ;-) Ready Tesso? You asked for it ;-)
What an amazing way to start the new year with a physical, mental & emotional rollercoaster! I have no idea where to start. I’m actually lost for words. It doesn’t happen very often. I don’t normally write long, lengthy race reports but this one was very special for me.
I have always wanted to run the Six Foot Track marathon. Since 2005 when I went up there to cheer & help out the organisers, I knew it was a special event. Qualifying for the 2007 race was my one & only goal in 2006. And so when I decided not to run W2B in August, I put away any thoughts of running it this year.
When this ‘race’ first was mentioned, there was no indecision on my part about which option to go for – I didn’t even contemplate the possibility of doing the 33k option. I just wasn’t fit enough (
so I thought) to even contemplate it. My longest run leading into it was 14kms on my
sekrit hilly trail 2 weeks ago.
And then after our run at Quarry Road on Christmas Eve, Spud suggested that I run the full course at Black Stump as a way of getting my qualifying time. I thought about it for about 5sec & then dismissed it, thinking I couldn’t – that I wasn’t fit enough – but the idea was planted. 2P suggested the same thing on Wednesday. It took me about 24 hours to get my head around the idea & on Thursday I decided to do the full monty today. At this stage, I'm getting
really nervous about my lack of training so I decided to focus only on the things I could control – my mind (
primarily) & my body – I don’t normally eat a lot of carbs but I increased the simple carbs I ate over the few days before the run & made sure that I was fully hydrated. I told everyone my only goal was to finish intact & smiling. While I tried not to focus on it because I didn't want to put pressure on myself, my secondary (
sekrit) goal was a Six Foot qualifying time (
5.45 or better).
To finish in 5:05 has completely blown me away.
To qualify for Six Foot – well, I don’t have the words for that…I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry as I finished. I did both. At the same time. A day later I’m still doing a bit of both.
I got to bed early on NYE – sans alcohol – at about 10.30pm but couldn’t sleep. And that was before the SMS’ & fireworks started. I think I eventually drifted off about 1am so I wasn’t feeling particularly refreshed when the alarm went off at 4.45am.
The trip to the start took me just under an hour & the minute I arrived I got
really nervous – primarily because of the distance. This would be both my longest run in time & distance by far - W2G’s 25k in 2:44 in June was as far & long as I’d gone before. Not the ideal preparation for what I’ve heard was one of the toughest runs around.
I had 2 golden rules for today – firstly to walk every hill, no matter how small and secondly, to take a 1min walk break every 20mins – regardless of whether I was on the flat or even downhill - to drink, rest, get myself together mentally, to take in the view, whatever. Obeying both of them was crucial I think to how the day turned out.
Ellie kindly decided to run the first bit down to the ferry with me so we quickly got into our rhythm. This section was predominately firetrail with a few technical bits & rock climbing thrown in to shake things up. We actually used one of our first walk breaks to stop & check out the view from one of the lookouts. Ellie was a great spotter of what we called sneaky hills – the kind that you look at & think “
I can run that” and then half way up you starting thinking “
shite, shoulda walked this one” ;-)
At the top of the first rock climb we caught up with Horrie, Belinda, Beki & Blkbox so I decided that if I could stick with Belinda & Horrie I would be a happy chicky. Arriving at the wharf (
approx. 8.7km), we just missed the ferry so we had time to stop for a chat with Superflake & grab a coke which saved me later in the day. Thanks Paul! I also grabbed some ice & stuffed it down the back of my shirt (
so it sat trapped between my shirt & the top of the camelbak until it melted) – a very effective cooling technique I discovered.
Off the ferry & we were off & running up Bay Road. Ok so I ran/walked my way up this hill (
about 2k) which very much reminded me of the 10kms mountain ascent at Warwick. One of those long winding roads that just seems to go on forever. With Horrie ahead & Belinda behind me, I kept a steady pace. Once I’d reached the turn off at the top of the hill, Horrie stopped to wait for Belinda so I set off to do the out & back section towards the castle on my lonesome.
This section starts out as a garden variety firetrail but slowly descends (literally) into a technical, rocky run. It was at this point that the majority of the field started coming back past us. This is such an amazing sport – the support & sense of camaraderie is amazing. I got to the ‘castle’ (
approx 17.6k), touched the wall & headed back. While I wanted to stay & poke around, I figured I would be on my feet long enough without extending my day unnecessarily. The climb back up from the castle was tough but I felt really strong & had a good chat to someone whose name I didn’t catch which was a helpful distraction. Back on the road & I started to pick up the pace & then turned for the 2km descent back down Bay Road to the wharf. Just before I turned the corner at the Marina, a few cars started coming past me so I thought that I’d missed the ferry. But with a sprint & the lovely guys working the ferry holding it up for me, I was able to get straight on & we were off. While it was good that I didn’t have to hang around for 10mins til the next ferry, it meant my recovery time was limited. I didn’t dare open the can of coke that I’d been carrying since my first trip on the ferry for fear of it exploding everywhere so I ate a few pretzels before disembarking.
A lil bitty flat bit once we came off the ferry allowed me to drink about half the can of coke before I started to pick up the pace. At this stage, I was about 3:30mins into the run but with only 8kms to go, I knew I could get the qualifying time if I didn't blow up. I had also been warned that the last 8kms weren't particularly easy. Talk about an understatement. It’s a good thing that I like rock climbing. The 28th & 29th kms took me a combined total of 37mins! By now I was thinking that I need to thank Satan for every single lunge, step up etc that I’ve done over the last 3 years of training with her. My legs felt really strong though the cardio system was suffering a bit.
With about 3k to go, the course flattened out to a firetrail and then joined up with a road for what felt like 3 very long kms. I was actually pretty surprised with my pace at this point - I was somehow still managing to maintain my LSD pace, if not a bit quicker. I confess that I almost rolled 2 men standing on Berowa Waters Rd – one was a Home Ice Cream delivery man, the other appeared to be a resident and both of whom had boxes of ice cream in hand!
Arriving at the finish surrounded by Gnome, Sparkie & my gals Go Girl & Ellie was amazing. I couldn’t – still can’t – believe my time. I don’t know why I doubt myself so much – I was right the other
day when I said that I AM stronger, mentally & physically, than I ever imagined…
I have to say that despite having the qualifier, I’m still undecided as to whether or not to do Six Foot – I suspect the Track demands more respect than any amount of training I’d be able to pull together between now & then. Still, it’s bloody nice to have the choice :-)
I've pulled up remarkably well. No DOMS at all though my right hip is a bit funky – I think it’s just jammed – nothing that a visit to Saint Andrew next week won’t fix.
My thanks to Spud & 2P for the initial push (
shove) in the back & to Ellie, Go Girl, 2P & Horrie whose words of advice & support I kept drawing on during my not-so-little adventure :-)
MTD: 33.19k
