As we get closer to The Guzzler Ultra, my coach is starting to set me longer and more challenging
training runs. The weekend just gone, he scheduled me 45km however as I was already registered to run the 12km Hightail Trail Race, we agreed that I could complete the race and then go run an additional 33km somewhere else. My wonderful amazing friend Sue agreed to join me, even though she is not running the Guzzler herself, but because she is as crazy as I am and up for a challenge! In the days leading up, Sue was a bit stressed about being able to do the whole distance, and so we made up the mantra “just a day in the forest” to take the pressure off. Didn’t matter how long it took us, and we warned our families we would be out all day, just time on legs and having fun! Sunday morning we left home at 4.45am to allow enough travel time to Mt Coot-Tha and to ensure we got to the place in time. Lucky we did leave early, as twice Google Maps directed us the wrong way! Nevertheless, we managed to still get there in plenty of time, caught up with our Good Times Running Club crew and a number of other friends and then it was time to start. Now my body, especially my calves, usually takes a few km to warm up nicely and would prefer to warm up on flat or slight decline trails first, however the Hightail Trail Race started with about 3km of up up up – my poor calves were not happy! The rest of the race was lovely though, the marshals and volunteers on course were amazing and it is a very well run event by the Mountain Goat Trail Runners. We had people commenting on course about how we managed to run while constantly talking – what can I say; it’s a gift! Lol After finishing Hightail, we quickly got in the car and drove to the Walkabout Creek Discovery Centre for our next loop. We chose to do the “Thirsty Pair” loop from the Guzzler training courses, which included Hellhole and a loop around Gold Creek Reservoir. A quick re-fill of our pack with hydration and nutrition and we were off by 10am. I had downloaded the loop onto maps.me, an app on the phone that allows you to follow a course in real time using GPS location. As it was just the two of us, running on a course we had never seen, the security of having the map with us was very reassuring (and would prove to be VERY helpful later on!). I was checking the map regularly to make sure we were on the right path, most of the time it was easy enough to spot the right path to take. A few km in and I check the map again, whoops we missed a turn! Thankfully, we didn’t have too far to back track, maybe 1km in total. This particular loop was a lot more runnable then a previous loop we did, which sounds great in theory but I legs were actually getting tired from the constant running and we were starting to welcome the hills for a walk break! We made our way down to Gold Creek Reservoir and could see some grey clouds in the distance, but didn’t think too much of them. It was cooler around the reservoir and after checking the map a few times, we made it all the way around and back up to the main loop again. We were just about to get to the infamous Hellhole (about 25km in to our loop) when the heavens opened!!! We found ourselves in the middle of nowhere, with no idea exactly where we were except for the map, in a crazy thunderstorm – complete with torrential rain, thunder, lightning and fog! The rain was so heavy, mini torrents of water started immediately pouring down the slippery rocky muddy hills, and the rain was so heavy I couldn’t pull my phone out to check the map. We just had to hope we continued on the right path to get home. Approx. 5km to go, we found a little shelter that we hunkered under for a few minutes to see if the storm was going to pass. Lightning was getting closer but the thunder started to sound a little more distant. I messaged my husband to explain what was happening but that we had about 5km to go before we were done. I managed to dry off enough to check the map and determined the path we needed to be on before we would turn off. We made the decision to brave the rest of the storm and headed back out. Just as we popped out, we came across a guy running by himself in the opposite direction, and he confirmed if we just kept on the main path, we would be fine. As the rain was still insanely heavy, I couldn’t pull out the map to check. We start making our way along the path, slipping and sliding down the hills and trudging back up again. Eventually we start heading down a super steep and even more slippery hill and end up at a creek. By this point, I have a feeling we’re not on the right path, but don’t remember turning off the main one. The rain has eased enough for me to whip out the phone and confirm yep we’ve taken a wrong turn. I absolutely did not want to go back up that crazy steep hill so I checked for another path and the map showed me that one that went parallel to the creek for a bit and then would connect up to the original path. So I made the executive decision that we would take this path. There was no path. Even though it was on maps.me, there was not a visible sign of a path for ages. Instead we had to physically bush bash our way through lantana, vines, under logs, over logs, around rocks – I’m sure Sue thought the rain must have gotten to me and I’d gone insane. I was holding a plastic bag over my phone so I could continue looking at the map even in the rain, and praying to the running gods that the little blue arrow was continuing to point us in the right direction and we would eventually get out without needing to be rescued. It takes a special kind of friend to blindly trust someone to lead them through bush like that, and thankfully I didn’t let her down (just led her astray!). We eventually came across something that resembled a path, which led to an actual signed path, which then finally led us back to the original path – success!!!! Praise the inventors of maps.me!!!!! By this point, we still had a few km to go, and I was so paranoid about taking another wrong turn that I practically kept my phone out the rest of the time until we got to the final turn off. It was such a welcome sight when we started back up the original path we started on, all those hours ago. By the time we got to the carpark, it was almost dark. However, I had 350m to go until I clicked over to 100km for the week and Sue had 500m to go before she would have run 50km in one day – her biggest achievement by far. So there we were, a couple of drowned sopping wet runners, doing slow trudging laps around the bloody carpark until our watches ticked over the right distances. If you’ve never run laps to make the run up to an even number, are you even a runner?? Joking, though I know so many of you will be reading this and nodding, knowing you would have (and probably have at some point!) done the same thing lol From about 5am, we had been talking about how good our coffee would be after our run. It’s a bit of a post-long run ritual of ours to grab coffee afterwards. It didn’t matter that we were finishing at night, coffee was needed! However, by that time, the only place open was Macca’s we still went and grabbed our coffee (and some extra salty chips!) and had a quick debrief of the day. We still couldn’t believe the crazy day that we had, and the adventures we just went through. We knew it was going to be a long run and extra time on legs, but geez we weren’t banking on that level of excitement that’s for sure!!! Looking back even now, I have to say there were some parts that were downright scary but when you’re in that situation what do you do? Stand still and hope you don’t get hit by lightning, or keep running forward and hope you don’t get hit??? I’m happy to say my body has pulled up fantastic after the big day, no pain or niggles just the usual aches and tiredness. This week will be a bit of a recovery week before my next long run the following week. I have planned a doozy of a course, but fingers crossed the actual day is less eventful then yesterday!!!!
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AuthorHi, I'm Rhiannon and welcome to my blog. I'm not an elite athlete and I may never win any races, but I'm a "real" runner, juggling work, family and life to achieve my running goals. Archives
October 2020
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