The lead up to Kokoda had been somewhat of a dream run. Early on we had decided that we would just be hiking the event, and all of our training runs were completed without a hitch. Support crew was locked in and ready to go, matching outfits sorted (VERY important!) and discussions around nutrition and supplies were ramping up. We had zero goal times, we just wanted to finish all together, but put together a very rough time guide for our crew – times based on 4km an hour average, and times based on 3.5km an hour, just so they had an idea of what time to be at each of the four crewed checkpoints. The first time we would see them would be just before we went up Polly’s, at 30km. Based on our estimates, somewhere between 2:30pm and 4pm. Our goal for each checkpoint was no more than 15 minutes before moving on. We thought as a very rough goal, maybe 27-28 hours total.
So to then find out a week before the event that I had/have Planter Fasciitis in my feet was a real blow :( The pain I had been feeling in the mornings that I put down to getting old and tired was something much more and really rocked my confidence. Having never experienced it before myself but had heard many the horror story about it, suddenly I was faced with a potentially very different race. I had a last minute catch up with my coach to strap my knees (always a factor in ultras for me) and discussed my feet. We could try to strap them but having never trained with strapped feet, we decided against it and just see how the race went. Whenever I hike, I often develop an internal blister on my left heel, just where the foot starts to wrap around underneath – never when I’m running though, so I obviously have a different stride when I hike. It’s given me grief in the past (my first 100km DNF was due to the mother of all blisters that developed in that spot!!!) but I was hopeful it wouldn’t today as it had been fine in our training sessions. Two days beforehand, I also had the dreaded defecogram (pooping on camera) and had been advised the solution I had to swallow for it could cause dehydration so to be on alert for that. Great, the perfect lead up had just turned not so great. We got to the race precinct in Mudgeeraba as the sun was just starting to rise. Our team seemed eager to start, some nerves from some members but strangely, I felt no nerves. We spotted one of the army trucks and it was a nice reminder of what the history of the event was all about. Thanks to Covid, masks were mandatory until we crossed over the initial start line, annoying but in the scheme of other events being cancelled, a minor inconvenience really. Standing there listening to the Last Post, tears formed in my eyes. And then we were off (well in wave 4 lol). A last minute change of course had us walking through my local walking paths and streets, literally 1km from my house. Excitement levels were high, as was the chatter levels (sorry to anyone trying to sleep!). 2km down the road and suddenly men started ducking off into bushes, clearly not being bothered to wait for the toilets at the start precinct. Men have it so lucky in situations like that!! Over the hill, we saw my coach and his son on their bikes, which was a nice little pick me up as we rounded the corner to start heading up a road hill towards the first water checkpoint before heading onto the first trail section. It was this section that we first realised that our strength on hills was both a blessing and a curse. As we had decided to only hike the event, we found ourselves amongst other large groups of walkers. I don’t do well in group settings at the best of times, but in times of Covid and people huffing and puffing around me, I was starting to freak out and feel claustrophobic, as was some of our team. So we put the foot down and hard-hiked the crap out of that first hill. Unfortunately, at the top of that hill was the first steep down, causing another bottle neck as many people seemed a little unconfident going down them. Only being new to hiking poles myself, I’m not sure I’m qualified to comment on pole-etiquette, but nearly getting taken out by swinging poles a few times was not fun :( We managed to get ourselves into a little pocket of space and instantly felt more relaxed. Lots of laughs and chatting, just cruising along enjoying ourselves. We tick off the first of the 5 really big hills of Kokoda, and got to the next checkpoint and saw that there was only 1x water refill station operating, so I grabbed the empty flasks from the team and filled up while they all waited for the toilets. In and out in 12 minutes, not too bad but a bit frustrating having to wait for the water. Coming out of the trails onto Tallowood Rd, we fall into step with some people playing music and having a great time. We got to the base of the Austinville trail section and I pulled out my poles for the first time. Cruising along up the hills, chatting to people as we passed them, getting sooooo many comments on our bright matching outfits! All that know me, know I love a good matchy matchy and I’m definitely not one for the black on black on black look. Looking around us though, we definitely stood out as pretty much the only ones in colour – a great way to spot each other as well. One down section, it curved around a corner and I lost sight of Carman momentarily. I then hear from a random person “your team member is just here, I spotted her outfit!” lol it seems we also received the nickname of “fairy floss girls” somewhere along this section. We popped out at the end of that trail to the next checkpoint and the line up for the water was even longer, with still only 1x water refill station. Seeing how long the line was, we made the decision to carry on without refilling as we figured we would be seeing our crew at the next one in around 10km. We start the climb up Fairview (2nd of the Big 5 hills), one of our least favourite climbs. It’s long, it’s steep, and often very hot. Today was no exception L we pass quite a number of people on this climb that seem to be really struggling, given how early we are into the race. Someone commented to Sue as she passed them “you’re so strong on the hills!”, to which she replied “because we trained on hills, didn’t you?”. They said they didn’t want to answer that lol It blew my mind that people could sign up for an event like Kokoda and not suitably train for it. Getting to the top of Fairview we had all pretty much run out of water, and were regretting the decision to skip the queue at the last checkpoint, but it also meant we only had 4km of road down to our crew, and so Carman called ahead to let them know our location. We were about an hour ahead of our best case estimate and so they had to make a beeline to get to the first crew checkpoint. Coming down Mt Nimmel Rd, an idiot in a large 4WD deliberately swerved at us while doing easily 80km an hour, with their passenger hanging out the window yelling as well. It was actually a really scary experience and we spent the rest of that hill wondering if they would come back for another try. Around this time the roaring wind really picked up and had us wondering just how cold it would be come night time. Arriving into Pollys checkpoint was a fantastic feeling, feeling really good except a bit parched, and in great spirits knowing we were tracking so well for time without even trying. I stopped for the toilet and noticed my urine was bright orange. Not the best sign but as I hadn’t peed all day yet I figured it would be ok. Our support crew were fantastic at helping us to refuel and repack all that we needed, including torches and fluro vests for the next leg as we wouldn’t get to our next crew checkpoint until after dark. As we’re about to head off, Carman couldn’t find her head torch and was starting to freak out. Between us we had a number of spares, and assured her we would be fine and they will find it once we’ve left. We start heading up Pollys and Carman suddenly stops dead and re-checks her pack and finds the elusive head torch lol crisis averted phew! Heading up Pollys, we fell in step with another lovely team called The Intrepids, whom we share mutual friends with. Between Pollys and Raw Challenge, we would cross paths with them a few times, they were amazing as they had trained as a team of 5 to have a back up and one of them got called in at the last moment when an original member was too sick to start. What a team!!! Heading down Pollys, I was doing a light shuffle instead of hard hiking to protect my knees and feet, and it definitely helped. Anyone prone to knee issues knows the pain of the decline when they’re flared up! Hit the bottom and that’s the 3rd of the Big 5 done! We get to the Pine Creek Rd checkpoint and still travelling well, refill up some water so there’s NO risk of running out again and start the trek along Waterfall Circuit – which despite its name, has zero waterfalls lol but quite a number of creek crossings but the poles came in handy for making sure were no wet feet! As we started along this section I started to feel really cold, which isn’t like me as I usually run quite hot. A little strange but nothing too bad, I put my thermal top on and then also added my gloves and we kept moving. At this stage I was still following my fuel plan and feeling great. As we get to the top of Chesters Rd, we figured we had about 3-4km to go until the next crew checkpoint so we contact our crew who say we’re travelling very fast but they’re on their way there now. Tammi had a quick look on Find my Phone and it showed they were over 45mins away eeeeeeek. We head on down into the valley as the sun was setting, and arrive at Raw Challenge just on dark. Thankfully we didn’t have to wait too long for our crew to arrive, and even more thankful they were able to drive down to us and not make us walk up to them up the hill where other cars were parked. By this point, I had developed a hot spot on that left heel and so I decided to try and put a Compeed bandaid on it, but it wouldn’t stick. So we had to try and do a make shift strapping over the top of the bandaid and pray it stayed on. My daughter Ruby had written me a special note of encouragement with instructions to open it at halfway, and so I got to finally read it at this checkpoint and it said "Mum, I love you alot and I miss you, you are doing great" nawwwwww :) After sitting for a few minutes, we started to cool down very quickly, so everyone added some additional layers before we headed off, though still under the 15min time limit we set ourselves. Heading back to the Pine Creek Rd checkpoint again (that section was a loop, the only one on course), I could feel my heel getting a little more sore and tried to land my foot a little differently so it didn’t rub so much. Through that checkpoint we hit Nerang Murwillumbah Rd ready to take on Army Land climb, meaning we had about 4km before we saw our crew again. Carman called ahead to let them know, though this would take a bit longer as it’s a steep climb. Confusion ensues as they thought they were meeting us at 65km not 58km. After a bit of back and forth, I realise I had given them the wrong information for Army Land as there’s technically 2x Army Land checkpoints, one with crew and one without. Ah crap!!! They assured us they would be there in time but I felt like sh*t about getting it wrong. Half way up Army Land and Sue started feeling quite dizzy and unwell which was a bit scary, we traced it back to her having not eaten enough since we had left Raw which was a few hours ago. She had some shot bloks to get some energy and sugar in her, and while we waited for that to kick in, I had my hand on her back behind her and Carman and Tammi either side her as we slowly climbed up. It really reiterated to us that this was a team event, and we would do whatever was needed to get us all through. Along the way we had passed a number of people by themselves and when we asked where their team was “oh they’re up there somewhere”. I remember thinking to myself what would have happened if Sue had been by herself at that point, how do they manage to continue when they’re no where near their team? We finally make it to the top and into the next checkpoint and it is FREEZING up there! Beechmont is cold at the best of times but that icy wind was making it next level! Tammi revealed later that she was singing Christmas Carols to herself as it reminded her of Christmas in Canada weather lol But the views as you come across to the checkpoint were amazing!!!!! As we sat down, I had some hot coffee and took some pain relief as my hot spot was really hurting now. I swapped out all my food for my next packed lot and waited while the others had some noodles. I was really wishing I had packed my noodles by then, but stupid dodgy tummy prevents me from eating most regular food lol The next section was one of only 2 sections of the course we had not been on, as we had decided not to do the Army Land open training session day. It starts with a slow steady gravel decline for about 5km, which sounds nice and easy and probably would have been if my left knee had not decided to start niggling along with the soles of my feet starting to hurt from the planter. Damn. I chucked on some Linkin Park to keep me distracted and it worked enough that we got to the bottom (4 of the big 5 done!) before hitting over 3km of steep unrelenting up. This section was probably the only section that was poorly marked, maybe not so bad if you were familiar with it but as we had never been on this section before we had a few moments where we were second guessing ourselves that we hadn’t taken a wrong turn. Inclines suck, however they do not hurt my knees or the hot spot as my feet lift slightly, so I was actually happier on that section despite how long it seemed to go on for. I had started to feel a bit nauseous around the bottom of this climb, but figured that I had been fuelling well for the last 60km so I could back off a bit on food. Getting to the top of that climb and coming out to Freemans Rd checkpoint, it was like a battle scene. There were people sitting around all over the place in various stages of distress, from groaning to outright sobbing to laying down with eyes shut or staring vaguely into space. I have to say it was a little unnerving seeing that and thinking damn we still have about 30km to go! I stopped for another bathroom break but thankfully my urine was much paler this time as I had been sipping a lot of water. At the end of Freemans Road was the section I had been dreading the most – Hellfire Pass, 5km-ish of just down. For some reason I thought the last crew checkpoint was at the end of this trail section, about 6km away so we messaged our crew to let them know. I had hoped to get past here before my knees started giving me grief but alas that didn’t go to plan. So I spent the majority of this section either backwards standing up, backwards with my hands on the ground looking down between my legs or doing a weird straight leg shuffle as it hurt my knee less to not bend it. The nausea was starting to get worse along here, as was the hot spot on my left heal and a new one on my right. We get to the bottom (5 of the big 5 done!!!!) and there’s no checkpoint. Ah dammit, I stuffed up again :( we had to message them to say sorry we’re still coming, don’t actually know how far away we are as the km on our watches didn’t seem to be matching up with the signs we had been reading (remember the last minute course change at the beginning? Well that threw the markers all out!). We have another few km of up down up down up down which was exhausting and painful, but we finally get out to the last checkpoint that our watches said was 73km. If the race had ended here I would have been very happy indeed! Alas it did not. I made the decision to swap from my trail shoes to my road shoes to try and add even a smidge more cushioning to my poor feet, and added more bandaids and strapping to both feet, and additional strapping to my knees. I was feeling really sick by this point and also felt a new tell-tale cramps up in upper thighs and groin, and so I tried to have a few sips of Crampeze and nearly vomited it back up lol we took the timer off this checkpoint as we knew we all just had to do whatever was needed to get through the last 20km. Eventually we start moving again and hit the climb up Mt Nathan, the only other section we had not done before. At that time of the night (morning lol) and with that many km in our legs, this section felt bigger than Fairview!!!! (disclaimer, it’s not. Not even close to it lol) My bowel started cramping and really hurting on this section too, and when I could finally stop it wasn’t pretty and was pure black. Trying not to freak out (but not very successfully) I started to tear up, as I knew how close we were yet just what was still to come. By this point every single step I took was like walking on broken glass, and every single tiny decline sent shooting pain through my knee. After what felt like hours we finally make it to the top of Mt Nathan and the sites of the Gold Coast are stunning once again, but I’m in too much pain to really take it in. After sitting for a bit to try and stretch out my feet, we start a slow road decline down to the last checkpoint and nothing I do is helping to reduce the pain and so I just march on as best I can. I really want to vomit to take the nausea away but the urge isn’t there, and one of the few things Sue can’t handle is vomit so I don’t lol we finally get to the checkpoint and I stop for the toilet again, more black and it hurts to go. When I come out of the toilet, there is a medic waiting to talk to me as Sue had approach them, worried about me. I remember getting really cranky at her and yelling something at her about getting me pulled out of the race. Thankfully after checking me over and asking me lots of questions, they allow me to continue and we make our slow sorry way into Nerang forest. I know the rest of the course, and am dreading it. To be honest I don’t like Nerang at the best of times as it’s too rocky, but add in those rocks when my feet and knee felt like they did, I thought it was going to be pure agony. I was right. Those last 12km were horrible; there were many tears and a number of hissy fits from me. I got disorientated at one point and thought we had taken a wrong turn and then completely freaked when I realised we were on a section that was way ahead of where I thought we were supposed to be. The sun had started to rise when we had about 8km to go, and we passed some friends of ours out for their Sunday morning trail run. By this point I seriously doubt my feet will be able to carry me even those last few km, and knowing all the downs that were coming I was so scared for the pain in my knee. I had to frequently stop to stretch out my feet, sobbing each time and in between as well. I remember swearing that I would never enter another ultra, that I was done! Tammi was also in a lot of pain, and I remember her yelling out something about the last checkpoint not being real or somebody moving it (there was a final one 5km to go). We briefly stopped for one more toilet stop but nothing but a few drops came out and then made the super slow, super painful trek back to the Velodrome. I had messaged Nath to say we were 5km out but moving so slowly don’t get out of the car yet, and that I would message him when we got to the last hill. What seemed like hours later we finally get to that last damn hill, one more sit and rest and stretch my feet and then shuffle/stomp/straight leg waddle our way down the hill. Sue had told me not to cry as we crossed that line but I knew I would lol we get out of the forest and there is 200m to go to that finish line. We all grab hands and walk across it, and I am hard-core ugly crying the entire time lol a photographer stops us for a photo, and then somebody tells us to go up on the stage for a photo op as well and all the while I am sobbing and sniffing. At some point I laugh, then we all hug and I’m off crying again. But we did it! We crossed that line as we started, side by side, and after everything we endured especially in that last 20km, we ended up smashing our rough goal of 27-28 hours and came in 24:47, which also meant we were the 5th women’s team to cross!!! I’ll be honest I don’t remember much after that, apart from sitting in a garden bed sobbing, hugging some people, sun in my eyes and then painfully hobbling to the car. I spent the rest of Sunday feeling very sick and almost crying every time I walked to the toilet from the pain in my feet, and then dozing in and out of consciousness in bed. But by the next day, everything settled and there was zero pain in my knee, the planter pain had settled to a dull ache and the two hot spot blisters were the only thing that hurt yay! We spent the Monday together as a team, in ultimate recovery mode! Started with amazing brunch at the Cardamom Pod in our matching finishers shirts before moving to Soak Bathhouse for 90 minutes of blissful spas, plunge pools, steam room and sauna, and ended with a last minute coffee and snack at BSKT. Recovery done right am I right!!!! And that my friends, is the recap of our first Kokoda. Yes, our first. After swearing off ultras and assuring them on the Sunday that this was my one and only Kokoda, by Monday I had decided to go again as long as we could run some of it next time lol Hindsight is a lovely thing and if I had our time over again, there would be a few things that I would do differently, but you can’t plan for every single thing and the one thing I wouldn’t change was our team. We all had different strengths we brought to the team and we honestly had so much fun together (minus that 20km! lol) and even through the low times we were right there beside each other.
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This race felt like it had been a long time coming – I caught the 100km ultra bug back when I was injured last year and my crew were all signing up for it. I made the decision to not buy my ticket then, but my awesome coach Dave and I discussed me training for it and if it was meant to be, a ticket would become available and if not, then I would go down and support my crew anyway.
Over the last 6 months, I followed my training plan to the T, hitting every single mark Dave set for me, and except for a minor foot inflammation incident a few weeks out, I got through unscathed and looked set to toe the start line uninjured – a new feeling for me as every other ultra I’ve run I’ve been injured. I met with my nutritionist Loren to work out my fuelling options for the race. I have a number of food intolerances and am unable to stomach usual race food like gels so we worked out real food options. We settled on a rotating selection of raisins, sweet potato, white potato, roasted beetroot and Shot Bloks, and Trail Brew for my hydration fluid. I had practiced with this fuel and it worked for me well. I decided to include some additional extras in my later drop bags like choc covered dried berries and potato chips for some late night boosts. In the days leading up to the race I had no nerves, I was just so excited and pumped to race. I had never felt this prepared and ready for a race before and I was loving it. Probably should have taken that as a sign that things wouldn’t go as planned lol I met with Dave the day before and he strapped up both my feet and as well as a lot of strapping all over my lower back to try and avoid any back chafe, a new annoying side effect from my new hydration pack. We travelled down the day before the race, and our flight was delayed as well as traffic getting out of Sydney, meaning we didn’t actually get up to Katoomba until just before we were booked in for our buffet dinner. We had to race home to where we were staying to quickly pack up our drop bags for the checkpoints before heading back for the pre-race briefing. Due to the crazy weather of the last few days and predicted rain for race day, the decision had been made to change the course. Less elevation in total but more technical and meant an out and back section as well, over what is considered by many to be the toughest part of the course. Great. I had set my race goals early: C goal was finish within cut off (28 hours), B goal was finish in sub 20 hours and earn myself a bronze buckle, and A goal was finish on Saturday and not run over into Sunday (just under 17hrs). To be honest, B goal was the one I was aiming for but I felt I needed an A just in case. I managed to get some decent sleep and woke up early the next morning ready to tackle UTA. Given the crazy amount of rain that was expected, I had made a last minute purchase to upgrade my rain jacket. I put it on while we were waiting for our wave to start but had taken it off again before we started. Turns out I didn’t need it at all for the race, but I’m glad I was prepared just in case. One of my besties Cath and I were both starting in Wave 7 and excited to start. We had made the decision to not run together as we both have different game plans when it comes to races. 7.05am and we were off – straight into a few kms of road running. Awesome lol my shins always take a few kms to warm up, especially on road and this was no exception. I wasn’t concerned at all and just took it super easy along this section, running with a ginormous grin on my face. We finally finished the road section and started down the infamous Furber Steps. These steps are about 1km and super steep – and the 100km ends by going back UP them. Quite cruel but adds to the challenge. The sun came out around this time and I managed to snap a few pics of the gorgeous views. A mini landslide caused a bit of a backlog, and whilst standing in line I got to chatting to some other RMAs from QLD as well as Drew aka Mr Garmin. We snapped a quick selfie with him and then got moving again. I must admit, I didn’t study the course map or descriptions as much as I perhaps should have, and was taken off guard when we started heading up the steep Golden Stairs. Wow, that hurt. I ran through the first checkpoint at 11km feeling fine, however realising somehow I had miscalculated and wouldn’t have enough Trail Brew on me to get through to checkpoint 3 where I could access my own supplies. I decided to be conservative with my hydration fluid and crossed my fingers I would make it. We came across some beautiful runnable track and I fell in step with Drew again and got to chatting with him, and learnt a lot about him and his journey to become Mr Garmin - a really nice genuine guy. I caught up to Cath around this point and we ran together for a bit and then we got stuck in a massive queue waiting to get down the Tarros Ladders. I’m sure it was made worse by the slippery conditions but something really needs to be done about this section. Some people were stuck up to 50 minutes here, not moving at all. When you can’t move and your body starts to cool down, things start hurting when its time to move again and you can be more prone to injuries. Through this section there were massive rocky inclines and declines, that for someone with very little legs it was quite hard to navigate at times. I found myself dangling before having to jump down and embarrassingly had to ask someone behind me to boost me up at one stage. But I got through and started the descent down to check point 2. This section was beautiful, and some amazing views. At around 30km just as I started to head down a hill, I felt a sharp pain in my left knee, deep up and under my knee cap. I instantly stopped and tried to stretch it out. In all my training runs in the last 6 months, I had never experienced any kind of knee pain and it threw me. I started to head off again and going flat or uphill it was fine, but every time I went down hill it pinched bad. I made it into checkpoint 2 and asked the first aid station if they could strap it up. They advised me that they weren’t technically allowed to strap it up in case it gave me a false sense of security. Well fuck. He added a band of strapping tape under my knee and told me to see how I went. I saw Cath come into the checkpoint at that stage and went over to see how she was going, and told her what happened. Her hammie was a bit niggly but she was feeling great. I filled up with more water and my diluted Trail Brew and headed off again. When I got to the next downhill section, my knee started screaming at me, and I had to try and do a downhill walk/shuffle, reminiscent of Coastal High 50 last year. Cath came past me and gave me some of her caffeinated panadol to help me through. As flats and uphills didn’t hurt my knee, I caught up to her again, and we fell into step going up a longer hill section. We chatted and decided to run together and adopted a bit of a run/walk technique through to checkpoint 3 at around 46km. My stomach had been feeling a bit funny, and my legs had been threatening to cramp, which I put down to not having the right levels of hydration fluid. I felt like I needed to go to the toilet, but not much of anything was happening when I went. I filled up my pack with all my food and hydration from my drop bag, and off we headed. It was around this time that we thought our watches were slightly out as they didn’t match the signs we were seeing along the course. It really stuffs with your mind when you think you’re at a certain stage, and then see a sign saying something else. By this point, my knee was hurting more but we were still managing to run a lot of the flat sections and hiking strongly up the hills. We hit a section called Nellies Glen, and dear god that was brutal. I was really regretting not studying the course more by this point as everyone around me was talking about Nellies and how they had expected this and I was just dying. When would this bloody end?!? Finally we reached the top and ran through groups of people cheering along the sides of the roads, it was so wonderful to see so many people out and about cheering on complete strangers as they crazily ran 100km. Just before we reached checkpoint 4, we ran past the street we were staying in and damn it was hard to not turn in! The set up at checkpoint 4 was amazing, massive tables of food, drop bags all lined up, heaters on, physio tables, and the volunteers were phenomenal. Nothing was too much trouble for them. We put on our thermal tops here and refuelled for the next leg. In hindsight, I wish I had asked one of the physios here to strap my knee but unfortunately I didn’t. We still seemed to be on track for a sub 20hr finish and so off we set. Just as we got to the Three Sisters lookout, we got a sunset snap over the mountains behind Scenic World and before the fog started to roll in. By now, my knee was getting sorer, and then we hit the most brutal part of the course. Approx 20km of basically up stairs or down stairs, with barely any flat runnable in between. It was unrelenting, alternating between painful downs, moving my sore leg down the step then my good leg joining it, inching down one step at a time, and then exhausting up up up, thinking I have no idea when this is going to end but knowing every bit of up meant an even more painful down on the way back. It was around this time that I had one of my bigger hissy fits. The combination of the dark, the pain, the signs that were now obviously not accurate, poor Cath had to listen to me yell and rant on. Though it wasn’t all bad through here. In the pitch black, we started to hear music and came across a lone volunteer with a boom box cranking, and Cath and I were singing and dancing along to Beyonce’s Crazy in Love as we approached him. I heard that song yesterday in Coles and I stopped and giggled with the memory. We got to another aid station at the Golf Club around 68km or so, and by this stage my stomach was not happy. I couldn’t stomach the thought of anything sweet and so was digging around in my pack for any of my potatoes. My nutrition plan was out the window but it was the only thing I could eat. Even my Trail Brew was turning my stomach, and so I was barely sipping it or water. I stopped again for the toilet a few times and still not enough was happening. We passed our 2 other besties and they were both going strong. Meanwhile, I was alternating between crying and apologising to Cath for ruining her race, to whinging and bitching about the pain. Bless her, Cath just kept being her amazing positive bubbly self, and reminding me to just take one step at a time and we would get there. As we approached checkpoint 5, we were told about an out and back loop. Due to the change of course, instead of stopping at checkpoint 5 we had to run past it for another 1.5km before coming back and being allowed in. At that time of night, in that mental state, that was fucking torture! Not just for me, but basically every single person walked that bloody loop, it was so demoralising. Finally we got back into checkpoint 5 and I went straight to the physio and asked him to strap my knee. He strapped up what he could, I changed into my road shoes that I had put in my drop bag as my feet were screaming from the impact of the hard track and so I had hoped that the road shoes would provide some extra cushioning. I tried a sip of my flat coke and nearly vomited, so just grabbed all the potatoes out of my drop bag and filled up one of my bottles with water. Thank god I had cooked extra potatoes! We then started the agonising trek back for the last 22kms. I can do 22km in my sleep these days but that felt like it took years off my life. I kept apologising to Cath that we weren’t going to get our sub 20 and that I had stuffed up her race, and then yelling that I didn’t want to play anymore. We fell into step with different people along the way that all seemed to be doing much better than me and whilst the distraction was welcome, mentally it was a bad time for me. By this point, my stomach and decided it had enough and I had to keep stopping for number 2s. My back started to hurt and it felt like back chafe, I was ready to cut my feet off they were burning so much and I would have gladly smashed my knee open and removed the knee cap myself. But very very slowly, we were ticking off the kms on the way home. I developed an interesting technique of crawling backwards down the stairs and it didn’t hurt my knee. I got a few strange looks but I didn’t care by this point. With about 5km to go, we came across a volunteer camping in the forest. We asked how long we had and he said just over 4.5km and there were no more stairs. I vaguely remember saying something along the lines of you better not be fucking lying to me as everyone else has lied to me up to this point and if you are I will come back and punch you. He replied that for me to do that I’d have to come back down the stairs to do so. Alright smart arse, you’re saved for now. Do you have any idea how long a km is, when you’re in immense pain and it’s pitch black around you and you’ve been on your feet for over 20 hours??? What felt like 10hrs later we finally reached the bottom of the Furber steps. At least going back up them they had handrails so we could pull ourselves up each step. What kept us going was knowing that we were nearly there and that our friends would be waiting for us at the finish line. We finally got to the top and reached the final ramp. We took off our high vis vests, turned off our head lamps, grabbed each others hands and managed to run the last section around the last bend and across the finish line – arms in the air – in 22hrs 8 minutes. We were handed our medals, and someone took some photos for us and then we looked around and realised we couldn’t see anyone we knew. Suddenly they all popped out, turns out the bloody app hadn’t been updating properly and had only just showed we had hit the bottom of the steps when in reality we were at the top. Damn. But no matter, after all of that, we were officially 100km ultra running bad asses! We had done it, and no one could take that away from us. I could barely walk and I was sporting some wicked back chafe but I had a medal around my neck! We made our way back to where we were staying but I was too wired to sleep, plus my feet wouldn’t let me even if I wanted to. I ended up going back out and meeting up with my fellow RLAG ambassador Kirsty as her son was about to run in the 1km kids run. While we were there, more 100km runners came through after being out there for over 24 hours, running through to the finish to thunderous applause. I must admit I had pangs of jealousy as when Cath and I ran through at 5am there was about 5 people standing around to cheer us in. But I also had tears in my eyes for them, as I could fully appreciate how tough it was out there and how much tougher it must have been to watch the sunrise again and to still be out on the course. All up, I finished 937 out of 1059 finishers (6 finished past cut off and over 200 DNF), 231rd female and 79th female in my age group. It wasn’t the race I hoped for and I am disappointed with how things went down, both for myself and for Cath. But what doesn’t kill us makes us stronger, and I have learnt a lot from this experience. This definitely won’t be my last 100km race, and when I met with Dave today to debrief and get my knee checked, we have begun discussing where to from here already. My journey to UTA wouldn’t have been possible without my amazing husband. His support while I reached for my dreams, his commitment to me and our daughter while I was out training, his positivity when I had doubts, and his constant updates for all our family and friends while I was out there on course are what enable me to do what I love. Without my crew of beautiful amazing badass besties, I would probably still be out the back of Nerang running up and down 3 hills and missing all of this excitement and adventure. They say that everything happens for a reason, and they came into my life to make it better. We have shared so much together already and the sky is the limit as to where we go from there. #4220+6 To my ever-patient coach Dave, thank you for all you have done over the last 3 years of working together. You have fixed me, trained me, and listened to my ramblings while patiently shaking your head. It’s taken me awhile to learn to listen and accept advice, but I would never have had the confidence or the physical abilities to ever consider running 100km without you. Thanks for the chats today and not laughing me out of the room when I told you my next goal, it’s going to be an interesting ride! Other people who have been instrumental to getting me to this point include Loren my nutritionist, and Kat and Drew my PTs – thanks guys for helping to make my body the finely tuned vessel it is today lol And lastly, to all of you who have taken the time over the last 6 months to read my long rambles, to share your stories, to post messages of support and good luck. There were times where I wanted to crawl under a rock and hide, and even typing up my race report now I wanted to run away as I felt like I was letting someone down. But then I remembered, I’m Real Girl Runner, and what’s more real then a warts and all recount of what happens out there during a 100km ultra. Thank you for all of your support. Here’s to many more! Up the Buff last year was my longest uninjured race to date and it didn’t go very well (you can read about it here) so I was interested to see how this year would go. A lot has changed since last year – I have a running coach and nutritionist, I have an official training plan and I am training to run my first successful 100km in 2 months.
When I met with my coach last week, he said to me the plan for today was to race hard. This was going to be my last opportunity to push hard in a race before UTA100 (as my next race next month will just be a training run) so he wanted me to go hard. However, the days leading into it weren’t the best lead up with enforced rest due to inflammation in my shins. Not to mention, the first 4km of Up the Buff (and the last 4km too!) were road. In trail shoes. Which I hate. I set myself 3 goals – Goal C: finish; Goal B: finish sub 3.5hrs; Goal A: finish sub 3hrs. Last night I had been laying in bed when my left calf muscle just locked up and started hurting, I was freaking out trying to roll or massage it out, and ended up sleeping in my compression sleeves to try and ease it. Not the greatest start lol This morning started out like any other – rise at stupid o’clock, finish packing all my gear and nutrition, having an early breaky and then I was on my way to get there early so I could set up the gazebo for our mates who were coming down to support. I decided that I would try and do a warm up run beforehand, to try and warm up my shins. They’re usually only sore for the first 5km or so, so I figured a 2km warm up would have to help. I was wrong lol. My shins were aching badly after the 2km, and then ironically they were sore for the first 6km of the race instead, so all I succeeded in was tiring out my legs just a little bit more. Bummer! I had read somewhere recently that a good way to approach this race was to break it up into 4km chunks – the first 4km is road, second 4km is trail to the first turnaround point, next 4km is backtracking the same route, next 4km tackles Strawberry Hill and along to the next turnaround point, next 4km is backtracking that part, and then finally the last 4km is back on the road to the finish. I found that to be really helpful advice. I have trained many times on this track and know most of the hills and turns. I had picked out the hills that I would run up and the ones I would hike. As I hit the trail for the first time, I saw some friends at the first checkpoint with their pumping music and positive attitudes which spurred me on a bit as my shins were pretty sore by then. Part of racing hard was trying not to back the pedal off when I was hiking up hills and when running, running harder then I normally would. I am usually happy to just cruise in my training runs and knew this would hurt, but that’s the point right? Around 8km at the first turnaround point, I felt a strange sensation of pins and needles in my legs which was a bit weird. I had been sticking to my nutrition plan and knew that I was taking in enough fluids, so I decided to just monitor the feeling and see how I go. I was really enjoying myself on this part of the track as I feel like it’s my home track. I was setting myself goals of trying to pass the next person in front of me, then the next one, and then the next one. I caught up with one of my more faster friends which I was surprised about, but she wasn’t familiar with this course and wasn’t too sure how to pace herself. I felt bad about breaking the bad news that the worst was yet to come in Strawberry Hill lol It was around this point that I realised pretty quickly that Goal A wasn’t going to happen, so I set about making sure I achieved Goal B confidently. 12km and I passed my friends at the checkpoint again and started the slow climb up through the paddock and the grassy side of Strawberry Hill. I had been hiking a lot more than I originally planned and was getting a bit cranky at myself, but the heat out there in the exposed sections was brutal and I knew better than to push myself to the point of exhaustion out there. I passed a mate who was standing at the top of Strawberry Hill cheering people on, and cursed my coach’s name lol My stomach seemed to be feeling off for most of the run which was frustrating. Not nauseous, but felt like it was threatening to. I ended up changing up the order of what I was eating as I just couldn’t stomach anything more than Shot Bloks for most of the run. Before I knew it, I was on the roller coaster down the other side of Strawberry Hill when the winner of the race came passed me. I have no concept of ever running that fast, but it is impressive to watch. Once I was down the bottom, I was excited to run some relatively flat and shady trails for a few kilometres before the final turnaround. So you can imagine my surprise and horror when I hit another hill. Where the fuck did these hills come from?!? I do NOT remember these hills from last year!!!! And they just kept bloody coming, WTF!!! Seems when I have trained this track, I have obviously turned around too early and I paid dearly for it as I was well and truly unprepared. About 1km from the turnaround point, the first woman ran passed me which gave me a bit of a confidence boost as I thought I can’t be doing too badly to be only a few kilometres behind. I had a fleeting moment where I thought I might be able to manage to come in the top 10 of women finishers, but that ended pretty quickly as I counted more than 9 ladies go past me. Oh well, just keep focusing on racing hard and finishing strong. Getting back up the dirt side of Strawberry Hill hurt a lot. It was very slow going, and I actually had to stop a number of times in order to keep stretching out my back. But each time, I kept moving and eventually got to the top. I started getting the pins and needles feeling again, and also got goosebumps all over my body. Weird. I started the descent down the grass side of the hill and started feeling an ache on the inside of my left ankle and what felt like the beginning of an ache on the inside of my right knee (not the same spot as my previous knee injury). I decided to monitor it and if it felt worse by the time I got back to the road, I would back right off as at the end of the day, my big goal is UTA and it wouldn’t be worth throwing it away now. I turned the corner at the last checkpoint ready to hit the 4km road run back. Just as I turned the corner, I ran out of Trail Brew in my hydration bladder, and had already emptied one 500ml flask of water and probably had about 250ml left in my other one. I was a bit surprised by that as it didn’t feel like I had been drinking much more than my race a fortnight ago when I finished with almost half my fluids. But it was insanely hot, and I do find that I drink more when I hike then when I run, and there was way more hiking involved then I originally planned. Around 23km, I felt my quad muscles starting to cramp and cursed myself for not remembering to restock my salt tabs. Thankfully there wasn’t too much uphill on the last few kilometres, as the cramping was worse when I was hiking. I realised I had one more piece of sweet potato left that had salt on it, so I started nibbling on that to try and get the salt in me without throwing it up. It was this moment that I realised I also need to work on my kegel muscles, as lets just say when the cramps hit, other muscles were also affected L With 1km to go, the cramps started to get worse and tears welled up in my eyes. A friend of mine passed me and spurred me on to keep going, telling me that we were almost there. I gritted my teeth and dug as deep as I could to keep moving, and moving fast. As I turned the last corner, and saw the finish arch and my friends standing on the side lines, the cramps started to get worse and threatened to stop me in my tracks. I bit my lip, tears starting to spill and sprinted as hard as my cramping legs would carry me. As I crossed the finish line, my legs gave out and I collapsed, screaming in agony as the cramps took over and panic started to rise (however, I did remember to pause my watch!) From no where, people came rushing over to help me, offering me water and racing around to try and find whatever they could that would help, as well as massaging my legs and helping me to calm down and start taking deeper breaths so I could stop hyperventilating. It’s moments like this that make me feel so blessed to be involved in such a wonderful community as the Gold Coast trail running community. One of my besties got me over to the first aid tent, and the wonderful medic started massaging the worst leg to work the cramps out. She had also filled up one of my bottles with Tailwind, bless her. After awhile, things started to feel better so I managed to hobble back over to our tent. I desperately wanted to get out of my dirty wet smelly clothes, so I grabbed some fresh clothes and hobbled over to the portaloos to get changed. However, my leg started to cramp when I lifted it up to get inside, so had to hobble back out. Thankfully someone kindly offered to hold a towel around me so I could get unchanged. I proceeded to lie down on the blanket, with a piece of chocolate in one hand and a bag of plain salted chips in the other. Happy days, refuelling at it’s finest. Until out of nowhere, both legs started cramping from my hips to my toes and I was in absolute agony. I felt kind of like I was in childbirth – horrendous pain, nothing was working to ease it and I felt myself freaking out and starting to panic. I was howling from pain and fear and I had no idea how or when it was going to stop. Once again, my beautiful besties came to the rescue, massaging me, getting the medic (again!) as well as one of the physios. Quote of the day goes to Lou “I will even rub your bikini line but I just can’t do feet”. I will hold you to that Lou! Lol It felt like a good 10 minutes before the pain had settled down enough for everyone to lift me back up to my feet. I spent the rest of the time pacing back and forth so I wouldn’t stop moving and start cramping again, whilst shovelling salted chips into my mouth like it was my last supper. I then realised that I had to get home as my husband was getting picked up at midday and I had mummy duties with a movie date with Ruby. Shit!!! Thankfully, I was able to leave all my stuff there and managed to get home without anymore cramping episodes, and after a shower I also finally got my 2XU compression tights on and these bad boys aint coming off until tomorrow!!!! I ended up finishing in 3hrs 10 minutes, knocking a whole hour off last year’s time, and finished 17th female and 79th overall (out of 158 people). I gave everything I had out there and raced as hard as I have ever done. I may never win any races but today, in spite of the horrendous cramping, I felt like a true champion. I stuck mostly to my game plan (as much as I could) and whilst I have a few little things to work through, for the most part I am very happy with today’s efforts. Thank you to the event organisers for yet another tough day at the office; for all the volunteers out on course, the amazing medic and physios, and for all the spectators and supporters. You guys rock! My training for UTA100 has been going really well and I’m feeling fitter and stronger then I have in a long time. However, the memories of my first DNF at Blackall 100 in October last year are still fresh in my mind, so much so that I haven’t entered any races since then. DNFs affect different people in different ways, for me I was anxious that this was a slippery slope of things to come. For those following my blog you’ll know that my last year has been plagued by injuries, yet I always managed to somehow cross that line until B100. So, my way of dealing with it was to avoid finish lines lol
I volunteered at the Gold Coast rounds of the South East QLD Trail Running Series and Daisy Hill was the last round. I discussed it with my coach and we agreed this would be a good training run and nice way to start building back up my distance and race confidence, so I signed up for the long course, which was 20km. Loren from Elite Fit Food tweaked my race nutrition slightly in order to try some new things that will help me increase my carb intake in preparation for UTA100. My race nutrition consisted of Trail Brew, raisins, salted sweet potato and Shot Bloks, alternating them at regular intervals, and breakfast consisted of sweet potato and egg, with a banana & coconut water smoothie. My alarm went off at 2.20am, which even for me is ridiculous!! But one of my besties Cath and I wanted to go up and run a few laps with Tofe and Ant from the Wounded Pelicans, who were in their final hours of their epic 24hr challenge. If you haven’t heard about the Wounded Pelicans, you NEED to go check out their page and read about all their amazing challenges that they do, all for charity! After running a few laps around Runaway Bay Sports Centre’s outdoor track, it was time to head up to Daisy Hill, which is about an hour from home. Poor Cath was not happy about the uber early wake up, but consider it great practice for UTA love! Dave had given me instructions for today’s race – try to run continuously (aka not so many walk breaks!) and finish strong. Ultimately it was to be another training run though, it’s not like I’m in the league to try and aim for a podium finish. I was happy to see that I was in the last wave for the long course, which would take the pressure off a bit from the start. Since I hadn’t raced since October last year and wasn’t familiar with the course, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I set myself an unofficial goal of 2.5 hours, and to finally run across a finish line – something I hadn’t achieved since Up the Buff almost 12 months ago. My aim was to start out super easy and just pace myself until I got into a comfortable rhythm. Lately when I start running, for the first few kms my shins ache until they have warmed up. This morning they were particularly painful, to the point that around 3km I was wondering if there may have been an injury and whether I should continue running. I remember looking at my watch at that time and seeing that I had gone out way too hard, despite my best efforts to start super easy. Whoops! That would explain the extra shin aches! I backed it off a bit and waited until the aches disappeared which was around 5km. The actual track itself was very similar to the single trails and mountain bike tracks at Nerang, so I felt familiar with the terrain. As the aches eased off, I found myself enjoying the switchbacks and rolling ups and downs. I felt myself getting into that sort after rhythm and was getting into the zone. I caught up with a friend and chatted for a bit, until we got to the next hill, which I continued to run up while she took the opportunity for a breather. Around 12km was the first time I had to take a walk break, at the one and only gnarly hill. I made it half way up before my hamstrings cried out for a break. I power hiked the remainder of the hill and then started running as soon as it was flat again. About 500m down the track it proceeded to rise again, not a steep incline but a long one and I needed another hike break just to the top (sorry Dave). I looked at my watch around 14km and saw that I had been making great time and was well within my goal time of 2.5hrs. I did a quick mental calculation and worked out that if I kept this pace up then I could possibly make it under 2hrs 15 minutes. I had to remind myself that this was a training run and to not do anything stupid, but instead focused on maintaining even pace and good form. I have to admit that it was a confidence boost to continue passing runners on the home stretch. Within the last 2km there was some more pavement which always aggravates my shins and calves, but I just took it nice and easy through there and before I knew it, I was in the last kilometre. I continued my form, continuously running up the hills and rounded the last bend towards the finish line. I actually got a little teary realising that I had achieved all my goals including finally running across that damn finish line!!! My official finish time was 2:12:33 and 22nd female overall and I am so bloody proud!!! I stuck to my game plan (except for the quicker start), I had no gut bombs or needing to stop for the toilet on track (for those who know me, this is huge people!) and I finished strong after running (almost, 95%?) continuously. My result today has definitely helped to shift my mindset for the next few races including UTA100. I felt some aches in my legs but none of my old injuries, which is a relief. I’ve booked in to see Dave for some maintenance this week, being 9 weeks out from the big one I can’t afford to have something minor turn into something major. So happy days people, I feel like I’ve turned a massive corner in my journey and feeling excited for my next race in 2 weeks time, Up the Buff again!!! The lead up to Blackall this year had been eventful, as you would know from previous blog posts. After the issues I had at Coastal High, my amazing physio Dave and I made the decision that I would 100% hike Blackall instead of attempting any running, to stop any further knee inflammation. In the weeks and days before the event, I felt strangely calm and relaxed (something I almost never am!).
The Blackall 100 is held in the Mapleton state forest up in the Sunshine Coast. The course was advertised as a picturesque trail, passing beautiful waterfalls, perfect runnable single trails and varying terrain. A few days out from the event, there was a fire near Gheerulla Falls, one of the sections of the course, and so we were on standby for a potential course change. This eventuated the night before, and instead of tackling the bluff (biggest hill section of the course but also with the most pretty scenery) we would do a double loop of the back 30km of the course. My night before and morning of the race were pretty uneventful. I had already prepared all of my Tailwind nutrition into 1.5L bottles for easy pouring, and my race nutrition was ½ honey sandwiches and ½ bananas, alternating each one on the hour. Even waiting at the start line with my crew, I was feeling relaxed and comfortable. My plan was just to finish, and roughly aim for a hiking pace of 6km per hour. One of my friends had a game plan of taking the first 60km super easy to conserve energy and then push hard, so we actually hiked together until the second checkpoint at 22km, which was a very welcome surprise as I had anticipated being by myself the whole time. We started at 6am and already it was 19 degrees. The first 9km was on road and pavements, which sucks in trail shoes. We finally got to our first bit of trail, a 5k loop of Kondalilla Falls that was quite lovely, then back onto road again for another 5-6km. We hit more trails and got to go over a pretty cool suspension bridge near Baxter Falls, before making our way back up onto more roads and into checkpoint 2, which is actually also the finish line. We got back there around 4hrs, so we were making great time. Around 20km, I felt the back of my heels starting to tingle and remember saying to my friend Tina that this would end up being a battle of wills between my heels and me. I never get blisters when I run, but every single time when I hike. My training over the last few weeks had been focused around trying to strengthen up my feet to the battering they would receive at Blackall. I had also prepped them with Compeed Bandages over the 3 largest suspects, K tape over the top of that and around the rest of my heels, Injinji toe socks and then another layer of socks over the top to minimise rubbing, and finally lace locking my shoes. Quite the production to put on – and to get off it turned out lol My beautiful friend Cath was my support crew for this race, and I texted her at 20km to say I would need a new top (the one I was wearing was chafing bad), more sunscreen, more body glyde, more Tailwind, a banana and another sandwich. It was already so hot, and I had wet buffs on both wrists and a special cooling necktie to try and keep me cool. I was also conscious of making sure I was having enough fluid, after watching what happened to a lot of the athletes at the recent Nerang 100 Miler. I had stopped to go to the toilet at Checkpoint 1 at 9km, and then had to stop in the bush around 18km. I was actually happy at first that I needed to stop to pee, as I thought that meant that I was fuelling sufficiently. However, by the time I got to Mapleton Falls car park at 27km, I needed to pee again, badly. I stopped and after another massive pee (TMI sorry, but I’m going somewhere with this so hang in there ok?) I was good to go again. My feet were starting to sting a lot more now, and I found my hiking style was starting to change ever so slightly to try and land less on my heels. I was envisioning what it would be like to walk back through this section at nighttime on the home stretch, when the winner of the 50km ran back past me. He had been running for just over 4hrs and was flying past me with less than 10km to go. Crazy fast. I got to the next checkpoint at 32km just under 6hrs and was still happy with that time. My feet were really sore by now and I said to Cath I wasn’t sure what else I could do for them but we would assess at the next checkpoint. I was busting to go to the toilet again and just made it, another massive pee. Cath filled up my pack with fresh cold Tailwind and another sandwich and banana, and off I went again. 2km down the road, I had to stop and pee (a lot!) again, and by this time I was thinking that perhaps this wasn’t actually a good sign of me hydrating well. I decided to slow down on what I was drinking to see if that helped, but shit it was hot out there with not a lot of coverage. This next stretch was 11.5km of pure agony. Every single step felt like the skin on my feet was ripping, and I was sure if I took off my shoes there would be a pool of blood. The section consisted of hard fire trail, as tough as road under foot, and lots of steep ups and downs. I was alternating between telling myself that I was done and I couldn’t go on further, and then berating myself for considering to pull out over something as lame as blisters. I mean seriously, you get blisters when you wear a new pair of shoes in, but that doesn’t stop you from continuing to wear them does it? How the hell could I even consider pulling out over blisters? I was imagining what people would say when I said I couldn’t continue because of blisters, and feeling like a fraud for even considering attempting a 100km. My mental state got so bad at this point that I started thinking about other things that could happen that would cause me to pull out. I thought now if I fell over and broke my arm, they wouldn’t be able to let me continue but it wouldn’t be my choice to stop. Or what about if I passed out, the medic staff would have a duty to take me off the track. Can you imagine hiking down a hill and looking at some rocks thinking hmmmm these would be good ones to slip on and twist my ankle??? I remember feeling disappointed when I actually slipped on some rocks and automatically stopped myself from falling; thinking even my body and subconscious mind was conspiring against me, the traitors. It then became a battle to try and silence those thoughts of inflicting a serious injury on myself just to have someone else tell me to stop, and just tackle the task at hand. Half way along this section, the winner of the 100km came streaming past me on his second loop, whilst I was still on my first. He had such a lead that I actually thought after awhile that I must have hallucinated him as I hadn’t seen anyone else. Or worse, I was on the wrong track. Thankfully, the course was well marked and so I continued to see orange tape to confirm I was on the right track, but damn that guy was flying! A few more of the front-runners started to pass me, and I thought fuck it, suck it up princess you can do this! I figured I would just take one (super painful) step at a time and re-evaluate at each checkpoint, as they would be 10km apart. Cath texted me to see how I was going at 40km, and I said my knee was hurting. It wasn’t hurting at this point just was beginning to show signs of being tender, but I couldn’t bring myself to say out loud that I wanted to stop due to blisters. I finally got in to the next checkpoint and just shook my head at her. Cath and one of the marshals got me to sit down, and I explained I just didn’t know if I could go on because my feet were hurting so much. We decided to have a look at my heels to see what we were dealing with. I took off my left shoe and socks, and started to peel off some of the strapping tape to reveal a humongous red blood blister. Ok then, so not your average blister then. I peeled off the right foot strapping and there was another massive blister that wrapped around my whole entire heel on the edge and underneath. I limped over to the first aid tent, sat down and asked what could they do to let me keep going for the next 60km. He took one look at my heel, started laughing and said Nothing. Not even on my best day could I do something for that love! I sat there and looked at him, then looked at Cath, silently pleading for a magical answer to my situation that would allow me to keep going. We came up with nothing. The silence was agonising. With a deep sigh and a heavy broken heart, I pulled out. The actual moment I reached over to stop my watch, I crumbled and started howling, deep sobs in Cath’s arms for a few minutes. This was not how it was supposed to go down dammit, how could I face people after this. Since putting my life online with my blog, I’m no longer just Rhiannon. That’s not to say I totes famous or anything like that, but I have attracted various people to my story and who have been following along eagerly awaiting to hear how the race went. How do I now turn around and say I failed and let everyone down??? The moment I told the race officials that I had officially pulled out, I felt defeated and I just wanted to crawl into a hole and hide away. My beautiful amazing selfless friend Cath was my saviour; she picked me up and took care of me like only a bestie can. She took me back to our cabin so I could shower and change (AND EAT!!!!) and allowed me the time to pull my shit together so we could go back out there and support our other friends who were still out on track. We went from checkpoint to check point, making sure they had all that they needed and to offer moral support. As we were on our way to the last checkpoint before the finish line, we got the heartbreaking call from our other bestie’s husband that she was out at 92km after being picked up by the ambos on track. In an instant everything I had felt about my own DNF was gone and all I could feel was my heart breaking for her. We changed course and met them back at the cabin, where we went through the exact same process that Cath went through for me only a few hours earlier. She cried, I listened. Shoes off, shower on, kettle on. Once she was tucked up in bed we headed back out again, and managed to catch 2 of our friends coming through the last checkpoint. One was in pain but determined to keep going with only 9.5km to go, so we sent her on her way. Our other friend came in only a few minutes later, looking better than ever. This was the same friend who walked with me at the beginning and had stuck to her plan and it paid off. She managed to run the last few kilometres and thoroughly enjoyed herself, while everyone else looked like death warmed up. We raced to the finish line and cheered every single person that came in, including our friends. Whilst it may not have been me ringing that bell at the finish, I couldn’t have been more proud of my friends if I tried. What an amazing, exhausting, draining and exhilarating experience every single one of us had been through. It didn’t end as hoped for some, but I take comfort in knowing that we were far from the only ones who DNF that day. Even last year’s male winner had to pull out fairly early on, which just goes to show no matter what prep you do leading up, anything can happen on the day. As I start to reflect over my experience, I was asked if I would do anything differently. The only thing I can think of is to maybe have worn my road shoes instead of trail shoes, given how much road and how little trail I actually got to experience. I don’t like road running in races at the best of times, but this really smashed me and I am sure contributed to the rapid aggressive growth of the blisters. Whether that would have stopped them completely I can’t say, but it might have got me further. That said, the issue with the excessive peeing may have come into play had I kept going anyway, and the end outcome could have been much more dramatic then blisters. I spoke with my physio today and he agreed that I definitely made the right decision to pull out. As he said, there is really no point in doing myself permanent damage for something, that at the end of the day, is supposed to be fun. Very true, and rest assured from 20km on nothing about yesterday was fun. I hated every single moment of it, and at this point have no desire to go back for redemption. I am feeling better about my decision today. Yes it still hurts and yes it still sucks, but I am more ok with it. The outpouring of support and kindness and sympathy from my friends and family, and my online community of RGR followers has been overwhelming and so appreciated, and it’s really helped me to come to terms with how it went down. I guess I also learnt to actually stand up and say enough is enough, instead of pig headedly trying to continue on, to my detriment. Which is a big thing for me, so yesterday was definitely not in vein. As someone special kept saying the day before - it is what it is... I could not even begin to attempt yesterday without some amazing people in my life. My amazing physio, who has propped me up both physically and emotionally many times over this year. My husband, for continuing to support me and by giving me the chance to train for such an event. My beautiful crew of besties, without these women in my life I wouldn’t be able to do half of what I do, and I am so thankful to be able to share it with them #4220+6. Not only did I have the chance to be at the start line with one of them, but another one volunteered her child free weekend to come up and follow me around the bush on bugger all sleep and thermoses of coffee, and the other one who was unable to join us and so was in constant contact by message all day with support and commiserations. My wider circle of running friends, from those who come and join me at late notice for a night time hike through Nerang just so I wouldn’t be alone, to those who message me randomly just to see how I’m going. My beautiful crazy daughter, miss Ruby Pink Cat, who inspires me every day to be a better person so that in turn I can inspire her to always reach for your dreams, no matter how big or high they may seem. And finally, to those who read this blog and follow my journey online. I started this process as a way of release, of getting all the thoughts in my head out on paper, as I felt at times like I was the only one feeling like I did/do. But along the way, I seemed to strike a cord with some of you who could relate to what I was saying, and those who seemed genuinely interested in the world of RGR. A massive thank you to each and every one of you for of your likes and shares, and for each of your comments. I read every single one of them and appreciate them more than words can say (and I say a lot of words, so know that it’s big!) So where to from here? That’s me done for this year; the time has finally come for me to work on resting and recovering my knee inflammation (and hopefully trying to walk again with these damn blisters!). Lots of strength training, pilates, stretching and patience is in my future the next few weeks and months. I am looking forward to finally being able to go for a pain free run, and one that is not scheduled or planned or for any purpose then it being something fun to do. Fingers crossed, 2017 will be the year of pain free running and races that I had hoped would be this year. Until then, I will continue to update you with the crazy world that is Real Girl Runner. And Ruby Pink Cat. Who just asked me to type that, as she wants to know when I’m putting her back up on Facebook, and whether we can take a selfie. Ugh, what have I created? Lol The lead up to this year’s Coastal High was going quite well until I aggravated my knee at the Yarrabilba Trail fest a few weeks before. Since then, I had been mainly in maintenance mode, trying not to upset it further.
The night before my crew and I stayed up in a gorgeous little lodge in Springbrook. We had all been shopping during the week and the house was stocked with enough supplies to last us a week, not just 2 nights! There was a part of me that was more excited for the VIP after party then the actual race lol We all followed our usual pre race routines and decided to try and have an early night to get a few hours of good sleep before waking up at 2am. For two of the girls, this was their first 50km and they were nervous, but I felt strangely calm. I figured that nothing could be as bad as last year’s effort and I am much stronger and fitter than last year too. I had also planned out my race nutrition, using Tailwind throughout the course and alternating on the hour with ½ a honey sandwich and ½ a banana. I slept as well as I could, being in a strange bed next to someone I had never slept next to before! Around 12.30am I woke up to the sounds of a massive wind and rainstorm outside. A quick check of the BOM site showed a huge body of water coming across, and a bit of fear set in as to what the racing conditions would be the next day. My alarm went off at 2am, and we all quickly got up and did our own morning-of rituals and finishing packing our packs before getting to the finish line (where we picked up our bibs and got the bus to the start line) at 3.40am. There was debris all over the road on the drive there and I was more than a bit worried on the bus. We had been getting text messages from the guys staying at the start line saying that it was freezing and blowing a gale! We arrived up at Binna Burra just as it was getting light. We dropped off our finish line drop bags and then stood around trying to keep warm and chatting amongst ourselves. A beautiful didgeridoo performance started off the event and then before we knew it, it was time to start. The weather turned out to be perfect, not a drop of rain and warmed up nicely for the rest of the day. My game plan was to hike any downhill bits and run flats and uphills (where possible). My goals were: A) start uninjured (failed), B) finish, C) beat last year’s time of 10:18 and D) don’t come last. The beginning of the race was a downhill road section and so I started off hiking and was instantly last by a long shot. I just kept reminding myself that this was just a training run for Blackall in 6 weeks and that I had a plan to stick to. We quickly detoured off the road and went down a steep track before turning up a fire trail. My first bit of uphill and I ran it nice and comfortable. I ran a bit of the uphill road section (staying on the grass) back past the starting line and then hiked the rest of it until we got to the top of Binna Burra and the beginning of the Border track trail. Some more gentle uphill and I was running it nicely, not too fast but sticking to my cadence and it felt great. About 5km, I felt the slightest niggle in my knee but thought it was just warming up to the running part (as I hadn’t run much the last few weeks). We quickly got to a long slightly downhill section so I hiked through that part and had my first ½ sandwich. I was running some of the flat sections when I realised the niggle in my knee was more than a niggle and was actual pain when I would try to bend it. This came as a disappointing shock to me only 6km in to a 50km ultra. I decided to just run the uphill sections then and hike the downs and flats. Turns out in the first half of the course, not so many uphills! Around 10km I made the decision to strap my knee to limit how much it was bending and kept going. This was where my training had paid off, as I was strong on the uphills and easily passing people, who then passed me on the downhills. I had a lot of strange looks and questions as to why anyone would actually run the ups??? I explained that these were the only bits I could do without pain so I was making the most of them. My downhill hike was actually a great pace too and I easily kept up with a number of people on sections who were running them. I questioned whether I should pull out at the first checkpoint at 25km but then reminded myself that this was just a training run, so I could just take it nice and easy. I regret this decision. Around 16km or so I came across one of my friends who had twisted her ankle badly and was struggling with pain and emotions. I asked if I could do anything to help and she declined and said she would get to the checkpoint and decide from there. I got to the first checkpoint in just under 4hrs, which was 40 minutes quicker than when I had hiked that section the weekend before, so I was happy with how I was tracking so I re-filled my hydration bladder and away I went. The next part of the track is by far the steepest hill I have ever run and was my undoing last year, and I’m sad to say it contributed to the undoing this year. It was a very slow process trying to get down that section with a straight leg, but at least this year it was strapped tight. By this time I had developed a strange cowboy-esque way of getting down some downhill sections by keeping both legs straight and pushing out my pelvis and kind of wide-leg waddling down. Sounds bizarre and it was, but it worked for a lot of it. I got to 30km in just over 5hrs, which gave me 5hrs to do the last 20km in order to get under 10 hours. Through this section, I got chatting to a lady who we had been passing each other in the first half and found out she had taken someone’s entry at the last minute and hadn’t really trained for it. I told her she was doing great. I explained that last year I was so injured I shouldn’t have started but I somehow managed to keep going and finished, so if I could do it then so could she. She looked at me closely and asked, “Are you part of Running Mums Australia?” I answered that I was and she exclaimed “OMG my daughter showed me your race recap a few days ago and I had tears! You are amazingly determined and look here you are doing it again”. WOW! I was blown away. Thank you sweet lady, I hope you finished strongly xox I came across the first deep creek crossing at the beginning of the road section, and I gracefully fell in up to my waist! Getting out and it felt like my shoes weighted 5kg from all the water in them. But I said a big hi to my friend Susan who was volunteering at that crossing and then kept moving along the road. I saw my gorgeous friend Jo at the next water crossing and her big hug was wonderful. I reached the 2nd checkpoint in Numinbah Valley at 33km in 5:33 so I was still happy with how I was moving in spite of my knee pain. I stopped for the toilet and pulled a stomach muscle trying to go (ouch!) which told me that I was getting dehydrated in combination with the Nurofen I was taking for my knee. I filled up one of my small front bottles with some caffeinated Tailwind, grabbed a handful of plain salted crisps (OMG these were the bomb!!!!!!!) and then away I went. I started running up the next section of Chester’s Rd, a fire trail before the next few nasty hills but by this time it was the middle of the day and getting really hot, so I decided to conserve my energy for smaller uphills. I was still power hiking and managing to pass people on the uphills, before they would pass me on the downs again. I fell into step with a lovely woman who turned out to be the one who handed me my finisher’s shirt and medal last year. She said though I’m sure you don’t remember. Um, nope. Sorry lol But it was lovely to chat with her along the way. She would get some ground on me on the downs and then I would catch back up on the ups as she was getting tired. The second downhill in Numinbah (affectionately known as Zombies) at 39km was my real undoing. I started to experience golf ball cramps in my legs and it was really tough to get down that part. At the top of the fire trail, 2 rangers had opened the gate and I could have kissed them from relief so I didn’t have to climb over it! They asked if I was ok and offered me a ride, and damn I was tempted but I sadly declined and kept going. My friend who twisted her ankle caught up to me at this point and was going so strong. At the first checkpoint one of the volunteers had strapped it so she couldn’t feel anything, and she had been powering on since. I was so happy for her and wished her luck. As we got to the last creek in Numinbah, another lady hiked past me with her knee freshly strapped and we commiserated with each other. By this point, it was just about gritting your teeth and powering on. I reached the infamous Apple Tree Park steps (all 920+ of them!), picked up 2 long sturdy sticks to use as poles and marched up them. About half way up, I came across the lady with the freshly strapped knee and she was crawling up each set of stairs on her hands and knees. I asked if I could do anything to help and she gritted her teeth and said no, she couldn’t stop. I hear ya sister! I got to the top of the stairs and checkpoint 3 at 43km in 7:57, which gave me just over 2hrs to do the last 7km. I had a moment where I considered pulling out but then thought screw that, I haven’t stubbornly put myself through all that pain to now just give up. The chance to pull out was 18km ago; suck it up Rhiannon you’re going to finish! I ran into a guy that I had been tag teaming along the way and he asked me incredibly please don’t tell me you just ran up those stairs like all the other hills we saw you run up?? Ha ha, no way, my knee is done, power hiking only! I asked the volunteer to strap up my knee nice and tight, filled up my bladder with water and added some Tailwind powder and away I went. The next section heading down the lowest valley in Purlingbrook was pretty tough but I just took it easy. Someone gave me some salt tablets as they passed me for the cramps that were threatening to start again, and I started munching those things like tic tacs lol Once I was in the bottom, I only had about 4km to go and it was mainly up. I felt a blister come to the surface on my left heal and a stinging searing pain but I wasn’t stopping now. I don’t get blisters when I run, only when I walk as my stance and foot strike change. I powered on with a fresh determination and a goal to see if I could get in under 9:30. I messaged my husband to see how he went and he smashed his original goal and came in 7:03. I am so proud of his achievement, even if I won’t ever hear the end of it lol I messaged my crew to let them know I was a 1.5km from the finish and to make sure there was at least one drink left for me and kept going. I ended up passing more people in the last few kms and came around the finishing corner and up the chute, finishing at 9:33. I had a fleeting moment where I thought I should run the last bit but quickly pushed that out of my mind and opted for smiley face walking instead lol I am very disappointed that my knee went so early, and I’m still at a bit of a loss as to why. I guess that’s something for Dave and I to work through in our next session. And I have to say; I am disappointed in myself for not making the decision to pull out when I could at the 25km checkpoint. I told myself that I wouldn’t run injured this year and yet the determined and stubborn Rhiannon won over the sensible and reasonable Rhiannon yet again. That is something that I need to work more on evidently. But that aside, given all that happened, I am incredibly happy with how I handled the race itself and the outcome. Overall, it turns out I was only able to run about 6-8km of the whole race, however I smashed last year’s time and beat about 20 people and got a sub 10hr, so I achieved all my goals that I set out to, even though the execution of it didn’t go as planned. To me it was obvious that my personal training with Drew from PT Direct 2U, my weight training in the gym and pilates, as well as my training program from my awesome physio Dave all contributed to giving me the strength I had to get up those hills at such a strong pace. When I check my stats in Strava, I am consistent in my times throughout the whole 50km even when I was resorted to only hiking. I stunned a lot of people out there with hiking pace as well as my speed on the uphills. I can only imagine what the outcome might have been had I not been injured and I’m excited to put that to the test again one day. I felt strong throughout and had the energy to keep going, even if the knee was giving up. Last year, I remember getting to the 2nd checkpoint absolutely devastated that I physically couldn’t run anymore and crying at the volunteers, asking them if it would still count if I walked the rest of the way. Whereas yesterday, I was like “woooo go me, I only ran about 6-8km of my ultra, I’m killing it!” It’s funny how your perception of things changes hey? My beautiful crew all did amazingly well, smashing PB’s and popping their ultra cherries like the badass chicks that they are. Our VIP after party turned out to be a food fest but it was the best way to finish an epic day. So again, it didn’t play out how I had hoped and I still feel like I have some unfinished business with Coastal High 50. What’s that they say, 3rd time is a charm? I woke up this morning unsure of how to feel about the race, it was the inaugural Yarrabilba Trail Fest and I hadn’t been able to find any information on the elevation profile so I wasn’t sure how to approach it. Should I use it as purely a training run, cruising along, practising my nutrition and taking my time? Or should I practice a bit of race day energy and see if I can try and work towards a specific goal. My husband was also racing, and this was his first official trail race. He “jokingly” said that he would get top 10. I say “jokingly” as I’m sure there’s an element of truth in these statements beyond just trying to get a rise from me lol
When we arrived it was a fresh 7 degrees and the sun was just rising. If you’re not familiar with the area, Yarrabilba is a relatively new designed village and is a beautiful location. I had a quick chat with Matt, one of the race directors, and asked him about the course. He said the first 8km or so was pretty flat and would be good to give it a go on before hitting the first of 3 pretty tough hills that would be perfect for hiking. So I decided to go strong until I got to the first big hill. I had set myself an unofficial goal of sub 3 hours. After a quick briefing we were off. Like a lot of the races run by Those Guys Events, this started off with a bit of road running. I don’t know what it is about Those Guys and roads in their trails, but it never ceases to knock me around. My shins started to ache slightly but I wasn’t too worried as this seems to be the norm for me at the moment for about the first 2-2.5km. I was more concerned about once we got off the road and it was sand, sand, mud and then more sand. I had my cadence app in my ear and was sticking to the beat but still I was struggling to find any kind of rhythm in my running. I’m happy to say that I only hiked 2 hills in the first 8km. I looked at my watch and it showed me that I was doing a considerably fast pace and I have to say I was pretty impressed. I should have been less impressed and more concerned with that pace. My body seems to have a set comfortable pace in mind, one where we can run and run and run without stopping. Anything outside of that pace and it seems to take exception to it. Today was no different. About 6km along I felt a slight twinge in my Achilles, nothing serious and I couldn’t think of anything specific I had done to cause it to hurt, so I put it down to the copious amounts of sand we were running on. Seriously, does this sand ever end??? I got to 8km, and then I started to feel a very familiar ache on the right side of my right knee. What the hell was going on?? I had been keeping my cadence spot on and I hadn’t come down badly that I could remember, so why was it starting to hurt like a few months ago? I reached the one and only checkpoint right at the base of the first big hill bang on 1hr. I had my first bit of food, half a honey sandwich, and hiked up the massive sandstone boulders to the top. I started to jog again and about 20m down the track, it started to head down again and my knee started up again. I took some Nurofen and decided to hike down the hill. I got to the bottom and there was a bit more flat track, but when I started running again the pain started up too. It didn’t hurt at all to walk, just anytime I tried to run or jog. As there were no more check points and I had no idea of where I actually was on track to try and attempt a short cut, I had no option but to continue on. That probably sounds more heroic then it was, believe me I would have DNF in a heart beat if I could lol but instead I strapped up my knee (thank god for carrying my first aid at all times!) to minimise the bending and set about hiking the remaining 13km. I messaged my crew who were back home, and told them of my plan to hike the rest of the way. I also messaged my physio and my husband to let them know what had happened. As I passed some gorgeous looking trails and tracks, I was disappointed to not be able to run them but kept focusing on the bigger picture. There was absolutely no need for me to push myself out there today when I have Coastal High in less than a month, followed by Blackall 6 weeks later. If at any time it had started hurting while I was walking then I would have stopped. Somewhere along the way, I had my second bit of food, half a banana. About 2.5km to go, I ran into another person who was also walking due to an ITB recurrence, so we kept each other company for the last few kms. It was nice to have someone to chat to out there, but I was sad for him as he said that meant he was out for Coastal. I ended up finishing in 3:11, which considering my original goal was sub 3hrs and I walked 13/21km, I’m pretty happy with my result. I went back and checked my run on Strava and it turns out I ran my fastest 10km in a very long time, with 3x sub 6 min kms. That’s not a good thing – I went out way too hard at the beginning, and I believe that combined with the 8km on sand is what stuffed up my knee. I finished the last drop of Tailwind in my hydration pack just after I crossed the line, though I don't think that's a true indication of how much I do/should consume on a 21km run. At this point in time, I am strangely calm about it all and about Coastal coming up. I have complete trust and faith in my physio so I will wait and see what he says before I start to stress. Right now, I don’t feel like it’s anything serious or permanent, however that could just be me being in denial lol I did manage to get an awesome post race rub down from the fantastic guys at Pogo Physio, who were one of the sponsors of the event. Words can’t describe how good that pain of getting knots and crap worked out feels! So, whilst today didn’t pan out as planned, I’ve come away with some big lessons learned:
27 sleeps till #WECH50 baby! PS, my husband completed his first trail run in 2:05. Well done babe! But not in the top 10 like you said you would. Just saying lol All the specifics for those who want/like them: Shoes - Inov8 TerraClaw 250 Hydration Pack - Salomon S-Lab Adv Skin3 5 set (blue) Watch - Suunto Ambit3 Peak Socks - Injinji trail socks Tights - Pink Punk Hat - Run Goat Run Nutrition - Tailwind, half a honey sandwich, half a banana Stats: 21.2km, 3:11, avg pace 8:50/km, 633m elevation gain, 175 max elevation. When we first arrived to the Color Run, I was feeling a bit nervous and a bit shy and I was worried that the colours would hurt if they went into my eyes. Then we went and lined up in the starting area, where they were playing lots of music and we had to count down from 10 before we started the race.
They were throwing out prizes into the crowd but I didn’t get one and that made me cry. I was holding my mummy’s hand for most of the race. First I went into the Pink zone. I was a bit nervous but at Orange, which was the next colour, I wasn’t nervous anymore. I liked having the pink colour on my face. I rubbed my face onto Mummy’s top to get even more pink on me. Before we got to the Orange zone, I got to sit in the middle of a giant letter H. The letters spelt out HAPPY. It was as fun as the sun. Then at the Blue zone I wasn’t nervous either. And we got lots of colour on us here. Then we had Rainbow colours (which was a rainbow) and there were small bubbles here too. Then we got into the Snow Zone. There was lots of thick bubbles all over the ground and in the air, and I spent too much time in there all through the bubbles. I didn’t want my colour to come off in there but it did as the snow was wet bubbles. Then I went into some wet colours and I liked it but it was so cold and I felt heavy. And then we had to go all the way back to the finish line and then we were done. I got my medal and then we got some dark colours. We then went to get some colours on us from the people on the stage and then it was time for us to go home. On the way back I had a tantrum because I didn’t get to do something that I really wanted to do. I didn’t get to open a locker where I could have got a prize and so I cried. But I ended up finding some things instead. I found a pair of glasses on the ground and a shiny ribbon and someone gave me a wrist band. I had fun. The end. From Ruby Pink Cat. I asked Ruby if she would like to write a race report about her 2.5km race this morning for mummy's website and she said yes. She gets easily distracted and so she started telling me about the race and that quickly launched into something about a cat under a bed. Note, we don't have a cat. So I asked her if she would like me to write it for her and then she could read it and change whatever she wanted. When I read it to her she said "let me just add one more line and then it is good". She then added the last line. I present to you Ruby's first race report! ____________________________________________________ Mummy asked me if I wanted to do a bigger race so that I could go to my best friend Layla’s birthday party on time. I felt very nervous but I said yes. We went to the stadium and I saw my dance teacher from Ikin Dance there. We started to warm up our legs by stretching, I was copying mummy. Then the race started. I was running very fast. We ran past some people that were cheering my name and they had a cowbell that was very cool. I started to get very thirsty and didn’t want to run anymore. Mummy said we could walk for a little bit until we got to some water. I was getting very very thirsty and got a stitch and I didn’t want to keep going but then we got to the turn around spot. Some very nice ladies on the side of the road were cheering for us and gave me one of their water bottles. I had a very big drink of water and then I was able to run fast again. I found a wish flower on the side of the road that I picked for Layla, but then I blew it myself. Mummy said we had run over 2km and only had a little bit to go so we walked a little bit more so I had enough energy to go fast at the end. We ran past the lady with the cowbell who cheered for us again. I told mummy that we had to dance our way over the finish line as that is what I did as the model for the race. But then when we got to the stadium and saw where we had to run into the stadium, I started to run really fast so I could beat mummy. We ran past the pretty cheerleaders and then over the finish line and I got a medal. Mummy said that this was the longest I have ever run. I loved my biggest run! For those of you who have never heard of the Up the Buff trail race (UTB), it is a notoriously tough trail race that runs along the NSW/QLD border track starting from Currumbin Valley. I’ve spoken to a number of people who rate this as one of the most challenging events, I’ve even heard whispers of some who say it may be tougher then Ultra Trail Australia (UTA). As I’ve yet to run UTA, I can’t comment on that but I can say that is was hot and tough! My race for those that just want a quick summary, my race went as follows: 0-4km – shit, crap, want to kill everything 4-13km – awesome 14-15km – ugh, blah, woah look at that hill going down. 16-19km – getting sore 20km – OMFG Strawberry Hill! 21km – ugh, blah 22-25km – still shit and crap, but counting down to the finish line has reduced desire to kill everything. Finish – get finishers mug and drink cider. For those that are looking for a little more detail, here you go. It will probably be long, sorry about that lol My last race before today was the long course at Hinze Dam, the 3rd round of the Gold Coast trail series. 18km and it was an absolute shocker, everything that could have gone wrong, did. Almost 35 degrees out there, bugger all wind and barely any shade, I ended up very dehydrated, incredibly sick and cramping like a mofo. All of this combined led to a very shitty race and left me very depressed and scared about UTB. Although I considered UTB to be basically just another training run, I was aiming for under 4.5hrs, as this is half the distance of Coastal High and I had in my mind that I wanted to do that in sub 9hrs later this year. Yesterday afternoon however, Mother Nature decided to fuck with me and send me my period just in time for the race. Seriously, is there any other species on this earth that bleeds once a month, every bloody month and believes this is normal?!? On days 1 and 2 of my monthly visitor, all I want to do is lie there fantasizing about performing an emergency hysterectomy to remove the pain source, whilst alternating between wanting to kill my husband and drown him in a flood of tears. Good times. What I DON’T want to do is any type of exercise. Kill me now. This morning I woke up at my usual stupid o’clock of 3.40am. Packed all my gear and triple checked I had everything (Salomon hydration pack, check. Tailwind nutrition, check. Bandages and strapping tape, check. Toilet paper, check. Body Glyde, check check check!). I had my usual breakfast of 2 fried eggs and half an avocado, and prepped my race nutrition of 2 fried eggs, chopped up and put in individual zip lock bags. For over 2 years now, I have followed a Paleo lifestyle, and am now unable to stomach gels or anything overly sweet as fuel. I guess I am what they call fat adapted, but whatever it’s called, fried or boiled eggs and Tailwind are my race stables. As we were celebrating one of my crew Liv’s 40th birthday today, I also needed to pack an esky, post race drinks and funky 70s style outfit. Next stop was to pick up the rest of our crew, take obligatory pre-race early morning photos and head to the beautiful Currumbin Eco Village. We set up our gazebo, picked up our race bibs, took more photos and frequent toilet stops (and pain killers to try and dull the horrendous period pain!) and then it was time to start. Starting down in the Eco Village meant that we had 4km of road running at the beginning before we got to the border track. I have been trying to transition to zero drop trail shoes for a few months now and have been struggling a lot with insane calf tightness and pain on up hills, and leg pain on road when wearing those shoes. So needless to say, the first 4km I hated. I tried to go super easy and light to minimise the impact to my legs, but that didn’t work out so well. Note to self – get new trail shoes! I got to the start of the border track, had a quick sip of water from the aid station and started on my way. The next 8km were by far my favourite. I guess you could say that this is my home trail, as I have run it many times with Gold Coast Trail Runners and enjoy it immensely. I was running at a great steady pace, and running lightly up a lot of the hills, which is a big improvement for me but something I still need to work on. I have 2 spinal conditions in my lower spine, which can be aggravated by uphill running (along with jumping and twisting, fun fun). I was enjoying waving and high fiving friends as I saw them pass me, and encouraging everyone else. One thing I have noticed about trail runners is that they are a friendly, encouraging bunch, a lot more then roadrunners. Practically every person I passed, including the front elite runners had a “good job” or a “well done” for each person they passed. Insert warm and fuzzy feelings here. I went past the section where the 16km runners turned off (lucky bastards!) and then headed up into the section that was basically a mini paddock. No coverage at all, lumpy bumpy grass underneath, a random earth moving digger along the track but some pretty cool views. I caught up to a friend at this point who seemed to be struggling a bit so I stayed with her. We got to the top of Strawberry Hill (the “easy” side), and looked down over the edge. You know that feeling when you’re on a rollercoaster at the top of the big climb and you’re just about to go hurtling down the other side? Yep, that’s how it felt standing at the top of that bloody hill. One wrong move and you would have become a human bowling ball with no hope of stopping till you crashed out at the bottom. I looked at my watch at this point and realised I was in for a really good chance at getting a sub 4hrs which I was over the moon by as it was way better then my original goal of under 4.5hrs. The next few kms were OK, still enjoying the course but my legs were getting a bit heavier, my knees were starting to ache on the downs and my back was starting to ache on the ups. We filled up our water at the last turn around aid station and then start the trek back. My friend was starting to hurt more (I believe the term she used was “bonked”, must remember to look this up lol) and so we backed off the pace and included more walking when needed. We got to the UP part of Strawberry Hill and OMFG. Lots of walking and stopping and stretching and cursing up that bastard. Why could they not get us to do this part of the course first dammit? Must remember to yell and Those Guys when I cross the finish line!! I checked my watch and we still had a chance of getting a sub 4hrs, but my friend was not in a good way, and although she told me to go ahead, friends are more important so we stayed together till the end. We got through the last aid station at 21km and started doing some run/walk instead for the last 4km of road (boo to roads in trail races!) Run to the next white pole; walk up this hill. Run down to the corner; walk to the last tree there. We finished our last walk as we rounded the corner to the finish line, and ran from that point to the end. One of the awesome things about being a “slower” runner is having so many people still there to cheer you on and take photos as you cross the line, and today was no exception! Got my cool finishers mug, got to sing Happy Birthday for Liv with all our friends, enjoyed some much deserved ciders and chilled out for a bit before packing up. In the end I didn’t even yell at Those Guys about the hill. Bit like childbirth I guess, you forget the pain as soon as it’s over lol My official time was 4:05:45 and I am so stoked with that. I am super proud to have finished today as it was definitely not a race for the faint hearted, and I feel like I have got redemption on the Hinze Dam disaster. Next trail stop is 35km at Numinbah to Pollys! Anyone keen to join me?? #realgirlrunner #rgr #upthebuff #trailrunning #thoseguysevents #salomon #tailwindnutrition |
RhiannonMy Race Reports Archives
May 2017
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REAL GIRL RUNNER | Race Reports |