A few days of travel after Six Foot to contemplate the day and reflect upon what happened. Firstly the final lead up...
I kept the general format of my program going with mostly tempo stlye runs in the last 2 weeks. Had a good hitout at Striders 10km at North Head, slicing just over 2 minutes off the time I did at Lane Cove a month earlier which was a good sign that everything is indeed headed in the right direction.
The week before I was actually working in Geelong and based in Torquay so did a very scenic run along the coastal path from Torquay to Bells Beach and back one evening!
I had my skirt ready and my dad and son also came up with me to Katoomba after I flew back in from Melbourne Friday afternoon.
Off to the car park early as I was keen to see the 7am wave head off, get some photos and then my "crew" could head off for Megalong Road. I always love the atmosphere at the top of Nellies and was feeling very good and quietly confident. Lots joking around and photos for the pink skirt brigade.
Finally wave 2 departs and I slotted straight in at the front and then it is just the nervous anticipation of what will soom become reality! Finally Kev gets us going but after the initial 100m surge all the people who raced in front of me decided that maybe this fast running down steep trails was not their thing and I weaved my way through a few that should have been quite further back in the pack. I do love this section of the run and just flowed down the firetrail very smoothly. The first official photo's at the bottom, just before the single track show there was no one even close behind and it took until about halfway down Nellies proper before I heard anyone behind me. This actually was good as I was very focussed on efficiently and safely getting down the slippery condiitons.
Finally at the bottom I started monitoring my pace and a few faster runners came past after a few minutes. My goal for the run was to run even/easy pace on the flat/downhills, walk pretty much all hills with the aim of getting to the top of Pluvi and then hoping to have legs in the bag for Black Range and the run down to Caves House.
Crossed Megalong road pretty much right on when I expected at 40 minutes, waved to the crew and also Colin who I saw there. Climbed over the fence and grabbed some water and sports drink. The run around Pinnacle and down to the river was also very relaxed, I actually had slotted in about 10m behind another cool runner (Little Black Pug I think) and there was not much overtaking in either direction, finally hitting the river and wading across in about 1:26.
I contemplated popping into the facilities here but decided I could find a tree along the track when I needed. Again topped up on the drinks and then set about climbing Mini Mini in the best possible manner without breaking myself given the training prep for this year. I always seem to struggle with the last section of this climb after the aid station and I swear this is the steepest climb of the whole course. Apparently Tim from CR went past here and said to me afterwards that I looked like I was struggling as well!
Anyway rolled down the descent, looking forward to the aid station again and planning on using the facilities there that I used a couple of years ago. No loo set up this year and I was starting to get some stomach twinges so I ducked into the bush shortly after to relieve the pressure. The creek crossings were very refreshing and in fact at the last one I crouched down in a deeper section to cool the legs as well.
As I started to climb Pluvi proper I started to struggle again and the stomach twinges reappeared. By the time I got to the first aid station at Pluvi I was not feeling good and was desperate for some sugar. Unfortunately they did not have any snakes or coke so I downed some water. Mr G came in just behind me and I mentioned to him that I was struggling a little. We both grabbed some more water and sports drink with the goal of walking it out on Pluvi.
Within 100m it was obvious that things for me were getting worse quickly. I started to dry heave and eventually managed to completely empty the contents of my stomach with a number of chucks! Finally it stopped and Sean encouraged me to try and start walking it out which I reluctantly did. Thankfully the next aid station had coke and so I took some time here to down a combination of coke and water as well as some salt tablets and try and compose myself. I told Sean to keep going and I then continued the climb, knowing next stop was the aid station at the top of Pluvi.
I still felt like crap and had no energy, in fact stopping halfway along and sitting for a couple of minutes before I finally made it into Pluvi. Here I sat down again with a couple of cups trying to replenish what I had lost and then resolved to keep walking to the next aid station hoping it would improve. This was the hardest section event for me, I was dehydrated with no energy and resolved that I would have to withdraw at the next aid station. However when I got to it I sat down again, drank more water and coke and kept going. Things were not getting better, I was walking slowly with lots of people coming past. I felt even more dehydrated despite the fluid intake at the last aid station and knew that if things did not improve I would have to stop, this also meant to me that if I did so then I would have a great deal of difficulty in ever having another attempt, let alone convincing my good wife that I should.
In this section quite a few people that I knew went passed and we swapped some notes as they checked on me. Finally I arrived at the next aid station and again went through the motions of water and coke cups before heading out. Then teh most amazing thing happened, it was as if though someone turned the lights back on. I started to sweat again and the legs stopped feeling like dead weights. I decided to try to start running and amazingly not only did it work but I actually felt strong. Within 2minutes I had caught up to a friend from NRG who had passed me just before the aid station and I had outlined my poor condition to. He was surprised, not just to see me again but to see me run past him while he was also running! This continued along the rest of black range as I hauled back a whole host of people.
I was still being somewhat conservative and walked the longer/steeper hills and spent more time at each aid station downing more coke and water. By the time I got to deviation I was starting to become even more confident and I really ran strongly along here all the way to the steep hill leading to Caves Rd. Some more drinks here but I could feel the "coke wave" dimishing between aid stations now. I think the depth (or lack of) training was now starting to take hold, no cramps but not much left in the legs either.
Finally I hit the downhill stage and opened up, passing many more runners through here before the final little jink/climb before the paved path where I had told the crew to set up. It was great to see them and I speared off down the path to finish this off. It is always a great experience that final descent as the announcer calls your name out and the cheer squad goes into action as you round the final bend.
So I made it and discovered quite a deal more about myself in the process. The time for me in the end was immaterial after what I went through. As it turns out I put 15 minutes into my NRG friend who caught me on Black Range after I ran past him. This year Six Foot was always a mechanism to get me running again and a stepping stone for bigger things. That certainly, and in more ways than one, was achieved!
I know I have a cracking time inside me for this event waiting to emerge, with a properly focussed campaign (more than 6 weeks!) and about 6kg lighter it WILL happen.
ps it was a great sideline to be involved in the beer bet and especially the pink skirt challenge. I'll post some photos shortly but am very proud that my supporters raised over 1400 for the McGrath foundation, just to see me run in a skirt!
