12hr Race Report

What a day!!

Arrived at the track at 7am and began setting up PA system, clock, food, drinks, shelter - there certainly is a lot to set up for a track race. Thankfully with some great help that was pretty much all done by 8:30 and then I had a chance to focus on my race. The day hadn't started great with me forgetting the ipod (with the 14hr race playlist), my handheld bottle and making some questionable driving errors on the way to the track. I was grateful for the chance to sit down and get into race mode.

A quick bite to eat and we were off at 9am. I had chosen to wear my long sleeve cricket shirt for the race as the forecast was 36 and I didn't want to be putting sunscreen on every hour or so. Ultras always have a pretty low key start and although Susannah settled into her own pace, the rest of us just cruised around together. Not much happened in the first few hours, the temp was ok and the breeze really helped. I found the going was tough along the home straight but apart from that not too bad. 3hrs in and I was still feeling good. I was gulping the sustagen at a rate of about 800ml/hour and also having the odd cup of water so hydration was going well. At around 4hrs I noticed that I had a few laps on Dave and I went through 50k first in 4:51, Struggled a little after 5hrs and managed to get to 60k in 6:00.36 so pretty much right on target.

The next few hours felt tough and the lap sheet reflects that. I was just feeling exhausted, not sick, just really tired, so I had a few minutes sit down and occasionally walked a lap. 70k in around 7:30 and I knew 120k was gone now - no drama, my goal was always 110k and I had anticipated a slow down over the second half of the race. Battled on trying to focus on continuing to drink and eat. Didn't feel like much to each but the oranges seemed to go down nicely.

At 9hrs I had done 83k and Mick told me I needed 27k in the last 3hrs to make 110k. My heart sank as I knew I was gone, 9k/hour doesn't sound like much but I had been runing less than that for a few hours now. Between hours 6-9 I had covered only 23k. I set my sights on holding my form and getting 105k. Kate had a chat to me and tried to convince me I could do it but that didn't work. Then Mick had a brief word to me and I was still convinced that I couldn't do it but decided that I still had something left. I had always intended to smash myself at this race as it was a good test race for the nationals in June.

This is where I got angry - not at my crew or the other runners, but at myself. Ultra running is a very personal sport - the atmosphere is great and a real sense of community and of course you need a team of people supporting you. But you get to a point where you need to go inside yourself and find something. I felt like for the first time in about 18 months I was able to go inside and find something. All of a sudden I was pulling out 2:20 laps, then 2:15, then 2:10 and then 2:00 min laps started coming. I was tired and hurting but I had to go for it.

10hrs down and I now only needed 8.5k/hour to get 110 - down from 9k/hour @ 9hrs. This made me feel good and I started to think that I might be able to do it but I knew I couldn't relax yet. A lot can change very quickly so I continued to push hard. Although I did come to my senses and stop running 2min laps, I knew that if I kept a good, sustainable pace going I could get 110k. I wanted to leave myself as little to do in the last hour as possible to account for any mishaps. I went through 100k in 10:48.33 and had 71:27 to do the last 10k. It was great to have only 10k to go and I was confident in doing it.

11hrs done and only 8k to get in the last hour, so I eased off a little to try and ensure I lasted the hour, lap times were still between 2:20-2:30. I was starting to feel the effects of really pushing it for the past 2hrs and as I came around the bend into the home straight on lap 259 I sensed I was in trouble. I moved to the outer lanes so as not to impinge the other runners and the stopped. I felt a little dizzy so knelt down to steady myself and then just collapsed. The last 2hrs of pushing hard caught up to me and I found myself gasping for air. I was exhausted, fighting back tears and could barely breath. It wasn't long before my faithful crew and some runners were on the scene and after a few minutes I got up and they walked me to complete the lap. I was very aware that I didn't want them to carry me or physically support me in any way.

Walked over the line and all I could think about was how much time that little hissy fit had cost me and that made me angry. So I poured some cold water on my face and started to jog again ever so slowly. Bernadette accompanied me for a few laps and eventually I asked how many I needed for 110. Only 10 laps was the reply, 4k and I had 33 minutes to do it, this brought a smile to my face as I thought I had more than that and I knew at that moment that I would do it comfortably. I continued to just cruise around the track, not pushing, just cruising and eventually went through 110k with 3 minutes to spare. Later realised that a lap was missed so my final total was 110.848k. Stoked with that!

Pack up was painfull as all I wanted to do was lie down. Eventually headed off around 10:45 and once in the car I must admit I shed a tear or tear, mainly relief that everything was done. I pulled up pretty well after 7hrs sleep, my ankle was really sore but seems to be getting better. Played some basketball on Monday and might try a short run on tuesday. Thanks to everyone who helped me out on the day, especially Kate, Mum, Pete and all the race volunteers. I couldn't have raced/directed without your help