Got a great sleep the night before and did a few laps in the pool in the morning as well as all the normal housework. It felt weird not getting up to do a Saturday morning run!
Took about an hour to get the esky together with everything I thought I might need during the night - doughnuts, chocolate, oranges, chico babes, powerade, water, coke, chips...glad the kids were there to get me through it all!
We arrived at the Village just after 5pm to find everyone excited and preparing for the run. Got a few photos and still no race nerves. This was too much fun!
Race organisers checked us in and gave out a t-shirt and water bottle to each competitor. Hubby set up our chairs and tables and the kids beds and started to settle in. I raced to the loo at the last minute thanks to all the water loading during the day!
There were a few keen runners doing laps already to warm up...I mean who warms up for a 12hr run???
Johnny (Fatbloke) was sounding terrible but very good spirits. Blamed his achilles injury on all the bending etc he had to do when he made the arrows on our 'Fatass' run up Mount Nebo last year....ooops Sorry 'bout that.
the race began - 5mins early so no time to do a quick "get to know you" lap.
The track is a certified 500m course - every two laps is a km.
The lap scorers were very good and advised us of our progress each lap. Thankfully - as I had lost count after 10 laps!
They knew each time I went around the track thanks to Tesso - she had given me a loud clapping hand clacker to shake each time I crossed the start line to let them know to record another lap.
It was very exciting for the first 90mins but then I got confused and actually thought I had three hands.... Yes it was not a very good run for me.
The first few laps everyone was very jolly and saying hello to each other as we all passed. FatBloke was happy to show everyone his tan lines and was a motivating source out there especially considering his state of health. He even didn't mind us talking about his manboobs (or lack of) or his brickers arse.... it certainly helped us pass the time with a lovely view :)
The swallowing of bugs gave me some extra protein in the last hour and I knew I really gave up caring when I saw a cane toad and thought "oh god I'm going to squash it" nothing triggered that I could possibly sidestep it or jump over it. The legs were just not willing and the brain was not functioning quick enough. Thankfully the said toad leapfrogged out of the way.
Sadly my two hours could not end quick enough, a fairly disappointing 44 laps, before I handed the hand clapper over to teammember #2 Davo and headed off to get my hamburger and coke!
Tesso was still going around like a champion and I knew we were in for a special result.
She reached the 50km mark third overall and 1st female. We were all cheering and jumping and so proud of her. (okay so I was the only one jumping..but we were ALL cheering).
I managed to bat my eyelids at a man there doing massages and he offered to rub me down. I didnt care that I was in the middle of the track in full view. I stripped off and jumped on his table. Think I embarressed him though as he went in seach of a towel to cover me 20mins later I felt in heaven and my sense of reality had returned and I got dressed and went to finish scoring for my team and Tesso.
The hours just flew by and before I knew it Tesso had done the magic 120 laps (60km). At this stage she was second overall in the 6hr event and first woman. The thing was she looked like she was getting faster and there was no stopping her.
AB was still in the lead at this point and he wasn't handing it over to anyone. I'm not sure of his exact lap count but hopefully he will post a full report too!
A few more laps and it was all over. 6hrs - of non stop running. I am still in awe.
Unfortunately I had to pack Hubby and sleeping kids in the car and head home - it was nearly 1am. But we listed to the radio and heard the presentations. Brought tears to my eyes to hear Tesso being called over on the radio!
Despite feeling so crap and not getting my desired 50 laps in I will be back next year. Hopefully in better form! Although I have to say - I'm feeling really good today :) not stiff or anything.... proof that I didn't work my body as hard as it felt like I was working it.
Another thing I realised was that I like running on surfaces that are straight, with a few hills to break up the efforts on the legs.
Kurrawa felt a lot easier than this race - and I ran further/longer there.
Just one of those things I guess.
3 comments:
Sounds like it would have got quite nasty, did you get dizzy?
You shouldn't be too disappointed with 22km in 2 hours. Yeah sure, a couple of extra laps would have been nice but that gives you something to improve on next year. I think we need to get Tesso drug tested. What is she on???? She is running like a champion and fully deserves her victory.
Wowww... you should all be so proud of yourselves. I can't even begin to imagine what it must be like to run for hours and hours like that! Congratulations to you and Tess!
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