So... 8 weeks on from Melbourne Ironman and me, Adam and Chantelle (along with a LOT of other NRGers) were back out there in a completely different environment - no swimming, no bike and lots of hills and stairs. Back in the bush where we belong!
The weeks leading up to the event had involved a change in training for me and Adam. We were doing stairs twice a week, hills once a week and a long run on the weekend - generally in the Blue Mountains on the course. The build up was good, we had a great stretch goal of sub 14 hours for TNF and felt good about it after doing all the analysis and after our 6:33 at Mount Solitary 4 weeks before the race (after a full week of training).
To put the 14 hour goal in perspective... I have only ever done one 100km race and that was Oxfam Trailwalker in August 2013. I have lost a good 20kgs since then, but haven't run that distance - let alone trying to do it almost 7 hours (as in 1/3) faster! Also, Adam has done TNF twice and his improvement from 16:47 to 15:32 was awesome, but to take over 90 minutes off would be a big ask. Still, you never know if you never try. Also, as we kept telling ourselves it is no fun unless your next challenge scares you. I think this probably goes without saying - me and Adam will be back again to give 14 hours and that silver buckle another go.
The next issue with doing a 100km individual race with your best mate is what happens if you want to go at different paces? What happens if one cramps? Every man for himself or we go down as a team?! We had discussed every possible scenario except the one that happened on race day... anyway, we will get to that!
The morning looked good. We were all prepared and ready well before our 6.30 start time. The main issue was Chantelle left her two soft flasks in our dorm room... because I put them in the wrong place... oops! Clearly it didn't impact Chantelle too much as the last we saw of her was taking our empty plastic bottles and running off from the start straight to 11th placed female - amazing.
Me and Adam started more slowly with a gentle run down Furber, up the Golden staircase and off to checkpoint 1. However, all was clearly not well here with our 14 hour attempt. We were 2 minutes behind our aim and we felt like we had been running at a decent pace. Oh well, on to the next section and see what happens. We skipped ahead of a crowd of people waiting at Tarros Ladders by going round the "long cut" which brought us out ahead of those who were around us before. We later found out that our wives were worrying about us at this point because we never went through the Tarros timing point. Oh well, we were happily on our way.
This was when I met a 49 year old guy who had done Melbourne Ironman in 10:12 (90 minutes quicker than me) and was going to go back to try and qualify for Kona next year... shows how far behind some of these people we are! The climb over Mount Debert and then along and into Dunphy's Campground was great. I was probably 60-90 seconds ahead of Adam and we were both happy enough. Probably 1 minute slower to checkpoint 2, but 3 minutes overall (given the 11 minute buffer) was no problem.
Then that scenario me and Adam had not planned for... Adam manages to fall over while waving to Dave Madden and cramps in both calves. This is completely unknown to me as I am happily smashing my own legs down from Ironpot to Megalong Valley Road. I get down to the road and realise something is not right as I start cramping. I hobble my way up the road for a good 3km and then down the other side to the Six Foot Track checkpoint. I was bang on time for this section (2:03) and with a swift checkpoint (3 minutes) was off and "running" again. I quickly realised I shouldn't be feeling like this after 46km. Not good.
Soon enough, Adam came up behind me and we started to discuss our issues. We quickly realised we were both doing the dead man's shuffle up towards Nellie's Glen. In training this had been a point where we would be pushing each other to go faster before we got to the slow section that is Nellie's itself. Not today. We must have looked a sorry sight. I would guess anyone who saw or heard us would have written us off as a good old DNF. Neither of us said it out loud, but it turns out we were both worrying that the DNF may have become a reality.
I left Adam on Nellie's and was pretty ok up there. By the aquatic centre I had lost another 9 minutes and knew that 14 hours was gone. We had said that here was where the race would begin - turns out it was nearly where it ended. Fortunately, there was some great support in there included Tim and James (they had long since waved off their respective FAST ladies, but had hung around for us). Tim managed to fill my two front bottles and my bladder before I had stopped moving. So I was pushed out the other side with no time to see the state Adam was in, or to contemplate that dreaded DNF.
I hobbled along and Adam was (obviously) right behind me. We chatted away and discussed the fact that we were both ruined and couldn't believe the chance at 14 hours was gone already. I ran off ahead for a bit and then Adam caught me as I cramped badly just after Echo Point. I then waddled to Gordon Falls where I was pleased to see Doug, his daughter and Sam - nice to see some friendly faces. I particularly liked the HTFU sign they had placed about 20m beyond the water stop. They told me Tall Geoff was 3 minutes ahead and Adam was 5 minutes ahead. 5 minutes! In about 3km he had taken 5 minutes! That cramp sucked. Then I made it out the back of the Fairmont and saw Geoff's wife Jocie - again, it was lovely to see a friendly face.
I put my headphones in and listened to some songs that reminded me of Bex and my legs were not quite so heavy so I even got into a nice rhythm here. I went back past Geoff and was signing along at the top of my voice to Robbie Williams "Angels" - what better song could you get?!?! I soon caught Adam again - completely unexpected. I went rushing past at Wentworth Falls lookout and assumed I would see him again when the cramps set back in for me. This happened on the road section (bloody road) leading to checkpoint 5. Adam must have been 6 or 7 people back from me and next thing I know we are chatting again and waddling to the checkpoint.
This was an interesting stop. It took 5 minutes - disgracefully slow. Tim and James were nowhere to be seen, but miraculously the bottle of coke I had mentioned at the aquatic centre was in my CP5 drop bag... what had happened?! I came running out of the tent with a huge smile on my face screaming for Tim and James. I later found out they had gone to the finish to see Robyn come in 7th and Chantelle come in 11th - did I say those two are crazy fast?!
Anyway, me and Adam were about to head off - buoyed by our "stolen" bottle of coke when we saw Jocie again and she asked where our fleeces were. Fleece?! It was 5.30pm and we didn't need our fleece if we were out before 7.30pm. But, we thought we should check with the volunteers who had already sent us through... it turns out they forgot to tell us they had changed the plan and we needed to carry the fleece now. We had nowhere to put it, but managed to attach it to the outside of our bags.
As we started down Kedumba we used our head torches for the first time of the day. Adam said he was feeling better so he went off "fast" down Kedumba. I caught him again about 2-3km later and we decided that it had been such a miserable day that we would run the rest together and that perked us both up a bit - it turns out we actually like running with each other.
The next 12km was torture. We were overtaken by loads of people and were trudging as best as we could both manage with the debilitating cramps towards the finish line which never seemed to get any closer. When we got to Leura Forest Adam had had enough of my whinging and set off at a "rapid" pace through the single track. We were going back past all of those people who had overtaken us on the hills out from Jamison Creek! It was exciting - shuffling faster than everyone else felt good! Then we saw the sign that said 3.75km to the Furber Steps. I went crazy. I was updating us every few hundred metres to remind us we were getting close to the finish. Eventually I said it should be in 200m and we saw a lovely marshall who was at the bottom of Furber! Awesome! Antyone can do Furber after 99km right?!
I was so slow. Adam was off ahead and cheering me on up the stairs. Then he decided the only way to do it was put me in front of him - then I started moving and he was dropping back! There is something about being put in the lead that makes me want to go faster. I think I don't want to slow down anyone behind me. In particular, I didn't want to slow Adam down after we had come through all of this together.
For the second half of the stairs we took a guy called Brad with us as well - he seemed pretty happy for the company at this late stage. We sent him off to the finish line so me and Adam could finish together. It was a great moment to get there together and finish it as we had planned - together, but 37 minutes slower than we had hoped. A time of 14:37:11 is not a bad effort though. A 55 minute PB for Adam and 6 hours 6 minute PB for me from Trailwalker.
We will be back and we will smash 14 hours. I am not sure when or how, but there is time to be made up out there. It was a great experience and one I can't wait to repeat. It does remind me that I do this for fun though. That means that I want to run with my friends - that is why I enjoy trail running so much more than road running.
What next? GNW100 Miler if we both get in and that should mean a good 30 hours or more of each other's company. Maybe that will change our opinion of running together? Or maybe it will make us want to do more stupid stuff... the future is unknown, but exciting!
