2007 Six Foot Marathon Race Report

After doing my best to eat some breakfast (I was surprisingly nervous), I headed off to the start. It was a great day for running, quite chilly and not a cloud in the sky. The start line was a buzz and it was a pity I couldn’t eat any damper (next year). Before I knew it we were off.

I ran to the first section at a good clip not wanting to be held up too much at the stairs. Before I reached the bottom, I had developed a strong ‘cold type’ headache. I had been wrestling the onset of a cold for a couple of days and it seemed like I had just lost the battle – dam. Onto the flatter section and my worst nightmare was becoming a reality. My head felt like it was about to explode. I slowed the pace right down, however my heart rate was high and people were constantly passing by. I started to prepare myself for a long day out.

I crossed Megalong Rd in just over 47 mins, slower than I wanted, but not as slow as I thought. I spotted Colin at this point and narrowly missed falling in the cattle grate (thanks Mrs Colin). As I left Megalong Rd, the headache eased slightly. It was good to get a cheer from the family at Pinnacle Hill and I also grabbed a couple of panadol from the firies. At this point Superflake passed me, which lifted my spirits as I realised that I mustn’t been going too bad.

As I wound down to Cox’s my spirit’s lifted as my headache subsided. I ran with Simon, chatting away – I was feeling good! We got to Cox’s in a split of 92:07, three or four minutes down on the plan, but I didn’t care – I was back in the game!

Simon and I took it easy going up Mini Mini, mostly walking with a few trots here and there. I continued to eat as much as possible and had so much in my hands coming through the cattle yards that it made things difficult to eat. I caught Tim just before the top of Mini Mini, he had sprained his ankle and was doing it tough. He must have showed some guts to eventually finish in apx 5:30.

We ran strongly down to alum creek where I chatted with squek112 before heading back up into Pluviometer. I think I walked the whole of Pluvio except just one short stint of running. I was really happy to arrive at the top in a split of sub 90. The elapsed time was 3:02:06. 5 hours was possible yet unlikely.

I found Black range to be really enjoyable. I was feeling strong and running all except the steeper hills. Simon was struggling and he encouraged me to push ahead. Funnily, I had a few stitches, which while quite painful, went away quite quickly. The headache also returned so I quickly asked at one of the aid stations for a panadol. I was ushered to the first aid truck and after what seemed a thousand questions (come on man I need to keep going), I was finally given a couple of pills and off I went again. The Garmin lost reception somewhere on the blackrange, so whilst I felt good, and I was passing heaps of people, I had no idea how fast I was going. I was thrilled to reach deviation in 3:58:07 (a 56:01 split). Sub 5 was definitely on.

After deviation, I had a fall. While it wasn’t a big fall it took me a few minutes to compose myself. No blood but a very sore shoulder. I passed a guy who was on the side of the road, bringing up his guts. I felt sorry for him but strangely it put a smile on my face as compared to this guy, I was just feeling really good and running well. I ran through Caves Rd, ready to give sub 5 a crack.

The final 7k’s were interesting, whilst I was running well, I got a few excruciating stitches that would make it very difficult to run, but would fade after a minute or two. With about 3-4 k’s to go I passed Mister G. About a kilometer later when we started to descend, he passed me back in a whirlwind going for the sub 5. It was at this stage that the stitch came back (and it didn’t go away). I tried to push the pace down the hill but the pain was terrible.

The decent into Jenolan Caves was great. The PA announcer and all the cheering was emanating like a cathedral. I crossed the line in 5:01:33 with a big smile on my face.

As an indication of how fast Mister G finished (and how slow I finished) Mr G’s time was 4:56:40 – 5 mins faster than me in the last 2k’s! Simon finished in 5:15 which was great result, looking the way he looked on Black Range.

The family had too much fun (and too many coffee’s) on the way to Caves house and missed me finishing. They missed my last marathon finish as well. Not that I mind too much as they felt guilty for the rest of the day and bought me beers!

We went back to our cottage and I had a somewhat soul cleansing dip in the fresh water of the famous Cox's.

All in all a top day out and a top weekend to boot.