What a race!!! Another personal best time for me (errr first time running this course mah :p) even though I came in 199th place out of 125 runners with a time of 4:36:18... Follow this link for the results...
Here's the ins and outs and ups and downs on race day, Sunday 19-Feb-2012...
Woke up at 5:15am and tip toed around the bedroom so as to not wake the ladies (Angel, Lena & Angelena)...
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| Zzz... Zzz... Zzz... |
Angel, sharp as usual, woke up and followed me around to supervise my pre-race routine... Fed Angel so that she do not get grumpy and kissed goodbye to all the ladies and headed out at 6:15am... The journey, according to my trusty GPS, will take approximately 1.5hrs...
Reached the gate around 7:40am and saw 2 buses with the 50km runners making their way to the start line... They start at 8am while we the 30km starts at 10am... Parked the car, geared up and head towards the registration tent...
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| Registration... |
Received my bib and also a map of the course... Come on, who needs a map, the course is well marked and there should be runners in front anyway isn't it? Hmmm...
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| yeh... race bib and race map... |
It was not until 9:40am that our bus leaves for the 30km start line... That explains why the registration was supposed to be until 8:30am and I still see people registering at 9am... Next year I will know... if there's a next year for me...
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| All set to go go go!!! |
Brett, the Race Director, started his RD briefing at 9:50am... Before our 10am start, there were already 5 or 6 males and 1 female from the 50km race that have passed us... meaning, these people have done their first 20km in under 2 hrs!!! Respect...
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| RD, Brett Saxon providing the briefing... Notice that he is standing on a slope? |
I vaguely remembered he mentioning something like: "when you reach the tower, just look up a bit during the descent to keep a lookout for the exit marking... it's pretty obvious and you should not have any issue... otherwise, you will reach the bottom and see fellow runners running towards you.... you would have gone 1km too far..." I thought to myself, how hard can it be... hmmm...
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| fellow30km starters... |
I felt really good, especially after last week's tapering and last 2 days' carb loading... All set for my first trail race!!! RD waved the start off at 10am and off we go...
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| No easy start here, it is up, up, and up... |
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| Go go go... |
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| Open trail becomes single file around the 1km mark... |
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| Looking back at the bottle neck behind the first obstacle... |
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| Finally... Run free!!! |
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| Almost the entire first 20km is ascent... |
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| Slowly, the field spreads out... And dark clouds starts to form... |
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| I think this is just after the 10km mark... some trail riders having their Sunday morning fix... |
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| Devastation from the 2009 bush fire... As a result, the 2009 race was cancelled... |
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| Burnt, but still standing tall... |
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| Around the 18km mark... Steepest climb of all... after that, mostly downhill for the last 10km... |
This is where my race fell apart... I came to this point after a water station about 200m behind me... The marker points to the right, meaning we have to start our climb on grass... No problem, I can still see and follow runners in front of me... Notice the couple in white and blue top in front? I actually closed the gap to less than 20m during the climb... The climb was, TOUGH... Especially after 19km of running already... There are loose rock, branches, twigs, leaves... The elevation was about 500m...
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| There they were... Almost caught up to them... |
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| The tower at the end of the climb... |
Before reaching the top, I saw the 2 runners in front of me turned right... Hence I followed after I reached the top... It was then a gradual downhill curve to the left... My natural instinct was to keep to the left inner trail... I was concentrating on my footings and honestly, did not look out for markers as it I assumed the trail just continues... I was going downhill pretty fast and was surprised that I did not caught up with the couple in front... I thought, maybe they are really good downhill runners...
After about 5mins of downhill, I suddenly saw runners, all 50km runners (they have blue bib) coming towards me but to my left... I was like "what the f@#*? what the hell is happening?" As I approached nearer, I realised that I was back at the 18km mark before my climb!!! "what the f@#*" x 2!!!
Then I remembered what the RD had said in his briefing, "look up after you reach the top"... sign... Honestly, the thought of me climbing the hill again nearly kills me... I was so angry and agitated that I was about to give up... But seeing the 50km runners passing me and tackling the hill motivated me to carry on... My thoughts were: "suck it up man... with the wrong turn, you are still doing less than the 50km runners... so just dig in and carry on..." And I am glad that I did...
On hindsight, I should have backtracked and it would be an easier climb... However, I decided not to and just follow the other runners to climb the hill again since I was now only aiming for completion...
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| Maroondah Reservoir less than 3km to finish... |
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| I think the mountain at the background was where we started... |
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| Finish!!! 4:36:18 |
I reckon the wrong turn I took added 1.6km and cost me half an hour... Stats don't lie... here's my garmin recording...
Race Summary
Course - Very very very challenging... especially the first 20km... respect for the 50km runners... after their first 20km, they still need to go through the next 20km with massive ascent...
Weather - Perfect... low 20s and we did get some drizzle but it was only for a short while, hence no problem...
Water Stations - Every 5km... Water, sports drink, lollies and cakes!!! some water station has GU gels too... Big thank you for the hard working volunteers...
Atmosphere - unlike road races where you can hear crowds cheering you on, all you get is the serenity of the forest... It was really nice...
My final thoughts...
- First trail race, and loved every moment of it... yes, I loved the fact that I can bounce back from the mistake and finish the race...
- I was targeting 4hrs, but nonetheless, still a PB...
- I would have use my water belt instead of my Deuter bag if I would have known that the water stations are so well organised...
- MT10 works like magic... I get good grips all the way and did not have a fall... However, a little more cushion is preferable as I can really feel the rocks and it no longer becomes fun when my feet got a bit sore...
- No issues with the Forerunner 610 and heart rate monitor... they worked perfectly...
- Start slower with low heart rate and work it up as the race progress...
- Need more hills training, both uphill and downhill...
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| Finisher's medal - Front & Back |
Very much looking forward to Race 2 - Macedon Ranges... Bring it on!!!
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