Still Lost & Running
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| the sunrise and Fog ( taken on my phone camera) |
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| At Big G |
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| Before going out on the last Lap |
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!
Rudyard Kipling
(The last 4 lines of the poem If a favorite of Chrissie Wellington ,Former Ironman Champion)
Wild Goose was the first major race this year . Preparation with Rob started in November and with training done and especially with the meditation I felt confident I could tackle this.
The race is held at Avon Valley National Park., an hour from Perth . A beautiful if not tough course along Toodyay Road on one side and the Avon River and rail line on the other side.
Got to the Cec Burrows campgrounds at 3pm on Friday . Got all my gear and drop bags sorted. Races were going on so just got down to getting my gear and drop bags ready.
I went to bed after dinner pretty early but the inflatable mattress made it hard to sleep .It was cold but I had 2 duvets . I did have heaps of toilet breaks at night because of the cold so sleep was pretty much nil.
I was up early and had milk and a cinnamon roll for breakfast. At 6 am Shaun started the 100km race with I would guess about 15 runners
Took things easy with the 1-2km loop round the village before we headed to the first loop of the 50km course which was a 28km loop back to the village followed by a 22km loop. It was still cold and I had my poles . I felt I was going slow but possibly not slow enough.I was mindful not to get the legs too tired for the first 40km . The first Aid Station was only 5km at Quarry. I think I did refill one of my bottles . Then headed off for the loop before coming back to Quarry Aid Station and doing the out and back course . At this point I could see the faster 100km runners heading back to Quarry aid station and also the 50km runners were passing me .At Quarry Aid station I ran into Marko and his dad who were doing the 50km .Everyone was relaxed and doing well.Shaun was at the Quarry Aid station .Prophetically told him when I get into trouble can I phone a friend meaning him? which I later did.
Got back into the village completing about 28km in around 5 hours .Had a coke and some biscuits . Refill of the bottles which were squirting everywhere when the volunteers were trying to put them back into the vest(time for new hydration vest and bottles) and then started off again .
The legs were tiring now and the right heel hurting.About 30km into the run my Garmin course ended > What do I do ? Only thing was download the defunct course I had and try and combine the flagging with the gpx course which had 108km on it .
Got
going again I assumed I was last as I had not seen anyone at all. The
next loop to Big G and back turned out to be tough and the legs were
really hurting but the course was pretty straight forward. There were some 29km runners and one 100km runner apparently took a wrong detour and passed me at this section .
As I got into Big G aid station , Rob was there .That was the low point everything had gone wrong .Starting to hurt .Was slowing down and still had 60kms to go .Despite the meditation and oddly the mind was just focused on getting to the finish , I did wander off catastrophising a little. It was just not panning out the way I wanted. That was not to say it was actually going bad.
Rob matter factly just said quitting was not an option. Well I had to get back to the village anyway so set off on the 4km loop and by the time I got back I decided I will just run back but agreed I could not quit at the village. That simple. I had several more hours so I would just make the best of it.
It was a further 7km I believe to the village and again a coke , biscuits and cheese and refill and I was back on course.Checked with Emma that I had to follow the red and white flagging for loop 3 .It was now getting dark .Lights were on and the vest was on. I had another runner pass me and it turns out he had already done lap 3 and had made a wrong turn so he had to run back to get on to loop four.
As the sun set there was an Echidna in the middle of the trail curled in a ball not moving.The temperature started to fall again after the warm afternoon. Got to Quarry aid station and had a refill and a banana .Then the real loop started . Had to call Shaun here as I wasn't too sure about the signage but told to follow the 21km course ( third loop was 22 km , slight difference only ) Eventually I got to the tricky section of the valley and creek at about 66km to 69 km .In the dark I could not see any flagging and possibly I was even on the wrong side of the creek/gully. I just had to slowly get over boulders rocks and those prickly parrot bushes .Got really cut up and could not really see a way out . This would have been about 8.30 pm and then once I was out of the valley and into Drumonds Campsite and then back to the village at about 10 pm . I now had 7 hours to the 23 hour cut off .Was doable . A quick refill another coke and biscuits and out. I knew now I would finish although it would be slow.
I spoke to Shaun and the instructions were again follow the yellow flagging and 3-4 kms down the access road would be the turn off on the right and follow it . One runner was walking in the opposite section which I thought was strange and he said I just had to follow the path and it would go down to the river and then turn left and it would lead me to Big G . I assumed he was doing the loop in the wrong direction .Turned out I was if looking at the map above . the correct direction for Loop 4 was clockwise and this was a 12 km section to Big G which I would climb again at night as I did it anti clockwise. This turned out to be a slow part for me I was getting tired and did start to see lots of things in the dark. Occasionally the train would swish by .It was really cold at this stage . The climb up Big G was hard but I had no real issues but I was glad that was over .I had taken Panadol from about 4pm and some anti inflamatories .
Had tea and a soup at the aid post from Sarah and then started the 12km loop . I think the volunteers would have known I had come from Big G as that was the only trail. I felt better and started the 12km loop. This was unfortunately a slow go as I started to really getting sleepy.The Garmin died and had to try and charge it again hence the Strava was in 3 sections and in the end the Garmin was not charging about 2-3 km from the Big G .
I started seeing lots of silvery caravans and cars and steel sculptures in the forest. Had a sit down on the wet ground .Had no doze but did not seem to help I was walking like a drunken sailor. It was slow at this point but kept moving and at this point there was no longer any thought of not finishing .The mind was always coming back to the present . I realized after the race that meditation before the race for the last 7 months allowed
the mind to reset to the here and now ,just subconsciously
.It became a default position and it just happened . I was not struggling with any negativity for all of the last lap. I was so glad to get to Big G aid station as I thought with a coffee I would be able to get back to the village a lot quicker as the access road was so straight forward and only about 8km .
Unfortunately after I got the coffee and the sweeper and one of the last runners were there already , I was told Emma had called it meaning no one could finish.Veronica who was already on the course could run back to the village ( we passed her in the vehicle). A bit of shock and just plain tired I did ask if I could just finish but was told the Race Director had made the decision. In retrospect I should have rung and tried to at least ask if I could finish because at 8km there was really no risk involved as I had been through the worse at night .
At the time I was bitterly disappointed as it never occurred to me that I would not be allowed to finish.
But I have learnt that not everything goes the way you want or planned. In fact the harder the task the more likely I will fail to achieve the goal and from that I hope to learn . But all those years ago as I started this journey I did not in my wildest dreams think I would dare push these boundaries . I believe I have gained many experiences along this journey and many friendships I would not otherwise have made. I feel I am a better person for having tried . It is in that really dark moment we get to feel more alive. As Kipling was trying to say surely life is about living and to live you must take every moment to savor life.For only then you will feel what it is to be a human being.What better way then in the Avon Valley doing Goose.
- I toughed it out
- I wanted to quit but I did not
- I did not dwell on all that went wrong
- As each issue arose I dealt with it .Did not panic especially trying to find a way /course on lap 3
- I was getting fluids in between each aid station on 15 min alerts and eating every hour
- Sorted the garmin gpx error when it suddenly ended at 30km
- leg and heel was hurting after 35 km at Big G .Spoke to Rob about quitting but didn't
- saw an Achina on lap 3
- beautiful sunrise and sunset
- quiet of the valley
- realized that meditation before the race for the last 7 months allowed the mind to reset to the here and now automatically just subconsciously .It became a default situation
- my mind switched to the problem at hand
- first experience running/walking 24 hours
- didn't sleep the night before race and then 24 hrs during race
- did hallucinate
- climbed Big G twice
- did 3300 m of vert and 100km
- Strava had 97km recorded plus 2-3km to Big G aid station .Despite not being allowed to finish accomplished at least doing 100k for the first time since 2016
- loved the support from volunteers and fellow competitors
- salt intake was spot on and had a little cramping in the hand
- having my dog to come home to and sympathize with me n licked all my cuts . Sort of a Goldie vampire thing going on
- pain killers and anti inflamatories helped
Negatives about the race
- pain
- going out too fast and no way to control pace where vert was so variable .Garmin I downloaded said 2000m possibly because the whole run was not downloaded
- should have had Gaia as backup and know how to use it
- should have printed a copy of map to see direction of each run
- Ended up going the opposite way on last lap based on How I perceived the instructions in following the yellow flagging
- Did big G twice
- no actual briefing
- no food issues but should write down what I should eat every hour
- cold and miserable at night took extra jumper off and then put back on.should have had jacket.
- the run vest and drink bottles leaked and bottles were difficult to pull out and put back in pockets.Definitely need a new vest
- Should have been more organized at aid stations as to what to eat and calories
- Had a pity party along the way
- did catastrophised but did not dwell .went back to the here and not necessarily meditating
- hated the bush bash section lap 3 mainly even the Garmin line did not have a footpath /trail to follow
- could have been on the wrong side of the creek and still would not tell know on Garmin
- had to ring Shaun twice on the course as lost
- so sleepy at 2-3am Nodoze did not work
- sat at side of wet track on lap 4 possibly 15km in feeling really sleepy but could not sleep
- groggy and swaying on walk
- was too tired to argue should have just walked back
- only realized after the race the volunteers and RD would have assumed I had done the correct direction and so had another 15km when they stopped everyone at 6am but only had 8km or less back to village from Big G on easy track if I had done the correct direction would have been out of Big G before pin pulled and so would have finished even if no medal.
- hallucinations lots at night
- wife thinks I am mad but she cares
- the
forest was lit with shiny cars and caravans and there were black bears .The plants were like steel art works everywhere .
- the inflatable mattress was not comfy did not sleep well the night before race
- watch died on last lap about 17 or so km in
Moments
- coming out of the bush bash into Drummonds camp with a couple sitting by the fire wasn't sure who was more surprised
- Echina
- sunrise and the fog
- bush bashing and stuck not knowing how to get out of the thick bush
- the real worry about falling off the boulders and rocks
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| sunrise at the Avon |
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| the valley Lap 3 in the day |
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| one of the many climbs |
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