So it looks as though it is time to update my charity
running blog. It’s been a month and there has been plenty of water under the
bridge (or just plain cold water without a bridge – read on to figure out what
that means) and I haven’t given you all an update on how I’m tracking or what I
am actually doing.
It may appear as though I’m lazy, well in fact I am when it
comes to updating this blog, when in fact I do actually train and run these
different events. All of them in the name of charity of some description, the
event itself may not be charity based but the long term aim is to run a
ridiculous event that will push me to the extreme edge of my limits and that
event will be for charity.
Last blog entry was the Salomon Trail Series Race One at
Studley Park, since then I’ve participated in two more trail events as well as
putting in a number of parkruns and a heap of training. Short term I am running
the Marysville Marathon (full 42k) on trails in mid November, shorter term I
will be putting in heaps of miles and events to be ready for that specific
event and long term I have a big challenge ahead. That one I am not going to
reveal until such time as I’ve finished Marysville and know that I can actually
physically push myself well beyond a single trail marathon.
Blah, blah, blah. Onto what I’ve been up to. I’m pretty sure
the events, commentary and amazing photos that go with the trail season (in
Winter) is more to your fancy than me pushing out 17.5k at 7 mins per k around
the local streets and parks. So that’s what I’ll cover off.
The You Yangs are a granite outcrop situated between
Melbourne and Geelong (about 50kms from the City of Melbourne). They sit as a
strange lump on an otherwise flat landscape. Personally I’d never been to this Regional
Park even though it holds over 50kms of trails that are regularly used for
running and mountain biking. So what sort of surprise awaited me?
Our race (15kms) started at 10am with a 9am registration but
my co-runner (and driver) for the day, thought we’d get there quite a bit
earlier to see of the crazy people who were tackling the 50k and 30k events
(you know who you are!!!). We saw off the 50k guys and then Tony realised he
had not brought his asthma inhaler, and you know what that means? It means the
one day you’ll need it is the one day you don’t have it and being a bloke who
always brings up the tail this is not a wise thing to run without. So my
magnificent “driver” took me 15k back to the nearest chemist so I could grab
one – what that meant was we missed the 30k start, ended up being parked miles
from the event and pushed the limits when it came to our own registration. We
made the start though and headed into unknown territory.
This event has some serious hills, sections where you needed
to scramble over rocks (on all fours), walk a steep climb and watch out for the
markers (there was no way I was getting list this time!!). What a stunning park
this was with breathtaking views of the bay, the park, waterholes, gum trees,
cliff faces and more. With 335m of elevation gain (and it felt like that was
all in a 2k stretch) this was a challenging event. I beat five people home but
had an absolute ball, taking photos, struggling to breathe, cheering on mates
and enjoying the outdoors of regional Victoria.
The following Sunday I thought it was time to put in another
trail event and this time it was Race Two of the Salomon Series, Plenty Gorge.
Another Regional Park in Victoria this one being 30k North East of the City.
Now forget 335m elevation gain this one had 424m but over the longer course of
17.6k. And I can tell you, these were SERIOUS hills – a number of people have
told me that this was the toughest course they’d run – I can’t contribute to
that debate as I walked a heap of it, sometimes down on all fours.
We had four river crossings, and it was no creek jump, the
first you were thigh deep in icy cold water and then scrambling up the opposite
bank that was a mud pile from the earlier (much faster) runners and then
heading away on your journey in socking cold clothing. You had enough time to
dry out before you hit the river again. Again the views were stunning, a
completely different view to the granite, with high tessellated cliffs, scrub, colourful
trees and grasslands. For consistency purposes I finished fifth last again but
had just as much fun as the previous week, albeit under different conditions.
For the time being I’m going back to what people would
consider “normal” running with the Tan Ultra Half Marathon event booked in for
11/8 – where I’ll run 6 laps of “The Tan” in Melbourne (an outer track around
the Botanical Gardens) which includes a large hill climb (so six of them), known
in Melbourne to all runners simply as “Anderson Street”. I hope to finish 5th
last to keep up the consistency, but I’m not there to run a time, it is just
part of my Marysville training and what better way to book in a long run than
make it an event where you will turn up and do it no matter what the
conditions. I’ll take comfort in the fact that there will be other runners
there doing 100k, 50k, 30k and more so may even pass one or two of the Ultra
journeymen along my own journey.
I’ll do my best to report back after that event with the
plans for the next few weekends which may well include a Half Marathon event at
Sylvan Dam (yep another trail with stupid hills in it)!!!
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