Beyond the Black Stump - a Bloody Great Bush Run

What an awesome way to start the year?

In planning for this run I had bought a hydration pack and a couple of Power Bars.I filled the hydration pack with 2L of Staminade. Rod the Hornet kindly gave me a lift so that I didn't have to pack the family into the car at 6:00AM.

I took some very good advice about this race and went very conservatively from the start. I ran the first third of the race mainly with Kazz, Bushbaybee and a bloke who's CR handle I didn't catch (Basil Brush?).

The first 8K was an uneventful mix of bush and road butI was a little worried about our time when we pulled into the ferry on about 1:20.

We didn't have to wait much at the ferry. I had planned to pick up some Gatorade, but it looked closed, so I decided to ration my Staminade. after the ferry there is a 4K uphill which is mainly road. it was here that I started to pull away from the others as I jogged a goodly portion of this section. My policy on this uphill was that if my breathing got laboured I walked. At the top of the hill someone had left some drinks (Coke, Gatorade, a couple of beers) I foolishly decided to leave it for the trip back. From here it was back into the bush and a steep downhill. This section seemed to last for ages, but finally I reached the ruined castle - the turnaround point. At this stage I had been going for 2.5 hours. I took a break here and had a stretch. While I was doing this I was caught by BushBaybee and we had a few photos.

From here Bushbaybee and I ran together for the entire trip back to the ferry. The climb after the ruined castle was steep and a bit tough, and I was looking forward to the drink station, but when we got there we found about 200ml of Gatorade and a half drunk can of Coke. We shared the Gatorade (I'd run out of Staminade already) and I drank the Coke (I usually avoid the filthy black liquid like the plague, but it's gold on a very long run). 500m later there was some people giving out cold water, so I took some in the pack (thanks guys).

We made some good time on the road back down to the ferry, but wasted it all by a long break at the marina where I went to the toilet and filled my again empty pack with Powerade. A long wait at the ferry had me itching to get going.

The next section is the hardest of the course. I lost Bushbaybee soon after we got off the ferry and was running, sorry, climbing close to if not with Carmen as I slowly ascended through the bush. After what seemed like an eternity (it was really 2.5K in 45 minutes) I finally hit some flat track and broke into a jog.

I actually felt pretty good throughout that section, and I started to get visions of a massive kick to finish, but I left it until I hit some road about 4K from the finish until I thought: "OK, let's pretend this is the final stages of a marathon - let's try to finish this baby off at 4 hour marathon pace".

I didn't - my legs were not capable of going that fast at that stage, and I finishedwith some 6:0X Ks.

Approaching the finish I noticed the people mover we affectionately call "the bus" and two excited little faces peering at me. The twins ran the last 50m with me as I stopped the Garmin at 5:17:55. I had qualified for the Six Foot Track Marathon.

I didn't realise exactly how happy this was going to make me. I've been on cloud nine all day. Additionally I have felt bubbly, energetic and cheerful, where quite often I crash and burn after (or during) a race. This afternoon I frolicked with the kids at Ryde pool.

Thanks to Rod for the lift, all the people I ran with for the company, all of the drink givers and especially Jen for support and advice and my support crew & cheer squad.

It's been a special day.