A weekend of contrasts

A Coolrunners' 5km Challenge on Saturday morning, and a return bout with the Six Foot Track on Sunday. I'm nothing if not versatile...

Saturday - Happily Cruising
An astonishing turnout of well over 30 Coolrunners attacked the Bay Run 5km course. My 5km PB of 18:36 from very early in the year is decidedly soft, but considering I hadn't run since the SMC event on Sunday with a fairly bad cold, plus the prospect of a 45km trail run meant I wasn't planning to set records. Heck, I even forgot my watch.

I concentrated on a good even pace, maintaining form and stride length. I started with lonewolf, rounded him up at about the halfway point, and came in at 18:47. Certainly felt the top edge of my usual cardio was absent, but pretty happy with the run.

Sunday - Six Foot Strikes Back
Well, it's Sunday evening, at around 9:50pm. After a visit to Balmain Hospital, I've had a tetanus shot, and have two adhesive stitches on my right knee, plus a ripper graze just behind my right hip. Yup, took a tumble, not long after the stop at Deviation. Thinking back, I put my right heel on a rock that turned out to not be stable, which flicked my right leg left. I think I hit the ground with a combination of right knee and the heel of my gloved right hand, with a secondary strike on the right hip/buttock. Mister G, who was about 40-50 metres down the road, reported he heard a quite firm "Oh FUCK!" (emphasis on the F) and the unmistakeable sound of flesh on ground and then rocks making their way down the hill. Got a nice little cramp knot in my right calf for my trouble, too....

The run started out well, with Mister G, Sarge, Blue Dog, Phil and Dawn heading out at about 8 am. The day was warm, and we made pretty solid progress to Coxs, where Dawn and Phil had already skipped ahead. Sarge and Blue Dog headed back to Explorer's Tree, while Mister G and I headed on into the heat.

A little note for those carrying backpacks with bladders. If you take the Scholes blister packs, not only can they help with blisters, but they fix small leaks in plastic Platypus bladders a treat. I had to effect a makeshift repair at Coxs, and it still hasn't leaked.

We were at pretty good time at Pluvio, and were going okay to about 30-31km. I felt I was starting to wilt (something Mister G commented on at Deviation. We picked up Kevin at about 32km, Phil at the forestry section, and Dawn at Deviation. It would be rude to remind everyone that Dawn had been there for three quarters of an hour...

I made a bit of an error at Deviation, in that I took on too much sugar (I think the Coke and probably two too many snakes), and started feeling a little nauseous not long afterwards. I had the fall, and sent Dawn and Mister G on their way.

I wasn't too bad up until the Caves Road crossing, and continued to make my way, until (in typical fashion) I saw Kev's car head off for Jenolan Caves. From about this point on, I felt increasingly nauseous, and was playing a similar game to what I had at the Gold Coast Marathon in July, where you take on water to try and dilute the sugar in your stomach, but balance it so you don't feel that you're bloated and are definitely going to vomit.

I got past the 4km to go sign, and given that I knew what was ahead, and how hot it was, it was, to be frank, a pretty miserable period. I had given up any pretension of running at this point, and I knew I was in for a pretty uncomfortable half an hour. Problem was, the fastest way to get it over was to just shut up and get on with it.

I was also aware of soreness in the right calf, hip, both hamstrings. The downhill section was completely exposed to the sun, so it was friggin' hot. The footing seemed even more treacherous than when we ran it the previous month (how on earth did we run it?!?). It was a blessed relief to get to the made path near Carlotta's Arch, and make my way down the zig zag of the final path. I even managed to put in a bit of a token jog for the last hundred metres or so.

So, now I know what Six Foot is like when you blow up, it sucks, and it's hot. Thinking on it, whilst this seems a bit of a disaster, it isn't. We're 3 1/2 months from the race, I got another look at the course, I don't think I'm injured, and I know what happens when you fall and you blow up. I'll come back stronger from this experience.

I'm not too sore tonight (I think walking the steep downhill section helped in this regard), and impact injuries aside (which won't stop me running) I'm not too bad. I've got a massage booked on Wednesday.

I'll see how the recovery goes before committing to the Central Coast Half Marathon on Sunday. I was never going to really go after a time there, suggesting instead that I would try and tow Mister G and Johnny Dark through to sub 90 minutes, but knowing that Ray James is thinking the same thing takes a bit of pressure off.

I think the time today was around 6:40. I took a pile of photos, which I'll get to Coolrunning during the week.

....and today saw the last active duty of my Reebok Road Lites, with around 630 odd km on them. Man, Six Foot is hard on shoes - they're destroyed. I did my sub 3 hour at Canberra in them, so there's a bit of sentiment. A quick run through the washing machine, and they can follow the lawn mower around. A most noble retirement...