Insert pun about stones and Glasshouses here

Well, that was a lot of fun.

After arising at an obscene 1:15am, I headed over to meet my fellow team members a bit before 2, and then headed north for Woodford. We had one drop out after copping the flu during the week, so it was just the two girls and myself. Eh, could be worse.

We arrived wide-eyed (coffee is awesome when you don't drink it much) and nervous at the Woodford pool a bit after three, registered, weighed in and got ready. There was a bit of a chat about directions (most of which went in one ear and out the other), and just after 4 am, under half a moon, Mars, a very bright Venus and the Milky Way, we plunged into the forest. Conditions were still, clear and quite cool (around 8-9 degrees).

I won't go into too much detail about the course and the race, since it was a training run. It is quite flat and sandy initially, working its way through the Beerburrum West State Forest to Glasshouse Woodford Road where the road rolls up and down to the first checkpoint and turn around on Millwood Road. You then head back down Glasshouse Millwood Road and head on to the path under the high voltage lines, where it starts to get interesting - or 'shiatty technical' as trail runners would describe it.

You then head down to McConnell Road and down to the twin loops around checkpoint 8, where we inadvertantly reversed them, doing the short 8b loop (with the big climb) first, then the long, 'technical' loop 8a second. It was a popular error!

From there, back up McConnell Road heading north into the forest and east for home.

We just had two goals for the day - stick together as a team, and finish under 8 hours (7:47 for the record). I felt very strong throughout the day, all the work around Mt Coot-tha paying off, with just some soreness in the last 7 or 8km (the sand not helping!). Of the two girls (Kokoda Challenge veterans) one finished very strongly, the second had to work hard in the last 20k but did a great job and finished well - she will take a lot mentally and physically from the event. I'll put it this way - she'll probably be back in September.

As, indeed, will I. I really enjoyed it. A great, well run event.