The compulsory faith-tester

At about the 5k point of the second lap I knew it was going to really, really suck. Problem was, there was still around two hours to go, I'd made an error just taking a bottle of sports drink and leaving the Camelbak in the car after the first lap and I suspected I was dehydrated...

It all started out well enough - met the leader of our Kokoda Challenge team at around 5am to start a pretty relaxed anticlockwise lap of the Pinnacles course at Gold Creek Reservoir. It was very humid at the start, and it seemed as if heat was radiating from the very earth itself. I was immediately sweaty on the initial climb.

The norwester was very strong along the top of the course, the leaf litter on the trails a testament to how strong the winds have been during the past week - if you're out on the Coo-tha or Brisbane Forest Trails in the next week, I'd be very wary of branches coming down - the breeze was just cooling, but was strong enough to prevent conversation as it blew threw the trees. There is plenty of scorched earth about after burning off in the past fortnight.

We got through the lap in comfortably under three hours. I said farewell to my training partner, dropped my Camelbak at the car and headed out to do an anticlockwise lap (basically the other way). I was strugging after the initial climb, and the legs were as dead as wood. I started wanting water rather than sports drink, and kicked myself for leaving the bladder behind.

At about 4k in saw my first snake for the season - I think it was a black snake, with a black back and around 3 metres long, but had really unusual side markings that were a really bright/yellow green. He was crossing the trail, draped almost completely crossing, and it was with mild interest he watched me run around the back of him.

Black snakes are pretty easy to deal with - just don't go near the pointy end.

It pretty much got worse from there and even the gentle jogs down hill became hard work. Funnily enough, the climbs weren't too bad but I suspect it was the complete lack of attack on my part doing that.

To give some perspective I finished the second lap about a minute quicker than I've walked it in. I was just grateful to get in the car and go.

On the plus side, I've knocked over a hard 54k in less than twenty four hours, so hopefully that'll cap off what I need for Glasshouse.