240k and Coast to Kozci

Well last weekend I ran this event and finished in 43 hours 37 minutes. 

Firstly I have no doubt I may not have finished with out the dedicated support of my wonderful crew. The three girls and mothers all travelled from interstate and gave up so much of their time to help me. All crews do it tough but I only know what mine did for me and I could not have asked for or wished for more. So Sue, Anne and Sharene thank you girls. We had a race plan and a crew plan based on what did not work well last year and some added things. It seems this year we got it right.

Last year I was not well when I started and really continued to struggled until I was timed out at Dalgety at 148k. 

This year I was healthy and fit. My mind was very positive although I knew that the course  and distance needed a lot of respect. However I was positive mentally and that helped. 

The first day went so well I was concerned that maybe I had pushed a bit too hard. Last year it was dark for me at around 90k and well short of the dead tree. This year he plan was to have tea at the start of the sealed road into Dalgety (at 106k) and be on the way before sunset. I was so pleased to be at the dead tree right on 7.00pm and on my way along the road to Dalgety at 8.00pm having eaten and changed.

We arrived at Dalgety at 3.00am about 4 hours ahead of last year. We had 30 minute stop and had 3 hours up on the cut off when I left at 3.30 am. That was in front of where we planned to be and so decided that to finish all we had to do from then on was to maintain a pace that equated to the cutoffs and we would be okay provided I held out. So the pace dropped a bit and we made the cut off to the River at Thredbo at 189k still 3 hours ahead of the cut off. We left Charlottes Pass at about 8.00pm a were 4 1/2 hours ahead of the cut off. We now had 7 1/2 hours to cover the last 20k.

Sounds easy but I had already covered 220k, it is a relentless climb up to the top of Mount Kozsci and the weather was getting colder (about 2 degrees at the top excluding and wind chill factor).

However the wheels feel off badly after reaching the summit and in particular I  had severe pain in the kidney area that made standing upright almost impossible and so I was supported by both arms on the way down by 2 of the girls. 

The other was having her own problems and I added some vivid hallucinations as I was stumbling down. I believed at time we we in an ice cave and the roof was getting lower and so we needed to crouch down. It was also the night of the moon eclipse but I could not clearly see the moon because of all of the camouflage netting over the track we were walking down. So it made for a very interesting 20k round trip that took much much longer than it should have but was made it with 2 1/2 hours to spare.  

A wonderful experience and for somebody my age (despite the saying that 60 is the new 50)I am thankful I have the health to be able to complete events like this.

 200k just before Perisher and a rare downhill

 Some injury treatment

The 'Dead Tree' at 102k - yes I was happy

 Crew at the start just before 5.30am