When is a 7+ hour 'trail marathon' a sucess

• When the actual distance is closer to 48k;
 
• When the temperature is close to 100 degrees F;
 
• When the DNF rate was very high and a number were taken to hospital with severe dehydration;
 
• When, 10 minutes after finishing, you can get in your car and drive home with no issues;
 
• When the aim was to average 10 minutes per k with a combination of running and walking and still managed that despite the heat and extra distance; and
 
• When at 40k I was in serious position of being out of water and becoming quite disorientated and made it to the last CP that was about a 1 k away, took on plenty of water, took on plenty of simple sugar, waited 10 minutes and was recovered to be able to walk solid to the finish line.

 

All of those positives do not overcome the basic error of the organisers have a two loop course and when yo finish the first lap and tell you you have run 'about 24k' and you must do it all again. You then ask where is the change in the second lap to reduce the distance and they tell you there is no change. That didn't make sense then and sure doesn't make sense now.

 

If I had of known it was that distance I would not have entered. I entered because it was the 'Gelnbrook Marathon' and I was looking support a local marathon and add another to the list. It will not be added to my list of marathons. I could have stayed home and did more recovery for C2K instead of grinding out a tough 48k + trail marathon.

 

Anyway I am over it. But I have not recovered in the sense of feeling very fatigued. THe leg muscles are fine but I have not run and will only have a few short slow runs before C2K.

 

I need to do a lot of organising for C2K in the next few days. Clothes, food and car. Sue my faithful crew the last 2 years fly's in from the Gold Coast on Wednesday morning. It's a well settled routine. Shop on Wednesday and spend the afternoon sorting, labelling and packing the boxes.  For this result (yep a lot for one runner and crew but it is all about choices and a lot comes home). Not all food either, clothing, emergency medical supplies etc, etc;

 

 

Thursday we collect the other 2 crew members and drive to Eden. That takes most of the day. A dinner is organised for all of the runners and crew at Eden in the evening with race numbers being handed out, safety instructions and a lot of nervous talk.

 

Start at 5.30am Friday morning and with a little lunch and a lot of hard work it should be all over with us driving down from the car park at Charlotte's Pass just after midnight on Saturday