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| The Blackall 50 |
I suppose this story begins the Thursday night before the
race, after I got home from Oktoberfest in Fortitude Valley, when the message
came through that due to the amount of rain the Mapleton area has received over
the past couple weeks, the course would be changed to avoid the areas that have
been flooded. This meant for me doing the 50km, the big climb up The Bluff got
removed and instead a section around a dam was included, which was a lot
flatter. When I found out this news I’ll admit I was a little annoyed, I like
to think of myself as a pretty good climber and my former race plan prior to
this news was to push really hard up the climb and to try my best on the
flatter sections. With news that that the total elevation would be less I knew
I would struggle to complete my, perhaps unrealistic, goal of winning the race.
I made a new race plan based off the times of last year,
which was the same course as this year, and if I ran that goal time that I set
myself, based on last year, I would win. Easy right?
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| Now that I've ran this course, I can safely say that the race plan is way off. 4.20 is easily achievable, however I would do some sections faster and other sections slower. |
And with that I showed up to the start-line at 7am on
Saturday morning, when it started to rain. Which didn’t stop for the entire
day. The conditions were the polar opposite for what I trained for. Instead of
hot and dry, it was cool and wet, which I was grateful for. I was really
struggling in the heat during the build-up to this race.
Anyways, the gun went off and the next 3ish km’s were on the
road. During this time I realised that I had no chance at winning. 1 person
lead from the gun, never to be seen again (he ended up winning it in 4 hours 1
minute, the person who got second came through in 4 hours 9 minutes). However,
I was still hopeful of a podium as I was in touch with the top 5 by the time we
left the road and onto sweet single track for the next 5km’s, in the Mapleton
National Park. During this time I lost a few positions as the single track
section was fairly flat and I wasn’t willing to push myself so early on in the
race. This meant when I went through the first checkpoint 9km in I had dropped
back to 11th. I was feeling really good at this point and I knew
that a large downhill section was coming up (based off the course profile, I
had never been on the course prior to the day), and this was a section I would
hopefully make up a bit of time. And for the first part, I did! The trail was a
fire access road, that was bit muddy and slippery due to the rain, but not that
technical. I was able to pick up around 4 positions until the 14km mark. I had
just started the steepest descent (24% according to Strava) and there were a
few rocks on the trail, as there had been for a few of the previous downhills.
I suppose I just wasn’t concentrating hard enough or I was unlucky but when I
put my left foot down I stepped on a rock and rolled it. As soon as I did it, I
knew it wasn’t something that would go away after a few km’s. It hurt like
hell! And it couldn’t have happened in a worst sport. I was 5km away from the
previous checkpoint and 6km away from the next one. I’m grateful to the runners
who passed me who offered their help, but they couldn’t do anything but inform
the next checkpoint, which Troy did, so thanks Troy!
The next km and a bit were agony. Every downhill and flat
section were painful beyond words. It was brutal, I can’t remember ever being
in so much pain during a run. But the climbs were ok, I could almost run up
them without the pain being too great. And by the 17th km the pain
had reduced enough for me to run on it almost normally. But the next approx. 35km were the hardest I’ve ever done. I’ve been asked why I didn’t drop out
at checkpoint 5, 20km’s into the race and after thinking about it a lot, I can
narrow it down to 3 main reasons.
- The fact I could run on it at all 2km’s after I rolled it suggested to me that I hadn’t done any serious damage to my ankle. If I had I’m sure my body would’ve let me know.
- There was no way I was going to quit after training since July for this race. I had put to much time and effort into this to drop out less than halfway through. There was no way I was going to have a DNF at the GC marathon, followed by another DNF at Blackall. No way.
- Mental grit/toughness/fortitude, whatever you want to call it. If I want to do 100 mile races in the near future that are going to take over 24 hours to complete, I need to have experience of being in the ‘hurt-locker’. Because after talking to people who have done that distance, it’s going to hurt. I want to know what it’s like to hurt, to keep on going even when my body is telling me to me quit. Prior to this race, I haven’t experienced my body wanting to give up. I do now.
Once I had passed checkpoint 5 I’ll admit I wasn’t a huge
fan of the course. We had to do a loop that was relatively flat, wet, muddy,
along a fire road and the only thing to look at was trees. I went through a
routine of running when my ankle didn’t hurt too bad, walk when it did. Repeat.
One good thing to come out of the rolled ankle was the ability to talk to other
racers. As I was walking a fair bit it meant that I wasn’t ‘puffed’ and I could
strike up an enjoyable conversation with people that I never met before. People
like Gav, who I found out was sweeping the 100km course later that night after
completing the 50km. Crazy! (And he even managed a top 10 finish!)
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| The Dam Loop |
Once the loop was complete, it was time for a moderate climb
(that would have been all runnable if not for my ankle) up a different road
than the one we came down before going through checkpoint 4 and back along the
same single track and down the bitumen road to the finish line, where I crossed in a time of
4.45.27, coming in 13th overall. And very, very happy I finished! I've
finished races where I’ve placed better and raced better, but that feeling of accomplishment
I got when I crossed the line when my body wanted me to quit, second-to-none.
It’s hard to describe in words what I felt, but if people ask me why I run
ultra’s. It’s partially due to feeling I got when I crossed that line.
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| To finish the race you have to ring the bell. I love that Run Queensland has included this! |
Before starting this race I had the intention of never doing
it again. Mostly because it doesn’t play to my strengths. Ankle
notwithstanding, it took me 4 hours 17 minutes to complete the Brisbane Trail
Marathon which featured 2000m worth of climbing/descending, when I was taking
it easy and doing it as a training race. In comparison it took me 4 hours 13 minutes to hit 42km's during this race (about 1000m of climbing). I like climbing
steep stuff and I like running downhill on steep stuff (this race is the first
time I’ve rolled an ankle running downhill). Blackall is known as a fast,
runnable course. Not my forte as I’m not particularly speedy. However, with my
race not going the way I wanted it too, I’ll be back. I’m not sure when, but
I’ll be back, and I’ll be doing the 100km.
As always there are a ton of thank-you’s and acknowledgments
I wish to make. The first one is to Felix and May. As I don’t own a car I
would’ve had difficulty getting out to the race if you didn’t take me out there
and back. Thanks so much! And well done once again on completing the 100km in
abysmal conditions. Thanks to all the volunteers who helped out over the weekend,
without you guys these races wouldn’t happen. And well done to anyone who was
out on the course past 1pm, the weather went from being bearable to disgusting.
So much respect. There is also a runner named David, who I didn’t meet until
late at night after I had finished. He was 60 and he got 3rd in the
50km, against racers who were half his age. You’re an inspiration, when I’m an
old dude I want to be as fit, fast and humble as you! And lastly, thanks to the
Run Queensland organisers. This was my first event with them and considering
the logistical nightmare it must’ve been to change the course two days before
the race due to rain, the race was really well organised. It was a great race
to be a part of.
After seeing a doctor, I’ve been told that I shouldn’t have
done any serious damage to my ankle. Which is good news as I’ll be doing my
next ultra in about a month’s time in Victoria’s Alps, a 60km featuring a lot
more climbing, I’m really looking forward to it! Until then, it’s all about the
rest and recovery!
The TRN
