The course has been split into three stages. The first was 16 1/2 kms long and was four weeks ago.
The second was 17 1/2kms and was held last Saturday.
I don't know why I work myself up so much before these runs. It could because I've not run on most of these trails before so I'm always worried about getting lost. It could be because I know I'm going to run it two ways, and would prefer to start at the end, run to the start and start with the group, then run with the group back to the end.... than start at the start with everyone, run to the end and then run back to the start.
I know, I have you all confused and I probably could have worded that much better but...
For the run this last Saturday, at least I knew where the start and finish were, so I wasn't worried about that, but to get to the start by 8am (which is the time the main group was starting) I'd have to start at the finish at least two hours before, and that means running on trails in the dark...
That was fine when I didn't know what to expect, but having done that once before, I knew what to expect and wasn't looking forward to it...
I barely slept Friday night because I get anxious about silly things sometimes and I still hadn't decided whether I was doing a 6am start or going with the main group at 8am and doubling back that way... I really didn't want to do that... so I decided I'd just head on out there early and if there were people I could run with, great, I'd go with them, if not, I'd just go back home and make it to the 8am start with the others...
As I couldn't sleep, I checked my emails during the night and found out that at least one other runner (Thanks Callum!) was going to be there at the finish point, ready to run to the start, but he was leaving at 5.30am...
I'm only 15minutes from the meeting point so I got up, got ready and went!
The early morning and the sheer silliness of what we were doing caught up with me though and after about a kms of uphill, in the dark running I stopped and said very embarrassingly "I don't think I can do this today"
Callum spoke like a doctor trying to soothe a frightened child and said wisely to just give myself twenty minutes and if I still felt bad, to turn back then...
Magically, after those words were spoken, it all went away! I felt fine or at least, back to normal and we went on our way.
Running in pitch blackness, with only our little torches to light the way is quite an experience and not one that I'm too fond of. I did have a "mid-light trip" which is becoming customary for me. I've got quite the selection of scrapes and bruises on my lower limbs at the moment but nothing serious and nothing to stop me running!
At one point there was a heavy rustling in the bushes which I'm sure was a kangaroo but we just kept moving.... moving fast....
We heard the howl of a koala and stopped to try to find it with our litte torches... we didn't find the one howling but we did see one just a few meters away right at eye level!! So close!!
I've pasted our route as mapped by my garmin but I only turned it on after we'd already gone 1.3km so it's short by that much.
We ended up getting to the start with plenty of time left before the actual start took place. We were going to take it easy on the way back but everyone was running so we just ran along with them.
When we got back to the spot where we'd seen the koala, we noticed he was still there so I took a couple of photos. Those things don't move for nothing!!
As every run is, it was great once it was finished! I was driving home thinking "Did I really just run that far?" and you know, I really felt pretty good... just the odd niggle or two but nothing major...
Just one more training run to go now before the main event!
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