Sky Rock n Run on the 21st November was one of my main goals for the year after missing Coast to Coast and GODZone due to injury. It promised to be a cheap but brutal event with 3600m of climbing over 42km of trail running. It also provided me with a much needed focus over the winter on starting the long road of working on my running so it was no longer a weakness for future events.
Although I knew I had substantially worked on my running and was a lot stronger than I had been before, I still had no expectation going into this event since it was also going to be my first marathon. My plan was just to run steady and try to stay running until the end.
The event started well with me making a steady climb up Mt Oxford and following descent down to the first aid station (14km) in the top 15. By now the day was starting to warm up and I was beginning to notice the heat and the subsequent increase in fluid consumption. As I began the steep climb to the top of the Black Hill hut climb, I ran out of fluid and regretted not stopping at the aid station to fill up.
By the halfway mark I had slipped back to 17th place but was thankful to have 2 climbs out of the way and only the final climb back over Mt Oxford to the finish. The descent back to the aid station was tough with my legs beginning to cramp up. I lost a few more places during the descent but wasn't too worried as I had turned to survival mode and focusing on getting in fluid. Running (slowly) into the aid station, Paul Timothy quickly grabbed my backpack off me and began filling it while I started downing cups of water and coke and a few of the jelly beans. Instantly I began to feel better and was soon passing people again up the final climb.
This is where my inexperience of the distance and lack of base km's started to set in as I hit the wall... HARD. It turned what should have been a fun flowing descent to the finish into a bit of a slog. In the end I limped home in 7:30:33, not exactly anything special, but I was happy to finish and am now confident Goats Pass will seem easy compared to it. Despite the pain, I look forward to competing at this event again in 2016 (and hopefully at the pointy end of the field).
Although I knew I had substantially worked on my running and was a lot stronger than I had been before, I still had no expectation going into this event since it was also going to be my first marathon. My plan was just to run steady and try to stay running until the end.
By the halfway mark I had slipped back to 17th place but was thankful to have 2 climbs out of the way and only the final climb back over Mt Oxford to the finish. The descent back to the aid station was tough with my legs beginning to cramp up. I lost a few more places during the descent but wasn't too worried as I had turned to survival mode and focusing on getting in fluid. Running (slowly) into the aid station, Paul Timothy quickly grabbed my backpack off me and began filling it while I started downing cups of water and coke and a few of the jelly beans. Instantly I began to feel better and was soon passing people again up the final climb.
This is where my inexperience of the distance and lack of base km's started to set in as I hit the wall... HARD. It turned what should have been a fun flowing descent to the finish into a bit of a slog. In the end I limped home in 7:30:33, not exactly anything special, but I was happy to finish and am now confident Goats Pass will seem easy compared to it. Despite the pain, I look forward to competing at this event again in 2016 (and hopefully at the pointy end of the field).
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