Write Your Own Story

Finally I feel like a real runner. It’s been two and a half years of good luck and some good management that has seen me run free of injury since I started. However for the last seven days I have been unable to walk without pain let alone head out for even a shuffle.

Ten days ago I ran up and down brutal hills across 50km and over 6 hours. At the end of that race I was flying, doing ridiculously quick kms. I was running the best ultra I’d ever done and loving it. At the finish I felt typical soreness and fatigue but definitely had not injured myself on any one particular foot strike that I could remember. For the rest of the day nothing was out of the ordinary as my body started to seize up and the increasing soreness typically took a grip.

The following day my left foot was giving me all sorts of grief and nine days later it’s still sore. I’ve booked in to see a physio later this week. Hopefully he prescribes 60km around a 400m aths track in Coburg. That’s my next event coming up this Saturday, a 6 hour ultra that will be equally tough mentally and physically. I doubt I’ll be able to take part in it, but you never know.

The big interest for me in this down time has been wondering how it will affect my attitude. It has been running that has enabled me to be more positive than ever before in my life. I have a clear perspective these days on what is important and more importantly what isn’t important. So often the little things weigh us down.

Will I still be able to write my own story?

Before I started running I was a slave to my own sloth. I couldn’t do certain things because I was so unhealthy. I’d lost the grip on the pen and the story being told was not what I had ever really wanted. I started to wonder what might happen if this injury was debilitating and I wasn’t able to run. Would I go back to the ugly sloth days?

It didn’t take long for me to answer my own questions. Sadly there are stories all around us that make a sore foot look oh so trivial. Christchurch, QLD, Libya. There’s millions of people in these places that given the chance would love to re-write the last chapter.

Closer to home a husband, a father, a grandfather, a guy from the Bowls club and a passionate Collingwood supporter has been given 3 months to live. That’s just not fair.

I’ve got a sore foot and I had thoughts of this being a big negative turning point back to a lazy, unhealthy existence. That would be bloody ridiculous. I can still choose what goes into my story and have no choice other than making it the best it can be for as long as possible. We don’t all get to the write the last chapter the way we would like but while we are in control of the pen, make it a good read.

There's no rush.

‘I choose to laugh, move on and continue to try to run to the hills.’

The above quote is the final sentence of my last post. What are ya gonna do??? Well yesterday I got my wish. There was plenty of hill. 2761m total ascent across 50km of the Maroondah Dam Ultra. It was brutal. I’m glad I didn’t know the stats before the run. I had seen the elevation map before the event so I knew when the hills were coming and that definitely helped mentally but I didn’t know the total climb and I think that helped even more.

There are two pieces of advice that I’ve been given about running ultras that is probably as important to me as any training I do. If follow the advice, I run well. If I don’t, I run poorly. The first golden piece of knowledge gained is to simply keep on the move. Whether that is running or walking doesn’t matter, just keep going. The second is to walk up the hills. Both of these things require a mindset that sometimes goes against everything you’re feeling or thinking at the time.  

Early on in the run yesterday I was feeling fresh after a good week of tapering and there were some hills that weren’t too disgusting that I definitely could have run up. In previous events I have always run those sort of hils and in previous events I have always blown up and struggled to the line. Yesterday I finally used the advice and walked them. It was amazing to see the yo-yo effect happening with me being passed on ascent and then picking up and passing those same runners on the flats and downhills. That gave me confidence in the strategy and I kept it up for the whole race. There was one runner I saw at the last checkpoint who had taken off up a hill a few kms earlier, he looked absolutely spent. I crossed the line ahead of him and felt his pain, I’ve been there before several times. To be honest though it wasn’t whether or not I was keeping pace with other runners or even beating them, I just wanted to finish strong for myself. With 100km in the Blue Mountains fast approaching I really needed to put together a performance that gave me hope of finishing the ultimate beast.

The other piece of advice to ‘just keep on the move’ sounds simple and it can be if you keep yourself together. If you stop or walk painfully slowly  then the task ahead can seem unachievable. The demons in the mind kick in and you’re in a world of trouble.Yesterday even when I walked up the hills I made sure it was a brisk power walk. This helped mentally because I still felt like I was in control of my race. I still felt that I was eating up the distance even when walking and recovering for the next running section.

All I wanted to do yesterday was to finish strong and I did. Another key factor was not caring what time I did. I think it was around 6h 20m but I can’t be sure, I didn’t really look at the clock at the finish. You’ll agree when you look at the photos, there was too much other important stuff to look at.

What are ya gonna do???

Rarely does a week of running go exactly as planned. So many things can pop up to alter the experience for better or worse. I suppose one might typically say that this weekend was for worse. However, it’s all part of the rich tapestry of running glow.

When the rains came on Friday arvo, they came hard. Within not too long roads were cut and backyards flooded. Kayaks and boogie boards were getting a huge run around Mordialloc.  I was up the street buying gels, Gatorades and Red Bulls for a planned 4 hour run in the hills the next morning. I had to drive through a fair bit of water just to get home and was starting to think that our plans would be snuffed out. We decided to go ahead as planned and at least meet at the 1000 steps then re-assess.

4.10am: I was driving down towards East Link and spotted a police car stopped in the middle lane, lights flashing. First incorrect thought was a booze bus. That didn’t make sense. Second incorrect thought was maybe a car had broken down. So I kept focussed on their car and lights and thought I would just drive around them. I went through the intersection that they were on the other side of and suddenly spotted a small marker in front of me blocking the lane. I pulled up and the police got out of their car and to say the least they were a bit peeved. Apparently I’d run over a 20cm tall warning light that had been on the road. I hadn’t seen it at all, didn’t feel anything when I’d hit it either. I don’t know if it was because I didn’t argue with them that they calmed down or if it was because I told them I was going for a run. I think they thought I was a bit nuts.

4.25am: I rang Seb and Gully who were at the Dandenongs to let them know I couldn’t get there due to road closures. They found much humour in my predicament and as the car park to the hills was closed anyway they decided to drive back and meet me on the streets, in the dark and the rain so that we could still get a run in. After a few kms up and down a hill the lightning started to get regular and more importantly it was getting closer as well. We decided that enough was enough and called it quits.

No matter how much you want to run sometimes, every now and then you’ve just got to say, ‘ah well, what are ya gonna do?’ Running is a selfish sport anyway but to go out and put yourself in real danger is just stupid. Especially when everything that really matters are both back at home tucked under their doonas with either Dora or Elmo.

So this weekend didn’t go to plan and I have to buy a new light for the police but the situation itself really hasn’t had a negative impact on me. I choose to laugh, move on and continue to try to run to the hills.