I am a fraud!!!

I am a fraud. This ugly thought dominated my thinking in the lead up to the Coburg 6 hour ultra.

At last year’s marathon in October I had aimed to go sub-3 hours. I blew up badly and struggled across the line in 3.12. Although still happy with the time itself, my second fastest, I was disappointed that I hadn’t been able to stick to the race plan.

Following the marathon I was entered in a charity event in the Dandenongs called the Moonwalk. 45km, during the night, with over 2000m of elevation. A tough course, no question, but I had done it before and was confident that it wouldn’t be too much of a problem. Yup, got that one very wrong. All sorts of pain and another plan that didn’t go to plan.

So the Coburg 6 hour was going to be my next opportunity to get it right. Follow a plan and achieve a set goal. I had trained well, done several 3, 4 and 5 hour runs. I’d eaten well, kept up weekly speed sessions and I’d even stretched daily for weeks on end. Again I was getting pretty confident that I was in for a good event. I enlisted the help of Kev Mannix to be my support crew. Aside from being the greatest of mates who would do anything to help, I was also tapping into someone who knows more about running, fuelling and pacing than most nearly everyone. Standing with him on the day would be Toby and Darren. Both of these blokes have done more ultras than they probably even remember.

As well as these great runners being there to watch the most boring of ultras there is, I also had my family coming along to support me. My parents both the other side 70 years, my wife and our two young kids, my brothers and my very pregnant sister in law would all be there in 35 degree heat. They would be there because I asked them.

And so it was that a week out from the run, I couldn’t run. I had pain in my right leg – shin splints. My taper started early and I increased the stretching to alleviate the pain. The other thing stopping me from running was pure fear of further damage. I couldn’t face pulling out and letting down all of these people. If I couldn’t run for 6 hours………..well I didn’t want to consider the option.

I would be a fraud, biting off more than I could chew, trying to play on the big stage, with the real runners, but without the ability. I was already getting embarrassed by the possibility.

If I spoke this to Kev, Toby or Darren or any of my family they would all tell me I was being ridiculous and it wouldn’t matter at all if I couldn’t start or couldn’t complete this particular run. I knew this and believed it but these ugly thoughts kept rushing through my head.

 

Sunday morning I woke at 3.15am for the 6.00am start. I had breakfast. Is it even called breakfast when it’s that early? Moments after breakfast my guts started churning. Well that’s just fantastic. Late in the week I had been able to run pain free and now this. Was I destined to not complete Coburg. Two years ago I had entered but not made it to the start line due to injury. Well the guts didn’t settle, things were decidedly uncomfortable even just walking around. This was getting to be a joke.

 

Ah well, what are you gonna do? 6.00am came around and off we went. I think being a touch NQR was good because it meant I went out slow. First km was about 5.45. Only 5hours 54minutes 15seconds to go.

Over half an hour in and still my guts were terrible. This was headed for disaster. I decided to bite the bullet, and the banana, and take on some food. It was a gamble but I wouldn’t last long like this. The banana went down ok. My guts went from 10 outa 10 ten unsettled to maybe a 7. I left it at that for another thirty minutes and then took my next gamble, taking on a liquid food called perpetuem. I hadn’t used it in an event before but today I had it factored in to the fuelling plan. Well perpetuem is now my new hero. Very shortly after sipping a bit of this not so tasty gear I was feeling all shades of lovely in the gut. Big phew. So just under 90 minutes in and finally my body was good and the thoughts of fraudulent behaviour had disappeared. Time to get dizzy and enjoy.

We were pretty luck on the day that there was darkness followed by cloud cover for nearly half of the six hours. My plan had been to stay consistent around 5.30 – 5.40 per km. This felt to be a  very slow pace for a flat event. I had to keep reminding myself that the pain would come and that slow early would help late. Others on the track were going a lot quicker and I was being lapped constantly. Some of them had planned to make hay while the sun didn’t shine and slow up when the heat of the day really kicked in. It was to prove to be a tough way to go about it.

Aside from the early gut ache I only had two really tough patches. The first lasted for about 40 minutes not long after the half way turn around. It was a bit of excitement to go in the opposite direction but the thrill only lasted maybe a lap and a half and then I hit struggle town. Everything was hurting and taking on fuel was becoming a difficult assignment. The second patch was at about 4h20m and that lasted for about 25 minutes. On both occasions I remember thinking of Canadian runner Jason Loutit who said he constantly moves his attention and focus from the scenery and all that was going on around him and then back in very tight to shut all of that out and focus on form. I found it very comforting to think that all I had to do was shut it all out and run. Everything else was taken care of by my crew. My job was easy.

I started taking laps back off people who had looked super fresh and quick early. A heap of people on track were walking now, even the leader. I just figured they’d gone out too fast and I was still chugging along because of pacing. However that was only the half of it.

 

My crew was amazing. Of the 158 laps I did I would say there was only a dozen where there was no interaction at all. Every other time there was handing over food or drink or a quick comment or joke about how tricky the course was and to follow it carefully. My family all turned up with just over an hour to go and this was a huge lift. Seeing them and having my brother and son do laps on the inside with me was something I loved and won’t ever forget.

 

 

Excitement seemed to be at fever pitch with everyone there and my crew went into overdrive. Something was happening nearly every lap now. I had two caps, one on my head and one in icy water in the esky that we would rotate every 5 laps. Same thing with ice filled bandanas around my neck. Then there was ice cream buckets of water that would be poured over me. Of course drinking water, powerade and even another disgusting gel being taken with only forty minutes to go. There was no time to be bored, I was always doing something. I thought that the crew might have been bored and just offering stuff for something to do. It was only after the race that I found out in that last hour of the race the temperature had risen to 36 degrees and the crew was working hard to keep me cool. Kev sometimes chased after me to pick up bottles I would drop after use. He said he would get back under the market umbrella straight away and comment on how hot it was out there.

My race finished after 6 Hours, 158 Laps, 63.316km in 36 degree heat. The crew was that good that I had no idea how hot it was. They gave me every opportunity to achieve what I had planned to.

My dad hugged me where I had stopped on the track. He spoke of it being a very emotional moment. It was. He said after he turned up it took him about eight laps of clapping me as I passed for him to not be close to tears.

Having my family there was the best thing about the day. Being coherent, cool, happy and still running was….was….hmmm what’s the opposite of fraud.

 

·         Cannot thank Kev, Darren, Toby, Brett on the spray bottle and my family enough for helping me around the track.

 

My Favourite Run

Yesterday I went for two different runs that were both fantastic experiences. All of it was free, hardly seems fair but I’ll take it.

Yesterday I met Gully and Seb at 4.45am in Burwood outside Seb’s house. Every time we meet at these ridiculous hours we speak in hushed tones trying not to wake anyone in the house we are to depart from. Then almost without fail the most noise we will make is laughter. Pretty sure the chuckles stem from the same place each time. Three grown men sneaking about in the dark to go for a run is slightly funny in itself but really it’s about excitement. We know what lays ahead and giggle like school kids in anticipation.

So off we go to the Dandenongs to meet Tobes and the Moon Man for a 5.30 start at One Tree Hill, the top of the 1000 steps. It was cold up there which was a shock to the system but it didn’t take long at all warm up and feel comfortable. I was wearing my head torch which is pretty much overkill even in the dead of night, it’s that strong. I only needed the artificial for about half an hour before the big fireball in the sky started to push some natural glow on our surrounds.

By this time we were heading through Sherbrook Forest and it was simply magic. It all just looked perfect, almost felt like nobody had ever been there before and it was all just for us. We flew downhill for about 2kms before heading up some challenging steeps. Having these other runners around me, or more to the point, in front of me on these ascents was a real motivator and great for my own running. All of these guys are part mountain goat and really hammer up and down the hills.

We got to a point where we had a choice of two paths to head back to the cars. One of them was shorter and easier and we would get back with plenty of time. The other path was a bit longer with nastier steeps. We were under a bit of time pressure so Toby asked Seb if his legs still had some run left in them so we could quicken it up. My jaw dropped, closely followed by laughter. If the mountain goats were going to quicken then I was in for some pain. The start of the path home was downhill so I thought make hay while the sun shines. Ran alongside Tobes & Gully and we did a km in 3.43. By far it was my fastest km on the trails that I can remember.

We were heading up Heartbreak Hill at the end just as the trails were starting to get busy with groups training for Oxfam Trailwalker. It wasn’t even 7.30 on a Sunday morning and we had stolen 19km in them beautiful hills. That session has been elevated to my favourite training run. The scenery was awesome and running with faster blokes was tough but has me glowing a day n a half later.

 

Later on the same day my 6 year old Raf was keen to go for a run. We haven’t been running together for over a year. He used to love coming out with me but lost a bit of interest after a while. No worries, if he wasn’t asking, I wasn’t pushing.

He’s going into grade 1 this year and interestingly, he mentioned recently that he was going to be second tallest in his class and would be third or fourth fastest. I’m not sure that it’s a good or bad thing that he knows where he sits in these measured areas. It probably doesn’t matter at all. He didn’t seem phased. However I did mention that with the running side of things you could get faster if you trained. The height thing I’ve already done as much as I can to help with that.

So again his interest in running has surfaced. A few days ago Raf got out some cones and set them up in the backyard. He made a little sign and we did a few races. Yesterday he wanted to do 20kms. I suggested we start at 1km and see how we go. We kicked off a real slow shuffle. He had learnt that sprinting in the cone races had him “out of power” too quickly. The shuffle continued for about 500m. Raf said he wanted to stop. I was uneasy at this point, I didn’t want to be a tennis dad but I suggested we try to keep going and run all the way to his school. That gave him a goal and something to focus on. He saw the school fence approaching, I said let’s keep going to the other end of the school, that would be a kilometre. We did, he stopped, out of power but really happy with his 1km, all running.

We walked back home and on the way he again mentioned where he ranked in his grade 1 class as a runner. But then he started talking about what sort of runner he might be when he’s in grade six. He was talking about what might happen if he keeps training. He was talking and wondering about his future. Without using the words exactly, he was showing an understanding that his future was in his own hands.

I thought I’d been on my favourite run that morning. I had, but it had been overtaken within a matter of hours. The kilometre that Raf and I ran together was so, so good. He pushed himself and worked really hard. The kilometre we walked home together was even better. I was really proud of what he had to say but it wouldn’t have mattered what the content of the conversation was. What mattered most was giving him the *time and space to speak. I loved it.

People often mention struggles with motivation in getting started. This aint gonna work for everyone but I suggest run one km with your kid(s). Then walk and let them speak.

I had to enforce a rest day for Raf today. There’s no rush.

 

* Time and Space is a term borrowed from my brother Bill. Check out his blog, he does good stuff. http://bill-j-from-time-space.blogspot.com.au/

The Moonwalk

 

The Moonwalk. 45km, 7 hours, 2200m of ascent and all of it in the dead of night.

At the start of this charity event Damian Richmond from Hope Builders told the assembled field about a young Ugandan girl. She was found collecting scrap metal on a tip. She would sell it to survive. This was her life. This is what she would do every day. When Hope Builders found her and took her in they also discovered that she had typhoid. In Uganda typhoid is basically a death sentence. If she had not been rescued from her life as it was, she would not be alive today.

Listening to Damien was a moment and a memory that will stay with me, and the 90 other walkers/runners, for a long, long time. An event like this does that. It generates memories.

The memories started several months ago when a casual chat with my boss got us on to what the year 5/6’s at our school could focus on for their fundraising efforts this year. I suggested Go The Extra Mile and got in touch with Peter Jackel from ‘GTEM’ to see what we could do. Couple of chats, couple of emails and we launched the 50km School’s Walk, to be held during the month of November, to the kids. The connection is the key. My kids listened and connected to the story of these kids in Uganda. Money started pouring in. All I did was ask the question every day. “Does anybody want to throw some change Uganda’s way?”

I kept telling them about the plight of these orphans and kept inviting them to be involved. One kid asked me one day, “Are you trying to make us feel guilty?” Good question. I wasn’t going for that emotion but it dawned on me that maybe these kids were really starting to question how it could be fair and reasonable that they have so much and that others have absolutely nothing. For some it wasn’t sitting so well.

I showed them this video.

 

The next day I looked in the money collection box and saw a one hundred dollar note. One of my kids had been throwing in a few coins from other countries as a bit of a joke so I thought the hunj must have been a fake. Nobody had made a big deal of the big note so it had to be a joke. I then actually held the note up to the window to look for what, I don’t really know. Later in the day other kids were throwing a few coins in and noticed the hundred. Still nobody had announced that he/she had given so much. The kids who saw the green made a big fuss about it and started asking the class. Kids came from all parts to see the note and still no fuss from the donor. They asked me who had put it in, I said I didn’t know.  Lots of chatter, lots of commotion. I looked up and among all of the noise one boy stood silent with a smile on his face. I said, “it was you, wasn’t it?” He just nodded, smiling. He had connected, gone home and asked his parents if he could use a hundred of his own saved money to donate.

That memory will last forever.

I learnt a lot about fundraising during this process. At times I was frustrated because I thought some people could be doing more, giving more. I didn’t verbalise this but just wondered why. I learnt that it really doesn’t matter why. All you can do is put it out there. It’s more about offering people an opportunity to help rather than simply asking for some cash.

So as some sections were not so involved, others were connecting so strongly and out of the blue. My son attends St Louis’ primary school and spends a fair bit of time in before and after care there. The leader of that program is a friend of my wife and was aware that I was doing the Moonwalk. She asked if she could get involved. Louise launched the idea to the kids in ‘Afters’ and like a fighting Marlin they latched on and they were off. Kids ranging from 5-12 years got involved in 3 big fundraising efforts. These kids who are in and out of each other’s company at the tired ends of the day came together and did something really special.

They raised more money than Afters has ever done before. Niamh (or Neve, not sure of spelling) presented me with the heavy bag of cash and said a few really nice words. It was my turn to respond. As I started I looked around the room and noticed the connection. There were kids hanging on my every word as I told them what their efforts would mean to kids, their age, in Uganda. Their eye contact didn’t shift. Mine had to though as I almost teared up. Just fantastic kids.

That memory will last forever.

In the Moonwalk event itself, I had a great time. I absolutely loved it. This claim won’t make sense as you read on but it’s the truth. Honest, really…

I had done the same event two years ago and it did a number on me back then as well. The amount of ascent on it is equivalent to going from sea level to the top of Mt Kosciousko. All within 45km. That’s nasty. However this year it was the downhills that smashed me. I haven’t done much time in the hills this year as it’s all been about training for the marathon. I went in fit but not ‘hill fit’. Into the third of the four sections I was approaching the point of being pretty much cactus. My quads were shot to ribbons and any downhill was agony. The flats weren’t much better. Running along in the last section next to my buddy, Beardy, I said that I was almost looking forward to the last four km of the course which were all very steep uphill on single track. It did give some respite to the quads but after about a minute it was all shades of ugly again.

Going up this last stretch at 3.30am, many things went through my mind.

*The girl collecting scrap metal in Uganda,

*The smiling hundred dollar donor and

*The St Louis’ Legends of After Care.

All of these thoughts helped me keep going but I was still struggling big at times. Then without warning one of my teammates put his hand right in the middle of my back and began to push. He said if it was annoying he’d stop. It wasn’t annoying, it was freakin’ beautiful. I didn’t look back at him. We just moved on, together. Connected.

That memory will last forever.

To me this moment symbolised the whole Moonwalk event. We are raising money for kids who will never see us or know us. But we simply put a hand out, connect and move with them to a better place.

The Moonwalk saves lives in Uganda. In Australia the Moonwalk may not save lives but it has definitely changed the lives of many. I am one of these.

 

Three Women - Three Stories - One Race

“I always loved running – it was something you could do by yourself, and under your own power. You could go in any direction, fast or slow as you wanted, fighting the wind if you felt like it, seeking out new sights just on the strength of your feet and the courage of your lungs.”~Jesse Owens

 Just on the strength of their feet and the courage in their lungs, three women from vastly different worlds did exactly the same thing on Saturday. They ran around the Tan track.

Lisa Weightman had countless Australians glued to the TV as she represented her country in the Marathon at the London Olympics just weeks ago. Lisa became just the third Australian woman to finish in the top 20 of an Olympic marathon when she took a minute off her previous best time. 2h27m = 3min29sec per km. That kind of running is phenomenal and really hard to even get your head around. What I found even more impressive was that Lisa was able to do this at the Olympics. With all of the attached adrenaline and enthusiasm, her ability and discipline to stick to a race plan is outstanding. She’s an inspiration.

On Saturday I was pushing up Anderson street during the UltraSpirit event when Lisa Weightman effortlessly floated past me. She could have been anyone out there, there was no Australian uniform, no fanfare, just a very fit woman doing exactly the same thing as everyone else.

A huge number of Australians have seen Turia Pitt on television recently too. Her courage has inspired all of them. The Ultra Spirit event on the weekend was created to support Kate Sanderson and Turia who both suffered burns to over 60% of their bodies when they were trapped by a bushfire during an ultra-marathon in the Kimberley last year. Their lives are completely different today and their days are to be filled with painful physical and emotional challenges for years to come. On Saturday morning as the group of us were laughing, jogging and chatting our way around the track we passed Turia. There she was in her full body compression suit and mask walking around the Tan. It was a highlight of the event for me and by far the most inspiring moment of all my running days. Turia ran across the finish line to much applause from all assembled. One very courageous woman, with an amazing story, doing exactly the same thing as everyone else.

Leah Opie just for the record happens to be my wife. When I told her I was writing this post she understandably felt uncomfortable about being included alongside Lisa and Turia. However for me she provides the perfect example of why I love running. Leah began training just 6 months ago. One hundred metres at a time, to get fit and healthy for her kids and herself.  On Saturday she ran two full laps of the Tan without stopping, not even up Anderson street did she walk. Her nerves before the event were shot and she was less than impressed with my far too relaxed attitude leading into the race. I asked her if she wanted me to run with her. Ahh, that would be a definite No! At the finish line Leah's trainer (below) and I were doing the math on her expected time of arrival and figured she was maybe seven minutes away. We looked down along the Tan track and there she was already running strongly towards a smashing of her longest ever event. The smile on her face was ear to ear. The tears in my eyeballs were pushing hard. We hugged at the end, so happy with a great result. One very determined woman doing exactly the same as everyone else.

 

You can be an Olympian, a survivor, a mum or an anyone. If you run, you’ll inspire someone, somewhere. That’s just a fact.

This is why I love running. We all bring our personal stories to the start line, we stand there completely unique and yet when we run, we are exactly the same.

Oh yeah, and it’s just so so fun.

 

To support Turia and Kate, donations can be made via the following link.

http://makingadifference.gofundraise.com.au/page/ultraspirit

I'm Not Stopping Today

Georgia: 6.30am, Sunday at the Sandy Point Half

 

This is Georgia. She is eleven years old (today) and she is………….. a RUNNER!!!

I met Georgia about six months ago when she started coming along to our Friday Running Club. She told me yesterday, “I sucked at running and wanted to get fitter so I could run long.”

When any new kids join up my only hope is that they enjoy what we do and that they keep coming back. I wasn’t sure at the start if Georgia was enjoying herself. It all seemed like hard work and she was struggling to keep on the jog for any great stretch of time. I think sometimes that can be hard to deal with when you see others flying around the oval. In her own words she found it ‘really hard and didn’t want to be there,’ but she kept coming back.

Runners of all ages and abilities make the same mistake. We compare ourselves to other runners who go faster or further or both. Real improvement and enjoyment begins the moment the runner starts to focus on themselves more, and not worry about others so much. It’s ok to look to others for inspiration but we should never look at others and then devalue what we are doing ourselves.  Georgia might have done that in the early days but it didn’t last long. Other runners will now be looking at her for inspiration.

I’ve heard people say, “yeah but it’s not that fast really”, after they have achieved a personal best time over a particular distance. It may not be fast compared to Usain Bolt but a PB is the absolute fastest the runner has ever, ever gone in their whole life. That is something to be celebrated even if it’s a ten minute km. I’ve even heard great runners who have won events or placed in their age group say things like there wasn’t many in the field or the really fast guys weren’t there today. The point of it however should always be, did you give it your all? Did you work hard? Georgia does both.

In nearly every training run and definitely in every event the demon in the mind asks the question. “Right at this moment, are you strong enough?”  If you answer in the affirmative then you will run well. Georgia always beats the demon. If you beat the demon, you win. *Beware though: the demon might just ask the question more than once in a run.

On Sunday Georgia ran the Sandy Point 5km. She lined up by herself in a field of 500+. Probably 490 of them older than her and bigger than her. About half an hour before the race she told me she felt nervous and excited but when she lined up for the gun, at that moment, it was all nerves. It must have been a daunting task.

The first 3km Georgia felt good but in the fourth km she was heading into new territory. She’d done more than 3km in a session before but always with a few breaks. This time she was running head on into pain, no stopping. You could understand her walking a bit, taking a break and recharging but she did not walk one step in the whole event.

She said. “I really started getting tired in the last km but I sprinted at the end. I was so happy, so tired and so relieved”

I didn’t see Georgia after the event and wondered how she had gone. Walking across the oval at school on Monday morning I spotted her. She had one arm in the air pumping her fist.

“I did it! I did it!

She sure did. What a champion.

I reckon there’s a moment when people who are new to running, start asking questions. Am I enjoying this? Will I ever be good at this? Why am I doing this?

Running is challenging. Not everyone sticks at it. If it was easy everyone would run marathons or 5km events or ultras etc…

There have been kids who have come to Running Club once or twice and then given it away. Some have come for months and then disappeared. Georgia could have easily been one of those. But she still turns up every week. That’s the key.

There was one defining moment when it clicked for me that this girl is a runner. We were jogging around the course at school, some of it was uphill and up a flight of stairs. The task was to keep moving round the course for twenty minutes. If you needed to walk then you walk with purpose and pick a point ahead where you will start running again. Georgia had been a runner/walker but on this day it changed. I ran alongside her and gave her the spiel about it’s ok to walk, just get going again………..

Georgia looked at me and said,

“I’m not stopping today.”

She hasn’t stopped since.

On This Day, Sunday June 3, 2012

On this day some ordinary, everyday people completed one of the toughest rail runs that Victoria has to offer. The Mt Macedon 50km trail run was taken on by people from all walks. I’ve been on ‘training’ runs with several of the pointy end finishers. Apart from being passionate about a sport that involves hours of pain they are all very normal. Anyone in this world could complete Macedon but most just simply choose not to. That’s ok, it’s not everyone’s cuppa. Those normal people who do this have to work hard in training every day to be capable of the feat. It’s their choice.

On this day in glorious Traralgon a 42 year old known as Shape was running his debut marathon. Mere months ago he was hovering around the 100kg mark. Not a great shape for marathons. He chose to train hard even when many around him probably thought he was no chance. He got injured just before Melbourne mara, scratched himself, got right and started training all over again. And on this day he chooses to run in Traralgon. No big MCG finish, no great amounts of friends and family looking on. On this day he just goes out and achieves his goal.

On this day it’s a rest day for a mum and wife who ran two kms, non-stop, yesterday for the first time in her life. Tomorrow morning she will wake at 5.30am to be ready to run with her trainer. Her trainer is one of those pointy end finishers at Macedon. It’s not easy to be up so early. It’s not easy to get out and run further than ever before by yourself. It’s a choice.

On this day a dad and his daughter ran together in the ten km event at Macedon. This young girl ran just seconds over sixty minutes on a hilly trail in very cold conditions, coming in first for the juniors and was fifth female overall. She chooses to train to be capable. Her dad, a relatively normal bloke, likes to run for many, many hours at a time. On this day his daughter achieved a great result, partly because one day her dad decided to be a runner.

On this day I went for a ten km run along Mordialloc Beach. By chance I met up with an old friend from school who was out for 20-25kms by himself. He’s hoping to run the Melbourne marathon in October. He’s also going to welcome his first child into the world in just three weeks time. One day that little baby may just run alongside her dad in an event somewhere.

On this day, on my way back home, I ran along the path towards Mordialloc Pier. Two young guys were walking towards me. They moved apart so that I could run in between them but their eyes were trained on me in way that didn’t feel quite right. I wasn’t scared but I was curious and a little wary. I looked at the taller one and then to the smaller one.

On this day, in broad daylight, with me only a metre away, the smaller one had his face in a plastic bag. The bag was inflating and deflating. On this day his choice was chroming.

I can’t be sure, but I don’t think his parents were out on the trails today.

Being engaged and active in our kids’ lives is a choice. I’m sure the choice makes a difference.

Marysville to Melbourne

M2M = Marysville to Melbourne = 19km run, 50km ride, 41km ride, 14km run, 16km paddle and 15km paddle. Team Fully SLYK = 3 blokes over 40 years of age.

Cyclists get a bad rap. Start listing the reasons why and you may never stop. Beach Rd monster packs taking up two lanes; training sessions that involve sitting and rolling; parking at coffee shops taking in double the amount of calories that the ride will drop; and of course, lycra.

On the other side of cycling is the kind of stuff that Cadel does. Now Marysville aint quite the Pyrenees but I still saw some pretty unbelievable stuff on the weekend. Massive amounts of cyclists were hurting hard as they climbed some ugly gradient around Kinglake. I was getting driven from the end of my 19km trail run leg to the start of my 14km run leg when we went past a lot of these riders. We pulled up next to Austin, a young fella from my school as he was pushing uphill.

Kid couldn’t speak, he was working that hard, but he also couldn’t stop smiling.  We then found my team mate Andy a few kms further along and going up a nasty piece of ascent. This was no roll along Beach rd with a view to a latte, it was brutal. With every up there must be down but going down those hills is not exactly a walk in the park either. Come off at speed and it’s all shades of serious hospital time. Full respect to all riders in the M2M.

My own day kicked off at 6.30am in the main street of Marysville. I stood next to Sam and Matt, two more young blokes from school, and Sam’s dad Mark who was filling in for a late injury to a member of one of the 8 teams our school had entered. It was great to be part of it. Great to see the nerves and excitement of the boys who were going to run further than they ever had before, and they were going to do it on trail in hills. Super effort to even sign up for it.

Sam and Matt took off like it was a 5km school cross country event. If I wanted to, I couldn’t have kept up. Sam settled after a few kms and I spotted him a short way ahead. The next time I would see Matt however was at transition. He smashed it. Unbelievable running, and a bright future in the sport if he chooses to revisit the hills at any stage. It took a while but I was able to catch Sam and we ran together for several kms. This young gun gave me a lesson in the beep test last year when he was in year 7 and like Matt has got outstanding ability and good times ahead as a runner.

We were moving along nicely battling a few ups but pulling it back together on the flats. You would think the more experienced one would know when to keep his mouth shut but NO. I was the one to count chickens and say to Sam, “I reckon that’s the last of the steep stuff for a while.” Two minutes later we were slapped in the face by an ugly, ugly ascent. Ouch.

After ten km Sam was feeling the pinch and said for me to go on. Now this is a young kid we are talking about, let’s not lose sight of that fact. He took a few moments at the top of another sharp hill, he was then actually physically ill, went as pale as a sheet and then just started up again and continued on for another 9km. I didn’t quite hear what he said to Austin on the bike in transition but I reckon there may have been an expletive thrown in there when describing what he’d just been through. It was one of the most courageous runs I’ve ever seen. Meanwhile back in Melbourne it’s just past 8am Sunday and ‘normal’ kids are still in bed.

After finishing my run I handed over to Andy and he did the tough stuff as mentioned above. I then started the logistical marathon to get to the next run leg before Andy did. Mark weaved past cyclists as he drove me and Pete (photographer on the day) back to the accommodation at Kinglake. Scoffed down a couple of jam sandwiches, a banana and a Gatorade, changed socks and trail runners for road runners then jumped in Pete’s car to get going. Meanwhile Mark was loading up his boat on some roof racks on another car to get to T4 to take the timing tag from me after my second run. They don’t actually call them boats though, it’s more like ski or craft or somethin’, I was learning a bit as part of this team. So Mark was doing all of this after running 19km in the hills for another team. Andy and I had given him strict instructions to cruise the 19 so he was ready for our team’s 31km paddle.

My second run leg was a bit of a worry. I wanted to have a crack at it but I had seized pretty severely after sitting in the car and was struggling to walk without pain. I tried to get into a shuffle from the car to the transition area then started stretching thinking I had a bit of time to loosen up. But just five minutes after being in position, in flew rider 178. Andy had ridden the gears off the thing and put us in a great position. Marysville to Melbourne has a stack of different categories. We were classed as a 3 Person Veteran Team and as such were a chance to podium in that small, select field.

On leaving the checkpoint I was shocked that my legs just kicked into gear and I felt pretty good. It was a strange leg to run. I was passing quite a few individual entries who were slowing after already completing over 110km. Then others, doing just the single leg in six man teams, were going past me like I was standing still. I just tried to hit a rhythm somewhere between 4.10 and 4.30 kms. Everything was going great but as soon as I started believing the hype in my head I began sensing the possibility of cramp. I slowed a little and was able to hold it together. When I thought I still had a km to go I popped up over a little hill to see the transition right there. I was over the moon.

Sam had made a great recovery from his run and was next to me straight away, helping to get the timing band off my ankle and on to his dad. He then helped Mark carry the craft into the water and pushed him away on to his 31 km journey to Docklands. I was happy to be finished my part and was keen on some dry clothes, coffee and food.

It was a bit strange with the race still going on but, really at this point, I had nothing more to do with it. Mark was pushing into pain and I was cruising around town trying to fill some time. I ended up going over to a mates place, drinking more coffee and then finally made my way to the finish line. Mark had just arrived and had crossed the line, hand in hand, arms raised, with his other son Jack who had also paddled both Yarra legs for one of the other school teams. Our team, Fully Slyk, had crossed the line in second place for our category, Jack’s team finished first in the juniors and Sam’s team second. Not a bad day for the family.

Marysville to Melbourne is a ripping event, I loved it. Best part though was seeing parents, kids and teachers all come together and share a day of pain and exultation. Pretty amazing culture at the joint these days.