For the love of Trail Runs

The mini Kokoda Challenge June 14th 2009

I love trail runs. I am a very peculiar runner. I do not like normal runs. Do not ask me to run in a 5 km, or 10 km event. Even a half marathon is not my idea of a good time. Too much anaerobic racing for my liking. Instead give me the long stuff..anything over 3 hours. And even better, make it a trail run, in a forest, through hills and dales. Throw in some beautiful scenery, add some wildlife (big spiders in their web’s across the trail are not too much fun.. being chased by a rooster was quite an experience, seeing the occasional kangaroo or wallaby is always exciting), and some tricky terrain, and finish off with a few great people to run with. Oh joy! It really is one of the greatest ways to revel in being alive.

This last weekend was the preparation event for the Kokoda Challenge. You know, that 96 km trail run I have done for the last two years? You are probably thinking I am crazy? Well, crazy always depends on your point of reference. Is it crazy that I prefer to be out running in the morning than being out eating and drinking or watching junk TV in the evenings? Not to say I do not love eating, or the odd glass of red. And I do like to go out..but not too late..TV..well I am not a fan at all. Seem such a time waster. Can’t think of much better than being part of the dawn of a new day by being out in the elements working my body. Yes, it does get harder in winter, when it is dark and cold, and your bed is particularly warm and yummy, but those crisp winter mornings when the sun comes over the ocean...I love to be awake and present to that far more than being in bed. So it is an easy choice for me and most of my crazy companions.

This year I am fronting up once again to Kokoda Challenge trail run with 3 different team members. No, I do not burn my team members out...I am still friends with them all from the two previous years of trail runs. The 2008 team have either got other goals, like the triathlon world championships, which are held locally on the Gold Coast this year, or they are injured.

Delina, mother of 3 teenagers, Ironman triathlete, is my second runner. She ran Kokoda Challenge trail run last year as a fill in, with a team that did more walking than running. Delina is strong, particularly on those hills. And she is always happy...wishes everyone along the way well, and knows how to play team. We have been training most weekends since Easter.My other team mates are yet to be confirmed...hoping that I will have some great news to report on this front. If I do, it will mean that once again I am the weakest runner in terms of running fitness and hill strength. I have learned that to be the team leader and to be the weakest runner is not a bad thing. Actually it is a great way to lead...to find a team who are better than you and are happy to be on your team.

I am usually one of the fastest on the downhills--call me mountain goat of trail runs-- and am certainly better at the uphills than I have been, but still, I am not that strong. My strength lies in two main areas.

1. Pacing...I know how to run trail runs and keep the team on a good solid pace, not too fast, or slow, from the start. Peter Hall, a superstar at these events, calls me the diesel engine...I can go forever. With pacing I know how to keep the team fueled and fit. Getting the right amount of calories and fluid in is essential, not just to keep the body going strong, but to keep the brain with enough sugar to start alert. Lapses in concentration on trail runs will result in falls, sprains and injuries.

2. And I don’t get lost. Great spatial sense. Big help in trail runs.

I think I have developed a third strength, which is unusual for me, as I have not been a team sports person until I started participating in these trail runs. I can build a team and keep the team together, provide them with fantastic support, and we have fun. (said partly tongue in cheek today, as so far we are a two person team..and we need four people to start!)

The mini Kokoda Challenge is a 29 km trail run event attracting about 600 competitors, most of them walkers and most of them in teams.

We started off in the Hinterland of the Gold Coast on a cold 6 C (43 F) morning. The team runners had a 15 minute start on the individuals. Delina and I wore “official” vests as not only are we friends of the race director, he knew we knew where we were going.

The first section was uphill followed by a solid downhill. Delina and I were in the lead until a woman ran past us on the hill. Now this was interesting as she couldn’t have been a solo runner, unless she had cheated and left with the teams. But she was on her own, with no one else in sight?

After all the storms we have had lately, there were many trees of various sizes across the trail, so there was some disjointed running, leaping, crawling, climbing...as par for the course. This plus the downhill and we did not see her again. Trail runs soon sort people out, which is why I like them...its not just about the running.

The Kokoda Challenge event itself is a team event, so I always watch as the teams do not DO team. This girl, an excellent hill runner, broke with her team in the first 15 minutes of the trail run. Not a good sign for a team run. I must admit the competitive part of me is quite happy at these turn of events. It is the mistakes other teams make that contribute largely to how we win. We run as a team. Work as a team. Work to each others strengths and support each other. I rely on the majority of competitive teams to not do TEAM well. It is how we have managed third place in the Kokoda Challenge for two years. Teams with better qualified athletes have not played as a team, and you see the cracks form very early on. Give me a great team with some average to good athletes over a team of elite athletes all full of ego any day of the week.

Through the first check point in the lead...we can hear a team of guys behind us. We soon learn that they make time on us on the uphills and loose time on the down. Few people are going to run as fast as us on the downhills. We are talking major downhills and very rough terrain, so most people ere to the side of caution, and go easy. We do not...we open it up and let it rip. Now that is fun. It probably helps that I am lower to the ground, less distance to fall!!

The next part of the course is a mother of a hill. Called Pages Pinnacle, it takes about 40 minutes of straight climbing to a total of about 600 meters (around 2000 feet). The sad part is that once we get to the top and run down, we turn around and go back up it. The other side is sharper and steeper but I prefer it, as the pain is over quickly, and I am a “quickly over pain” kind of person.

We came into the turn around check point at Polly’s Kitchen still in the lead, crossing the creek without pause, the cold water a respite from the rising temperature of the day. The day was gorgeous, endless blue sky and sun, about 23 C (73F). A typical Gold Coast midwinter day.

I made a few mistakes...I should have got some fast calories in at the top of the first climb, instead of waiting till the turn around point, because for the second major climb I had run out of energy and my legs felt like lead. It was at this point that we were overtaken by the lead individual male runner, Don Wallace, a legend of ultra running, so this was completely expected and the only question was when it would happen. I am sure Delina could have kept up with him, as she prefers to run all the hills, where as I power walk. (I am talking hills that even great runners usually walk). One of the young elite guys also came past us, and he was really struggling up that hill.

We saw that the mens team that had been on our tail all morning were about 2 minutes behind. We also discovered the other three members of the women's team of whom the fast hill climber from the first hill was a part. She was very slow on the downhills and they were waiting for her. Apparently she was recovering from a broken toe. Still, I could see the team cracks...the other girls were not happy.

It took a while for the calorie intake to kick in, and for a bit on the long downhill I was feeling very ordinary. I was also craving straight water. I carried with me gatoraide, but I was thirsty for water. I was loosing a lot of fluid in the warm conditions. Getting this whole balance right is part of the trick of successful trail runs.

We came into the last check point before home still in first place, with three individual runners in front of us, all elite guys. The long relatively flat stretch that was next has seven creek crossing, and I welcomed the icy cold water on my hot feet as we ran through. I find this stretch of the run hard, as it is long and straight. By this stage each hill sucked the life out of me, no matter how small. They were all hard and hurt.

We had one more short sharp hill. I was looking forward to it so I could get it over with because I knew after that we had about 10 minutes of running left-- mostly downhill through a beautiful fern forest.

Another guy, one of my training buddies, ran past us on the flat section. He was mumbling away...”I am over this run, over hills, over trees and mud and creek crossings.” It was quite funny, as Brad is usually not a wingeing kind of guy. He didn’t know the course and he didn’t know what he was in for as this was his first trail run under race conditions, so I think it knocked his head in a bit. He would have been very happy though with the outcome as he ended up in third place.

The last hill, and what would you know, it was the one that counted! We passed one of the elite male runners! Given he is mostly a sprinter, but does run two hours regularly in training, this was out of his element, however in his words, this was the hardest thing he has ever done. I had seen him before the event and warned him about not taking fuel with him. He thought he could do this with no extra water or calories. He was completely shattered on this last hill.

The men’s team caught us on this last hill. I was somewhat annoyed, but we had given it all we had and I knew there was nothing left in me so there is little point in getting upset. However, the strangest thing happened. They stopped at the top of the hill. I think they had to wait for one of their runners, and so we took off, and because we were back in our element, downhills, we did not see them again. The old saying...its not over till its over...well...it wasn’t over...and we came in first team, first women, and forth overall, with two of the lead being elite runners.

I was spent...there was not much left to give. Nothing actually. It took 3 hours 27 minutes, some seconds to run this trail run. This was 21 minutes better than the same course last year (my first run off a broken toe last year, so it was expected that I was slower then).

Spent the rest of the day mostly horizontal...no energy to spend on anything more strenuous than reading...and was asleep sometime just after 7, and out for 9.5 hours. There is nothing like being physically whipped to get the best sleep ever.

Delina was fantastic. Always happy, always optimistic, always encouraging.

Now..moving on to the main event..the Kokoda Challenge trail run itself....the training gets easier...all the hard work is done. Two weeks of 2- 2.5 hour runs, then I am running Gold Coast marathon easy (July 5th)...and on July 18th we have the big race. The goal now is to stay well, stay fit, confirm my other two runners, and get four fabulous women to the start line in great shape.

We have the world best support team (minus my beautiful daughter who has been my point person for the last two years..she leaves for Europe this weekend), and we are looking forward to a great day out. In the photo from left to right, we have Jess, my new point person, Delina, my team mate, me, Toni, support team captain, Alicia, support team, and Maree, team member Kokoda 2008.

Stay tuned.

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