Coastal Classic 12 hour......I DONE IT !!!!!

WARNING: This post may be extremely long, yet strangely quite vague.

For those few that have been reading my blog, you would know that the lead up to the Coastal Classic for me was not ideal. I had been training my little heart out for the race up until the Central Coast half where I suffered calf and shin problems that had me out for pretty much the whole of December. I was really disappointed at the fact that I might not make it to the start line as I had been dreaming of the day that I would do my first ultra, even before I had done my first marathon. I'm extremely glad I made it to the finish line on the weekend and this will be the last that I mention the problems that I had as I promised myself that I would not do the "What if's??" Even if I had the perfect lead up with no injuries, it is very much possible that I would have got the same outcome so I will not dwell.

After doing the Big Bertha session on Thursday I started to get a niggle in the lower outer side of my right leg. I then went frantically searching through the shops on Friday for a so called "Butt plug" (thanks Amanda and Tiger), with no success. Dean and I went out on Friday night to get my long list of supplies and food for the event (most of which was not used) that I put together from reading through lots of people's blogs (thanks heaps to 2P and Tesso). I tried as hard as I could to sleep in on Saturday morning but I'm not really a sleeping in late person so I got up and pottered around getting all my gear ready. Mum and Dad come up at lunch time and we headed off for Gosford at around 2pm. We made a pitt stop at a place to buy a tent. We werent buying a tent specifically for the race but we were wanting to upgrade anyway so we thought it would be a good opportunity. After spending lots of time looking and me getting impatient Dean decided to change his mind as he didnt like any of them and we left with no tent. I was a bit peeved as my plan included having a tent and at this stage I was not ready for change (Yes, you will find out later how stubborn I am). We arrived at Gosford at about 5.30pm. I registered and was given my lovely shirt which was really good quality and will make a nice golf shirt. My only disappointment was that the print for the 12 hour ultra was small and I was hoping for it to be in huge writing to for the entire world to see!! After seeing that lots of people were setting up tents, Dean decided to go ask one of his old work mates who lived in Terrigal if he could borrow a tent for the night. When I should have been at the grounds preparing myself I was stuck in a car while Dean was off buying beer. Also, not the best start. At 7pm we were given our race instructions and told of some changes from council restrictions (we had to use the 3rd lane which was 420m laps) and at 7.30pm we were off.

The first 3 hours went by OK after which I was noticing a little the lack of training I had had but I think it would have started hurting after 3 hours anyway. It was a very wierd experience to be on the same 400m track as people and not see them for hours. My strategy at first was to run for around 20 min and then give myself a walking break for a little while to have a proper drink. I was also making time to stop and stretch every now and then. I told my crew to make sure that I was having a Succeed cap every hour.

Around the 5-6 hour mark I really started to struggle. Taking even 2 laps of walking break was not enough for me. Dean kindly pointed out to me that there was a female walker that was beating me just walking casually. Dean was giving me regular updates all through the night of where I was placed, so I had to kindly remind him that as my first ultra, placing was not of concern to me. I decided to give my body a bit of a change and started to power walk through some laps. Dean said I was going much better doing this than my crappy walks before and started churning the laps out in 4 min. I would then start running again whenever I felt like it.

I cant remember when I went through the marathon point but all I can remeber is that it seemed to take forever. Running around on the track wasnt boring as I thought it would be but for some reason it was really damn hard. Around the marathon stage I started to have a lot of trouble with my glute. Tiger did tell me the name of the muscle but all I remember is its the one that runs from the middle of my back around the glute to the side of my hip and is responsible for the movement when you move your leg backwards. It was extremely painful and I was having to stop frequently. I was trying to stretch it but at the time I was really confused as to where the majority of the pain was coming from, I couldnt tell whether it was my upper ITB, glute or hip all I knew was that it hurt really bad. After taking lots of time off I tried to get up and out there and my leg completely ceased up, I couldnt walk. Dean had to help carry me over to the blanket while I tried to stretch it out. This all happened again and I honestly thought I was finished. I was extremely frustrated as the rest of my body was going through its second (or nth wind) and was feeling quite good. Another wierd thing about ultra's is that your body only feels so much pain before it goes numb and it feels like the clock got wound back to 2 hours.

It was around this time that I heard Jen_Runs scream out for Belinda who was reaching her 60km mark (I was still on 44km). I turned my head sideways on my blanket and saw the stream of people going past and saw Belinda at how great she was looking and thought "Bloody hell thats it". I got up and my Mum asked me "Is your leg feeling better?". I replied "No, but I'm never doing this bloody race again so I might as well make the most of it!". I got up and sort of hobbled my way along forcing my leg to come along for the ride. After it started warming up again I tried it out for a run and while it was still extremely painful it seemed easier to manage while I was running.

When I finally got myself back on the road again it was about 8 hours in. It was from this point onwards that I started running and did not stop until the 12 hour gun. I realised at the 8 hour mark that I had made a lot of vital mistakes. I had been making my breaks too long allowing my body to cool down and tighten too much and stopping to stretch while racing didnt turn out to be a good idea for me personally. I didnt really have a strategy of my own at all. How could I, it was my first ultra. So all through the race whenever I was hearing other people's strategies I would be like, 'Oh, I might try that'. So from 8 hours onwards this was my time to do my own thing. All I can remember over this time was that I barely stopped to walk. I changed my stride every now and then but it was running only. It felt great as there was not many other people running at this stage besides the winners. I was in a great mood and even cracked a joke with an old guy (he didnt appreciate it at 3.30 in the morning). I kept myself entertained by singing to myself (not as loud as the guy in the fleuro yellow top tucked into fleuro blue bike pants). I specifically didnt use an ipod as I wanted my brain to stay active my remembering the words to songs and I wanted to stay in tune with my body. I dont have the final laps yet, but my Dad says I clocked up more k's in the last 4 hours than any other time in the race. I was a little worried that my determination was bordelining on stupidity and that I would end up with an injury from pushing on, but in hindsight luckily it is just tightness.

My garmin concked out after 7.5 hours which actually turned out to be a good thing. As there was a bit of a difference between my garmin and the actual distance covered on the course it was a little depressing when you're being told 'no, your 2km short of that'. Taking the watch off and doing what my body felt like was the best thing. Another thing that I learnt on the night was I wasnt really getting enough updates from my crew. Most of the time throughout the night I wasnt really aware of what distance I covered. It was near the end when I knew my lower goal of 75km could be achieved that I started to get updates. When I went through the 75km mark I have never been so happy, at least I got my qualifier for 6 foot track. My Dad thought I would stop there since I got the qualifier but I didnt come all that way to stop at 11.5 hrs or so.

The gun went off at 5 min to go which happened to go off as I was running right beside the guy. Not a good thing for the heart of someone who has been awake for 24 hours and running for almost 12. When I heard the gun go off I thought this is it and gave the next lap all I had because I knew it would take me to just over 77km. When I went through again I saw that I had done the last lap quite quickly (2.30) and I would have a chance to maybe do another so I put the pace on even more and went through in 2.20 and an extra 35m. It was quite funny as Dad was running over to me because he was going to have to stand in my spot and he was trying to chase me around the field as was Dean trying to get a photo. When the final gun went off I couldnt hold back the tears. I'm not sure if any actual tears come down but I had the whole crinkly face thing going. I even made my Mum cry. I got my official result of 77.7km which I am extremely happy with considering myself and many others thought I would be out after 44km.

Everything after was a bit of a blurr. I remember we werent allowed to have a shower because of water restrictions. Luckily I had bought baby wipes for the occasion and my lovely Mum took me into the ladies and gave my black legs a wipe down and cleaned me up a little before I got in my car. Dean also kindly shouted me a bacon and egg sandwhich.

I had a lot of trouble taking a nap when I got home as my leg was so sore I couldnt really lie on it or move properly. I didnt really sleep well on Sunday night either. Still trying to catch up.

Some takeaway's. I learnt lots in my first ultra. I learnt what works for me, what doesnt so next time I will have my own strategy. I learnt that when it comes down to the crunch I have what it takes. My Dad always knew I was determined but he told me I surprised him with how determined and strong willed I was. I always knew that I had it in me I was just needing to put it to the test.

All up I would like to say a huge thanks to the organisers who put on a really great event. Thanks to Jen_Runs and Will for providing constant cheering. You guys hardly missed any laps. Thanks also to Horrie and Eagle who were always giving me lots of cheering as they were passing through. A big thanks to Belinda for keeping me in good spirits and it was great sharing my first ultra experience with you - see you at 6 foot. And lastly a huge thanks to Mum, Dad and Dean for crewing for me and cheering for me the whole way. I think I would have been tempted to give up at 3 hrs if you guys werent there.