Night shift - Central Coast Classic

Today Total: 93.238k
Week Total: 126.238k
Month Total: 126.238k
Year Total: 126.238k

Well what a way to round out the first week of running for 2006! Twelve hours of fun doing a hamster impersonation (well that's how my 14 year old daughter - the Halfpenny - described it)  running around a 400m track at Gosford.

I only hatched this plan just a few weeks before Christmas - trolling through the calendar on CR one night I noticed this event and slowly the wheels and cogs started to clunk and whir - hmmmm a 12hr, why not?

Being my first real ultra (previous Six Foot campaigns aside) I played my cards close to my chest and very few people knew I was going to have a crack. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time to be able to pick some of the finest (and nicest) ultra running and crewing minds around - those of Paul Every  and Diane Weaver (Paul has won this event previously) and with my naïve questions answered I felt my confidence grow.

The three hurdles to overcome were to engage a support crew (Mrs 2P & the Halfpenny), get permission from the evil Gastroc Twins and to get rid of the last of the lurgy hanging around on my chest. Well the twins could not have been more cooperative in the lead up - nary a murmer from them. The support crew whilst not exactly wildy enthusiastic were at least willing and for that I am extremely grateful. As for the chest - well 2 out of 3 ain't bad - at least there didn't seem to be any infection - just the dregs......

I approached this event like a long training run for Six Foot rather than a race for 2 reasons. Firstly so I really didn't care how far I ran as long as I lasted the 12 hours (though I would have been disappointed with anything less than 80k and my race plan at least gave me the chance to get into triple figures). And secondly I didn't want this to consume my life - I'm on holidays :-)

I went through 50k in around 5hrs 45mins which meant that 100k was theoretically possible particularly considering because I hadn't gone out too hard but had been exceptionally disciplined about my pace from the get-go - but operating off a base of approximately 50k per week it just wasn't on - I went through 80k bang on 10 hours but all I could manage was 13.238k in the last 2 hours. Mind you I ran further in the 12th hour than in the 11th.

My race plan was to run about a 6.30 to 6.45 min per k pace and to walk for 1 min every 20 mins and eat and drink. This worked really well at first, but from the 6 hour mark I needed longer walk breaks. What really killed me was 3 x 7 or 8 min toilet breaks - I can only assume I was eating too much - on the bright side, I didn't get any cramps :-)

There were a few other CR's present - Barney, So Lucky, Miss Skarmel, also Paul Every and Jan Hermans of C2K fame who I knew were also there - but the standout performance of the people I knew was Horrie - he had an absolute blinder racking up over 102k! Well done Horrie. There were other stellar performances too, particularly from the top 3 women who also all went over 100k including the female winner who was 2nd outright with over 115k.

I ended up 13th (I think) overall from 45 starters an couldn't be happier with my performance - this represents more than double the furthest distance I have ever run in one go and I am stoked.

Mrs 2P and the Halfpenny were simply brilliant and I can't express how thankful I am to them. What a brilliantly run and organised event! NB I may edit this post when I eventually get back to Sydney later next week when my sleep deprived thoughts are more more lucid :-)