Glasshouse 100miler...

This has been the key focus to my training and all I have done thus far in the year. For that reason it has been pretty disappointing that I have been quite sick since moving to the Coast and an had an injury that has kept me from doing as much training as I would have liked to.Since the finish of the race last year where I pulled out a PB of nearly four hours (21hrs 52min), I have had a MASSIVE dream of cranking out a sub 20hr race in 2014. However, due to my lead up, I decided to revise my goals and aim for a sub 24hr and anything else being a bonus.Race day came around and I was healthy, and my injury at about 95%. I was ready to rumble. We had race briefing on Friday night as usual and then rolled up to the start line about 5am Saturday morning ready to go. The morning started out nice and relaxed and I got in some good conversation with a few new friends. We completed a 10k loop back to the school and then up and down Mt Beerburrum. I got an awesome surprise seeing my good friend Lori and her kids at the base, which was a top booster. After coming down the mountain we head out to Checkpoints 4 and 5 before a tough little section around 6A to 6. Even though it was early in the day, I could already feel it warming up and knew we were in for a hot one.I had my Number 1 crew on board, Tegs, Pria and Corle and it is always a blessing seeing them and hearing them cheer at every stop!After slogging through 6A and feeling a little twinge in the back of my knee, it was gone as quick as it came and I wouldn’t feel it for the rest of the day. Thank goodness. We then head to Checkpoint 6 before starting the infamous tough section through powerlines. I made sure I was prepared this year with two handhelds and fuelled up as last year I really struggled through here. I got through ok again before heading to Checkpoint 8 to the beautiful Ann Raftery and posse. After a quick gday, Happy Birthday to Ann and food, it was to my nemesis, the western and eastern loops.The western loop in particular has caused me a fair bit of drama in the past and this time would be similar, bringing on some pretty decent leg cramping. I got some salt from Geoff Tomlins (thanks mate!) stocked up on electrolytes and kept my head and neck buff wet all day. These things would be my saviours as I think I would have ended up reduced to some serious walking due to the cramping otherwise.After doing the western loop, I then did the eastern loop and still battled the cramping. I treated it as best as I could before returning to Checkpoint 8. Although I had some issues on these loops, they went pretty quick and I was off to Checkpoint 7. I knew at this stage that if I could get rid of the cramps and keep moving forward that I was miles ahead of where I was last year….GOLD!I got to Checkpoint 7 in some better shape and did the 5k loop before returning to 7 and having some beautiful minestrone soup. YUM! I was also surprised to see Coach Jeff and Deb which ALWAYS cheers me up! After a quick gday, I head off for the journey back to base, Beerburrum School, a little milestone. On the way to Checkpoint 6 things went well and then whilst travelling to Checkpoint 5 I ran into my friend Anderson. He was struggling big time with some leg issues so we ran together from there for a couple of hours.These couple of Checkpoints went standard before doing something I have never done before….I got back to the school without having to use my headlamp. 108km in 12hr 30min. SO so stoked. At the school, I had one my best mates Jason and new running buddy Jack takeover crewing duties so the girls could go home for a sleep.At the school I emptied my shoes, changed my socks and got some tucker into me. After a quick stopover, Anderson and I were off to the Eastern section of the course. This section is relatively flat and it was here, with all the runnable sections, that I began to notice the significant trashing my quads had endured. I ran as much as I could and the 10k out to Wild Horse seemed to take forever. That is probably because upon arriving I got told that it was actually 12.5km! 2.5 for free! Along this section I dropped Anderson as he stated that he was completely un-able to run. I felt terrible for it but I REALLY didn’t want to walk the rest of the course.When I got to Wildhorse Mountain, we did a quick up and back before heading out to Checkpoint 10. This was pretty un-eventful and I was able to maintain a decent pace. I was looking forward to getting to 10 as it is always a real party Checkpoint and a lot of fun. After a quick gday, it is two loops to complete here as well. The first might only be 6is km but we do a couple of k’s in SERIOUSLLY soft sand. Like I am talking up to the ankles SOFT sand! It is tedious and frustrating! After rolling through this and back to 10, I then head out to the second loop. This was going ok until I got to a pretty technical section and my headlamp was nearly dead. UGH! I could barley see and it was slow going before grabbing a new light from my mate Gavin at 10. I was lucky enough to see Dad here on his way out to the checkpoint before I started making my way back to Wildhorse.This was a little slower this time round but I made it not too bad. I didn’t muck around here and did my trek up and down Wildhorse Mountain straight way. My quads were well and truly done by this stage and coming down the mountain nearly killed me! I had a quick stopover at Checkpoint 9 before starting the 12.5km trek back home!By this time my focus was squarely on getting to the finish. All day I had been watching my times and hovered right around a 20hour finish. The problem I now faced though was my quads were DONE! I struggled along as best as I could but about 8k from home my left inside quad started to jack up and really be extremely painful! This was really putting my sub 20hour finish in doubt. I got to 5k out at Moffats Road where this year we could have one of our crew pace us in. I told the guys that I thought it was out of the question with 40 odd minutes to go after already running 156km but once I got moving I firmly decided in my mind that I was going to give it my best effort or die trying!Jack and I started ripping in. I was in the pain cave well and truly but it was business time! Beast mode! We ripped in, worked hard and did it! I came into the finish shoot in a finishing time of 19hours 51min! I was ecstatic with my over TWO HOUR PB! So so pumped!Here’s where things went to crap though. My left quad was extremely painful and I thought really injured. I saw the doctor Peter and he iced it up. I felt like absolute garbage. I couldn’t eat, drink or move. I started to get cold and we got going home. I laid on the back seat and eventually made it home. The boys helped me in and I thought I needed to go to the toilet. I sat there with my head in my hands and fell asleep, eventually dropping my phone! I was out of it! I couldn’t drink anything, even water. I knew I needed to eat but NO WAY! I somehow managed to have a shower and crawled into bed a bit before 3am. I got 3-4hours good sleep then tossed and turned for another hour or two before waking up. Surprisingly, when I got up my legs were sore but not that bad! Stoked. I am now continuing my plan I came up with at the start of the year and having one day off for every day raced in an ultra. 16days it will be, and well deserved.In hindsight, this race was one of the hardest, toughest, mindful and rewarding events I have done. I have been training as much as I could, and also building my mental focus with meditation, which I started a little while ago. I really believe this has helped. I am still in absolute awe that this result and day happened. I am so proud of myself and the beast within this hippy exterior. I believe the hills here on the Coast I have been training on have made a massive difference and whilst I will miss these with our move back to Bundy, there really is no substitute to specific training. All in all, an incredible day! Gratitude!Some details……Gear used – Ultimate Direction handheld bottles, Altra Shoes and Injinji socks provided by my sponsor Injinji Performance Products. Gu gels, Clif Bars (thanks to Unique Health Products), Ronhill Shorts, and love!Food consumed – Funnily enough, my main calorie consumption was from boiled potatoes with salt, plain potato chips, watermelon and coke. I also had banana, organic strawberries, salt tablets, Raw Balls (thanks Ann for organising these from Susanna) Gu Gels, Clif Bars, soup, soft drink, Squintra Hydration, Endura, Water….I think that’s about it!As a last point, my 16Week journey blog is now done! I will now be blogging as normal though my usual channel and you can subscribe to get email notifications of any new updates. Have an amazing week friends!