We enjoyed the first 10km or so which was mostly downhill.
Running in the bush with three of your girlfriends and lots of yummy food is an
enjoyable experience, especially before the going gets tough. Unfortunately things
turned tough as we hit our first significant climb for the day. Firstly, we
were being tormented by constant sledging from the captain of Fed Express! Sara
was also having difficulty with her energy levels and was almost falling asleep
on her feet. We had covered the downhill in such good time though, and got
through the checkpoint so quickly, that we were still on pace.
From checkpoint 1 we again got to head downhill and managed
to run at a descent pace. The uphill for the last 5k of this section again
zapped Sara’s energy. She looked very ill and pale and we were getting a bit
concerned for her as she had only recently recovered from being sick. Mallani
was very encouraging and we decided it was a good idea for Sara to push through
to Lake Manchester (CP3) and decide what she wanted to do there.
It turned out a peanut butter sandwich at CP2 was what was
required and Sara powered through after CP2. We left that mean Fed Express team
behind and took off. By the times we hit the hills at Lake Manchester we were
doing well and weren’t too far off our goal time. The hills were a struggle but
we pushed through and were very happy to see Chris and all our yummy food at
Lake Manchester. We took a longer break than planned so everybody could fuel up
and grab their warm gear. It was going to be a long time before we got to see
our crew again.
We headed out of Lake Manchester in high spirits. We were
44km in and still well on target for a sub 20 hr finish. Although we had set a
stretch target of 18hours, we had initially set the goal of sub 20 and we were
happy to be on course for that. The hills were still a bit of a struggle but we
made good time on the flats and downhills and managed to complete this section
of the course on goal pace.
Scrub Rd (CP4) was fantastic. We danced to some music,
discovered we were the 5th women’s team through and also spotted two
of the teams ahead of us still at the checkpoint. We headed out just behind
them and then swapped positions several times through the next section. We had
times where we struggled – Sara’s ITB was hurting, there was a bit of climbing
and a bit of technical and muddy stuff. We also did really well in some
sections. In particular, we were amazed by how awesome Sara was on the
technical downhill. No longer a girl who got a little nervous on this terrain,
Sara was showing the other teams how it is done. Doing well here got us in front
of those two women’s teams. Sara still didn’t seem to keen when we suggested a
detour via Township Break though!
We were in pretty good spirits when we came into Bellbird
Grove (CP5), especially Sara who was hanging out for an Emu Hug. We all filled
our tummies with yummy chicken soup that Chris has made for us and then we were
off, keen to chase down a team of girls in tutus who weren’t far ahead
according to our super crew.
We had underestimated the difficulty of section 6 as there
was a lot of up and a lot of technical. We pushed through it though and were
happy to come out on Centre Road where we knew the going would be easier. Sara
put on her iPod for some extra motivation and was suddenly powering up and down
the hills, the rest of us struggling to keep up. We spotted the tutu girls
ahead and managed to pass them. Things were looking great as we approached
Curra-Mulling Park (CP6). Sara was full of energy, we were coming second and we
had even shocked our crew with how fast we were on the section. I had some
pretty bad chafing and a blister covering about one third of the sole of my
foot and Tam was coughing and losing her voice, but the Full Moon Trail
Goddesses don’t let things like this bother them.
The final section of Trailwalker is a bit mean with two
ascents of Mt Coot-tha. Sara was struggling to run on her ITB but walking was
making my feet cramp and hurting Tam’s ITB so the solution was that Tam and I
ran ahead and then waited. We never got too far in front and the solution
worked well. I was also able to stop and massage my foot that was niggling
which relieved the pain. For our second climb of Coot-tha, Mallani and I pushed
Sara up the hill to help her along and to push for a sub 20hr finish. We then
ran all the way down Summit Track for a 19:45 finish. The Full Moon Trail
Goddesses were the second women’s team and the twelfth team overall – an
awesome achievement!
