Glasshouse 100km - Race Report

For me, the Glasshouse ultra series is pretty special. For a start, it is where I started out in ultra running with the 50km at Cook’s Tour in May 2010. More importantly, the event has a real community feel to it and always reminds me of what I loved about this sport in the first place – the simple joy of running. Let’s not forget the delicious food on offer at the checkpoints either! This year, the 100km lived up to all my expectations and a little bit more.

I had one very simple goal and one very big goal going into the event. Firstly, I wanted to run my own race. I wasn’t going to go out hard to keep up with other people or run at someone else’s pace in the dark so that I wouldn’t be alone. The second goal was to finish in 14 – 15 hours but preferably closer to 14. I developed a race plan based on 14 hours and decided, with Tam’s advice, that I wasn’t going to reassess until at least 30km. I really wasn’t sure if I could do 14 hours, but I wanted to give it a go and decided I wouldn’t blow up too much if I got it wrong.

The race started pretty well and I stuck to both my goals. I let my friends run off ahead of me and I settled into a pace that I felt comfortable with. By the time I got through to checkpoint 4, at about 25km, I was pretty much on my target pace. I was having a pretty perfect day with only minor mishaps. I had missed a turn and run a bit extra, but not too far and my checkpoint plan didn’t go so well as I had trouble getting the lid off my bottle a lot. Sweaty hands suck.

I continued running fairly well, but I was having issues with tummy cramps and had to stop a few times. I thought my actual running pace was still pretty good, but I was starting to slow due to the stops. The cramps were also making it difficult to take down any solid food, so I was sticking to a trusty formula of coke and gels, but the yummy food at checkpoints looked oh so tempting. I took a longer break at checkpoint 5 to use the porta-loo, but after waiting outside for a few minutes, I came to the conclusion that I didn’t want to go in there after whoever was in there, because they were taking a bit too long. The bush loo would have to do!

I enjoyed the goat track between checkpoints 5 and 6, but some of the steep uphill seemed to sap my energy. The powerlines were next and I was most excited. I was a little disappointed to find that they were bone dry this year, which meant they were a lot less fun with no scrambling around in the mud. The sun was beating down and it was dry and dusty, which took away some of my joy. I still loved the steep, rutted down hills and with each energy sapping uphill, I reminded myself that there would be a downhill to follow. When the powerlines ended I was out on the road and I ran my way into checkpoint 8.

Lucky for me Libby was at Checkpoint 8 crewing for Nic. She insisted I eat some of his KFC and it actually went down really well. She helped me out filling a second bottle and getting myself organised. I was so glad to see her and get her help because I had started to feel a bit low. Forcing down the solid food helped too. I was much happier as I headed out of checkpoint 8 for the loop.

I had forgotten just what the loop at 8 is like. In my mind, it was the big downhill, flat for 8k then back up the big hill. I somehow blocked out all the other hills in the second half of the loop. I was over half way by that point and as the section was turning out to be a lot slower than I estimated, I knew I wasn’t going to make 14hrs. At the 50ish km mark I had checked my watch and I was pretty close to 7 hours, so that meant I would need to run at the same pace for the next 50km. I really didn’t think I had that in me. I was starting to blow up just a little bit and was already pretty certain I needed to reassess. The miscalculation of the loop’s difficulty confirmed I needed to reassess. Although I was a little disappointed, I was very happy I had given it a go and I didn’t think I would be horrendously off my target either.

After the loop at 8, things went pretty well. The run out to checkpoint 7 and the loop at 7 were quite easy and I welcomed the fire trail. I was ok with boring if it meant I could move at some speed. I decided to not pick up my spare headlamp at 7 but wait until I got to my ay-ups in my drop bag at 6 as I thought I had enough time, and I didn’t want to have to fiddle around with headlamps twice. I got a little nervous towards the end of that leg though, as it was meant to be 7.5km and my watch was showing 8km and I still couldn’t see the checkpoint. I knew I was on the course because there was plenty of flagging tape, but was it possible I somehow missed the checkpoint? I needed to get to that checkpoint for my headlamp! Just when I was getting really worried, the checkpoint finally came into site. I picked up my trusty ay-ups and helped a lady out who was crewing for her husband. I hope the Emodium helped him! I wonder if he was the one in the porta-loo earlier. Eww.

As the sun started to set, I headed into the goat track towards checkpoint 5. I couldn’t believe how much more of the course I got to cover in day light this year than back in 2010. It was nice to actually do some of the goat track without the aid of the headlamp. I had a great time going through there and without the time concern, I didn’t mind the uphills either.

As I came out onto the road heading to checkpoint 5, it started to occur to me that I was completely alone in the dark. I hate the dark. I am scared of the dark. I started to panic. I convinced myself I was lost if I couldn’t see any flagging tape. I started to consider waiting for someone but as soon as that thought entered my mind, I reminded myself that I was 28years old and it is a bit pathetic to be afraid of the dark. I continued on, still a little panicked, but also determined.

As I left checkpoint 5, I remembered last year where I had given Chris what I thought was encouragement, with the advice that it was all downhill or flat from here. Woohoo! I took off with a spring in my step. I was going to make 14:45 I thought – fantastic! As I came past the point where my crew and Tamyka had met me in 2010, I remembered how I had yelled out to them “woohooo I am going to finish” and I felt that same sense of exhilaration this time around.

I continued by myself in the dark and was surprised to come across Bec with about 6km to go. I said a quick hello and continued on my way, determined not to seek out company in the dark. It was with great joy that I turned onto the track along the road headed back to the school. It was almost over! I said hello to all the 100mile runners who passed me leaving the school and thought to myself that I was glad I didn’t have to head back out from the school myself. Finally I got to the school and ran over the finish line – exhausted and amazed. I had finished in 14:35, 52 minutes better than my last attempt! It had been such an awesome day, with awesome people and a great event.