Poor Man's Comrades Report 2006

Chasing Time.

The “up” run this year and a good turn out at the Opera house steps. 21 starters with over half stating they were running the full 96km.

This year I set myself an aggressive challenge of making it to Gosford in under 9hrs. After last years “down” run of 9.17, I felt I could try and push it for sub 9. If I failed miserably then I’d at least learned something.

The run over the harbour bridge was magic, with the sun rising over the ocean. We ran together as a couple of packs with just John Mergler off in the distance, already out of sight!
I ran with a mate from work Keith who would stay with me for the first 35km. Just behind was Tim and Hamburglar and a few others who were taking shorter options.
The run through North Sydney, Chatswood and Artarmon on to Lindfield and Gordon was at a relaxed 5:30/km pace. I was happy to get this section behind me, not a huge fan of the intersections and road crossings. We hit the Bobbin Head Rd turn off exactly 10 minutes ahead of 9hr schedule, too fast. I spotted Kevin near the entrance gates, stopped, took my spray jacket off and had a drink. Keith and I took off just as Tim and Hamburglar rocked up. Running down to the picnic area at Bobbin Head I soon realised I had left my splits and maps in Kevin’s boot, damn I wanted the splits as a sanity check on my pace, not to mention the train timetable for the return journey. I pulled out my mobile and called Plu, whom I knew would be on the other side near Mt Colah and asked him to pick them up from Kevin when they met up.
I felt good running up the hill on the other side of Bobbin Head to Mt Colah and was moving along happily. Plu appeared on his bike and took a couple of photos and assured us there was ample food and drink at the gates exiting the park.
Boy was he right. Kevin was there and I thankfully retrieved my splits and maps. The aid station was a veritable smorgasbord of drinks and snacks but I was only interested in one thing and that was the tub of creamed rice I had given to Kevin earlier on.
I checked my split to realise I was still a good 10 minutes ahead.

I bid farewell to Keith, thanklful for his company and made for the Pacific Highway once more. Mentally I was fired up for the run now, I was eager to get on the highway and just block everything out and grind out the miles. The run up to Berowra was fairly uneventful; I was lost in a sea of thoughts just enjoying the day. I stopped at the shop there and bought a bottle of powerade. I was eating fairly well, a muesli bar, a gu, a donut and a tub of creamed rice thus far but was still looking forward to a veggie pie at the “Pie in the Sky”. I was mentally breaking down the run into bite size chunks, which certainly helped, however my pace dropped off as I climbed and it was here that I had my first “low” of the day. I had run all hills to now but had to start mixing in a few walk breaks.
My splits had me at the Pie in the Sky at noon and I arrived there not feeling too crash hot at 11:54. I pushed my way past a few girls and ordered a vegetable pie and a bottle of coke, they didn’t seem to mind, happy enough chatting amongst themselves. I considered walking through whilst eating but decided a break here would serve me better. I went round the back of the shop and found a water tap where I refilled my Camelbak, pausing to take in the beautiful the view out over the valley, having never noticed it before. I will have to ride up there on the bike one day and have a proper look around.

I felt re-energised now and was looking forward to the descent to the Hawkesbury river crossing. I stopped at the servo on the other side and bought another bottle of sportsdrink for the climb up Mt White. I knew I would be doing some walking here.
The climb itself was relentless and I was falling behind 9hr splits quickly. I was still managing to power walk at 9-10 min/km pace but knew then I would struggle to hold it together for a sub 9 finish. The road warriors café at 70km was a welcome sight but I was now nearly 10 minutes behind the 9hr split. I decided to push through and not stop and try to make up the deficit on the descent to Mooney.
Not long after I realised there were no more opportunities to re-fill and I was 25km from the finish. I figured it was cool enough that I should just get by with the remaining water I had. Again I went through a low spell. I tried distraction as tool to get me through it, trying to ignore the hurt and push on. However not long before Calga, Plu came along in his car. I was grateful for the water and coke he provided and a couple of lollies. He rode along with me long enough to take the empty coke can off me and head back to his well-placed aid station.

Once again I came good, downed an Aldi muesli bar and made for Mooney Creek.
It was a wonderful time of the day, mid afternoon, long shadows and an even longer descent to the creek. I ran freely down its gentle grade not noticing the obvious pounding my quads were getting, reached the bottom and crossed the bridge. I recalled how two years ago, Sean Greenhill and I stopped here in the darkness to find Fire Horse’s esky full of drinks. Today it was still daylight and I was feeling a whole lot better than I was back then.

Not too long to go now, looking at my time I had all but given up on a sub 9 finish but was pleased to find I was not losing any additional time, still 10 minutes behind.
Alas there was another climb ahead and I knew I would have to run a fair chunk of it if I was to hold it together. I had earlier told Plu I figured 9.30 based on the rate of slow down, we’d see.

I soon noticed Reptile Park in the distance signalling the turn off the highway was not that far ahead. Left at the roundabout and right at the next I recalled from the notes and then the final long descent down Debenham Rd to the finish. I hammered it (well it felt like I did) down to the turn off rejoining the Pacific Highway once more and looked at my watch. I knew there was still a good km or so to the finish line and just legged it. Left onto Showground Rd where Aunty Karin, Truckie, Uncle Dave and Dave Ellis drove by just before the finish. When I reached the station Uncle Dave and Aunty Karin formed a mock finish line, a nice touch and certainly a whole lot better than the unspectacular finish that is Gosford train station. Stopped the watch on 9.13, a 4-minute PB and an improvement from 3rd to 2nd this year. I’ll take that; the “up” version is definitely a lot tougher now that I’ve ran both hard.
There’s certainly no chance of winning this one as long as John is running. He makes us all look very average. ;-)
We didn’t hang around too long with Aunty Karin offering to drive me back to Hornsby, cheers guys. It was good to see how the rest of the runners were doing as we drove back along the highway, some looking better than others but all determined to finish and finish they did.

Sub 9 was not to be today but given the “up” run is to my mind more difficult and I felt I’d run better than last year, I’m pretty rapt.
Already looking forward to giving 9hrs a shake next year on the “down” run.

Well done to all who made the start line particularly the PMC first timers.
Thanks to Redback for the spare gloves at the start after I’d left mine in the car and of course to the ever generous Plu and KT for their support along the way.