12 Foot Track/City to Surf weekend

My romance with the 12FT continues. I've done the whole 12FT report thing to death so I'll be brief.
Firstly a huge thanks to those who helped out on the day, it was a bonus to have drop bags out there.

I set off with Rod, my goal was to go close to 11hrs again. Rod was gunning for a sub five hour 6FT and I was looking for a similar halfway split. Split to the river was too fast in 1.23. Made good progress up the hills hitting Mini and Pluvi in 2.04 and 2.51 respectively. The wind was annoying blowing in every direction and I found it difficult to settle into a rhythm.
I stupidly left all my food in my drop bags and had only one gu in my camelbak to get me to Deviation, as a consequence I felt very flat on the Black Range (surprise) and was hungry. I reached Deviation in 3.48 and quickly downed a tin of creamed rice and stuffed my museli bars in my pocket. Still feeling like I was doing it tougher than usual I struggled through to Caves Rd (4.14) and then backed off a little along the undulating trail that skirts the road.
I felt better on the descent to the Caves House arriving there at exactly the same time as Mays Rebel 12FT in 4.55.
Shogun was there offering roving support and after picking up some hot chips and a can of coke I was off back up the hill.
Rod soon came flying down the path, just sneaking in under 5hrs (well done mate).
The next runner to arrive was Michel who was looking strong, I guessed I had about 30 minutes on him and that would be enough if I held it together. A stream of runners then came past with Kim Cook, Milov the next two (I think). It's inspiring to see the determination on every runners face, knowing they have a long slog ahead of them.
By this stage the wind felt like it had abated and I was beginning to enjoy the day more. I arrived at Caves Rd just on 6hrs, my splits uncanningly similar to Mays effort. The run through to Deviation was tough and I looked forward to the drop there. Kevin, Blue Dog and Virtual were there with both Virtual and Dog doing it tough. I quickly scoffed the remains of my drop bag and set off for home, it was 6.24 into the run. I like the next section with the long gentle descent along Black Range to Pluvi, a time where you can just get stuck into a good trot and glide along. The legs were feeling good and I was happy to reach Pluvi in 7.18. I held back a tad on the downhills trying to save the quads for the City to Surf the next day. Still the river was a welcome sight after the hammering of the downhills. I stopped briefly at the tank to refill and chatted with some campers.
A dry crossing once more and then the steady climb out to Megalong Rd. I ran as much as I could only walking up the steps.
Strangely, I did not see one cow the whole day with only a few horses in Megalong Valley, that was it.
Upon cresting Pinnacle Hill my spirits soared. The view is simply spectacular this time of the day, a view I could never get bored of.
There was a family there taking some afternoon snaps with the glowing escarpments in the background, beautiful.
Megalong Rd and the tree hollow was reached in 9.33, so 5 minutes behind May's split but I was still confident of a sub 11hr finish.
More grub, I even considered raiding Virtual's drop bag looking for some coke.

I found it tough on the run through the valley and once on the long stretch to Nellies Glen I decided to knuckle down and run the whole way to the foot of the climb. Ater a while I did manage to find a happier headspace and ground out the final few kms to the base of Nellies Glen. It was just on dusk as I began the climb. The stairs were as tough as ever but the end was in sight. I ran along the final stretch of bitumen and noticed a small crowd gathered (Kevin, Virtual, Brick, Alison and Becky O) as I made for the tree. Finish time was 10.52, my second sub 11hr run, very pleased with that.
It was awesome to have a welcoming cheer when I finished, I was not expecting anyone to be there.
Nice to meet Brick (and yes I didn't need to switch on my headlight ) and a few other new comers to 12FT, it looks like this race is becoming the new "Black Stump"
See you all next year.

I ran a sometimes painful City to Surf in 67 minutes the following day. Great to catch up with CRs and Striders afterwards.

Rest of week:

Mon-No run too busy
Tues-10k-45minutes tempo run
Weds-13km-63mins
Thurs-5km-24mins
Fri-Rest
Sat-90km-12FT
Sun-14km-C2S

Total=132km