The big day had come. The day I had been picturing for months, ever since July when I signed up to it. At that time I was sitting in Sweden, pretty unfit and the thought of running 60 km in the Kepler Challenge seemed very distant. Now the day was here. The event is really popular as many people are suckers for pain in this country. The maximum number of runners allowed on the track is 400 and apparently the tickets sold out in 9,5 minutes over the net. Crazy.
At 5.15 am on the day of the event, all runners were herded into buses like animals going to the abattoir. Many had been there before and wanted another good day out. For many of us, it was the first time. Some people were prepared, some not so much. I was as prepared as I would ever become. Charlie and I ran the track about two months ago over two days, I had a pretty good idea what I was in for: flat for a while along lake, up, up, and up to Luxmore hut and then the hill, then a few more hilly bits and then down to the bottom of the other side and out and back again. Easy peasy!!!
The actual race kicked off at 6 am at the control gates by Lake Te Anau. It was a glorious day, pretty chilly with a rising sun. The conditions couldn’t have been better. The run along Te Anau was a good warm up before the almost 1000 m climb to Luxmore Hut. Quite a few people tried to slowly jog uphill, but I believe it is a recipe for disaster. I felt quite funny walking past people trying to run uphill. It is simply a lot of energy going to waste. Energy that they will need later when it is really needed.
There were many old geezers on the track. Men who had done the race for up to 20 times and they were shouting obscenities at each other for a laugh. It was simply a fun day for them out with the mates. There were also many very serious competitors, who gradually got grumpier and grumpier the further they came.
The views from the top of the hill, Mt Luxmore (1085m) were superb. There are snow clad mountain tops as far as the eye could see. The color of the water of Lake Te Anau was crystal blue and the run felt very easy since the scenery was so rewarding. Everyone didn’t enjoy it as much as I did. One guy was vomiting on the side and another one stared at me with a pale face. They claimed to be OK so I just trundled on. I felt bloody good and all my legs felt pretty fresh.
The biggest challenge is not to eat and to drink enough. This proved to be quite difficult for me. My stomach only saw two pathetic small bites of my numerous sandwiches. I had followed Julian’s advice (and Skalmans at-och-sov-klocka concept) and my watch alarm went off every 30 min to indicate feeding time, or what Julian referred to as “Ginger nut time”. It worked out well and I was not too bad at force feeding myself with various energy gels and one or so muesli bars, raisins for methane production, sour worms and other sweet sickly substances. My teeth and my stomach were not very pleased after not having real food like pickled herring for many hrs.
The sun was shining, but it never got too hot since the trees were covering me. The forest was beautiful and lush with ferns and mosses everywhere. The steep downhill was hard on the knees but once I got into the flow, I covered a lot of distance pretty fast.
The other challenge I mentioned was drinking. Hrm, can it be that hard? Well first of all, you need to bring enough water. I carried a bladder with water all the time but to save on weight, I didn’t refill it to the top at each drinking station. I misjudged the distance to the next drinking station at Irisburn hut and I later had to pay for it…cramp, cramp and cramp. It came slowly but got worse and once I realized, it was too late to drink enough for it to diminish. I still felt really good though. I passed my friend Mike Plank and I think he was surprised how fast I was going. I was surprised anyway.
Once I came to the 50.4 km mark at Rainbow Reach after 7 hrs 20 min, I felt good and the crew taking my number commented about how fresh I looked. This is the big turning point. I took a orange slice which turned out to be horribly bitter and after 200 m I was vomiting. All that water that I had tried to get back into my system was lost. Bugger! I thought I could start running again since I didn’t feel that bad. It was not that easy.
My body had become very dehydrated and it was hard to drink enough with an upset stomach. I felt faint and my entire body was cramping up. It was a very peculiar experience. My jaws were cramping when I tried to chew on a few ginger nuts. My arms cramped just from swinging them back and forth whilst walking. Hrm, strange.
I made it to the finish line. It took me 9 h and 12 min, i.e. the last 10 km almost took me 2 hrs. The last few km many runners passed me and they all said “Come on, you can run the last bit”. I knew I would faint if I did. My body was shutting down and Charlie, who was waiting at the finish line (finishing after 7 h 28 min- Great work!!), helped me to the first aid tent. I spent the next 2 hrs re-hydrating, wrapped around in blankets with my feet up in the air. Charlie fell asleep next to me while I tried to get him to help me, so I wasn’t the only one buggered.
To sum up, it was an awesome day!! I enjoyed it all, almost, maybe not the vomit part. I love getting to know how my body works under continual pressure.
So, what about Mike? When did he finish? Well, the organizers said that he had not reached the finish when I got in, so we decided to wait for him (the truth is I guess that I couldn’t have moved even if I wanted to). After 2 hrs in first aid, I was standing up, talking and eating, but no sign of Mike. We became worried about him. Soon there were only the last final fat weasels finishing the race. Maybe Mike Plank ate too much cheddar cheese on the track after all? After the last competitor reached the finish, the event staff concluded that Mike had reached the end about 3 hrs earlier. Many people got a good laugh the next day at the prize giving when the commentator told everyone that we had waited for over 3 hrs for a friend who was long gone!! Haha. Mike was already in the pub drinking beer and probably finishing off his block of cheese which he didn’t consume during his 8 h 42 min.
Will I be back next year? Maybe…I am keen to improve my time with more water and a stomach of steel (why did I get my mum’s stomach and not my dad’s?)
At 5.15 am on the day of the event, all runners were herded into buses like animals going to the abattoir. Many had been there before and wanted another good day out. For many of us, it was the first time. Some people were prepared, some not so much. I was as prepared as I would ever become. Charlie and I ran the track about two months ago over two days, I had a pretty good idea what I was in for: flat for a while along lake, up, up, and up to Luxmore hut and then the hill, then a few more hilly bits and then down to the bottom of the other side and out and back again. Easy peasy!!!
The actual race kicked off at 6 am at the control gates by Lake Te Anau. It was a glorious day, pretty chilly with a rising sun. The conditions couldn’t have been better. The run along Te Anau was a good warm up before the almost 1000 m climb to Luxmore Hut. Quite a few people tried to slowly jog uphill, but I believe it is a recipe for disaster. I felt quite funny walking past people trying to run uphill. It is simply a lot of energy going to waste. Energy that they will need later when it is really needed.
There were many old geezers on the track. Men who had done the race for up to 20 times and they were shouting obscenities at each other for a laugh. It was simply a fun day for them out with the mates. There were also many very serious competitors, who gradually got grumpier and grumpier the further they came.
The views from the top of the hill, Mt Luxmore (1085m) were superb. There are snow clad mountain tops as far as the eye could see. The color of the water of Lake Te Anau was crystal blue and the run felt very easy since the scenery was so rewarding. Everyone didn’t enjoy it as much as I did. One guy was vomiting on the side and another one stared at me with a pale face. They claimed to be OK so I just trundled on. I felt bloody good and all my legs felt pretty fresh.
The biggest challenge is not to eat and to drink enough. This proved to be quite difficult for me. My stomach only saw two pathetic small bites of my numerous sandwiches. I had followed Julian’s advice (and Skalmans at-och-sov-klocka concept) and my watch alarm went off every 30 min to indicate feeding time, or what Julian referred to as “Ginger nut time”. It worked out well and I was not too bad at force feeding myself with various energy gels and one or so muesli bars, raisins for methane production, sour worms and other sweet sickly substances. My teeth and my stomach were not very pleased after not having real food like pickled herring for many hrs.
The sun was shining, but it never got too hot since the trees were covering me. The forest was beautiful and lush with ferns and mosses everywhere. The steep downhill was hard on the knees but once I got into the flow, I covered a lot of distance pretty fast.
The other challenge I mentioned was drinking. Hrm, can it be that hard? Well first of all, you need to bring enough water. I carried a bladder with water all the time but to save on weight, I didn’t refill it to the top at each drinking station. I misjudged the distance to the next drinking station at Irisburn hut and I later had to pay for it…cramp, cramp and cramp. It came slowly but got worse and once I realized, it was too late to drink enough for it to diminish. I still felt really good though. I passed my friend Mike Plank and I think he was surprised how fast I was going. I was surprised anyway.
Once I came to the 50.4 km mark at Rainbow Reach after 7 hrs 20 min, I felt good and the crew taking my number commented about how fresh I looked. This is the big turning point. I took a orange slice which turned out to be horribly bitter and after 200 m I was vomiting. All that water that I had tried to get back into my system was lost. Bugger! I thought I could start running again since I didn’t feel that bad. It was not that easy.
My body had become very dehydrated and it was hard to drink enough with an upset stomach. I felt faint and my entire body was cramping up. It was a very peculiar experience. My jaws were cramping when I tried to chew on a few ginger nuts. My arms cramped just from swinging them back and forth whilst walking. Hrm, strange.
I made it to the finish line. It took me 9 h and 12 min, i.e. the last 10 km almost took me 2 hrs. The last few km many runners passed me and they all said “Come on, you can run the last bit”. I knew I would faint if I did. My body was shutting down and Charlie, who was waiting at the finish line (finishing after 7 h 28 min- Great work!!), helped me to the first aid tent. I spent the next 2 hrs re-hydrating, wrapped around in blankets with my feet up in the air. Charlie fell asleep next to me while I tried to get him to help me, so I wasn’t the only one buggered.
To sum up, it was an awesome day!! I enjoyed it all, almost, maybe not the vomit part. I love getting to know how my body works under continual pressure.
So, what about Mike? When did he finish? Well, the organizers said that he had not reached the finish when I got in, so we decided to wait for him (the truth is I guess that I couldn’t have moved even if I wanted to). After 2 hrs in first aid, I was standing up, talking and eating, but no sign of Mike. We became worried about him. Soon there were only the last final fat weasels finishing the race. Maybe Mike Plank ate too much cheddar cheese on the track after all? After the last competitor reached the finish, the event staff concluded that Mike had reached the end about 3 hrs earlier. Many people got a good laugh the next day at the prize giving when the commentator told everyone that we had waited for over 3 hrs for a friend who was long gone!! Haha. Mike was already in the pub drinking beer and probably finishing off his block of cheese which he didn’t consume during his 8 h 42 min.
Will I be back next year? Maybe…I am keen to improve my time with more water and a stomach of steel (why did I get my mum’s stomach and not my dad’s?)
4 comments:
Märkligt sätt att spendera sin helg. Själv tog jag Perra och hans dotter Freja till studion för en liten guidad tur och en liten truddelutt på nya Orgeln. Kaffe och Pepparkakor - mums! :)
/kroffe
Ja vi tva lever ganska olika liv. Det ar ju bra att ni drillar i Freja lite synt och fornuft!
Vi hors,
Siz
Jag är mycket imponerad!
Själv var jag stolt när jag sprang vårruset (5 km på 40 min.) Efter att inte joggat en meter på flera år.
Till våren ska jag ta det på en halvtimme!
Vi har alla olika mål!
=)
Nice work Veronica! What an event. As soon as you get past 40km things get tough, eh? It would be harder over here in Aussie with the heat. But we don't have that many events over here.
Later in the year there are a bunch of Rogaines up in Cairns, which should be fun. When are you coming over?
Casp
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