Glasshouse 30km!

I hardly know where to start with this race report! Here goes!

Got up at 3.30am and drove to Ronnie's to meet her and Sam so we could carpool. Makes the trip to races much more fun! Headed up the freeway to Beerwah and just as we got into the area, we got overtaken by a speeding Aasics van containing Phil, Di, Angie and co. It was quite lucky really since we had no real idea where we were going and we managed to follow them the rest of the way. Mind you, Phil got us lost once anyway, but we won't talk about that ;)

We arrived at the last decent loo stop aka lookout toilets before the race. It was just too early, so we all looked at the view out across the mountains as the sun rose through the mist. It is one of the most beautiful places on the planet, that's for sure. Really took my breath away and I wished I'd taken my camera! Sometimes it's nice not to though - it's as if the special moments like that, shared between a few, link you all together.

Arrived at the start and really didn't want to get out of the car. It was sooo cold! Saw CRs Veggie Girl and Davo who had been there for hours already. They were all rugged up in blankets and we had a good chat waiting for the start. Saw a lot of friendly faces which was nice and went some way to calming my nerves. Suzannah (from track) came which was lovely. It ended up being me, suzannah, angie, schultzy, phil and stu all running in our bright orange shirts as a group.

Before I knew it, we were off. Nice easy pace and a gentle up and down lulled me into a false sense of security before we turned off into the bush and down the side of the mountain. My first thought was OMG - how on earth am I going to manage 30km of this? We had to slow to a walk and carefully hop down the hillside which, like a lot of the trail, was bumpy uneven 4WD tracks, with a coating of loose dust and gravel which made it even more dangerous. I nearly went arse over tit multiple times in the first 2km, but somehow managed to stay upright (thankyou core strength exercises!)

My nose started to run and continued until the end. I spent the whole 30km continuously blowing my nose - I think I must've had hayfever or was allergic to something in the air. It was incredible *L* At least it was a distraction from my feet! We tootled along at the back and before long, arrived at the first checkpoint. I was cautiously optimistic at this point, feeling pretty strong. Perhaps it was the coldness of the start or the just the ever changing sorroundings and obstacles, but it passed by quite quickly. We grabbed some water, lollies and endura and carried on. A lot of the trail has blurred into a continuous stretch in my mind already!

For some reason, there was a huge amount of fairly deep sand along the trails. It was like running on the beach in parts! I don't know if they were just filling some of the potholes or not but it made for hard going and Schultzy remarked that it was like running at Surfers Paradise, renaming it 'Runners Paradise' (I thought it was more like Runners Hell, but what can you do?) We bobbed around as a group, running with different people at various times. I surprised myself by staying around the middle and front for a lot of the way. We walked a lot of the hills which was fine by me!

The next checkpoint was situated at the top of the biggest frigging hill I think I have ever seen. All potholed and lose gravel, too. The marshalls at the top must've had such a great view of us all chugging our way up the side of this awful, awful thing. Got to the top and drank about four straight cups of water and endura, ate more lollies and then off we went again.

By the time we got to the powerlines section, I was starting to feel it. This consisted of an array of steep rock faces, much of which we had to clamber up on hands and feet. It seemed to go up for ever and between gasps I told Phil I hated him *L* Obviously, it's a love-hate relationship like all good coaches. Needless to say, it was hard going and by the time we hit the top, I had so much sweat in my eyes I couldn't see properly!

I can't remember if it was before or after this that we also came across the most gorgeous view. We're so lucky to live in this part of the world. It was just stunning and I felt really priveleged to be able to be there to see it. How many people never bother to go further than ten minutes down the road, or even anywhere they can't get to by car? There are so many beautiful things out there just waiting to be discovered and all it takes is the effort to go looking.

We started to pass people and I continued to feel really good, even pulling ahead a tiny bit at times, with Phil wisely reigning me in. I didn't start seriously struggling until we literally had about 1km to go (by which time we'd technically already done 30km, since the course is actually 31.1km!) then despite the first and only serious bout of prodding from Phil, found myself walking up the hill. If I'd known exactly how close I really was, I may have been able to run the whole last bit, but I guess I was still trying to conserve some energy to see me to the finish. That part is all mental and something I'm going to have to continue working on.

We rounded the corner and there was the finish line! I couldn't believe it actually... I kept expecting myself to have another serious blow up and end up walking vast sections of the course, but it didn't. Which was so nice, because it renewed my faith in all this training I've been doing and my progress so far.

I think my favourite part of the race was running towards the finish line, side by side with each other - a wall of orange singlets. We could see everyone dashing for their cameras and I think they'll be some lovely piccies from it. We crossed the line in 4:01. Running as a group was sooooo good and helped so much. I'm so lucky to have such lovely running friends - not just the people who ran with me today, but all of you guys too. The support is just so fab.

All up, I think I surprised myself today. What a difference a couple of weeks can make. Once I find my pace and trust myself, I can do this stuff. I've discovered I really like trail running. I like the variety of it, the constant changing of the landscape and the path - the different obstacles along the way. It was, all in all, a great run :)

Hooray! Look out Warwick, here we come!