Wednesday 22 May 2013

The North Face 100km Ultra Marathon 2013 Race Report




Prologue:

At the runner check-in with Paul
The weekend of the 2013 North Face 100km Ultra Marathon began for me with a long day of unpacking and tidying of the new apartment. Finally at 4pm I drove to pick Jem up from work before returning home to pack the last of my gear for the race. My good friend and lead crew member Belinda arrived to Jem and I up around about 5:30pm and we started the cruise up towards Leura.
We arrived at the Fairmont Resort at approx. 7:30pm to an absolute hive of activity. Hundreds of runners were collecting their race numbers and timing chips and the excitement was certainly starting to build. We ran into Paul just as he was finishing picking up his gear. He ended up waiting for us so we could then go and get a bite to eat.

We went to a nice little cafĂ© for dinner before meeting up with Robin and Louise and making our way to the ‘Serenity Cottage’ which would be our accommodation for the weekend. After everything was inside I quickly got to preparing my gear for the big race. It took a little longer than I was hoping and I finally hopped into bed just after midnight.


Pinning the number onto the race shorts
Paul preparing the night before the race
All the gear ready to go!


Race Day:

Moments before the start!
After a restless start in bed I managed a pitiful 1.5 hours of sleep awaking not long after 3:15am. I tossed and turned for a while before realising that it was all I was going to get instead choosing to flick on the iPod and crank some pump up tunes. Out of bed about 4am I got dressed into my race gear and then quickly downed some toast with Nutella to get me started. It wasn’t long before we were out the door and on our way to the Fairmont Resort for the Race Briefing. The briefing went well and then I raced up to the bathroom along with everyone else. The line was painful and I could see the minutes ticking away until the gun was due to go off. I legged it out of there with 2 minutes to go and entered a mass of confusion as runners where all trying to offload extra clothing to their crews. I ran back to the main entrance to look for Paul and could spot him so I headed back towards the start line……3….2…..1….. Runners started cruising out of the start and I will still wearing my tracksuit pants. After a minute or two I finally located Rob and gave him my pants but I had missed the start window and now would be running the entire race separated from Paul. After some hugs from Jem, Rob and Belinda I lined up waiting in anticipation for the race to begin. After a few short minutes the crowd started counting down from 10 and finally we were underway!

Descending down to Leura Forest
It wasn’t long at all before I settled into a nice rhythm in the top 15-20 places of the wave. There were lots of well wishes out on the streets of Katoomba including one old guy that looked particularly toasty in his trackies and beanie with a steaming mug of tea. After approximately 6km we hit the Amphitheater Track and started descending steep stairs into the Leura Forest. There was a bit of congestion here and we all slowed to a walk on many occasions. Whilst a little frustrating at first I decided that it was a long day ahead and a little extra walking now would make for fresher legs later. The normally bustling Scenic Railway was whisper quiet and we made our way quickly towards the really technical trail of the landslide at the 14km point. This part was particularly slow going as everyone was still quite bunched up. 2km later we hit the first big climb of the day, The Golden Staircase. I stopped for a quick leak here and then joined the back of the train of people marching their way slowly up towards the summit. After about 15 minutes or so of solid climbing we reached the summit and then jumped onto the Narrowneck fire trail. After another 1km of uphill I cruised into the first Aid Station at the 18km mark. I was in 308th place with a current elapsed time of 2:26:46. Unfortunately this is where my race would really take a turn for the worse

Cruising along Narrowneck early in the morning
My plan for nutrition was simple. On the half-hour I would eat something solid which was normally to be a muesli bar or some sesame snaps. And every hour on the hour I would take a gel and an electrolyte cap. After a little over an hour of running my stomach at started to feel a little so-so. As I was coming up to a ‘real food’ time to eat I grabbed two bananas from one of the volunteers, filled my bottle with electrolyte solution and was out of the Aid Station within a minute. Within ten minutes my stomach had gone from so-so to well and truly queasy. Not long after this I found myself darting off the track and dry reaching. After 30 seconds of this I got back onto the track and started out at a walk. Shortly thereafter I was able to wind it back up to a trot and stat in alongside a nice guy, Mike from Canberra. We ended up chatting and cruising along together. After 15 minutes it was gel time and although I was dreading it I forced it down and it ended up not really making the stomach feel any worse than it did already. We cruised past the huge fire tower and then started the final stretch towards the tip of Narrowneck. The views here of the Megalong Valley, Wild Dog Range and Three Peaks region are nothing short of spectacular. I constantly found myself getting distracted by the view and forcing myself to remain focussed on running, this was a race after all. It wasn’t too long before we got off the fire trail and made our way down the steep and slippery track leading to the Tarros Ladders.

Waiting to descend Tarros Ladders
Upon reaching the ladders we found a large group of runners queued up so I decided to quickly whip out the phone and take this shot. You can make out Blackhorse Mountain just beyond the trees and beyond that the towering Three Peaks. Since we were stopped I decided to try and eat something solid. I munched down a nut bar as I made my way slowly to the front of the queue and was just finishing the last of it as I started descending the ladders down the 10-15m cliff face. At the bottom Mike said that he was going to take it easy on the next single track so I cruised onwards. This section of track is awesome it sweeps left and right through the trees and is pretty buffed out so you can really blast along. I was really enjoying it until the nut bar decided that it wasn’t enjoying being in my stomach. Darting off the track again I parted ways with the nut bar. After washing my mouth out with water I started trudging down the track and eventually increased it to a light trot again. It wasn’t long before Mike caught up to me and we made our way together down to the fire trail. Mike and I ran stride for stride for this 10km fire trail section. It was nice to have someone to chat with and take my mind off my stomach. Although still feeling queasy the entire time I was able to keep down my next gel and my first fruit puree of the day. It was after this that I decided that solid foods were pretty much out for the rest of the run. Bypassing the turnoff to Bellbird Ridge I knew we were getting extremely close to Dunphys Camp. Slipping and sliding our way down the loose gravel we were welcomed into the Aid Station with cheers and music. With 38km covered I had moved up a few places into 301st place with an elapsed time of 4:55:48.

At the Aid Station they checked that we were carrying our waterproof matches as well as our main and backup headlamps. I didn’t want to eat anything solid here so I grabbed as many pieces of watermelon as I could carry which ended up being six and started walking out of the Aid Station while I waited for Mike to catch up. It took a while to consume all six pieces as we made our way up towards the dreaded Ironpot Ridge section of the course. Then just as we passed the 40km marker…. Holy Shit!!! A wall just appeared in front of us. The dreaded Ironpot Ridge was upon us. The climb extended up for 300-400 metres in front of us at a 40-50% gradient. There was a long line of runners trudging up the climb at a snail’s pace so we slotted in to the back and started making our way up. Runners slowly peeled off one by one as exhaustion took over. Eventually there was only a few of us left and I was sad to see that Mike had slowed and dropped off the back as he had previously seemed to be going stronger than I was. I later discovered that he unfortunately pulled the pin at the next Aid Station

Running through the Megalong Valley,
53km mark
Finally after considerable struggle we made it to the top and onto the short out and back section along the ridge itself. The atmosphere on the ridge was cool as there were runners constantly passing in the opposite direction and there were even two Aboriginal men playing a didgeridoo welcoming us onto their land. I kept an eye out for Paul along this section but it looked like he was having a good day and had already left the ridge before I got onto it. The descent down off the ridge was extremely slippery and technical. Even after reaching the end of the descent it seemed to take forever to reach Megalong Valley Rd. During this section it took 25 whole minutes to consume 4 sesame snaps. Once back on the road I was able to get a steady jog going again. The climb from the 48.5km point to the 50km point is quite a tough one but I managed a really solid powerhike the whole way up.

Rob bringing me over the crew setup at the Six Foot
Track Aid Station, 54km mark
It was certainly a good feeling to pass the half way mark and I virtually ran every step from the 50km sign until we got off the road several kilometres later. From here we ran through a private farm field. Seeing the spectators at the top of a little rise ahead I was able to manage a gentle jog up the hill and then bombed down the hill into the Six Foot Track Aid Station with 54km under the belt. Total elapsed time to this point was 7:19:54 and although I didn’t really realise it at the time I had made up a few places and was sitting in 267th spot. It was so good to see a friendly face or two and hear Belinda cheering for me as I cruised in. I quickly filled my water bladder which had run out several kilometres back and then made my way over to Rob. He led me through the crowd of supporters to where the guys had setup while informing me that Paul had passed through 40 minutes beforehand. I quickly chugged some flattened coke and started restocking my pack with gels and baby food (fruit puree). I asked Bel to pick up some extra gels and more baby food on the way to the next Aid Station as I had pretty much given up on trying to eat solid food. Once restocked I grabbed another quick hug from Jem, Bel, Rob and Lou before having another chug of the coke and grabbing the biggest handful of salt and vinegar chips I could manage. I was pleased to get through the checkpoint and be back on my way in a tick under 7 minutes.

Getting some calories in fast!

The next 11km was the absolute low point of the race for me. Within a few hundred metres of leaving the Aid Station I could feel that the coke and chips weren’t sitting too well so I dropped back to a powerhike whilst finishing off the last of the chips. I was able to get jogging again after a while but my stomach was feeling worse than ever. To make matters worse I was dreading the huge climb up Nellie’s Glen that was fast approaching. I could see a cluster of runners a few hundred metres ahead and decided that I would try to catch them so I would have some company on the climb. Slowly but surely I caught up to them pulling alongside them just as the road started to head ever so slightly up woods. After not too long the climb was approaching 10% and we had all well and truly dropped back into a steady hike at this stage. The climb drags on like this for at least another kilometre before it switches to singletrack. Once you finally reach the single track you still have another 500+ stairs to climb before reaching the summit. The track is slippery, steep and the stairs vary in height from about 10cm to 70cm. It’s pretty much hell when you hit it after 60km covered. I remember hitting the first of the stairs and one of the other guys asking “are we almost at the top?” I turned around to him with a wry smile and said “mate, this is just the appetiser”.

As we trudged up the stairs I could feel my energy levels plunging. It felt like I was in a bubble as my focus on the task at hand seemed to be fading away. After not too long no one was talking and it was eerily silent. The only thing I could hear was my own breath and the gentle sound of the nearby creek. The only thing that broke the silence was when either I or one of the others would mutter under their breath to themselves something along the lines of “bloody hell” or “f^*k me”. After a while I found myself just staring at the shoes infront of me. When you reach the final kilometre there is a small creek crossing before it kicks up brutally towards the summit. I remember saying here “mate, we’re about to start the main course” before turning around only to discover that old mate was nowhere to be seen. He must have dropped off the back without me even realising it. Within a few hundred metres of the summit I came across a familiar face, Steve, a guy whom I had met on a training run with Paul two weeks prior. He looked in pretty bad shape and said that he too had been having stomach issues. I stopped for a minute to chat with him, he hadn’t eaten or drank a thing for the last two and half hours and as a result had completely hit the wall. I tried to gee him up to keep moving but he said that he was going to sit there for a little while longer before walking it into the Aid Station and pulling the pin.

Trudging into the Katoomba Aquatic Centre, 65km mark
Once I finally reached the top of the climb I was completely exhausted both mentally and physically and virtually walked the entire 2 kilometres of flat trail before getting back into the streets of Katoomba. There was a chick in a hi-vis vest going absolutely crazy cheering us on and I managed a gentle jog and my first smile in quite a while. I gave her a massive high five on the way past and she informed me that it was only 1 kilometre of downhill road until the Aid Station. Fortunately she was right and it wasn’t too long before I walked into the Katoomba Aquatic Centre (Aid Station 4) with 65km covered. Elapsed time at this point was 9:11:43 and I was sitting in 262nd position. I felt like crap and had such little motivation to continue onwards with the upset stomach. Looking back on it now I am sure it physically hadn’t gotten any worse since I had actually thrown up almost 40km earlier but the fact that I had been feeling queasy now for almost 7 hours had really worn me down mentally. I remember thinking that it was just going to be survival to the finish which is not particularly pleasant when you almost have an entire marathon still to go. I was met of course with words of encouragement from the crew. I forced myself to eat a sweet bun and then went for a quick bathroom stop. I splashed some water on my face and washed off all of the salt which was caked on after the effort so far. It certainly freshened me up a little. I went back out to the guys and tried to eat a nutella sandwich but it simply wasn’t happening. The guys had topped up the water bladder as well as filling up the front bottle with coke and loading my pack up with more gels and baby food than you could poke a stick at. The only thing that excited me about continuing was the fact that I was finally going to allow myself to switch on the iPod. After a lengthy break of almost 27 minutes I walked out of the Aid Station having dropped back to 272nd position with tunes finally pumping in my ears.

Finally……and I mean Finally, the tables were starting to turn. I was able to eat my nutella sandwich over the next 2km or so as we made our way down towards Scenic World. I decided to start off with my old school funk and disco playlist with classics from all the favourites such as Kool & the Gang, Funkadelic and many more. I had tucked in behind a small group of three other runners on the way down to Scenic World. Upon reaching the Katoomba Oval I found myself wanting to pass them. I cruised by them just before we entered the Cliff View track. All of a sudden I almost stopped dead. The trees had opened up and I was treated to a spectacular view of my favourite mountain, Mount Solitary, lit up by a glorious sunset. I forced myself to continue onwards but it wasn’t long before I caught myself running with a smile on my face. Ultra runners often talk about the high that will follow the lows if you persevere long enough. It turns out that that high finally arrived for me at the 70km mark. I cruised through the Echo Point lookout to cheers from at least 50 or so tourists and locals which really got me moving. The shot below was taken just after we passed through Echo Point. Mount Solitary is towering on the far side of the Jamison Valley. I am convinced when compared with the previous shot of me at the Katoomba Aquatic Centre (taken just 5km earlier), it is hard scientific evidence that supports my findings below:

“One cannot possibly listen to Earth Wind & Fire without
feeling better than one did before listening to Earth
Wind & Fire” (Emslie, 2013, TNF100, 70km mark)


 
Shortly after passing the photographer I reached The Three Sisters and started the descent of the Giant Staircase. I passed a couple of guys on the way down the stairs and plunged into darkness once reaching the canopy of the Leura Forest. I slowed to a walk while I rustled through my pack to retrieve my headlamp. All of a sudden the Leura Forest was lit up with 900 lumens of brilliant white light from my Exposure Diablo. After a moment of enjoying the forest I throttled back the headlamp to save battery and pressed on. I was in my own little world surrounded by complete darkness with only the 10 metres or so of trail in front of me lit up. It was only really at this point after 75km covered that I realised how much pain the legs were feeling. Up until now my stomach was annoying me so much that any pain in the legs hadn’t even really been an issue. It was affecting me mostly on the downhills as the quads had endured almost 4000m of descent at this stage. I was able to distract myself easily enough with the music and trying to catch and pass anyone that I could see in the distance. Once we hit the firetrail we were treated to an amazing night sky with millions of twinkling stars. I made really steady progress across the Jamison Valley and in general was having a total blast. I finally arrived at the 80km sign and stopped to switch to my epic playlist on the iPod.

After another 300m I crossed the Jamison Creek stopping briefly to splash some water on my face. I remember smiling and saying to myself “there is no point finishing this bad boy with anything left in the tank”. I turned to face the road and the brutal climb up Kedumba walls, 8km long with an elevation gain of 800m. With the sound of Sirius by The Alan Parsons Project (made famous as the Chicago Bulls intro song) in my ears I started to run up the climb. I ran for as long as I could until the lactic acid in my legs became unbearable. When I reached this point I dropped back into a powerhike for a few hundred metres until I felt I could run again. Spurred on by Metallica, Dream Theater, Slayer, Iron Maiden and many others, I gave the climb absolutely everything that I had left. I was passing runners in ones and twos every few hundred metres. Some of them commented on how strong I was looking, surprised that I was even attempting to run this part of the course. Halfway up the climb there was another mandatory gear check to make sure we were carrying our thermal gear. With the check done and my bladder filled I was out of there in less than two minutes, straight back into my rhythm of running and hiking. Shortly after the gear check the road hairpins and then kicks up to over 30% as you head under a rocky overhang. I managed to maintain a really solid rhythm just rocking out the whole way. Inside the final kilometre of the climb I was completely alone I had a pretty special moment with myself. I knew I was close to the gate which more or less marks the top of the climb and decided to try and jog the rest of the way to the gate. The legs were heavy but this time it didn’t seem to get worse. So there I was, running up a 15% grade with over 85km in the legs. I was listening to a pretty inspiring tune (Outro by M83), and I knew for the first time with 100% certainty that I was going to finish. It was a pretty emotional moment for me after everything that had transpired during the day and Ill happily admit that I had a tear or two rolling down my cheek.

I finally reached the gate and it felt like I was flying on the flat stretch although I am sure I wasn’t doing much quicker than 6min/km pace. I could see three headlamps up the road and set myself the goal of passing them in the next 1.5km before the Aid Station. The gap seemed to close at a snail’s pace but sure enough I caught up to them cresting the last rise and cruised by them on the short downhill stretch into the Queen Victoria Hospital Aid Station. With 89km covered so far my elapsed time was 12:53:44. I quickly filled my water bladder and raced over to Jem and Rob. They gave me an extra 2 gels and 2 baby foods as well as re-filled my front bottle with coke (I had finished the 500ml since the last aid station). Rob commented that I looked so much better than I had at the Aquatic Centre. I was feeling great, I knew I had really nailed that section but looking at the official results you can see that I made up 42 positions between the Aquatic Centre and Queen Victoria Hospital and was sitting in 230th spot. One final hug from Jem and Rob and I cruised out of the Aid Station carrying one final nutella sandwich.

Lovin it with 95km covered!
The first part of the last leg is a 1.5km road climb with about 100m elevation gain, just because Kedumba Walls wasn’t enough. I felt pretty good heading up the climb and probably ran about 60-70% of it. At the top of the climb you enter the final stretch of single track to the finish. It is a really tough way to finish the event. The track winds its way in every conceivable direction, left, right, over a bridge, 10 steps up, through a creek, 10 steps down, through a cave…. It was just impossible to get into a rhythm. It was tough but none the less I pushed on. Every now and then I would see a hi-vis vest up ahead. Slowly but surely I would reel them in and pass them. Eventually a little sign appeared on the side of the track, 5km to go. Just around the corner from that point this awesome photo was taken.  Any advantage that I had gotten from my burst of energy was now gone and I had really more or less reached my limit. My quads were completely trashed at this point so running down stairs was impossible. Instead I gingerly hobbled down stairs like and old man. I was still managing a decent powerhike on the uphills and somewhat of a shuffle every time it was flat for a few metres. Needless to say it was pretty slow going. After what seemed forever the 4km and 3km to go signs had passed and eventually I found myself staring down at the sign….2 km to go. I think I literally looked at my GPS every 100m over the next kilometre counting down 1.3km… 1.2km….1.1km… until there it was, The Flamme Rouge…. 1000m to go!!!

About to raise my arms in triumph!
I passed a guy right as I went past the sign and tapped him on the back saying “almost home mate”, he replied with a hearty “yeeeeeeew”. I began wondering what the final song would be to play on my playlist. With about 700m to go Lose Yourself by Eminem started. It was perfect! It’s pretty hard to think of a better song to pump you up to bring it home strong. All pain in my legs ceased to exist. I slowly began to wind up the pace. I could see two runners up ahead. Closing in on them quickly I passed them as we entered a small clearing. Across the clearing and back onto one final section of single track. I hammered it along here flying by another two runners before bursting out onto a grass field with The Fairmont Resort towering above. I started running up the small incline following a trail of glow sticks on the grass. I pulled my earphones out as I started to pass by spectators who were all congratulating and cheering me on. At the top of the rise I passed by a bunch of TNF100 signs and then finally rounded a small hedge…. There she was…. The finishing banner was less than 30 metres away! I put in one final charge to the line as Bel cheered out “Gooo Timmy!!!”. I raised my arms as I crossed the line with a final elapsed time of 14:41:51 in 214th position. Jem was waiting at the finish for me and gave me a huge hug. Leaving the finishers area one of the staff handed me my Bronze Belt Buckle (for sub 20 hour finishers) which certainly flooded me with emotion and satisfaction. Congrats came from Bel, Rob and Lou. It was awesome to finally see Paul after having not seen him for the whole run. He smashed it with a time of 13:33:45, good enough for 123rd place!

Bronze Belt Buckle & Little Creatures Bright Ale in hand!
Rob was extremely quick to get a Little Creatures Bright Ale cracked open for me to celebrate with. The crew ferried me into the ballroom where hundreds of other bruised and battered runners were either sprawled out sharing war stories or simply just passed out. I crashed out on the floor for a while whilst enjoying my beer. It felt so amazing to sit down after such a long time on the feet. After about 30 minutes or so I peeled myself off the floor and Rob drove us all back to the house. The hot shower that followed was probably one of the most satisfying of my life. After freshening up Bel and Lou had prepared a mighty feast for the whole team which went down and absolute treat. We stayed up late eating and sharing stories of the day. Hitting the sack shortly after 1am I completely crashed. In the morning it was great to go to the presentation. My physio Mark Green had absolutely shredded it with a time of 10:12:39 for 6th place outright. The run of the day was the super human performance by Brendan Davies, winning the event and beating Killian Jornet’s Course Record with a time of 9:16:12.

Absolutely exhausted at the finish!


I would like to finish by giving a huge shout out to the Crew; Jem, Bel, Rob & Lou. Your support on the day really encouraged me when the going got tough. Dad, for making some awesome tweaks to my pack which kept the weight down and the comfort/efficiency excellent. And finally Paul, for the countless hours of training and inspiration over the last few years. Looking forward to next year and chasing you down mate :)


100 kilometres of dust, probably need a shower
right about now

The Race Presentation the following day



















Run Stats:


 


Distance: 100km
Total Time: 14:41:51
Moving Time: 14:07:08
Avg Pace: 8:23/km
Vertical Ascent: ~4500m
Calories Burned: 11,727



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