The Horrie and Belinda Show

8/1/06

We arrived at Adcock Park just before 7, driving our car in and parking it on the inside of the track. It had the appearance of a real carnival atmosphere with the cars and tents on the inside of the track. Unpacked gear, food and drinks and put them on the ground just behind the car. As I looked around and saw all the fold out card tables with runners food and drinks, I was starting to feel unprepared. And with Belinda lap scoring for me, I felt that I should have had a crew as well as some runners had entourages there, kicking their heels up listening to a turned up radio and drinking beer, wine and champagne. The nerves were really starting to kick in at this stage. I headed over to pick up my race number and t shirt and listening to the announcer calling out runners' names who hadn't turned up and one of the names was Martin Harris. I don't know if Martin turned up but it wasn't our very own MPHaz. I finished preparing my diluted sports drink and still had about 10-15 minutes until the start. Gradually made my way to the start and was awestruck as I looked around at the depth of quality in the field. There were ultra legends all around including Paul Every, Jan Hermann and Carol Baird. There were also well credentialled runners such as Chris 'Barney' Graham, Hermaphrodite and Julia Thorn. I was really feeling my status as new kid on the block and was reminded of my first day at school. I just told myself I had to just get out there and run and let everything take care of itself.

The gun went off and I just clicked into a pace of 6 min/km after the initial laps. My fuelling/hydration plan was to drink every 15 minutes and eat every half hour. I spent the first hour running and chatting to So Lucky who was down from Townsville and Julia Thorn and was starting to relax. There were a few of us on the same lap for the first hour and we were all in equal 9th place. John Megler, who won PMC last year was a tearaway leader and was lapping 1:50 a lap according to Paul 'The King' Arthur who popped in to offer a bit of support. He looked like he was on a mission to have a crack at Uncle Dave's race record. I was getting dizzy watching him go past as he continued to lap the field. When AndrewC from WA lapped me for a second time, I tagged along with him for a while and discussed pace. He knew he was going too fast but felt that it would even out later when he started to include walk breaks. This did not happen for him and his race was to end early. Another couple of the early leaders were to suffer similar fates. Barney was really starting to work his way into the race and was climbing the leader board as each hour passed. I reached the marathon distance in a few minutes under 4:30 and was happy with the pace even though I was starting to slow. When we changed direction at 5 hours, I freshened up by towelling myself down and changing singlets. It was at this point that I set myself a goal of sticking to a certain pace and churn out 20 laps/8km each hour which I ended up doing for the next 6 hours. At the 9 hour mark, I went to the Gents to try and get rid of this gnawing feeling I had in my gut which had been there from around the 1 hour mark. Sportsman was worried about me and followed me in and had a quick discussion of what was needed from me if I was going to reach my goal of 100km. This was much appreciated as I was really starting to feel the pain at this point. It was around this point that Barney, after working his way into 3rd position was hit with some problems which saw him retire to his tent for a well earnt rest. I had worked my way into 6th place at this point but was reminded of the quality in the field when Paul Every and eventual 2nd placed woman Michelle Thompson started taking laps off me at a fairly rapid rate. Michelle moved past me in the 10th hour and the Everyman was to eventually go past me in the 11th hour. I knew I could not let this worry me and I needed to continue on with my own plan of reaching the 100km. With 240 laps against my name at hour 11, I knew I had it in the bag as I only had to do 10 laps/4km in the last hour. I could walk it in from here and still get there. So I walked a bit longer than I usually did to munch on some salt and vinegar chips and drink some coke. I finally cracked the 100km at around 11:33, which was very well received by Belinda who took a photo of the moment I crossed the line, Sportsman and Miss Skarmel who had retired from the race earlier after running 50km. After finishing the lap, I continued to run to my food and drink station where I once again indulged in some more chips and coke. After finishing the walk lap to eat and drink, I planned to run again but feeling the pain all through my body at this stage, I decided to just walk it in from here and just soak the moment in. It was quite surreal and like I was watching from the stands.

It was great meeting some of the interstate Cool Runners and So Lucky and Hermaphrodite acquitted themselves quite well. It was also great watching 2p plough on and run 93km on 50km weeks at best. Great effort mate!

Finally, a special thank you to Belinda, Sportsman and Omni for the lapscoring. I know it was tough running but I can't imagine what it would be like counting laps hour after hour. Fantastic effort guys!