In November 2010 I found myself around 7kg lighter than I
had been in many years and I thought I may as well make the most of the
advantage to do something extreme.
Browsing running events online I came across The Goat, mountain half-marathon.
The Goat is said to be the toughest off-road running event
in New Zealand. At 21km it’s not the
longest but its profile and terrain are pretty daunting. Newbies are advised to estimate their time by
doubling their time for a road half-marathon.
I entered with 5 weeks to train which took my mind off the
paperwork and administration that had become my world. I was never much of a road runner with a
history of 2 half-marathons both at around 2hr 10mins so I was ecstatic to
finish the Goat in 3hr 13mins.
Maybe it lacked imagination but I entered again in 2011 and
just made the cut off as the quota filled in September. Naturally, as I had so much time to train, I
did nothing for the first month. Life
had somehow filled up with Cubs, literacy tutoring, ducklings, piping, fire
station and figuring how to fill Dobsy’s boots to keep the cars, lawn mower and
bikes running.
When I did start running I found everything functioning OK
except a niggling big toe joint that didn’t get any better. Finally, it was my turn for some sports
physio. Liz was a huge help. We worked through my stride, foot strike and
hip placement and I started noticing the difference straightaway. But as the day approached, I knew I hadn’t
done as much training as last year.
Work inconveniently detained Louise, my ground crew from
last year so Di Morris stepped in aided and abetted by Eadlin and her friend
Gracie. We drove down on Friday after
school, once again stayed at a friend’s house in National Park (thank you
Linda) and duly registered at 7am. As
well as my goody bag I received a micro-transponder – my first electronically
timed event!
So the mandatory rain jacket, thermal top, space blanket and
beanie were stowed and 1.3 litres of hydration and carbs in my Camelbak was levered
into the remaining space. An additional
bum-bag carried lip balm, Nurofen, and secret recipe energy food.
As we drove up to the out-of-season ski resort at Whakapapa
it was cold and rainy. It felt
incongruous to apply sun-cream. 600
assorted aspiring Goats jumped and stretched to keep warm while the PA played
inspiring, motivational rock songs. The
commentator reminded us that, while a marathon is said to be 25 miles of hope
followed by 1 mile of truth, The Goat is 1km of hope followed by 20km of truth.
5 minutes behind the first wave, I got away in the second
wave. The first km or so is downhill on
tarmac so kind of easy but also punishing in its way. I quickly found that my preparation hadn’t
avoided a sock seam across my big toe but I wasn’t stopping! Thankfully, it faded into insignificance as
soon as we hit the rough stuff. Then I
settled into a pattern to be repeated over and over - my mountain experience
allowing me to hop the rocks effectively to pass the road runners until we hit
the next uphill when my lack of fitness let them pass again.
The scenery and variety of terrain are fantastic on the
Tongariro Round the Mountain track. The
patches of drizzle added to the slippiness underfoot. I ran, splashed and clambered to reach the
finish at Turoa ski resort in 3hr 23mins - only 10 minutes slower than last year. Eadlin met me at
the end and ran the last 50m with me. My
dodgy big toe had behaved and, under the circumstances, I was happy to concede
10 minutes to last year’s time.
The atmosphere was friendly and fun and I gratefully
received my bottle of beer at the end.
In the spirit of sportsmanship and to honour the efforts of
the organisers we attended the outdoor prize giving in Ohakune that
evening. Almost at the end of the
awarding of spot prizes, my name was called and I received a sumptuous and
lightweight Macpac sleeping bag.
Thanks to Di Morris, Linda Wheeler and the organsisers of
the Goat for a great weekend.
0 comments:
Post a Comment