A Tiger by the Tail...

That's what I had on Saturday morning, I grabbed a tiger by the tail and didn't realise until it turned around and beat me up a bit. By then it was too late and all the plans and hours of training and time spent organising and sorting things was gone. all done and dusted in a little over 10 hours. I wish I could have another go right away. And get right the things I got wrong on the day.

My feed bottle got clogged at the start with perpetuem mix, in the past this has happened but the shaking of the running clears it up and mixes it all. This time it didn't and I had to stop before we really got out of Teralba and fix it. I met Andy Hewat and Bill Johnson here, both veterans, Andy has raced the GNW100 8 times for 8 finishes! Bill is a character, he has run 26 100 Milers, he has been known to carry a stove and cook himself up a feed on the way! Although I don't normally run with someone I thought in this case I would make good sense and they were both running slow enough for me, walking quite a bit at the back of the race. Perfect and a good pace to start on.

The race is tough and there are steep climbs right after crossing the highway. The weather was overcast but surprisingly muggy. We walked jogged and things were good. I felt good, I decided it was fate that had put the perp. in my bottle and slowed me to meet up with the most prolific finishers in the game. What could go wrong from here. I wondered why Andy didn't have a crowd of smart runners following him and piggy backing off his experience. Bill dropped back a bit but Andy and I ran on and chatted. My maps were all good, Andy knew the course well but I followed it on the maps and the markings and points I had set all worked out, turns right places, distances, so I knew it would be accurate and trustworthy come the night. I felt comfortable that I could rely on them.

The cloud cleared and we headed into a section called the jungle. Very technical, roots, rocks and streams and gulley's. Andy was using poles and he moved surprisingly quickly, I kept up, and here, looking back, I should have slowed. We went through the jungle, passing a lot of people, made up a lot of time. I finally let Andy go on a hill called 'Hugging Post Hill' there is a sort of fence rail halfway up and it did get a lot of hugs from knackered runners.

The weather cleared further and it was now hot. Not sure of the time but most likely around 11am. Made it into CP 1 and still felt good. Saw Andy leaving as I entered. Drank  my coke, and sorted my gear, dropped a map off and picked up a couple from the drop bag, all planned and organised. Fresh bottle of perp. put extra water as I had heard how bad this leg could get, . Was off pretty quick. Heard one guy moaning about pulling out now and how there was no point going on to the next CP. The negative energy was almost palpable so I was glad to be moving again.

Met a guy at a turn who had stopped. He said he was going to go back to CP1 I said he should just go to CP2 and see how he feels then. I should have let him go back as CP 1 was only about 5K. Anyway I was now hot. I had got my buff out at CP1 and wetted that and it was working well cooling me. The wind was hot too, gusty and dry. I took it easy. Bill passed me. I Cut back on the food as I figured in the heat the calories wouldn't get absorbed and I would get upset stomach. I counted back and realised I had not eaten too much at all. Drank two bottles of perp. which is about 4 hours of fuel, had a bar which was heavy and not too pleasant and had a Pocket Fuel which was also not very nice. I decided that when I got to CP2 I would have to make a fresh start and get organised.

I was now walking and really feeling the heat. The trail is not hard here, mostly forest road along a high ridge with a few up and down bits. It is deceptively easy. People started picking me off but that was OK I knew I needed to keep it slow. I had 45 mins in hand from last CP. I was now drinking a lot, taking gulps on the tube until the hot water from the tube runs out and you get cold mouthfuls from the bladder. I used some to wet my buff again. Whenever the breeze blew I took my hat off and tried to get a bit of cooler air onto my head, but it was all hot.

Passed a guy cramping up and had nothing to offer him, further up one of the girls running helped a guy out with a stop cramp spray. The got ahead of me but later I passed them sitting on a log. Coming down into Congewai Valley I actually started to feel good. Got a run on and enjoyed the decent on soft grassy trails through fields with puzzled looking cows on. I passed a sign that said water 150m, thought about going there but it was too far. A guy sitting on the grass below the sign said it wasn't far to CP2 now. I had nothing to help him with his cramps either...

The trail comes out on Congewai Road. It is dusty undulating and horrible. It should only be 5 K, but it goes on for ever. The heat doubles or triples and my water runs out. I drink the last of my hot coffee perp. My cool neck buff has dried out, the wind dries my throat. I try chewing some lollies and they just stick so I spit them out. I'm walking and I'm slow, but no one passes me anymore and no one ahead gets any closer. Each hill see's the road stretching away, specks of other runners let me know exactly how far it is just to reach where they are, a corner brings the same, and the same, and the heat hammers. This is what everyone mentioned, what they all talk about, the furnace at Congewai. I knew it was coming but I didn't know it would be like this... I pass a guy who has taken his pack off and slung it over one shoulder. He is sick and chucking. I tell him I'll let them know he is here at CP2, another runner is sitting in the shade under a tree playing with his phone. He says he's right. I wave politely at the support cars that run up and down the road and send clouds of dust over me.

The headwind gusts - it feels like putting your face in front of a hairdryer and breathing it in. I stop and put my hands on my knees and look at the dust in front of my feet. The flies force me to start moving again. I want CP 2 to arrive but it won't, I can't figure out how far it should be as I have already clocked 5K on my watch. There is a turn around where runners from CP2 are heading out passed us and off onto another trail. Not far they say, couple of K's how can it be a couple? I see Andy and he is eating a tin of creamed rice. I don't know what I say but he knows I'm not in real good shape. I'll take stock if I ever see CP2.

CP 2. They weigh me here and then I go and sit down, feeing sick. I get cold coke and it is beautiful, I drink more and more. Drink the warm coke out of my drop bag and the red bull and more coke. There are people collapsed everywhere, one of the gun runners is back after getting a lift from halfway to CP 3, he shot. The CP captain says I have lost 4KG and am borderline with regards to the percentage of bodyweight I have lost (I think it is 5% or over and they pull you out, later I heard that so many runners were coming in with weight lost that 4kg was about the norm, some lost up to 7kg!).  He asks how I feel and I'm not real good. Anyway to cut a long story short. I pull out here. After weighing myself before I leave the CP I have already put back 2KG in coke!

I know I would have only continued to deteriorate if I had continued... But a couple of hours after I am already wondering and thinking if I could have gone on, did I pull too soon? No I think not. I was barely able to stand when I arrived, and I have to hang onto that as otherwise I will convince myself it wasn't too bad and in time I will see this as a failure. I was not well enough to continue at that point in time. Simple and that is it.

I slept the night at Patonga at the finish. Freezing cold and windy and wet. Everything I was praying for earlier and didn't get I now got. And where I had been frying I was now freezing! I wore everything I had two Sloppy-Joe's, two jackets from the finish bag, waterproof pants, socks, shoes. I decided this was my punishment for pulling the pin.

The day arrived and CP crew set everything up (A quick note that the staff and crew from the race were all fantastic, any runner who has done an ultra knows what I mean. They do so much it is hard to put it all into words to thank them.) Around about 7 am the winner, Greg Markey, arrived. There were only a handful of us there, but they rang the bell as he was sighted and his wife and daughter who had been supporting him through the night of rain ad wind ran with him on the beach. He kissed the post and everyone had a tear in their eye. It almost made up for dropping - its not often you get to see the winner of a 100 mile monster arrive! Its not often I am at the pointy end of a race (not ever!)He was in amazingly good shape, fresh, lucid and very obviously happy.

Later I had a chat with him and he put his performance down to taking it easy, but also using a mix that gave him his calories in water so all he had to do was drink his water mix and he got fed. Maybe that's the answer... I'll try it on my next experiment. On my next tiger. Turns out he has also just started importing the stuff - Tailwind!