Stromlo 12hr (well 8hrs45min)

I went into this race with a couple of plans. One of those plans was to do a PB of 131km which I made a few days before the race.
The other plan which I had decided on when I entered was to use this race as a long training run. I thought if I was leading and there were a couple of hours to go I would push on to hold the lead to the end.
If I was 1 or 2 km behind the winner with a few hrs to go I would try to catch them.
If I was coming 4th or 5th or was a long way behind I would just run on feel making sure I don't wreck my body too much.
Well at 93km or 8hrs45min I decided to pull out. I was coming 4th and about 2km behind 3rd.
My race started off good. Yes I went too fast for the first 10km (44min I think) but since this wasn't a goal race but more of a training run I thought I may as well go out hard and see what happens
10k in about 44min, 1/2 marathon in 1hr37min, Marathon in about 3hrs25min I think and still feeling quite fresh.
The first bit of fatigue occured around 45km and my km splits were now about 5:05-5:15. I got to 50km and stomach problems just started. I stopped to go to the toilet and have a quick shower to freshen up. That worked a treat and I was back feeling good until 60km when I again did the toilet and shower thing. Feeling a bit human again until 70km and I once again toilet and showered. I must've been the cleanest runner out there! Each break costing me about 10min. I wasn't too worried but decided thats enough showering I've got to keep going! 70km-80km was pretty hard and I was now running 5:45-6:00 pace. 80km I came alive! Well until 87km. I ran each 1km lap between 5:19 and 5:45 witha 5:10 thrown in there somewhere then between 87km and 91km I was again slowing down. Not too sure what happened but betwwen 92km and 93km my toes said no more. I was forced to walk a lap because the pain in the toes wouldn't let me run.
After sitting down for 10min I knew that was it for me. If it was a goal race I would've started slower and would not have stopped at 93km but sitting there shivering my ass off all I was thinking was the damage I would risk if I decided to continue.
Big thank you to Sonia (2nd in the 6hr) and my Girls for all coming out to help me and Mum to make the trip down and of course to Dad for the lend of his Camper and car

So all in all I'm happy to have done a nice good hard long run. I just wouldn't do that in training on my own so this race was perfect for it.
I'm rapt that 2 days later my body feels pretty good and got an easy 5km in today.
I'm excited about Coburg even more now and know with it being still 8weeks away I'll be in peak shape! Well that's what I'm telling myelf :-)