"The African buffalo is a member of the "Big Five"group of animals, with the
elephant, rhino, lion and leopard. Buffaloes have earned a bad reputation from
hunters and other people who come in close contact with them. They are
unpredictable and can be dangerous if cornered or wounded. Though they have
been known to ambush men and are often accused of deliberate savagery, they
are usually placid if left alone"
Well that pretty much sums up this course. Especially the bit where it say's "Though they have been known to ambush men and are often accused of deliberate savagery, they are usually placid if left alone"
So with 7 weeks training coming off a stress fracture I decided to give it my best shot and I'm happy to say I survived to tell the tale!
So on a very early Saturday morning down in a small but awesome town in Victoria called Bright we lined up. I guess there were a lot of nervous runners hanging around. I don't think I was nervous but......but......but.......ok I guess I was nervous.
It wasn't long before we were off and running into the darkness and before I
know it we are plodding up the first climb which I didn't find too bad. Mainly
because it was a very very easy pace and it was also dark so I could only see
as far as my Ayup light would let me. So before too long we were on top of
Mystic mtn and soon to make our way down "Mick's Hill"
arrrrgghhhhh....ohhhhhhh.....arrrrrghhhh......ohhhhhhhh.......
arrrghhhhh!!!!!!!! That's the sound I made sliding on my feet, sliding on my
butt, then sliding on my feet, then sliding on my butt down this muddy
slippery hill trying not to break my neck then thinking "how many people would
line up for hours at Dreamworld for a ride like this?" That hill I think was
800m but however long it was it took a long time to get down. Then I started
thinking that I have to climb up that later on then I start thinking I need to
stop thinking.
Now once down I get running again checking to see if I had a big hole in my pants which I'm glad to say I didn't.
It wasn't too long before we make our way up "Clearspot"......ohhh Clearspot how I remember you well. This became a walk/run for me and all I thought about was putting one foot in front of the other and keep moving forward which worked a treat because before I knew it I was up the top then running down down down down down where I managed to twist my ankle. Having rolled my ankle a few times in the past I know if I keep moving it comes good so that's what I did but this time it hurt more than normal. Anyway I kept going trying to block out any pain then changed my running gait to make it a bit more pain free. So down down down I keep going then we head down "Warners Wall" This wall was another crazy down hill but I handled it better than Mystic and before I know it we are on road going through a drink stop. I felt great here and just kept on going. Through a few paddocks and gates we now make our way up Keating Ridge which I really liked and pretty much ran the whole way. It was similar to Pluviometer on the 6ft track then a few km's down hill to the bottom of the "Big Walk" I had a can of coke here and filled up my water and drink bottles then just took my time getting up to the top of Mt Buffalo.
Now it was a 7km loop to go then run back to the finish....easy! On this 7km loop we got to go caving too which was exciting! Not easy after about 40km of running though.
Now on the return trip I was still feeling great and once over Keating Ridge and back on the road section I caught up to Tony Williams who seemed to be struggling somewhat and at on off the drink stops he asked if they had any gels. They didn't but I had some as I wasn't even using them so I gave him a couple. Keeping on moving forward we get back to "Warners Wall" and after a few steps forward I look around and find some sticks on the ground and use them to get myself up this cliff face thing. This is where It hit me and step by step by step I used those sticks to trudge to the top. It was also here that those gels kicked in for Tony as he passed me like I was standing still and the last time I saw him was at the finish line. In fact I most likely was standing still when he passed me. Once up the top it was then slow slow slow walk/run to the top of clearspot. A guy who was in front of me at the time turned around looked at me, pointed to the sky and said Ït just keeps on f**king going! It doesn't f**king stop!" Then with no flat to get the muscles use to running again it was time to go down the other side of Clearspot. This killed my knees. They were sore and I was no longer having much fun. It was now survival. This hill with sore knees and feet and arms and toes was endless but I did get there and with a little bit of runable ground it was time to conquer "Mystic" I grab some sticks the just stuck them into the mud and heaved myself about half a meter then stuck those sticks into the mud again and heaved myself another half a meter and did this over and over and over again sometimes going a meter forward then sliding two meters back and sometimes yelling outloud...."arrrgghhhh C'mon!"sounding like Lleyton Hewitt but I did eventually get to the top. Once there I knew I only had about 4 or 5km to go and mostly downhill. I stood on the top of Mystic for about 1min and thought about what I had just climbed then shook my head and headed to to finish.
I crossed that line in 11hrs34min had Sean put that medal around my neck then found a seat took off my shoes and thought "WOW!
