Bush Capital

Morning Run Distance:Yesterday 60:46Km
Afternoon Run Distance:Nil
Other:Stretching
Weekly Total:88:76
Monthly Total:381:04
Yearly Total:2319:63
Running Calendar: Orroral Valley Classic - October, Brindabella Classic - October, Tour De Mountain - Dec, Two Fruits Boxing Day Invitational - Dec.

Yesterday was the running of the Bush Marathon Festival. I had entered the 60km ultra, the longest race distance I have attempted. The question that would be answered by the end of the day was 'had I done enough training to sustain an even performance and run a decent time'.

I started the race with the early plan to keep Two Fruits (who was running with Mick Corlis) in sight for as long as possible and then run my own race. I did this until the gate to Goorooyarroo. That's when I started to loose time. Next year I will do a few more training runs over this section of the course.

I ran the rest of the run the best I could with a few too many walking breaks for my liking. A few more km markers for the return journey from drink station 5 would have been good. Or a Garmin that was reliable!!

I made it to the finish line with only a few dedicated people waiting to go home. A strange feeling for so few to see your effort. I guess that's ultra running, much of it is done solo.

My final time 6h 31mins. Was that a good time? I'm not sure. Could I have run it better? Yes probably. In the wash up I seem to have left myself with a lot of unanswered questions. The thing I know for sure is that I will need a much bigger base before running Brindabella in October.

A final word - a huge thanks to the volunteers. It is a awesome contribution to spend your day standing in the cold. I am thinking that I should join one of the clubs so I can take my turn at one of the stations in the future.