Over six months ago I wrote my last post here.
It was a very difficult time for me. It took me many months to recover from this after hitting rock bottom and never really getting back up. It took time to physically get well and feel recuperated.
At the time I felt completely flattened with a sense of surrender as my Grand goal for the year all came tumbling down. That low was the end though of an amazing year in my life and a year full of rich experiences and pretty sweet highs.
One of these delightful highs being the Tarawera Ultramarathon in March 2012. A 100k trail race around some gorgeous pristine lakes in the New Zealand's North Island. A well run event with a recipe for success and a race hard not to enjoy. It was a good competition and I got a good result. (Last years post part.1 , part.2, part.3)
One year later and Tarawera 2013 is on again.
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I was very excited when I first looked up the elite entrants listed. Some familiar names who I had not met before but had definitely heard about and some names of others that I had raced with before. Many of the Salomon international team who I spend a fair bit of time with when I was in Europe last year were also coming over. So I could hardly hold my horses in eager anticipation.
There was a few really good days for many of the athletes to get to know each other as well as opportunities to learn about the New Zealand culture and environment. We were taken on guided walks around rare rain forests, shown hot pools and thermal areas and shown many nice places around Rotorua on the North Island.
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All this definitely helped in being entirely relaxed for the race and a good feeling that you had spent some nice time getting to know many of the other people you were running with.
I wanted to make sure that I really enjoyed the holiday and not get too caught up on racing. After a few days I felt really at peace.
We all lined up at the start, wished each other a good journey ahead, and then watched Tim Olsen draw a picture in the sand.
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I left the starting blocks running fast but feeling comfortable. Brendan Davies boldly lead the way with a tow of headlamp lit bubbly bouncing flock behind him. I found myself running next to Sage Canady who I can only accurately compare to Superman...it felt so comfortable at this time though and the crazy idea entered my mind that we could run together. We would probably be so fast we would have time to save cats stuck up in trees along the way and outrun speeding trains.
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First coming back I see Sage Canady absolutely smoking along.
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Huge Gap.
Probably 15 minutes later I see Tim Olsen huffing and puffing but running relaxed.
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Big Gap.
I see Vajin Armstrong looking heathy and running strongly. He looks unhappy to have 40k of roots and rocks ahead of him.
Gap.
Brendan Davies looking as fresh as. Damn I thought he would be hurting. I am very happy for him.
Short Gap.
9h59m52s I came through the finish arch. The longest run in a long time for me.
Brendan was there 8 minutes ahead. Then Vajin 3rd 9h39m, Tim Olsen 2nd 8h56m, Sage Canady 8h53m!! Just amazing how fast these guys are.
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Ruby Muir came in first in the women's in an astonishing 10h30m and then Awesome Australian Beth Cardelli in 2nd in 11h43m
*Paul Charteris really did make every effort to make Tarawera such a fantastic event. The race was just a part of the great times and great fun. Many would probably argue that the other events outside the race were really where the fun times were really found. Much appreciation Paul.
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* Sometimes you don't really realise what is possible or what you could be capable of until you see it displayed in others. This could be many things. Athletic ability, creativity, thoughtfulness, love, music and dance, happiness...
It was so great to just see the way that Sage and Tim moved so fast over this course. It speaks out to you. You can then choose to ignore it or respond to it. There seems to be an image within us of something greater. When you experience or see that greater part in others it seems to awake the potential or greater part in yourself.
It was a very difficult time for me. It took me many months to recover from this after hitting rock bottom and never really getting back up. It took time to physically get well and feel recuperated.
At the time I felt completely flattened with a sense of surrender as my Grand goal for the year all came tumbling down. That low was the end though of an amazing year in my life and a year full of rich experiences and pretty sweet highs.
One of these delightful highs being the Tarawera Ultramarathon in March 2012. A 100k trail race around some gorgeous pristine lakes in the New Zealand's North Island. A well run event with a recipe for success and a race hard not to enjoy. It was a good competition and I got a good result. (Last years post part.1 , part.2, part.3)
One year later and Tarawera 2013 is on again.
There was a few really good days for many of the athletes to get to know each other as well as opportunities to learn about the New Zealand culture and environment. We were taken on guided walks around rare rain forests, shown hot pools and thermal areas and shown many nice places around Rotorua on the North Island.
All this definitely helped in being entirely relaxed for the race and a good feeling that you had spent some nice time getting to know many of the other people you were running with.
I wanted to make sure that I really enjoyed the holiday and not get too caught up on racing. After a few days I felt really at peace.
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| Some of the Australian athletes together. |
I left the starting blocks running fast but feeling comfortable. Brendan Davies boldly lead the way with a tow of headlamp lit bubbly bouncing flock behind him. I found myself running next to Sage Canady who I can only accurately compare to Superman...it felt so comfortable at this time though and the crazy idea entered my mind that we could run together. We would probably be so fast we would have time to save cats stuck up in trees along the way and outrun speeding trains.
Soon Brendan dropped back into the fold and Vajin Armstrong moved up to give company. The Frenchman Greg Vollet was also here looking far too casual, in more ways than one. He and Brendan were having a nice relaxed conversation about something. This was the race, for the first 20k and then we hit some road and everyone just left me dead in my traps. My crazy idea sank like a lead balloon and I suddenly realised that I had 80k to go and there was a bit of steam coming out of the radiator.
I decided to start a new race plan from this point on. It had been a longtime since I had run 100k and almost all races lately had been half the distance and run reasonably fast, so I readjusted the pace was glad to be alone to settle into something a little more comfortable. Then I hit a hard low point and I started to feel like a real goose now. Things slowed and I then felt another runner come on by who happened to be Tïm Olsen from the US. I exchanged a short verbal encouragement for a short verbal condolence from him, and then I saw Tim spring off into the distance. I suddenly remembered that I had hot the same low last year at the exact same spot and things came good. Probably a case of my body switching over to burning fat from other limited stores.
Soon enough though I felt a burst of energy and was cruising along again. I have not checked my Suunto yet but the feeling was that I had a constant pace for most of the race after this point. It was not fast but it was sustainable, and I held my position. For the next 60k the terrain was through all kinds of technical winding single track and I couldn't make any ground on fourth place in front of me. Every time I went through an aid station Brendan was "3 minutes ahead", "just around the corner", "Five minutes ahead""3 minutes ahead again", "2 minutes ahead". Just running next behind Brendan was a gauge that I should be really happy.
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| Vajin strongly leading the way. |
I decided to start a new race plan from this point on. It had been a longtime since I had run 100k and almost all races lately had been half the distance and run reasonably fast, so I readjusted the pace was glad to be alone to settle into something a little more comfortable. Then I hit a hard low point and I started to feel like a real goose now. Things slowed and I then felt another runner come on by who happened to be Tïm Olsen from the US. I exchanged a short verbal encouragement for a short verbal condolence from him, and then I saw Tim spring off into the distance. I suddenly remembered that I had hot the same low last year at the exact same spot and things came good. Probably a case of my body switching over to burning fat from other limited stores.
Soon enough though I felt a burst of energy and was cruising along again. I have not checked my Suunto yet but the feeling was that I had a constant pace for most of the race after this point. It was not fast but it was sustainable, and I held my position. For the next 60k the terrain was through all kinds of technical winding single track and I couldn't make any ground on fourth place in front of me. Every time I went through an aid station Brendan was "3 minutes ahead", "just around the corner", "Five minutes ahead""3 minutes ahead again", "2 minutes ahead". Just running next behind Brendan was a gauge that I should be really happy.
So let's go to the turnaround point, which works out 60k.
First coming back I see Sage Canady absolutely smoking along.
Huge Gap.
Probably 15 minutes later I see Tim Olsen huffing and puffing but running relaxed.
Big Gap.
I see Vajin Armstrong looking heathy and running strongly. He looks unhappy to have 40k of roots and rocks ahead of him.
Gap.
Brendan Davies looking as fresh as. Damn I thought he would be hurting. I am very happy for him.
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| Brendan flying over the roots. |
Me, take a drink of water, turn around.
Shorter Gap.
Jason Schlarb from the US.
Short Gap.
A few more overly happy under tired looking runners
No Gap.
Ruby Muir, first female....panic
Suddenly my cruising gear seemed a little inadaquate.
I was able to keep this solid pace though and as the distance dwindled away I then picked up Grant Guise from Salomon NZ who gave me some company and paced my home from there.
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| photo: Sarah Biss |
It was a good shared time, but I was not very good with conversation and often It was Grant just talking and displaying the high quality of Jokes Kiwis have or rather missed out on. He would offer me these jokes like a Zen master would offer Koans to his students. My mind suddenly became occupied with this and focused less on the discomfort on the table in front of me.
Little enlightenment happened but soon enough we were on the top of the last climb with a sweet downhill to the 102km finish. We bombed down here and I realised we needed a cracking pace to arrive under 10 hours . Everything felt good. The breeze, the legs, the sound of people ahead, the colour of the lake just past the finish line.9h59m52s I came through the finish arch. The longest run in a long time for me.
Brendan was there 8 minutes ahead. Then Vajin 3rd 9h39m, Tim Olsen 2nd 8h56m, Sage Canady 8h53m!! Just amazing how fast these guys are.
Ruby Muir came in first in the women's in an astonishing 10h30m and then Awesome Australian Beth Cardelli in 2nd in 11h43m
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| Rubi, 1st female & Sage, 1st Male photo:irunfar |
* Sometimes you don't really realise what is possible or what you could be capable of until you see it displayed in others. This could be many things. Athletic ability, creativity, thoughtfulness, love, music and dance, happiness...
It was so great to just see the way that Sage and Tim moved so fast over this course. It speaks out to you. You can then choose to ignore it or respond to it. There seems to be an image within us of something greater. When you experience or see that greater part in others it seems to awake the potential or greater part in yourself.
