The Megalong Massacre

Sunday was a big and exciting run for me, as I've been training for a race in March called The Six Foot Track. It's known as the toughest marathon in Australia, as it's over a very, very hilly section of the Blue Mountains. Over the 45-kilometres, the course climbs 1, 528-metres and drops 1, 788-metres. Believe me, as I've discovered, going down those gradients is as hard as going up them on the body. There's also the heat, rocks, fallen trees, river crossings and odd dangerous animal. But hell, I love it.

So yeah, I started my trail running back in November of last year, where I buddied up with a running friend called Leonor, who is the same ability as me. It really helps to buddy up with this type of running, as you need the encouragement from a fellow runner, plus it's a wise thing to do, as sometimes, as we found out this weekend, it can get pretty dangerous.

This is my trail running buddy Leonor, who speaks five-languages and is just the best running buddy to have, when out on the trails. We met up at the Megalong Valley just after 6am on Sunday morning. This road intersects the course about 8-kilometres from the start. It was nice an cool and we were so excited to be running some of the track, that has been our sole running focus of the last few months.



Here we are moments before setting off, looking very fresh and excited.



We started running at 6.33am (runners are VERY pedantic about getting start and finishing times right) and at about 7.00am the sun started to break in the valley. We stopped, as we did on lots of occasions to take pictures. It was all a very exciting for us.



This picture was taken at about Mini-mini saddle, which is about 780-metres up. It was starting to get very warm and I'm pointing back to where we started.



Finally, after about 2-hours and forty-five minutes of climbing up and up and up, we made it to the top of the Pluviometre. I think Leonor and I were disappointed about the sign, as I think we deserved something with flashing lights and fireworks after that bloody climb. But none the less, we were happy to get there. Come race day though on March 14, this will only be the 26-kilometre point, with another 19-kilometres and another 200-odd metres in altitude to climb straight up.



After getting to the top of the Pluviometre, we then turned around and had the tough down hill slog to do. On the way down, it was wonderful to see our other running buddies from our running club. Below is Karen and Paul, with whom we would have run with, if we'd left at 7.00am. Like us, they wisely paired up, which was smart, because as Leonor and myself were to discover, things were going to get very, very hard.



At about the 24-kilometre point and with the heat on the track in the high thirties, people were starting to drop like flies. There were ultra-runners, way more experienced than Leonor and I, laying on the track with cramp, heat exhaustion and even vomiting. I came down with heatstroke and for a few moments couldn't talk and couldn't even remember Leonor's name. It was pretty scary for lots of us, but all 150-odd runners made it back in various states of distress.

On reflection, Leonor and I had a great time and had a very safe and practical strategy, which saw us finish in 05:10-minutes, though I think on a cooler day and with less photo stops, we could go sub-four-hours. Oh and look at the big monitor lizard we saw on the track too - awesome.



Lee