Trailwalker is my first 100km run, it was always going to be memorable regardless of outcome. The alarm went off at 3.30am and as I peered out of the window into the pitch dark I had to remind myself again - why was I doing this? Waking up at some ungodly hour to drive 130 km and then run back over a 100 km of hilly bush trail north of Sydney.
Oxfam Trailwalker is the world's greatest team challenge. The challenge is to get your team of four across 100km of Australian bush in less than 48 hours - and to raise money to help overcome poverty and suffering around the world. Oxfam Trailwalker is all about teamwork. You need to start together, go through each checkpoint together, and finish together. Oxfam Trailwalker is a tough challenging course to run where the first half of the course contains some monster hills. 
Firstly we set ourselves a fundraising target of $2000 an ended up exceeding it by raising over $3,300 well before race day. After that there was only one more target to achieve and that was to get all four us across the finish line. Our team had trained well in various combinations of members over the past 3 months and as we grew to know one another’s strengths on the trail we knew we would be prepared to do whatever it took to get through as a team. By mid-August we had our last long training session and we were prepared and confident, but at the same time some of us were nervous and anxious as three of us had never run this distance before.
Unfortunately life happened with five days to go before the event – one member was injured and hoped to get better in time with intense treatment and another member got the flu which she also hoped would get better. So with less than 24 hours to go before the event, we got the news that two of our team members would not running. I was anxious enough about the event and this on top of an unexpected rise in workload, threw all my planning out the window. Our retired team captain saved the day by finding us one replacement 12 hours before the race and the second replacement was signed up with 20 minutes to starter’s gun. Both replacements were talented runners having participated in numerous trail races and previous Trailwalker events. It was 6.55 and we were still scrounging around for running gear for our last replacement runner, quick introductions on the way to start area as the gun went off and we were on our way. Glorous sunshine and a warm day were a welcome relief for me as I have really suffered with the cold weather in training.
Starting at the back meant that we had to weave around hundreds of walkers with sticks. It was probably the most hazardous part of the run. We weaved through and made it through the walkers, to the back of the runners just as I looked up to see the path rise up towards the sky. A late change to the start of the course now included a 140m climb in the first kilometre – that was a surprising and quick heart starter. By checkpoint 1, we had settled into a rhythm and our last minute replacement, who was going to drop out here, decided to give the whole distance a crack. By checkpoint 2, at Berowra our replacement runners were showing signs of strain due to lack of preparation despite their obvious running ability. Blisters, knee pain and existing plantar fasciitis injury were causing problems and as the race progressed, nausea set in as well. Despite these setbacks our spirits were high and we seem to make up for time lost at checkpoints.
I felt faabulous throughout the run and apart from cramps in my calves and slight nausea midway I felt like I was floating on air. After 30km we seemed to spend more and more time at each subsequent checkpoint. When our replacement runners went through a really bad patch at the 80km checkpoint, our goal was to do everything we could to get all four of us across the line and the time was secondary. And so after a visit to the First aid tent to treat nausea and blisters, we were finally on our way. We made slow progress through the shortish but difficult section to Seaforth where we got to the last checkpoint and again a lengthy stop to treat nausea and blisters. We cleared this last checkpoint and were again on our way. I started calculating our estimated finishing time based on our rate of progress and the distance to the finish. But I should have known better, it is not over till its over. Our last replacement runner was in a bad way and had to sit down at Seaforth Oval, then he lay down while we tried to do anything we could to get him to keep moving. We only had 8km to go – but it was not to be. We rang one of our support crew for assistance and he was picked up and driven to the finish. After suffering for 92km and putting up with unimaginable discomfort and pain he just ran out of reserves to keep going. In the meantime we had cooled down, which made running on tired legs very difficult. But slowly we turned our legs over and got to finish - surprisingly our time was only 16 minutes out from our original planned finishing time.
Such a treat to have completed this event, and to have run it with such an inspirational team, my first running race in my 50’s. Recovered remarkably quickly and went for short run today – yep the legs still work. Now what's next.
