A big weekend
It's been another busy week, which included a quick trip to Perth and back. Perth was 42 degrees and I was glad to be in a hotel for most of the time I was there. I'd intended to run but the heat and the fact that I'd left my sports bra in Sydney seemed a good excuse to stay in bed!Friday, I made up for it by doing an 8km run around Centennial. I felt really good and neither my hip or achilles complained.
After that it is was get ready, and head out to pick up Don Juan and then Jen, and head to the Blue Mountains.
We loaded all Jen's stuff in the car and pointed the Lulumobile towards Katoomba. First stop lunch, as none of us had eaten and it was now 3pm. Next stop, The Edge to pick up Jen and Go Girl's race packs. Jen started to look a bit edgy herself at this point, so after a bit of socialising it was back in the car and off to our house in Mount Victoria. It probably didn't help that I kept saying things like "She's going over the edge" in a movie trailer voice-over type of voice. Actually, I'm surprised she didn't push me over the edge at this point.
The Evil Twin Sister was kind enough to let us have her house in Mount Victoria for the weekend. She'd conveniently gone to Vietnam for work, so we had the place to ourselves. This was lucky as we ended up with 9 of us staying there on Friday night as well as 2P dropping in for a Friday night dinner at the pub. Let's just say it's a good thing it's a big house, although an extra bathroom would have been useful.
I distracted Jen for 10 mins by showing her how to make Tiramisu and then everyone else started arriving at the house. After dinner in the pub, we all bedded down for the night.
Saturday, we headed to the start. Jen and Go Girl were both very calm and relaxed. We waved GG off in Wave 2 and then Jen off in Wave 4. Good photos of this on Jen's blog.
A yummy breakfast at Blackheath, and then we headed for the finish. We dropped Don Juan off at the Caves Road crossing so he could cheer from there. The atmosphere at the finish line was fantastic. Sadly, we just missed Fats finishing but what a great run by him to win and set a course record. I can at least claim that I train in the same squad as him, albeit I'm at the back whilst he is at the front!
Then we settled in to wait for our three valiant crew members. We were beginning to worry about Go Girl when her expected finish time came and went. Then she appeared at the finish and we found out that her run had ended when she had fallen twice and done some damage to her ribs, which became to too painful to run with. Devastating after all that training, but in true GG style she said, 'well, I'll just do Canberra then'.
2P made a triumphant descent down the stairs but he was by no means unscathed, with a calf blowing up in the first 5km and then he fell and opened up some nice wounds on his hand.
As the 7 hour cut off got closer we started to get anxious for Jen, but then we heard that she was coming down the path. We gave her a huge cheer as she came down the steps and headed for the finish chute in a fabulous 6 hours and 50 mins. What an achievement with such an interrupted preparation. I don't think I would have had the guts to start, so she showed us all what can be achieved with the right attitude and by sticking to her plan, which she executed perfectly. I don't think I've ever been so relieved to see anyone :)
There were some other great performances, especially Kit turning in a fantastic 5.15 debut run and CJ 5.25 as well as Ewen's 6.30! It was great to see everyone at the finish.
Back to the house for recovery champagne (not for Jen though as Easy Tiger had sent her a text saying no alcohol, which she obeyed!). The rest of us enjoyed it for her though. Then once we'd got her clean we took her to the pub where she devoured a juicy recovery steak. She also enjoyed her celebratory Tiramisu.
Sunday morning, Ellie, the Owl, and I headed off for our own mountain run. We were accompanied for the first 15 mins by Don Juan who is on the comeback trail. I think this will be the only time that we'll be able to keep up with him! We headed down to the Victoria falls turnoff. Mr lulu said it was relatively flat but I really should know better than to believe him when he says that! There were a few ups and downs, and then one long down which I knew would be a long up on the way back. Ellie and I turned around after 35 mins but the Owl continued to the end of the track. I ended up walking up some of the long hill and my hip and achilles weren't too happy about the rough track and hills so I was glad when Garth said I'd done 10kms and I could stop.
A great weekend with some great company. Thanks to Cirque for coming down from Brisvegas to share the experience, and to Don Juan and the girls for making it a fun weekend. Looking forward to next year already!
posted by Lulu @ 9:52 AM
5 Comments:
LOL. I was pretty happy to see you too! BTW, the thought of pushing you over the edge never crossed my mind.
Thank you for everything - the support, the lift, the distraction, the company & the tirimisu. Actually I'm yet to have that celebratory drink - might go & do that now!
Thanks for a top weekend. Good pace setting out to Vic falls too.
I'll try and catch that tiramisu rat next time. It looked a big one.
Sounds like the cheer squad totally outdid themselves on Saturday, the reports are nothing but glowing.
What a great weekend it must have been. I get goosebumps when trying to imagine the sight of Jen coming in to finish.
Glad you got to squeeze in some running action yourself.
Great to see you at the Caves Lulu. Thanks for the cheers - it's a great thrill to hear the CR squad in full voice.
So, you'll be running next year? Jen has shown what's possible. I think she's writing the book on the limited prep sub-7 Six Foot!
Yet more travel...hope you get a break before Canberra! Great to read a behind the scenes report after all the "on track" ones. Sounds like a fun weekend, although seems like a bit of a battlefield out there :)
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