Another early morning gathering of runners, again in the rain and fog of the Blue Mountains. The buglar played the last post, a fitting start to an ANZAC day run. After a minutes silence, we split into different groups to cover various sections of The North Face 100 run.
Our small group (Craig, Belinda, Lynda and myself) decided to do the last 40k of the course . We knew this would done at night and we wanted to see the terrain during the day. The rain didn't last very long, but the ground was extremely slippery. We followed Rod down about 500 stairs (at a guess) and by the time we reached the base my legs were shaking badly. I hate heights and I hate stairs. This course will be a challenge!
There was some navigating required and between us we managed to find our way through almost everything. Only once did we do an unecessary loop when faced with the option of 4 different paths at once!
I had a test run with the new VFF Flows today. Perfect conditions to try them out. It was cold, rainy and very very wet. There was water all over the trail, thick mud and slippery conditions. We also ran in sand and on rocks at some points. These 'shoes' are the best I've worn yet. My feet were 100% protected with not even a grain of sand getting in! The mud stayed out and the neoprene uppers kept my feet quite warm, even when wet. These shoes get 2 thumbs up from me.
The views we were rewarded with towards the end of the run were simply incredible. Wentworth Falls, The Undercliff Walk, Kedumba Walls.... this gorgeous part of the world is virtually in my backyard, and yet I'd never seen it.
After about 32k, I began to tire badly. This was my 3rd long run in 13 days. (50k Canberra, 50k Hellgate and now today). I told the others to carry on to finish the 40k and I would walk back to car through the streets of Katoomba and meet them there. They all graciously decided to stay with me and we walked back what turned out to be about 8k anyway! To top it all off, the streets were up and down huge hills ;)
After a simply delicious hot chocolate and brownie at the cafe, I drove home, satisfied with yet another day running in the great Aussie bush.
2 comments:
I envy you guys for living near such beautiful trails and having so many great Fat Ass runs in them. Are the new VFF widely available? Where did you get them from?
The new VFF's are very hard to find. In fact I think I have the only pair of those in Australia right now. We are lucky to have so many cool runs here within 2 hours drive.
Post a Comment