Alice Springs - race report

Sunday August 18^th saw the fifth race in my quest to run in every State and Territory in Australia this year. It was the turn of the Northern Territory (the NT).

This was a small event (240 total runners across 4 events – Ultra, Full Mara, Half Mara and Half Mara Walk). This is by far the smallest event I have been in to date so I will admit to having some level of nerves about coming in last…

Flew into Alice Springs mid-afternoon on the Saturday to a very warm bright afternoon which was a little disconcerting given that most of the last few weeks my runs have been in sub 8 degree temps and often with rain during or just before them. Met up with my running buddies and after a hearty (chicken burger) dinner it was an early night with and even earlier alarm clock (430am). We were bussed from the hotel to the start/finish line for sign on (which didn’t happen – missed out on some VST (valuable sleep time)). After the start of the Full and Ultra the Half runners and walkers were bussed out our start point (the Full turn around point DOH!).

See small start pack

After waiting around for the allotted time to arrive we were off….no horn or bell or gun…just a shout J

The distance markers were painted on the side of the road every 1km and I actually found that fairly comforting as I happily counted down the kms as they ticked passed. Water stations were every 3kms and again I really liked this – much more than the traditional 2km aid stations. Even with it being a small event the volunteers were awesome – some dressed up, some had sweets on the tables but all were amazing and all offered encouragement and I tried to thank as many as I could.

Just one of the views we were treated too

Thankfully I got over an early frustration of having to stop twice to tie my laces (WTF!) I ended up running next to a gent with an nice easy stride. We got to puffing out a chat and turns out he is from Perth too…what were the chances…madness…Anyway, I looked at my watch and we were ticking along at 5:15 per km and given that my “normal” pace is about 5:25 ish I bid him a good race and let him push on while I tried to slow a little. After a while I saw another guy wearing a Cairns 70.3 shirt. So I pulled up next to him for a little chat too…turns out that he is ALSO from Perth!!! Anyway, he is recovering from stress fractures in his legs and was using this as a training run for the Mandurah 70.3 in November and the Busselton Full in December! He also recommended Endura Gels so I will look into that for a future training run. Again, looked at my watch and we were tearing along at 5:10 per km………..!!!!!! So again I bid him well and let him lead off.

Kms 12 – 15 were all up a gradual incline and really started to sap the legs. I was really glad to crest the hill onto the flat and at the 15km aid station I had my gel (and a 50mtr walk to drink and eat it).

After that I carried on and traded places with a lady several times (in truth I was pacing off her) (side note - she came up to me at the end and thanked me for pacing HER!!) and then lo and behold I came across the gent I had been running with at the start…he had slowed a fair bit and so I slowed for another chat and to ensure he was ok and then carried on once he confirmed he was. Glad I reigned myself in earlier in the race at that point in time!

Long straights and often solo! It was awesome!

By the final 3kms I was ready to be done by then. My feet were hot in my shoes and I felt like I was slapping the road rather than “gliding”. We were entering civilisation by this point and there were a number of people out in their front gardens having their morning tea/coffee and giving us a cheer as we passed – it was nice and did give me a boost to the end.

Once we entered the final stretch there was about 100mtrs to the finish line and I found a burst of energy to allow me to start pumping my arms and legs for a strong finish. It was cool! Many of the finished runners had stayed on to cheer people through and it was a great feeling! It was made all the sweeter with an unofficial  finish time of 1:53:24!!!!!!! WOOOOOOOO!!!!! Smashed almost 4 mins off Brisbane on the 4^th and 2 mins off my unofficial run the previous weekend!  Needless to say I am pumped. (Waiting for official results at time of typing) (edit - official result just published 1:53:24!! ha ha ha - small start = watch and race watch sync).

I saw the Ironman chap and he came up and gave me a handshake and told me that once we parted he “found his legs” and got back under 5mins per km! His sister went on to win the ladies in the Full!

After the run it was the traditional mad dash to the airport for my flight…..to Darwin! I am working out of the Darwin office for the majority of this week. Hey, as worked paid for my flights does that me I was sponsored this weekend???

This was a great event, beautiful and fun. My thanks to all the organisers, volunteers, safety and medical personal and the police escorts for keeping us safe on the roads! I will sing the praises for time to come.

Thanks for reading.