"... immortalised set of running trails in beautiful temperate rainforest just an hour's drive from Melbourne....In winter it can be quite daunting to emerge from the car, with the mountain often shrouded in low-lying cloud or misty rain. But that's all part of the adventure. Once you're in the forest and running, who cares about the mud and the rain and the cold! And in summer the forest is a cool, leafy respite from the hot plain below...Once inside the forest and running, you enter another world. Everything becomes much quieter, even your footsteps are hard to hear as you are running on forest detritus for much of the way. The only sounds are those of your lungs sucking up the air and the occasional lyre bird calling out to a mate...If you have arrived with the intention of doing your long run, it is easy to cover 25 kilometres minimum and not retrace your steps over the same trails...Most of the running is along gently undulating trails that wind through the forest, sometimes following mountain creeks and waterfalls. The amazing thing is that you hardly feel you are running uphill at all."
My race experience was phenomenal. The idea of running a marathon through mud, over hills, and up to waterfalls with only about 5k on actual roads was a tad daunting... The event started with a ton of overnight rain and the anticipation of lots of mud. I'd love to say the race began without a hitch but of course the race leaders missed the very first turn and we added an extra hundred meters or so to the course. Starting in last place and having the course take an abrupt U-turn put me in first place, which was nice.
Once we got on course we slipped and slopped through mud
about an inch deep. While concentrating on each step I almost missed the wallaby bounce past us. From miles 5-10 we attacked the rolling hills of the forest climbing about 1000 feet. The park was devastated by a wild fire two years back. But the resiliency of the forest was in full effect, with the brightest, thickest undergrowth I have ever seen. Fern fronds out the wazoo. The bright green undergrowth, the burnt shells of tree trunks and the steady mist left hovering above left an eerie calm over the race. Near the top of the climb we came to a 1/2 mile single track climb up to Keppel Falls. It was well worth the climb.
The next 5 miles were basically downhill. Then 5 hills of muddy rolling hills leaving me only 6 miles to go. I finally stepped onto cement at mile 20 only to immediately start a vicious 2.5 mile climb of about 800 feet. I walked a ton but still passed multiple runners... This climb led to Steavenson Falls (decent photo from 2009 race).
After the falls, I turned around and completed the last few miles back into town. 4 hours and 43 minutes of running fun. Also, a special shout out to Dom, my running friend who I partnered up with around mile 16. The race was much easier to finish with a running partner! And of course a special thanks to Kelly who dragged herself out of bed at 4:30am, tackled the 6 mile waterfall climb race, cheered me on, fell asleep waiting for me to finish and ended the day a fine hue of red.
P.S. Already thinking about a 50km race (first race longer then a marathon) in February.
