Don’t Forget!

When preparing for a long drive to a run that you’ve never done before it’s a great idea to have plan on how to get there. This was the first of many blunders I made for the weekend.

With a temperature of 7 and a feels like -.6 (yes negative) this was not a great way to start a run. We spent the entire trip watching the outside temperature from the gauge inside the car, hoping it would at some point increase to double figures.

Early in the trip we followed a detour for planned road works on the Hume freeway, it was to be closed. Unknown to us at the time these had been postponed until the following weekend. We did however enjoy the tour of Mickleham and navigating the new ramps back onto the ring road.

Breakfast stop was at a fuel station, we followed the strict rules of not trying anything new on race day. Taren managed a yoghurt and muesli bar while I stuck to the trusty tuna on rice cakes. We sat eating our much needed breakfast directly in front of the counter of McDonalds with our mouths watering over the smell of bacon and egg McMuffin.

Back on the road and 300kms in it was time to turn off the highway and head towards the coast. With Taren on navigation I followed her lead, ‘turn here’ I swung the car off the main road and onto the narrow exit. The road then widened, we looked around, no signage and no reflective guide posts, just a large empty truck parking bay, this was not our turn. We continued though the parking lot and back onto the highway towards the correct turn 500m ahead.

I did however learn on the trip that when stopped at a red light for road works there is always time to get a charger out of the boot.

As we pulled into Apollo Bay, Taren made a special request to the parking fairy, and the parking fairy came through, we pulled straight into a park 50m from the start line.

It was a huge event, loads of atmosphere, so many people and everyone was very friendly and chatty….. except for me. I hadn’t shut up for the whole trip until this moment, it had dawned on me that I could be last one over the line. I had no idea what to expect, had I trained enough? How steep are these hills going to be?  And to top it off everyone else looked oh so fit.

We lined up amongst 1000 other people shivering, trying to find our place in the crowd. Half way seemed optimistic to me but that’s where it all begun. The countdown started and we all took off…. walked for the first 50m and then a slow jog to the end of the street before the first hill begun to filter the crowd out.

The first km was slow going, slightly uphill, but felt like nothing with fresh legs. Packed into the crowd there was no sign of physical distancing.

The next few kms we downhill then flat, 4 km went fast, up to 6 people wide on the road making passing very difficult as we all ran for the hills. Barham Rd along the Barham river towards Barham forest.

Following the river the scenery changed from rolling hills of farms and horses to thick Forest. Sides of the road littered with fallen bark and fern fronds, moisture seeping through the rocks and trickling a crosses the track under foot.

The river ran cloudy from the recent rain runoff and multiple small waterfalls still remained on the hill side of the roads.

As the runners ahead reached the turn around the proceeded to head back to town the crowds of runners cheered and clapped as they raced past.

These cheers echoed through the gully as they passed the 1000 plus runners on their way to the finish line.

At this point I saw Taren running towards me, my energy level increased, I stood taller and ran with conviction. Seeing a familiar face in amongst the crowds was so uplifting. As we got closer there was an almighty cheer and a very confident high five (not covid safe).

I hit the turnaround point and was so happy not to be wearing white shoes, the 800 odd runners who had reached this point before me had churned up the track and created a muddy and slippery mess.

Now for the downhill segment, the sun broke through the clouds and created a moment of humidity. Rather than focusing on increasing my speed I took the time to grab a selfie with the river as my backdrop and have a chat to a few fellow runners. I figured I was on the home straight, it was all going to be smooth sailing from here, why not enjoy the ride.

In the distance I saw it coming, at 11.5km there was a rise in the road, a few hundred metres long and steeper than anything else I had conquered for the day. How had I forgotten this was here? What was I doing when I passed this point at the start of the race? Had my runners high made me overlook this one?

With burning legs but a determined mind I made it to the top and it was all downhill from here, a race to the finish line.

The final turn and the finish line was ahead, the pace increased and I knew I wasn’t going to be last. As I ran over the line there was an announcement from the commentators, ‘Shepparton running club are out in droves’ Taren and I laughed, think there was only two of us. They also gave the Shepparton running festival a plug.

Post-race hydration begun, first water or over powered lemon lime SIS if you grabbed the wrong cup and finally we cracked the bottle of bubbles.

Overall the event was sensational, well worth the travel. Beautiful landscape, gentle rolling slopes (except for 1) and a distance for everyone. A huge shout out to Taren for coming along for the experience, can’t wait to do it all again.