A couple of weeks ago I did my second trail race of the year - the 5 Peaks Enduro event, this time at Whitemud. The course was once again around 14km, and I had an absolute blast!
The race came just two weeks after the marathon, and with still having a little fatigue in my legs, I didn't want to go crazy and race things flat out. The organisers had warned us that some of the trails we would be going on were some of the toughest in the river valley, so I knew I would be crawling up those hills and likely losing a fair few places in the process!
The first mile or two was pretty flat, and I certainly felt the benefits of my marathon training as I seemed to make light work of the terrain and moved steadily through the field. But when the single track started, as suspected I slid backwards, and people started to pass me once again. I was still doing pretty well on the hills and didn't really walk any of them but my pace really was a shuffle. The downhills felt good, although I wasn't feeling as confident as normal with all the tree roots - I guess road running really does turn you into a whimp!
For some reason I thought the course was two loops again, but as we approached the junction where we had just headed out on course, we were directed in teh opposite direction and I figured it must be one loop which suited me just fine. I kept things going steadily, but then I noticed that I had once again started to gain on people, simply because this section of course had once again flattened out. I took full advantage of the flats, and used my speed to overtake a couple of ladies that I knew were also in my age group category. I was feeling really strong, so I thought I'd just go with it and see where I ended up.
Of course, a mile or so later, the climbs started once again, and this time they really were relentless. Up and down we went, snaking in between the trees and dodging tree roots again, and yet now I was feeling more confident and far more competitive, and was getting a little more reckless on those downhills!
A small group of runners had been just behind me, but I somehow opened up a gap, and as the gap grew, so did my confidence, and I was starting to push things far more than I had planned. The course was really tough, but I was absolutely loving it, and it made me realise just how much I had missed my trail running this year. In all fairness, that was why I purchased a season pass for the 5 Peaks this year - I wanted to do some trail running, and these would be perfect as good tempo runs as well as enabling me to remain a part of the trail running community.
I had no idea what position I was in teh race, butI had a feeling that I was doing far better than my last race at Terwillegar, and was likely up there with the top ladies. I wanted to finish strong, so I kept on pushing hard. I could hear the finish line music, but every time the trail headed downwards, it would then head up again, leading us away from where I thought the finish line would be.
This seemed to go on forever and my legs were now starting to feel those climbs. I was convinced that the other ladies would come speeding past me any time soon, but I couldn't see anybody chasing me down. I finally came to a huge downhill and really did seize the opportunity to pick up the pace, and finally as I turned the corner, the finish line was ahead.
I finished in around 1 hour 17 minutes, and this time I was 6th lady and 2nd in my age group - I was very happy, and I was feeling fantastic! Sadly I couldn't hang around for the presentation so missed out on my medal but I'm pretty sure I can collect it next time.
Next time will be at Goldbar in July, and I'm already looking forward to it :)
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