I have no
idea of the exact date in March that I decided my challenge for 2019 would be
to run my first 100km ultra race at 47 years old, especially as I had never
even run a marathon before. Having
focused on short track distances the previous year, and Spartan Races preceding
that, I was keen to get completely out of my comfort zone again and try
something new.
A few
friends had developed a love for ultra-running so I was curious to see if it
was possible to push my body in a way that I had never had before, and
understand what it was that had them so hooked on it.
With any
new challenge I decided that I needed to ask some experts to help with my training,
so over coffee with my long-time friend Ben Pulham from Coached Fitness, I
asked him how I should start. He
suggested that I go on one of his marathon plans and add in additional large
peak weekends to help mimic what an ultra would feel like. He also thought entering a marathon or two as
easy training runs was a good idea, but prefaced it with the fact that if I was
training for an ultra the chance to run a fast marathon was not really going to
be possible so I needed to know that upfront.
One of my
strengths is loving structure so off I went and followed the program set by Ben
like a star student. I am a massive fan
of heart rate training, so I knew what I was doing and found that I soon
started to build some endurance for my longer runs, which previously had never
been more than 21 kilometers. I was
balancing my running with my other training too, which was weights and other
cardio about four times a week.
At this
time I was also deciding whether I should tell people outside of my family that
I was training for an ultra. If I did,
it meant I was on the hook to actually enter a race so there was no escaping
from that point on. Something I also
needed to do, was actually enter a race! I like road running so that narrowed
my search down a lot, as most ultras are on trails, and I ended up putting my
name down for the SG Ultra 100km distance on October 19. Now with a race in my calendar and a few
people now knowing about it, there was no turning back.
Before I
knew it I was due to run my first ever marathon, the Sundown on June 1. To be clear I am someone who is usually in
bed asleep by 9.30pm most nights as I’m an early riser, so having to stay up
until midnight just to start the run, was a challenge in itself. I had no idea on how to plan my eating
beforehand because of the crazy timing, and I just packed a load of hydration
tablets and gel-like sweets to take during the race and off I went. As I was running it as part of my training I
felt zero pressure to go fast, and I loved it.
All was going well until the last 5 kilometers when I think the lack of
sleep kicked in, I had a sugar overload and I just really wanted to have a
shower and go to bed. I finished in 4
hours and 20 minutes, which was well under my estimated 5 hours so I was
thrilled.
It wasn’t
long and the next “training marathon” was upon me. I headed down to the Gold Coast for the July
7 event, my second marathon, which I was looking forward to as it went past my
parents house on the way out and back, so I would get to see familiar faces on
course. It was such a great atmosphere
and this time I felt better in a normal time zone and had my nutrition better
planned which had me finishing in 3 hours and 47 minutes.
It was
great to see some improvement and at this time another friend, Dr Jason Karp,
reached out and offered to send me one of his ultra programs to get me through
the last two months. I gladly accepted
and immediately noticed the increase in minutes I would be running each
week. With my workload increasing around
my Rockstar Fit App and the new series “Keeping It Real” I was filming for
Facebook, this meant having to put most of my
other training aside and just focus on running as I didn’t have the time
to do everything, plus balance a family.
So run I
did. Podcasts and audio-books became my
new best friend, as did jelly beans and Vaseline to stop the chaffing (which I
had never suffered from before). I soon knew
the location of every water point, vending machine and toilet between River
Valley and Bedok, and waved at the workman along the way as they became a
regular part of my day.
Before I
knew it, it was race week and I have never felt more nervous about anything in
my life, I was more calm giving birth to my daughter! The unknown of running so far (a marathon was
the furthest I had run), if my body could actually hold up (having lived with
Deep Vein Thrombosis and Rheumatoid Arthritis), and mentally how I would cope,
were all keeping me awake at night. Which was crazy as the only expectation I
had set was hoping to finish it within 15 hours.
Saturday
October 19 arrived and there I was covered in sunscreen and Vaseline, wearing a
race belt packed with hydration tablets, jelly beans and squeezy packets of
food. It was the first race I have ever
entered where no one was fighting to be at the front on the starting line, it
was quite the opposite, people had to be encouraged to come forward. The horn blasted at 9am and as I crossed the
start line a wave of calmness came over me and I thought, yes I am going to
finish this.
The first
10 kilometers I ran with a lovely guy who was doing his first ultra race too,
so it passed pretty quickly. Before long
I saw my friend Ling yelling to me along East Coast Parkway and then was met at
a water point by two friends from my Keeping It Real Facebook series, Josh and
Gibran, who joined me for the next 5 kilometers. This was a welcome distraction
as we joked and took videos along the way until they told me they were done
around Tanah Merah, leaving me with the dreaded Changi Airport Road stretch.
I had never
run further than Bedok but had been warned not to count the lamp posts on this
stretch as they go on forever. It felt
like the Sahara Desert out there. Long, hot, zero shade and nothing to look at
except a few cyclists and a lot of trucks.
I could not have been happier to see Changi Village, but again not ever
having run there, I took a wrong turn getting lost, and reading a map on your
phone in the heat was never going to work out well. Eventually I found the next water point and
off I went. I finally saw another runner
ahead and passed him, only to take another wrong turn, and end up behind
him. But before I knew it I had passed
him again, and someone else, and headed into the halfway check point where my
family were waiting to greet me.
I was so
happy to see them. My daughter Lilliana
passed me a honey sandwich, more water and then my husband Matt joined me to
run for the next 13 kilometers. He told
me there was only one person who had come through before me, and I couldn’t
believe it. How could I possibly be in
second place overall? But I was tired, hot and low on energy, and all I could
think about was getting this done and finished.
I ate some more food, waved goodbye and told them I’d see them at the
finish line, then off I went. Only 40
kilometers to go I told myself.
The run
back was better, I knew where I was going, but being hit with a bad stitch for
about an hour slowed me down a little, but I vowed not to stop and walk, so I
just kept running. Before I knew it I
was back near the start of East Coast Parkway and had caught the runner ahead
of me. I had no idea what to do, as I
never thought I would be in this situation so I just kept going, asking if he
was ok and needed anything. We both
wished each other the best.
And then I
just ran. I stopped for some water at a hydration point and was looking for
some friends that had planned to meet me for a few kilometers. We had missed each other so I just kept
going, passing runners that were participating in the 50km run and encouraging
each other along the way.
I finally
rounded the corner with the finish line in sight, still in disbelief that I had
crossed it in first place overall in 11 hours and 27 minutes. I was greeted by some lovely people from the
ultra running community who offered to take a photo, but my husband was nowhere
in sight. I phoned him and it turns out
the organizers had told him and the official photographer to wait in the wrong
place, and hadn’t made any announcement that someone was about to finish, so
they had completely missed me.
Trophy in
hand I headed home for a much needed shower and sleep. Although my body didn’t seem to like that and
I was throwing up all night and nursing blisters on top of blisters covering my
toes. Which then turned into losing
quite a few toenails.
I treated
myself to whatever I wanted to eat, a well-deserved massage and three days
later I was running again, and feeling good.
My big
takeaway was that I surprised myself at what we are capable of if we want to do
something, no matter how old. So would I do another ultra? Never say never!
