COASTAL HIGH 50k Race Recap- Sophie Russell
RACE RECAP PART ONE
It was an early start for me 3:40 alarm to make the 4:40 shuttle bus from Nerang to Binna Burra start line bit of a delayed start but I was off with the 3rd wave at 6:15
Started with 1.5km uphill on the road, pretty much walking straight off the bat It was like one long warm up, then it was 23ish km of single trail!! I actually was having a great time in this section, much better than my one and only long run through here 3 weeks prior! First of all I didn’t have to worry about getting lost and secondly I just got in a better groove of it! Found myself in a few trail trains but it was nice being with a good bunch of men and women, I would get ahead on the downhill and they’d catch me again on the uphills.
Somewhere around 15km I started developing the blisters! I don’t get blisters anymore since I started wearing correct shoes and orthotics, and even when I’ve had blisters in the past they weren’t in the spots they showed up that day.
The initial blister started on my right foot arch, underneath the taping I had to support my right ankle (posterior tibialis tendinitis). So I’m pretty sure that’s the reasoning for that blister! Great news is my ankle held up fine the whole race but the blister was other worldly pain. Then I started developing two blisters on my left foot. So I’m not sure if this was due changing how I landed on my feet due to the initial blister.
I was feeling great, although distracted with so many people around and concentrating on where my feet were landing, and I lost track of the timing of when to eat my chews and hydrating. I felt a little bit queasy in this section but then realised at the first checkpoint just how little water I’d had - pretty sure this was a subconscious throwback to that last long training run when I’d run out of water with an hour to go.
Despite the blisters I was actually in great spirits! I was on track to finish around 8 hours. At the checkpoint I drank my two flasks of hydration and my amazing pit crew refilled them, and I ate some potato chips and my chews and I was off again.
RACE RECAP PART TWO
After checkpoint 1 I thought I’d be able to just continue on, ignoring the blisters. And for the first 5 kilometres that was true enough. Then it went to hell in a hand basket on the really steep descent around 30-32km. The pressure and pain from the downward force on the blisters on my feet became unbearable, it literally felt like the soles of my feet were going to burn and slide right off. For the steepest part I had to walk, and for anyone who knows me, that is very unlike me to walk the downhills.
At the bottom of the descent I stopped to assess the damage, and I tried to put bandaids on but that was going to do bugger all at that point This was also the point in which the group I’d been keeping up with started to overtake me.
And then about 2 minutes later on a creek crossing, I slipped on a boulder, while trying to multitask crossing and drinking, stuck my right hand out to stop myself on said big boulder, and immediately knew I’d done damage to my hand (turns out small avulsion fracture of scaphoid and ligament tear).
By this point I was completely out of sorts and frazzled. Just thinking seriously?!?! Come on!!! I thought man I just need to pull myself together, it’s only a hand after all, I’m not going to let that stop me from finishing this damned 50k and becoming an ultramarathoner!
Finally made it through the multiple creek crossings (which initially the cold water felt amazing on my blisters but then I was left with soggy socks and blisters feeling worse, over and over) and multiple obstacles courses climbing over fences (Never took photos through this section as a) my hand hurt and b) I was trying to make up for lost time)!!
And then finally I made it to checkpoint 2 at Numinbah. Oh thank god, that means I only had 14km to go! I could do it! The medic strapped my hand with a compression bandage, my amazing pit crew (that deserve their own post) fed and watered me, and iced my hand. Then off I went again this time to face the Apple Tree Stairs.
RACE RECAP PART THREE
After leaving checkpoint 2 I “only” had 14km to go. Well, I had managed to have one stair repeats training session on Apple Tree Park stairs, so knew what I was in for there, but my goodness nobody had warned me about the ridiculous uphills before those stairs!!
Oh my word it just went on and on, some parts reminiscent of Nerang climbs! But maybe that was just my sore, blistered, feet talking On the climb up I picked up two sticks to get myself up the endless hills (when I had perfectly good poles at home).
I was somehow in okay spirits all things considered. Like it was hard but I’m used to climbing hard hills, and I could ignore the feet a bit easier hiking up as opposed to running down! I did send a few messages to support people telling them how effed up the climb was though.
I obviously had to use my broken hand with the sticks but the pay off was worth it! I actually even passed three people on the way up those stairs but my god was that the slowest climb of my life. I basically didn’t take any photos up the stairs because it was enough to just try and breathe, hold the sticks, and keep putting one foot in front of the other.
By the time I’d made it to the top of those stairs my hip impingement on left side was cactus I could barely move my hip, only just able to walk, managed a barely there run to make it across checkpoint 3 at Apple Tree Park Had to run for the sake of the photos.
Thank god for the Run Down Under crew, they were amazing and it really had finish line vibes I commented that this feels like the end, I’m done right?!? Hahaha no! I was at 43km. Only 7km to go! I joked it may take me 2 hours but I didn’t actually expect it would I thought I could do this in around an hour and I’d come in somewhere around 8 hours 30 min but it wasn’t to be… Anyway, downed some coke and chips and then I was off to face the final hurdle.
RACE RECAP PART FOUR
Well after heading off from checkpoint 3 I was wondering if I’d even be able to run again seeing as my hip impingement had played up really badly after those epic hills and stairs. But somehow I could manage a bit of shuffle for that first kilometre! It was mostly downhill but then I reached downhill stairs. Well those got my blisters absolutely shouting at me, but I just pushed through anyway, I mean they couldn’t get much worse, I knew that there would be no long term damage just short term pain (They took 3 days to deflate and be able to walk flat footed again!!)
After those stairs I realised my calves had gotten hammered and I basically couldn’t run anymore. I tried to jog along the flattest bits but I seriously thought if I pushed myself something was going to tear or snap.
At this stage I messaged my crew there was no way I was going to make it under 9 hours I mean I was absolutely over it, and was hating every painful movement, but I kept putting one foot in front of the other, and I knew I was going to make it! I would be an ultramarathoner come what may.
At Purling Brook Falls I caught up with one of the ladies I’d been running with for most of the day before I’d lost everyone. I called out to her “hey lady in the yellow shirt ” Came to find out her name was Kirsty - she’d unfortunately had a fall along the way and her injury had now gotten to the point she could only walk. It was all uphill from here on out, so we decided to walk it in together. I was very cautious about doing some sort of injury to my calf muscles as they were seriously so tight and painful (and this lasted for a week after the race!!) so I was more than happy to have her company for those final painful kilometres, we could at least be miserable together.
And that last 3km of uphill took us 45 minutes. Finally we ran across the line together at 9 hours 36 minutes 19 seconds. So thankful for my family/support crew for their ongoing support throughout the day and letting me cry all over them afterwards I was in an emotional and physical pain cave for a couple of days.