Back To Reality With a Thud - The Pyramid Race
I've been suffering my usual post City2Surf depression, but made the decision on Monday I was going to run the Pyramid Race since I ran well above my expectations on Sunday.
They say the Pyramid Race is about 12km - I think you have about a 6km run out and back and the run up and down must cover about 6km (its 922m high). I had 3 runs during the week after C2S and was feeling ok. When I woke up this morning I wasn't feeling great but still decided I was ready to tackle it. The race starts at 2-30pm and it was overcast with the odd drizzle. They had close to 100 starters and a good mix of both male and female runners. I started off at a steady pace and was still feeling good when I got to the base for the run up. The first few steps up the mountain immediately had me wondering 'what have I got myself into??' You have to make it to the half way point of the Pyramid in under 60mins otherwise they ask you to hand your bib in and start going back down again. I made it to half way in about 45mins but I was hurting badly. The top half of the Pyramid is really steep and rocky, you are at some points crawling on your hands and knees and these were the spots that really took it out of me. About 3/4 of the way up it started to rain - that made the rocks so slippery and it was as if you were on ice. Just on about 3/4 the first placed runner came down - he was flying. I can't believe how fast these guys run down the mountain! The runners coming down have right of way so you have to move off the track as they are very narrow, unfortunately this slows you down considerably as there is a steady stream of runners once that first runner has gone by. I made it to the top in about 1hr 19 and took 2 drinks and had about a minute break. On the way up I was only overtaken by about 3 people but because I had a break at the top that all changed.
I started the descent and was in absolute agony. By this stage I had developed a huge blister on my heel and each time I leaped from rock to rock it was rubbing against my shoe. I'm a terrible runner when it comes to downhill as I have a gumpy left kee that I feel is going to give out on me. I didn't feel like I was going slow but I was overtaken by a heap of runners coming back down. When I finally came off the mountain it was 1hr59 (my goal time to finish was sub 2hr so that was out the window). My legs were like jelly and shaking and it was difficult to break into a proper running stride. I made it back into town and towards the finish line there was kids lined up wanting to give me High 5's and the announcer called my name and everyone was clapping and cheering - great feeling despite the finish time of 2hrs13mins.
I have no excuses, I just wasn't ready to run a race like this. Its a run I've always wanted to do as I grew up in Gordonvale and always said I would do it one year - and now I have. Its a disappointing attempt as I doubt I'll probably ever get to run it again and set things right. At least I can say I've run the Pyramid Race, by far the toughest run I'll ever race.
They say the Pyramid Race is about 12km - I think you have about a 6km run out and back and the run up and down must cover about 6km (its 922m high). I had 3 runs during the week after C2S and was feeling ok. When I woke up this morning I wasn't feeling great but still decided I was ready to tackle it. The race starts at 2-30pm and it was overcast with the odd drizzle. They had close to 100 starters and a good mix of both male and female runners. I started off at a steady pace and was still feeling good when I got to the base for the run up. The first few steps up the mountain immediately had me wondering 'what have I got myself into??' You have to make it to the half way point of the Pyramid in under 60mins otherwise they ask you to hand your bib in and start going back down again. I made it to half way in about 45mins but I was hurting badly. The top half of the Pyramid is really steep and rocky, you are at some points crawling on your hands and knees and these were the spots that really took it out of me. About 3/4 of the way up it started to rain - that made the rocks so slippery and it was as if you were on ice. Just on about 3/4 the first placed runner came down - he was flying. I can't believe how fast these guys run down the mountain! The runners coming down have right of way so you have to move off the track as they are very narrow, unfortunately this slows you down considerably as there is a steady stream of runners once that first runner has gone by. I made it to the top in about 1hr 19 and took 2 drinks and had about a minute break. On the way up I was only overtaken by about 3 people but because I had a break at the top that all changed.
I started the descent and was in absolute agony. By this stage I had developed a huge blister on my heel and each time I leaped from rock to rock it was rubbing against my shoe. I'm a terrible runner when it comes to downhill as I have a gumpy left kee that I feel is going to give out on me. I didn't feel like I was going slow but I was overtaken by a heap of runners coming back down. When I finally came off the mountain it was 1hr59 (my goal time to finish was sub 2hr so that was out the window). My legs were like jelly and shaking and it was difficult to break into a proper running stride. I made it back into town and towards the finish line there was kids lined up wanting to give me High 5's and the announcer called my name and everyone was clapping and cheering - great feeling despite the finish time of 2hrs13mins.
I have no excuses, I just wasn't ready to run a race like this. Its a run I've always wanted to do as I grew up in Gordonvale and always said I would do it one year - and now I have. Its a disappointing attempt as I doubt I'll probably ever get to run it again and set things right. At least I can say I've run the Pyramid Race, by far the toughest run I'll ever race.
posted by the_en4cer at 6:58 PM
3 Comments:
shame about not reaching your time goal - but great that you managed to finish it after a big previous weekend. I think I recall you talking about doing this race last year?
Huge test of a race
Man, that looks like craaaaazy stuff! Good on you just for doing it, doesn't matter how long it took you.
BTW, is it just me or is the purple writing on black in your blog impossible to read without highlighting the text???
Someone else said the same thing to me last week, but it always reads fine on my computer. I've changed the font colouring anyway.
Thanks.
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