The weather outlook for the Saturday was perfect, maximum 26deg with a slight breeze. My start time was at 9:50am and they capped the number of participants in each 5 minute wave to about 30 i think so it was not a hectic all in start and with an expected 3000 participants on Saturday this was a wise move.
I prepared my gear the night before and packed the car for an expected departure time of 0530 and with two kids this was always going to be a challenge! Unfortunately when i turned in for bed on the friday night i was WIDE awake! "Great" i thought. After tossing and turning for an hour or so i decided to grab my pillow and head for the family room so as to not disturb my peacefully sleeping wife. Good thing was they Giro was on tv. I managed to doze off at about 1am just as the stage finished. With my alarm set for 0450 this was not ideal!
Surprisingly i woke up fresh and with a number "11" coffee from the fantastic nespresso machine i was ready to roll. I had a bowl of oats and some toast and double checked that the right stuff was in the car. As the kids were still sleeping Asha and i got one each and carried them to the car and rugged them up with a blanket and backed out of the drive bang on 0530!
we expected that the trip would take between 2.5 - 3 hours to get to the event and being that the kids hadnt had breakfast at home we made a pit stop at McDonalds out near Northpark. Having an inkling of what was to come and not wanting to "bonk" half way through i grabbed a McMuffin and hash brown with a flat white. Sustenance for the drive ahead.
Having never ventured much past the Nurioopta the drive out there was wonderful and seeing the sun rise over the plains was spectacular.
The kids were happy enough watching a couple of DVD's on the way up and trying to see who can spot the most sheep and cows
One more stop for us at Blanchtown for a quick nature break and we were on the last 40kms of our trip and well on time. At Blanchtown we saw a couple of mini buses and other cars of participants all looking nervous and excited which really started to rev me up. it was great to see.
Arriving at Caudo I coulnt believe the amount of cars and people there. it was amazing!
First things first when arriving.I had to get changed in to my running gear. Quick strip in the parking lot and we were good to go. Off to sign in. This was really well organised as they had separate tents set up according to your start time within the hour.
Registration done and time specific "True Grit" wristband received.
Next step (after my 3rd toilet stop) was to find a preparation area to do some last minute stretching and top up on some fuel for the "challenge" (its kidna like the cyclo-sportif, its not a race)
I think we picked quite a superb location to settle in for the remaining hour before my wave headed out!
After a good 40min stretch and light jog book-ended with a banana and "cocain bar" i was ready to roll (or run)! Off to the staging area for my groups turn! I could feel the nervousness and excitement in the air and this was heightened for me as i was doing it solo and had no one to really take my mind off of it. Could I do it? what if i bonked? what if i couldnt do an obstacle?. The distance concerned me as i had never run a full 12kms, even in training for this. I have never been a real cardio athlete off of the bike so the last minute i had a range of things going through my head. Even though it wasnt a race i still wanted to pass as many people as i could and not be passed myself =-)
A few last minute goodbyes and a cuddle with the kids and we were lined up and ready to go. The countdown began! 10, 9, 8, oh shit, 7, 6, im gonna die, 5, 4, there is still time to pull out, 3, 2, nope not anymore, 1, GO! BOOM! IT's GO TIME!!
After getting through the first section over the start bridge i managed to find myself in the first half a dozen or so competitors then by around 500m i was in front. Had i gone out a little too fast? fortunately with the start of this race the first couple of obstacles were quite close together which gave a bit of a breather. Unfortunately though as there were some large groups the 2nd, 3rd and 4th obstacles all bottlenecked and at the traverse ropes i was held up for 20mins! Asha reported that she heard delays of up to 45 mins! Not good. This was the ONLY real negative for the day. After clearing this i put in a solid next 2 kms to claw back some time. flying over the cable brigde, the hay bails and scaling the cliff assault easily there was a decent 1.5km run through the vines to the cargo net crawl. I got into a great running rhythm in the first half of this which was great. scaling the top of one of the sand dunes we were confronted with "fire sands" which had a series of 2 jumps over logs literally on fire. Uphill on a sand dune this was scary! down the backside of the dune was "confusion. A 200m run with a 7ft permapine log.
The "worst" obstacle of the day was number 26 "mystery" which saw us climb a ladder and be confronted with a 10ft bathtub looking thing with a bar in the middle that we had to swim under. The water was FREEEEEZING! and the worst of it was that with 2kms still to go we had to do it with shoes and clothes filled with water which felt like an extra 2kgs!
The final run down to the main area wasnt too bad and i went over the monkey bars with ease. We then hooked a direct turn into the the creek! a 200m mud "run" through what felt like quick sand/mud it was lucky i had my shoes done up tight as i could have easily lost them!. At the end of this was a mud "mound" which led into the rat tunnels then under a final bridge for the run to the last obstacle...the Murray River Slide! what a great way to finish!
Crossing the finishing line we were handed a cold beer (which i didnt drink) and our finishers t-shirt. There were many smiles and team embracing, i had my kids run up to me and hug me even though i was sopping wet.
After crossing the finishing line and hugging the kids Jordan exclaimed "daddy you've got blood!" hmm didnt feel anything but a quick glance to my leg and i discovered a gash on the outside of my right knee. This was done in the rat tunnels but was nothing serious.
The drive home was enjoyable with very little discomfort. The day after i pulled up quite stiff and sore through my quads, hips and groin so the good ol radox bath was my friend sunday and monday. a recovery run on monday has seen all the soreness gone.
I thoroughly enjoyed this even and really cant wait to do it again next time it is here! There is nothing about my preparation from an exercise or nutrition standpoint that i would change. the only thing i would do differently is hopefully rope a couple of friends in. Overall i ran the majority of the distance only walking for approximately 500m of the 12km course which i am stoked with. I anticipated that the total course would take me approximately 2.5hrs to complete. i was amazed when Asha told me i did it in just under 1hr 45mins which included the 20min hold up at the rope traverse! If you are looking for a different type of challenge than this is for you! Next time we will be camping the night at the course as they had a big party on Saturday night with a DJ. My overall fitness on this particular style of event really pleasantly surprised me and gave me more confidence in my overall physical capabilities. It certainly pushed my barriers and out of my comfort zone.
Below are a selection of photos from some obstacle that were close to the viewing area. For more information on this event please visit www.truegrit.com.au.
Special thanks to my wife and kids for helping me train for this event and coming out to support me. I couldnt have, and wouldnt want to, do it without you.
The Monkey Bars
The Bridge Under (obstacle 31)
The Rat Tunnels
The Mud Run (it looked worse than this when i go there!)
The Cable traverse
good onya for doing it!
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