Date: Tuesday, 8 February 2011

From: Janet

One from Janet about her Portland Marathon

Well, you may have already checked the results and found that I was way off the mark with a projected finish time of 4 hours - 5:13:45.  But, it was a miserable day, rain, rain, rain. I started with the 4 hour pace group, but along the way, people were commenting on how fast we were going. There were pace bands that had times for 1 mile, 5 miles, etc, and at some of these checkpoints we were ahead of schedule.  I forgot to bring my watch so I didn't know myself how fast we were going. My mom and sisters were following my progress on line and even they thought I was going too fast. 

Well, I kept up until mile 12, then fell behind at a potty break. I blame it on a gel I took at about mile 10 and because I didn’t’ drink enough water, disagreed with me in the most disagreeable way! I became focused on each mile, where there were porta-potties and just had a sort of stomach ache, cramps, and all I wanted to do was lie down somewhere. (And not die, but just lose consciousness!)  By mile 14, I was in crisis mode and had to have a serious talk with myself to keep going, it was a very special time we spent together. (Sure, I can laugh now!)

I ended up aiming for the next two miles, then the next, and so on, and I have to say, miles 25 to 26 were absolutely the hardest, longest, unbelievably painful 2 miles I've ever done! (You're all registering for marathons right after reading this, right?!)  It was cold, wet, but the bands along the way were good. I did bring my i-Pod, but it stopped working after 2 songs because of the rain, and God, I missed it!!  By the time I got to 16 miles, I just wanted to finish, and who doesn't want to run 10.2 miles in the pouring rain in soaking wet running clothes? 

My mom and sisters were waiting for me just before the finish line, so I managed to look happy for the camera. And they were happy for me that I'd done it, and honestly, I couldn't have done any better. I tried to go faster, to maybe break 5 hours, but my quads were shot.

I saw lots of people in worse shape than I was, with 6 miles to go. It's incredibly hard to make yourself keep putting one foot in front of the other, but one thing keeps you going, you have to finish. I saw someone's t-shirt that said "Pain is temporary, but finishing is forever." It may sound trite now, but it kept me going.

So that's my story, in a nutshell, what can you expect from a nut?? But please don't be discouraged from doing one yourselves. This was just an example of an especially brutal race, I've had better and believe it or not, I would consider doing another.

Date: Sunday, 6 February 2011

From: Wendy

Wendy and her mates at the Ganmain Triathlon on Feb 6

I lay awake Saturday night listening to the rain pouring down.  Didn't look too good yesterday morning either but there was only a smattering of rain on the way across and I don't think it rained at all during the event.  The ground was muddy and the pool was like a warm bath full of wet grass but the cool weather was good to run/ride in.

We ferals made up 10% of the 82 strong field and you will notice that without conferring beforehand most of us wore feral shirts.  I kicked myself for not wearing mine.

We didn't take out any prizes - the Leeton competitors were strong but we enjoyed ourselves and didn't do too badly.  Times will be up on the website shortly.

We stopped at two pubs on the way back - Grong Grong and Narrandera.  Got home around 3.30 so it was a full day.

Hope I'm not making you feel too nostalgic for your triathlon days.  There's always Hillston if you feel like getting back on the bike.... 

Date: Sunday, 12 December 2010

From: Who is this mysterious correspondent?

A Feral's Brother

This postcard is from the brother of a Feral. Can you guess who the Feral is?

His comment is "Not my best hair day" and the Feral sibling says to us:

These are photos of my brother in the UK’s Mud Man Race. (probably should have been called Ice Man!).

He is wearing 495. Not sure if the heat is as challenging as the cold, actually I am sure.... I think the heat is worse! I trained in Jan and Feb in London for three years for the London Marathon in similar conditions – the bad weather has come early to the UK this year though.

Date: Wednesday, 1 December 2010

From: Jezza

What I've learned about running

I ran in excess of 2000 miles last year, it took me to places I would have never reached normally, I have seen and heard wildlife and stumbled upon beautiful scenery only miles from my door. Traced routes of ancient Roman roads by map and compass, yesterday I watched the moon hovering in cloud and at the same time saw the sun rise over a hard frosted landscape. I have been invited into a church by the vicar and offered a cup of tea and eaten sweet cox's apples straight from the branch as I ran by and other days run waist deep in water to reach the other side to continue, ran in thunder, lightning, sun, rain, snow and have been hailed upon whose size was that of broad beans.

I have run a 30 mile race competitively but sat down at the end to a hearty meal and drank beer with my trail rivals.

In all that time I have never grumbled (well only a little) learnt things I never knew about myself but in all that time I have always had a smile within me.

What is on my MP3 player you ask? Nothing, absolutely nothing there is just too many things to see and do when running.

Date: Sunday, 3 October 2010

From: Johanna

Home from Baw Baw

Four months in the snow passed quickly and I am back on the flat land and looking for a tan. We had a good season this year with snow most of the time and sometimes when we didn't want it!
Tuesday nights were movie nights. In Morwell, about an hour away. Scotish Mike would drive the bus so he and some of the other international ski instructors could also do some grocery shopping. I thought I'd see what all the fuss was about Inception so joined them one night. Snow was forecast, down to 1000 metres. The resort was at 1500m so there was a possibility of an interesting return journey, but we went anyway.
On the return journey we encountered snow on the West Tyer's River Bridge at about 750m, and while we marvelled at the beautiful sight ahead, we also knew that we would need to fit the snow chains to the bus. Most of us sat in the back of the bus to give some weight to the drive wheels ploughing through the 20cm of snow. A 4X4 overtook us, so we followed in their tracks for a while. But they took the inside of the steepest corner, and we shouldn't have followed them there. The bus stopped and started sliding backwards. Mike held his cool and managed to turn the bus so it was facing downhill and reasonably out of the way. We shouldered the shopping, locked the bus and set off to walk the last 2kms.
I had thought that we would all stick together. You know, help each other and make sure that we were all safe. But the guys were having none of that and struck off on their own. And you know what I'm like when I think people are not doing the right thing! The race was on!
We were lucky that there was almost a full moon so we had a bit of light. Walking in the tyre tracks was just as hard as wading through the 20cm of snow. You just had to keep moving. It was COLD and windy and it was still snowing. But moving kept me warm and I passed each of the others in turn to be the first to the carpark at the top. Those ski instructors thought they were fit - they hadn't met a feral before!
Liverpool Mike and his girlfriend Jo struggled under the weight of their cheap softdrinks. So they buried most of them under one of the signs, hoping to get back to them the next day. You had to be up early to beat the Road Crew, so there was nothing to find the next day. It took a while before each side of the story reached the other party, and Mike and Jo had nearly half of their missing 'pop' returned eventually.

ps. If you did send Red Cross packages, they were pilfered along the way.