The White Van

Honk, HOOONNKK - A large white van pulls into our driveway, what is this? I don't remember ordering more stuff from Wiggle?

Two men in white coats exit the van, they aren't carrying any shoe sized boxes, so no new runners for me. They come to the front door and are soon joined by a tall bald man with a greying moustache....he looks really familiar.....

The tall man says in an American accent "we are here for an intervention" (cue light bulb moment - the man is none other than Dr Phil from day time TV)!!

Dr Phil has flown from California...on his private jet, to stage an intervention to stop me from killing myself. Apparently he too has read my TNF100 interview!

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Seriously though I am OK. I am more than OK.

Last weeks interview/blog is a as raw and unedited as you would ever get from me. With the emotion of the race still pumping through my veins, it was a very unique situation where Jason just happened to catch my guard down and ask some tough questions, which I answered completely honestly.

This week I am obviously feeling heaps better. Yes the DNF hurts but it isn't the end of the world, plus I have a massive base under me now, which, as I turn my attention to a couple of half marathons and a marathon - I should help me put some massive PBs together. So all is not lost.

I really want to thank all of those people who have sent me a message on this blog or via email/text, thank you very much, I appreciate your kind words very much.

As a bit of a recap I did have an awesome weekend with Benny, Marty, Raelene, Leah, Gav, and Luke at The North Face. Yes I do love the event, yes I did love the hype and the race. Although I didnt have the race which I had planned, the experience will be one I will never forget. The Blue Mountains ARE stunning, everyone should go, stand at the look out at Echo Point and as Ron Burgundy would say "DRINK IT IN".

View from Echo Point

On road trips you often have a ton of laughs. Some of the highlights include watching Marty and Ben snuggle in the king bed like an old married couple reading their books before bed! Ha. Another laugh was when I went into meltdown because I couldn't find my second pair of Nike running gloves. Yes I ticked them off the list, so they must be here somewhere....I was convinced Marty took them (I even went through his suit case when he was in shower). When I got home, there they were, in my work bag! Marty recons the white horse took them (the one I saw on the trail)!

Travelling with different people shows you how they prepare for big races, Marty is in enigma. It was like he wasn't even running 100k the next day, a very very relaxed preparation. He drank more wine and beer in the 2 days we were in the Blue Mountains than what I drank in previous 40 weeks!!!

Some of the other highlights were seeing Team Eddie365 at the checkpoints, they were so excited and supportive. I am so happy that they got to see Luke finish and buckle.

CP3 - 54km

CP4 - 65km

As for Leah and Raelene's dad Graham, they were just as awesome looking after me at CP3, CP4 and CP5. Although they were there for Raelene and Gav, it was so special to have them fuss over you at the checkpoints. Both being runners, they knew the drill. I wish Leah could of taken my bib after CP4 and ran the last 35km! I recon she is hooked and will be back next year with Rodney, Benny, Raelene and Gav all shooting for a sub 14hr buckle. Leah also looked after me by taking me back to the motel after I DNF'ed, words cant express how lucky I was that she cared for me. I was in pretty bad shape when she dropped me back.

So here I am, a week later. It really feels like a month! I am back on the horse (pun intended) - and have signed up for the Rocky River Run Half Marathon this week. If you are a local blog reader, make sure you come and say hello at the race. In a month I also have the Gold Coast Marathon, not sure how much speed work my body can handle between now and then, but I will be trying to get my legs to turn over a little bit faster than normal!

This week I am hoping to go under 1.42 for the half (which is my PB from 2010). I don't run too many half marathons (about 1 per year), so hope that I can sneak under that this weekend.

The other really positive thing is that Ben is already talking about more Ultra's. If you haven't read his blog RunBennyBoyRun (its in the right hand tool bar) - go and check it out. From "babysitting" me through 3 Ultra's this year Ben has found his running mojo and is back! Will be a great year, with plenty of PB's on their way for the both of us.

Benny and THE BUCKLE

Good luck to everyone who are running races this weekend, a special shout out to Lisa who is running her first ever race - at the Rocky River Run this weekend.
Pex

P.S - Good luck to my sister Monica who is running the Doomben Half Marathon this week! Fingers crossed for another PB!