Its a charity walk so 95% of the entrants were walking. A small handful were running and jogging. When we started off I decided to try to stick close to a couple of the joggers....this was a good decision as they were ticking along at 6.30 mins per km and I felt I could keep that up. I was planning on getting to Burleigh and stopping at around 20km.
I was really enjoying the walk along through Surfers Paradise....we went through there at 6.30am and it was so peaceful and quiet. The two joggers veered off at Surfers for a quick pit stop but they caught me back up again at Broadbeach for the first pit stop. Sadly - no one was ready for anyone to be coming through. Luckily they had the water and poweraide out so I grabbed a poweraide to carry with me. The guy setting up grabbed two muesli bars for me so I put them in my pockets for later.
I headed off first and left the two joggers behind me but I was hoping they would catch up as they were great company. Next up was the short but steep hill at Nobbys Beach..... trying to get my legs to go up those stairs was a challenge to say the least. I carried on along the beach front to the next pit stop at Burleigh. Approx 18km. There were two girls sitting on chairs under some flags. I stopped and asked if they were the next pit stop, they said yes but that I would have to wait until 8am as they were not going to set up the foot massager etc until then. I asked if they had water or poweraide and they replied no they have not brought it down from the other pit stops. They had NO clue how far to the next stop or where it was.
I figured I would carry on a little further. So now I am heading up over Burleigh Hill. The signs were less to be desired and I got lost twice. The hill was hard going and my legs were dead as. A lady saw me looking at the map board and told me its a loop so either way would still get me to the same point. She did tell me that going right was up hill and left was downhill.... I went LEFT!!! once I got down into Palm Beach I was feeling really lost. Signs to follow were confussing and it was not that my toes were REALLY hurting. So much so that I was trying to curl my toes on one foot to keep the pressure off them. I eventually stopped and called Kay. I needed to know where the next stop was. She explained how to find it and as it was only 2km up the road I carried on.
when I walked into the car park, the yellow van had just pulled up and was getting the tents and tables out. My two joggers had just caught me and so we all walked over and asked if they had water. the Guy was so shocked that we were there so early, he ran off and brought us water. He was a top bloke. I wished the joggers well and said I was stopping. I hear that they finished and in great style.
2:44 was my total time and I am happy with that
24km data here
2 comments:
You were lucky to have the joggers company. Why would the drink stations not be ready for the faster people, that need looking at.
The event is for normal walkers....but they did know that there were going to be 6 runners. But even with that they just didnt stop to think about the water side of it. They were very apologetic and say they will be setting up earlier next year.
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