The weekend just gone has been my toughest, and most rewarding, test. I have done an Ironman before, but that came with a start line and a finish line. The Relay for Life, as I wanted to run it had a finish line only in time, as at 3pm Sunday and the 24 hours between the start (3pm Saturday) and the finish was an unknown entity.
Firstly, I can never say enough amazing things about the gang of women (and assorted helpful husbands, partners and children) that make up the Pyjama Gang; my new “team”. I “invited” myself aboard…well I did ask, and from day dot they have been supportive of me being involved and the purpose I wished to use the Relay event for. It can never be understated how important the Relay is, in and of itself, as a major fundraiser for cancer prevention, awareness and research. This year WA managed to raise over $750,000 dollars towards the national total; I think WA was the biggest earning state as well. The Pyjama Gang is a not small part of this success. These women have tirelessly fundraised over the last year to generate over $22,000 in donations! They finished with being awarded 3rd place in the highest earners of the Community Groups category; and I proudly got to walk with them. All of us driven personally to acknowledge the way that cancer has affected our lives and the lives of those we love; acknowledge and fight back by attempting to be part of the solution.
Before the weekend I fiddled with spreadsheets on projected laps and distances, times and nutrition; and then I decided to leave it all at home. I knew how I wanted to manage my nutrition and hydration, and bearing that in mind, I simply started. As I’ve never done this type of thing, or moved for the kind of distances I was projecting I could do, all I could do was to see if I could keep going until I couldn’t go anymore and hope that I made it until the 3pm finish of the Relay.
The Gang gathered from about lunch time to set up our “home” for the weekend. I tried to arrive earlier than I did, but ended up getting there a little after 1pm. It was hot!!! I couldn’t believe the moderate weather we had had the previous weekend had deserted us. It was close to 35C. The setup at the stadium was fantastic. Food vendors, tents, entertainment; colourful and crowded! It was quite a spectacle and I was excited to get started. I organised my food and drink and bits and pieces I might need over the next 24 hours and all the women were asking what they could do to help. I taped my feet, put on my shoes, donned my pj’s (over my running clothes), slapped on some sunscreen and gathered with the others on the track for the opening lap. The front of the group was set aside for survivors of cancer and their carers; to walk a lap of honour to kick of the Relay. People spoke, survivors and dignitaries alike and finally we were underway. With a walk lap we rounded track and came under the inflatable start gate for a 2nd time and this is where the counting of laps commenced! I determined I would run while I could and walk when I couldn’t, and despite the fact that it was 35C I figured I might be too tired to run later if I chose to only walk now…so I set off at a run.
My plan was to run 4 laps and walk 1; each 5 laps giving me 2kms. I had my camelback on water and had food, electrolytes and anything else I might need set up on a table in front of our tent and next to the track. We had a fantastic spot! I checked my watch and made myself run slower even though I was feeling good. I am inexperienced at this but know enough to not run too fast or I wouldn’t last too long. I fell into a comfortable pace of between 6:10-6:20min/km. It didn’t seem like any time at all that 4 hours had passed and my walk/running had knocked off 32kms already. I was feeling great! I had ditched the camelback as I found I needed the toilet about 3 times and hour and I guessed I must be over hydrating myself. It was annoying, not only because I had to leave the track, but also because I was doing something wrong obviously. If I had to pee, I had to pee…I tried not to get hung up on it, and hoped that without the water right on my back I might balance the “in and out” a little better. Every time I started a walk lap I grabbed a drink bottle and sipped until I reached my supply table again and began running. I was in a rhythm…
That is until from one lap to the next my min/km pace increased by a minute…just like that. I pushed on a little and it didn’t seem like I could keep up the pace and at this point I started to walk. I was a bit disappointed but knew I had a long night ahead of me and things could change at any time. That is the unknown thing with distance running; most people never go far enough to know how their body will adapt and change over greater lengths of time and distance. We run 5 or 10km and are mostly satisfied. This was a different kettle of fish.
I walked and walked and it was mind numbing. With the kms clocking off quite quickly while I’d been running, it seemed so slow while walking. What was worse was my old shoes were struggling. After last weekend’s 36km run I knew my shoes would present a problem for the Relay. I had contacted Michelle at Rebel Sport about getting some new ones, but she had to order them in and they wouldn’t be available before the Relay. So old shoes it was and I was hoping the rebound surface of the track would give longevity to the “spring” in my shoe; what little left there was. It seemed to for a while and then nothing would help them. I persisted for as long as I could and then I had to change to the older, but less worn, Brooks Adrenaline’s I’d bought before Christmas that “coincided” with my right leg having problems. I knew I shouldn’t run in them, but surely they’d make the walking more comfortable. That seemed to work for a while.
It was now after 1am and I noticed that my walking was getting faster and faster. There was now a noticeable chill in the air and I was feeling more awake than I had. I had told myself if I just kept going I would find out how my body responded! It was waking up. Close to 2am I decided it was time to put the other shoes back on and run while it was cool and I felt like it, and to see how far I could go. Knocking another 20kms or so on the head sounded much more appealing than the 4-5km/hour I was walking. I felt renewed and another 3 hours passed by with my 4 laps run/1 lap walk scenario. I was still peeing too much, but I didn’t want to risk dehydrating myself, so I put up with it. By 5am my feet were flat, again, and I’d run another 20kms. I started walking again and my eyes were really heavy so I decided to have a rest, eat and drink and change into my walking shoes.
Our camp site was quiet with a few of the gang still awake, while some had disappeared for a sleep. They all enquired how I was and “motherly” suggested I take a nap. Gosh it sounded appealing and my eyes had been closing while I’d walked the last few laps. I thought maybe it’s not so bad if I lay down for just a minute and I agreed… “but only for 30minutes”… “how about an hour?” was the reply and I must’ve mumbled yes as I was woken at 6am. I rolled over and said “another hour?” and I was woken up at 7am as the loud speaker system was waking up for the day and offering people bacon and eggs, juice and coffee! Sounded nice, but I didn’t want to take any more time to have a sit-down breakfast, so I grabbed something to eat (I had boiled potatoes, boiled eggs, marmite or PB sandwiches…as well as other things). It all started to taste the same after this many hours and I was feeding myself because I knew I had to and not because I was hungry.
I still had the Adrenaline’s on my feet and I couldn’t be bothered to change them but wanted to try and run for a while again. The ironic thing about all of this is that my legs were ok. They were tired, that’s a given, but they weren’t sore; no pulled muscles, no aching joints…I was really amazed. I really wanted to be able to run and the main thing that was preventing me was the soles of my feet. They were flatter than a crepe! I ran for another little while and clocked about 5kms, giving me a total of about 72kms, and that was the end of my running for the morning and it wasn’t even 8am! It was going to be a long time until 3pm and I was wondering if I’d make it to my goal of 100kms. At that time I was just hanging out for my kids to turn up and walk with me and boost me up so that I could finish.
They finally arrived at 11am and at that time, from memory, I was up to about 83kms…this walking was slow work, especially when you can’t feel your feet. I was so glad to see them, even if MGirl was stressed about her essay she was in the middle of. She’d brought her lap top and sat in the tent to work on her essay, but she was here in support of me. CBoy was charged and ready to lap, except for when he was eating some of my food (I’d packed way too much!). It must’ve been hours he walked with me, holding my hand, walking slightly in front and dragging me along. From time to time he even encouraged me to run again, and I ran a lap and walked a lap for another 30 minutes. I think this was secretly so he could sit and eat! Time dragged, but it was easier with him by my side and I finally found myself at over 95kms with time to spare. I knew I was going to make the 100kms within the time and felt like I was nearly at the end. We walked some more and when I had two laps to go I thought my feet wouldn’t make it. I had to stop and we went to the inside of the track, up to a steeplechase hurdle that had been pushed off to the side, and I lay on the ground with my feet in the air. CBoy chatted to me, reminding me it was only 2 laps, and asked me if I wanted to take off my shoes. I’d seen a lot of people walking barefoot from time to time and now it seemed like a good idea. He gently undid my shoelaces and pulled of my shoes and socks and it felt awesome to have air on my feet! I lay there for a few more minutes and he finally pulled me to my feet, as he tried to hand me my shoes!!! I suggested he run them back to the tent and I would start walking so he could catch up with me. Hand in hand we walked the last two laps. With one lap to go we called MGirl onto the track to walk with us…and finally I crossed the line having done 100kms…all of this and it was only 2.15pm! I didn’t care at that point that I could’ve (and should’ve) walked another 45minutes, I wanted off my feet and onto the massage table. I wanted to rip the taping off my feet and get them to massage them…sadly I only got 6 minutes for my gold coin donation. But it was bliss. I had to ask her to press harder on my feet as I couldn’t really feel anything!
As 3pm approached I started to feel better and we all gathered together to walk the final lap; the kids and I and another Gang member was all that was left. The others had needed to leave due to other commitments, they’d all been so great walking their own distances and covering many, many kilometers. It was even rumoured that one had dared to run a lap, to prove she could run, but I didn’t see it!! We sat around for a little while to watch part of the presentations. There were 6 soloists, 4 women and 2 men. The leading woman covered 294 laps, I ended up with 250; tying 2nd with a 3rd woman. I was more than happy with that as we’d all beat the leading man, who had covered 216 laps. Admittedly he was crippled for a good 12 hours of it and in a great deal of discomfort but persisted heartily, so he deserved his medal. Unfortunately there was no recognition for 2nd place, but my friends and kids gave me the accolades I needed. I’d just covered more distance on foot in one effort than I’d ever covered; running close to 50km and walking the rest to get to 100km. Already I have plans for 125km+ next year, with more experience, newer shoes and hopefully cooler weather!!
We quickly left so MGirl could get home in time to work on her essay. I tried to unpack and tidy up, but I was in bed by 5pm after a shower and an ice-bath and I was asleep before my head hit the pillow. I woke up at 9pm quite hungry and thirsty, but was back asleep before 11am and didn’t wake until after 8am the next morning. I intended to have the day off work, but work decided I should be there unfortunately, so I didn’t get to keep my feet in the air. I’d have to say though, all things considered, I can’t believe how well my body has come through this…probably all the walking, LOL! I really expected to be crippled all week and have only had a bit of stiffness on the Monday and the rest of the week I’ve been fine. MGirl says it’s the ice bath! I say it’s because I’m a finely tuned machine…bahaha! Either way I consider myself very lucky. I even managed a recovery run on Wednesday of 3km and all was good, aside from my tired legs and equally tired shoes! I was wanting to run today also, but logistics put paid to that. I was up early dropping MGirl at the airport, with me to follow tomorrow, heading off to Canberra for the women’s baseball nationals. Tonight I have to buy food for the house-sitter and CBoy so they can survive the weekend. Then up again at 3am tomorrow for my flight.
I will be forever thankful for the weekend I experienced. Challenges beyond what I expected, and friendship also; all in the name of raising funds for the fight against cancer! So many people there all lapping for people in their lives, cancer touches everyone somehow, someway, sometime. It might not be directly, but it is present in most people’s lives. I can’t believe this is the first time I’ve done the Relay as I’ve know of it for years; it won’t be my last.
