F.O.H.R. - Black Stump - 15k

Wow - New Years Day! 2007! Of course it would be a great idea to torture myself over 15k of 'technical trail' and sheer rock face ascents.

Actually it was absolutely great. I had the perfect lead in with dinner at Lulu's last night where I was treated to a sumptuous feast of baked Fig with blue cheese and proscuitto (entree), pork loin with orange gremolata and baby carrots and delicious little cubed potato thing - i'm sure there is a more gourmet name for them than that (main) and a cherry and raspberry tart (dessert) and a bunch of cheese (the next course...). Not to mention all the gorgeous wines and the campari with blood orange juice which was bloody amazing.

I very rudely left before midnight (under the 'crazy running expedition' clause) but proceeded to toss and turn and listen to drunks in the street (ah those were the good ole days...) till it was time to get up. The trip up to Berowra was a lot quicker than I had imagined thanks to sparkies navigation.

In the end I had a few people to run with. Jen had decided to do the full 33k version but we ran the first 8k together quite conservatively walking the hills and then Jen showing me up with her excellent downhill running skills. She went on to have a blinder finishing way quicker than she had expected. What a star :)

I ran the rest of the way with beki and blkbox and the keg and thomo for bits and pieces. The return journey from the ferry (the 8k point where the longer distance runners crossed the river) was a nightmare! But was strangely great too. A bit of a run along the water and then we started going up. 2k that took about an hour (well I have no idea how long but definitely half an hour at least!) that was predominantly up. We were mostly climbing up rocks and stairs and in some parts clambering over the rocks any way we could. Just when we would think we were at the top and start jogging again we would look up and see more rocks and groan. Eventually we hit the top and ran along some trail before we hit the road. Those last 4k of road were possibly even harder than the rocky stuff! Andy and Beki pulled away a bit here but I had to keep them in my sights because they had my map!

Finally made it in 2hr43mins- only about 15 mins faster than the fastest people doing the full version... eek!

Never mind - I think that running today is a very symbolic gesture of how I mean for the year to continue - bring it on!!!!

Key:
F.O.H.R. - "F*ck Off Hard Run" :)