The trail running guys who are part of SARRC and also active on
coolrunning.com.au organised this run following the Sea To Summit walking trail which goes from the ocean at Kingston Park to Mt Lofty, via Flinders Uni, Eden Hills, Belair and Cleland, avoiding roads as much as possible. The route is not signposted at all, so they did a pretty good job of marking some sections with chalk and flour. Other sections were left slightly open to interpretation; "When in doubt, go uphill" were our instructions on the start line. Did I mention that this was at 6 am?
I hoped to do this under 4 hours - wasn't going to push myself with the dodgy hip and was a bit worried about it getting warmer later on, 'cos i really lose a lot of salt when I sweat. Carried a pack with water and Powerade, and was really grateful to be met by dad and my car at a number of points so I could drink and pour water over my head (cooling off is a good thing but it washes away my own personal salt lick). Not sure how I felt about being stalked by mum who would pop up at odd points along the trail, but at least she had fun!
Sus, Lachlan & Harry were near the front from the start and I didn't expect to see them after crossing South Rd, except that they took an unintended redundancy and I took an inadvertent shortcut so I saw them again through Bellevue Heights. After that I figured they were running about 1 min/km faster than me so would finish about half an hour in front.
It was good to be joined by Zara from the halfway mark in Hawthorndene as I was flagging a bit by then - hip was annoying me, as were the blisters forming under my arches (should have worn the new socks she gave me for Christmas). Up through Belair was manageable but once we came out the top on to Sheoak Rd in the sun I really flagged. Think I needed to eat more - basically I was starving and anything I nibbled on only boosted my energy for about 5 min. Zara ran on ahead from Crafers while I found a tap, filled my hat and wore it, which cooled me down enough to keep going though I had to walk (and dodge the wanky Waterfall Gully power walkers) the last bit up from the YHA to Mt Lofty.
Very pleased to be finished! I went straight for the Vegemite jar and ate it neat :) after pouring a couple of litres of water on my head my brain became useable again. Legs may take a bit longer, I can feel my toenails turning purple as I write, but I'm really glad I did it, really glad the SARRC/Cool Running guys organised it, and starting to think maybe 6-Foot Track could be realistic one of these years!