I could just cheat and refer to my log from Jan 4th 2009 or you could go to
http://www.sarrc.asn.au/sea2summit.html while I have a nap because I am a little stuffed right now. The Sea to Summit trail from Seacliff to Mt Lofty via O'Halloran Hill, Flinders Uni, Eden Hills, Belair and Cleland has undergone some refinements so that now only about 8km of it follows roads and the rest is all bush tracks. Therefore it's a bit rougher/takes longer than 2 summers ago but at least the water in the creek through Eden Hills, which we had to cross 6 times, had gone down a lot since last weekend!
About 120 people started from the beach at Seacliff at 7.30am and I decided that I wouldn't chase anyone because I'm not real fast at the minute and the whole point of the run was to pace myself okay. I hoped that my one muesli bar and a snaplock bag of scroggin would be eough to sustain me and I figured I didn't need to carry water with 9 drink stops on offer (the Powerade was very welcome at the later ones). By the first drink stop at the 5km mark I'd already decided that I needed my hat so it was convenient to be able to wave at George who was manning the drink station, then raid our ute for said hat, and carry on. Second drink stop on the Flinders Uni ring road was manned by my parents who had kindly agreed to do so at the last minute when Terry was desperate for helpers. I was slightly horrified to note that mum was wearing a jumper with a puff-paint penguin on it which had been my pride & joy when I was about 14 (maybe I should borrow it back for Lauren's 80s-themed party. Or not.)!
In the next bit through Bellevue Heights I passed a guy who said "you know where you're going, I'll stick with you for a bit" but then used up all his breath telling me how he hopes to qualify for the Western States 100-mile in the US so it only took me a couple km to drop him. Through the Eden Hills singletracks and creek I caught a couple of people including a girl who had been in sight for a while, then I was on my own through Hawthorndene (1.42 at the 17km mark, still on 6 min/km) and the bottom part of Belair. Echo Tunnel was fine 'cos I didn't need to duck :) then a couple of guys passed me going up the steep sections towards each waterfall. Could tell my hamstrings were tightening on these but nowhere near as badly as on the long run 2 weeks ago. It was just beautiful through the park with the whiff of wattle blossom in the air. Came out the top of the park at 2.30 I think, then tackled the hill up Sheoak Rd which has never not been a bastard. Knew that I was getting low on energy, and also food, so just kept nibbling mouthfuls of scroggin and the odd salt tablet. It was nice to have a flat section into Crafers because I knew the last 3-4km along the Spa track would be hard work, and it was. From the final drink stop there was about 1km flat which I pushed a bit, then even harder was the final 400m straight up to Mt Lofty where my hamstrings finally decided they had had enough and I could hardly muster a jog, much less the enthusiasm to greet parents right then!
But hey, I did good, I think. Originally I was hoping for 3.12 which would have been 6 min/km average but given that Nicole Butterfield did 3 hrs flat, and she's in pretty good form, I'll take 3.26, especially as the distance was a bit over 32km. Also, she was the only woman in front of me (may not have been the case if Lauren or Susanne were running). Zara did the 15 (probably 15.5km) from Hawthorndene in 1.37 so she's moving quite well; by comparison I did 1.44 for that section. In hindsight, I could have done with taking in a little more food/salt/fluid on the run, but I got away with it apart from the headache I have now which is causing me to procrastinate on checking the final draft set of Aust Long champs maps.