Entries for one of the best trail races in WA opened this week and of course me and the boys all entered immediately. ( http://www.6inchtrailmarathon.com ) The race itself is on Sunday December 16th , 2018 and this will be the 14th running, I think, and it’ll be my 10th time. (In a row if you don’t mind. Only Nate ‘Dog’ Fawkes has run all races with Jon “Trailblazer” Phillips  second with 12 finishes..) This race is a perfect end to the year and sets you up for a long Xmas break before the Australia Day Ultra in January. We always stay the night ,or weekend, of the race at Dwellingup which is such a beautiful place and the race itself is a feast of trail running. I have written posts on my last two races , probably worth a read…. https://www.runbkrun.com/2016/12/19/sometimes-6-inches-is-enough/ and https://www.runbkrun.com/2017/12/18/its-not-a-good-trail-race-unless-you-get-lost/ There’s probably more on the blog, just type in “6 inch” in the search dialog box.  Anyhow if you live in WA , or even Australia, you need to run this race, trust me it is that good. So many good memories over the years, well mostly good, I do tend to get lost on a regular basis but that’s trail running I suppose.

I think the photo below was 2015, Jon was made to wear pink arm bands after falling in the only puddle on the whole course the previous year. He out did himself later in the race by falling in a ‘rut’ up the ‘escalator’ hill, it was big enough he had space to lay down for a rest as Michael ‘Barts’ Barton jumped over him. The following year he was forced to wear some rock climbing rope as punishment for his latest misdemeanour. Also in the photo is Jon ‘trailblazer’ Phillips giving us his best ‘blue steel’ stare. Jon has finished 12 times, a try WA running icon.

In 2016 I grew the biggest beard I could for the race in an attempt to be more”trail ready”, it didn’t help as I think I got lost even with two Garmin watches. No worries, the 6 inch is more than just a finishing time, it’s a trail running , life changing, experience. More about the journey than the destination.

As regular readers of my blog know I’m a Marathon runner first and foremost. Of course to compliment the marathon I also race anything from 4k upwards as good old fashioned ‘fast running‘ is one of the many ingredients needed in the successful marathon running recipe book. It is also good fun running fast and I recommend all runners throw in the odd tempo or threshold session once they have finished with building the ‘running engine’ with the main ingredient in any running recipe, distance.  (Can you tell I’m writing this post hungry with all the cooking analogies?)

Once in a while though it is also good to test yourself and dip your toe into the ultra world. I run the 6 inch annually ( http://www.6inchtrailmarathon.com  ) but it is an ultra really in name only, the distance varies from 46k to 48k depending on trail closures and the RD’s warped sense of ‘evilness’. You never know when a new hill (or wall as I call them) will appear! A few years ago my running buddy Ron Mcglinn created the Australia Day Ultra (ADU) , a 25K/50K OR 100K race on a 12.5k flat loop. I missed the inaugural year which featured the closest finish in racing history with my good friend Tony ‘the T-train’ Smith running over the top of Andy Wait. Andy had held off Tony until the finish straight and after, 50 kilometres, it came down to a good old fashioned sprint. What a finish and as you can see from the image below it didn’t end well for Andy. When the T-train  runs over the top of you the only way is down… great racing lads. Funnily enough I had the same experience the following year when Tony was running me down on the last 2-3 laps, luckily I had enough to hold him off and grab the last podium place but, trust me, when the T-Train is chasing you it focusses the mind !

In 2017 I raced the 100k for the first time and my journey was recorded by Rod Donkersloot on his website http://www.whywalkwhen.com , his video is available at https://vimeo.com/201134104  , worth a viewing. The race went well and I managed second place after most of the field in front of me dropped out. In an ultra it really is survival of the fittest and you can gain significant places just by continuing. Time becomes secondary to distance in an ultra, it’s not when you finished,  it’s just finishing. I was thinking about this on one of my runs yesterday and came to the conclusion that time matters less and less as you add distance. For example in a 5k run time is all important , where as finishing is just assumed. This is the same up to around the half marathon but after that, for the new runner, it’s about finishing. The non-runner doesn’t really care about time for a marathon upwards as they have no idea, normally, what a good or bad time is,  just finishing is enough to gain kudos. Actually as your distance increases the longer you take becomes even more impressive, it’s a double kudos scenario around the drink fountain at work afterwards. As always I have digressed from the subject.

ADU 2018 was just about the perfect race, which funnily enough was the title of the post I wrote describing the experience, https://www.runbkrun.com/2018/01/23/australian-day-ultra-just-about-the-perfect-race/

Everything went well and as you can see from the finish line photo below I was very happy to finish and , trust me, the runners high does improve with distance !

As the race starts at midnight sleep depravation can become an issue after you finish. I was dragged from my hotel room for the presentations early , after arranging a late check. Just as I beginning to dose off the T-Train rang me and informed me they were presenting the trophy’s early. This proved to be a mistake on Tony’s part (??) and I ended up waiting another two hours in the blazing heat of an Australian summers day. Not happy and by the time the presentations came around I was just about comatose, as the photo below shows. I then had a three hour drive home to look forward to, the joys of ultra running ?

Right, finally, the point of this post. I received in the mail yesterday my certificate confirming that I had broken the AURA ( https://www.aura.asn.au/ ) record for the 100k for the 50-54 age group. Truth be told I remember seeing one of these certificates years ago and thinking to myself I would love to get one. It may have taken a few years, mainly waiting to get into the 50-54 age group, but I finally have one. This certificate is not just reward for the race itself but for everything leading up to the event. The early mornings getting up in the dark to run alone, the lunch time sessions in the heat, the tempo and threshold sessions where you fear for your life and the long runs that seem to go on forever. It is also for everything you give up in your pursuit of your goals, that could be quality time with family, potential career aspirations, social nights out with friends or just other hobbies that are sacrificed. As I have said many, many times “Running is an honest sport”, it rewards effort but also punishes runners who do not give their all; nobody has ever finished a marathon and said they did no training and surprised themselves ! (Unfortunately?)

It’s not about receiving certificates breaking records, although that is a nice to have, it’s more about setting yourself a goal and achieving it. Ultra races give you that sense of achievement and you will find out things about yourself that may, or may not,  surprise you. Emile Zatopek was quoted as saying “If you want to run a mile, run a mile. If you want to experience a different life, run a marathon”.   There is an ultra addition to this quote of course, “If you want to speak to God, run an ultra”.  I personally have been lucky enough not to speak to God just yet but you never know what may eventuate in the future ? I would suggest speaking to God wouldn’t be an issue,  it would be hearing his reply that would unnerving ?

The Ultra crowd also seem to be more sociable than the shorter distance runners and I would put this down to an earlier point about time not being as important with greater distances. There is certainly more of a feeling of ‘belonging‘ with the ultra scene and there seems to be a more relaxed atmosphere as the burden of achieving set times goals is secondary to surviving the distance. There is a ‘in this together’ sense of comradery there is sadly missing in smaller distance events. Anything less than a marathon really is you against the clock, above a marathon it’s you against yourself, with the time secondary. In Western Australia at the moment we are blessed with a new breed of Race Director who are providing amazing events, in amazing locations. Dave Kennedy  ( http://www.6inchtrailmarathon.com/ ) , Ron McGlinn ( http://australiadayultra.com/ ) and Shaun Kaesler ( http://ultraserieswa.com.au/  ) are leading the way in making WA a hot-bed of Ultra running activity, and long may it continue.  Australia wide there is the AURA ( https://www.aura.asn.au/ ) and it seems there are races available nearly every weekend, so many opportunities to talk to God,  you’d be mad not to really ?