What’s 100km long, gnarly as all hell and will most probably
beat the living crap out of you if you dare to challenge it?
If you answered an extremely long Anaconda who is majorly
pissed because you just stole its eggs and pooped in its nest, I will accept
that as a valid answer. However, why anyone would steal Anaconda eggs, or poop
in its nest is beyond me. I’d be getting in touch with Guiness World Records
first of all. Actually now I think about it, that answer isn’t going to fly
anymore you egg-stealing, nest pooping freak.
I’m sure there are other equally stupid and suitable answers
but if you answered The North Face 100
ultramarathon race, you are most definitely correct.
Today I signed up for a new challenge, one I’ve wanted to
get involved in but the timing was never right…the North Face 100. The TNF100
is a 100km ultramarathon that snakes a trail up and down the massive gorges,
valleys and ridges of the Blue Mountains, just west of Sydney. It is run by
under 1000 runners on a Saturday each May (it actually goes until 11am on
Sunday, as some people don’t finish it in 24 hours-yep it’s a big one). Next
year, I will be one of those roughly 1000.
To say I’m pumped is an understatement. To say I’m
absolutely packing it, is pretty close to the mark too. It’s not the only the
fact it’s 100km that overwhelms me, among numerous other things, it’s the
elevation. Over 4500 metres in elevation over the course, meaning finishers will
have run an accumulative incline of over half the height of Mount Everest, with
not a smelly Sherpa in sight.
I know a handful of people that have done TNF100 (and some
that have been extremely competitive) and it certainly has interested me. It
was always on my bucket list, but I never seriously set my sights on it for
myself or gave it much serious thought. Never more serious than a Kardashian
marriage anyway. But now, I’ve decided next year is THE year. With our Perth to
Sydney bike ride plan scratched, I needed something to fill the void, and
although there may be a different charity adventure with the boys a-brewing,
I’m excited for the TNF100 to be a part of that hole-filling.
To regard it as simply 2.5 marathons is as foolish as a
donkey who has just bought volcano insurance and doesn’t do it justice or give
it the respect it deserves. Unlike a marathon on the smooth road, the TNF100 is
on rough trails, and also has stairs and rocks and creeks to contend with, and
even a ladder section or two down rocky cliff faces, if I’m not mistaken. With
features such as the Giant Stairway (the 900 steep stairs right by the 3
Sisters), Tarros Ladders, Kedumba Valley, the Golden Stairs (which sound at
least a little fancier), and Megalong Valley (which sounds, well mega-long),
it’s bound to be hell on the quads (and hammies, and calves!). And that dreaded
elevation I mentioned before. The elites finish this race in under 11 hours.
(Last year eleven runners went sub 11hrs, with the winner finishing in a crazy
9hrs16mins (that’s even quicker than watching the Lord of the Rings Trilogy!) The
average competitor might finish in 14-24 hours. The cut off time is 28 hours,
which would mean you would have been running/walking/crawling from 7am Saturday
to 11am Sunday. And I guess that’s nothing to scoff at-nearly half the
competitors DNF (Do Not Finish) or DNS (Did Not Start). Whether the main cause
of DNSers is because they chickened out is not known, but I’m going to assume
that’s the case.
It’s early days, but my goals are as follows:
A goal: Sub 17 hours (Midnight finish)
B goal: Sub 20 hours (3am finish)
C goal: Simply finish it
Setting an A, B and C goal is the way to go…A goal being the
one that you’re aiming for if everything goes your way, get good weather
conditions, no injuries in training, no mishaps on the course, everything goes
perfectly perfect etc. B goal being one you’re one you are realistically
gunning for, and are stoked at achieving, even if the planets didn’t align. C
goal being a bit of a back up goal, and one you’d “be happy with” at the end of
the day. This reduces the pressure a little, so you don’t end up hurling
objects and screaming and breaking tennis racquets like John McEnroe if you miss out on your main goal.
The winner of the North Face 100 gets (among other things) a
sweet engraved Gold Belt Buckle. Any runner finishing in under 14 hours gets a
coveted Silver Belt Buckle. Finish under 20 hours and you get a Bronze Belt
Buckle. Finish in over 20 hours and all you get is a pat on the back, so you
better hope your pants will hold themselves up. I’m not a big fan of wearing
pants but my goal is to get that Bronze Belt Buckle, even if only to collect
dust!
To be honest, if you don’t mind staying awake for over 24
hours and you walked the entire thing, you would most likely complete it within
the cut-off time. I think the fact some people over exert themselves and push
too hard for a particular time goal is the reason a lot of people DNF.
Unfortunately, being someone who doesn’t like to leave a lot in the tank after
an event (although something that I’m often guilty of) I am not going to
practise what I preach, and I can foresee myself either finishing in under 17
hours, or being forced to drop out entirely, more likely than finishing in a
safe walking pace of 24-28 hours total.
But I’m getting ahead of myself, and have 5 months to get training
starting TODAY! Well as I look outside there is a foot of snow on the ground…and
it’s minus 6 degrees…AND there are three games of American football on today…so
today is not looking like a good training day. Perhaps I’ll have to wait until
I’m back in Australia in six weeks. Until then I might watch the Lord of the
Rings trilogy twice in a row to work out my pacing, and download pump up songs
such as “Eye of the Tiger”…gotta start somewhere.
PUMPED!!!!!!
As long as my liver is still good for me to ruin that with post-race beers...sounds good to me!
Welcome to the jungle
Artsy fartsy
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