I'm just back from crewing for Kerrie B in the Coast to Kosci (C2K) 240km ultramarathon. What an amazing 45 hours, 42 minutes and 14 seconds.
There is so much that I could say about this event and my crewing experience, but I'll keep it short. C2K is an extremely tough but tempting race, and while some people (ie, a few) put in the most extraordinary performances to run ultra marathon fast, others (ie, most) have to draw on courage they didn't know they had just to plod through the pain and exhaustion to survive it and get across the finish line. This year, Pam, who I train with every week, had one of the former experiences, running a great race and placing 2nd female, while Kerrie, who I was crewing for, had one of the latter experiences and did it exceptionally tough from about the 100km mark.
Pam had had a brillant lead up - plenty of consistently high kilometre training weeks and recent tough race experience in the form of Badwater. Kerrie had had a less than optimum lead up - ongoing injuries and not enough long run training. I think this event more than many others is where there's not much scope for good luck on the day or a day when it "all comes together". I think this event more than many others is where what you get out of it is a pretty good reflection of what you've put in to it beforehand.
I am equally pleased and proud of both Pam and Kerrie, and I think Kerrie's comment "finishing today means more to me than when I won this event" is extremely pertinent.
Now it is rest time for everyone - runners and crew alike. And then of course it will be on to "what next?".
And just for the record, I'm taking on notice the question I was asked numerous times - ie, "if/when will I run Coast to Kosci?".
Photo: Supporting Kerrie (centre) very literally to the very end of C2K
4 comments:
Excellent piece of writing Liz. I could ' feel' the pain. Congratulations to both Kerrie and Pam and their crews. A great job done by all competitors. Can't tell you how humble one feels after following such effort.
Yes, great job by the crew. I didn't think she'd make it looking at the splits Saturday night. 140k of 'doing it tough' is a LONG time!
If/when you do it, hope you can prepare well and have the 'Pam experience'.
Oh my goodness, that sounds like one tough event. What an achievement to just finish and what a great support crew you were:)
Brilliant job by all concerned.
Post a Comment