"The Yurrebilla Trail is one of Adelaide's treasures. The trail winds its way through a series of National Parks and Conservation Reserves under the Mt Lofty summit, as it makes its way across the western face of the Adelaide Hills. Never more than 12 km from the centre of Adelaide, the trail offers stunning views, amazing gorges, waterfalls, wildlife and wildflowers. Commencing at Belair Railway Station in the south, the trail climbs 1865 metres and descends 2060 metres before it reaches its destination at Ambers Gully, Athelstone. Runners are required to run on only a few roads which connect the end of one bush track to the start of another trail. "

A couple of weeks ago (23/9/12), I ran my first Ultra marathon - along the glorious Yurrebilla trail in Adelaide.  It runs from the Belair train station, about 20 mins from the city to the south.  You can check out a map here.  

I chose to start in group B - aiming to finish the 56km in between 7.5 and 9.5 hrs.  There was a group intending to run slower that started an hour earlier, and a fast group to start an hour later.  We were a big mob - over 100 people by my estimate, assembling on a cool and overcast morning, lining up for 1 of 2 portaloos, placing our drop bags in the designated places and meeting up with running mates.  I took my time at the start, starting well back in the grouping and running with Diane, and then with Emma.  We then ran through the Belair National Park, into Brownhill Creek, down an amazing series of switchbacks and then around the hills face at Mitcham.  I took a tumble at about 11km in, after a quick pitstop at the caravan park left me running alone for a bit.  I tripped, landed in a bush on my left hip with a little scrape of my hands.  I was fine, but it did give me a fright, and I spent a fair bit of time after that running slowly and being pretty vigilant as to how my hips were feeling.  I did catch up to Emma and Diane eventually and I spent most of this time chatting to Emma who had won the 24 hr running event in Adelaide the last couple of years.  I worked out pretty quickly however that we may have been able to run on the flat at a similar pace, but my downhill skills were not up to par.  We were passed by our first Group A runners only 2 hours in - a couple of guys had run our first two hours in only 1.  It was at about this point that we also came across our first Group C walkers.  We popped out onto the old Mt Barker Rd at Eagle on the Hill and ran along the road there for a while.  A koala joined us for a little while - waddling up the road, before crossing over at the site of the old petrol stations.  It's funny -  I think my running style matched his a few hours later.

We dropped back into national park again here - Cleland, for a trip along the track and then onto the stretch affectionately known as 'highway one' - the main Mt Lofty walking track.  We took the turn off to head straight uphill and then to the Cleland Carpark for our first major checkpoint.  Our numbers were marked here, there was food and drinks available, and our drop bags were available - I  had packed spare socks and gels as well as a spare t shirt.  It had been forecast to rain, but that was holding off for the morning.  I was about 30 minutes ahead of schedule at this point (it was around 10 am) - on target for about a 7 hr finish, and feeling pretty comfortable.  Leaving the carpark, we joined the Heysen trail, the major trail in South Australia, and ran on very familiar tracks towards Summertown and Greenhill Rd.  My dear friend Ruth had popped out to see me and called out as I was running, still with Emma here.  I hadn't realised we came so close to such a familiar spot.  Clambering over a style that ran over a barbed wire fence after more than 3 hours of running (and walking, to be fair) did give me pause to think on how these legs would still be travelling in another 4 or 5 hours.

The next national park on the trip was Horsenell Gully - a lovely park with rugged trails, and this is where Emma left me for good - the descent into said gully was steep and technical and all of a sudden, my knees were feeling pretty geriatric - just diffusely sore and swollen.  I am not confident running downhill at the best of times -  I don't trust my balance (I think surfers and skateboarders would have an advantage here, and my years of rowing and therefore balancing on my butt doesn't give me any advantage at all) plus I am a big scaredy cat when it comes to risk of falling and injury.  It is one thing to run alone, another to try to work next week with a busted wrist.  I ran alone for quite a long time here, up the otherside of the gully, across the top towards Norton Summit, and then along the trail towards Morialta.  A loo break at Norton Summit, greeting some familiar but faster runners on the approach to Morialta as they passed me, running slower and slower with my sore knees.  I had forgotten to bring my earphones, and was left for a long time with only my thoughts for company.  As much as the views are spectacular, for so much of the time running on trails I needed to keep my eyes squarely on the ground so I didn't trip again.  

Charlie was spending the morning with the kids at Little Athletics, so by this point of the afternoon I was hoping he would be able to pop up at one of the checkpoints to say hi.  Every time I knew I was getting closer to a drink station, I'd keep imagining seeing him and the kids, falling into his arms, describing how this was much more sore than I had thought it would be, getting a hug and a drink and then going on my way again, tearing up all the way.  I'd screen all the cars - a silver car with bike racks on the roof, and every time, I wouldn't see his car - so many so similar.  Then after passing the drink stop, I'd get all teary again.  The Morialta Barns checkpoint was a big stop - rice cream, coke and buns in addition to the fruit, lollies, chocolate, chips, muesli bars, up and go, water, cordial and gatorade.  It also represented only 21km to go.  That's funny - only a half marathon left for the run for the day.  Easy peasy.  On my very very sore knees.  I'm quite glad no one was around to pay attention to my running style.  My shoulders were high, trying to help lift myself up each step as  my legs were not pushing me along well with the knee pain.  I was however, pretty confident that there was nothing seriously wrong with them - both hurt about the same, in a very diffuse way, not particularly worse uphill or downhill vs running on the flat, but generally not liking to move very much into flexion.  I figured they had just had enough of me trying to run.  I could respect that position.  But I was always going to keep running.  It was no way sore enough to make me stop.

There were 9 stops along the whole route for drinks and snacks.  I mainly ate fruit and lollies, with a couple of squares of chocolate as well as water at each opportunity.  I ran with a camelback on, but I think I only had 1500ml or so of that for the day.  I certainly didn't run it dry.  I carried bandaids and tape and some gels, but didn't use any of them.  I also had a table printed out with my projected times through each of the drink stops to finish at 7.5 hrs vs 8 hrs. Going through Morialta, I was acutely aware of having not seen any B group runner for hours.  I had passed C Group walkers, and been passed by many A Group runners, so I ran alone.  Heading into Morialta, more familiar territory for me, running slowly, slowly, being passed.  Therre were 'Germans' manning the Deep View Lookout (coke on offer here!) , then the long haul up to Moores Rd.  I passed a couple of younger runners who are patients of mine - I was pleased to see them - and hit a fairly short lived good spot.  I didn't slow down so much with fatigue as others were, so was making a little ground on a few people.  I ran with Doug Smart for some of it - local running legend and wearer of the Number 1 bib as one of the 7 runners to have run all 6 Yurrrebilla Ultras.  He is 69 years old and has run more km this year than I have in my life.  He did the 100km trailblazer this weekend, only 2 weeks after Yurrebilla.  I pulled away from him, and after a little while saw Terry Cleary up ahead - another running legend, wearer of Bib #2, and the guy who possibly does the most to encourage other runners to come on out and join in.  I caught up to him, and ran with him for a while along the sandy trail on the ridge. I was feeling fine, until we started to go down a little.  Even though we were still on good track, the slight decline on the road made a difference to my knees, so I farewelled Terry, and then Doug, who steamed past me so solidly, I knew there was no chance of catching him again in the remaining few km.  

Down a steep descent, and onto Montacute Rd for the final bit of road running.  At the final drink stop at the base of Black Hill, a final drink, words of encouragement, and up the hill that is timed top and bottom for the 'King of the Mountain'.  Needless to say, I didn't trouble anyone much with that.  But I did do it in about 30 minutes - I had run it 26 minutes the week before , so it surprised me how much I hadn't slowed down.  Jo Kruk won that section this year - 20 minutes, on her way to finishing 3rd overall and 3rd woman.  She has the KOM record from last year - 17 minutes something, and she finished 4th overall in the Gobi Desert March this year. I shared some of this climb with Barb which was lovely, chatting away again, until she hit her stride again on the flat at the top of the hill.  My slow shuffle continued, seeing Derilyn on top of the hill ringing her bell and signalling only 1km or so to go down Ambers Gully.  A dry waterfall.  Very steep stony 'stairs'.  With no handrail.  I would have liked a handrail.....

Slowly, carefully, I met up with David Close on this closing segment - he organises the Sunday morning sessions that I regularly run, springing away on his 75 year old legs.  I feel pretty privileged to watch these people, admire their running technique and even more so, their ability to keep doing it year on year.  I am such a youngster in the scheme of things out here, which is pretty refreshing.  I'll never trouble the podium, but this is potentially something I can do for the next 30 or 40 years.  Pretty cool.

The last little bit, along the gentle decline, through the trees, around the bend and there we were - the finish.  The loud speaker.  Charlie.  The kids were over the road on their scooter, so I didn't see them.  At the finish I was surrounded by all the people I had run with at various times, smiling, congratulating me on finishing.  I hugged Charlie, thanked Kirsty for bringing my warm clothes from Belair, received my medal from Sadie Cranston, Race Director, and had a spot to eat.  And drink.  Warm clothes, exchanged stories with other runners, then wait for the bus ride back to the footy club and my car.

I finished in 7 hrs 53 mins.  Exactly where I had hoped to (I had said I was planning on 8 hrs - they suggest twice your marathon time plus a bit).  I was surprised to see just how well some runners had finished - people I run with on our shorter runs, so I plan to do a bit more leg strength work and see if I can toughen up my legs for the downhills.  More practice on the hills, developing some trail skills as well as doing some of the long runs again (4 hrs vs 2 hrs) in the lead up to it.  I hadn't done a lot of training in the 5 weeks between the Adelaide  marathon and Yurrebilla - just 2 runs a week, although almost all of them were on trails.  So there is plenty of room to improve.  I'll target sub 7 hours, I figure :)

One other exciting thing to note - I ran the City To Bay fun run on September 16th with my 9 year old son, Luca.  He had been talking about it for almost a year - definitely since I ran the NY marathon last November.  I kept offering for him to join me on my shorter runs, but he kept declining, and then with a couple of months to go, I confirmed he still wanted to enter, and he did a couple of runs with me, and a couple with his dad.  A grand total of 4 or 5 runs of 4.4, 6.6, 7.5 and 8.1 km.  He expressed some concern that he hadn't done a 10k yet, but I reassured him that he'd be ok.  He plays soccer and hockey through the winter, along with the typical boy thing of playing footy 4 times a day in addition to PE and fitness sessions at school.  

On the day, he expressed horror at my wearing my Jodi Lee Foundation tutu, until I told him about all the other people we'd see in costume.  As soon as we arrived near the start area, we saw Jack Lee (Jodi and Nick's son) with a group of other JLF runners and walkers.  We were asked if Jack could run with us (rather than his younger sister), so I was running with 2 little boys - Jack had his tutu on too.  Off we went, eventually (25 minutes after the first runners started), and as is typical, we went a little faster than we planned.  I  had picked 6 minute pace as our target - 72 minutes for the 12km event.  We headed out at around 5:30 pace, but after 2 km, the boys were feeling pretty comfy, so I left it there.  At 4km, we were on target for a 66 minute run, and the boys were feeling good, negotiating the crowds and the drink stops well.  At 8km, we were on target for 65 minutes, and Luca said 'I wish we could have done it in 59 minutes'.  Still 4 km to go, buddy!!  Down the last little bit along Jetty Rd and Luca had dropped a few meteres behind me, but the crowds were such that I lost visual contact - I slowed down and called out, then once he saw me and saw me calling, he decided I must have meant it was time to sprint to the finish.  The little lightweight tore off, and by the time I realised he was sprinting for the line and not just to catch up, I had to sprint all out, too.  Jack came with me, but Luca was too fast.  For the first time, he outsprinted me.  My 3:10 pace wasn't enough.  Luca crossed the line in 1 hour, 4 minutes, 40 secs.   I was 2 secs behind, and Jack another 1 sec behind me.  Luca told me the next day, he really just wanted to beat Jack.  The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

And I'm going to need to get in some sprint training before next years run, so we can go under 59 minutes.  And the next year, I'll have to arrange a point to meet up with him at the finish, once he's had a drink and a stretch!  He was the second fastest 9 year old this year.

And, as always, if you want to learn more about the Jodi Lee Foundation, screening for bowel cancer or would like to donate to the Jodi Lee Foundation and support my quest to run a marathon on each of the seven continents, please click on the links.  Or follow me on facebook :)