“Hey Mama, take this badge from me, I can’t use it anymore. It’s getting dark to dark to see, feels like I’m knocking on heavens door.
Mama put my guns in the ground, I can’t shoot them anymore. That cold black cloud is comin down.” – Guns N’ Roses
My badge? – I’m an ultrarunner.
Why it was considered I might not use it? – I have advanced cancer.
A discussion post run in a carpark in early 2023 lead to an adventure, the opportunity to challenge myself like I haven’t before, and that’s saying something because I’ve done some amazing and really hard things in my running career, pre and post Cancer.
Hard things
- Run 230.244km in 24 hours to finish 6th in the World with an Australian Age Category
- 100 miles in 15 hours 33 minutes an Australian Record at the time (22/11/2015)
- Post Cancer 100km in the Gobi Desert where I ran through a sandstorm. (Sept 2016)
- Discovering I had a cancerous tumour (secondary cancer) on my spine and told to stop running 23 August 2022.
Then this; 50km in Hong Kong with over 3500m elevation gain – tough and then an even tougher cutoff 12 hours 30 minutes to finish it. Initially I was simply going to travel with friends and support and crew. A job I love and did do. However, as I was given the all clear to run I attempted to reclaim my fitness. Things in my body have changed due to the tumour and the hormone treatment and a lot of adjustment was required physically and mentally. From time to time I have to manage pain but running has had a positive influence on my recovery and of course general well-being. Being able to join in on training runs and coaching camps felt fantastic, a reclaiming of my identity of something other than a cancer survivor.
So preparation for this event began. We trained through some hot days and to make it hard repeated things like stairs and big hills in attempt to replicate what the course might be like. Nothing can prepare you for what is ahead of you. We were warned, there are lots of stairs, the DNF rate is high. We knew the elevation gain, we needed to get as much vert as possible in our training.
We prepared, we ran within ourselves, and we all completed our events. It hurt, those climbs were unrelenting, the views were breathtaking, the course was technical, there were monkeys, there were happy locals, a well-marked course, amazing checkpoints and people simply out hiking. It was warm and humid, the fresh breeze at the peaks a welcome change, it rained, I fell and recovered and just kept going until I crossed that finish line happy to see my running mates.
So in the words of Green Day it was;
“Another turning point a fork stuck in the road. Time grabs you by the wrist, directs you where to go. So make the best of this test, and don’t ask why. It’s not a question but a lesson learned in time. It’s something unpredictable but in the end it’s right, I hope you had the time of your life.”
I HAD THE TIME OF MY LIFE.
Running Tales, Track, Road and Trail 