Aussie Dust

Sunday 18th December, David completed the 46kms 6 inch marathon on  the Munda Biddi trail.

Finishing in good form 61st out of 115 runners.

Everyone agreed that the course was very rugged and steep.   David was very happy with his run up to 37kms but not having the kilometres in his legs through lack of training, was finding it very tough.

With only 2kms to go, David was hoping to finish in 5 hours 2 minutes, when he took the wrong track costing him an additional 10 minutes.

With the track being so remote, getting lost was easy to do.  With the insistence of race organizers, all runners had to take 2 litres of water.

But within a couple of minutes of finishing the race, David recovered and ended well.

What David is up against because of his knee, is that he can’t train the big distances that he likes to run. Bit of a catch 22 situation! In plain language David’s right knee has run out of cartlidge, having had three arthroscopes on the right knee and two on the left.

David feels that the writing is on the wall, but as all you runners out there know, most of us runners aren’t too smart. We just love to run.

While not the best run to do with a dodgy right knee and keen to do another big run, David is going to run the  the 46km 6inch Track Marathon Sunday 18th December 2011.

The event starts in darkness at 4.30am at the North Dandalup end of Del Park Road, and winds it’s way up and down, gullies along the Munda Biddi  Track back into Dwellingup.

The course is one of the hardest marathon course David has attempted and is likened to a hike and starts with a steep climb for 2 – 3km.

To date David has only had one training session on the track with fellow runners, some of which have fallen numerous times and taking water with you is compulsory.

Also in the run is Karen March who is running brilliantly. Both Karen and her husband Peter intended to run together, but Peter was forced out due to a recurring calf injury.  Peter & Karen completed the course last year in 5 hours 1 minute.

The event organizers are hoping to attract 180 runners.

This run is not for the faint hearted.

You might be wondering what’s been happening with David since he had the arthroscope  in late November.

Unfortunately it hasn’t healed as well as it could and is causing him pain.

So for now David has cut back his running schedule and has been looking at alternatives such as implants (which are too short lived and expensive).

The frustration is driving him mad but our  plan now is to  meet with the surgeon to see if anything else can be done.

Amities Jo

Dave in full flight

It’s been eight weeks since David had the arthroscope done on his right knee and after a regime of rest, swimming and gym David is starting to get  back into running again.

At the Master’s run today he completed 8kms in under an hour without any discomfort.  Prior to that the obstruction he felt under his kneecap and inability to bend his knee ensured that running was not an option.

This week he will be stepping up his running(slowly) to get back to better running times

At the finish

A dark 5.30am start

Since our last blog David has had an arthroscope done on his injured right knee to repair a torn meniscus.

Tuesday 27th December will be a third week since the op and recovery has been much slower than in previous operations.  So to keep active David has been filling in his time doing gym sessions and non load bearing swimming at our local Beatty Park swimming pool.

Last weekend gave us an opportunity to return the support given to us in the run across Australia when we joined fellow Masters runners Karen & Pete March in   the very difficult 46km 6 inch run at Dwellingup. The race started at 5.30am in chilly windy conditions up a massive 3km at the start, over unstable pee gravel  to finish the very hilly cross country run. Peter who entered the race paced Karen to finish in a fantastic time of  slightly over 5 hours and first in her age category.

Also running was the winner of the 2010 Balzano Wheelbarrow Race Kalgoorlie (Age Category) Grant Wholey and fellow Hash House Runner Slammer.  Grant did very well in the wheelbarrow race knocking 8 minutes off this run time last year.  Finishing the 6 Inch run Sunday, Grant said that this run was one of his hardest runs.  He came in a very creditable 4 hours 33 mins 52 secs which put him in the top 20.

Having spoken to the runners the 6 Inch Run is one of the hardest Ultra Marathon runs on the circuit.  Needless to say David was very envious of the nearly 90 runners.