Ultrarunner fighting Atrial Fibrilation (AF)

This blog has pretty much always been about running ultras, mostly Hardrock. It still is but now it is also about running after AFib. I was forced to miss Hardrock in 2011 due to the onset of AF but my long term goal was to get back to running milers. And hopefully help any other runners with AF who stumble upon this site. I never made it into Hardrock in 2012, or 2013, or 2014. I didn't have a qualifier for 2015. I ran Fatdog in Canada instead. That was tough. I finished my 4th Hardrock in 2016 and now I'm back to try for the magical number 5.

If you want the history of my AF the heart problems all started back on May 25 2011: http://howmanysleeps.blogspot.com/2011/05/out-of-hardrock.html

Friday, February 22, 2008

Maroondah Dam 50

This was my seventh Dam run. I set my pb here way back when I first
started running ultras around 99 or 2000. That was 5:20 I think. I
bettered that last year off some solid Western States training (it
was delayed until April due to fire danger) down to 5:18 and second
place in a depleted field. This year I was hoping to go sub 5:30 as
an indicator that I was in good shape but I didn't back off in the
lead up and spent the afternoon before running some tough parts of
the course to help mark it. So I was pretty happy with a solid finish
in 5:34. I actually think I was ahead of last years pace (we got lost
near the start last year) up to the 20 km mark. But without the
incentive of a podium and someone to race against, I drifted on the
back part of the course. After stopping for a wee in the first 2kms I
was near the back of the field. I then worked my way back past a heap
of runners for the rest of the race. I caught up to Kelvin at about
the 30km checkpoint. He was surprised to see me. I think he thought
we were on a better pace than we were as well. He took off and stayed
in front of me all the way to the top of Mt St Leonards. I really
didn't want to catch him. I knew if I did, it would become a match
race. We almost ended up racing down one big hill while course
marking the day before. I flew past him on the really steep downhill
off the mount. I quipped to him that he was getting old. He hates
being beaten and is not a bad downhill runner so I spent the next
10km to the finish looking over my shoulder waiting for him to catch
me. I really cranked it up and was redlining all the way to
Donnelly's Weir. If he caught me after that it would have been all
his. He told me he caught glimpses of me but never got close,
finishing a couple of minutes behind me. Phew. It was hot but a
really great run. There was some controversy on CR about the course
markings cutting the course short but it was insignificant and I
reckon a more scenic singletrack than the open rutted fourwheel drive
track. My quads were shot for a couple of days. It would be good to
run parts of that course again before going to the states but it is a
long drive. Only 2 weeks now until 6 foot. Looking forward to that one.

1 comment:

plu said...

Good to see you still at it. cheers Plu