Big dogs Backyard ultra 20 23
Since the race has finished I’ve been trying to figure out what happened, yes I got to 74 hours and with how I was feeling I was so happy with that. I do question why I felt like that? How can I change it? It’s the want to learn so we are planning for 2025 already…
I had qualified for this race from the race in Rettart Germany running 89 hours and being the assist… I have waited for bigs for 2 years as the last time I was meant to go we couldn’t get visas due to covid. We were all set to go, Annabelle was crewing for me back then too, she generously contacted me to see if I needed a crew. This time I wanted to give her first refusal on crewing,, she was delighted to do it. We spoke on the phone a few times on the lead up and we had the same mindset surrounding the race,, we are here for the long haul.. she promised to get me to the start line every hour, all
I had to do was promise to come back before each hour,
Big Dogs Backyard is one of the most iconic races in the world of running and meeting Laz himself for the first time he is kind of celebrity status among us runners…
The course is technical during the day (I didn’t realise how technical it would be)and an out and back on road (not flat at all)
Everyone is allocated a spot in the big tent it looked like a graveyard with peoples names, we also had a shared tent with 1 other runner but we had our tent too,, more privacy and a quiet place to sleep when needed.
The plan was Annabelle would sleep between laps, with a big sleep during the day so I could tend to myself for those couple of hours, this obviously didn’t go this way as she greeted me at the start/finish line every hour without fail. It was amazing to have her there.
As the hours ticked by I felt good, I kept consistent my lap times were decent and I was getting some sleep,, food was going in but it was so hot and humid at times it was not digesting, we tried to keep on top of salt intake too, there is so much you need to be aware of with in this race, this is why the crew person is so important, they need to adjust on the fly or the race will end…
I went through a bad night the second night and part of the morning, it lasted for about 14 hours, we were 40 hours into the race and I was fit to drop out, I mentioned this to Annabelle and she worked wonders to get me back on track, we ended up having an amazing day after that full of energy and rejuvenated…
When the night loop comes it’s so mentally tough, runners are moving from side to side you know they are falling asleep, I found myself a few times nearly in the hedges because of this,, an armadillo ran across in front of me one of the nights and I didn’t know if I was hallucinating or not…
Into the 3rd night of running we still had a record number on the start line it was insane,, everyone here for one thing… to do our best and this is exactly what was happening… as I predicted it was going to go far… I again was starting to struggle, this time energy levels were non existent, I felt under so much pressure, how long could I last doing this… we changed to the day loop on 72 hours I thought this will give the the lift I needed… it wasn’t, I grinded out 2 loops,, legs beginning not to react to anything…
The last loop…
I was losing energy rapidly, still questioning why? Is it the heat, is it food, is it salts… whatever it was it was having a massive impact on me…
Time was going fast like the hands on the clocks were going quicker,, I was dragging my feet, tripping falling, picking myself up,, trying to move… I knew the points I’d needed to be at, I knew the times I needed to reach them, I also knew I was behind….. fuck I can’t move, my body won’t react.. I see Laz’s house, I hear the whistles my heart sinks… it’s over… I’ve given all I had over the 3 days and for once I can say I am proud of myself.
It’s been a tough year for me to get to this race, just to compete.. I’ve had a stress fracture to my femur which kept me out of running for the first 7 months of the year, when I eventually got back running I torn my calf muscle another 3 weeks off running… I tried to keep confident that I could compete in the race and I did what I could on limited training… as Marcus reminded me this morning after me bombarding him with why questions… he said I have not had as little running training for a race since we started together nearly 5 years ago, he was surprised I got to 74 hours…
I have had incredible support from Ireland and across the world… I’ve met some amazing people on this trip, I have created some life memories and I have learned so much… we are preparing for 2025 to return to bigs, you can not have a bad lap in bigs as Laz reminded me…
We seen a new world record set of 108 hours by the veteran Harvey Lewis, we seen guys and girls push their limits of endurance… all done with a friendly smile and encouragement for each other… this is sport, this is Backyard Ultra running.
Thanks to @searchingforzocherman for some pictures
