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DIRECT FROM GEOFFREY LANGHANS: A DIFFERENT TYPE OF RECAP
Contributed by Geoffrey Langhans, AURA member (Happy Valley, SA)
AUSTRALIAN 6 DAY FESTIVAL 48HR EVENT, ADELAIDE (SA), 5-7 October 2023
Ultrarunning is about so many things to me. The sense of achievement, the remarkable people you meet, seeing beautiful places that very few ever get to, and finding out where our limits lie and how these change over time. I’d become comfortable with events up to 24 hours, they were tough no doubt, but I knew what I would be in for and that I could get through them. It was only logical that a 48 hour event was next on the cards and I was lucky enough that the Australian 6 Day Festival had just the duration I wanted.
The festival is held at Thorndon Park Reserve, on a 1.425km concrete loop that surrounds an old reservoir. A nice spot but a brutal surface, as I discovered in the 24 hour event last year. In that race I’d cracked the 100 mile barrier for the first time and I was hoping to push deep beyond anything I’d done before in the 2023 edition. My primary goal was to make it through the 48 hours and learn from the experience. It was not about going fast, rather about pushing into the unknown and seeing how my body and mind would cope.
In the lead up to the race, I realised that all the race reports I’d read were written retrospectively, usually after the author had had a chance to recover and could fully appreciate the experience. I thought it would be novel to do something different. Throughout the race, I made short audio recordings to document how I was feeling at that exact moment. What you read below are the transcripts from those recordings.
11am October 5 – “So we’ve just ticked over an hour. 1 down, 47 to go. Feeling really good, 2 little issues. One’s passed, it started raining at the start so got a little bit wet on the first lap but it seems to have stopped now which is nice. The other issue is my watch says I’m 25:34 ahead on schedule. I made a pace plan to go slow to keep me out on track as much as possible but the body is feeling good and wants to move.”
12pm October 5 – “Okay, just past 2 hours in. It’s spitting lightly but otherwise conditions are pleasant. I’m just over 46 minutes ahead of my pace plan which sounds like a lot but I realised I’ve got 46 hours to go so really it’s only 1 minute per hour remaining ahead of schedule. Still feeling pretty good, spirits are high. It’s incredible what these 6 dayers are punching out given that they’ve been out here for 4 days already.”
1pm October 5 – “3 hours up. Weather is beautiful right now, heavy cloud, light breeze, no rain. There was a little bit of rain earlier in that hour but nothing too concerning. I’m 1 hour, 9 minutes ahead of the pace plan so still well ahead but I know that at some point that’s going to change. It’s just a matter of when.”
2pm October 5 – “4 hours in. That was by far the wettest hour but the last 30 minutes has been pretty good so most of the track has dried out. Still feeling strong, just past 34km and very much settled into my run/walk routine.”
3pm October 5 – “Well, guess which muppet jinxed things by saying the previous hour was the wettest one yet? That wasn’t as fun, still, conditions have fined up again so that’s good. I’m very wet, just holding of changing gear in case another front comes through but will probably get out of this wet stuff soon. In better news, that’s just past 5 hours so I’m over 10% through the race and during that hour I knocked of the first full mara so not fun weather but a couple of cool little milestones.”
4pm October 5 – “6 hours! A little more drizzle which is annoying. Still in my original clothes but I can’t feel any blisters or issues at this stage so happy to push a bit longer hoping this clears. Approaching 51km so still too fast overall but may as well bank a few minutes.”
5pm October 5 – “Alright, 7 hours done! It’s been a good hour weather-wise and I’m about to do a gear change on most of my stuff. Fast approaching 59kms and ticking along nicely. Hopefully, I get some visitors soon: a couple of nieces, Dad and co will pop by which will be a nice buzz. Being Uncle Geoff is my favourite thing and I’m always happy to see them so fingers crossed they’re at my aid station shortly.”
6:17pm October 5 – “The hour 8 report is 17 minutes late because some family did rock up which was awesome. So good to see them all and they got some pizza so I’ve fuelled up and just going to do a few walking laps to let it settle. I did change all my gear and am hoping I can stay dry now.”
7pm October 5 – “9 hours in which is a little exciting because it means there’s just 39 hours left so it’s nice the time remaining no longer starts with a 4. Small things. In 3 hours it’ll be my first turnaround so looking forward to seeing the track in reverse, not that it’s changed much from last year. I’ve managed to just walk the last hour and past 72km so I’m on track to make 100km before midnight which was a little goal.”
8pm October 5 – “10 hours in, 38 left. Another walking hour to give my body a chance to relax. Still keeping a good pace, about 6.5kmph. A little soreness as you’d expect, feet going well though.”
9pm October 5 – “It’s started to rain again. I’m quite confident when I take my right sock off I’ll discover a blister on the bottom of my foot which is not welcome so early in the race. Just past a double mara. Go away, rain.”
10pm October 5 – “2 milestones. A quarter of the way through the race and just had my first turnaround so looking at the track from a different perspective which is nice. Past 91km and thinking about a strategy change.”
11pm October 5 – “35 hours to go. 97km done so well ahead and originally I was thinking I’d go until I couldn’t anymore but now I’m thinking I’ll have a short breather in an hours time to patch up my feet and put my legs up for a moment.”
12:30am October 6 – “Little bit late with this one. Got distracted by dealing with blisters that are popping up. 14.5 hours. I sat down for 20 minutes tending to my feet so lost a bit of time but that’s what happens in big races. You’re not always on the move. Feeling undecided about whether I’ll have another little break and when that might be. Do I try and do it while it’s dark and get a power nap in? Do I wait until the UV is bad to avoid putting sunscreen on a little bit longer? Don’t know.”
1am October 6 – “Blisters are not fun. Almost 108km in. I’m going to see if I can push through another couple of hours and then have a power nap while it’s still dark but just playing things by ear.”
2am October 6 – “16 hours which means the race is a third of the way through, which is cool but also ridiculous that I’ve been out here for 16 hours and only a third done. I’m not sure if this is a mistake but I’m going to try to get a couple of hours sleep and give my feet a chance to rest without shoes on. Hindsight will tell if it’s the right choice.”
6am October 6 – “20 hours and first light is starting to show on the horizon. You can probably guess from the gap in my log that I did have a nap for 2.5-3 hours. It was good. Surprisingly easy to fall asleep and also not too bad to get up moving again, as tempting as it was to not do that. This is just the battle of blisters. When the sun comes up there’ll probably be more people on track which will be nice. Just going to keep plodding away for as long as I can.”
7am October 6 – “3 hours until the next turnaround which is also halfway. Not much different to report. Just trying to get to the 24 hour mark and see if I need to change anything. Weather is pretty good, bit cool but it will warm up quickly once the sun gets over the ridge. Almost 122km so lost a lot of time obviously through the nap but I’m still moving quicker than what I need to be.”
9:17am October 6 – “So I’ve forgotten about the log, which isn’t surprising given my mind is slipping. 43 minutes until halfway. Looking forward to going the other direction again although I must admit I prefer the direction we’re currently going. Don’t know why. Just how it is.”
10am October 6 – “Halfway! I can see some runners have already been turned around. I’ll be doing that too in 100m. These guys are looking very strong. Nice to be at halfway. Happy days! Almost 138km.”
12pm October 6 – “26 hours, 146km. Currently doing some more blister management, always fun. Feeling not as tired as I thought. Head feels good, guts good, legs good, just blisters on my feet. Not very fun. Oh well. 22 hours to go.”
1pm October 6 – “27 hours in. Feeling it. Blisters can piss off.”
2pm October 6 – “28 hours done which I’m excited about because it means it’s 2pm and the last time I will need to put on sunscreen. There’s also just under 20 hours left. Hooray.”
3pm October 6 – “3pm and I am starting to get a bit sleepy but yeah, just gotta keep going.”
4:30pm October 6 – “Late again. Almost 162km. I just had the courtesy massage from Alf who has donated his time. It was awesome but has made me even more sleepy.”
7pm October 6 – “173km done so I’m in PB distance territory but it’s tough. Very tough.”
11pm October 6 – “I apologise for the absence. I was broken, I’m hurting and I got stuck. I wanted to quit and I saw no way I could hit 200km but I went to my aid station, set an alarm for 90 minutes. I couldn’t sleep but shutting my eyes has given me a chance to reset. I’m almost 182km but moving very slowly.”
2:06am October 7 – “40 hours deep, just 8 left and I’m at 193.5km. I’m going to do a few more laps, I don’t know, maybe 2, maybe more and then I’m going to go close my eyes for a bit and save the 200km lap for when the sun is up because I think that would be nice and being the end of the race there should be more people out.”
8:39am October 7 – “This will be my final in race update. We still have an hour 20 left but I am comfortably past the 200km mark. I’m just plodding along until the time it up. Words are not a strength of mine right not but if anyone decides to read this, I hope you took something out of it.”
It was interesting listening back to the recordings. You can see that the logs were often shorter and more sporadic as the race progressed but to hear the exhaustion in my voice the deeper I went was profound. The 48 hour broke me, as I knew it would, but I still got from it all that I had hoped.
A massive thank you to the other runners, particularly those incredible 6 day runners. Your company, support and kindness allowed me to achieve what I did. To the volunteers, you were phenomenal and the way you went out of your way to help me and all the other entrants was brilliant. The biggest thank you goes to the RD, Justin Brock, who stepped in to save the 6 Day festival and took it to a whole new level. You did a cracking job mate.
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