One Day & One Week Later - the Final Post

In the middle of the night I'd woken - body demanding both food (cheese sandwiches) and more Panadol. I didn't exactly hurt but there was a general body-length ache going on and someone was sticking pins in my feet (as the battered nerves tried to reconnect). I closed my eyes and saw mountains and fiords and felt decidedly vertiginous.

In the morning as I lugged myself into a standing position, I teetered back and forth, unable to bend my knees, and had to ensure I kept moving for fear of cramping. Having said that, I was in a much better state than the previous day and was able to move (relatively) unaided!

At the official post-race breakfast I noticed a few people were limping, but surprisingly few, and although there were a few people moving stiffly, everyone was lively, hungry and decidedly chatty. We ended up sitting at a table with a local (Kathy) who'd just done her 21st (out of 22) Keplers and said that the track had been in the best condition she'd seen. She'd previously run it in rain, crawled across the tops in huge winds and had taken part in the year where due to the volume of snow, the course was amended to a figure 8 (Control Gates - Luxmore Hut - Control Gates - Moturau hut - Control Gates). Also on the committee, Kathy said there were very few competitors choppered out because of injury out if any (Ed's note - of the 408 competitors that started there were 9 DNFs though which were injuries v. failing to meeting the cut-off mark wasn't specified).

Prizegiving was a very funny affair. Lots of prizes for the winners (4hrs57mins - for goodness sakes, he was home in time for lunch!), much deserved recognition for the legendary Malcolm Law and his 7-in7 crew, and apologies from the man who'd spent all day yesterday on the tannoy announcing runners' arrivals. Amongst much silliness, he'd told some German trampers that they couldn't go onto the track as the week's allocation of Germans had all been used up and they'd have to wait until Tuesday. He also apologised to the other couple of trampers who'd decided in their enthusiasm to try and race one of the competitors to the finishline - over the tannoy as he called the impromtu race, he'd said that the runner looked like he'd being chased by a couple of Israelis. Naturally, both trampers were from Israel.

The event wouldn't be the same without the Te Anau inhabitants. Admittedly, the arrival of the runners and their support crews double the number of occupants in town but, with Kepler Challenge flags down the main street, every local shop was seeming to sponsor it in some way, and the two local newspapers doing comprehensive coverage, it was a huge event. And according to Ben, who'd had a busy day waiting for me to come in, Te Anau's pie shop sells the best apple pies he's ever had.


I've now spent a week recovering, and although I spent most of the day following the race hobbling around Queenstown, by day 4 I was walking so comfortably there was little physical evidence of any exertion of my part.

However mentally it's taken me about a week to actually comes to terms with having done it. The day after the event, as I sat at one of Queenstown's many pubs enjoying a couple of ciders (oh how I missed you!), I couldn't believe only 3 days prior I'd sat nearby (drinking orange juice) thinking in 3 days hence, I'd be back there having completed it.

After the initial exhaustion and euphoria of stopping, the sense of achievement is huge. As the Southland Times said, it's not about winning but just surviving it. It also turns out I'd been running with a minor celebrity / guinea pig, with the Otago Daily Times doing a piece on Cath earlier in the week (she didn't mention Everest Base Camp to me when she started running at the 30km mark!).

Ben's also been inspired to start running too and we did a gentle 3km jog / walk into Wilton Bush on Monday (exercise for him, recovery for me - sorry knees).

There are a couple of organisations / people I need to thank. Firstly to Store Manager Ben at Gymeez who gave me nutritional advice literally fuelling my Kepler effort and some common sense when I was getting a bit stressed out about the whole thing. If you need gels, powders, drinks, bars, equipment or anything at all to support your bid to do something even half this crazy, either visit Gymeez or email Ben directly: info@gymeezwellington.co.nz. Secondly to Bodyworks who's great equipment, facilities and classes enabled me to train, and get fit and strong during Wellington's (very) inclement winter weather.

Thanks guys - you helped me go from just a mere Coast-to-Coaster to an Ultramarathoner.
I said at the end of the Coast to Coast mountain run I'd never do it again (before promptly trying to work out how to reduce my time in future). With the Kepler, I came off the finish line delighted to have stopped, ecstatic to have made it but knowing it was an insane distance. It took me 4 days to fully comprehend that I'd done it, a week to fully recover and about 10 days before I decided I'd be putting my hat in the ring for next year.

Loose a couple of stone, get some serious cheek bones and bring Ben along with me. I mean, how hard can it be?