The 7 in 7 Challenge 2010

The Perfect End to a Perfect Week

It’s almost 3 days since I crossed the line at the Kepler Challenge having completed the last stage of my Mizone 7in7 Challenge in just a shade over 10 hours. I had thought that by now I would be able to order my thoughts on a momentous week, but it seems adrenalin and endorphins are still pumping around my body and brain, making it difficult to record all the mass of emotions that are flooding me. I am still on the biggest high of my life; yet to come crashing back down to earth; ‘real life’ will never be the same again and the prospect of a return to it does not fill me with glee right now!

So what can I say about the final day? Well, it was extremely special.  The alarm went before 5 a.m. so I could finish preparations and get to the start line of the Kepler Challenge. The organisers gave me the honour of being official starter for this, the 22^nd running of the iconic event. So at just after 6 a.m. I sounded the horn and stood my ground while 250 runners passed by. Bringing up the rear were my own group of support runners – Wade, Graeme, Guy, Karen, Alistair and Jeff – all of whom had played a huge part in the week by accompanying me on one of the earlier days. My only regret was that Pete and Greg could not join us as illness and injury meant they had to withdraw.

So we were a bunch of 7 runners doing the 7^th day of 7in7 together. All kitted out in our red icebreaker shirts (thanks to Bivouac) we made a readily identifiable team and this drew great support from other competitors and race volunteers alike throughout the day.

The Hanging Valley 'Hotel'

The first half hour was a gentle run along smooth, soft beech forest trail to Brod Bay where the first drink station was found, and the massive climb to Mt. Luxmore began. Spirits were high. Running with the tail end of the field meant that everybody had time for some light-hearted banter and to encourage me on the way. Despite the ravages of the previous 6 days my body was feeling good, albeit a little underpowered on the 1 ½ climb to Luxmore Hut. There we had our gear checked and I had the novel experience of doing a mid-race interview with a TV cameraman!

The section beyond Luxmore Hut has to be one of the greatest trail running experiences in the world. It took us a little over 2 hours to continue the climb up on to the ridge, but once there the views were astonishing. There is nothing to beat running single track along an alpine ridge, mountains patch-worked with snow and sparkling waters down below. Our spirits, already high, soared to new levels. We took our time, stopping to get photos and video clips as we went. We even had time to chat with a friendly kea (NZ’s ‘clown of the mountains’ alpine parrot) who sat perched on his rock, adding his squawks to the encouraging cries of our fellow competitors. The carnival was now in full flow!

Iris Burn drinks station

At the end of the ridge we re-fuelled at the ‘Hanging Valley Hotel’ before beginning the knee-jerking 900 metre descent to Iris Burn. This is the section that puts pay to many runners’ aspirations for a quick time as a fast descent can totally destroy even the strongest pair of legs. So we made our way down cautiously, singing “we’ve got 25 switchbacks left to go….” as we went. Unfortunately, our most experienced Kepler competitor, Alistair, has rose-tinted memories of this descent and underestimated the number of switchback turns in the track by at least 100!

Once back on the ‘flat’ (a term that is relative, rather than absolute) we were greeted in fine style by the race volunteers at Iris Burn drink station. They had festooned the track with balloons and decked everything out in Christmas decorations. Even Santa was there, handing out drinks and lots of “yo ho ho” style encouragement. No chance of our morale dropping here, despite the fact that we were not yet quite half way and the legendary mind games of the final 32 kms were about to begin.

It's done! The celebrations begin!

We maintained our steady, slow pace as we followed the Iris Burn down through beautiful mixed beech forest through Big Slip and Rocky Point. The banter never let up for a moment, the singing (if you can call it that!) kept breaking out, and the party atmosphere prevailed. But by the time we reached Moturau Hut , almost 7 hours into the race, I was starting to feel the cumulative effects of almost 350kms of running. The twenty minutes before reaching the smiley-faced, good humoured volunteers at this drink station were a struggle for me and I suspected the final 16kms were going to be hellish. But it’s amazing what a 5 minute sit down, a drink and some food, and the support of a great bunch of mates can do….. as we left the drink station I could feel my energy levels rising, and by the time we reached the next aid station at Rainbow Reach I was feeling almost as fresh as I did on Day One.

My morale was given a further double boost here. Amongst the large crowd of well-wishers was the smiling face of my 12-year old son Beinn, who gave his sweaty dad a huge hug that fired me up even more. And good mate Pete, who had been too ill to do the entire run, joined us for the final stage of the day.

The greatest team of supporters EVER

Now all that was left was 10 kms of trail. It is a stretch that I had frequently visualised during training, expecting this to be a very painful crawl that would only be possible with a massive effort of will and the support of my buddies. But to my amazement I suddenly found fresh legs! I started running the uphills again, my stride lengthened, my cadence picked up, and before I knew it I was in race mode and thinking of cracking the 10 hour mark. Quite where this burst of energy came from I’m not sure, but I do know that many people, both in NZ and overseas, had promised they would think of me at this time and send “good vibes” my way. So I’d like to think it was this spiritual energy, travelling from all corners of the globe, to this enchanted corner of Fiordland that drove me on over these final kilometres.

Tears of joy - sharing a great moment with Sal

With just a kilometre to go (huge cheers from us all at this point!) and the sound of the finish line commentary ringing loud in our ears, I was joined again by Beinn who ran hand in hand with his dad for the final minutes. It was always going to be a special moment but this was the icing on the cake. Around the final bend and there, just ahead was the finish line. My memory of it now is something of a blur but I do recall a fantastic reception from hundreds of people and seeing my wife Sally, already in tears, waiting with open arms. I fell into her embrace and we cried happy tears together, just as we had on our wedding day. It was a beautiful moment, broken only by the sound of popping corks and the spray of frothy bubbles, as the celebrations broke out in style.

In loving memory of Jonathon Alan Law, 1955 - 1969. This one was for you bro'

And so the 7in7 had been accomplished. It was the fulfilment of a lifelong dream to do a “world first” adventure. For too long my lack of self belief had told me that such adventures were only for fitter, stronger, mentally tougher people; this same lack of belief told me that my role was to read about these adventures, not live them. But I had finally proven that even someone of totally average abilities can achieve the seemingly extraordinary. In my case this was made easier by the desire to honour the memory of my brother Alan, who accompanied me every step of the way, both in spirit and as a photo around my neck. It was made easier by the passionate desire to raise money for a great cause, the Leukaemia & Blood Foundation. And finally it was made easier (and lots more FUN) by the love and support of so many fantastic people – friends old and new, my immediate and extended family, and all the people that we met on our epic 360km journey through our little slice of paradise. My heartfelt thanks go out to every single one of you that in some way helped this one mad old bugger fulfil a dream and hopefully make a difference to people less fortunate. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU. It was the greatest week of my life!

PS The Challenge is done, but the fundraising continues. I will keep posting these news updates and let you know how we are getting on as we strive to reach the magic $100,000 mark. And you  can check out these clips of TV coverage of 7in7:

http://tvnz.co.nz/breakfast-news/ultra-marathon-man-4-10-3231090/video.xhtml

http://www.3news.co.nz/Nine-marathons-in-seven-days—for-a-good-cause/tabid/317/articleID/132884/cat/70/Default.aspx

Related posts:

1. Tough week at the office…
2. An almost perfect day
3. Biggest week yet
4. Welcome to the Awesome Foursome
5. What a week!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 8th, 2009 at 10:34 am and is filed under 2009 Blogs, News and tagged with 7in7 Challenge, Jonathon Alan Law, Kepler Track, Mizone. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.