Heading into the Backyard….

I have never had any desire to do a backyard ultra, why would I want to run until I destroyed myself to the point until I couldn’t anymore? Everyone is a DNF except the last person standing? Wtf? Have to run the same loop of 6.7km over and over again, well that sounds like fun doesn’t it! Chaffing, blisters, hallucinations and running through the night, what a night out! All seems a bit daft to me.

So I entered one…… 

The event had originally sold out and it wasn’t until a friend flick me a link to it saying 5 positions have opened up and I should do it. It’s one thing to do a Backyard ultra, it’s another to do it in the middle of winter in freezing conditions! A lot of planning went into the necessary gear for running, the gazebo site and food and nutrition and it quickly snowballed into a massive undertaking. Fortunately again the spreadsheets kept everything in check and this allowed me to focus on training.

The training had been going well up until 2 weeks out from the race when I started having problems with one of my feet on my last long run before tapering. The next couple of days I couldn’t put an proper weight on this foot, sharp pain in and under my heel had taken hold. The last two weeks before the event was tapering time anyway and with some sound advice from the coach I spent very little time running. Instead exchanging some time for the stationery bike instead. “The work has already been done” he said, so I put trust in those words and got ready to compete. I was fortunate enough to get some treatment the day before the race and along with some strapping it was all go!

A few weeks out from the event I found out that a friend of mine ‘Nobby’ had been told he had inoperable stage 4 brain tumour. Until recently I worked with this fine gentleman for the last 8 years or so, and this news sent shockwaves through work and the community. Feeling rather helpless, and with their blessing, I decided to try to raise some donations and messages for Nobby and his wife Maria. It was a way to allow people to show how they cared and it was overwhelming to have such support and kindness from community far and wide. Injury be damned, it was to be ignored until after this race was over as most donations were given for every hour I ran. If I ran longer, more money raised, simple! The event now had another level of importance and my crew also sensed this and made sure that I had everything needed to keep going as long as I could.

I arrived on the Friday afternoon and Sandra and I went and set up the Gazebo. We left it as an empty shell for the night and decided that the rest of the stuff could be set up while I was out on the first couple of loops the next day. I also did my registration, got the bib number which always makes it feel so much more real. We went back to my sister’s and niece’s house which was in full swing of Matariki celebration. For those not from NZ, Matariki is a Maori holiday that has been celebrated by the Maori for hundreds of years but only given public holiday status in New Zealand since 2022. People are still figuring out how they as a family celebrate this day, and it was really nice for my niece Allanah and her husband Josh to hold our first whanau celebration of this event. The event was held with family, friends, food and probably some hangovers the following day. All good fun, but my head was somewhere else. There was still so much to sort and most of it was stored in the garage in piles so I spent a couple of hours sorting that out with Sandra so I could then relax and enjoy the family time.

I headed off to bed reasonably early and set the alarm for 5am. Slept pretty well and normally 5am is very difficult to arise from but on this day it was no problems. We got off to the event nice and early but nearly missed the race briefing as there was a kilometre of cars also trying to get into the event. With not a lot of time to spare I left Sandra to sorting the Gazebo and lined up on the start line. The ‘corral’ was a buzz with chatter and nerves as 250 people lined up with the knowledge they were going to run for as long as they could. This is so different to a normal ultra when you can will yourself to the finish line if there is only 10km to go, and while that ‘willing’ is often ugly, you know it will be over. With this it feels like I’m booking in to get my leg broken!

Countdown gets to zero and we all toodle off at various paces into the forest after an open 500m to start. The forest is soft underfoot, mainly sand, with plenty of places to trip if you are tired or stuck behind people. There’s also some sections in the course that are very soft sand and most people walk these sections, including a 850m section along a beach sand dune. The walk in that section ended up becoming a relief after a number of hours as it broke up the monotony of the loop. The first few laps I was definitely stuck in the middle and forced to either go around people or walk/jog to the pace of the train of people I was part of. While this didn’t feel taxing at the time, after about 4 hours my quads were on fire and it was either due to running at such a slow pace or the ‘train effect’ of running at others pace. The foot was still ‘there’ also but I had accepted that, and the strapping was doing a great job of not allowing the pain to get out of control and some drugs also pitched in too.

I had some key highlights on the loops. Lap 2 I got to meet my running coach Sam (https://www.samharveyultra.com/) in person for the first time. He spent some time with me on this loop and gave some welcome tips and tricks. The guy has won this the previous two times, this year made it three, and he makes something very difficult, look easy. Lap 3 I met a former tennis student Tom whom I coached up to a high level nationally by the age of 12, he’s now 28, so that made me feel rather old! That ended up being my quickest loop (and possibly his) as we chatted away reminiscing and forgetting we were going way too fast. Tom ended up setting a PB breaking the 100km mark and while I might not be his coach now, I was still very proud! On plenty of laps I saw Maggi whizz past me who is a local West Coat runner as well with tons of talent and a recent podium finish at a local 100km ultra. A real suprise was to meet Rachel who is Nobby’s niece, and another local ‘Coaster’ It was really nice to connect with her and share time talking about the awesomeness that is Nobby! She also set a PB and broke the 100km mark, amazing effort! I met many other people on my loops and I wish I wasn’t so bad with names as I can remember their stories but not who they are. I very seldom started a conversation, being comfortable in my own little world which is often how I run but it was really nice when people sparked up a conversation as it was nice to engage with people and the loops would always go much quicker.

Back to the race! As I mentioned before, the quads become slightly problematic at the 4 or 5 hour mark but at this point they were just saying “we’re here!”, I could deal with that! The heel was ‘here’ also but again manageable. The most annoying part was having to go toilet almost every lap (I think 17 times) during the race. I was at the highest suggested amount of hydration recommended by Sam but I wanted to consume this much as I was on anti-inflammatories and paracetamol for the heel and didn’t want to risk kidney damage. The downside is I’d lose a bit of recovery time at the end of each loop but was still comfortable with 50-52 minute loops for the most part. It gave enough time to figure out what I needed to eat/drink/fix before the start of the next hour. By a couple of hours in, my sister Brenda had also come to help and became a really important part of the crew for me, and also for Sandra. Both of their resilience to last through to when I finished was incredible and they are really the biggest reason why I got as far as I did.

Things ran fairly smoothly during the day, just ticking loops over and addressing some problem toes and blisters as they decided to join the race. I’m still learning how to best manage foot problems so we experimented as we went along with various success. I managed to hit most of my food and hydration goals – I love eating so this wasn’t difficult for me, until it was later in the race! Night time came around 5:30pm and the mood definitely started to change. The chat amongst the runners drastically changed from ‘I’ve done this race, and this one’ to ‘My legs are killing, I can’t keep food down’. On course as the night went on it got quieter and quieter, as many runners were out by this stage. The 100km mark came up which was a really nice milestone for many, including myself as it had been nearly 20 years since I’d been further. A lot of people had been hanging on for this mark and from this point they dropped quickly, it must have been around 10:30 at night at a guess and it was freezing cold and the fatigue both mentally and physically was a lot. I had a really nice suprise that night with a good friend Karl (going back as far as Primary school) spending a few hours supporting and watching me slowly disintergrate with each lap.

One regret I have is that I didn’t try to walk further on that loop and get to the forest section to see if I could get the legs going. I was making each lap in plenty of time and this is something I have thought of often. I also could have done more about the quads at the campsite each loop, while I did do some anti-flamme creme and hot water bottles on the thighs, I really didn’t give it enough attention and tried to ‘ignore’ it away like most of the other pangs of pain one feels when doing an ultra. My sisters came into the event hall with me where I DNF’d like many before and we got a team photo together. That was a really nice moment and special for me, to spend quality time with my sisters in an environment that wasn’t a normal gathering. We worked as a team and as family to overcome problems during the event and this has created memories I will cherish. My 19 hours is as much their doing as it is mine!

I finished at 2:30am, but didn’t really realise this, and we had a quick debrief in the gazebo and then decided to leave most of it there for the night and just go home to sleep. As we started to walk to the car, my body started to shake uncontrollably and I hadn’t been aware of how cold I’d become. Brenda held me up and helped me walk and once they got me in the car I was covered in duvets and heater blasted on full. Back at the house the same thing happened getting out of the car and I ended up spending the night in bed in my racing clothes with no shower just trying to get warm, which worked fortunately! There was to be almost no sleep for the remainder of that night as the legs were on ‘fire’. It is such an uncomfortable feeling and affected my sleep for days and seems to be a problem I have after longer ultra marathons. The next afternoon I went back to the event and watched Lap 29/30 and there were still a dozen or so runners going. I couldn’t walk properly or bend so I was told to park up and watch the race while my sisters pulled the gazebo apart and packed the event gear in the car. My coach was still going well and I offered some support as he ran through, the other runners still looking strong too. I thanked the organisers again for the event and we left, I thought if it was still going the next morning I’d go back before travelling home.

I was awake again most of the night and kept an eye on the progress of the race, and eventually Sam won this race after 46 hours when the runner in second didn’t make it back in time. What makes it even more impressive was the humanity shown when Sam went back into the forest to find his competitor and get him to the finish. This 46 hours isn’t even half of what Sam has done in his longest races, but with this event being in the middle of winter and mainly NZ runners, it was still a very impressive feat. The crippling cold combined with sand dunes and wood roots in the forest to trip on makes this event one tough bugger.

I finished in the top 15% of this field and I should feel happy with that result, even though I wasn’t even half way to the winning time. However, I think I could do better, and I have learned from this race. I beat myself up pretty hard after the race, a lot of ‘life demons’ haunting this result and it took a bit of time to process it. I said to Sam when I took him on as a coach that my goals is to be an elite runner and use running to experience more of life, places and people. I didn’t realise how a local event could provide so much of this and this took me by surprise.

A couple of weeks later I am mentally ready to train, my foot however is not. The original issue is still there and I’m getting it looked at tomorrow. All I want to do is run, and do it to the best of my ability, so this is a frustration. I have let this take me off course as an athlete in this sport and other sports when an injury comes along, with lack of motivation and weight gain – the yoyo effect of my life! This is one of my narratives that I need to break. Really hoping to get some good news tomorrow that this injury is ‘no biggie’ or they can find a way to allow me to train without further damage. Stay tuned.

Lastly, biggest thanks to Sandra for organising this whole thing with spreadsheet expertise. The time and money that she put into this was considerable and really touching, she wanted me to get my goals as much as I did. The time and effort of both Sandra and Brenda to give up their entire weekend to help support ‘little bro’ was incredible. Coach Sam for the guidance and giving some structure to my training, I have a long way to go and I hope you are there when I start lifting trophies one day. And to Nobby, your story gave me fight to go further with this silly run, and to share your story was a privilege. Your friends you know, those you don’t and the community at large contributed over $3500 in just a week of fundraising – thank you wonderful humans, your kindness has taught me a lot along the way. Thanks to you Nobby and Maria for letting me do this fundraiser, and I wish you all the best with your ultra marathon of a battle you are taking on – kick it’s arse my friend!

Happy running all, stay tuned for the next event 🙂

Vaughan