The event was pretty much the same format as the last 2 years - 104 km, 24 legs, 6 members in each team. There were a few changes to some of the legs, and all of us that struggled with the heat in the middle of the day last year appreciated the organisers decision to put the longer legs earlier, when it is cooler, and give us shorter runs at the end when it is hot.
From last year's team only 3 of us are still in Samoa, but Slava (the crazy Russian vet) decided that he was going to run the entire 104km himself, so that just left Darryl and I. We eventually managed to round up 4 willing(?) volunteers to make up our team, including a last minute substitute when one of the team was injured only a week before the event. My own build up was very disrupted, including a 2 week lay off recovering from a sprained ankle suffered when I stood on a rock while out for a run (it didn't help that it was dark and the street lights were not working!) Darryl too had his training interrupted by injury - he managed to break a rib while playing business house soccer! So it is fair to say that we were not the best prepared team, but we did make it to the start line!
This year I must have drawn the short straw as somehow I ended up with the longest leg and the section that has earned the nickname 'Heart Break Hill' over the last couple of years. The 6.1 km leg around Lalomanu didn't worry me too much - it is a really nice stretch to run and is fairly flat, but I wasn't looking forward to the steep section of heart break hill, or the steep downhill that follows it. As it turned out it wasn't too bad. The uphill had me huffing and puffing, but the downhill was much harder on the legs. The dodgy ankle managed to survive they day and I made it to the end OK.
We did have one small drama when Andy, our 4th runner, hurt his knee during his 3rd leg. He managed to walk/run/hobble to the end of that section and we were able to use a substitute runner to run his final stretch for him. I had bravely/foolishly volunteered to take up his last leg, but I was very relieved when our spare runner Pete said that he was able to do it.
For the record we made it to the finish line in 9 hours and 37 minutes, about 17 minutes ahead of our target time, and good enough to win a Pizza Feast from Giordano's which was very much enjoyed by the team . This is becoming a habit - Angela also won a Giordano's voucher at the Independence Day Run.
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| NPI Flyers at the Finish Line |
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