Sixfoot 2014, or why Gramps has this idea I am now a runner So I finally went and entered a race called a marathon, however as this one is on dirt and is not 42.195km or whatever the exact distance is I can maybe still claim not to have done one. After all David Byrne makes the same claim (though he has also done longer runs) I managed to get an entry in Sixfoot, largely by parading my TNF100 pairs finishing times. So this is how I ended up lining up with around 1000 others at the explorers tree on Saturday morning to run over to Jenolan caves. My friend Jane and I had come up to the Blue Mountains a fortnight earlier to run the six foot track to the coxs river and back and do a bit of TNF course investigation. Jane wanted to see how challenging the descent down Nellies was and get moe comofrtable with the so called technical bits, which in the ned definitely helped her relax a lot. I as always needed more time on my feet so the trip helped me there too. Jane, Hanny, Baldilocks, Julielocks, Flyer and Tom were all starting in wave 1 as they are actually fast and capable runners. I had managed ot get myself into wave 4 which is good as it should encourage me to take the start slower (I almost always start too fast in events) I managed to get a few photos around the start (coming soon) and carried my camera for the race so have phtoos from a lot of sections on the course. I am not a person who can run easily without water/liquyid available so would find it difficult to rely on the aid stations (plentiful though they are on this course) so had a dodgy cycling camelback loaded with 2.5 litres of electrolyte (not sugary though) drink and some gels. I saw wave 1 start, and hung around to my wave start. When we got going I cruised along to the top of the stairs and had a good ol chat with various people as we descended down them. Once we came out on the fireroad descent out of the single track I opened up a bit and began passing people. I had been finding it difficult to get my HR up for a few weeks, however this being a race I should not have been so surprised I was finding it very easy, probably too easy. I ended up telling myself repeatedly to slow down and back off the pace.