Millerine Bricker – Myrungroup runner and Myrunlab (run program) runner. Sydney CBD group Mondays 6pm. Millerine recently took on the 6 foot track running race. Its been quite a journey over the last couple of years for Millerine. Along the way she has always been the quite achiever at our Monday group steadily improving. Millerine has just also won herself a Coaches award pack in recognition of her hard work. This is her story

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I joined Runlab in term 4 in 2013. I had run my first marathon (Gold Coast) that year in July. I trained by myself for it which was quite challenging, especially the interval sessions. I thought training with a group would be more fun and would improve my times. I remember the first session in Centennial park was a killer.

Since then, thanks to Vlad and the other coaches, Josh and Damon, Runlab has helped me to improve my running times in all distances. I was especially stoked last year to break 50 minutes in 10kms and getting a PB by 4 minutes in the half marathon last November.

I discovered trail running last year in August and was immediately hooked. Every trail run since then I’ve been amazed how friendly and encouraging everyone is on trails. I decided to sign up for the 6 foot track marathon even though I knew it was an enormous challenge and I would have to train very hard. I asked Vlad to write me a training plan.

I was quite shocked when I saw how much time and effort I had to put into my training. I had never trained five to six days a week for a race but I got through it never missing a session in those two and a half months. I especially remember when I had to race the parkrun the day after my longest run, 34kms. I thought Vlad had played a cruel joke on me.

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Vlad`s training plan was one of the best things to sign up for. I worked very hard and didn’t have much of a social life, but nothing beats that feeling on the race day, when you know you’ve done all you could to prepare.

Six Foot Track Marathon Race Report

I started in the last, 5th wave. The first couple of kms down Nellies Glen stairs took me around 25 minutes because there was no space to overtake. The next 13kms running felt so easy and comfortable in the beautiful cool misty morning. The single trail down to Coxs river was awesome, and the river crossing was refreshing. That kind of trail is the reason I love trail running.

It was 10kms of steep uphill from here. Everyone was walking this part, but it seems walking is my specialty, as I overtook 125 people. I heard the humming of Pluviometer`s timing mats at the 26km mark from far away. I noticed that I was 20 minutes ahead of the 6:15 finish time I was hoping for. I realised I could go for under 6 hours, but it was the start of the hardest section for me – undulating uphill. I knew I had to keep working hard. I was starting to feel my heavy calves, and lots of people were struggling on this bit.

I set myself small goals. It really helped to think that Wally (my husband) was going to cheer me on at the 34km mark. A very loud NRG cheer squad brought my smile back. There were 17 aid stations manned by RFS volunteers along the course offering water, electrolyte drinks, gels, fruit and lollies. As I wasn’t carrying a hydration pack I stopped at most of them. I had a gel every hour.

After 34km there were three short, steep hills, which really felt like an insult. When I reached Caves Road crossing there was only 7km left and my time was under 5 hours. I just had to make it to the finish, and my mood was high. At around the 40km mark I was in pain though, and I slowed down quite a bit.

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The last 2kms is unforgettable – first it’s the unforgettable pain when your knees feel like they are on fire from running unbelievably steep rocky downhill, and then you start hearing the cowbells and people cheering far down below. Nothing beats that feeling. It’s overwhelmingly emotional. I saw Vlad on the way down and gave him a high five. And then you zig zag down the final downhill bit to the finish chute and you have the biggest grin on your face.