After a busy week at the office and at home, I had been looking forward to some quiet time back in nature. After an early rise at 4am to prepare breakfast for hungry children, 90 minutes of driving later, I found myself at the sleepy little town of Blackwood, ready for a slow long run over 40km, as part of an event called Berry Long Run, now in its third year of raising funds for Berry Street. The 40km distance is dubbed The Somewhat Long Run by organisers. The Long Run claim to fame is reserved for the 70km.
It kept drizzling on and off for a few hours, which made the tight single track slippery. I did not mind this tricky condition, as it prevented the mind from wandering. I was able to focus on the condition immediately, similar to how a cyclist would need to navigate the busy streets of Melbourne safely.
Runners followed the Lerderderg State Park track, the southern-most section of the Great Dividing Trail network. The course started at Blackwood, leading into a single track along the gorge, before cutting through the forest along a mix of trails and dirt road, close to Mt Blackwood before turning up at Square Bottle Track and Whiskey Track, where runners would experience some tough and technical ascents and descents. Passing O’Briens Crossing, I trotted along the Byers Back Track, winding high above the river all the way back into historic Blackwood.
I missed the turning signs a couple of times and ended up running the full marathon distance. The body was weary after a couple of very long ascents, but I got the bonus of experiencing some scenic parts of the trail that most other runners did not get to see.
At an elevation gain of 950m, this trail was exactly what I needed to build some hilly mileage into the legs. I took the opportunity of this slow training run to practise a fast walking technique that I had picked up during the week.