Race Recap – the Dubbo Stampede

I realise it has been a while since I last wrote. I don’t know sometimes how people manage to keep up with everything – I have been finding having a full time job, studying,  a toddler going through trying moments, trying to fit in training as well as numerous other things have kept me away from writing – so since I last wrote I ran a race and I’m going to tell you about it now.

LCHF Update 

I’ve been following a Low Carb High Fat (LCHF) way of eating for a while now – I would say properly now for almost 4 months. As a result I have dropped some weight and changed my whole way of thinking about food, carbs and training. It has been a struggle trying to run hard without carbs – but as my body slowly adapts to fat it is becoming a bit easier. So I entered the Dubbo Stampede 10k and it was the furthest (bar the City to South) I had run fairly hard as a race.

Dubbo Stampede

I love Dubbo. I have very good friends that live there so it was an excuse entering the race to go and see them too. It’s got a great country atmosphere and everyone I have met there I always feel like I have known them for a long time!

The Stampede had a number of races within the event including its first year of a full marathon and part of the race was to be around the Dubbo Zoo which I have been to before and it is excellent.

Starting the Race

The Half Marathon and Full had already gone by the time I started my 10k. I was dressed for the north pole as it was really cold for me – although I had to smile lining up with people that were dressed in tiny shorts and singlets – it was clear who the visitor was!

The event was really well organised and I had my coffee and cream prior to the race and lined up ready to go. I took off fairly steady and kept an even pace – I felt quite good considering I had no carbs inside me and quickly got into my running groove. The first section of the race went outside the Zoo and was on a small incline, did a loop back and then it was into the zoo. I felt great except I found I warmed up so ended up having to lose a couple of mins trying to take my gilet off and pinning my number onto my top.

Inside the Zoo was great. I got to see heaps of animals – waved to the rhinos and was still able to push fairly hard although I found my energy started to wane a little bit and it was becoming harder to push – if I slowed back I was ok but I really wanted to push but found I just couldn’t.

Helping People in Need

When I ran the Twilight Half Marathon a while ago I ended up stopping to help a young boy who was in trouble…can you believe the same happened this time…. I think I have a radar for it as again I spotted a young boy – he only looked maybe 9/10 – maybe he was a little bit older but I spotted him staggering as he was running, then stopping and he looked like he was really not well. His face was flushed and his breathing didn’t look good – so I asked him if he was ok and he said “No”. I asked him if anyone was with him and he said his Dad was way back.

He was starting to get teary so I stayed and walked/jogged with him until we found a steward and I left him with the steward and carried on my race again. I struggle with it all as Yes I know we are all there to run a race but it made me sad that no-one had stopped to see if he was ok and is a good race time really worth not helping someone in trouble??

Anyway I got to the last km and decided to push hard to make up some time. I then saw the finish line and pushed as hard as I could. A girl was running next to me and she looked over at me and pushed – so I was like ‘ok honey – it’s game on!’ the inner competitor inside me woke up and I pushed all the way to the finish in front of her – childish I know but it felt good 😀

All in all I did an ok time – aware that I lost a few minutes here and there – but I do feel confident that I could maybe start to push my distance back up again not relying on carbohydrate. My dream is to do another half marathon or marathon but fat adapted… I know lots of people that have I just have to now put the work in…. watch this space….