Not the Six Foot Track "Marathon"....

Although the Six Foot Track race had been cancelled, we still went up to the Blue Mountains for the weekend as we'd already booked our accommodation for a couple of nights having planned to spend the weekend up there.

You have to love a firepit!!

Our Air BnB was just outside of Leura ( a bit less "backpackery" than Katoomba) and had a garden with a stream and a fire pit. The firepit was amazing .....time soon passes without you realising it when you're just sitting looking at flames (or prodding embers with a stick) and drinking nice wine. We got delicious takeaway pizzas, but had an early (if cold) night ready for a long run in the morning.

When I say "morning" it seemed like it was practically the middle of the night to me when we set off.....as it wasn't yet 5am....but as we had to start straight up a steep hill from where we were staying, we were soon taking off layers of clothing as we walked uphill. 

There was actually no way that we could have run our planned route if we hadn't started at silly o'clock because the first 6 or so miles were down the main road (the Great Western Highway.....ie the main road artery through the Blue Mountains) and at that time of day there was minimal traffic so it felt fairly safe. 

We turned off this road to head down the Kedumba Valley and joined the route of another race.....the UTA50....which stands for the Ultra Trail Australia 50K (a race held annually in May along with a 100k version!!!!). The whole route was new to me, so I had no real clue what to expect. As we descended (a very long way) down to the valley floor from the escapement, it gradually got lighter and lighter so we could dispense with headtorches. 

The weather made for atmospheric
pictures anyway

The route was a rough fire trail (like an unsealed road) so we could run side by side.....well, I say run but there were a couple of creek crossing and some of the "undulations" were so steep that we had to walk them.....in fact, I did wonder if anyone would run them whilst racing, even the leading guys.

The weather was quite good for running.....cool, slightly misty and damp but not raining and actually quite atmospheric. It was really weird to see the escarpment up above us and be able to spot where we would be later, though I confess to be rather poor at judging distances so some places did seem an awfully long way away.

On a smooth section of firetrail looking
towards the Three Sisters

We hadn't seen a soul all run (probably because most people were still sensibly tucked up in their beds) but as the trail approached the base of the cliffs down from Katoomba and narrowed to a single track, we started to see runners venturing out the other way. I had thought that we were going to climb up some really steep steps (the Giant Stairway) that I'd heard about, which led up to the Three Sisters (a rock formation jutting out over the valley which is one of the main tourist attractions in Katoomba) but instead we carried on past that trail turnoff.

Some interesting trees
showing previous fire-damage

I actually enjoyed this bit of trail immensely as it was narrow, the undulations were more gentle and it wound through thick undergrowth.....and so, yet again, there was hardly a soul on it. It was actually relatively dark again, but that was due to a combination of the overhanging canopy and the worsening weather. These were the final few miles of the UTA races (they all finish the same way) so I found it hard to imagine running there in the dark, whilst totally exhausted from having already covered so many kilometres (we had gone a fraction of the distance and I was still stumbling a bit).

The trail got narrower and darker...

Eventually we came to the bottom of our climb out of the valley.....and what a climb it was! Initially trail and wide spaced steps leading up, but eventually we were on something called the Furber Steps (I'd debated woosing out and taking the Scenic Railway up instead, but that option was taken away from me as it was closed due to the inclement weather). The Furber Steps number about 996 in total (though I may have lost count) which isn't the nicest end to a long tough trail race, but it must be rewarding to summit them and then be able to run along the trails and boardwalks to the finish at Scenic World, which is purported to have amazing views out over the valley (and is where the railway comes up to).

The view I should have seen - looking back
to the clearing on the firetrail where an earlier
 picture was taken looking up at this point

Unfortunately for me, there was no view as it was now not just misty, but actually raining and only about 10°. I actually enjoyed warming my hands up with the dryer in the public toilets at the car park there. From Scenic World "all" we had to do was run back to where we were staying. In my head I knew it was only a couple of miles from Katoomba to Leura, but I hadn't realised that Scenic World wasn't actually in Katoomba so we had further to go than I thought.

We both commented that we were a bit over the weather and all the hills as we slogged out those finals few miles. Considering we were on top of the escapement, there was a dearth of flat land, but eventually we made it back home to very welcome hot showers and a nice sleep (and the hostess of the AirBnB even left some homemade cakes on the doorstep later which I devoured as if I'd not eaten for days!).

Ok, so it wasn't the Six Foot Track, but it was a lovely run in new territory for me, and not actually that far short of what the race distance and elevation change would have been (the 6FT is 45km with over 1500m of ascent/1800m descent) ......and probably suited me better as I hear the race starts with some fast technical downhill......my favourite....not! 

The Three Sisters in the sunshine
of the next morning!

To round a great weekend off (and make the most of being a tourist) I did a nice slow recovery run back to see the Three Sisters the next morning as the rain had cleared and the sun was coming out....and then for a bit more punishment, we climbed down and up the Giant Stairway before heading back to the city)!