Meeting the World’s Best
Some people you meet in life have an energy or an aura about them that you can feel from the moment you’re around them. About a week or so ago I reached out to Camille Herron in the hopes of having a chat before the Sri Chimnoy 48-Hour Track event.
I didn’t expect a reply this is the world’s best ultra runner, and a week out from the race, she’d probably be zoning in, but much to my surprise I got a message from Conor Holt, Camille’s husband, coach and all-round crew legend. He gave me his number and I said we’d chat on the Monday to see where things are at.
Thinking I might get 5-10 minutes on the phone, Conor invited me out to where they were staying and gave me half an hour with Camille. I get that message on a Wednesday, and come Thursday I’m buzzing knowing I’m going to have an opportunity others rarely get in their lives.
As much as this journey has been about me, the people I have met along the way has been mind blowing to say the least. Trying to figure out how to break the ice I bought some Bundaberg Ginger Beer which I knew she had enjoyed, as a small token of them both taking time out of big race prep to talk to me.
But what do you ask the world’s best ultra runner? I’m not starting at the beginning because this is someone who has done hundreds of interviews, we already know the story. The running media here isn’t as big as the United States, so I was quite aware that this might just be normal, where as for us this sort of exposure to media isn’t quite as common.
I arrive at where Camille and Conor are staying and instantly it’s this energy unlike any other I’ve felt in a room, but there is also just pure joy, there is a lot of happiness, and there is confidence. I sit my laptop down and hit record, suddenly my anxiety of interviewing Camille and what to asks just goes away.
If you’re interested in listening to the interview you can find it here.
Two things I’ve taken out of the interview is that the long run might be dead. There are many different ways to skin the cat in terms of training, but in the lead up to Sri Chimnoy Canberra 100 I’m going to be taking a similar approach to what I was doing before Stromlo got canned, and give double days a re-go, and get back properly in the gym.
The other thing I take out of this, is to be the world’s best you have to have a rock solid belief in yourself. One of my final questions to Camille was ‘what goals do you have for the weekend?’
I’m paraphrasing a bit here, but it was essentially you can set a goal, but that puts a limit on what you think you can achieve, and clearly Camille didn’t want to limit herself to the world record, which after the weekend we’ve just seen could be a lesson the rest of us could take on board.
It’s not everyday you get to share a room with someone who is the world’s best, it was such an honour and not something I’m going to forget anytime soon.
12-Hour Race Report
By the time I hit the track on Saturday, Camille is already 24 hours deep, a big storm has already passed through and the track has some big puddles across the place.
I’d done one three hour run with Michael Thompson, so I knew what to expect over the coming hours, I’d taken 24 hours to complete Ultra Trail Kosciuszko and more than 12 hours to finish The Archie, so I was no stranger to time on feet.
I also got some good advice from our new 48-hour Aussie Women’s Champion Allicia Heron about how to attack the race so I felt I was all set!
Martin Fryer, ultra legend and timing genius is meticulous with his setup, the race involves having two bibs and one ankle bracelet, and your only way to get laps is to have all three of them on you.
The rules are pretty simple, run as many laps as possible around the AIS Track under your own leg power in lanes one and two, sharing those lanes with the 48-Hour runners in the 12 hours that you’re given. You can leave the track to go the bathroom and grab your food, but your laps only count once you get back to the timing mat. It sounds pretty easy doesn’t it? Wrong! I’ll tell you why over the course of this race report.
I came into the race off a solid training base, kilometres sitting between the 70-100 kilometre mark. When I tell people that they scoff and don’t believe me, I get it, I don’t look like that guy, but I’ll give it a crack.
There were three of us who signed up together Liam O’Rorke and Binh Dang, my friends through Running For Resilience who were looking to test themselves. Liam was running for a reason, raising money for the Black Dog Institute for those who are no longer with us, while Binh was looking to find a part of himself that’s always been there, but he’s now finding it.
Looking at who else was entered Kevin Muller’s name jumped off the page. Ultra running royalty in this country, fresh off a win in the 12-hour Narrabeen Allnighter and the assist at the Clint Eastwood LOS, he was the man to beat, and little did I know that Liam was going to try and hang with him!
After setting up our table with food we headed to the start line where we were given a briefing, having Michael’s words not to get caught up in the start, I self seeded towards the back and in the early stages of the race I was lapped on multiple occasions by Kevin and Liam.
This is perhaps the hardest thing mentally about this race, particularly if you’re trying to push for a win, is that you always have an eye on what’s happening around you, the mind is always on the competition. For me the race wasn’t about winning, it was about trying a format of racing that really intrigued me.
I’m so used to running to a destination, but how do you go from running to a destination to knowing you have 12 hours to fill? There is a lot of time to think and I can’t believe what must go through the minds of those who race for 48 hours.
The first hour flies by, there is a lot of energy and Danielle D one of my good running friends is there, as well as all the Canberra guys who were crewing people in the other races, Ania in particular would become a key figure in my race.
My big goals were to set a new 50 kilometre personal best and also get to 70 kilometres. I started in carbon new balance shoes and feel that while it gave me bounce early, it was absolutely brutal until about the midway point where I changed my shoes.
It was so cool to see Maree Connor looking so comfortable 20+ hours deep in the 24-hour, it’s easy to see why she has won back-to-back Coast to Koscis. While my mate Troy was still going as was Hayley, both doing themselves proud.
I’d been building camaraderie with different runners across the two races. Yin was one runner who’s energy I loved. He could walk so fast, by the 50 kilometre mark he’d beaten me by 25 minutes, it was seriously impressive, as the hours wore on more people were coming out.
It was so good to see my elevate crew including Nat, Andy, Danielle K, Brad, Kym, Jillian, Nik, Di, and Will as well as Running for Reslience’s Scotty and later Mon. I think this was one thing that broke up the difficulty of going around and around in circles for hours, and help my brain switch off to what was happening.
Throw into getting advice from Michael, Justin and Ania along the way I was starting to switch off and get in the zone. Early in the race around the 19-20 kilometre mark I think I blew up my race by trying to stay on the back of Camille for a couple of laps, there was about 4-5 laps where I managed to hang with her (mind you she was hundreds of kilometres into the race), before it got too much.
I went back to my run four and walk a lap strategy, but my stomach just wasn’t playing the game, but I was still on track to smash my 50 kilometre time by more than two hours. My official split was 6:42 for the 50 kilometres, which I’m absolutely pumped with considering I was pacing myself for 12 hours, it was a huge personal best, from a distance where my previous best was close to 9 hours.
I’d gotten some good boosts of energy throughout the afternoon from having Cassandra, my fiance, help crew me, as well as trying to stay in a positive mind frame by talking to other runners as we were going around the track, I shared a lot of laps with Joffrid who ended up winning the 48-hour for the men. He’s got an incredible story, and I’d one day like to share it with you all.
Stuart was another fella who just keep pushing, he seemed to get better as they race went on. I also spent a bit of time with Mel, who is the race director for Stromlo, very cool to share laps with people out to push themselves. One person I was really looking forward to seeing was my friend Alison in the 48-hour.
She signed up to this race looking to push herself, she’s one of the most interesting people you might find running around. It’s also an interesting story coming back from the brink of mental health challenges, I’m so proud of what she was able to do across the weekend.
Every four hours on the track you get to change direction and for me this felt like absolute heaven. My mind had been wandering all-day and I felt like leaving headphones in the car was a fatal mistake, normally I’m a zen master but my mind just went in and out throughout the race.
I hit some dark spots around the 60 kilometre mark where I’d gone too fast early and was now paying the price, as well as a little bit of chafe and stomach troubles it was starting to make things a little bit uncomfortable. I told Ania I needed something to fix the stomach troubles, and she got me a ginger lolly.
I spent a bit of time down there with Cassandra and Ania who gave me a pep talk to get back out there and essentially suck it up, as I started running again I saw Camille come out of the tent following a short sleep I felt re-energised and ran two and a half laps holding off Camille (again she was hundreds of kilometres deep).
This is something I’ll never forget, it was almost like for a moment I’d had an insight into the energy that Camille had been running with for nearly 33 hours already. As the hours were closing in on the end of the 12-Hour race I was really starting to feel the pinch of trying to run with the best for a few laps.
It was a harsh lesson to learn, but as well as the stomach issues not doing me any favours with an hour to go I started to call it. Liam who had been battling well for so long was now in a chair with a sleeping bag courtesy of Justin, and Binh who bravely battled calf soreness all-day was back out pumping out loops in the pursuit of 90.
But I had to conserve myself, this was a lesson that you can’t run with the best for a couple of hours and not pay the price if you’re not at their level. Plus the carbons had done the damage, I think when I do it next year cushy shoes like the Bondi would be the go.
I’d reached my 70 kilometre mark and Liam saw me and said he wanted to walk a lap together, we did and then he retired after an incredible 90+ kilometres, it was bloody inspiring for a bloke who came in to raise awareness for those battling mental health challenges.
For Binh he was still cutting good laps as the clock was ticking down, I was walking a couple of laps and kept talking to different runners including Yin who seemed to get stronger and Kevin who ended up breaking the M50 12-Hour Record.
Much like my race this report has wondered a little bit, but I got a good lesson about how much extra you can actually run if you don’t stick closer to lane 1. I ended up about three kilometres longer than my official race timing, but I’m stoked with where I ended up which was 12th out of 16 and the 6th male under 50 (which meant I got a trophy!)
Pretty special that I’ll have something to remember this weekend by, but getting to chat in the last hours with Liam and his mum, as well as Cassandra, Justin and Ania are memories I’m never going to forget.
I returned the next morning to watch Camille finish off her race and have a chat to Conor, and Ania who hadn’t slept all weekend!
I then went and had a big brekky with Cassandra to celebrate, but the funny thing about these long distance races is your stomach pays mayhem. When we came home I was having a shower before work and everything I’d eaten in the morning had come back up, the brutal reality of the toll we put on our bodies. I’m feeling much better now though!
So I think it’s fitting to finish this blog with some statistics that might inspire you and give you a look into why you shouldn’t beat yourself up if you DNF or have a bad race.
Camille by the Numbers
Camille Herron (@runcamille) has set a new women’s 48-hour world record by running 435.336 kilometres or 270.4 miles!
Here’s the kicker and why they say the third time is a charm.
Camille had two DNFs at the 100 mile before setting a World Record in her third attempt.
Camille had two DNFs at the 24 Hour before setting a World Record in her third attempt
She had two DNFs at the 48 Hour before setting a World Record in her third attempt
Okay so she ran that distance why it’s so special? Well it’s the first time any woman has run this distance over that period of time.
So how fast do you have to run to break it?
10:39 min/mile (four laps) or for us Aussies 6:37 min/km
Okay, so she’s the fastest woman? What about all-time.
She’s number three all-time, and actually bumped the legendary Martin Fryer down to fourth for the 48 Hour individual only after Yiannis Kouros and Andrii Tkachuk.
It’s the 8th all-time 48 Hour performance. Only trailing 6 of Kouros’ performances and 1 from Tkachuk (but only only .12km!!)
As part of this she told me she wanted to qualify for the US Team and to do so she had to put down a solid time for the 24-hour, she now has the second qualifying position for the 2023 US National 24 Hour Team.
She’s also the first female to be the overall American Record holder at any distance. Her 270.505 miles topped Olivier LeBlond’s 262 American Men’s Record, that puts in perspective how incredible the performance was.
If that doesn’t… She ran 1,088 laps around the track.
I doubt we’ll see anything as incredible as we’ve just witnessed here in Canberra, and it’s been amazing to be a small part of it. To share the track for close to 12 hours with the world’s best is such an honour. This has been a game changing week, and one I will remember for the rest of my life.
What is about Camille that radiates energy?
Pretty hurt you didn’t go with the Three Kings pic, but I’ll be ok.