I’ve had my eye on Herdy’s Front Yard Ultra since it started three years ago. I got hooked on the format – 6.71km lap of the lake on the hour every hour until there’s only one person left standing. The previous displays of resilience from some inspiring individuals left me feeling excited to give it a go. For personal reasons I’ve done very little running for the past three years with my last proper race – Busselton Marathon – in September 2020. While not being sure how running would play out for me into the future, I was sucked into the excitement of the event from the sidelines yet again in 2023, and couldn’t not enter for this year.

​In September 2023, I hopped onto my first proper training plan since the marathon, committing to a goal of 24 hours at Herdy’s. There was a lot of emotion in it for me – first and foremost it was important to get my sense of self back after a long break from consistent running and to prove that my body is capable of awesome things – like running for a really long time. Secondly, I’d linked the event to donations for On My Feet, a charity supporting those who are suffering from homelessness to get back on their feet.

​As a running and triathlon coach, I set my own plan and enlisted the help of Perth Triathlon Club’s Head Coach, Deb Kempe, who had experience coaching many disciplines including a few previous Back Yard Ultra athletes. I knew Deb would keep me on track; mostly from overtraining and running everything faster than I should.

​Aside from many marathons, I’d done some triathlons and a few ultras up to 24 hours or 120km. But that was 10+ years ago – I was now 40 and had just had a extended break from consistent training.

​So I picked up a few minor niggles. A bit of patellofemoral pain. On advice from a good physio I hit the gym consistently for the first time in my life and kicked off a solid strength plan. It worked well and two months out from the event, I was running consecutive 80-100km weeks without too many issues.

​Deb was also approached by Lauren, a friend of hers who was keen to jump on board our plan. So we teamed up for some runs, kicking off with some of the 24 parkruns in 24 hours event, on a 43 degree day in Perth. At that event we bumped into another old friend Emma and her good pal Carrie-Anne who were both training for Herdy’s. So then there were four. We got a what’s app group going and teamed up for some race recces and training runs plus lots of shared advice in the lead up.​​

I’d been to see David Bryant, a great dietician who’s helped me with Ironman and marathon nutrition in the past… he refined my nutrition plan which was tried and tested – albeit from much shorter race simulations. I created an elaborate colour coded spreadsheet (two actually) detailing every hourly snack, lap snack/hydration, clothes and shoe change, mouthwash timings, etc, and carb values, calculated based on a master list of foods that could be selected should I decide I didn’t want what was on the schedule for any given hour. It took weeks of refinement. But I was controlling the controllables. Or so I thought.

​Three weeks out from race day, I travelled to Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne for work (and to see Taylor Swift and my favourite podcaster and writer Elizabeth Day) and picked up sinusitis. When I got back to Perth less than two weeks before race day, I started a course of antibiotics and a steroid inhaler. By the Tuesday before the race I was still struggling with shortness of breath, blocked sinuses and a persistent headache. A colleague at work recommended acupuncture and while I wasn’t sold on it working, I was willing to try anything. I had two treatments and by Wednesday evening my head finally cleared. I didn’t see it as a problem at the time but the combination of antibiotics, painkillers and anti-inflammatories (as well as the Chinese herbs – as I said, I was willing to try anything) meant I was rattling and my stomach wasn’t happy.

​Race Day. My stomach was screaming at me. I put it down to nerves and excitement. Which it may well have been. Food was prepped, car was packed and I arrived at set up where our team secured a prime position near the start coral. After a few hours at home, eating and running to the bathroom, it was time to head back to the race village for the 4pm start time.

The village was abuzz with excitement and energy. My first crew arrived – I had lined up an awesome team of friends to help, led by Coach Deb and my wonderful friend Lindsay, who flew in from Sydney especially to help me (friends for life, I owe her big time).

4pm came round and we were off. It was HOT. But it would cool down within a few hours as the sun went down (rooky error, I’d ignored the overnight forecast). 10 metres (I’m not kidding) after the stat line, I rolled my ankle. I assumed I’d run through it and it’d be fine. And it was, until I sat down at the end of the lap and it stiffened up. Out on lap two and I knew I’d need to do something to ease the stiffness. In the next break we had a look and realised it was quite swollen so my crew filled a bag of ice, shoved it down my sock and off I went again. It was fine after that as long as it was iced every lap. So that’s what we did.​

​Our team ticked off the first few laps nicely, coming in a little hot around 43 minutes for the first couple but then slowing it down to around 47 minutes per lap using an 11 minute run, 5 minute walk strategy. The night laps arrived – which I was a little worried about. Being the most accident prone person I know (see above), I was worried I’d trip over something (or my own feet).

Early on, Carrie-Anne started to feel unwell. Perhaps a combination of the heat and humidity – while the sun had gone, it wasn’t cooling down much. She was getting in later, not having time to make it to camp and we thought she had either timed out or stopped.

​The three of us continued, with Lauren and I running most laps together. Every other lap we listened to our respective audiobook, podcast or music, then came back together for a ‘chatty lap’ on the alternate lap. There was a group of people cheering at the third bridge – or halfway point for a few laps – and each time we passed they were playing Freed From Desire – the first CD I bought. We sung along and Lauren mentioned her first CD was Bewitched C’est La Vie (we both have excellent taste in music). So we sung that too. I’m not sure if the runners around us loved it or loathed it but we had fun.​

There were other spectators on that side of the lake too – a group out with pizza and beers cheering us, another in their front garden enjoying our silliness. A girl with a Super Mario power up sign and her boyfriend holding his phone and playing the sound effect every time someone hit the sign. The event was so much more enjoyable having the cheers and encouragement from those giving up their Friday – for us. This was what I’d trained for.

The humidity was getting to me though. My mouth was dry and I was constantly thirsty no matter how much I drunk. On reflection I was likely overdosing on Bix electrolytes which was affecting my appetite. I was also managing an upset stomach and had a couple of near misses as I rushed to the toilet before the start line at the beginning of some of the early morning laps (thank goodness for ‘my personal toilet tent’ that my partner had erected on my direction). I wasn’t able to eat any dry food – which it suddenly seemed my entire plan was made up of. My crew kept asking me what I wanted instead. I was managing electrolytes and a few lollies OK, and we found a couple of pot noodles so I ate those across a few lap breaks.

​Sunrise came around and we were in the start coral. There out of the dusk came Carrie-Anne who we hadn’t seen all night and assumed had tapped out or timed out. She’d been coming straight from the finish to the start (around 300m due to the course length and set up), supported by her crew. I teared up when I saw her – she had pushed through some really difficult laps, was feeling better and was committed to continuing. We all had a hug and off we went to see the sunrise over the lake.​

Once the sun was up I switched to my uber sexy legionnaires hat once more and pressed on. I’d starting popping No Doz (AMAZING!) and was looking forward to every four hours coming around so I could have another and bounce along for a lap.

​My ankle was behaving well with its ice protection, however my left knee, which had given me some problems early in my training, started to niggle. I was foam rolling every lap, which soon turned into getting a physio to strap it for me every other lap. The heat made the tape peel off within the first 3km. I only changed my shorts once on lap three and was wearing the same crop top since the start. With the toilet trips, rolling, strapping and icing, I didn’t have much time for wardrobe changes. So I looked a state but committed to being smelly and disgusting for the remainder of the race.

Following some pain relief, No Doz and a good knee tape up, Lauren, Emma and I shared a couple of laps where we spent our walk breaks singing along to a carefully pre-selected song. Taylor Swift’s Love Story through the trail section, followed by Madonna’s Like A Prayer went down incredibly well with our comrades (I think) who sung along too and gave us thumbs up. Tubthumping was met with less enthusiasm and we hung up our microphone at that point, deciding we may have peaked too soon. We were having so much fun – and it was exactly everything I wanted this race to be, and some.

​​On the next lap I was feeling quite emotional. Coach Deb shared a fundraising update and I was getting that brimming feeling of pride – that my body was 18 hours and 120kms deep into a run I’d watched from the sidelines for the last three years. It was a lovely lap – a bit quick actually – and I was so happy.

22 – the Tutu lap – arrived. There’s a video of me dancing on the start line. I look completely with it. I mean, I look a complete mess, but I’m moving well and very upbeat. But looks can be deceiving. I ran off the start line and immediately fell off a cliff. By this time, I was following a two on two off strategy but once I stopped to walk after my first run I barely got going again. I crawled around the lake.​

​I’d decided I would timeout and there wasn’t much else to do but walk – or hobble – my way round. I was on 37 minutes and 3km when local celebrity runner Kevin Matthews passed me. I told him I was timing out, to which he replied that I’d definitely make it if I walked fast from there. My watch said otherwise though – so I followed the watch rather than his advice (or my brain which had already been around the lap 21 times so should really have known how far there was to go).

​With about 400m to go I realised I was very close. I was on 56 minutes and my hobble had gotten so slow and painful there was no speeding it up. So I continued at my snail’s pace and finished 1 minute 22 seconds outside the hour. But I wasn’t disappointed. The last 22 hours had given me so much joy. So many people had supported me, popping up without warning and I felt very content. And a little bit delirious.

​Lauren – the Legend – went on to finish as the last female standing with 24 laps. And I was third, behind another impressive runner Julie.​​

My crew was incredible at adapting to the conditions and I wish I’d managed to do the same. Would it have made much difference? I’m not sure. Ten days on I still have a hobble and can barely make it around the block with the dog for a 10 minute walk. But the knee (and ankle) will heal and the memories will be forever etched in my mind.

​Entries opened for next year at 4pm last Thursday and I was in by 4.07pm. So I’ll see you next year for One More Lap.