Looks like my racing year is pretty much over

Having rather less than intelligently run the Brindabella Classic
on the weekend looks as though my racing year is close to over (at best a Kurrawa to Duranbah 50K, simply because it's just down the road for me).
I think my race report sums it up pretty well:

I think to some degree i needed to do this run simply to give me a reality check as to where i was in terms of GNW & C2K, so i definitely don't regret running yesterday as it certainly gave me that feedback in no uncertain manner.
Somehow i think i should have realised from Saturday morning that this wasn't going to be my weekend as it started off with 25 minutes just to get from one side of Caulfield race course to the other in the car (Never thought they'd be doing things with Cup traffic at 8AM !), and then once i'd made it to Robert's (who i was driving up with) suburb i then discovered his street didn't exist in my 1995 Melways so spent lot's of time driving around (and i'll make no comments about mobile coverage in suburbia !).
Finally we got there, first and probably last time i'll stay at the Embassy (ought to stick to Quenbayan), room was too hot too sleep and wedding reception meant that really didn't get to sleep till near midnight (the only positive being that i caught up with a number of running mates at a dinner organised by last years winner Martin Fryer - who was unfortunately injured so not running this years event but still manning an aid station. Good food, but i reckon i could have easily had a second serve of Spag Bol, washed down by a very nice locally brewed beer).
After that rather less than fantastic Saturday i was hoping for a better Sunday, wasn't too fussed about the heat but did have the injury worries in my mind.
Interesting bus trip, particularly the hole we got in the bus just before the top !!! - we had a large stick poke through.
Certainly the road was rougher than i can ever recall in 10 downhill Brindys, so was very careful watching where i put my feet making me a little slower but other than that seemed to be all right.
Once we were back on tracks was feeling good, so after being passed by the group with Horrie earlier, i caught up and then decided to put a bit of speed on as i was definitely planning to take it easy on the ups. That worked for a while, but then at around 20K's, the right knee just "locked" on me momentarily and that was essentially my race over, hard to explain but the muscles in that leg seemed to spasm upwards to the side of the hip and from then on my whole body was out of whack.
My guess is sciatic nerve, as the calf problems in my left leg are related to it and i have a decent idea of how it affects me but i will need to get it checked out.
From there onwards it was a case of only being able to do what my body let me in terms of movement.
Had a chat with Kerry, the first lady, on the way down from Bulls Head and seemed to find a bit of running ability (at a guess my strides were about half there usual length), probably just my typical racing mentality meant i did feel the pain for a little while so had to use that while it lasted.
Absolutely broke down with around 15K's to go, me and Mick Corlis taking turns to walk, run and mainly hobble and from then on can't say i've ever enjoyed running downhill so little.
Was passed by numerous runners and totally frustrated when i was no longer even able to walk decently (it was more crablike), was not happy watching walkers streaking away from me , but by now finishing was my one goal.
Didn't enjoy the climb over the gate (had thoughts of me being stuck there for a while with one leg on either side), but once over knew it was mainly downhill and tried to run. "Tried to run" was the operative word as sometimes i could and sometimes the body just stopped pretty much seized up.
Best i can say is my PW here is now just under 6 Hours by 15 seconds, don't reckon i've ever been so happy to see a finish line as the last couple of starts.
Would have loved to have stayed around and had a longer yarn, but had to head back as i knew that sitting in a car was going to be rather hard knowing how the muscles were so was expecting numerous stops.
As usual well organised and a great course but the fact that the minimum temperature recorded at Mt Ginini (the start) was 10.1 (usually it would struggle to be zero) always meant that with minimal tree cover the last half (because of the bushfires)it was going to get hot and be a hard one (apparently it reached the forecast 31 degrees), meant it was inevitable there would be a few dnf's, with 33 finishers from the original field of 37 and me in a very ugly 20th place just over 2 hours behind the winner.

Was very thankful Robert did all the driving on the way back as i had enough problems just lying in the car seat, and by the time we'd got back to his place (after 10), was happy to stay the night (even happier to have half a pre ordered pizza washed down with a VB before turning in).
At the moment i am being treated by a manipulative physiotherapist, if amount of pain caused during treatment is anything to go by i must be well on my way to being fixed, but certainly running seems out the question the next few weeks, personally i'm more worried about what effect it will have on my plans for next year but on a more serious note first i have to be able to run (walking is a struggle at present).
One more blog post to go as sooner or later i will complete a Melbourne Marathon report,
Kelvin