Next Sunday is the 15th running of the 6 inch ultra trail marathon, 46-48k  ,  http://www.6inchtrailmarathon.com/  , (it varies depending on the trail condition and course changes?) of serious fun and so much better than Christmas shopping, actually anything is better than Christmas shopping truth be told, even Goldmine hill the  seriously nasty 3k climb at the start of the race.  Note to self when I’m halfway up that mother of a climb think to myself this hurts but nothing compared to the alternative ! (see previous sentence about Christmas shopping!) I think entries are still open so if you’re reading this and it’s pre December 19th get yourself an entry.

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I’ve written a few posts on this race over the years and have attached a few links here for your viewing pleasure.

https://www.runbkrun.com/2018/12/17/at-christmas-you-need-a-good-6-inch/

https://www.runbkrun.com/2018/12/17/middle-of-december-6-inch-time/

https://www.runbkrun.com/2016/12/19/sometimes-6-inches-is-enough/

https://www.runbkrun.com/2018/07/20/the-6-inch-is-coming-look-busy/

https://www.runbkrun.com/2019/12/03/look-busy-i-spy-a-trail-ultra/

Looking back on all those posts it just hits home how much fun the 6 inch trail ultra is and also the memories we have made together which are priceless, most of them involve some sort of mishap to Jon with Bart’s normally enjoying it more than most. At the moment Bart’s still has a faster finishing time than Jon and with Jon attempting the 18 inch this year that is unlikely to change. Yes you did read that right, Jon is going to attempt to start his race on the Saturday afternoon, run from the start to the finish and then return to the start just before the official start of the race and then run back with the racing pack. Thus running a 18 inch ! I mentioned this to Jon as a thing over coffee and muffins at our weekly Yelo morning run , as a throw away comment. As soon as I said it I could see Jon’s mind go into overdrive and it was on. He’ll probably end up running nearly 150km over the course of the weekend, with no stops of note due to time constraints and having to be back in Perth for the Sunday afternoon for his kids. ! Truth be told this has YouTube documentary written all over it but no one else is made enough to paly along and it’ll be totally self supported. His logic is it will be good training for the Delirious West 200 miler in February where he will attempt to go back-to-back wins. ( https://deliriouswest200miler.com.au/  )

Been watching some seriously good videos on You Tube this weekend.. check out this on on Ricky Gates as he runs unsupported across America, that’s over 3700 miles. Outstanding job Ricky, inspiring. Made me go out for a 10k run, also unsupported

(   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ciEqPZsOCs )

After this I was inspired enough to watch another running video on the Western States Ultra from 2010, what a battle. !

( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zy1as6CTYXI   )

Right, I’ll report back next weekend on the goings on but needless to say there will be some… can’t wait. Ho, Ho , Ho….