Race Report | Ultra Adelaide
There’s something pretty special about racing on home soil and made even sweeter when the start line is just five minutes from your front door and the race doesn’t start until midday. The late start gifted a sleep in, a slow breakfast, time to clean the house, put on a load of washing and even hang it out. Peak race prep… or borderline madness, depending on how you look at it.
Maybe getting overly particular about tidying was just my way of handling the pre-race nerves. With more time to kill, there’s more space for anxious energy to bubble up. So instead of getting ultra nervous about the ultra-ahead, I channelled that energy into something productive and the house reaped the rewards!
When plans change
Running the Ultra Adelaide 50km came with a bittersweet edge. I’d originally signed up for the 100-miler in October ‘24, certain that I’d have enough time to train. It felt like the right time to take on that distance again as the last time I ran a miler was back in November 2017, so this had been calling for a while. The idea of a midnight start, running through the night on the trails, had me genuinely excited. It was going to be something special.
But life had other ideas, and over the past six months, training took a serious back seat. I could’ve started the miler, but finishing it? That was a whole other story. And I knew enough to know what was required to go the distance. So, in a last-minute decision, I dropped down to the 50km. To be honest, even that felt like something too big but hey I was ready to forfeit my entry completely, so I was glad to just run…and 50km felt perfect for my 50th birth year.
Stepping down in distance didn’t bother me, it isn’t ‘just 50km’ it IS 50km so navigating from 160km to 50km I was good with. FOMO isn’t driven by comparison anymore; it comes from within. This wasn’t about ego, it was about being out there, doing what I love.
I had a rough time goal floating around. If I was properly ‘run fit’, maybe 6 hours. If I was being overly hopeful, 6.5 hours. But realistically, this body had a 7-hour race in it and that’s exactly what it gave me. Was I disappointed? Sure, I know I’ve run faster. But given the year I’ve had, where my fitness is at, and navigating menopause… how could I not be proud? I was out there running an ultra and that alone fills me with joy.
I ran with zero expectations other than to finish. I wanted to run along the river, see the city lights slowly rise into view, and soak up the shift from the stillness of trail to the pulse of the city. This race delivers the best of both worlds, road and trail and when you’ve experienced both, blending them into a single course feels like a real gift.
Podium finish
As I ran through the finishing arch, I heard the words ‘3rd Place Female Finisher Amanda Meggison’. Wait, what – third place? Well, that was a surprise. I had no idea where I was placing throughout the day and frankly, I didn’t care. The racer in me wasn’t present, the runner was. I just ran; I navigated fellow competitors around me seeing those ebb and flow and commented of those who I recognised as ‘downhill specialist’ as I caught up to them on an uphill (I suppose, that makes me an uphill specialist of sorts). I felt confident I was running my own race, I knew my nutrition strategy including fuel and hydration and I knew I was only going to stop at two aid stations – one to replenish fluids and the other to change shoes as the surface changed from trail to pavement.
Experience played its hand well. After more than a decade of toeing start lines at endurance events, I’ve got a decent idea of how to manage myself out there. That said, I’m always aware that no matter how prepared I am, things can still unravel quickly. I’m confident, not cocky—and there’s a big difference.
I loved crossing the finish line and being surprised. After turning 50 this year by no means am I ‘old’ but I am not ‘young’ so running alongside the new wave of runners who are sometimes more than 30 years younger than me gives me great pride that I still have what it takes to be a competitive runner even when I am just running my own race.
I came into this race undertrained, with a loose plan and a mindset geared more toward fun than fast and somehow, that blend of experience, trust, and maybe a touch of luck delivered me to the podium. When those wins come your way, you celebrate them. And that’s exactly what I’m doing.
Soreness is a trophy
I walked away from Ultra Adelaide feeling surprisingly fresh… though definitely a little tight. A bit of chafing on my back thanks to the sports bra, but all things considered, I pulled up in decent shape. It wasn’t until the next day the movement slowed as stillness crept in, that when my quads started screaming. Tender to touch, drained of energy, and moving at the pace of a dawdling Sunday stroller. I’ve often looked at people who walk slowly with a mix of envy and disbelief—how can you move like that? And yet, there I was, proudly shuffling through the next few days like I’d aged decades overnight. What a joy… to allow myself to move slowly.
The quad soreness has eased as the days have passed on by, but staying still? Not really my thing. I’ve been moving intentionally walking to shift the energy, practicing Qigong, and even daring to press the theragun to my legs (on the lowest setting, of course).
Soreness, to me, is a trophy too just as valid as the one sitting on my shelf. It’s a reminder of effort and execution, not something to push through blindly. Injury is what I won’t welcome, which is why this week has been about recovery. Dialling things back, not charging ahead to feed the ego. I’m in this for the long game, not just the moment.
Truth is, I’ve struggled lately to feel the spark of racing. Life has felt heavy. But Ultra Adelaide gave me a flicker of what still burns inside; the competitor who loves the challenge, who races her own race and finds growth in every turn of the trail.
I don’t know exactly where running will take me next, but I do know this: I’m human. Motivation will ebb and flow but if I keep showing up, keep building that chain of consistency, maybe just maybe I’ll surprise myself again when I next cross that finish line. Whatever the distance may be.
Results
Ultra Adelaide 50km (or 55km according to Garmin)
Official Time: 7:09:20
Gender: 3rd out of 23
Overall: 25th out of 70
