Thank you…

To 4 women who didn’t think it was weird to commit to running a 24-hour race back in October 2013 and send a person they met on the internet money to confirm our spot.

To those same 4 women who didn’t blink an eye at running as an all female team and continuing to have great attitudes all weekend about running hard and happy.

To the clouds for providing some brief shade on 2 very hot days of sitting and running in a field.

To the sunrise and sunset for being perfect and worth being awake all night for.

To Rhianon and her boyfriend Graham for organising everything and bringing it all up to the campsite for us.

To the race organisers for designing an awesome 10k course that was challenging but also really fun and only got better the more laps you did (and for amazing toilet & shower facilities that, even at 6am, were cleaner than the ones at my office)

To the ice cream man for this after a scorching hot lap at 4pm

To this sign which signalled the best part of the course. The beautiful views from the top of the ridge way then running down into the camp for the last 2k.

To this woman who held the most magical soaking and cold spray of water at just after 5km.

To Nutella & bananas. Still the best running fuel around.

To Graham’s mom who made us a celebratory cake as we finished the last lap.

To all the other 2,495 Thunder Runners. You made us smile with your familiar faces at 4am in the food tent. You lent us mallets when our shoes wouldn’t quite hammer in the tent pegs. You kept us in hot water supply when our stove didn’t connect properly to the gas. You made me laugh while waiting in a tent for a sports massage at 3:45am. You patched up one of our runners mid-course when her massive blister popped. You bought your kids water guns to hose us down during the hottest hours.

You made me believe in the true generosity of the running community and helped me run the furthest yet. 40k!