Much like the line off in the far distance, Amy Lamprecht did not see the finish coming.
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The Launceston distance athlete was announced on Saturday night the Australian Female Ultra Runner of the Year for outstanding single or collective performances.
That was a bit of a shock to Lamprecht, who only got an email the day before about the 2019 national award, but did not read much into it.
"I don't know a lot about it," Lamprecht said when The Examiner contacted her.
"I thought it was a nomination, but I wasn't positive."
"I haven't had time to sit down and really have much of a look at it all."
The weekend was set aside for another long run - not for accepting all the plaudits.
But Lamprecht's growing list of accomplishments last year did start at the very top.
The durable 40-year-old took first place in the Ultra Trail Australia back in May.
That was the one race that Lamprecht focused training on that also left the heads of good judges nodding.
Further victories came at Bruny Island, Convicts and Wenches, while a second at the notoriously tough Cradle Mountain Run had also been notable in the stellar year.
ELSEWHERE IN SPORT
"It was a pretty good year now that I look back on it," Lamprecht said. "But with the ultra-trail win, that was the big result for me."
The Australian Ultra Runners Association described Lamprecht to have "returned consistently high ranking performances in all events" and that she demonstrated "without a doubt a spectacular year of running".
The personal trainer once said she looks at her watch rather than rival competitors to rank each performance.
But Lamprecht, who really thinks little of doubling the usual marathon stride, also struggles to put a finger on the difference of one year from any other years.
"Funny that most of the time I just run around and do them because they're just always on," she said.
"My performances have been all over the place [in the past], but I have been lucky enough that I have pulled out some good placings too nearly all of the time."
Training for the gruelling ultra-marathons is not what it once was, but has barely affected the ageless runner against some half her age.
Pounding the asphalt, dirt tracks or over sharp-edged rocks for eight or nine hours at a time has taken enough of a toll to now run smarter.
"It has changed for me, but more because I have got older and I can't cope with what I used to," Lamprecht said.
"I just don't actually think I have got any faster, but just had the opportunity to keep on racing more.
"I am certainly not fitter than what I was 10 years ago, but I have really just done more running."
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