So we did it!!! A team of four all walked 100kms (62 miles) each,
together as a team, for charity!!! Besides a couple of quick food intake breaks
and one 45 minute one whilst a team member had their feet re-strapped we went
straight through and accomplished the task in 25 hours and 35 minutes.
I’ve had a couple of days to reflect on the achievement and
given I was so full of adrenalin on Saturday and Sunday I didn’t want to post
my thoughts as they could reflect quite a bit of my delirium.
For those who aren’t familiar with Trailwalker, a team of
four must start and finish together over the full 100km trail distance. Ok we
averaged just under 4 kms per hour, but do not forget this was on trails, we
had over 2,300 metres in elevation, at some stages the hills were astronomical
(there is a section called the 1,000 steps so you get what I mean). Below is a
copy of the Garmin elevation readout to give you some concept.
After going on such a massive excursion with three fellow
walkers there is so much I could share with the readers here, but I don’t want
to bore you, so I’ll be doing my best to keep it brief.
Although travelling 100 kms on foot is obviously a personal
achievement, this was a team journey, an odyssey. Could we do it???
I learned so much about my fellow walkers (and support crew)
during our 25 hour journey, and I’m not talking about now knowing their first
pet’s name. I learned about their characters, their motivations, their breaking
points and their commitments to a team challenge. Potentially this experience
could break a range of friendships but I personally believe that with the group
I was fortunate enough to walk with I now have a special bond that has only
strengthened our relationships. Sounds corny doesn’t it? Let’s see if any of
them talk to me over the coming months!!!!
The journey itself was tortuous, with the long Warburton
Trail flat section being one of the most strenuous as it is monotonous and
you’re walking it at night with only a headlamp illuminating about 10 metres
ahead of you. At this stage you have been walking for about 15 hours so you are
exhausted and feeling sleep deprived. This is when the cracks began to really
appear – the banter was kept to a minimum and the humour was a little less
appreciated than earlier in the day and even fellow trailwalkers were less
willing to engage in conversation. I got through a huge section of that trail
by putting on Beck’s “Guero” album via the iPod and danced, shuffled, marched
along with my walking pole, getting strange looks for all around, but hey I was
naturally hallucinating, why not take advantage of it???
Another highlight was the warm pumpkin and lentil soup that
met us as we arrived at Graham Colling Reserve, we’d just climbed 1200 odd
metres, and gone back down the mountain and the sun had set and the temperature
had dropped to about 3 degrees celcius. The home made warm soup with bread was
enough to refuel and hit another 16kms or so before the next scheduled refuel
stop. Stops themselves not really consisting of much other than a quick banana,
a couple of mouthfuls of rice or pasta, two more anti-infalm tablets, a black
coffee and maybe an extra layer of clothing and off again.
The other section that was absolute pain was the last 6.7kms
– this consisted of a steep climb up, another down, up again and then a massive
down to the finish line. The last kilometre of this journey took our team 33
minutes to complete as one of our team member’s knees couldn’t cope with the
downhill walk and he had to complete it backwards. I personally had my knee
lock on me about 2 kilometres from the finish line after I’d just finished the
second last climb and was waiting for one of my team mates at the top of the
hill, my left leg would literally NOT bend, it took a good five minutes of
leaning on team mates, attempting to stretch and bend before a click occurred
and I slowly warmed up again.
All of this was being done with massive blisters, as
mentioned above, one team mate had to take a 45 minute break at one of the
stops to get his feet re-strapped by podiatrists. I personally self treated my
blisters, which was probably not the best approach as the photo below shows.
All up a most amazing experience and one that I will never
forget. The thanks go far and wide, to my fellow walkers, to our support crew,
to my wife who has put up with the training and now the bandaging and bandaging
of my feet, the people who donated to the charity (as at today was have raised
over $6,500 and there will be more coming), the people who attended our
fundraising events, those who sent us words of encouragement throughout the
vent itself and I’m sure there are plenty more who I’ve missed.
All I can leave you with is……what’s the next big
challenge????? I’ll need a few days to think about that (it will take me that
long before I’ll be able to run again)
Congratulations Tony on such a massive achievement. You're an inspiration!
ReplyDeleteThanks Carleen - see you on the trails at Mt Macedon - you will love it.
ReplyDelete