Finished the OXFAM Trailwalker

This extended stop had blown our timing out. But I did feel a lot better as we headed off up into Sherbrooke Forest; the steep climb was nowhere near as painful as the last section. We wound our way through the gums and ferns and down through the Alfred Nicholas Gardens and down to the Sassafras Creek Track. We waited at the road before the track for the teams to get together. Fi stopped to re-strap her feet that were already blistering; Brett was feeling the pain from the steep downhill sections giving his knee grief, and some of the girls had taken advantage of the facilities. So by the time we were ready to go it was getting dark. Some had left their lights with the support crew, so we had to do some sharing along the track. It was quite funny hearing the calls carried down the line “stump”, “stump”, “stump”, “ouch”.

Then it was Hackett’s lane. I’d not noticed the 30degree incline sign before. This was the steepest part of the walk and hard going, particularly in the dark with different teams stopping for breath along the way (as you walk head down to get a good footing, then nearly bump into someone stopped ahead). We gathered at the top and then began our slog up to Olinda Footbal Oval. Our trusty support crew were waiting for us, purple light sabre pointing the way. Fiona was in a bad way and headed straight to the podiatrist whilst the rest tucked into spag bol. It was great, but I was struggling to each much. The hot coffee hit the spot as it was getting quite cold (it was cold every time we went through Olinda on the training walks). We looked like a bunch of pensioners at the footy with out blankets over our knees but they worked. Thanks support crew.

I spoke to Lisa. She’d been following our team and Ged’s on the computer. He was a checkpoint ahead of us and one of his team members had pulled out. I was amazed at how easily I got emotional on the phone. This walk was draining me!

This was another long stop (about 1 1/2 hours) but most enjoyed the break and food. I think we were about an hour behind schedule by this point. The next leg headed down the back of the footy oval and then through the forest to Silvan Reservoir Park for 8klms. It was time to get the iPod out and enjoy some music. This was my best leg, I was feeling better, I had some food in my stomach, it warmed up once we got off the mountain, the music was pumping nicely and I had fresh socks on. We gathered at the turn just after the 50klms sign. We got the word from Brett and Fi that they were a way behind and to not wait for them. So we continued on to the Checkpoint.

As soon as we signed in I went to podiatry with Simonetta. My heels were feeling sore again, even with the new socks so I thought I’d get them re-strapped before the next section. It turned out I had two blisters on the inside of my heels, which the podiatrist popped and covered. Hopefully the pain would subside by the time we left the checkpoint. The support crew had minestrone soup on which was great. Some folks got a quick snooze or a massage in whilst we were there.

Continue reading... go to page: 1 2 3 4 5