happy trails... first training..

Feeling a bit sore and sorry for myself at the moment.. well not so sore now, but Saturday and Sunday were hell.. truly and utterly hell!! My hips felt like they were going to crumble any second and all my muscles in my legs, some I never knew existed, were screaming at me each time I moved. My little guy is sick again so has been up close enough to all night last couple of nights which didn't help, but a couple of short walks on Sat and Sun have done a world of good.

The walk was hard, really hard! 16km in complete darkness, walking in constant rain on tracks through the Adelaide Hills I've never walked on before with absolutely no training leading up to it.

There were about 20 odd people that showed up for the training, most of which have either walked the trailblazer before or were in tip top shape so I was soon left at the end with my walking partner and the sweeper... We were told before we started, that the time to beat was 2 hrs and 25 minutes and that the average time was 3 hours. It was when Phil said the words 3 hours that I started to panic a little.. I automatically thought I'd be there for 4 and a half hours or so..

I trudged and trudged, my head torch ran out of batteries and the spares didn't work, so I walked 2/3 of the walk with a little hand torch. My hips were absolutely killing an hour into the walk, but what were my options.. hmmm.. turn back and still walk another hour to the start... ummm.. no, not an option.. so I just walked, and walked, and walked..

We walked past the Bridgewater Mill at one point and this was my little pick-me-up.. the Bridgewater Pub looked absolutely divine in the dark, surrounded by mist and slight fog. It looked like something out of an English or Irish postcard. Then the big wheel of the mill was just stunning. When-else would I have the opportunity to see these beautiful landscapes at that time of night? If I was out having a meal in the Pub, I would have never walked out in the rain, crossed the creek, walked up a steep slippery embankment just to have a look at what the pub looked like from the other side. So this visual in itself kept me going and trudging along through the swampy paddocks.. who cared really, I was going to have a warm shower when I got home.

As we headed into the 2 hour 45 minute mark, the leader 'little Phil' came back to make sure we were alright and informed us that its not far now. He had a chat to me as we walked the last little bit and was a little shocked that I made it this far without training.. I did ask him whether anyone had ever been kicked off for walking too slowly, and he assured me that I was doing fine. As I crossed the finishing point he announced my time of 3 hours and 5 minutes. I was stoked to say the least. I felt so utterly overjoyed to be 'average' at this point in time that I cannot put into words.

I could ramble for hours, but I guess overall I'm happy that I made it, I'm happy that I pushed myself, I'm happy I didn't give up and I'm happy that I am absolutely insane and jump into these things without thinking them through.. I mean seriously...