142,373 Steps

We did this thing a week and a half ago. We walked 100 km. Yep, you heard that correct, 100 km. To be more accurate it was nearly 115 km from the time I got up on Friday morning to the time I finished and got home on Saturday afternoon with all the rest stops, bathroom breaks, and chasing after extra teams (not really chasing, they were going the wrong way and I couldn't let them) steps counted.

By we, I mean our four person team plus two person support crew, with what I believe was probably the best team name out there, the Propeller Legs.

In all honesty, it's something I never thought I would do. In all honesty, it's something I always wanted to do. Just never thought I would find three other willing participants to do it with me. I could not be more grateful for all three of them and for sticking it out. There were blisters, yes lots of blisters. There were tight IT bands, all of us. There were sore muscles, aching, really aching joints, pounding heads, nausea, light headed feelings, old injuries making reappearances, badly stubbed toes, bruised elbows and bums, shortness of breath, heart burn, lack of appetite, you name it, someone on our team felt it. And guaranteed we all thought about quitting because of that pain in the moment. But long story short, not one of us quit.

Pre-race photo shoot...

The look on my face says it all. Who thought taking a jumping photo prior to a 100k walk was a good idea?

Finally, one good normal team photo.

We took deep breaths, took the time out to address the issues as needed, never separated by more than a couple hundred meters, never had anything other than an encouraging word for each other, asking what we could do or how we could help. And we got there. And we RAN across that finish line after 30 hours and 36 minutes.

Holy wow, I personally held together quite well (its all relative, but yes I didn't have any blisters) until about the 97 km mark and then I was so done. It could have been the unseasonably warm winter weather that made for a glorious Saturday afternoon, the fact that we had been walking for 29 hours by then, or perhaps just the sheer exhaustion of not sleeping for that amount of time. I'm pretty sure someone suggested we grab a photo with about 3 km left and I promptly said no. There was no way I wasn't making it to the finish line when I was so close and I was convinced if I stopped and stood still at that point that I wasn't going to.

The Oxfam Trailwalker isn't for the fainthearted, that's for sure. The 2019 Sydney version (there are a few others throughout Australia) began in beautiful Brooklyn along the Hawkesbury River and finished near the Sydney Harbour in Balgowlah at Tania Park. In comparison to the 60k Coastrek that I did earlier in the year, this was a legitimate trail. The Great North Walk, which made up a considerable first portion of the walk, was gorgeous and grueling. My watch estimated we did over 2300 meters (that's over 7500 feet) of elevation gain throughout the walk.

And one thing's for sure, we would not have all finished that walk without our support crew. Our primary support crew consisted of the parents of Stacey, one of my teammates. Just like us they went all day, all night, and most of the next day without any sleep. They saw us off from their overstuffed camper van and met us at each of the seven check points along the way. There they waited eagerly for our arrival with all of our designated food options prepared and waiting and then doing everything else possible they could for us. From filling water bladders to rubbing shoulders, taking dirty clothes, preparing food, collecting rubbish, possibly blowing generators, and then packing everything up and unpacking it again they did it with smiles.

Yes, we might have overpacked a little.
A veteran saw our van and couldn't stop laughing as he called us a bunch of rookies. 

And not to be forgotten were the countless other people that texted, called, gave facebook shout outs, donated to our almost $3,000 raised for Oxfam, let us borrow equipment, walked the course with us in training, gave us tips from previous experiences, prepared food for us, took care of children, we are so thankful.

We were told that we couldn't be the people that took photos along the walk, but we got some in. Normally I am anti-photo as well when in race mood but this was about finishing, not about breaking any record time. So here's a look at what our 1.5 days looked like...

We started down by the water and quickly scampered up a grueling incline but had some great views as a result.

Looking happy and full of energy.

The first 27 km was by far the most technically demanding with many tedious single file ups and downs.

The first checkpoint and sadly blisters were already forming for some.

This photo's for Hayley, enough said.

Endurance events, me and slurpees just go together.

Definitely one of my favorite spots on the course, just beautiful.

Head torches (there's some good aussie slang for you) were a wardrobe staple for the walk.

Sunrise brought smiles and new energy.

Let's just call this our "let's pretend we're going skiing" photo. 

One of a few squeezes.

We were ecstatic to have some fans!

The power walk to the toilet.

Another squeeze.

The last of our letters to read while we walked. Thank you Stacey, thank you letter writers. Those were the best.

The view of the homestretch.

So you might have big questions, like what did we eat, did we sleep, how long did we sit down and rest for, and did we reapply deodorant that ENTIRE time? So here are my short answers. Because let's be honest, even over a week later and I'm still tired, just thinking about it. Or maybe I'm just milking it. In fact, if you see my kids, be sure to tell them I'll probably be tired the rest of the year from it.

First question, on top of all of our individually packed snacks of fruit, muesli bars, energy bars, mars bars, chips, nuts, vegemite sandwiches, peanut butter & jelly sandwiches, gu chews we carefully planned our checkpoint meals

1. Lunch - chicken & avo sandwiches (old standby)
2. Afternoon snack - muffins (thanks Penny for the best muffins ever) & frozen cokes (thank you Brian & 7-11)
3. Dinner - risotto (Lachlan proved his chef status with this meal)
4. Midnight snack - boiled, salted potatoes (I should have ate more of these, surprisingly good)
5. Early morning snack - chicken noodle soup (such a good menu decision, even better when prepared with so much homemade goodness by Megan)
6. Breakfast - a little of everything, muffins, boiled eggs, pancakes, coffee (good and bad choice all in one)
7. Who knows what meal, who knows what, anything possible that was left that sounded good to eat

Second question. Nope we didn't sleep. Well two team members rocked the 20 minute power nap in the van, but otherwise no. But their naps were preceded by sleep walking, legit sleep walking. Like we were walking in the dark and I looked over at one of them and saw their head nodding off, how is that even possible when you're 60k in?

Third question, yes we stopped and sat down and each stop but not for too long. We stopped for close to an hour at our dinner stop but everything else was quicker ranging from 20 - 40 min. At dinner we had a lot to get done - eat, toilet, physio, podiatrist, full change of clothes, pep talk.

And finally the fourth question, for my husband. Yes I packed deodorant and re-applied it. For others curious, yes I packed my toothbrush too. But no I didn't actually brush my teeth. Yes no doubt, we smelled and had bad breath by the time we finished. So after I got home and drank a chocolate milkshake in the bathtub (which earned me a comment from my seven year old along the lines of "wow, that looks amazing mum a milkshake in the bath" which earned a retort from me "don't expect to do this any time soon"), I barely pulled myself out and into bed prior to 7 pm. Only to awake closer to midnight not wanting to move but just wanting to so badly brush my teeth that I drug myself out of bed to do so. Priorities.

It was 30 hrs and 36 min that I'll never forget. Thank you to my teammates for putting up with me. I told them when we were nearly done that "I think this is a one and done type of an event." Of course by the next day I was already thinking "I might just do this again one day." I'm still debating how it stacks up to 19 marathons and 3 child births, not sure it is an equitable comparison, but no doubt it was one of the most physically, mentally, and emotionally challenging things I have ever done. And I'm so thankful God gave me a body that held together for the adventure.

It was fun, Propeller Legs. Until next time.