no more mr fat guy
A public record of change, one run and one post at a time.
Perth to Brisbane / 16 May to 17 September 2015
I crossed Australia to prove that ordinary people can attempt extraordinary things.
For twenty years, I thought goals were pointless. Hearts Across Australia grew out of the personal journey that changed my mindset, my health, and what I believed was possible.
Starting point 142.6kg
Back in the days of "no more mr fat guy", change began before Hearts Across Australia had a name.
First marathon 6h 47mPerth Marathon, 16 June 2013: slow, stubborn, finished.
The crossing 5400 kmA west-to-east crossing built from daily distance, support, doubt, and grit.
Day by day 125 daysBegin with the last few days before departure, Day One, and the first two weeks toward Kalgoorlie.
The origin
The mindset change that came before the kilometres.
For more than twenty years, I believed there was no point setting goals because life would kick them out from under me. Worse than that, life kept giving me evidence that the belief was true.
Back in the days of "no more mr fat guy", that started to change. Running, writing, Sunday long runs, early mornings, and eventually my first marathon gave me a different kind of evidence.
Finishing the marathon left me wondering what else an ordinary bloke might be able to do. Hearts Across Australia was the answer I chose to test in public.
The marathon proof
One finish line made bigger goals feel less ridiculous.
The impossible idea
A joke route and a coffee conversation pointed me from Perth toward Brisbane.
Before the start line
Four ultras, walk-to-work sessions, back-to-back days, and one final rehearsal from Bunbury back to Perth.
The crossing
The plan met sore feet, weather, strangers, support-crew decisions, and actual kilometres.
Before the start line
The work began long before I left Canning River parkrun.
Day One can look like the clean beginning. It was not. I had already said the Perth to Brisbane idea out loud, asked other people to take it seriously, and started training my body for the daily distance.
Through late 2013, 2014, and the final months before departure, normal race goals gave way to walk-to-work sessions, overnight distance, back-to-back days, and the practical business of learning to move while tired.
Oct 2013
The idea went public
The Perth to Brisbane thought was first aired as something half mad and completely alive. Once people knew about it, I had to keep turning it into a plan.
Four ultrasLearning through repetition
The lead-up became a string of ultra-distance tests, including 6 Inch, Australia Day Ultra, Lark Hill, and Bunbury 3 Waters.
Training blocksLearning to move tired
Walks to work, back-to-back long walks, and the overnight 53km effort built the plain, stubborn skill I was going to need every day.
Apr 2015The dress rehearsal
Bunbury 3 Waters was followed by three days on foot back to Perth. It tested distance, logistics, gear, feet, and the mental work of starting again each morning.
By departure, the route had been talked through, the crew assembled, shoes and food tested, and the Bunbury rehearsal completed. I still did not know how my body would handle 5,400 kilometres, but I was not arriving cold.
The walk
The distance shrank one ordinary day at a time.
Most days came down to the same practical work: return to the previous finish point, walk the next stretch, eat, look after my feet, solve whatever had gone wrong, and get ready to do it again.
"Today is that day."
The day began with the fear that I might not show up. By night, the first 52 kilometres were behind me.
Learning to walk again.
My feet hurt, we took more rest days than planned, and Markus helped line up Julie's painful, brilliant Southern Cross massage.
My Rivendell, then the wilderness.
Kalgoorlie arrived with Allison's support, Rydges rooms, and a hotel finish line. After Norseman, the Nullarbor was mine.
More people joined the route.
After Adelaide, capital cities came faster, more people joined for kilometres, and Brisbane could be counted down as "155 parkruns to go".
Where to begin
Choose a place to begin.
Before the start line
The long build and the last few days before Canning River parkrun: training, rehearsals, jokes, the campervan, my birthday, and one final night before the start.
Today Is The Day
The public start began at Canning River parkrun. The private start began earlier, in bed, with fear, doubt, and the simple truth that I really wanted to do the thing.
The Long Push To Merredin
The early days stopped being symbolic and started being practical: sore feet, food, night movement, support-crew decisions, and returning to the previous finish point so the crossing had no gaps.
Southern Cross Was A Rest Day, Sort Of
The first rest days were not neat little pauses. They were body maintenance, help from good people, and the kind of painful massage that let me keep moving.
A Finish Line At Rivendell
Kalgoorlie was not the finish, but it felt like the first proper arrival: local runners, media, donated rooms, and a finish line waiting at Rydges.
"Today is that day."
16 May 2015 / Day One"Day one done. 52k."
16 May 2015 / first day report"Nullarbor, here we come!"
Early June 2015 / edge of the next test"This is just the beginning."
17 September 2015 / BrisbaneWhat comes next
The walk is finished. The work of making it useful is not.
Keep telling the whole story properly.
I want to give the crossing the space it deserves: the change before it, the fear at the start, the hard days, the funny bits, the people who carried it, and what I can only understand now.
Share what the crossing taught me.
For anyone staring at their own too-big thing, this can become practical, honest material about training, planning, asking for help, raising money, handling doubt, and getting up again the next morning.
Make room for the people around it.
Hearts Across Australia began as my walk, but it was never only mine. Supporters, donors, hosts, runners, walkers, towns, family, sponsors, strangers, and future adventurers all belong in what it becomes.
Heart health
Why the Heart Foundation belonged.
The Heart Foundation connection came later. It made sense because heart health was already part of my life: the fear of becoming a heart-attack statistic, the changes that began in 2012, and losing my Grandpa to a heart attack when I was eight.
If this account nudges you to support their work, you can donate directly through the Heart Foundation.
The broader roll call of people and places who made HAA possible now lives on the Sponsors & Supporters page.
The north star