The CrossingAlbert Park To Diamond Creek
Late For Albert Park
The morning I was meant to walk officially into Melbourne, I overslept. Ben and Ols rescued the timetable, the Heart Foundation visit still went ahead, and donated treatment got me ready for the final session.
On the morning I was supposed to walk officially into Melbourne, I overslept.
It was the first time my body clock had failed me in ages, and it picked a useful day to do it. Ben and Ols went into speed mode and got me moving with at least an outside chance of reaching Albert Park for the planned 7:30 meeting.
Before I got there, a Toll truck pulled over. The driver was a parkrunner who had been following HAA. His name was Gary too, so he was clearly a top bloke. There was only time for a quick selfie before I had to keep moving.
I reached the Welcome to Albert Park sign at 7:33. Late, but only just.
The previous night had got me under a City of Melbourne sign. This was the morning I actually walked into Albert Park, met the Heart Foundation Victoria team and went with them to their offices. They put on morning tea, then we sat down for a question-and-answer session about HAA and walking from Perth to Brisbane.
Meanwhile, Ben and Ols took a few hours to explore Melbourne. Ols used some of his to visit The Edge alone and later wondered what Ben and I had been worried about on Saturday.
I crossed the city on my own. That meant finding my own coffee and food, which McCafe covered with coffee and banana bread. I took a few photos along the way, but this wasn’t a tourist day. There were kilometres to make up and Diamond Creek was still waiting.
Coburg made me smile. A few ultra runners would know the name for reasons that had nothing to do with sightseeing.
By then I was about 15 kilometres on from Albert Park, with another 14 kilometres to Diamond Creek. The plan was to stop for treatment with roughly 8 to 10 kilometres left, then finish on fresh legs. Or whatever counted as fresh legs after nearly twelve weeks of walking.
Jo had arranged the appointment at Performance Healthcare. Brad worked on a tight calf, hamstring and quad and introduced me to cupping and dry needling. Laura followed with a chiropractic check and realignment. Both treatments were donated, and both were firsts for me.
Deb and the rest of the staff team made us feel very welcome too.
I’ve had cupping plenty of times since. That remains the only dry needle I’ve ever had.
I left the clinic with plenty of attention paid to the legs, if not a completely convincing definition of fresh. Tim Baldwin came to say hello; his brother Dan was one of my Canning River parkrun running mates back in Perth.
Jo’s youngest son, Toby, was also waiting and very keen to join the final session. We walked the last stretch toward Diamond Creek together under the streetlights.
Jo and Craig fed us at their place that night. Then we parked the campervan on a friend’s nearby property where we could plug into power.
Not a bad recovery from waking up late.
Images From The Day
