The CrossingDown The Hume
I Can Walk That
A proper rest in Albury paid off, and I headed back onto the Hume for a wet 64 km day toward Holbrook. The big emotional moment was seeing Sydney 541 km away, converting it into 108.2 parkruns, and realising I could walk that.
The rest in Albury paid off.
I can remember waking early, heading down in the lift at Quest Albury, and setting off from the hotel through the streets of Albury feeling pretty damned good. The day before had been the right call: stop early, get warm, eat proper food, spend time with good people, and give the body half a chance to come back to life.
It also meant the morning still felt a little bit like Boxing Day. I was already a few kilometres from Albury CBD and still had people to thank.
Border Just Foods had donated dried fruits, fruit-and-nut mix and chips, which sorted some healthy snacking for a while. Harry, owner of The Barista, Baker & Brewer, had donated a $50 voucher for lunch the day before. The paninis, coffee and ginger biscuits had gone down very well, and my chicken and avocado panini after the interviews had hit the exact spot.
Then there was Deb.
I knew Deb through running and Facebook, and she had been following both No More Mr Fat Guy and Hearts Across Australia. By the time we reached Albury-Wodonga, she had somehow become our person on the ground. She had helped line up accommodation, food donations and media interest, and then, as if that was not enough, she had brought a home-cooked roast chicken dinner to the apartment with her actual family so all seven of us could sit down together.
That was something I knew I would always remember.
After all that, I pointed myself down the Hume Highway toward Gundagai.
Step by step, little by little, No More Mr Fat Guy was now heading through New South Wales.
The first big emotional hit of the day came from a road sign. Holbrook. Wagga Wagga. Gundagai. Sydney 541.
Sydney was not the endpoint of HAA, but it mattered. Getting to Sydney would mean I had crossed the country. Brisbane would still be waiting after that, but Sydney was a massive marker in my head, and there it was on a sign in a number I could understand.
Or, more accurately, in a number I could translate.
108.2 parkruns to Sydney.
I saw that, smiled, thought, “I can walk that”, and then my eyes started leaking.
That probably sounds ridiculous from the outside, but the distance to Sydney was less than the distance from Perth to Kalgoorlie, and by this point I had done that and a whole lot more. I knew the remaining distance to Sydney was well and truly within my capability.
There was still the small matter of actually doing it.
The weather was challenging. I made a short video from the side of the Hume and noted that I was breaking into a bit of slow running, which was a nice sign after feeling rough the day before. But it was still a long, wet day of highway, trucks, spray, layers, breaks, food, and keeping the body moving.
By the time I finished, I had covered 64 kilometres.
The rest had paid off, but so had the support. I was eating the delicious chilli beef Deb had cooked for us when I found out that Trevor and Sharon, the resident owners of Holbrook Motor Village, had given us the powered site for no fee.
That kind of thing still meant a lot, especially at the end of a day like that.
Videos From The Day
Breaking Into A Bit Of Slow Running
A wet Day 89 view from the side of the Hume, when the Albury rest had paid off enough for a bit of slow running.
Open on YouTubeImages From The Day
