The CrossingCanberra Weekend
Gungahlin Turned It On
Canberra was supposed to be parkrun and rest. Gungahlin turned it into coffee, chalk messages, Heart Foundation chats, breakfast, sightseeing, dumplings, a donated massage, dinner, and one very early night for me.
Canberra had already started looking after us before Saturday morning.
Yani had paid for our accommodation at Ibis Styles Eaglehawk Canberra, then cooked dinner and brought it to the unit on Friday night. That alone would have been a huge thing. By Saturday, it was clear that Canberra had a lot more planned for us.
The day started with a 7am pickup from Yani, with a coffee stop on the way to Gungahlin parkrun.
I had anticipated the usual capital-city HAA parkrun shape: do the 5 km run, talk to a few people, meet the local Heart Foundation team, maybe do a bit of fundraising, then recover. Gungahlin took that idea and ran a fair way past it.
David McCooey gave us a brilliant introduction before the run, and had spent the previous day writing chalk messages around the course. He had basically captured the adventure so far through place names and little HAA moments.
Keith got a mention.
That made me smile a lot. David clearly followed the page closely.
There was also Elsie, a young HAA supporter with heart face painting, which was pretty hard to beat.
The parkrun itself did not add anything to the Perth-to-Brisbane total. It was a 5 km parkrun, not forward progress toward Brisbane, but parkrun was one of the main ways HAA connected with people in each capital city. Canberra understood that completely.
After the run I had a good chat with the local Heart Foundation team: Tony, Sally and Rowan. There were conversations about health, activity and how to get more people moving. Years later I found out Sally loved parkrun so much she ended up becoming an Event Director, which feels like a very good result.
Then came post-run breakie, with a wonderful family of parkrunners shouting breakfast for the HAA team.
I was also handed a couple of envelopes. One covered a mobile massage treatment booked by Kat, with the money given by a number of parkrunners. The other was a contribution to help keep the HAA show on the road. Thank you, Peta. The handwritten note from your daughter was such a lovely thing to receive.
After breakfast, Yani dropped us back at the hotel, waited while we changed, then switched into tour-guide mode.
Mount Ainslie was first. 840 metres of elevation, no, I did not walk there lol.
Then Parliament House. Then the Australian War Memorial. Then lunch at CBD Dumpling House, where I admitted that I should have taken photos earlier because the lunch had been so good.
Back at the hotel, Mel from Mels Massage came to help keep the feet and legs on the road. I was too relaxed afterwards to manage a proper thank-you until the next morning, which probably says all you need to know about the efficacy of the treatment!
About 5:30 we all headed to Gungahlin Lakes Club for dinner with more parkrun people. It was good to meet supporters properly, and especially good to have a proper chat with David and Connie.
Then I went into old man mode and had an early night.
Yani took the lads for a well-deserved night out on the town.
Fair enough too. I had been awake since before 7am, run a parkrun, talked to a lot of people, gone sightseeing, eaten dumplings, had a massage and met more people for dinner.
What a day.
Images From The Day
