The CrossingBrisbane On The Sign
One Hundred And Fifty Five To Brisbane
The first road sign for Brisbane put the remaining distance at 155 parkruns. After 42.5 km from Shortland to west of Karuah, we drove back to Sydney for a weekend at St Peters parkrun.
I started in Shortland and crossed the Hunter River at Hexham, with the first light opening up over the water.
Then, on the Pacific Highway, I saw it.
Brisbane. 775 kilometres.
Or, in the standard unit of measure employed by HAA:
ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY FIVE parkruns TO BRISBANE!!
My reaction was not subtle: #FirstMentionOnRoadSign #OMG #NoSeriouslyOMG #HomeStraight #NeedToLieDown #overwhelm #MassiveMilestoneMoment.
There was still a fair bit of work ahead, and I was not quite seeing the finish line. Even so, Brisbane had well and truly appeared on my radar. Seeing it on a road sign for the first time was a massive milestone and gave me a real boost.
I continued through Tomago, Heatherbrae and Raymond Terrace. That last one was another quirky place name that lodged itself in my memory.
After Raymond Terrace there was another roadside supporter meet-and-greet with Nicole Rattenbury. We took a selfie, and that brief encounter somehow turned into a decade of Facebook likes and comments.
I finished west of Karuah with another 42.5 kilometres done. Week 15 was done and dusted.
We were now about 200 kilometres north of Sydney, but the plan for the weekend was to head back into the city for a break and St Peters parkrun. It meant disappointing other parkruns further north, but I really wanted to spend some time in each capital city we passed through. We would return to the same finish point on Monday.
A couple of days earlier, Deb and Wendy had arranged two donated rooms for us at The Sydney Boulevard Hotel. After the drive back, I fancied Thai food and there was a place just across the road from the hotel.
It was yummy :)
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