The CrossingSydney Weekend Ends
Excited And Sad
A proper Sydney rest day ended with the drive back to 12 Mile Creek, 150 parkruns left to Brisbane, and mixed feelings about finishing HAA and what might come next.
Sunday morning was about as close to a proper rest day as HAA got.
While runners back in Perth were taking on the City to Surf, and others were running the Sunshine Coast Marathon, I was mostly laid down with my feet up, reading Runner’s World and checking everyone’s updates. I had done St Peters parkrun the day before, but there were no forward kilometres to cover and I intended to make the most of it.
One HAA shirt was still out there doing some work. Theunis Koekemoer wore his at Bridge to Brisbane, which I think made him the first person to race in an HAA shirt outside parkrun.
I did eventually get out for a wander through Sydney and something to eat. By HAA standards, that still counted as rest.
I also caught up with Kerryn Lambert, who had contacted me through Facebook because she wanted to hear more about what we were doing. She was from Perth but happened to be in Sydney after working as part of the Oxfam Trailwalker event team. Kerryn had a long-standing interest in adventures, big and small, so we had plenty to talk about.
We caught up again after I returned to Perth, and she later became part of the HAA London Marathon team. Another crazy friend added to the collection thanks to HAA :)
Later we packed up and headed back to 12 Mile Creek, where I had finished on Friday. The next morning I would resume the walk north.
As the Sydney weekend ended, I was excited and sad at the same time.
It had been a great break. A few things had clicked into place in my mind about the future, and spending time in another part of Australia had only made me want to see more of it. At the same time, I could all but see the finish line.
Four months of my life and 18 months of planning, training and dreaming would soon be over. That was exciting. It was also difficult to imagine what could possibly top it.
My answer was to start making plans.
I wanted HAA to continue, with a London Marathon team in 2016, an annual virtual fun run and whatever else we could make happen. I wanted to speak, write and publish, using my story to reach the people who needed to hear that absolutely everything is possible. I wanted to mentor people who had their own big idea but needed some guidance to make it real.
I also wanted to get back to my running: a five-hour marathon, a 25-minute 5K, a sub-60-minute 10K, a 50K PB, and finishing the Six Inch Trail Marathon within the cut-off.
Having those things to aim for helped ease the sadness. Another chapter had to finish and be left behind. Another finish line, but another start line too.
When I read that list again ten years later, quite a few items were still sitting there marked “to do”. That troubled me for a long time. I was also beginning to realise just how long it had taken me to process HAA and everything that came after it.
For now, the number was simple:
745 kilometres to South Bank, then a 5 km parkrun.
150 parkruns to go.
Images From The Day
