The CrossingMacksville To Raleigh
No parkrun, Plenty Of Company
Saturday brought Macksville at dawn, an encounter with Parisian cyclist Antoine, and some walking company from Sharon Benstead in Urunga. After 45.5 kilometres, we drove to Bec's property for the first night of our Coffs Harbour mini break.
No parkrun for me that Saturday. It was hard to believe only a week had passed since St Peters parkrun in Sydney.
I started just short of Macksville at 4:50 am. Macksville was the first port of call, with the moon still hanging over the trees as I came into town. By the time I crossed the river, daylight was beginning to arrive.
I was really enjoying wandering through those lovely little towns, with their river views, sunrises and moonsets. Running and walking gave me physical exercise, but there was so much more to it. There was time to think, time not to think, time to relax and something very close to meditation.
That was one of the things I loved about parkrun too. It was a safe, friendly entry point to all of that, followed by the social coffee opportunity afterwards.
A highway sign beyond Macksville put Brisbane at 460 kilometres.
92 parkruns, plus the final one at South Bank.
I continued north through Nambucca Heads. At one point I found a road marking that said START OF TAPER, complete with an arrow. Even the road marking crew seemed to know that I was supposed to be easing up.
It did raise a question about what sort of marathon training programme involved approximately 5,000 kilometres of running and walking over 16 weeks, the occasional timed 5 km, a two-week taper, a half marathon, a week of rest or easy walking, and then race day.
Not long afterwards, I met Antoine.
He was originally from Paris and was cycling from Brisbane to Sydney, carrying his camping gear in a trailer. He had already driven parts of the west coast, taken a boat to the Philippines, bought his bike there, returned to Australia, and was considering doing some walking in New Zealand next.
We had an awesome chat. There were still plenty of opportunities to meet other crazy people doing crazy things.
The third session took me into Urunga, where supporter Sharon Benstead joined me for part of the walk. It was great to see her. Urunga also brought more waterways and bridges, another beautiful section of north-east New South Wales.
Near the end of the final session, I had about one kilometre left, followed by roughly 20 kilometres on Sunday afternoon. We had made about 317 kilometres of forward progress in six days, and a little rest should leave my legs ready for the last 80 parkruns or so.
I finished near Raleigh just after 3 pm. Four sessions had added 45.5 kilometres.
Then we drove to Coffs Harbour for the mini break Bec had organised around the Coffs Harbour Running Festival. She welcomed us to her property for a barbecue with running friends and supporters, and we slept in the campervan there that night.
It was such a great evening of food and company that nobody took a single photo 🤣
Images From The Day
