AfterwardsTrying to take it all in
The Eye Of The Storm
I sat on Michelle's balcony and tried to make sense of what we had achieved, while a new suitcase, Andrea's thoughtful gift and a pile of shoes brought the flight home closer.
Thursday morning began with a joke: if nothing else, I had the taper nailed perfectly in this extreme marathon programme I had been doing lol.
Later I sat on Michelle’s balcony and tried to write about what had happened over the previous four months. I was still piecing it together mentally and coming to terms with exactly what we had achieved. I knew one post was never going to capture the complete picture. Covering all of it properly might take a book.
This is what I wrote:
so it’s been a few days now, and I am just about ready to write something about all that has happened in the past few months. no idea how long this post will be, and I seriously doubt it will capture the complete picture, as I am still piecing things together mentally, and coming to terms with exactly what has been achieved.
it’s interesting to think, those who have been watching from the outside have seen the progress, have appreciated the scale of things and have witnessed (from afar) a journey of roughly 5500km.
here in the calmness of the eye of the storm it is very different. living in a bubble, focusing on each step, each session, each day, each milestone. this reductionist approach is the only way a huge goal can be achieved, the only way of coping mentally while in the middle of it all. the flip side is, in my head I did a 6.5km walk with friends from the Deedot Cafe in Holland Park, to South Bank - then a parkrun 2 days later…
I WILL try and capture some of my current thoughts and feelings under a few headings - sorry if I miss significant things out, I am sure they will all come back once I start going through the photos and posts, and to cover it all will take a book - something which is very much part of the thinking just FYI…
The People
Biggest standout / takeaway for me - the complete awesomeness of people, the way you all responded, the way you gave generously of your time, arranged for accommodation, brought us supplies, fed us, supported us, donated to the cause, made arrangements so my son would be at the finish line and make me sob like a big girl…
The Crew
OMG what an awesome crew - I could not have done this without them, they showed up (like everything else) at the exact right time, and have both had a journey of their own.
In 4 months I never once drove the camper van, I never once used the cooking facilities, the van was kept incredibly clean and tidy (considering it was 3 blokes in a box on wheels), my hydration pack was topped up, my food was cooked, caravan sites were booked up, new shoe deliveries handled, liaison with parkrun people etc. etc. etc.
I literally had to eat, sleep, walk/run, route plan, repeat….
What a pair of great guys, and who knows exactly what impact it will have on their lives!
The Sponsors
Just wow really - the most perfect sponsors, who each played their part in achieving a successful journey. Shoes, hydration products, support, encouragement, nutritional supplements, admin, setup assistance, website creation, finding sponsors and donors, meeting me out on the road, and generally just being damned awesome.
Take a bow Saybubble, Runwest, Hoka OneOne Australia, Tailwind Nutrition Australia, USANA Australia / USANA Athletes
and special mention to parkrun Australia - particularly Canning River parkrun, Kalgoorlie-Boulder parkrun, Torrens parkrun, Albert Melbourne parkrun, Gungahlin parkrun, St Peters parkrun and South Bank parkrun - though not a sponsor, parkrun was a central thread in the whole piece, and the parkrun community became this huge team that supported the 3 of us as we moved across the country.
Even now as I write I have just had my baggage issues solved by a parkrun Event Director sorting me an extra bag and and exit row seat on my flight back to Perth!
The Places
Just so many wonderful places, a chance to see Australia up close and personal - and a process and a journey that has truly embedded me into this land.
I proudly considered myself an “Aussie” already, having held citizenship for around 7 or 8 years now, but this trip has ensured that the Aussie spirit now courses through my veins as though I had been made out of the red dust itself.
What an amazing country we live in!
The Experiences
There were highs, there were lows, there were new experiences, tough experiences, near misses, things that will one day become tales that are told over and over again.
The experiences come via the people and the places, and given that both of those things were amazing, this really has been one amazing experience, constructed out of a whole series of amazing experiences.
I am humbled, I am proud, I am blessed and I am grateful for being able to go through this, experience this, achieve this, and be part of this.
The Mindset
It has been said that I never once complained during this entire journey - but why would you?
Why would you allow the clouds of negativity make your long days of covering 50km to 55km worse than they have to be?
Why would you make this a 4 month process where each day was worse than the one before?
We set out to achieve a goal, and believed in it absolutely. The desire to achieve that, the passion burning inside, is what created the motivation to automatically get up each day, get the gear on and get out the door.
And while on the road, it really was an opportunity to learn to live in the moment, to just take things as they come and know with certainty that all would be ok. Problems with the camper van? Sure, no problem, keep on walking, the problem will be sorted and the guys would drive past me before I got to the next rest stop…
Worrying or getting angry about things wouldn’t fix anything, so why bring that negativity into the picture as it would simply make things feel bad, without actually adding anything to the situation.
We rode this wave of positive thinking the whole way. 5500kms learning to apply a positive mindset - and hey you know what? It worked!
The Aftermath
Two days ago I collapsed mentally, I was sad, I spent a lot of the time trying not to cry - not with happiness, but with sadness. It was over, the crew were going off to continue their travels, we had achieved what we had set out to do in a calm fashion - and now what?
sure it was post-event blues, but it was more than that - it was a realisation that achieving goals like this does not unlock a superpower, not in a video game manner at least. you don’t suddenly get showered with money, jewels, upgrades and bonus points….
no, the changes and the rewards and the shifts are much more subtle than that. the real treasure is found in the internal transformations that occur. the realisation that anything is possible, and the understanding that no possibility will come into actual reality unless you choose to bring it into reality.
in other words, the outcome from this is more about realising your own power, and the need to take control of your own destiny, and the understanding that no matter what you achieve in life, it is still down to you to continue the journey. no resting on laurels, no thinking “job done” and waiting for the rewards to come flooding in…
also, I think I walk away from this with a far greater understanding of being in the moment, letting go of control over the tiny little details, and really focus on the big picture, the overall experiences, emotions and feelings that I want to have in my life, as outcomes of achieving goals.
aka - a complete shift in thinking and perspective :)
Looking forward to seeing where this crazy rollercoaster ride is taking me next, though I do have a good idea of the overall outcomes :)
Thank you everyone for playing your part in this mind-blowingly amazing adventure. Thank you all for your support, your encouragement, your belief in me and the team that assembled itself around me.
Because of all this and more, we just proved that ordinary people can do extraordinary things, and if you change your thinking you really do change your life, and you really do open yourself up to the possibility of amazing things…
#HAA2015 #AwesomeEverything
Take a bow Saybubble, Runwest, Hoka OneOne Australia, Tailwind Nutrition Australia, USANA Australia / USANA Athletes
and special mention to parkrun Australia - particularly Canning River parkrun, Kalgoorlie-Boulder parkrun, Torrens parkrun, Albert Melbourne parkrun, Gungahlin parkrun, St Peters parkrun and South Bank parkrun - though not a sponsor, parkrun was a central thread in the whole piece, and the parkrun community became this huge team that supported the 3 of us as we moved across the country.
The practical jobs carried on around all that thinking. Andrea sent me a congratulations card with a lovely handmade memento of the walk. It was such a thoughtful thing to receive.
I went to DFO Jindalee and bought a new suitcase, then started trying to pack for the flight back to Perth. The shoes had been culled too, with some bagged and ready to donate the following morning.
The big walk was finished. I was still working out what to do with that.
Images From The Day
