F 19th Nov ACT Thanks for the beautiful accomodation Hotel Heritage, Narrabundah, ACT.
We've had a busy day jam-packed full of action with a tad of tourism added in. Starting with a complimentary breakfast from Hotel Heritage, I stocked up on fresh fruit, while the others got stuck  into the full English, cereals and coffee. I introduced Shannon and Vivian to the ideal crumpet, melted butter all through it, raining honey! They loved them! But I felt bad not telling them really what makes a crumpet so good, have you ever seen the list of ingredients in there... half of them belong back on the periodic table! Vivian was indulging in her last "Hoorar" anyway, as she has seen first hand with my 10days on Organic Raw Vegan way of eating how vibrant I feel, she too has decided to take a 4 day trial (starting at noon!!!)
We went up Black Mountain, the crew had a quick look around while I sat in the carpark advising the media about the ACT part of my trip. I had planned to start a 20km run at 12 noon from the War Memorial. I also had to find a school to speak at. The girl down at the WIN TV Office this morning had suggested her School; St. Clares College.
The run went without a glitch, the motorsits were very sharing with their roads, tooting and waving. As it was around lunchtime, there were plenty of others out for a jog. The run took a good 2 hours, we followed up with a talk to students and buying postcards! I took my hardworking champion team to the Art Gallery. (Believe me, that's where they chose to go!!!)
The Canberra Times just scraped in with a phone interview before 5 and gave me til before 6 to email them a photo for tomorrows paper. Done by 5.54pm! We're going to hang round to see the story on WIN TV just after 6.45pm. I have seen hardly any of the interviews I've done around the country, so it'll be a rare treat, usually I'm out for my 2nd session of the day about that cooler time of day. Back down the mountain to the coast to continue north up to Sydney. Only 8 more sleeps!

Sa 13th Nov. 48km Genoa(Vic) to Kiah (NS
W)
Oh what a feeling... if only I was doing an add for Toyota! I swear nothing has felt this good on the whole trip than feeling NSW in the air. It was very warm at 6am this morning, but there has been plenty of shade with strong gum trees growing either side of the road. The cicadas where up early, chirping consistently for the bite size 22km run from Genoa to a smidge over the Vic/NSW boarder, they provided backdrop to the song I had in my head this morning: "All I need is the air that I BBBBrrrreeeeee----yeeeeeettttthhhhheeee." Still on track for getting to the Opera House for the morning of the 27th Nov, I now only have to run on average 43km (bit over a marathon) a day. I'm going to head straight up the coast from here.
Evening run:we got started at 6pm, even though it had sort of rained in the afternoon, it had cleared away and was just terribly muggy. I couldn't believe how much water I was drinking, sweat was pouring off me. Shannon was doing the support driving, waiting up ahead with some water for me, camera poised more often than not, hopping out the car to give me a drink as I ran past, then waiting in the car for 5 mins, before catching me up, driving past and handing the bottle out the car. Then she continues driving on and waits 1km up the road. In theory this should give her a few moments to read a page of a book, but in reality this doesn't eventuate. I had some support girls on the west coast who would use the few minutes it took me to catch up to do some sit-ups or exercise, even run towards me and accompany me back to the parked car, again and again. Oh, the unsung heroes. I couldn't have done this alone. On and on these windy, hilly roads went towards Kiah... was Kiah ever going to be there? Or was it only a place on the map and too small to have sign? I pushed on, dreaming of eating lamb shanks... (I'm on the 5th day now of only eating raw/organic vegan food, it's not as bad as it sounds. It's actually refreshing, eating only salad, fruit, nuts and some veges uncooked, honey, I don't feel weighed down by the volume of pasta and rice or meat). A sign for Kiah eventually arrived, I ran on a bit more to an intersection, Upper Kiah Road turnoff. We stayed at Eden Big 4 which is 7km south of Eden, not too far to drive from the end of the run, 8.8km... I should have just run there, but 8.8km of unknown hills is more dauting than just finishing off 8.8km on the flat.   
Su 14th Nov. 46.6km Kiah EdenBroadwater Pambula Yellow Pinch Wolumla turn off
8.30am start. Back 8.8km to Upper Kiah Road turnoff, and ran back down ast the caravan park through Eden.  It all looks and sounds very tame on paper but flat maps do no justice to the incredible undulations that slowed me right down this morning. Back into first gear for the up-hills and on the brakes for the downhills. My poor quads don't know if they're coming or going. I took 40 minutes for the first 7km. We've spent a hot, now rainy day in Eden, bought a few groceries and done my blog, really could do with a 20minute nap before I face the hills again.... I just know I'm not going to find a rhythm to run at tonight, I'm not looking forward to it. We're just about to move the bus and cars up to Pambula, not far from where I finish tonight.
Mo 15th Nov. 50.9km Wolumla turn off Kingswood Bega Brogo Quaama
My poor legs. Runners know that if they want to increase their milage weekly, it should be done gradually in safe increments. I think it would be the same rule for introducing hills into a training routine. My legs have run only flat ground for months, at least nothing like the hills around here. I feel I've been thrown into a scene reminiscent of a Saturday morning hill-training session. There's no escape from them, my quads and calves feel torn up :( I can't find a rhythm to steam along at. My only saving grace is that my milage has been cut considerably. This morning I ran 24.5km from (corner Hwy 1) turnoff to Wolumla to corner Numbugee Rd (just past Bega) then went back to Merimbula to pick up the bus, drive it into Bega for a 10.30am appointment with the ABC Radio.
Evening Run: 26.6km into Quaama. Hilly, late start, rained the whole way, poor support car had to squeeze into tiny safe parts on the side of the curvey roads to wait for me every few km's. The bridges were narrow and there wasn't a flat kilometer in the whole run. Obviously I didn't need much water along the way. It was freezing. I got totally saturated, there was no option other than to embrace it. At Quaama I'd left the bus in a road side bay, there were no showers so I just got out of my wet rained-on clothes and into warm pj's. I was too tired and cold to worry about dinner so I snuggled down into bed with my 2 sleeping kids.(10.30pm finish)
Tu 16th Nov. 48.3km Quaama CobargoCentral Tilba Narooma
The alarm was going, it felt like 2am, but no, it was 6am already. I am going to sleep for a month when I get home. I was so hungry this morning, I mashed up 4 bananas and sprinkled ground-up nuts onto it and a tea-spoon full of organic raw cocoa powder, YUMMY chocolate banana split!. This raw diet is amazing. I'm getting so many nutrients form the raw organic food in every mouthful. I was just about to leave for my run, Shannon was putting the signs on the car and getting my water/apples/towels etc ready when she discovered that the little blue support car has accumulated a flat tyre overnight. Amazingly it's only our 2nd flat tyre in 8 months! The first was on the 3rd day in Swansea between Gosford and Newcastle. As the weather was still overcast I decided to go off by myself, no support car. I asked Vivian to drive up in 2 hours time to get me. When she caught me up I'd done 19.8km f hills terrain. I asked her to go to the 24.5km mark. I was so glad to see that ute up ahead :) near the top of a rise, so a downhill start this afternoon. Better than that though, it only 23.8km to Narooma. It's good to get more than half done in the morning, makes for a good day.
W 17th Nov. 42.3km Narooma Bodalla Moruya

Th 18th Nov.  Moruya Mogo Batemans Bay Benangarah (Drive to ACT)


If anyone wants to join in on any of these days, feel free to call 0409 4409 27.

4th to 9th November
Hey there all... website-uploads has had to play second fiddle this week, traveling back interstate with the kids, running with Jason Akermanis (raising $1200 in one hour!) last Thursday, chasing up goods sponsored by Aussie Farmers Direct and changing teams has been keeping me busy. Let's recap the last few days in short;
Thursday 4th Nov, 7.30am Appointment with Radio Station MelbourneTalk Radio 1377am We had to be there at 7.10am. Accompanied by Jason Akermanis for the first 12km, MTR sponsored us $100 for every km Aker managed. He did well raising $1200 for the 12km for JDRF. I continued on and ran as far as Oakleigh(21km). I had lots of things in Melbourne on, including 2 school visits arranged by people I'd met along the way requesting I did my talk at their kids' school. I'm not one to dissappoint people, so I raced from as far as Bon Beach on the south coast to Gisborne in the North West, getting back to Oakleigh where I left off for a very late start to my evening run making it only another 22.5km to Hallam. Upon my 8.40pm return to the Caravan Park my poor little neglected kids were being very good natured about it all!  They were busy entertaining an ULTRA-MARATHON couple, Jeanette and Alan (RIGHT OF PICTURE), who had been in contact with me on the internet months ago when I had some decent internet connection back in Darwin and whom were now there to meet me in person. They had brought round a very unusual meal of RAW ORGANIC food for dinner, including a raw, flourless CARROT CAKE. We all tucked in to this "real-vitamin rich" food. I was so tired I can't remember much of the night, except Jeanette and Alan are off for thier own lap of Australia, running, as of 1st January 2012. They have already completed 50 marathons in 50 days from south to north New Zealand. I wish them much luck, when I get back home and to some normal routine, I'm sure I can be an endless source of inside knowledge for them. They also want to buy my bus for their trip. Scania have been incredibly generous with the upkeep of the bus (which has only done 414,000km). Scania have given it a thorough service in every major city as well as fix a hiccup or two that have happened along the way. Thank god I didn't break down as often as my vehicles have had dramas!!! I was really amazed by the benefits of eating RAW ORGANIC food. I want to give it a try (PICTURE from left Shannon & Vivian: crew; Bonnie: my daughter; Greg, friend and support car driver through parts of Melbourne; Sarah (i was doing well to stand up in this photo); Jeanette & Alan, fellow Ultra Marathon runners)
Friday 5th Nov. (Pictures: Vivian on left, Sarah with Austin, Danii with Bonnie, Kezia standing. Pic 2, picking up goods from Aussie Farmers Direct)
From Hallam I got off to a bit of a late start into the headwind. Finishing in Pakenham about noon near a fitness studio, I got a shower there. On the way back to the caravan park we took the vehicle signs in for alterations which took about an hour. We picked the kids up and went into Melbourne to meet up with Danni and Kezia who were part of my support crew for the first few weeks leaving Sydney. They told me that I looked a lot skinnier and marvelled at how much the kids had grown. Austin can say about 60 words now and, of course, Bonnies hair has been cut which gives her a much more grown up appearance. The day went on and on, everything took time,  catching up with the girls, giving in donation tins to JDRF and finally finding the Aussie Farmers Direct Depo near Sunshine, west of Melbourne.
We picked up a supply of food that should give my poor "Single Parenting Payments" a bit of a breather and feed my wonderful, hardworking crew until Sydney. On the way out of the city we swung past the kids' Great Grandmothers place in Ringwood for about 13 and a 1/2 minutes. (Enough for a cup of coffee for the girls and me to say a quick hello. Austin, not wanting to miss the lime-light timed a number 2 at her house very well). Back at the caravan park by 9pm, we moved the bus, ute and car beyond Pakenham where I'd run to this morning, up to Gumbuya Park on the freeway by 10pm; although a friend of mine from Melbourne was there waiting for us, volunteering to drive for the 2nd run of the day, we all agreed that 10pm was too late to start out, so the night run never happened. I hate playing catch up.

Saturday 6th Nov Back to Pakenham we went, running past Gumbuya Park where the kids were, to a service station on the M1, Longwarry BP, a great place to stop, it had a free shower and a few customers who gave donations telling me they'd passed me on the road. Back to the park where the kids had been waiting, I decided to treat them to an afernoon of entertainment inside Gumbuya Park. We paid entry, only to find that every ride inside had to be paid for individually.  Feeling a little ripped off, I decided to just embrace it, the kids have been absolute stars on the trip, they deserve every minute of fun I can give them. There were water-slides and paddle boats, buggies and tobogans. After the couple of hours at the park (and $80 later - ouch) we moved all the vehicles up to the BP where I'd run to this morning. Shannon and I set off, waving to the same girl who was still at work at the cashier as this morning, setting out for our evening stint. I had planned to make it past Warragul, so put my head down and started to let the km's roll under my feet. The run itself was pretty uneventful, the odd PowerNap sign came and went, as too the countdown km's for the first exit into Warragul.  I prided myself on resisting the exits, powing on into the never never of darkness that had fallen. Some hours into the night, however,  I found that I was on a very quiet road indeed....I lifted my head to see that I was on a single lane, tunring back to Shannon who was, as always dilligently following closely behind I indicated that I had just dropped in from another planet and didn't really know where I was. She shouted out the window that I'd taken the exit  about 1km back. I'd just been staring at that white line without looking up and it had stolen me clear off my Number 1. I took it as a "Sign" and called it a night.
Sunday 7th Nov 60.1km Warragul (turnoff!) to Traralgon Big day again today. Feel like I'm back into the swing of things ack into my own world of camping on the road and running. Away from the hang-ups of cities, traffic lights, appointments and people, I can focus back on my km's. During the run I'd started to wonder if I could ever run at speed again, you know, really stride out and feel alive sort of speed, this running round Australia at 12km/hour at best or 10km (and feels much worse on a day with a head wind) has definately had it's highlights, but I'll be glad to see the Opera House! (Honestly, it's all i think about these days) I had a call from a guy called Lachie who said he'd meet me at Traralgon Post Office at 7.30am for a run tomorrow morning. That'll be good. 
Monday 8th Nov 59km Traralgon P.O. to Airly.
Lachie Materialised! At last someone to run with and boy, what a difference it made. 2hours18.56 flew by. Lachie ran the first 12km alongside before reverting to our support bike, kindly donated by Albanys' BIG GREEN BIKE, WA. Reaching Rosedale he tied the bike back on the support car driven by Shannon who trailed closely behind and ran again the last 5km. In the last 2 km Shannon drove up ahead so we could see where our end mark was. Awaiting our arrival was a beautiful Gippsland vista. I often forget to pick my head up and look around.  We turned back to Rosedale Caravan Park for a shower and to take Lachie back to his car in Traralgon. Having set aside the whole day for the run he was in no rush to get back. We had time for lunch at a cafe and to look into some spongey insoles for my running shoes as the next pair of sponsored Mizuno shoes are due at Lakes Entrance, 131km away. Lachie was nice enough to buy them for me, also giving me enough cash for fuel to get all three vehicles well up the NSW Coast. So here's a little plug for his Melbourne based business, Outdoor Innovations. Thanks Lachie :)
We zipped around to Win Television and tee'd up a meeting at 7.30am to cover the story in Sale tomorrow. I called Gippsland Grammer and organised a school talk. Back at the caravan park the kids and crew were being eaten alive by mossies so we moved the bus, ute and car up to Sale, the kids played on the park next to Lake Gutheridge while Shannon and I headed out for an evening run of 32km making it half way between Sale and Stratford. A huge day.
Tuesday 9th Nov 24km Airly to Perry River. (33.3km later this afternoon into Bairnsdale)
A 7.30am meeting with Win TV took 1.5 hours to make the story, following we did a piece with the Times here in Sale, not getting the actual run started til late meant hot running. It's nearly 2pm now, and 28deg on the bus. The kids have gone off to the beach with Viv and Shannon, I've stayed behind to do a few bits and pieces around town and update this time consuming blog. Lazzaro Bros Fruiterers donated a huge box of ORGANIC FRUIT & VEG to keep me powering along. I've decided to do a little experiment with my diet for the last 20 days, I already have restricted my intake over the past 7 years to roughly 90% organic, so there's nothing new there, but now I'm stepping up to Raw and Organic food, 100%. During my run I've met a three extreme people who do this as their normal everyday diet. They all appear very happy, healthy, content and enthusiatic about their diets, and why shouldn't they be? They are getting the best in nutrition by either growing or buying Organic and by not cooking/blanching the vitamins/minerals/enzymes out of their food they are getting 100% goodness in every mouthful. I'm sold on the idea, my aching body can use all the minerals  I can find . My crew are happy to cook for one less person too! No dairy, no meat. I was worried about not getting enough calcium, but then I thought, a grown cow doesn't drink milk, sourcing all it's goodness as a calm herbivor, so green leafy vegie's is where I'll be getting all my calcium from.

A fit Sarah will enter Victoria over the next few days. Stay tuned to MTR 1377 for latest up-dates and where you can catch up with her along the #1 Hwy

The run itself into Port Augusta was beautiful. Sighting the Flinders Ranges was amazing they rise form the flat lands so abruptly. In Augusta I got some time to check out the sculptures on display at Arid Lands and on the evening before we moved camp out of town, I even took the kids to the movies. I haven't had that luxury since Broome, so I thought it was about time to take them for a treat with just Mummy. In the picture are some nice ladies from the Commomwealth Bank who came to the Walk to Work day Breakfast, 7am. The inaugural free healthy breakfast was  supplied by Port Augusta Council. One Lap No Excuses was there promoting the run and raising money for JDRF.  
In Port Augusta, thanks to Crossroad Print Designs Signs & Web  who have organised the artwork and printing of my business cards and made us a beautiful banner  for promotions. Also Home Hardware, Saltbush Surf & Leisure, Southern Cross Ten, Trans Continental Newspaper, Big 4 and Stratco. If your company is able to become a sponsor, all donations are much needed at this stage. At the breakfast we were able to raise neary $200 for Type 1 diabetes research. To keep our run on the road we need sponsorship to cover our expences. Please see the Sponsors Page to see how you can help.