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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.
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