A Walk In The Park

Just 1 week ago, I found it harder than usual to get off the couch due to my extremely sore leg muscles...I'd just walked 50km.

On Saturday 1 May at 7am, Cassie, Hamo, Bek and I lined up at the starting line of 'Go The Extra Mile' - a 50km endurance walk to raise money for Dalit (considered the 'untouchables', lower than animals) children in India (www.walk4charity.com/vic).

We'd spent the last 2 months training for the event...going for shorter walks during the week, and blocking out a day on the weekend to do a longer walk.

Through our training, we'd tried to cover most of the trail that we'd be walking on event day. I'm glad we did as some of the terrain, especially in The Dandenongs, was really steep. It was good to have an idea of what we'd be facing on the day.

We anticipated reaching pit stop #1 at 10am, but managed to get the 15km leg done in 2.5 hours. We walked faster than we had in training and even jogged some parts. Unfortunately, I'm not sure if it was the faster pace or the cold morning in shorts, but my legs started to get sore MUCH earlier than I thought they would.

We had Julie meet us at pit stop #1, and after walking another 1.5 hours (9kms), we made it to pit stop #2 and were met by Mel with a delicious lunch! The chicken sandwiches and yummy slice were much appreciated!

The first half of the course seemed to fly by. Unfortunately, the second half wasn't so kind. As we got into The Dandenongs, my legs got sorer and the flat paths of the first 24kms were replaced by lots of hills.

At pit stop #3, the base of the 1000 steps, we were met by Jo and by then, we were all pretty stuffed as the 3rd leg, which took us 4 hours to complete, was pretty savage! With only 12kms to go til the finish, I headed into the last part of the course with the sun setting, knowing it was going to be tough, but eager to make it.

Our team name, Step-By-Step was chanted several times as I continued shuffling along the path, and at times, the old New Kids On The Block song was what kept me going (as well as thoughts of why I was doing the walk in the first place).

After 13 hours of walking, the finish line was crossed! I MADE IT 50kms!!!!

Thanks to everyone who sponsored me/us for the walk!! Because of your support, my team has raised $1560...nearly double our team target! I know the money is going straight to the education and healthcare of the Dalit children. If you read this before June 30 2010 and are keen to make a tax deductible donation, go to http://www.walk4charity.com/vic/sponsorwalkermsg.asp.