BIG WALKING OFF ROAD EVENT
I am getting very nervous. I have entered a huge walking event on Friday. I am also excited too.
Haven’t had much time to train, due to working full time and lots of things on.
The walk is near Invercargill, around 3 hours driving from Dunedin. I have seen photos of the terrain and been told that this is a beautiful part of scenery. I have to work for 6 hours on Friday, 😦 as we are too busy for me to get the whole day off. I suppose leaving at 1pm instead of 5pm is better than nothing. Colin and I will drive down there to the event, in the late afternoon when he finishes work. I was hoping to get a bit of sleep in prior to leaving. Not sure if that will happen.
The event is off road, (a new thing to me really as I am a road/street walker, but I have done a few longer bush walks these last few weeks). The event, called Stump the Hump leaves at midnight (yes in the dark), we walk up a mountain with very steep terrain, getting to 900 metres. I have been told a lot of people pull out of the event, due to the extreme hardness of it. 😛 I am scared. They have to pay to get helicoptered out. I realllllly want to not only do it but I want to complete it. 21kms to the top of the hill, then a lot of board walks, steps, bridges, along railway tracks, beach walking and bush again. 62kms of non stop walking. A chap told me that I will probably take about 16 hours, he has done it once and took 14, he does a lot of long distance walking and running.
I think the hill for be the most difficult and staying awake, if I get to the top, I am hoping I will manage the rest alright. I have just had blood test results this week too, I am anemic again and also have low white blood cells. There is no way that I am not going to do the walk though, I am not giving up now because of that. With Coeliac Disease, we lack in taking in the nutrients, I am always on Iron pills, but now have to double them. No wonder I am always feeling low in energy and tired. …I will push myself though, as I normally do.
I also have to take a back pack with my own food in it (extra weight) as the organizers won’t cater for Gluten Free 😦 A bit of a shame, as food is offered to everyone else, porridge and toast at the first hut, soup and sandwiches at the 2nd and a bbq at the finish. The event cost $150, I think they should at least have one option of something GFree, but nevermind.
I will make sure I have enough food to get thru this in my bag. I have most of my gear ready. We start at midnight Friday, finishing some time late Saturday. I hope I can take my camera. Rain is due both days, hope it doesn’t happen as it may wreck the view, and also will be slippery.
The event is not a race, so that is good, and also I just want to push myself and cross it off my bucket list. Fingers crossed for me, I will report in hopefully with photos next week. 🙂
Did I tell you I’m nervous hee hee 😛
Donna
dunedindonnyjeandesignz 