I feel like I have been run over tonight. I had a relatively
short day in terms of mileage, but was out there for hours!
Leaving the campsite this morning I felt happy that the day
ahead should be a short one. I wasn’t feeling terrible sore, but just felt like
lazing around sipping lattes and eating junk. No such thing on the BNT it was
time to get my stuff together and get on with the day job!
Both I and Vickie were a little off this morning, the
routine is hard to get in to and the pressure of something so epic weighs on
our shoulders still. It’s been nonstop for both of us, early starts and late
nights seem to be the norm at the moment, but we still need to find a groove in
what we are doing, So the days can run a bit more seamlessly. Something had to
break sooner rather than later; and it was a quick “I hate you, I love you” argument before
getting on with it!
I wasn’t looking forward to the first five K’s of my run
this morning, as it followed the Jamison – Eildon Road. What I didn’t expect
was a slight downhill, quiet and scenic road, in the sunshine and a great time
to prepare myself for the day ahead.
I only came across one person today. In fact there hasn’t
been a day since the ravers that I have really seen anybody out on the trail.
It was early on when I met this old boy heading down to the river with his
fishing rod. I gave him a wave and a “Gidday Mate” as I plodded buy, but he
headed towards for a hand shake. “Have you jogged in from Eildon this morning”
he said, “No Healesville” I replied, “Oh goodo” he said. I filled him in on
what I was doing, and he just gave me a “good on ya”. It’s funny how the
country folk think about such things. They seem to have this positiveness to
such things, and act like they happen every day. When telling people about Run
BNT back in Melbourne I would often get a “Why would you wanna do that” phrase,
or a million reasons why I shouldn’t do it. But the people out here, who know
how difficult the terrain is, just smile and give you a “Good on ya mate”.
Is a mountain named for the obvious reasons? Normally they
are named after the first man to summit it, but was there ever a Mr Terrible?
Except the one in the MR Men books!
Well the first terrible incident came in the form of a 5km
add on, as I went straight by the turn off to Mount Terrible track! When I
finally got back to the turning point, I thought I must of missed it
deliberately as it was vertical track that didn’t seem to end……..and it didn’t!
The summit of Mount Terrible was well worth the calf busting
three hour ascent. It was a beautiful sight over the mountains and lakes below
and I took half hour to enjoy the views. It was the best and only time to date
to give Vickie a call as the summit had a telecommunications tower on the top!
I let her know that I had 22km to go and should be back to the Maui Mother Ship
(Campervan) soon, as long as the descent wasn’t too steep. This is where Mount
Terribly Beautiful took a turn and became what it is…..terrible!
There was climb after climb, then followed by some short
steep rocky drops before more climbing. Six and a half hours in and I was more
than over the relentless climbs. My calf’s wanted to split, my quads wanted to
explode and I was losing my rag a little. If it wasn’t for the continual views
over the mountains it would have become Mount Terribly Worst!
Seven hours later and am giggling about what was, enjoying
the great meal Vickie had yet again, seemed to just knock together! Tucked up
in the Maui in yet another beautiful part of the Victoria.
The BNT taught me many things I am thankful for today, one
of those being, that things are appropriately named!
 |
| Back at the mothership....soggy feet and a hungry belly... Vix has the shrimps on the BBQ already! |
Character building stuff. Well done guys.
ReplyDelete