Run BNT.......5330km on Australia's National Trail

Day 36……………..….A Pain in the BNT!

I was more than happy to see the Maui Mothership parked up at the entrance to the Mount Werong State Forest. I say more than happy, because for the first time, the 40km I had to cover became a painful one!

I was looking forward to today’s run. Going by the Garmin mapping program I use, the route was a steady climb over the total distance, and on fire trails, which are of the best part wide and open. This meant that I would be at the finish early for a change and me and Vickie could have a nice afternoon together, before meeting with Martin and Hazel, who had kindly offered for us to stay at their farm.

The sky was blue and the sun warm as I started the mild climb for the day. I was straight into an easy rhythm, feeling relaxed as I admired the valley I was climbing out of.

It was great to be feeling so energised and lose. Perhaps yesterday’s morning stretching session had paid off two fold? And the shorter distance just giving me that little break?

20km in and I could see myself finishing  in great time, which was fantastic considering the non-effort I was having to put in and the way I was feeling. Not that I feel terrible after running 20km, but the fact that I have been having these marathon days for some time now, means I’m not always so full of beans!

I stopped at the top of the spur to take a picture of the view and of course the sun went in! A four wheel drive came zooming past and I waved as it left me in the usual cloud of dust!

Back on the fire trail, I could feel that my left quad was tight, something I get often on this run is different body parts tightening up as and when, and I would just work it out in the evenings, ready to go again the next day.

It was only a mild tightness and it was only playing up on the steeper climbs. Another kilometre in and things got worse, it was now hurting on the declines too!

Another few KM’s, and it brought me to a stop. Up, down or even the flats were making it too painful to run and I was reduced to a walk. Looks like the four wheel drive I waved to could have been my ticket out of here I though, and it’s cold now the suns gone in too!

Frustrated, I tried to figure out what was going on and how I could get through the next 18km. Running in its normal form was more than out of the question, so I mixed it up with fast walking on the flats and uphills and this sort of one legged, left leg dragging, hop for the downhills, which was still painful but helped me cover some ground at least.

I was pissed off and shouted out how unfair this was and how far away I was from the finish, and how there was no phone reception and why, why, why all mixed up with a particular word that begins with “F”!

The good thing about being away from civilisation is that you can scream, shout and have a tantrum like a three year old and really spit the dummy! There is no one to pass judgement, but you get laughed at by Kookaburras, which always seem to be around when you’re having a bad time.  That itself makes you smile and be grateful for being out in the Australian Bush. Are they really laughing at you, or making a statement that its really not that bad and to not take yourself so seriously!

t made a difference. I was grateful for lots of things and I riddled them off counting them with my figures until there were no figures left and I was still going. Just goes to show that this was not really a problem at all, just another test of my personality. I laughed along with the Kookaburras as I hobbled along that fire trail, they had help me change my thinking and figured that there wasn’t a lot I could do about it, but do what I do best, and that’s put one leg in front of the other for long periods of time.

I met with a couple of other four wheel drivers along route, of course going in the opposite direction! But, something inside wanted for me to not take that easy option of a lift and to just brave it out what ever happened.

So, I sit here in the library at Oberon, where I would have finished my run today, Oberon that is, not the library!. A forced day off due to the quad still not being right. Normally I would be angry that I had to be made to stop with something as silly as a strained quad. But, the fact is, I’ve made it 1200km or so over the mountains in this last 35 days, without any type of injury, and besides......the coffees good in Oberon!