Day 1: Sunshine Coast to Gold Coast

I can’t believe my 200km adventure to the Gold Coast has arrived, and that day one is already over! I’ve been planning and training for this since January so it seems so surreal. I had big plans for this event. Big media coverage, massive donations, but it hasn’t turned out quite like that. But at the end of day one I am reflective and grateful that I’ve been able to get to this point, after what has been a very stressful year to date.

I started at 0930 this morning after having some photos with Eve, the President of U Can Survive and some of the volunteers. And then I was off!

The roads were more undulating than I thought; there is only so much planning that you can do with maps and Google! This surprised me (17% gradient!!!!), but luckily it was only 400m long!

My husband met me after about 11km and after a quick re-fuelling stop I was off again. We got confused at the next checkpoint as google maps took us both in different directions! I thought I would add some trails into the mix and shorten the road running but it didn’t seem to work out like that.

And just as I was out of the trail and heading into a town called Landsborough, I was swooped by a magpie! The last thing I wanted was to do sprint training in the middle of the day! I am always a target for magpies which my husband thinks is hysterical but this one wouldn’t let me go, coming back for more even when I seemed to be well away from the nest.  It would have been a sight to capture on video!

All in all, day one has been a great adventure. I had planned to take it easy and enjoy the journey. As my friend Amanda said, ‘Don’t worry about your time or how far you have to go. Just enjoy the things you wouldn’t notice in the car.’ And that’s what I’ve done.  Today is my shortest day to ease my legs into it. I haven’t told them they have to do it all again tomorrow. I’ve decided to break the news to them in the morning.

            

Randall and Gracie had a great day hanging out with their Dad! And my husband didn’t seem too phased with being support; great ‘Team Eager’ effort as always.

Let’s see what tomorrow brings!

Day 1: Nambour to Beerburrum 43.3km

 

Don’t forget it’s not too late to donate to the two amazing charities that I am supporting:

1. Farm Animal Rescue (Australia)-An animal sanctuary based in Brisbane