i decided to run the whitsunday grerat walk as an entry into the new year .. i had to, cradle mt is only 5 weeks away, and it was on my training schedule .... so no new years late celebrations for me! early to bed
a friend picked me up at 4.30 in the morning to drop me off at the brandy creek end to head in and do it ... after new years eve what he did was beyond the call of mateship, so i was certainly appreciative of the lift :)
it was pouring rain as we drove. passed many a midnight reveller making their way home in all manners of drunken states and dress. we got to the beginning and hopped out into the rain and just chatted awhile and i eventually said, i better start cos i wanted to be finished by 10.
youre still doing it! he questioned the weather circumstances. uhmmm, yes, "GOOD GIRL" - sometimes he makes me feel im 10 years old! haha - he was proud of me though, simply, making the choice and going, thats to my benefit. i knew once i started, i would be doing what i loved, and i would feel good. so, with promises of contacting him when finished so he knew i was out and safe at the other end, and assurances i was ok, i took off .....
the bonus was, i LOVE rain running up here in the tropics.
it was so wet, so muddy, so 'damn i feel alive fine'!!!!! it was the best way for me to do it. i could go at my own pace, i didnt have to communicate, and, i was one with nature. it was a perfect running day. i slipped and slid in the mud, i got so dirty, my shoes baked so deep with mud they had no grip, and it was the absolute greatest fun - except for a handful of open sections, the trees and palms caught most of the rain which fell through in heavy droplets clunking on my head, so green and beautiful, the smell was magnificently fresh, the birds coo'ed the whole way, i fought many a cobweb, tangled with many a thorned vine, my legs are scratched to buggery - i was about to land on the head of a carpet snake half buried under a pile of leaves, i have one live on my driveway so they dont bother me, but, im glad i didnt land on his head, and i did pull back and stop the wrong side of him and had to figure how to get past. my only choice in the end to actually simply step over the top of him! a carpet snake wont hurt a soul, but they still make your hairs stand on end! i fell only once, a steep downhill section so boggy but it was just like tobogganing - i slid and slid and got up and figured. well. that saved me running a few metres! crossed rivers and newly rain made riverlets!
about 15kms in, i hit a spot where the canopy of greenery wasnt so dense at the top of one of the mountains, and the rain was so heavy, i was drinking it in instead of the camelbak! no exageration. but the mist, lay heavy in the trees and palms of the rainforest, so mystical, and it was pure magic! thats when i felt so happy with what i was doing, so happy i went ahead and didnt continue to self wallow, and felt, so damn lucky, i was the one got to witness it.
know what?
thousands of people chose NOT to do the great walk trail today. (i NEVER understand that every single time i do it, why isnt everybody!)
hundreds of people went down to the beach last night to watch the man made fake *beauty* of the fireworks which pale so much in comparison
yet, i was the one - one - singular - absolutely lucky soul, that got to witness the pure beauty of a hot, wet, new years morning in the middle of the tropical rainforest.
HOW ABSOFRIGGINLUTELY LUCKY WAS I!!??!!
a side note: certainly not a pb, but that (even without the rain) wasnt my intent, it was to simply bring in the new year with a friend, but in the end, i would have liked a good result, took 4:10, my pb for it is 3:27 - under the circumstances, i am pleased with the time though.
from the lowest of lows, to the highest of highs. ah, THAT, is life.
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