Sunday today: no meetings, just a glorious day of running through beautiful Australian countryside – and some serious hills!
Our girls team got rolling out of Grafton, over the bridge before heading inland towards Armidale ...
... pretty much just one long road. As we ran we met many people along the way ...
... one man called out to me from the bush – where he was fixing a fence – asking if I was running around Australia. So in I clambered to have a chat (checking for snakes as I trod). He then read my T-shirt and saw it said Sri Chinmoy: he was very happy to see we were a part of something that was associated with Sri Chinmoy. Chris had competed in a number of the big triathlons run by the Sri Chinmoy Marathon Team in Canberra and had been keeping an eye on Sri Chinmoy's activities over the years. He asked if we had run this road before: when he found out we hadn't, he kindly let us know to expect a big hill in the next 15km ...
For now though, it was pretty straightforward, rolling pastoral countryside ...
As the kms ticked by, we did start to notice that the gentle undulating hills got a bit steeper and longer ...
... by the time we had completed at least 10km each, The Hill really began in earnest ...
... pretty much 16km of mostly uphill.
As Avanayaha was completing a 2km portion of the hill, we met John, who had just passed her. He pulled in to ask what we were doing, then jumped out to hold the Torch. As we explained the Peace Run he said "Yeah, that is what it is all about: Peace and Love."
As John drove further up the hill, he slowed down to take photos of Rupasi ...
... soon after John left, Avanayaha arrived to the cheers of her fellow team members. Elsa had just completed her own 3km on 'our' hill, so was clapping and cheering as she arrived ...
As each successive runner got dropped on the side of the road they were faced with the hill ...
... which we slowly climbed ...
... to the very top ...
... reaching the top and starting the descent by only 200m, we saw our signposted brochure left by the boys team, letting us know that it was time to finish!
We did wonder about the conversation that might have been happening in the other van as they approached this point: would it have been disappointment that they missed some great hills, or joy that they now faced the descent?
The first boys team takes up the story ...
Truth be known, the downhill didn't last long!
What a glorious Sunday we had today! After we had an extensive breakfast prepared with lots love and concern by Bahumanya, it was not an easy thing to come out of our beautiful accommodation. But the shining Emperor of the Sky was beckoning us with such warmth and assuring us of his magnanimous support, that we couldn't delay anymore ...
Our way from Grafton to Armidale lay along serpentine narrow roads of several nature reserves, which meant we had to run in forest and mountains. The luckiest of us had the downhill, the strongest the uphill, and the girls ... well, the girls had both.
The uphill team first decided to fight up the mountain in three legs for each of us four: with this beaming idea we started. The endeavour, nevertheless, proved to be too difficult to carry out.
Our planned longer distances didn't fit the gradient of the surroundings, and after a few sections where we almost crawled up the hill, we resigned ourselves to lesser distances. Yeah, what you plan at home doesn't always fit the market's offer!
On one of his runs, Odgiiv saw two big dogs lying down on the road. It seems they liked him very much because they wanted to approach the runner and were persistent in their attempts. They couldn't understand Odgiiv's reticence and continued to bother him until he started to use the Torch for protection ...
... only after a certain distance he escaped and could again take his running pace.
Our third team had already driven further ahead, and now take up the narrative ...
Our team had a couple of lovely experiences today before we had even started running – and I don’t mean breakfast!
We visited the magnificent Ebor Falls, which were profoundly beautiful and very powerful.
Waterfalls must be one of the most striking wonders in nature, and this was no exception: a great start to the day.
You might imagine that the most important quality you would need to be a part of a 15,000km relay around Australia would be physical fitness. It is true that without it, this would be a challenge which may well be from the realms of impossibility ...
... however, my experience of this Run and others has taught me that without doubt, the most important thing a runner needs to bring to the Run is cheerfulness.
Remaining cheerful, even when tired and having a tough time on the road is like a magical power ...
... it instantly lifts sunken spirits, energises the body and remarkably, always seems to hasten solutions to any problem we may be facing. Whether that be being tired, or lost or even finding a place to stay. Cheerfulness is also infectious so we keep each other in good spirits by remaining cheerful come what may.
Despite blue skies and a bright sun, the weather was decidedly cooler as we headed inland ...
... it’s quieter here and the houses are few and far between.
We came across these funky letterboxes which served several houses in the vicinity, all too remote to make home delivery practical ...
The road involved a lot of climbing today. Probably the most we’ve encountered in one day since the start and we certainly had to draw heavily on the aforementioned principle of cheerfulness to finish the day on a high – although a pizza supper didn’t do our cause any harm!
We then made our way to Armidale and found out the reason for the big climb today. Armidale is the highest city in Australia at almost 1,000m above sea level. And as we have been running by the coast for some time it meant we had to run over the Great Dividing Range before making it into the city, and to our accommodation. Here our girls team stayed at two locations ...
A huge 'Thank you' to Fiona and Neville at Rose Villa Motel, Armidale who hosted Stacey for the evening ...
... and to Andrew at Deer Park Motor Inn (with real deer!) who kindly hosted the other four girls, pictured here with Chuck ...
Our first boys team's accommodation for tonight was happily provided by the Best Western Moore Park Inn. The Manager Natasha welcomed us warmly and was surprised by our team's internationality. Being German, she enjoyed to talk in her mother tongue with Drishalu, our great Austrian runner. Later on her mother Sylke joined the cheerful chat. Sylke also enjoys running; last April she participated in a 50 km race.
They told us that they took over the place a couple of months ago and started a range of improvements and changes to offer the visitors a better experience there. We could already feel the touch of their creative hand during our stay. We've been hosted in a beautiful spacious double room which provided a very comforting and energising sleep.
Thank you Sylke, Natasha and the team for your kind offering. We wish you busy seasons and nice customers!
Our second boys team would like to extend our warmest appreciation to Andrew for the most generous gift of free accommodation at the Highlander Van Village. A warm bed never felt so good after a day of uphill and a facing wind.
Good night!
