Every sunday for about the last 2 months I have been showing up at Mt Cootha around 6am and then spending a few hours hiking up and down the hills. The first week I did this, my trail runners I had bought months ago got a good work out, but then it was time to get serious.

So with new boots in hand each week I showed up to get myself hiking up and down those tracks. I also got myself a walking pole to help myself along and when finally kitted out I was downing those hills like a hungry mad man. Hah in reality though I struggled up and down hills, step after step for a few hours with a nice heavy back pack on.

Yesterday though was the big one. It was the final big training session. 6 hours was the goal. I had to clear my sunday schedule and it was a good day. Rocked up and it was only a small group with a few people out sick or away, or called into work at last minute. But it progressed well. I was wearing exactly what I would be wearing on the trek and it felt comfortable.

Backpack was loaded with 10kg of gravel and my water and a few bits and pieces so around 13.5kg i guess. But nothing I can’t handle. We hiked for a while and dropped off half the group after 4 hours and having to keep going after a 5-10 minute rest break was tough. I didn’t wanna keep going. But i powered on and pushed myself hard. I managed to knock through one of the tougher hills on my own, and kept pushing it.

After the 6.5 hours (we took a bit of time coming back down) we had hiked 27km and i felt really really happy to take off that pack..

WHAT A MORNING!!!!

though breakfast at 1pm was a bit wierd