Six Foot Track Walk 08

After years of reading and hearing about it, I decided to do it the easy way! 2 days on the track, camping in the middle at Alum River. The running club we belong to takes a group out each year on Australia Day long weekend.

Both my girls (11 and 13) had worked hard and run harder to prove their ability to slog it out for 45k over 2 days, and I was thrilled they wanted to come. They had 2 friends with them, so a group of 4 younguns formed for the weekend.

Happy that the kids were walking safely with others, I ran from the start to Alum River, then back to meet the kids and run into camp with them. This gave me a total of 30km for the first day on the track. I had intended to run the second day as well, but opted to walk the whole way with my girls. I'm glad I did, it was a great experience to share with them and something we'll talk about for years.

I went out on a limb on this occasion and wore the Vibram Five Fingers on the track. It was wet, slippery, rocky, harsh trail, with lots of river and creek crossings. The vibrams did well, and my feet were fine after 30k, though it was COLD putting the wet rubber shoes on my bare feet in the early hours of Sunday morning! By about 15km on the second day, I'd had enough of shoes, so wore thongs for the remaining sections. This leaves me undecided about the 6foot race in March.... Free's or Vibram's?? And will I make the cutoff for the race??

This weekend was one of the most enjoyable times I've spent in many years. Having my daughters out there with me, talking as we walked, seeing the incredible sights in this magnificent part of Australia...doesn't get any better than this.