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| Entry for December 10, 2009 |
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| Help support Alex's efforts |
| Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation |
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| Some travel stories |
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| Well, I have an apology to make. It has now been at least a couple of weeks since I updated the blog. Things have been very busy in our house and I simply haven't had the time or the brain power left to log on and keep it up-to-date, so I'll give you a summary now. I've been on-call for the past 2 weeks, so I've only been able to do short walks, doing 25km on both weekends. The walks went exceptionally well, with the only real point of interest being that I have a new lightweight backpack now and it seems to make quite a difference. I walked with the new pack last weekend and it went very well. This coming weekend I'm doing Wilsons Prom again, with the new pack. These walks, even though they are fantastic walks, are now becoming sort of routine. I really look forward to them as they get closer and am quietly hoping I can take some time off the total this time. I'm silently hoping to finish by about 11pm, but we'll have to wait and see. Another new thing is a magnificent little device that I was told about in the competitor's forum, and have since bought. It is a satellite communication device that enables people to be able to keep track of where I am via a web page. The device talks with a group of satellites, which send the information to the web site, where it is displayed using Google Maps. You can keep track of where I am on the weekend by clicking here. Finally, I was contacted by a radio station during the week. They asked if I could do an interview with them the following night. Of course I said yes. The interview went very well, if you overlook my nerves and the resulting "umms" and "ahhhs". You can hear the interview, which is a 4.5meg download, here. So that's it, you're up-to-date. I suppose you could say that boredom is not high on my agenda at the moment. Wish me luck for the weekend at The Prom. |
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| Bridget McNulty - Type 1 and travelling the world |
| Dec / Jan 2009/10 |
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| Entry for December 13, 2009 |
| Wilsons Prom - The big walk. These training walks just keep getting better. Each time I learn something new which I can then apply the next time. The new things I tried this time included the new pack and using powdered milk. This may not sound like a big deal, but each of these small steps are taking me closer to being prepared for the struggle across the Sahara. First, some facts and figures. I arrived back at the camp in Tidal River at 11:51 on Saturday night. That means that the walk took 17 hours and 51 minutes, which is about 30 minutes off the previous time. But, and this is important, my friend and walking companion Robin suffered towards the end of the walk and this added some time. Robin is recovering from quite a serious illness he had recently, so won't be coming with me next weekend. The weather wasn't very good as I got rained on numerous times. The wind was howling for most of the day ..... but it was good. These walks are fantastic. Even the chest high tidal crossing at Sealers Cove in the morning was OK, as all these things add to the challenge. The new pack is brilliant. Yes it is way smaller, so requires a whole new way of thinking. But it is very comfortable and carries almost as if it isn't there. The powdered milk is an interesting addition to the food mix. It is easy to carry, easy to prepare and easy to drink. I believe that it is a good addition to the food regime. The new toy that I bought for keeping track of where I am worked well, but still requires further fine tuning. I had reports from a number of people that they were keeping track as I progressed around The Prom, one person being in the USA. It's a great device that adds a whole layer of interest to the walks and will be great during the event itself. Sadly it doesn't handle thick tree cover well, so many of the tracking points were missed. But there are enough there to give a good idea of the toughness of these walks. You can check the tracking page here. The next Wilsons Prom walk is next weekend. It will be interesting to see how I go doing it so close to this one. Which reminds me - maybe the most important aspect of this week's walk is that I am able to act as a functional human being after the walk. Each of the previous walks have left me feeling like a zombie. 15 weeks to go until the event. :-) |
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| Entry for December 19, 2009 |
| Wilsons Prom - The big walk. Take 2. This is the second week in a row that I've done Wilsons Prom, but this one was a little different. Robin wasn't with me so I was going solo. Well, what can I say? I'm stunned. Not only did I complete the big walk successfully, and not only did I take 2 whole hours off the previous best time, but I even got back to Tidal River in the daylight. I did the whole 62km in the daylight! Now admittedly a couple of things went in my favour. For example the tide was very low in the morning, making the first wet crossing at Sealers Cove relatively easy. But because I was steaming along at a huge rate of knots, I got to the second wet crossing at the next low tide and the wet crossing was almost a dry one. I didn't even need to take off my boots! Did I suffer? Not really. I do have an inflamed ligament in my left knee which requires some thought. But my sugar was perfectly fine, the food combination was perfectly fine, my physical endurance was perfectly fine, my new pack was perfectly fine. I'm quite stunned to be honest with you. Everything seems to be coming together well for the big event in less than 15 weeks time. Now, hands up those of you who did yourself a huge favour and tracked my progress online. Yes? No? I had a number of people contact me both while I was walking and at the moment I finished, congratulating me on completing a good walk. If you didn't track me, you can still see the walk I did at the tracking site, which you can get to with this link. It's really easy and really "cool", to quote one person who was tracking me. I'll be leaving yesterday's walk details there until the next one, which isn't until sometime in January. |
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| Entry for December 27, 2009 |
| I've decided to have a week off the training over Christmas. I think I was ready for it anyway. I have started the long, slow process of working out precisely how I'm going to pack my backpack. This is going to be a long, slow and possibly painful process as I figure out how I'm going to fulfill ALL of the following requirements, listed loosely in order of priority: * Must weigh a total, combined weight of no more than 15kg * Must fit into a volume of 35 litres, or be able to be attached to the outside of the pack without blocking the view of the competitor number * Must include the list of compulsory gear * Must give me all of the carbohydrate I will need for the 7 days in the desert * Must provide me with other nutrients I require to be able to complete the event * Must be robust, to withstand the rigours of the desert, the heat, the sand and many packings and unpacking of the backpack * Must be organised so everything is accountable and accessible One of the questions I am finding an answer to is whether to pack the food in bundles of like items, or whether I should pack it in "day lots" of food. Another consideration is the durability of the various plastic bags I'll be using for things such as the freeze dried meals, mashed potato powder, dried milk powder etc. It's also open to debate whether I'll have room and weight for some luxuries, such as the almonds I've been eating occassionally as I walk along. Finally will come the question - Do I have enough room and weight left to bring along the little stove? It is going to take some weeks of playing and practising before I finally know the answer. Donna is gritting her teeth. :-)) |
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| Entry for January 03, 2010 |
| Happy New Year. The walk today was a standard 25km. Nothing of great importance happened. Actually, that's not entirely true. I now know that I have a potentially serious problem with my left knee. It's been bothering me ever since Wilsons Prom and is the ligament that goes from the front of the shin bone to the kneecap. The kneecap end is inflamed and hurting like *****. My internet searching has discovered that this is a problem that usually affects teenagers, so WHY ME!! :-)) I'm going to go see a specialist doctor about it because with less than 13 weeks to go, this could be a show stopper. The taping I did for the abrasion on my back seemed to do the trick. The only problem now is a slight allergy to the tape itself, but I'll soon get over that. 25km - 4 hours and 45 minutes. |
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| Entry for January 06, 2010 |
| Think knee problems. I went to the knee specialist today and he was great. He listened to me waffling on about all sorts of stuff, including how I did my knee. He poked, prodded and tapped, then announced that he knew what the problem was. Luckily for me, it is NOT a show stopper. It is the tendon that goes from the front of the shin to the knee cap. I have slightly torn or strained a small part of it through the vigorous walk at Wilsons Prom. I need to use pain reducing, muscle inflamation gel, take anti-inflamatory pills and STAY OFF IT for a week. He said it can happen to anybody at any time and is due to extra stress and strain on the knee. So Wilsons Prom in 9 days is still looking OK. So is the main event. :-)) |
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| Entry for January 16, 2010 |
| Hi at last. Sadly I've been experiencing a few problems with Yahoo, so it's taken until now for me to be able to write a report of the last Wilsons Prom walk. And now, a week and a half after the fact, the details are fading. So let's have a summary, shall we. I love these walks, even though they are very tough. I finished this one in 2 hours longer than last time, at 17.5 hours, but that's perfectly OK. The last walk, at 15.5 hours, was simply freaky and I'll never be able to do that time again. Besides I injured my knee that time and this time I didn't. There was a little more hear this time and I noticed the affect. Near the top of the hardest section, at about the 40km mark, I needed to sit down for a short rest. It was comfortable, I was exhausted, so I ended up having a 15 minute nanna-nap. :-)) I felt better afterwards, so it wasn't a waste of time. It's gone now, but the satellite tracking page showed where I stopped. Two of the tracking points, which are 10 minutes apart, were in the same position, showing to the whole world that I was far away in the land of nod at that point in time. With only 9 weeks to go, I'm into the final stages of fine-tuning the packing of my backpack. I've had some help with a prior competitor who lives in Perth. He has sent me a detailed packing list which I'm using as a detailed checklist. The fun continues. The next Wilsons Prom walk is in 3 Saturdays from now. |