I caught up with the two lovely ladies in question after the completion of their epic efforts of physical endurance in the name of charity. I am sure you will agree they really are inspirational. Maybe reading their stories may create impetus to commence your own charitable quest.
Belinda
Palliative Care Unit Royal Childrens Hospital - 200kms over 9 days
With partner Melissa raised $4,685.00
thesounding line: How did you come to choose this particular event?
Belinda: I read about Liat Harrower – a local Mum who had lost her little boy to a rare illness when he was 7 years old (2 years ago), she had gone to her local rotary club to talk to them about an annual event that could raise money and awareness about families in similar situations and they had started this walk two years ago – the third walk was in March 2012 (the first I completed).
She had financially battled to provide her son Mitchell with a good quality of life whilst he was dying. I was shocked to find out about the limited funding available for parents like Liat who have children that are born with life threatening and life limiting diseases or illnesses. I chose to complete the walk for personal reasons – the first because I am very fortunate to have two very healthy, beautiful children and wanted to raise awareness and money within my community and network of family and friends and I also wished to give back to the community I live in. The second reason was to set myself a physical and emotional challenge to complete the 200km’s and I did!
thesoundingline: The positive health benefits of walking are widely understood. Given you commenced walking training many months before the event, what have you noticed about your overall wellbeing?
Belinda: I felt fantastic both physically and emotionally. Training with my partner Melissa allowed us to walk three – four times a week. On a Saturday or Sunday morning we would complete a 20-25 km walk and the other 2/3 times we would do around 10-15 km’s of an early morning or late evening. I would sleep better, be able to function better at work and at home and generally ate better because of the exercise done.
Belinda: Lots of things – not taking people for granted who are special to me in my life – my husband, parents, sisters. Having more patience with my children, appreciating that I am so lucky to have them in my life so healthy and happy. Being respectful of others people’s situations – that I am lucky to have such a loving wonderful family and there are a lot of people who are not as fortunate as what I am. On the physical side of things – I can achieve things physically if I put my mind to it. There were some really difficult times during the walk where I was tired, sore and my joints and muscles wanted me to give it up, but it was my mental state that got me through. It was just as big a mental challenge as it was physical.
*Photo courtesy of Belinda Iatrou
Linda
Many people avoid setting physical goals, such as trying a fun run or joining a sporting team. They decide before attempting such tasks they are not sporty or tough enough. What would you say to someone who feels a failure before they have really tried?
Recently my 5 year old son asked me if he could be a “Bob the builder” when he grows up. I told him that he could be anything he wanted to be and this is the same advice I would give anyone who was thinking about trying something new. So what if you fail, it’s about giving it your all and being able to look back and say that you had a go. I understand people who have hesitations in undertaking a sporting challenge or joining a team. My initial reaction to undertaking the Oxfam walk was “100km, I don’t think I can do that” but then I looked further into it. I read the suggested training schedule, went to an information session and then started to plan my training 6 months out from the event date. My advice is to prepare (mentally as well as physically) and train as much as you can.
thesoundingline: Did you experience any dark or euphoric moments during the 48 hour push for the finish line?
Linda: One of each in fact! At 1am, we had reached our team’s designated rest stop which we had planned to be time enough to have ice baths, massages, hot showers, clean clothes and food. At this point, one of the team members had exceptionally bad blisters and had to go to the podiatry clinic to be checked. She was in all sorts of pain but was determined to continue. The treatment she required was extreme and it took quite some time before we got back onto the track. It was 4am, freezing cold and in this time, I had suffered diarrhea, an upset tummy and just became really tired. The stretch of trail that we were on was the Warburton trail and it is just kilometer after kilometer of flat straight trail. I had already used my main motivation tool (referring to the list of all the friends and family who had donated to our team) and was lacking motivation. I had left the ear phones to my i pod in at home so music was not much of an option. My eye lids were virtually falling down and I was barely able to lift them. It was just on dawn and quite foggy and I was feeling at my lowest, starting to let the negative thoughts creep in. Right then, I saw a massive mob of kangaroos making their way across the top of a nearby hill and they took my mind completely off how I was feeling. It was a quintessential Aussie moment in the bush which made me smile. Shortly after that, we reached a check point that had coffee and an egg a bacon roll – I was feeling motivated again after that and only had 40km’s to go!
My moment of euphoria was right at the end when I saw my 2 boys come running out of the crowd towards me. This was the moment that I had visualised from the day I had decided to do the walk and it was better than I had hoped for. All the emotions I was feeling erupted into sobs of tears and my boys gave me the biggest hugs you could imagine. I had dropped to my knees to hold them and tell them that Mummy couldn’t believe she had finished and then I suddenly thought “how am I ever going to get up?!” As we all know, the body does amazing things when you need it to and not only did I get up but I carried my 3 year old across the finish line whilst holding hands with the 5 year old! I even saw my Husband with tears in his eyes. We were celebrating so many things – a challenge achieved, the support of a family for me to do it and of course, the fact that our team had just raised almost $5500 for people around the world living in poverty. And it only took 31 hours and 23 minutes!
thesoundingline: Do you have any plans for the next adventure?
Linda: I am still in the white board stage of deciding what the next adventure will be. However I did recently confront my fear of heights when my 3 year old asked me to take him on a flying fox which was fairly high up in the trees and went over a lake!
Until I decide what is next (physically) and there will be something, I have the adventure of my eldest child going to school next year and that is way more daunting than walking 100km I assure you!
*Photo courtesy of Linda Witton
thesoundingline thanks these amazing ladies for sharing their stories and their precious time! You are the emodiment of one of my favourites quotes...
"Above all be the heroine of your life, not the victim." Nora Ephron
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