Many people have asked me about those I paddled the Sale to Sea with, and before I went on this trip I thought I would return and write about them.
But now sitting and talking about my own motivations and experience is so personal that I cannot share their story without their permission, so you will have to be content with mine and one of my new paddling buddy's Sue-Ann who kindly shared her story below......
My story
It has been a few weeks now since I returned home from the Sale to Sea Challenge.
In many ways I have been a little daunted by the task of writing to you all about my experience. It was both an intensely personal and incredibly overwhelming experience and the combination for me has made expression challenging.
I took up the challenge for several reasons (see previous story "Sale to Sea Challenge 2013"). But in my previous piece I omitted the major reason. So here it is.
I have Endometriosis. I have been quite unwell and I would say there were several years of my life when every single day was affected, and at it's worst the simple act of standing upright was impossible. I am happy to say that for the last 3 years for the most part I have been very well.
Back to the reason.....Being unwell robs you of the joys of life. And you can get a little habitualised to feeling sick and staying idle. I grew used to the fact I did not feel good and accepted that perhaps I had to be more sedentary. I gave in.
So who is in charge here? Lisa or Endo? I was not sure, and needed something to shake me out of the funk. Perhaps being amongst those that have much greater daily challenges than me might provide that wake up call I needed.
Here is a lesson I have learned- if want to change you have to leap.
I was nervous at the Port of Sale, for what I understand now to be all the right reasons. I was under prepared and
I knew it. Fortunately fear of failure has never stopped me trying so I managed to get into the kayak and try anyway.
The first day was an epic 48 kms, across formidable Lake Wellington. She did not keep us holding our breaths for long and due to my inexperience I had to use my rudder when the wind increased (a skilled paddler will not require this). When the rudder line failed I had to jump on board a support boat, the first of several humbling experiences. I was not able to dwell in my disappointment for long as the support boat crew were so lovely, and there was so much going on in the water with several other kayakers experiencing difficulty and needing help.
I made it most of the way on that first day, I guestimate around 40 kms. That night at the hands of volunteer massage crew, I was told I had a muscle 'out' in my left forearm. The putting back of that muscle left the upper part of my forearm black for two weeks and a cocktail of Voltaren and Ibuprofen took the edge of the pain.
Sleep was an evasive bastard that night. Ants decided my face, ears, neck were all fascinating while I attempted to sleep, after crawling onto my bags when I had pitched my tent earlier. In total I estimate I had around 2 hours. So by the morning I was pretty low.
That morning, down Maclellan Straits to Hollands Landing was one of the harder things I have done in my life. Having the support boats beside me, it would have been easy to give in, much like I had capitulated to Endo time and time again. So for a few crazy hours the boats were manifestation of my illness, and I thought to myself, you want to get on board that boat, take the easy way out, or stay on the water?
I made it that day, and that was my greatest achievement. I felt a million bucks coming into Paynesville, not just the distance of 41 kms conquered.
I was a slow paddler, tending to be amongst the last few in at the close of each day. But I did feel I was a winner, and being such a competitive person this is a surprising assessment.
A huge thank you goes out to the support crew for Sale to Sea 2013, the committee, and my fellow paddlers. While I won't talk about you specifically here I want you to know that you each helped me put my small troubles into perspective. You in a sense gave me back something I had stupidly given away. You re-invigorated the fighter in me.
I won't be so keen to give it up a second time. Cheers to you all, my winning fiends.
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Sue-Ann's story
Dean, one of my PT clients always talked about going kayaking and one day asked me if I like to go out kayaking with him.
So in Dec 2012 I went on my first paddle
and loved it. Dean was talking about the
Sale to Sea and how much fun they had last time, that I decided to join in. So
a month before the challenge I bought a kayak.
The day before I was very nervous, as I had
only met a couple of people that were going to do the challenge.
The morning of, I was very excited.
Day 1: I started off up the front next to
the boat, by halfway through day two, I felt I was missing out on the
conversations with other kayakers, so I then spent time mixing with all the
kayakers and listening to their stories. It was from that moment that I loved the
whole experience. There were so many interesting people with amazing stories to
tell.
Everyone one helped out everyone and it was
an amazing group to be a part of. It was great to see so many different people
striving to achieve their own personal goals. I felt quite trivial in the big
picture.
Out of this experience I have made several
new friends with similar interest.
