The last days...

(The Opera House, Sydney) My time in Australia has come to an end. I depart in just a few hours back to Auckland for the finals days of my trip. The last couple of weeks have been relaxing and I am ready to get back to life in North Vancouver. I am over joyed to be seeing Peter and my family again. Really looking forward to that pancake breakfast Jules! The last time I wrote I was heading back to the Blue Mountains with Gretel and her mom Greta, for the North Face 100km. This is probably Australia's largest (in #'s) ultra marathon with around 1000 people taking part. You can do the whole thing solo or do it as a relay, 50km per person. I got to see a lot of familiar faces from back in March when I did the Tarawera 100km.

(Me, Amy, And Vicki, the 3 podium girls from the Tarawera 100km) Many were racing and I couldn't help but think about what it would have been like if I were in fact healthy enough to toe the line this day. However, I was here for Gretel and was more than happy to be making her the focus of the day. Over the course of the weekend, we had the opportunity to spend some relaxing time wondering the streets of Leura and Katoomba, 2 beautiful little parts of the Blue Mountains. Both these small communities have amazing window shopping and a large selection of cafes. Sadly, Gretel ended up getting sick quite early on in the race and pulled out around 40km. I know this was a big race for her and she had big expectations and was very dissapointed to be pulling out. However, she is such a champion and we both spent the rest of the day cheering on her Salomon teammates. I am really looking forward to following her success over the summer and into the fall as she has some amazing races ahead.

My running has been consistant, perhaps a little too consistant. I seem to have done something to my right foot...again. The feeling feels all too similiar to when I fractured it 2 years ago. It all began when I decided to run to the zoo during my stay in Manly, which took about 80 minutes and after I was done walking around the zoo for 3.5 hours, it was quite sore. I thought it was sore from having been on my feet the whole day. However, when it was still sore the following day, I knew something was off. It seems as though every summer for the last few years I have been faced with injury and it is becoming increasingly all too familiar and quite frustrating, especially when I'm on this awesome trip! It's hard to imagine why this has happened over here because although I have been running most days, my runs hardly exceed an hour. Luckily, I have an appointment scheduled with my sport med doctor the day I get back and hopefully I figure if it is indeed a stress fracture or not. In the meantime, this will give me the chance to get back on my mountain bike (when I get back home) and do some much needed cross-training! Thanks again to the Fortmann family for letting me stay at your amazing residence for the last 3 weeks. I am going to take so many amazing memories away from this experience and time spent here. Thea, Gretels younger sister, taught me how to make Cinnamon raisin bread and oh my it's delicious. In fact, I have loaf in the midst of rising right now! In Auckland, I am going to be stay with a couple, Andrew Howse, and Amy Campbell. Amy came in right behind me at the Tarawera 100km and I think Andrew came 6th overall. They have generously offered up their home to me and I'm looking forward to visiting my favorite little organic bakery in Parnell, which is where they live. I hope this blog posts finds you all well and safe travels to Gretel as she heads to the Czech Republic today to live & work with Jan, her boyfriend, for the summer.