Saturday is a six-hour rogaine. Deb & I and Deb's sister are a team, in the XU "mixed ultravet" category. We are guaranteed at least second place, with only one other XU team entered.
Deb has a sprained ankle. Not to worry, she says, I ran 5.7km on Thursday and it hardly hurt. Yeah... that was on level roads and grass.
Unfortunately the rogaine is at John Forrest National Park: with gravel tracks, hills -- both up and down -- and some thick bush.
Even more unfortunately, we eventually walk 8.8km.
Deb's sister always apologises for being the weak link in our team. She has a heart valve and claims to be unfit. She usually rushes along -- tick tick tick tick tick, both legs and heart valve moving fast. Today I do notice that she walks at a more sensible -- slightly slower -- speed.
But it's Deb who falls first. Literally falls.
We are on a gravel track and Deb slips. Then slips again, falls. We slow down.
Then there's The Valley. On the drive in we had seen this valley. There were comments such as, that looks awful. Now, we head on down. In hindsight we should have followed the road. A longer walk round the head of the valley. (Okay, perhaps that should be "gully" rather than "valley". But it is steep and deep. With worse to come.
At the bottom of the valley is a watercourse. In winter it may be a creek, this time of year in is a watercourse... as far as I can tell. We never reach the low point.
We reach the thick bush which follows the course of the watercourse.
Deb's sister is the next to fall.
Sitting down in -- thrown down by -- the thick bush. It's ti-tree, I think it's used for making lobster pots. Tough, pliable, springy. The sister sits down and utters a non-ladylike four-letter word. (Yes, I heard you :-)
We struggle on. Pushing through bush which pushes back. I use a few four-letter words which Deb's sister may not know. (Ha!) We struggle. We persevere. We succeed.
It's a climb -- up out of the valley -- to the control. (We really should have followed the road and come *down* to the control.)
Again, it's Deb's sister's turn.
I'm struggling... I have lost speed, I have lost a lot of strength and stamina. Uphill is very difficult.
The sister... almost faints. Her heart-measuring device stops recording a heartbeat. It's either off the scale or ... well, she's not dead. She sits before she faints.
And so we struggle on. To the road at the top of the hill.
And finally, it's Deb's turn. Again.
Deb trips over a log. Or a rock. Or... whatever nasty bit of bush there is. And now her ankle really hurts. We reach the road and pause.
Then carry on. I mean, what else can we do?
By this stage... falling over and thick bush has left its mark. We all three are oozing blood. From arms and legs. No worries, we all say.
There's a control in the bush, we don't spend much time looking for it -- we don't find it -- we just stagger back to the road. Taking the quickest way "home", to the finish.
Deb leans on her sister. She tries leaning on me but I'm the wrong height. Her sister gets Deb an old branch to use as a walking stick. I look for the best way "home". We hobble on.
Should we ask a fellow competitor to pass a message, to get a 4wd out to pick us up? I don't even suggest this to Deb. I know she would just grit her teeth and walk on.
Deb grits her teeth. We walk on. Finally... in sight of the end.
The first-aid volunteer comes out to meet us. "We saw you coming from miles away, she says. Do you need a hospital?" No, we reply.
"Sit over here and I'll put on a compression bandage," says the first-aider. Not yet, I reply... First, we need to finish.
So we hobble... well, Deb hobbles, we others just walk slowly and with sympathy. We check in: finished.
Now Deb can sit down and get her ankle bandaged.
Well, actually, the first-aider puts a compression bandage round Deb's knee. Okay, the knee is also sore and there's a lot more blood on the knee.
While Deb is sitting, resting outside the first-aid tent a rogainer walks by. "Do you need a lift to the hospital?" she asks. This says something about the friendliness of rogainers. And something about the expectations of injury.
And that's our rogaine! Sure enough, we came second un the XU class. And except for the bush, the hills, the pain and the exhaustion... It was a great rogaine.
I learnt that I should keep a closer eye on the team member with a dickey heart. Deb may have learnt that a sore ankle needs rest. Deb's sister may have learnt that we're all crazy (and the next rogaine is in May).
We all (I think) -- once we have had a chance to recover -- had a great time :-)
Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
... Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved
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... for the greater good ... against the corrupt metastasis of oligarchic power that stomps on humanity's neck everywhere" ... Sacranist creed, Thin Air
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Dying for you to read my blog, at https: // notdotdeaddotyet .blogspot. com. au/ :-)
Well done.tough all of you.
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