5 sleeps to go - neighbourhood 10km & coffee

Walk before work to test drive walking in hiking boots. In summary, friends were right, probably too heavy. Shall walk in trainers, thongs or bare foot.
Feeling like a tired Mumma that needs much coffee to move rather than my youthful 29yo self that tackled a 50km walk (see photo in gallery)!
Partner met for the coffee part and drove home. Vibes.

1 week to go - Second training walk, the big one

An old friend came down to join for a walk and talk. We originally met back in Sydney nearly 8 years ago at a hiking group social, at the pub! I'd say our catch ups since have been in equal measure walk and pub, which is the perfect friendship I'd say.

We walked from Pearl beach, to Patonga, where we had a break.. at the pub! Back again to Pearl we parted where I continued back to Umina beach and home to cover 13km, or there abouts.

My legs were heavy, and I was feeling underprepared for the big walk ahead, but my teammates reassured me we'll be fine and also sent photos of last year's pastries, which really helped with motivation and excitement.

I'll try to get one more walk in to figure out which shoes to wear, and plenty of stretching (probably). Let's do this!

3 weeks to go - First training walk, ney hike!

Feeling nervous about walking 25km and having done no training walks, I thought I should try to do one or two.
I started with a walk down (and back!) to the beach for a coffee (two large ones), impressive you might think, and I'd agree at a strong 2.5km but no, I was committed to something bigger, an 8km walk, ney hike!
So, I took the train to Berowra where I had 30 minutes of pure quiet time (bliss!), which helped me to recover from the breath-inducing jog from the car park. Here, I met 2 others to start the hike, go the wrong way and start again. We climbed a lot of stairs, really ALOT. This is a photo of us laughing(!) at all of the stairs. And we (myself and laughing friend at the back, also doing Walk me home), convinced ourselves that probably no further training was required and in fact may be risky with my tendency to roll/break my ankle (some hiking, some path walking).
We also discussed how excited we are to eat muffins and many other things on the walk and were glad there'd be less risk of snakes, leeches and horse flies (see other photos, if you dare).

Of course, we also mentioned the cause and how we felt it a worthy one to commit to, and we hope you do too, so please donate, if you can, to raise funds to support sick kids. Thank you!

I can do it - probably

OK, I've signed up to walk for a great cause, and I can probably do it, right?
I've been hesitating to sign up due to thinking I can't. Off the back of 2 months in Europe eating a lot and moving very little (that's a photo of me after having walked up 200 stairs and about 200m up a hill, the height of activity conducted whilst in the UK, because toddler said no to the cold and the walking), my body doesn't seem keen on doing too much.
I joined a gym - win! But soon hurt my ankle, had a suspected coccyx fracture and multiple migraines.
So, I can do it, probably. Because I couldn't imagine having a sick kid and not being able to stay with them.
Note stickers on forehead placed by child that I went out in public with, totally forgetting but actually loving, I even kept them to the pub that night.

Support my 25km walk for sick kids

On Sunday 30 March, I'm walking 25km for seriously ill and injured children and their families.

For sick kids staying at Ronald McDonald House in Randwick, they just want their families close as they battle childhood diseases, illnesses and injuries.

On average, it costs $160 to support a sick child and their family for one night.

Please support my 25km walk to keep families together as they face the most difficult journey of their lives.

Together, we can show these brave kids that we're fighting for them.

Thank you.