Back in November when my friend Jo asked me to join her and her friend Harry in walking 50km as part of the CBR 100 Challenge I thought ‘why not?’. I enjoy being outdoors, like a stroll and it is for a great cause—all proceeds go towards the Heart Foundation to help combat heart disease which is Australia’s biggest killer.  

The months appeared to spread endlessly ahead and I envisioned us doing numerous interesting walks as part of our training. Then Christmas, work and life inevitably got in the way and after only a few training walks the event is now only one sleep away. I must admit that when Jo asked me I thought ‘how hard can it be?’.

It is after all ‘just a walk’.

I remembered hikes I had done in the past overseas carrying packs and a tent through mountainous regions and thought it would be easy in comparison. What I failed to consider was how many years it has been since I did these kind of hikes and just how far 50kms really is.

I started off with a few ambles round Lake Ginninderra and Lake Burley Griffin with my friend Chrissy, and one day we decided to do two laps of the bridge to bridge instead of one. Then Jo and I did a couple of walks around Black Mountain on the fire trails, between 10 to 12 kilometres which was most enjoyable and a good chance for a chat and catch up.

Chrissy, I and four of her lovely friends drove out to Namadgi one Saturday to walk Square Rock. I would definitely recommend checking it out but although picturesque and relaxing, it was still only just under nine kilometres.  

I decided to step up the distance a little and walked 13km to my parents’ house in Spence from my home in O’connor on a couple of occasions for lunch. This was a lovely walk up through Bruce Ridge and around Lake Ginninderra but when I reached their house famished and thirsty I was dismayed to realise that I was still shy 38km from the event day.

My three-year-old nephew was quite confused about how I got there without my car and now asks me all the time whenever I see him ‘did you walk here?’. One Saturday Jo and Harry walked part of the Centenary Trail out near Forde to prepare. I was unable to make it and Jo sent me the stats from Strava (an application to track walks) afterwards. They did 21km in three hours and 19 minutes, which is an average of 6.3km an hour with an elevation gain of 243 metres.

I was now becoming quite alarmed and realised that I was way behind and definitely the weakest link in the chain. This led me to set out on the Tuesday morning on a walk of my own to make up for missing out on the weekend. I walked my partner to work in the city from our home in O’connor, waved goodbye and headed over Commonwealth Bridge.

From there I turned right and walked all the way around Yarralumla, past Scrivener Dam to the ANU and back to O’connor. I completely ignored all my training as a PT and advice I would give others, again with the attitude of ‘it’s just a walk’. Boy was I wrong. I had done a Body Pump class the day before for the first time in seven years. Anyone who is familiar with the class would understand that I already had pretty sore legs after all those squats and lunges. By the end of the walk I was cramping badly but this is probably also due to the fact that I wasn’t hydrated. I took a bottle of water in my pack and only took my first sip about 10km in. I had also packed a peanut butter sandwich but only thought to eat this about three kilometres from home. Strava showed that I had done 20.7 kilometres in four hours with an elevation gain of 170 metres.

If I was going to keep up with the others I realised I definitely had to be more prepared.  

That Saturday the three of us met at the Wood Duck Inn at Hall and set out for a 31 kilometre walk almost to Forde and back. We set off early as it was a hot day and I was astounded at the spectacular views and amazed by the peacefulness of the trail. It really felt like we were in the middle of the countryside. Our whole journey we only saw a few mountain bike riders, a team of three walkers (who we suspect were also on a training walk for the CBR 100) and a lone hiker who leads groups of pleasure walkers round Canberra.  

I had learnt my lesson and this time I was prepared.

We tried to emulate the event day and so I had a two litre water bladder in my pack as well as two 800ml bottles—one with frozen water and one with staminade mixed in. I also packed and ate a banana, some raw cashews, grapes and blueberries and a peanut butter sandwich. We kept up a cracking pace and finished the walk in under seven hours. Apart from slightly sore feet and legs I felt pretty good.  

The lesson I learnt this time was that sneakers aren’t sufficient on hiking trails and so I dug my old hiking boots out of the back of the cupboard. The three of us met up again this past Saturday for a short (9km) stroll around Black Mountain and my hiking boots held up well.  

All these silly mistakes have hopefully led us to be prepared on the day. Although we could have done much more training I think we’ll be ok. It is not a race and so we have decided to just take it one section at a time rather than thinking of it as a solid 50km.

Jo’s gorgeous friend Sandi has agreed to be our support crew and carry half our gear so there is no need to even carry too much. Jo is super organised (some would say OCD) and has even written me instructions on how to prepare throughout the week. The list includes items such as, Thursday night – freeze bottles of water.  I have really enjoyed walking and hope to continue with much more interesting walks around Canberra once the event is over. After worrying that I might not be prepared enough on Saturday I have decided to just try and enjoy myself as I’m sure there will lots of atmosphere and excitement to help spur us along on the day. I look forward to it. After all it is ‘just a walk’.