Foot sore, muscle weary, tired but a good sort of tired.  Isn’t it strange that the sort of tired that comes of being outdoors in beautiful countryside even if you have walked up hill and down hill for 36km in high temperatures is a totally different sort of tired that comes from working all day within four walls of a building?  Don’t get me wrong, I love teaching, I love being a teacher. The excitement I still get when kids have that “ahaa!” moment, the interaction in and out of the classroom with students, the conversations with colleagues more than make up for the stress of jumping through hoops but “brain tired” is just never as good as “body tired”.

This weekend was our “peak” training weekend for the Oxfam Trailwalk; back to back walks, 17km on Saturday afternoon followed by 36km on Sunday.  We tried to simulate the actual trail by walking from Waotu South on the Waikato River Trail to Mangakino.  3km down hill to the river and then up and down, meandering along the river bank along the mountain bike tracks.  We had a plan to jog the downs and walk the flats and ups and it seemed to work.  The river trail is beautiful;  leafy, shady bush, soft pine needle strewn paths, the call of cicadas and birds,  glimpses of glassy reflective waters through tall trees and a stillness in the air.  There is no better way of relaxing even if we were walking at an average speed of 6.5km an hour.

Plunging into the lake at Mangakino brought very welcome relief to our hot, tired muscles and I am still feeling the effects today.  But one rest day is all I get, back to it tomorrow!  Only 33 sleeps!