Geelong’s Gym

Well the pace has really stepped up in the training for Walking Home, with Nike setting the group of 20 volunteer walkers a challenge for September…300km to be walked in the month.

Now at first glance that doesn’t seem such a big deal. So let’s break it down.

30 days….10km walked daily. Seems easy enough I hear you say.

But it is WALKING, not running.

So based on walking at 6km per hour, that’s 1 hour and 40 mins of walking every day. Too bad if it’s raining, if your work is hectic, if the kids have extra needs to be met before and after school. And what happens if you miss a day? You do the sums.

And here is the biggest hurdle-the time required to prepare for this event. There is nothing but walking to get your hips, shins, ankles and knees ready for the 187km five day hike. But all the participants have ‘normal’ lives to co-ordinate and sometimes finding the extra time is very hard.

So if you see one of the walkers in training in the gym, give them a smile and pause to ponder just what they are giving to this amazing event.

Ordinary people making an extraordinary difference.