(See what I did there?)
I didn’t want to believe it until the wheels had touched down at AYQ. I still didn’t want to believe it until the cabin door opened and the ramp was lowered. Even then, I expected the flight crew to announce everyone was welcome to deplane… except Kevin Hanna who should remain on board and fly back to Sydney.
And yet, somehow, after 14.5 hours to Sydney, a truncated layover at SYD, and another 3.5 hours inflight, I made it back to the outback. On time. On the right day. This was happening. What should’ve happened 4 years ago was finally happening.
I was going to get the full TravellingFit experience of the Outback Marathon… including actually RUNNING the Outback Marathon!
But first, a quick note on getting here.
There were a lot of crossed fingers. There was a lot of anxiety and worry. And there were more than a few glasses of wine:
And here’s when I really got a little worried on my way down under. Somehow when the flight computer shows it’s going to take 2.5 hours to go the remaining 18 miles, one begins to suspect that déjà vu and irony are having a massive party… and I’m the guest of honor.
Still, turned out to just be a glitch and we eventually landed.
I had written 800 words on the travel and the snafus and the minor annoyances that seemed major at the time. But it only served to make me seem all the more unhinged and self-obsessed and I’m trying a new thing where I put myself in the shoes of my small but mighty readership – yes, I’m trying to write FOR you instead of just AT you. Hence, A LOT of on-the-fly second guessing and Control-Z’s undoing of prose.
The short, short version – Mom’s a trouper, I’m a diva.
But that’s the end of the story, or the beginning of the next. Call it in medias res. Thus, we cut to:
EXT. AUSTRALIAN OUTBACK – DAY
I’ve been here before… but it was much more frantic on my part four years ago. I’m still frantic and oddly terrified of this upcoming run, but I got a big hug from Lee Peacock at the hotel and throughout the day, TravellingFit people would tell me they were glad to see me on-time this year. When Michael spotted me at the fun run, he stopped what he was doing to give me a hug. At the welcoming dinner that first night, head honcho Mari Mar rushed over to hug me as well. I felt like the honorary Mayor of TravellingFit for a moment, and was reminded once again of why I love this tour group so very much.
