Fresh Start with Freshstart

Hi Everyone,

Yes, it has been a while since my last blog but I'm hoping that today's blog will refresh your interest in my trek, despite the fact that it is now 16 months away rather than 4 months away! But as they say, good things come to those who wait!

As I type this evening, there is a pain in my neck shooting down my arm and making typing with already fatigued hands even harder, so please forgive any spelling mistakes. Why am I in knots I hear you ask?!?! Well, last week, on the advice of an old mate of mine who is ex Army and current Navy (so he knows about this sort of thing), I approached Scott Flint down at Freshstart at Narrabeen to see if he would be interested in training me up for the big trek for Camp Quality. Without a moments hesitation he he agreed. It turns out that Scott trains people for 'big adventures' a lot and had just finished training a local guy to compete in the Molokai Championships in Hawaii. Great timing, looks like he needs a new project!

So, what that means is that I have secured my first sponsorship, and a very generous one at that. Scott is going to train me from start to finish, helping me build strength and endurance, far beyond what I would have achieved by simply pulling that tyre up and down Newport Beach for what would have been a total of 19 months! Don't worry, the tyre and I still have plenty of time to reacquaint over the next year and a bit, but for now it's all strength, strength, strength. We are going to work out exactly how much water I will be consuming per day, when I will consume it and in what quantity. I will be conditioning myself to the point where I can make a definitive decision on how long it will take, what routes will be opened for me to choose from, how much water I will need and how much total weight I will need to pull. These are all very important factors that need definitive answers before I can mount such a huge physical challenge, something that was completely lacking from my strategy for a 2012 attempt, but are now, thanks to Freshstart, a reality.

Today was my first session with big Scott (I call him big because he is 6ft 6in in the old scale). He checked over my old bones and rickety joints before sending me off on a very painful (and eye-opening) fitness test. The fitness test lasted 16min 35 sec and hurt...a lot! The pain started about, say, 20 seconds and lasted until, ah, actually, I'm still waiting for it to stop. Apparently a good time is 9 minutes! Hmmmmm.

Anyway, a massive THANK YOU goes out to Scott Flint at Freshstart Narrabeen. Not just for taking me on but for taking one look at me and not saying, 'Mate, I think you should think smaller!'. Maybe he sees me as the challenge of his career, I don't know, all I can say is thanks and I won't let him (or Camp Quality) down.

Next on the agenda, securing more sponsorship to the approximate value of $20,000 to get this trek to happen. Any ideas??

p.s. If you are looking for a great gym on the Northern Beaches, check out Freshstart. It's big, clean, full of all the equipment you could ever need and the staff are awesome!

FRESHSTART