November 5th - The first training (a non runner perspective)

The training was opened to anyone at Theta - even to people (like myself) not ready or too excited to run 4-6 hours straight. The weather bomb was forecast and about to come down on top of us.

The decision was made on the day - a few minutes before the departure to go ahead as it looked we might just have few hours before the rain and wind sets in. We met at Alan and Julia's house and split into two groups - runners and hikers. We printed out the topo map and decided on next meeting point.

The runners took off and the rest of us (hikers) drove to a parking lot and walked down for some 30 minutes on the Odlin Timber Track to our meeting point (Cowan Stream). Here we waited for runners and once they arrived we started the trek. Up the creek - into the water.

The weather worked out great - not too hot some cloud cover and no rain/wind. The creek was slippery and it was fun watching people dance and  doing their balancing act on the rocks. The trek up the creek took us a couple of hours - including stops for a few to wake up their "inner boyish excitement" after a tree swing suddenly appeared in of front of us.

It took just one of us to give it a go and suddenly there was a line of shirtless men trying to have a go at the swing. As Adrian later said - I am paraphrasing - here: "it was great to have the first crazy/fearless one (Rob Lee's son Sam) with us - once he gave it a go everyone wanted to. Otherwise we would have taken a look at the swing and thought- wow that would be so much fun - and kept moving." The boys spent some 15 - 20 minutes swinging off of the tree into the natural pools created under the cascade of waterfalls. Great fun.

That place was amazing - the whole trek was fun. Great views, untouched nature, beautiful stream. I also enjoyed seeing people out of office.

It was great seeing people being a team without even thinking about it. Helping each other out climbing next to waterfalls, looking after each other and just having a good time in general.

Once we conquered the stream and arrived at Odlin Timber Track we split again - this time into 3 groups.

The "long way back home runners", "shorter way back home runners", and "trekkers" set off to finish the adventure. Once we arrived back at the house we changed to dry clothes - started the BBQ and waited on the runners to finish their day. Tony and I got sausages and beer going while the home team Julia and Alan sorted out the side dishes and set up the table.

This was great action and I hope we will do something similar again at some point. I hope to see more people from Theta join us next time. If I can do this - so can you.

Martin K.