Walking again! - Hamilton
Hola! The long awaited return to the trail is about to happen. Actually, it just has!
It has taken almost 8 weeks for my foot come good enough so that I can get around on 2 feet unaided. I'm almost sick of cheesecakes, and the novelty of sitting on the sofa not being able to do anything wore off long ago.
I have to give thanks to a few peolpe here as I am sure I wouldn't be continuing this journey without their kindness and support. Big shout out to Paul from Hillcrest Physiotherapy for massaging my smelly foot up to twice a week and helping me with the finiancial side of the treatment. To Dwayne, Ingrid (& Matt-y), William Pablo Fenton and Sam (& her parents) for taking me in and enduring the winter with me on their sofa despite having never met before the day of the accident. I'm truly grateful to have had the opportunity to share some great experiences over the past 2 months. Thanks also to everyone that showed encouraging support online.
This week I have been working hard on getting strength back into my ankle with stability exercises and walking around the Hamilton Gardens for up to 15km. Today (Friday) I walked the 25km of Te Araroa that leads into Hamilton, and my legs are sufficiently sore after time off the trail. On Saturday (30th) Sam and I will go back down to the southern side of Pirongia Forest Park where the injury happened and complete the section. Sam will carry me whenever my foot gets sore (though she doesn't know this yet...). The weather forecast at the moment is predicting that I'll be welcomed back to the trail with a thunderstorm...can't wait!
Hopefully I'll be cruising up through Northland in a short amount of time and seeing Cape Reinga in the not too distant future. I think my injury buffer is officially maxxed out, and my budget soon, too...no more injuries!
FYI, the featured cake photo is of my attempt at a Caramal Chocolate Mousse Cake. My other culinary attempts included: Banana Pudding Cheesecake (featuring Sam's help), Persimmon Cheesecake, Oreo Nutella Cheesecake (crowd favourite) and a Berry Cheesecake.
