LIFE INTERUPTED

SEPTEMBER 2019 – APRIL 2022

We are currently living through a period that  in late 2019 was an unimaginable world of  change. A world where we in Australia have been asked to subjugate our individual freedom of movement to the greater good of our community.

In a way the arrival of the Covid pandemic in early 2020 continued a pattern of putting our life on a hold since we completed hiking the CDT in early September  2019.  The hike itself was a challenge that pushed boundaries and tested our limits. We knew it was going to be hard but the actual hardship we endured on trail challenged us more then we ever anticipated.  So in a way it exceeded our expectations.

Receiving news from home when we got off trail put a cloud of uncertainty over our further travel plans. Hammers Mum was not doing too well due to post-heart surgery complications. Family back home were juggling commitments and holding the fort till we returned and could give them a much needed break.

We had rushed to finish hiking the trail in order to have enough time to make it back to San  Francisco where we were booked to fly to Berlin in order for me (Corky) to run the Berlin Marathon. Ideally it would have been good to just rest after finishing a gruelling 5 months on the CDT but having a qualifying time for and gaining a successful entry to the Berlin Marathon was an opportunity too good to miss.  It sounded a bit greedy when I made the decision to do it. But in hindsight  it turned out to have been a fortuitous decision.

For days we had thoughts of just heading back  home abandoning our plans  – do we go home or do we complete the last part of a long planned adventure?  Family back home assured us that cutting our trip short would only exacerbate what was an already difficult situation.

We did go to Berlin and I did run (and walk) the marathon.  

On our return home we became full time carers for Hammers Mum. We lived through a summer of the whole country being on fire. And just as the fires were put out and we thought we could relax  Covid pandemic hit and added a new layer of restrictions on what was possible.  With movement and mixing with friends severely curtailed we made the most of our strange year.

In a way it was a saviour as there was no FOMO, no one was going anywhere. These months through the early days of Covid were traumatic as we had to adjust to a loss of freedom on so many levels, we  lost friends to suicide and it was hard just holding it all together. But it was also a lovely time in hindsight as we were privileged to  spend quality time with Hammers Mum.  We had many moments of joy which still brings a smile to our face. And just as we were getting used to this new rhythm to life, Hammers Mum suffered a fall which  put her in hospital where she passed away a couple of weeks later in September 2020.

Most of 2020 I’ve been rehabing niggling knee pain. By December 2020 the pain had settled and I was back running. It was on a trail run in early December 2020 that my knee completely gave way on a steep decent and my fibula crushed into the top of the tibia and I broke my knee.   A week before Christmas  I had surgery to fix a plate and screws to hold the broken bones together.

Months of non-weightbearing waiting for the bones to heal and slow rehab period followed. From all accounts this injury has a two year time line to getting back to some normality.  Recovery has definitely not been linear. Running seemed possible for a brief period after I had the hardware removed from my knee in September 2021,  then a period of setbacks where even walking was painful.   Ocean swimming has saved me from sinking into a deeper depression.     Hammer still runs with our old running club and in March 2021 completed his 12th Six Foot Track ultramarathon.  

So with our plans to hike the Appalachian Trail in 2020 derailed by all of the above and international travel still somewhat precarious we are finally ready to pick up the pieces of our  travel plans  and head off for the next adventure. 

A local two month road trip with some hiking to test out my knee. We want to see if the last two and half years can be put behind us and we can move on.

Category : CDT 2019