This is my second year coming to Thredbo Fun and Fitness Week (TFFW). Last year was my first and I wrote quite a detailed blog about it and if you’re keen you can read all about it here.
As per last year, Karen, Daryl, Geoff and I travelled together in Karen and Daryl’s car, with Daryl driving. We drove from Adelaide to Albury on Friday on quite a hot day, but it was marginally cooler by the time we got to Albury. (I even managed to do a bit of shopping on the way – a $5 adidas skirt from the op shop in Ouyen!)
Most of the other Adelaide people heading to TFFW were staying at the same motel. The four of us were the only ones who opted to do parkrun on Saturday morning before making the journey to Thredbo.
Albury Wodonga parkrun is a must-do if you’re in the area, as it is the only parkrun in Australia which features a border crossing! We had done it last year but it was a bit warmer this year. There was a huge turnout – maybe a lot of new year’s resolutions – exactly 300 people! The start was comical with people running through the neighbouring farmers’ market and even jumping fences to get around people! Once the chaos of the start was over it was a lovely, scenic, friendly run. Despite pushing fairly hard I was a minute slower than last year!
After the run, coffee and one final shop before we hit Thredbo (Thredbo has only a small supermarket) we made the journey up into the mountains.
We arrived at the lodge in time to unload the car and get changed (although I didn’t, I just changed from my road shoes to my trail shoes) before going to register for TFFW and participate in the first event – the Crackenback Challenge. (I think there MUST be a chiropractor in town who could sponsor this event – how appropriate would that be?)
I don’t think anything can prepare you for this race. 4 hours in a car is certainly not ideal preparation! It is about 1.8km with 600m elevation. Interestingly there is a chairlift that follows almost the exact same route that we ‘run’ but still people seem to want to take the foot-powered option!
There was a tiny bit of running, a LOT of swearing, and a grand total of 2 flies consumed. It was a few minutes slower than last year but still enough to get me 4th female overall.
The random prize draw (where I won a bottle of wine to add to the lodge’s collection) and happy hour at the pub was followed by a nice meal in town anf then more wine and a rousing game of Cards Against Humanity back at the lodge.
Sunday started with a Merritts Nature Trail walk (in which we inadvertently cut out a large section of the trail and instead walked on steep gravel road) and a coffee at Eagles Nest before heading back down for the Fun Run in the village.
The Fun Run was a 6km, 2 lap course. Again, I was a bit slower than last year and finished 8th, which was not too bad considering I think a lot of the front runners are legitimate athletes rather than just ‘fun runners’ like me!
Then it was back up Merritts AGAIN – this time to start a new tradition – toasting absent friends! We went to a place called ‘Black Sallee’s’ which is not open in the summer. We took bubbly, chips, cheese, chocolate etc and sat on the deck toasting our 2 friends called Sally who could not be here, plus all the others who weren’t able to come. It was really lovely (albeit windy) and I hope it becomes a regular occurrence!
Then we took the chairlift down and headed back to the lodge to make dinner and then a few of us went out to the quiz night which was a bit of fun – tables were randomly allocated and Fiona’s team won and mine came second (2 more bottles of wine!)
Monday morning I went out with Karen, Daryl, David and Geoff to do the approximately 20km out and back Cascades Trail run. It was a lovely scenic course, Geoff and I saw a baby snake (just the one thankfully) and Geoff and Karen both saw brumbies (something I haven’t yet seen!) There were some steep uphill climbs and some lovely undulating section that were SO fun to run!
I’ll leave it there for now – stay tuned for Part 2!