Day twenty one...16th July 2011...the final day of the run. We’d worked hard to get to this point and the excitement in the air was as thick as the hairs on my face (which is very thick, for those playing at home). Instead of waking up in Ruby, my living room was the scene for the morning. We all got ready and got a lift to Heathcote shops to start our running morning off just before 9.30am-much later than usual.
We had a short 17km day ahead of us and had told everyone we’d finish at midday at Cronulla. We gave ourselves plenty of time, just in case we were to get stopped by family, friends or anyone in between. We hadn’t had a scheduled finish time before-it had always been the old “finish when you finish routine”, but today was different. This meant after jogging through Heathcote we hit Engadine and thought “We should probably walk, we’re gonna be really early”. So we walked. After a Maccas stop at Engadine we changed our minds... “We should probably get a move on if we want to make it by midday”...we couldn’t decide whether we were on schedule or not and changed our minds multiple times, so we just decided to do what we were meant to do-which was run.
The amount of honks we received in the morning was as many as we’d had all trip, and although we were in good shape it still boosted the spirits. Spirits were also lifted when I found a 10c piece at Loftus, meaning we’d found money every day on the run without fail!
We hit the Kingsway and ran into a cheering crowd of people at Gymea Tradies. It was all of Ben’s work mates from Tradies and they’d come out to welcome us home. It was all very nice, especially for Ben...we also got to see Carlee again who was working, this time behind the bar rather than behind the massage table.
We continued on through Caringbah and saw a sign indicating we were only 2kms from Cronulla, our finish point for the day, for the three weeks, for the eight months. At Gannon’s Rd we met up with the guys from Cronulla Fire Brigade, who were going to be following us into our destination. The fire truck had been organised by Glenn Gorick, the most connected man we’ve met (not just because he’s an electrician either). The fire truck pulled out onto the Kingsway and turned on the flashing lights. We were hoping for some sort of grand entrance, and having an entire car lane to ourselves with a huge fire truck ushering us in was right up our alley!
We past a sign reading “Cronulla”...we looked over the hill and saw the ocean...we jogged over the hill and could see our finish point. The emotions were high for the three us as we closed in on the last 200 metres. It was what each of us wanted-to finish this run as we had started...just the three of us. We spoke a few special words to each other, just like we’d done only 200 metres into this adventure three weeks back in Federation Square. Although we were close to tears, none were shed...perhaps it was because we hadn’t hit the finish line yet, or maybe it was the rugged manliness of our beards holding them back.
We heard the crowd cheering and clapping as we entered Dunningham Park. We weren’t expecting a crowd so large...I had other things on my mind than doing a head count but it was over 100 people. It could have been 200 or 300, I really have no idea...all I do know was that all eyes were on us as we ran in, smiles plastered on each of our faces. Then something happened that hadn’t happened in a long time...we had nowhere to go! We stopped, looked at each other and gave each other a hug...we’d done it.
The camera flashes continued as we were introduced to (and had a photo with) Malcolm Kerr, the State Member for Cronulla. We then found our family and friends and hugged and kissed more people than you can poke a stick at, as we were congratulated by each of them.
After a few more photos and interviews we had time for a barbeque and a chat. It would have been merely ten minutes after we stopped that I wanted to keep to start back up and keep running again...I didn’t want this adventure to end! We’d had so many highs and lows, met so many amazing and generous people, and seen some absolutely incredible sights on this three week, 900km journey, and for it to end so abruptly was a shock to the system. But at the end of the day, all three of us had reached our goal and we were all immensely proud of ourselves and each other.
We headed home to get ready for the function dinner we had organised at Tradies, which was to be held at 6pm that night.
To add some suspense to tonight’s blog episode, we don’t have any photos from the dinner just yet, so tomorrow will write an entry about the dinner, and the whopping amount of money raised then...We’ll also write a bit of a post-event wrap-up in the next few days...so stay tuned and visit the page then because we’re not done just yet. Or don’t tune in if you don’t want to...but you should. It’s up to you really. But I’m going to do it regardless.
Cheers
Nick
Morning 21. Stepping out of a house rather than out of Ruby to start the day...
Someone thought Nick's face was on fire and called the fire brigade. Turns out it was only his beard. Fire truck following the boys into Cronulla
Who just ran Melbourne to Sydney? We did!
All smiles at the finish line
We got more wet here than we did on all of the trip just about
The boys and the support crew, Sam, Jacki and Edge. Unfortunately Carlee (our most capped support crew member with 17 full days of putting up with the boys) couldn't make it to Cronulla.
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