Following on from my walk to Bluff Knoll and Bald Head, and then One Foot Forward, I ended up having a few conversations with my boss about doing Iron Man competitions, and Marathons. He is heavily into his fitness and jokingly asked me when I was going to register for those events. He then told me about another event, The Perth Trail Series. He showed me the website, and that sparked my interest. I then started to get excited about it, and thought it was something I would really like to do, and that Harrison and I could do together.
I had already missed the first run, but I registered myself and Harrison for the next one, which was in the Walyunga National Park. I did not register us for all of the runs in the series, because I was unsure how I would go. I was severely underestimating myself. I had let my fitness drop, considerably. I guess, I was more disappointed in myself for being like that, physically and mentally.
I thought there would be somewhere Harrison and I could stay, and as I had the Roof Top Tent, I did not think it would be too much of a problem to pull up, and sleep somewhere close to the event. Well, there was not exactly many places to do that. Last minute, I tried to book a farm stay, but there was a miscommunication with that, and it did not end up happening. Harrison and I ended up going to a Service Station and getting some crappy stale food, which we struggled our way through. I drove up and down the roads near the event trying to find somewhere we could stop for the night. I had passed by a stopping bay a few times, so we went back there, and ended up setting up the tent right next to a sign that said “No Camping”, whoops.
We had a semi-restless night, and were up early. We packed up the Roof Top Tent and made our way up the road to the start of the event. It was only about a 10 minute drive. I got out our supplies, and we had breakfast.
Registration opened at 6am, so we headed over and signed in, and then got our bright orange Perth Trail Series running shirts. We then waited.
There are three groups of runners, the first to go are the runners for the Black course (The longest course, at 14.4km), then the Blue course (10.1km), and finally the Green course. The Green course is what I had signed Harrison and I up to. The slower runners/ walkers, and the Green course at Walyunga is 4.6km. It came our time to run, and we took off. Harrison had done several school cross-country runs, and really enjoyed them, as well as previously running with me when I was fitter, but for some reason, this time he really dragged his feet and seemed unmotivated to run. This became very frustrating for me, and over the next couple of races, he got worse. I found myself to be very conflicted, I wanted to do this together, but I also wanted to prove to myself I could do really well and get a good time. I had an overwhelming urge to run off and leave him, but that was not why we were there. I battled with “Hurry the f*#k up”, and “It’s okay, we are here to have fun and enjoy it together”.
Harrison had bursts where he would take off, to then falling way behind me where I would stop and wait for him to catch up, but we made sure we crossed the finish line together, holding hands.
I signed us up for the next two runs, Langford Park, and Wungong National Park. These were even more frustrating, I could not work out why he was so unmotivated, and slowing right down. I tried to talk to him about it, but all he said was he was fine, and nothing was wrong.
By the time the last race was coming up, Harrison had been invited to a birthday party, and I knew he would really enjoy that, so I signed myself up for the last race at Mundy Regional Park, but I did not tell Harrison I was doing it. I knew he would be conflicted, but I also knew he would have a lot more fun at the party. Again, I was conflicted, I really wanted to do it with Harrison, but I also felt relieved I could do the run on my own, and unrestricted.
If you only sign up to individual races, you get a medal for that particular race, but if you completed the whole series you got one big medal, well it was made of wood, but still nice to have. I only got the individual medals, this time.
I was asked if I was going to do the Winter series, and I would have loved to but I was going overseas for a month, and would have missed most of the races, so I thought I would do the next Summer series, and then maybe the 2025 Winter series.
When registrations opened for the next Summer series, I signed both Harrison and I up. We had missed the first even last year, so it would be good to do it this year. It was located at Yanchep National Park. I got in reasonably early this time, and booked a Farm Stay for us. We drove up the afternoon before, found the property and stayed on a lovely farm for the night. They have eight sites, and a reasonably good setup on their property. Harrison and I played a few games, throwing a Vortex ball, drawing, then dinner and ready for bed. When we got into bed, in the Roof Top Tent, we setup the iPad and watched part of a movie, then went to sleep.
I got up early the next morning, Harrison was very hard to get him up, but we packed up and made our way to the race. Once there, we registered, and then went back to the car for breakfast.
It was soon time for our race. The Black course went first, then Blue, and then Green. I was expecting Harrison to be the same as last year, but I was very wrong. He took off, and I never saw him again until I was nearing the finish line, and he came back with his medal around his neck, yelling “COME ON DAD, RUN.” He had run the whole thing, and never looked back. I was so proud of him. He then ran with me across the finish line. I am not sure what had motivated him this time, but it was great to see him feeling so happy within himself for doing so well.
I had been told the atmosphere was really great at these events, and they were all a great bunch of people to be around. You could certainly feel that. Complete strangers saying hello to one another, and then before during and after, encouraging each other along.
They are fantastic events to be part of, and the three different courses cater to all levels of fitness.
Both Harrison and I are looking forward to the next one, and hopefully many, many more.
Sailing The Unknown 