Just another Ordinary day

It was a glorious morning for a swim: full sunshine, no wind, smooth water, small surf and only 3.8km to go till breakfast. And so another Ordinary day began. Those who wore a wetsuit to fend off the icy waters began to chafe seriously with 1.5km to go. But we all made it back to dry land and were treated with a light breakfast before we hit the road.

Cruelly, as we begin the cycling leg the wind begins to blow in our faces. We quickly resolve that to get anywhere we must ride in tight Indian file, so only one of us confronts this abomination of a wind, the rest hiding cowardly behind. And so the day cycled on, along the great ocean road which turned on a spectacular view. As we ready to leave Wye River, its 2pm and we have four hours to reach the Dunes - 88kms away - before sunset.

We made it to the Dunes (and dinner) mostly in one piece. After some faffing deciding what range of clothing to carry, the six of us set off around 9.20pm. The promise was a stunning stroll with a ¾ moonlight at low tide on hard sand. The moon held up, but the tide failed us and we were sinking 3 cm into the sand and walking on a 10 degree slope. This was harder than we thought. By 11.30pm we were tired. The joy that characterised the swim and bike ride seemed to elude us in this walk. There were few jokes, little conversation, and more a dogged determination to be done with this absurdity. On the last two km down the home stretch the team was walking strongly. Well not really, but still walking.

After an entire day of swimming, cycling and walking we straggle into home at 4.30am. Exhaustion, blisters and knees: they all still hurt. To bed, to bed, to bed and asleep so quickly. The record will say: this was an Ordinary person event, ordinary people having a go at something, all together, in their own good time. It was just another Ordinary day.