Opportunity knocks... or does it punch?

This is the railway. There was a store featuring a Quornocopia,
there were Quornish pasties. Very Quorny.

Day 32. 11/10/11: Warren Gorge to Quorn

Tim's bit:

Everything always turns on the little things. I think about the moment Lily rolled her ankle; the moment she realized (about 50m into a run) that it needed to be taped, and then ran the whole way on it; about going for the hike; about deciding to get out on the bike. I think about the non-moments: not-taping it then, not bandaging it or looking after it better there. And then maybe it's just luck sometime, and you have to soak it up, have fun (because you're still on holiday), do something else that fills your cup or fries your cheese (if that's what you're into) and plan to come back another time. (But never just say "Oops" and forget about it.)

This morning over breakfast, Lily decided she just needed to rest her ankle. After yesterday's ride, and hobbling around at Port Augusta, it was more painful than ever. It must be crap to wake up every morning hoping it's better. She wiggles it around to see how it feels, then goes to put weight on it and reallizes it's the same, or worse than it was the day before. We had planned that she would be back out running from Quorn, and I'd sort of felt like I just wanted to get this section done as quickly and easily as I could so we could get on with it - even thinking that if I was quick we might have a chance to come back and do the Hawker-to-Quorn bit with me as support and Lily (superfit by the end of the run) able to knock it over easily. As that idea scaled back, I had imagined her riding and achieving things she'd never thought of, just on her bike raher than her feet, but now that's been scaled back, too. We'll see how it all ends up, but she won't be running or riding out of Quorn. She shed tears of frustration this morning, but I'm hoping something good will come out of it. She talked about it being an opportunity to learn some patience, but I hope she finds something more exciting, attractive or positive as well. (Drawing? Yoga? Film-making? Cooking? Photography? Some particular editing project? Learning Spanish? Writing crosswords (and by "Crosswords" I don't just mean "shit" or "bugger")... Or unleashing something else entirely from up her arsenal of potential...! )

I'm willing to chuck it in and do something else, but I am still excited about the possibility of running to Adelaide. I'm also feeling that there is some time-pressure starting to creep in. Not that it's a hard-and-fast deadline, but I'd really like to have it done before Thursday the 17th November. That night we have tickets to a Portishead concert in Adelaide, and it would feel silly to go into Adelaide and then back out again and then to have the big finish of getting to Adelaide! So I'm feeling a little pressure to keep moving, but also a bit of joy about being able to run the final 12.5kms into Quorn today, again at 10kms/hr (this time in the FiveFingers, with socks, just for variety and to do a bit of technique stuff) with no hassles at all. I feel good, and feel like I just have to be careful of the little things, and have a lot of luck, to keep going for a while yet.

Lil's bit:

Yes, I had a bit of a cry this morning. My ankle got so sore yesterday, and all I could think was it was because I'd gone for a ride. So I've decided to deal with being frustrated and not give in to temptation. Stay off the damn thing and let it heal!

Tim needs to carry on with the plan. There's no reason for him to stop and I'm hoping, if I can resist the temptation to do anything for the next few days, that I can join him again soon!

Run

Time (hr:min:sec): 1:14:30

Speed (kph):

Distance (km): 12.5