Shore to Shore

Today Bianca and I participated in Shore to Shore where there were more than 6,000 participants. Before the time Bianca told me that we could run or walk and I told her that we would most definitely be walking. It was a 5km (probably around 3.1mile) walk for us and parts of it was on the beach - well two different beaches actually and wow, what a beautiful day to go walking. The day was absolutely perfect.

Bianca's school organised a bus for all the participants from Oteha Valley School. We caught up with Bianca's friend Saana and her mom and also Nikita and her sister, mom and dad. Nikita was actually with Bianca at daycare (and one of Bianca's friends) when we first came to Auckland way back when Bianca was around 18 months old. When we came back to Auckland after living in Wellington for around 3 years, and Bianca started school, I was quite surprised to find Nikita also goes to Oteha Valley School (although she is a bit older than Bianca).

And thankfully Bianca did not have any tummy aches at all today. She was initially quite happy and then I guess became a bit more grumpy. I think the walk was a bit tiring for her and so I had to carry Bianca probably for around 2km (probably around 1.24miles) or maybe even 3km (probably around 1.86miles) of the 5km walk. Now 5km don't sound too far, but it is quite a different story when you are as unfit as I am and trying to do this carrying a child who weighs around 23kg at the moment. But towards the end she lightened up again when she saw the finish line in the distance and was trying to beat me to it (and she won...).

Here are some more photos:

And then we came home and had hot dogs for lunch and it was time for a nap.

I had no idea how exhausted I really felt. I think it was a combination of working full time, doing a move and all the usual and unusual stresses that go along with it and of course doing the walk carrying Bianca for a good portion of the way. But either way, I'm actually looking forward for my month of temping to come to an end now on the 30th of March as things will certainly become a little bit less busy, and so it will almost be like taking a break. Not quite and certainly a holiday right about now would be good, but that is just not a possiblity at the moment. So getting back to normal will be a good alternative.