My comeback to competitive ultra-walking was successful in that I won the men’s 12 hour event at the 2022 Coburg 24 hour carnival. Unfortunately, it was also a disappointment to me because I injured myself and didn’t get close to the distance target I had hoped for.
I’d aimed for 80km, what should have been a comfortable distance for me. Maybe I set off to quickly, but after about 6 hours and moving swiftly and comfortably, my calf started hurting a lot. It was like a knife being dug into it every step. Being weak-of-mind all I could do was slow down and try to defend my lead. I did that, though lost the overall to the women’s race winner Marnie Grace. Oh well. I finished up with 64.027km and a nice trophy for the men’s race.
Being injured, it was a long time before I could walk any speed or distance again. As my work at Jazz Workshop Australia got much busier, I’ve not really trained since the race.
I hope to resume again soon.