Vale Dolores O’Riordan (The Cranberries), taken too soon.
BRAAAAAINZZZZ.....
6 years ago our lives were quiet and predictable, with a routine that incorporated a fair bit of exercise ... morning jogs, cycling to work, afternoon strolls with the dogs, weekend hikes in the bush; a safe, routine, peaceful mid-aged existance.
Then in 2013 my partner was diagnosed with an enormous, malignant, grapefruit-sized grade 3 glioma (brain cancer).
Life as we knew it came to an abrupt end, replaced with surgery, chemo, radiation treatments, more surgery .... and endless, daily laps of the highway to Brisbane. We are exceptionally fortunate to live in a country with a first class health system, and after several surgeries to remove the entire left frontal lobe, agressive chemo and gruelling radiation treatment, my partner has been in stable remission for several years.
As an added bonus, unlike many people he now has proof that he does in fact have half a brain, as evidenced by an extensive portfolio of MRI scans.
So what (other than the obvious topic of braaainzzz) is the connection to the name of this cache?
Well, the almost inevitable side effect of life revolving around commuting for treatment was .... *sigh* .. mid-aged spread. Quite a lot of spread, in fact. Starting the climb back to basic fitness seemed so daunting, and jogging so unappealing, that we needed to gamify the process to maintain motivation.
And that's where zombies came in. Yes, seriously - zombies.
Nothing motivates you to keep going or pick up the pace quite like a herd of hungry, moaning, drooling, murderous zombies on your heels. So with the help of a captivating zombie running app, we're back to 5km runs, and in honour of this, I've placed a zombie cache next to our regular route.
The cache is a large camouflage-painted 7L sistema placed at ground level under a quite prickly bush (no need to dig or climb). This is a zombie-themed cache, so discretion is advised with the very youngest of geo-kids.
I very much hope you enjoy :)
Congratulations to Soldier Boys for FTF honours!