A runner in her youth, Lambert took up race-walking in her forties and has competed in marathons across the country, the most recent being in Hamilton last June. That was the start of her rigorous training programme for the 75km walk. The walk was rigorous of her own making – as Barb follows a conscious approach to walking, allowing her body to dictate pace and duration.
Lambert had a sound plan for her birthday challenge. She chose the weekend for its full moon to light her path, but the weather didn’t come to the party. She eventually embarked in the rain, under grey skies, breaking up the walk into four hour shifts with rests in between.
The only thing she didn’t plan was her route. “I just wandered in any direction I fancied,” Lambert laughs, making it sound like a stroll along the beach rather than a 75-kilometre endurance walk. Her only criteria were to start and end at home, using it as a pit stop to grab a bite, a hot shower and to put her feet up in between shifts.
Despite chillier than expected Spring weather, Lambert maintained a steady pace of 5km/h even through to the last shift when the wind picked up and her body was tiring. Friends and family joined Lambert at different points of her walkathon, swapping shifts in-between to make sure she was never alone. In the truest test of friendship, she even had a close friend wake up and join the 3am shift.
That was Lambert’s highlight, “I had the most wonderful support from friends and my husband,” she s.