Wild wild thang....

Wow that run was wild - wild landscape, wild distances, wild beauty, wild coastline....
3 days in the Transkei on the Wildrun (www.wildrun.co.za), 112 kms and about 21 running hours later. 1 x bruised bashed knee, 1 x vrot toe - no skin left, 1 x very proud person.
Fi and I flew down on Wed and then caught the transfer bus to Kei mouth. There was lots of nervous cheeky chatter in the bus with most people saying they hadn't trained enough - hmph those that say that the loudest are the biggest fibbers! We had briefing, dinner unpacked and repacked bags and had an unsettled nights sleep.

Day 1 45km +-7h50m, Kei Mouth - Kobb Inn
We set off early the next morning and caught the ferry across the Kei Mouth. It was freezing cold!

It was a long long loooooong day - 45kms, just under 8 hours. In my bid to keep my feet dry I took a lot of sand in the front of my shoes which caused a blister on my 2nd toe. I strapped it up but made the error of not taping the toe next to it - more on this later. When my shoes did eventually get wet it stopped the sand coming in and saved my toes from further damage. I battled a bit with energy and trying to maintain good intake of fuel. The last river crossing and sight of Cobb Inn was very welcome. I loaded up on food and had a more uneasy nights sleep - I was stiff, sore and my feet really sore! I had caused a large blister on the toe next to the strapped one.


Day 2 - 35km +- 7hours Kobb Inn - The Haven

I took a fall about 2kms into the race. Once again I was trying to not get my feet wet (silly girl) and paid a steep price on a very slippy snotty rock with a very painful knock to my knee and scraping off of skin. The knee got more and more inflamed as the day wore on and I got slower and slower. Fiona disappeared at some point. I ran most of day by myself and really enjoyed the solitude. I only got a little bit lost so felt really good at the self navigation but it was always a relief to see the photographer coz then I knew I was still in the right place. The rule was pretty simple - keep the sea on your right at ALL times!! The downhills were seriously painful but I shuffled along. This sort of event requires digging really deep and just ensuring one step at a time is made in the direction of home - which was The Haven - which was similar to Heaven to me at that point. Once again LOADS of food and even a savanna in the evening! Toe was restrapped and I had a voltarun tablet for the knee.





Day 3 - 35km +- 6 hours The Haven - Hole in the Wall

I should have had a Voltarun jab for the knee but there were so many walking wounded at the medics that I gave it up. Ooops bit of error there! Anyway I was really fit and strong by this day, not to mention mentally good with it being the final day. Fi and I stayed together on this day. Once again beautiful beaches, wild headlands, big hills to climb and descend. I got to the medics and got a voltarun tablet. There was only one support table a day but they were good and full of cheerful people and energy-filled drinks. I ran strong on the flats, walked well on the ups and hobbled the downs! We were accosted by kiddies asking for sweeeeets sweeeets and even one cheeky chap wanting R10! We climbed a seemingly never-ending set of mountains - up, down, up, down, up..... And of course you eventually get to that final up - oh my that sight of The Hole in The Wall was spectacular. I couldn't speed my way down - hobble, huff, cheer, hobble, huff, cheer! I even forgot about the Zambezi sharks in this final river crossing. Fi and I giggled our way across the river to the end. Gosh what an achievement and adventure. I was very privileged to run in that beautiful part of the country and very blessed to have the body and head to carry me through it all.

TAAA DAAAA!!!!

Wildrun - bring it on!!

Oh my goodness we set off for the Wildrun tommorrow - @Santacruzrulz and I on NOT a whole bunch of training. We saw some pictures from the guys who ran it last week - it looks absolutely stunning. I am a tad concerned about the 14 river crossings due to this irrational fear I have of sharks, crocodiles and pirhanas.
Our training has been somewhat haphazard due to bodies behaving in a very dodgey manner, work that keeps interfering with training (how rude) and well, .... simply life.
I did get to run the The Crazystore Magaliesberg Challenge (www.trailrunning.co.za). This was a 31.5km run. I have to confess I was a broken chickie trailrunner at the end of that race! Hopefully if there are any of those days on the Wildrun it is the last day!
Fi and I have done a few lists - you know one master list and 35 other lists! I confess I lurv lists.
I have packed loads of running bras (well endowed and running are not best friends), 2 pairs shoes, sunglasses, my new fabulous camelbac hydration system, back massager and chocolate - right I guess I am about ready.

Poppie power

I love this image. I have a new macro lens for my camera but I am seriously under knowledged! There has been much travelling, working and training these past few months but that is for another post. I am just warming up.....

Simply beautiful

There are moments of such beauty if you simply pause to observe (and then run like the blazers to find where the camera is hiding to get this moment!)
Stunning sunset in Joburg.... Love this time of the day - it means its closer to having a glass of wine!

Take a moment

I am feeling so full of gratitude at the moment - it is a wonderful, full, whole feeling.
My Cara dog (my first born!) just fills me with love. She always looks in the windows to see where I am in the house. As soon as I step outside she is near me. When I garden she lolls around me touching me in someway and never EVER says no to a cuddle.
I looked out at my garden yesterday - the sprinklers were on and the leaves were all glisteny and green and fresh. I got such a surge of contentment.
I walked back into our bedroom this morning and Kayla had climbed into bed with Doug. There was this little person with messy mushy bed hair and a huge grin at being tucked up under her Daddy's arm. And then there was this man with a goofy grin on his face and a "look at me" expression with his arm tucked around his little girl. There was that surge again.
I ran this morning and felt immense gratitude for my body. It works so beautifully - my lungs taking the air in and letting it out, my heart faithfully pumping the blood around my body, the muscles contracting and expanding so well and aiding the joints in my forward movement, my ears hearing all the chirruping birds and the noise of my foot fall, my eyes taking in the blue sky with white clouds and the stunning colours of the trees moving from the greens to the oranges, my skin feeling the sweat pour down my face and back and the cool wind drying it off - and again, clearly, there was that surge.
Thanks for awareness and the space in between the tricky stuff.

Bielie Mielie Fees

We went off to Reitz this weekend. Doug and Fiona were doing a 90km mountain bike ride and Kayla and I went along for the ride. Rietz is this very small dorpie in the Freestate in the middle of farming country. After we dropped Fi and Doug off at the start in Frankfort (about 60kms down the road) Kayla and I went back to Reitz for some Bielie Mielie Fees. It was fantastic! It was so authentically Afrikaans and somehow so simple. I stuffed myself full of deep fried pastry things, sausages, pankoeke en alles. Kayla and I wandered around. I never once said to her to hurry up - we did it all at her pace. We went on the funfair rides and my child proved again the strength of her need-for-speed gene. I went on a big fast ride with her. I squealed my way around the ride (naturally) and she just giggled and giggled. There were these huge farming tractor things that completely dwarfed everything around them. The majority of men were the opitomy of the Boere - wif their kort broek, lang kouse, comb in the socks and the vroumense het baaie mooi kruller in hul hare and baie mooi rokkies. It was such a wonderful experience.
It had been raining a lot and the place was very muddy and wet. Well Kayla found as many puddles as she possibly could and splooshed through all of them. She was sopping wet and filthy dirty and as happy as a lark!
It was a great weekend away is this awesome country of ours!

I feel like such a fool

You know generally I am a pretty circumspect cautious person and not taken in too easily by nonsense. But today I think I was put under a spell - because none, absolutely NONE of the above applied to me for a short period. I have been feeling very under the weather and achey and lay down for most of the morning. I popped out to collect some photos and was really not looking my best. Hair messily up, catepillar eyebrows, pale and wan, glasses, no make-up - get the picture? Now I normally, in a friendly but firm way, say no to the sales people in the shops - you know the ones that want to sell you nail products, great hair dresser products, beds, cars, diaries, books, insurance, pots and pans you name it. But this guy must have waved this hair straightner/curler wand and put a spell on me. Because he called me over and before I knew it I was sitting in the chair (in front of shoppers - horrors of horrors - they were watching me getting suckered and hair curled at the same time!). He was french and clearly a very powerful magician. He said nice things about me and asked me how old I was (I theenk you are about 28 oui - says he) and of course when I laugh at him he says "but you 'ave the body of a 20 year old oui!". There were more nice things said and he was so charming and I felt a lot better than I was looking and anyway before I knew it I had a curler tong thing - a purple one - in an expensive plastic bag and a BIG hole burned in the little plastic card that fits in my wallet.
When I got back to the car I shook myself and thought it was a dream until my phone beeped with an sms message saying I had spent a formidable amount of money.
A fool and her money.....

The experience of discipline and fluffly hair

Self-respect is the fruit of discipline; the sense of dignity grows with the ability to say no to oneself.

Rabbi Abraham Heschel

So I have decided to make February the month of Discipline. This is the intention of experiencing discipline. It will encounter denial but that is not the intention. The 2 main areas I am looking at are getting up earlier to have some quiet meditative time and to not have wine at home from Mon - Thurs. I am not feeling overwhelmed with this challenge which is a jolly good start. At around 5 pm - crazy hour I do start having a debate if I reeeeaaalllllyyyyy need to be disciplined and a glass of cold crisp chardonnay would just be fabulous. One day at a time....

Had my hair cut yesterday - the 1st time in 8 years that I have a different style. I feel pretty and feminine and yummy-mummy-ish!

It's raining it's pouring lets get out of bed and stop snoring!

I had such a stunning run this morning in the rain. Doug comes to me very bleary-eyed wondering we were going to run. I think he was a little dismayed by my answer. My hubby does not like the rain! It was quite light when we left - I guess they closed the sluice gates upstairs and then opened them and then closed them. We parted ways at 3 kms - him to work and me back home. I splashed in puddles and relished in the cool nourishing water. I was laughing at one point coz it was raining ridiculously hard - I reckon the poor buggers in their cars thought I was completely barmy. (Probably not far off!).
Then a delicious well deserved breakfast with Fi - health bread, salmon, cream cheese and avo and copius amounts of tea.
What a beeeyadaful Wednesday morning!
Have joined Club100 cycling (http://www.club100.co.za) and entered a 50km race. The aim is to boost the running power with some cross training (and not to mention atttempt the 94.7 race in Nov FIT).

We are in!

Our entries have been accepted for the Wildcoast Wildrun - yeeeha! All off-road so the training will be a little different than for Comrades. Probably not so much milage but more strength and speed training. I am SOOOOO excited. Only 160 people get accepted so it really is quite a thing. Right must go plan a training schedule.
Here is the splurb:

The Wildrun is fast becoming one of the most sought-after multi-day wilderness trail running events in the World. Runners run solo for 112km over three days along arguably the most beautiful and scenic coastline in South Africa – the Transkei Wild Coast.

The Wildcoast Wildrun starts at the Great Kei River; roughly 80km north of East London, and finishes at one of the most beautiful natural wonders of South Africa – the Hole-in-the-Wall. Between the two is 112km of wilderness running like nowhere else on Earth, with golden beaches, rolling hills, spectacular cliffs, wildlife, dolphins, warm sea, blue sky and friendly people! The Wildcoast Wildrun takes place in the cool but clear winter months and during a spring low tide ensuring hard golden sand – perfect for running! The route is unmarked, and runners simply follow the coastline until they reach the finish of each stage.

The Wildrun is not about the destination but about the journey. Come and experience some of the most beautiful running terrain on the planet. The Wildrun is brought to you by Wildrunner Events, organizers of the Trail Series.

New Challenges

Well I have entered the WildCoast Wildrun which is a trail run of 112 kms run over 3 days in September in the Transkei. Fiona and I have both entered so hopefully we have been accepted. Watch this space...
Am a bit of a blimp at the moment so a good challenge will be fab. Now all I have to do is work out how to make my back not so sore!