A Little Crazy Perhaps?

Following on from one of my previous posts (here) regarding the fact that myself and a few others have started running - well there’s actually a bit more to it than just getting fit for the hell of it. I’ll start with a round-up of what we have achieved so far.

Along with various training runs of up to 18km, we have successfully completed the following races: The Beds for Africa 16km and The South Coast Half Marathon. Campo decided that the Half Marathon wasn’t challenging enough and opted for the full marathon, while Shaun, Mike and I went for the 21km. We all completed the race in good time, some of us in more pain than others, namely Campo who had a very tough time but finished nevertheless.

Myself, Mike and Rich also rode the Amashovashova 2 weekends ago, which is a 106km ride from Pietermaritzburg to Durban. Thanks to our superb seconding team (Cally and Jane) we had plenty of snacks and water bottle refills during the ride which certainly helped us along the arduous yet scenic route.

Looking ahead, there are 3 big events lined up. First on the list for myself and Mike is the Triple Challenge, which is on the 15th November. Distances may vary slightly, but essentially we’re looking at a 20km trail run followed by a 52km mountain bike ride and finally ending with a 22km paddle across Inanda Dam, which includes 2 portages. I’m absolutely shitting myself for this !!! Mike has done a couple of these in previous years and I have somehow been roped into doing this with him.

The 2nd event coming up is the Hillcrest Villagers 42.2km marathon in February next year. I have never run further than 21km before, so this is going to be one helluva challenge. Not only do I need to complete it but I need to finish in under 5 hours. Reason being, that you have to complete a standard marathon in under 5 hours in order to qualify for Comrades. That’s right, I’m attempting Comrades next year. There I said it!! It makes me want to go check my rods just thinking about it. But ja, assuming my qualifying marathon goes well, I will be attempting Comrades next year along with Shuz, Mike, Campo and a few others.

So that’s where we are at the moment. Training for Triple Challenge and then come the last week in November the focus will shift purely onto the running.

Here’s a few pics from the Amashova last weekend.

Coming through Camperdown

Westville