side-swiped......

We all, at some stage in our lives, get completely side-swiped by something, literally or figuratively, but they all essentially have the same effect!  Its a bit like walking accross a field on a lovely sunny day, surrounded by the beautiful scent of spring grass and flowers  and suddenly finding yourself knee deep in a mole hole!

We have no control over what happens to us and when, something which many of us don't fully appreciate.  But one thing I am certain of is, everything in life does happen for a reason, even if that reason is completely uncomprehensible to us at the time.

This week, I, and many special people close to me, got side-swiped, and it sucks! I'm still struggling to come to terms with and understand why.... but what it has made clear to me is, we should never take anything for granted. Everything in life is temporary, even the bad things, which gives me hope even though sometimes it is hard to see it that way!

I previously wrote a post about a run we were a part of in aid of breast cancer and how inspiring and amazing people can be.  The human spirit never fails to awe me. Its ability to stare an adversary in the face and challenge it! The ability to smile no matter how crappy you feel, or how much skin you've lost under your feet from that 100km trek in wet grit filled shoes over the mountain, or how cold you are from cycling in the pouring rain surrounded by snow covered mountains.....and most importantly, the ability to stay positive when you find your body has been challenged by the toughest and most unforgiving of apponents.....cancer.....

The news that a close friend is now having to face this challenge, has rocked me to my core!  Suddenly the pressures and stresses that have been consuming me these past two weeks, seem totally inconsequential! I find myself reprimanding myself for being so selfish in thinking that I was having a hard time, when in reality, life could not be better!

For Don and his family, the road is not going to be a short, nor easy one, but I am once again humbled by the strength and amazing positive attitude he has. I salute you all! He's one tough guy and I don't think Cancerquite knew what it was taking on when it challenged Don!
I have seen him in some pretty hardcore and just plain shitty situations and states during various adventure races, and a stronger person you will struggle to find! He's always got a smile and a kind word, and I am truly honoured to call him a friend! I will not lie and say that his news has not left be feeling completely devastated! But.....I do strongly believe that it is just temporary, and it won't be long before he is back to living the life that he was born to live!

We will be with you every step of the way, if not in person, then in heart and soul! :)

Get better soon! Someone needs to keep the Elandskraal Fish shop on its toes,......and carry Tweets Backpack!

YOU ROCK!

adventure part 2....

I always find the week leading up to a big race the hardest! There always seem to be an unending amount of things to be finalized, packed, purchased and organized! The fact that I have to do this for for not only myself, but my child and my husband probably has something to do with the fact that I find it so stressful....not to mention trying to work in between! The final week leading up to Expedition Africa was no different!

The weekend before the final week before EA saw me and Hanno doing one last navigation exercise. Tweet had set up a small Nav Course which would take us into the web of  roads in the plantation area east of Knysna.  With no teams mates to go out and play with, and not wanting to go galavanting in that area on my own at night, I roped my good friend Ben into coming to play! Ben is one of super cool buddies who will always step up to the plate when I throw a challenge or adventure his way! (Thanks dude!)

With the sun fast disappearing beyond the horizon, we headed off to our start point on the Diepwalle Road.  Tweet had given us an hour and a half to find the first set of on-foot check points. Hanno teamed up with Helena, replacement girl for Jeannette on the Penny Pinchers Team.  Being the weaker runners, it was obvious from the start (or so I thought) that Ben and I would be on our own for pretty much the entire run section. With this in mind, Tweet gave us one less check point to collect. We headed off to the dam and in no time found the first check point there. Next up was a point in the forest itself. Even with a beautiful full moon, it was going to be a challenge. Navigating through forest is hard enough during the day, but I was up for the Challenge and knew that it was good practice! When making our way along the edge of the Dam, Ben and I saw Hanno and Helena's lights up on the hill opposite. knowing that they were looking for the same check point as us, I took a gamble on a path which I hoped ran along the edge of the dam and to within spitting distance of the next checkpoint...in theory!

My gamble paid off!

It wasn't long before Hanno and Helena joined us on the lower road.  After consulting the map and pointing out where I thought we were in relation to the checkpoint, we both agreed that bundu bashing across a small stream up to a road on which the checkpoint was located, was the best and quickest option.  We set off, and after discovering that my legs were shorter than I thought or hoped, landing short of my intended spot when trying to jump across the stream and getting not only stuck, but wet and muddy, we continued up to the road. After some scrambling and log hopping we found the checkpoint. Running short on time, we all had to skip the final checkpoint and headed off back to the start point to meet Tweet and get our bikes.

Navigating on a bike is just so much harder than on foot and adding night time just amplifies it! But I love riding at night!  It adds a totally different dimension.....not to mention wipe-outs! :)

So, with map inserted onto the map board on my bike, Ben and I set off into the dark..... The first check point was relatively easy....the second one I made a very novice mistake (which I should know better than to make) of concentrating too much on trying to follow the roads and not the contours and not trusting my gut feel when that 'I'm not where  I think I should be' feeling starts to kick in! So after a little detour down a very washed out, overgrown and stony road, we eventually popped out in an open area near the main road. Whilst making our way through sharp spikey head high grass, we were suddenly not alone. Somewhere out of the darkness to the south of us came the blaring first few bars of Credence Clearwater Revivals song 'up around the bend', then dead quiet followed shrieks of drunken laughter, then dead quiet again! A couple of minutes later, the same again, just the opening bars and then dead quiet, followed by laughter!.....just one lost soul out in the dark entertaining himself, and us!

After a very bumpy ride through tall thick grass up a steep hill, with some rather spectacular over the handle bar wipes from myself, we found checkpoint 2!  Suddenly my confidence started to return and we set off once again in search of the next point, by far the hardest of them all. Far more in tune now with my surroundings and cursing myself for the silly mistake I made earlier, we found the check point in no time at all.

I think at this point I need to say a huge special thank you to Ben again! Ha ha.....you put up with a lot from me!

From there we had to make our way back to the Diepwalle /Uniondale road and then along the back Concordia road and into town down the Simola Hill.  Just before the main road we skirted right along the edge of the location.....Saturday night and there were many parties happening, so it was a bit of a nervous moment as we got there. Ben turned very pale and jittery....it was only later on I learnt of his high-jacking experience in JHB!

Not sure how far Hanno was and with Ben having to get home as it was now well past midnight, we decided to skip the last checkpoint and just ride on to Tweets house. I was surprised to see that Hanno was not yet there when we got there. After a shower and getting warm, I raided Tweets fridge and then settled on the sofa to wait for Hanno. Just after2am a rather cold Hanno arrived! It seems that I was not the only one who had a hard time in the plantation in the dark! In fact, I got off lightly....but he did have more points to collect than me! The downloaded track from Tweets GPS which Hanno had ridden with, made for some entertaining reading!

The exercise however was just what I needed and I could now tackle the final week leading up to our departure for EA with a lot more confidence that I was going to be able take on the navigation challenge without getting my team too lost in the Mountains of the Drakensberg!

And so the count down began.........

adventure (noun)

so whilst looking for a title for this post, i looked up the meaning of adventure, both in the dictionary and then in the thesaurus...

the dictionary:
an exciting or challenging experience...

the thesaurus:
1. a life full of adventures: exploit, escapade, venture, enterprise, undertaking, deed, feat
2. in search of adventure: excitement, danger, interesting times, fun, stimulation

Darlings...... You are quite MAD!  

Every time I hear this I can't help but chuckle! As far as I am concerned..... I, and my wonderful husband are quite normal....

Something that I do believe quite strongly though is that with the advancement ( as most people see it) of society, we as humans are becoming softer and to a degree less able to deal with hardship with the result that what would have been considered a normal day to day activity, now becomes an abnormal over the top adventure of mad proportions! 

I'm by no means saying that long distance adventure sport is a walk in the park.... Because that, it is not! But, I have immense respect for the historical pioneers. They did not have the luxury of carbon fibre equipment, or electronics, or super advanced nutrition! For them, most of the time, survival only happened through true grit, mental perseverance and maybe a bit of luck! And one story that probably shows us this  best is the amazing and inspiring story of Sir Ernest Shackleton, polar explorer extraordinaire! A must read for anyone wanting to learn about true Perseverance and survival!

But enough about books etc, I guess what I am trying to point out is, most people live soft, un-adventurous lives! They have I suppose, forgotten how to live because society and technology have made life.....easy....

I'm not a natural athlete... in fact, I'm so far from being a natural athlete it's scary. I don't even really consider myself an athlete! I just love being outside, and although I do enjoy to sit in the sun (preferably in a nice hammock) with a good book every now and again, I can't do it for too long, as the ants in pants syndrome starts to kick in after a while and I then find myself thinking about the day being wasted and that I actually want to get out there and enjoy it! But it's not always that simple! Work tends to get in the way and then of course I have 'mommy' responsibilities! I am finding it easier to incorporate Daniel into my 'outdoor' adventures and like it or not, he does tend to get dragged around with mommy either in the canoe, or off-road pram.... Which with his increase in size is becoming more challenging with each outing! I find myself regularly In a bit of a catch 22.... I can't wait for him to be big enough to actually ride his bike either with me or ride with me whilst I run, but then also find myself getting sad at the rate at which my baby is growing! Typical woman, never knows what she wants!

With Hanno having slightly more serious race commitments and expectations than me, his training does tend to take first priority, but I do still manage to fit in sessions, though not nearly as many as I would like. My biggest problem is that I tend to think I am GI Jane and that muscle memory or my head will get me through most things! I haven't always been like that though. The more long distance and challenging things you do, the more you think you can do and the more you learn what your mind and body are capable of, not always a good thing as sometimes I bite off more than I am physically prepared for, resulting in a broken body!

This year has definitely been a better one for me on the health and fitness front! Last year was just horrible! It kicked off on the wrong foot and I was plagued the whole year with sinus and bronchial infections resulting that I never actually felt well enough to do any serious sport! But, that is all in the past and so far 2013 has been fantastic, with many amazing adventures!

The main focus for the first half of the year was Expedition Africa, a race I did for the first time in 2011. This year, it was to be held in the majestic Drakensberg, a place which is not only extremely beautiful, but also extremely harsh, and taking place in May, cold was going to be added to the list of challenges! Training build-up started early in the year as did the challenge of trying to put a team together, something which is actually harder than one expects, as to find four fit, healthy, like minded individuals who have the time, finances and most importantly the right mental attitude and whose dynamics would gel.....is hard!

Slowly but surely I managed to assemble a team...and hoped that everyone would get on and all be on the same level mentally and as far as possible, physically too!

Our first big challenge was a training weekend in the Transkei. We were lucky enough to be able to piggy back on a training weekend organized by Hanno's team Captain for their team (Tweet was out due to injury). 

The weather forecast was bleak.....rain, rain and more rain! It didn't disappoint. It start as we arrived at Kei Mouth and only stopped when left Kei Mouth three days later! It was however the best possible preparation weekend we could have asked for! 

The weekend, although tough, was not without its fair share of entertainment! And it all started with our camping at Kei Mouth. Everything was wet and dripping and whilst getting my stuff ready under the Gazebo, a huge crab somehow founds its way into one of my team mates bags! With some help from one of my hiking poles, I eventually managed to get it relocated. Based on the increasing number of crabs, and the amount of water inside our tent, we all decided to go sleep under the veranda roof of the local bowling club, which was right there. Before going to bed I went to find Hanno, who was sleeping under their team Gazebo, to say goodnight. I told him to watch out for the crabs to which he answered, I'm not scared of crabs! When I woke up in the morning, Hanno was now sleeping with us! When I asked him about this during the night relocation, he said with absolute indignation, 'man, I woke in the middle of the night with something crawling on my head! When I put the light on, I saw the biggest friggin crab ever crawling onto my face! Needless to say, I nearly wet my pants!

We started at sunrise with a short paddle up the Kei River (in the rain!) then we 'negotiated' our way across the river, having left our boats at a lodge and up a really steep and already slippery path to a settlement where Tweet was waiting with our bikes, and then mud fun and games began in Earnest! We learnt a few VERY valuable lessons about route choice.... The shortest route on paper, is not always the shortest route time wise and that single track paths through valleys in the Transkei generally are places to avoid....especially when it has been raining solidly for 24 hrs!

The path slowly but surely became little more than a figment of our imagination, with the downward gradient increasing as well as vegetation, we soon found ourselves sliding/crawling through spikey bushes and thick mud in pouring rain and mist, hoping we were in fact traveling in the right direction! After a few river crossings and lots of stopping to orientate the map and peer through the rain and mist, we eventually popped out on top overlooking a series of valleys. We stopped a local girl to verify that we were indeed where I thought we were..... According to her, we were not at all where we thought we were, in fact, according to her, we were miles away from where we thought we were! To me, this was just plain impossible. I refused to believe that I could be that crap at navigating! I told the rest that it was impossible and that we would carry on in the direction I thought we should be going......and a good thing it was because a few minutes later, we popped out right at the checkpoint! This was a huge boost to my confidence and we set off once again in the pouring rain! Once back on a road, our progress was relatively quick and it wasn't long before we had clocked in with Tweet and the others, putting on dry socks (what for I don't know as they were wet within minutes) filled up with food and headed off on what was to be about a 30km hike.  

With light fading, and the rain showing absolutely no sign of letting up, it was going to be a long, cold and interesting night!  The first check point was relatively easy to find. When we were at the check point, looking at the map, deciding which was the best route to follow, and very intoxicated local joined us, breathing enough fumes to knock out an entire rugby team! Eventually however, we managed to loose him and we carried on our way. We had in the mean time spoken to Tweet and been advised not to take the inland route as Hanno and team had done this and struggled immensely through thick forest with paths going in the wrong direction. I think that now might be a food time to add some very important information regarding our 'route!'  You see, normally, a race organizer actually does the entire route himself, physically biking and hiking every km to ensure that all the route choices are actually doable and that the check points are accessible ! Being in the Transkei and having an injury meant that Tweet was not able to do this.... so the route was designed on Google Earth... 

So, after consulting the map, we decided to rather head for the coast than struggle through the dark and through valleys similar to what we had been through during the day and through forests with no roads. After a rather scary and close encounter with some locals en-route to the coast, we eventually arrived at Cebe Mouth.  Our next challenge was a swim across the Cebe River Mouth...something which I had been dreading since our decision to head to the Coast! I Don't do river mouths at the best of times, and flooding river mouths in the Transkei, in the dark even less so! They are so far down on my TO DO list, they don't even feature! But, luckily I was not alone. I very quickly realized that my team mates were just keen to not swim as I was! We decided to stop for an hour or so, get warm and have a bit of a sleep as it was now about 1am. We eventually found an open container (Renovations were on the go at Cebe) with some big window frames and heaps of goat droppings inside. Out came the sleeping bags and space blankets, we stripped off and tried to get some shut eye and it wasn't long before there was a symphony of snoring.... But try as I might, I could not sleep! Having spoken to Tweet before we settled down, it was decided that we would go south to the Jakaranda wreck, some 20km down the coast and meet him there instead of going north to Mazeppa. It was going to take too long for us to get to Mazeppa.

Going south meant lots of river crossings, and with the heavy rain which had now been falling for over 24hrs, all the rivers would be flooding!

It's not so much the water that was making me so scared, I love water and I'm a good swimmer, it's what is in the water! The Transkei coast is notorious for sharks, and river mouths tend to be a favorite hangout for sharks, and well, a flooding river mouth is like a Cordon Bleur extravaganza for sharks! (In case you hadn't noticed I'm terrified of sharks!)

After 2hrs of hoping the rain would at least let up a bit, we got dressed in our remaining dry clothes and headed out into the dark and the rain! The going was easy, albeit it wet and muddy and we were treated to the most beautiful stormy sunrise along the coast. We hit the first big river crossing just after sunrise. There was no option but to swim! I told the rest that they had two options, they could either swim across with their only semi- dry clothes on and be soaking wet and salty for the rest of the day, or they could strip off, put their semi-dry clothes into their dry bag and have dry-ish clothes for the rest of the day (bearing in mind it was raining of course!) I knew which option I was going to take so with clothes in my drybag and nothing on but my birthday suite, I proceeded to break the world record for a 100m swim across a flooding Transkei river mouth with a backpack! Our swim happened to be right at the Wavecrest holiday resort, and being Easter weekend, the resort was rather busy. But being early and really horrid weather also meant that most people were still tucked warmly under their duvets.... Well most that is. Upon arrival on the lovely lawn at Wavecrest, in my birthday suite, we were greeted by an open curtain and a row of little faces... Peering at these clearly mad adults swimming naked across a flooding river in the pouring rain. Then they disappeared to be replaced by the mothers face, she waved excitedly and disappeared to be replaced by dad.... Dad didn't seem to be as enthusiastic about us as the mom.... But then again Janine and I were at this stage almost dressed and all the dad got was the two white bottoms of Ico and Marco!

When walking out through Wavecrest I spot a car with a CX registration.... a person can never hide!!!

After another slightly longer swim where I once again broke the backpack swimming record, we eventually reached the Jakaranda. To our amazement, we heard that Hanno and co had not yet arrived. When they eventually arrived, It seemed they had had a nightmare of a hike the night before to get to Mazeppa and when they eventually arrived, had been through even worse on the bike to get to Jakaranda. I didn't want to hear of their death defying stories! I was just glad they were all safe!

We set off on our bikes and Hanno and team set off on foot. The roads had now deteriorated so much, that it was like riding in glue. When we got to the transition, Tweet wasn't there and after a phone call we discovered that the axle had broken on the trailer. We trudged back to the main road to meet him there.  Once the bikes were loaded onto the already very dodged looking trailer, they set off to see if they could get the trailer sorted out and we set off back towards the river. 

We certainly made for an entertaining site. Me with raw feet from all the mud in my cycle shoes on all the hike- a - bike sections, Ico with severe Chaffe from mud in his cycle shorts and hiking in them!

Walking down the steep grassy slope to the river, one could hear water rushing everywhere. The Kei River below us had risen considerably and was now a great big swirling brown mass. The path down was no longer a path but now a river in its own right! My main concern was the valley below where the path went. Bundu bashing if the valley floor was flooded was not really an option! We eventually made it to the bottom, after much slipping and sliding and now it was our final swim accross. The river is about 100m and I was terrified of swimming accross! But, it had to be done! This time, knowing that we only a few km from the finish, we kept our kit on and waded into the water. Surprisingly it was still shallow enough for us walk accross! Ico chose to go accross where the river came down through the valley..... I was staying as far away from 'rich' water as possible for fear of whatever opportunistic water creature might be lurking there! When we were nearly accross Janine said for the first time, perfect conditions for Sharks everyone! I just laughed and said asked why they thought I had been sprinting accross all the rivers?

Once safely on the other side, we resembled mud men as we were brown from head to toe! The mud in the shallows just about swallowed us and at one point Marco, who is incredibly tall, all but disappeared in the mud when he slipped!

The wind had picked up and the paddle back was hard! But eventually, wind swept, salty and a little less muddy, we arrived to much cheering and smiles at the slip way at the mouth 34 hrs after our departure the previous day!

It was the perfect training weekend and a great test and learning curve for us all! 

Thanks Tweet, Bruce and Emil for doing the backup, without you guys, it would not have been possible!

Thanks to my team for sticking it out and the laughs along the way!

Every boob counts

After my recent 'participation' in the Every Boob Counts fundraising initiative where a bunch of passionate and maybe little crazy people got together and ran, walked and biked a 100miles (160km) for breast cancer, I wrote a letter to everyone who took part. It started with the word- PRIVILEGE, a word which I feel very strongly about and which is sadly not appreciated fully by most of us.

Privilege (noun) - a special right given to a person or group.

Many of us, myself included, have so many things for which to be thankful for. Sadly, the most important and often least appreciated is health. And only when we are faced with ill health, whether it be ours, or someone close to us, do we fully appreciate the importance of it!
We have all of us, either directly or through someone we know, be it close or just an acquaintance, been touched by cancer. It has no vanity, it has no off button and it isn't something that you can just quit when you get tired or sore. It also does not discriminate..... It can affect anyone, tall, short, fat, thin, smoker, non-smoker... Many of us have never really given the whole cancer thing (or any illness for that matter) and the implications of such an illness, its effects on not only our lives, but on those around us, a huge amount of thought, or contemplation, call it what you want. I know I hadn't.

This all changed.... For me at least. Cancer is something that I have become more and more aware of through people I know who either have it, or have a loved one who has it. My first real encounter with Cancer was when I was still too immature I guess to really fully appreciate the harshness of  it. It's total disregard for everything we know in life. But as awful as cancer can be, through it and the people who have had, and have it, I have learnt many a humble lesson!

I continue to be inspired by cancer sufferers. Their ability to just keep going, staying positive, with a smile on their faces no matter how crappy they are feeling or how dire their prognosis! I have met many amazing people in the past few years who have, or who have had cancer and I am continually awed by them! I recently met one of these exceptional people, and I can honestly say that I am a better, fuller, 'wholer' person because of it! It not only levels one, but forces you to take a step back from our general day to day rut that we slip into and take stock of who we are, what we have and the privilege of good health. 

Like most things in life, there is always more to something than meets the eye.... this something that I refer to is actually something that very often is overlooked, and these are the many wonderful men and woman who are the support system for those with cancer.   I have unbelievable respect for them! Caring for someone with Cancer, who you love, is never easy, and normally those who do it, have full time jobs and families, and still they manage to give their all!  Special, doesn't even come close! 

I am privileged to know many amazing people, who through Cancer,  have touched my life in some way or another and I thank each and everyone of you to teaching me the true meaning of being humble!