Unusual way to Celebrate

This past Saturday was our 17th wedding anniversary and we drove more than 500km to celebrate.

DJ had a dance competition and we drove to Bloemfontein for her to participate. Not your typical wedding anniversary celebration but hey, what you'll do for your child.

She did great and got a 1st place in Freestyle and a 6th in Slow dance. We finished later than expected on Saturday and instead of driving back to Witbank we changed our travel plans and stayed an extra night.

This gave us the opportunity to celebrate our anniversary and also DJ's dance results.

On the training front it is going better by the day and I am slowly getting back into things after my two week lay off due to flu.

This weekend is going to be a real challenge and one I probably regret come Monday.

I am doing a 175km road race on Saturday and a 40km Mountain bike race on Sunday.

The thing is I've entered this event some time ago and was doing OK training wise to do a reasonable time but getting flu didn't help at all. The race is in Kim's hometown and we decided to make it a weekend, when I entered some time ago.

Too late to change the family plans now, just need to SIU.

Another Curve Ball

We recently received some bad news about Kim's brother, Niel.

Niel has been diagnosed with Kidney Cancer and that at the age of 41!

We got the news before my sister's wedding but didn't want to upset and spoil the wedding, so we kept it to ourselves. He did undergo surgery to remove some of the cancer that has spread and they even had to break two ribs do get to the infected area and to remove it. He is now better after the surgery and has recovered in such a way that they could start with radiation to see if it will help.

If it doesn't help they are going to remove one of the kidney's. On the positive side the cancer has only affected the one kidney and the other one is still clean.

We are visiting him as often as we can as he now lives with his fiance and not with us anymore. They stay in Boksburg, about 100km's from us.

Get better soon Niel and we are praying for you.

I've been struggling with Flu the past couple of weeks but I said to Kim if you think about Niel and his set back you don't even wanna complain about having Flu. The only downside is I haven't been able to train for the past few days but hey it's Winter and maybe the downtime will do me good.

Picture is of Kim, her brother Niel and sister Marle at Marle's birthday on the 20th of February

Back to Normal, sort of

Last weekend was my sister's wedding and after months of planning the day was gone in a flash.

Luckily everything went well and we had a lot of fun. Apart from Heloise being late more than an hour but I must add that it wasn't her fault. Let's just say there was some miscommunication with the hairdressers and let's leave it there.

I knew that Gerhard had a lot of patience but waiting more than an hour just confirmed it. A very big thank you to my friend Warren who let the ceremony, it was great. Not that often that you get a lot of compliments for the ceremony and message from the Pastor. Thanks W!

It was a very emotional day for me as had to stand in for my Dad who passed away five years ago. Bringing Heloise into the Church and also saying something about the Bride's parents wasn't easy but it was a big honour and I know my Dad's would have approved.

We are still waiting for the official wedding photos while the two are on their honeymoon in Mauritius but Yolandi, a friend of Gerhard, Heloise and also the daughter of Debbie, who is Kim's friend took some lovely pictures. I've posted it on my Face book page

We had a great Mother's day breakfast the morning after the wedding and then it was back to normal getting all the things back to Witbank. Gerhard and my Mom surprised Heloise with an Ice cream wedding cake and it this big three layer cake. The guests could only finish one layer, so we are having ice cream for the next, I don't know how many months.

The company that made the cake supplied us with a freezer to transport the cake and when I picked it up Friday afternoon the owner asked me how far is the venue. I said between 1.5 and 2 hours. His words: Try making it in an hour.

Not that easy when you have to face Pretoria and Johannesburg traffic on a Friday afternoon. With DJ as my co-pilot we did the trip in 1h15. Coming back after the wedding with what was left of the cake was a breeze as it was Sunday morning and no pressure of a perfect cake.

Only problem was finding enough space to store that amount of ice cream. I had to use a saw to cut the cake in smaller pieces and Eddy had a blast and a sugar rush from all the ice cream that was waisted and also helping to clean the back of the truck after I finished.

The past weekend DJ had two dance competitions, both on the same day. We are still new to this dance thing but organizing two competition on the same day by the same governing body doesn't make sense to me, maybe someone at SADTA can explain this to me. At the one venue in Pretoria she did her Freestyle and Slow dance competition and then she had to do her small group competition in Centurion about a 30 minute drive.

Another hectic day as we had to wait for her to finish her couples section, then we jumped in the car rush to the other venue for the small group to dance. Then we had to rush back to Pretoria for her to dance again.

The program was so tight and as we arrived back at the venue they were at item #121 and DJ had to dance item #120. She was devastated as it was the slow dance section she missed and also her favourite dance routine.

To see my girl that way just broke my heart. I told her to make the best of the Freestyle item and make up for the section she missed and she did. She danced her heart out and made me so proud.

After all the drama she had a great day finishing 1st in the Couples and the Freestyle items. Well done DJ!

Training wise I had to put it on the back foot due to the wedding and just as I thought I'll get back into full training I'm down with Flu. Not good and so frustrated but what can I do, just need to rest and recover this week. Luckily we are now in the off season so no major races I am missing.

Long Weekend and a lot of Traveling

This was another long weekend and boy did we do a lot of traveling.
Saturday afternoon after my 3h30 brick session we went to visit Kim's brother in Benoni, about a hundred kilometers from Witbank. We haven't seen him since he moved from Witbank, which was about two months ago. We really miss him since he moved as he was staying with us and it took some getting used to with him not in the house anymore.

Sunday we drove to Polokwane, 300 kilometers from Witbank and visited my sister and also spend some time at my Fathers grave. My sister, Gerhard and my Mother joined us and we had some fun during our journey.

DJ fooling around with the camera

The road was very busy coming back as a lot of people returned from their holiday. A lot of people made it a mini vacation with two long weekends in a row and took the three working days off in between.

Today me and DJ went to the second Trail run in the series of five and it was just as much fun as last week.

When I checked the official results last week, I saw that DJ came first in her age group but during prize giving last week they gave another girl the first prize. I decided to send the organizers an email and they rectified it today, giving DJ her 1st prize from last week.

She had another great day today and finished 2nd in her group. What made me really proud is that she improved her time by more than 5 minutes and completed the 5km trail run in just under 30 minutes. I teased her and said she didn't give her best last week and was just fooling around.

The next event is towards the end of June and she is now super pumped to improve her time and said she is going to train really hard this coming month

I had a great day today as well and finished 2nd in the 40+ group and 6th overall. The route was different from last week with a lot more twist and turns and more sandy jeep track, river beds and short bumps/"hills" making it really challenging to find a rhythm.

My legs had a good workout and on a few occasions I had to play some catch up to prevent the body from running away from the legs.

Before the race I said to myself I want to run a sub 4min/km race but I didn't know that the route would be more difficult but I could still improve my time by one minute from last week.

I finished the 17.2km race in 1h10:43, so close but I am happy and my pace was 4:07min/km.

This week is the final arrangements before my sister's wedding this coming Saturday and as you can imagine a lot of stress in the household. Going to be hectic but I believe everything will turn out OK and if they don't so be it. Just like an IM race, if something goes wrong you re adjust and move on, nothing you can do about it.

Babbas Eco Trail Run Report

Well my first Trail run race is something of the past and it was so much fun. Can't believe I haven't tried this before and only discovering it now.

From what I gathered from the fellow athletes is that it wasn't that technical but that is just fine for me, it was my first race. One thing I can say is there was a lot of mud and water which we had to run through.

The route was maid up of Jeep track, some single track, some very muddy sections and some river crossings. There was also a small section of tar road to get to the nature reserve and back to the venue.

I'm happy to have finished 3rd in the 40+ age group and 6th overall. The 40+ group had some pretty fast runners and I think also the biggest group of entrants. For my effort I got a 100 buck meal voucher at a restaurant, not bad.

One thing I've noticed from off road running is you can't really get into a rhythm from all the ducking and diving and your hamstrings work much harder from kicking up loose ground. I'm also glad I took my new shoes for a test run and tightened the laces otherwise I would have lost them while running through all the mud.

My finish time was 1h11:44 for the 17.23km doing 4:09min/km, not bad for my first race since my knee opp and still building on those fitness levels.


I've convinced DJ last night to join me and she did great. She did the 5km trail run and finished in 35 minutes. Not bad for someone who's not doing any more running and Triathlon training and just concentrate on dance practise. When I asked her if she'll be back for the next race she said maybe but she's not a big fan of running through water and mud and said she will prefer a road race.DJ enjoying some hot chocolate after the race. The pictures above are from close to the start line, that was only the start and the further we ran the muddier it became.

Saw this plane next to the road not far from the venue and couldn't see a landing strip close by, wonder if someone took the wrong turn or what???
Went to a local clothing store yesterday to find me some sneakers and saw this. Maybe I should have used this today for my run, haha
On our way back home I had to stop in Pretoria to drop off my suit for alterations for the wedding and what I thought was going to me a quick one ended up taking so long. It is Freedom day today in South Africa and a public holiday.

Driving right into thousands of people getting together to celebrate meant only one thing, traffic jams and detours on what was suppose to be a day without traffic.

One last pic from our visit to the wedding venue this past weekend, DJ giving new meaning to the words, "Just keeping your head above the water" as she is standing between the swimming pool and the pond

Where the "Streets" have no names

Lately I've been taking on the off road challenge and must say I am having so much fun. This Wednesday, which is a public holiday in South Africa, I'll be doing my first ever Trail run race.

I've done a few off road Duathlons and Triathlons but never a Trail run. It is a 17km run and I am looking so forward to it. With no IM or HIM's in sight I might focus on some off road racing during the Winter instead of the usual.

Friday I did what was suppose to be a 1hr run but ended up doing 1h20. I did my run in the veld next to our neighbourhood and went through mud (due to the constant rain lately), some small river streams and some bush.

I also had to get used to my new off road running shoes. Some time ago I bought Salomon shoes but didn't like them and couldn't come right. Last week I bought a pair of Newton Trail shoes and after Friday's run I am so happy with them.

Think I've become to used to them and I must say the off road version is just as awesome as the road shoes I use.

The before and after pics, not that clean anymore

At first I was scared that my knee might start to give me hassles but it was just fine. One thing that surprised me was the hammering my ankles took, didn't know my ankles was that weak.

Some Lessons learned from Friday's run:

Take a camera along, you see so many amazing things and scenery.

Don't worry if your shoes get dirty, running through the next river stream will wash them clean.

Need to tighten my shoes better (left them behind on two occasions while running through the mud)

Don't be scared when you hear all these noises next to your feet while running through the veld where there's no path. Whatever it is may just be as scared and it only makes you run faster.

Sunday I had a two hour brick session and it was raining as I woke up and I just didn't have the power to do another indoor session so instead I took the Mountain bike and did the session off road.

No power meter data but it was so much fun. On more than one occasion I went through places which I never thought was possible if you take into account my mountain biking skills.

SIU Season

Well, the Suck It Up (SIU) season is fast approaching and no matter what you do everything is so much harder in Winter.

We don't live in the most beautiful part of the country but during Winter it is even worse. The little green we have just die and turns grey, making all the Mine Dumps and factories even more horrible to look at.

With Winter comes the mist and boy did I have a challenging day or two driving the odd 100km to work. It wasn't much better coming home as we had a lot of rain this week.Also not nice if they move mining equipment during the time of the day when most people knock off from work.

Training wise it was also a real challenge this week either running in the rain or biking indoor. May sound funny but I rather run in the rain than do an indoor bike session. Those sessions are more demanding on the mind than on the body.

Well it is just one of those things and one must just SIU, as they say if it doesn't kill you, it will make you stronger.

Yesterday was my sister's kitchen tea and from what I hear it was quite nice. Less than three weeks now to the big day.

Got myself an IPad yesterday and before I could even get it probably set up and running, DJ has taken ownership of it. I can see a lot of arguments and negotiations coming between me and her.Also went to fetch my road bike and mountain bike yesterday morning as they were long overdue for some TLC. DJ decided to join me collecting them at CycleTech, almost a Two hour drive. With the cold weather and rain it wasn't long before I had one very silent passenger.

Training wise I am slowly making progress and even the scale is starting to point in the right direction. Said it in the previous post but going to repeat myself, one thing I am really happy about is my running and the progress I'm making.

Did just short of 40km running this week but what's more encouraging is I can now maintain a sub 5min/km pace much easier.

Funny thing but after my previous knee op, three years ago my running improved afterwards and I see the same thing happening now. Probably all in the mind but it feels definitely if I am running faster. Maybe just the forced break I had to take, giving my body and mind some rest and new motivation to improve.