I’ve been driving to work along the same route for over two years now and almost every day I see this guy out for a run. At first I noticed him because I always saw him running up a steep hill. I started silently cheering for him and encouraging him on his mission up the hill…

Now I look for him every morning, and almost feel worried when I don’t see him. I have no idea who this man is and we will probably never ever meet, but somehow his daily run has become part of my routine. I miss him on the days he isn’t there.

In these two years I’ve been driving past him, so much has changed. I’ve got a new job, some new friends, lost some old ones, helped loved ones through heartache… I’ve been oversees with my best friends and even finally performed Shakespeare on stage. So much is always evolving, so it’s nice to have a few constants in life.

It’s strange how something so random as seeing the same stranger every day can be comforting… I guess it’s nice to know that the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Well, better late than never…

I need to put this in black and white so people can remind me about it!

In 2011 I want to:

1. Run the 5km time trial in 25 minutes
2. Run a 10km race in 55 minutes
3. Run a half marathon in under 2 hours

So, someone from my running club is doing something really cool. Actually we have a lot of people in our club who do really cool things, but this is particularly cool (And the award for saying cool the most times in an opening line of a post goes to…)

This club member is Linda Doke. She is an insanely good trail runner and does the Hout Bay Harriers proud with her efforts on a regular basis. She is now heading off to take on the Namib Desert Challenge and has decided to do it for charity.

This is what she has to say about it:

“I really want to put this slog-in-the-sun to good use. I’ve chosen a very special, very needy cause that’s close to my heart, and I’m running the NDC to raise as much as I possibly can in support of this cause. It’s called Solomon’s Haven – it’s a haven for abused and abandoned kids in Mitchell’s Plain.

Please hop onto http://www.backabuddy.co.za/champion/project/backabuddynamiblinda for more info on Solomon’s Haven and to (hopefully!!) donate. The backabuddy.co.za website is a quick, efficient and, most importantly, safe way to donate to a fantastic cause.

Please support me in raising as much as I can for Solomon’s Haven.      Here’s the deal: I’ll do the sweaty work and slog across the desert, and you click on the DONATE NOW link at the top of my backabuddy page!”

For more information on this run and on Linda check out her blog: http://lindadoke.blogspot.com/

When I was at school we had what we referred to as Physical Torture. It was actually Physical Training and the schools then renamed it as Physical Education to change the abbreviation. Unfortunately for the schools, we were children so the name that made us laugh and the teachers sigh stuck. And this is how I remember being introduced to exercise, a period at school that was nicknamed Physical Torture. It was not considered a fun period (and if you thought it was fun you were uncool). (more…)