Throwback Thursday - A Tribute to the Badges

Back in the day, I'm talking the 1980's here, we received a badge when we completed a race...not a medal. I have many badges. We used to fill our tracksuits and towels and blankets with our badges.

I have more medals than badges now, but I must admit...I miss the days of the badges,...

Those were good days!

Happy running everyone!

A Sore Leg

Yep, as the title suggests, I have a sore leg. A sore upper left leg. It is not a running injury but an injury from gardening. At least I think it's from gardening.

It is a weird one in the sense that it does not stay in one place. It literally moves around! It will be on the inside and then at some point suddenly on the outside. Then right at the top and then suddenly just above the knee...

It is definitely not specific to a particular muscle. I am actually worried that it might be the femur bone itself. I've asked all the powers that be and the first step is rest for a week to see if there is any improvement. I am in the middle of that week now and I am getting worried. I can still feel it as I did on day one.

All in all very annoying indeed! But I will persevere and get it sorted out. That's all I can do. Hopefully rest can do what is needed.

In the mean time,..run strong my friends!

Throwback Thursday - Tribute to Dad Edition

My wonderful father turned 85 years old yesterday. As you know by now, he is my greatest running inspiration.

My throwback Thursday goes to 1999 when I ran a race with him for the last time. We were joined by my brother and his wife.

Linda, André, Dad and me.

Dam with hippos in the background.

Happy 85th Dad! What did he do for his Birthday? "I took the day off work and also the day after that." Bet you not many can say that on their 85th birthdays...

Mantaining a fitness base

Yes, I'm still alive! I even ran 15km the other day!

Life is super busy at the moment but I am running as time allows. That is what brings me to the post title. Maintaining a fitness base.

I have always been a hardcore believer in maintaining a base level of fitness all year round. In the good old days this level for me was to be ready to run a marathon or 50km race whenever I felt like it and then just build up towards the long ultras as required.

I'm a lot older now, but I think it is still possible if I keep the times I complete my runs in realistic. But I am very far from that at the moment. I'll build towards it, but it is a long way off,

I have very limited time at the moment so my runs are short. Not more than 10km during the week and between 10km and 15km on the weekends. This is not great but it does maintain my base fitness well.

I believe running regularly is the most important, even if it is shorter distances. The base you build will be enough to finish much longer races than you can imagine. You might feel it in your legs afterwards, but you will be surprised at how much a good base means.

So go out for that run! Even just a short one. Do it, don't skip it.