Throwback Thursday - Shirtless Edition... EEEEK!!!

After my post where I mentioned that I have a Pectus Excavatum chest, I received some communications from a few concerned readers about my well-being. Thanks for that, but really, I am fine. :)

As I said I have a very mild case of this. It is just enough to give me a nice round and flat heart and low oxygen capacity.

I never run without a shirt... but I did in the 1983 Milo Korkie ultra when it was 33°C(91.4F) and I was wearing a totally horrible t-shirt.

So here is the only photo of me running shirtless...way back in 1983...

The Pectus Excavatum is actually visible if you look for it specifically. I am running with my brother here. We were supporting our dad and ran the last 25km of the 56km race. It was very hot that day. The photo was taken in Kempton Park close to the then Jan Smuts (Johannesburg International) airport.

Weather Question

Is it just me or do we have only two seasons nowadays? Summer and winter. I've been noticing this for the last two or three years now.

It is mid September and should be mid spring here in SA, but we are having warm summer days with 30°C (86F) temperatures. To me that is a lot warmer than spring and I wonder what our summer temperatures will be like.

Two weeks ago we were freezing and walking with thick long sleeve tops. Now it is time to sweat. We moved directly from winter to summer.

Do you find the same where you live or do you still have 4 seasons?

Global warming... I think so...

Beacon Run

I often read about people running to a beacon or past some beacon when they are out on their mountain trails. I do this quite often even though I haven't written about it. Yes, I can do a beacon run here in Johannesburg!

Last Saturday I did my beacon run. I do this at the Klipriviersberg Nature Reserve 11km south of Johannesburg. I live another 11km south of the reserve so it is quick and easy to get there.

We are at the end of the winter so it is very dry here in JHB at the moment. The trails are dusty and the plants don't show much sign of life.

I started out on the Bloubos Trail making my way to the Beacon Trail. The reserve has several trails with lots of different difficulties and technical variation. For me it makes the perfect training ground.

Bloubos Trail

Beacon Trail

There are several routes to take up to the beacon and even though this is by no means a mountain, it is still a hard climb to the top. I have seen many hikers turn back or stop to wait for their partners to go to the top and back. A lot of people underestimate the trails in this reserve.

It is so dry and there are so many game paths that it is hard to see the trail in places. Let's hope we get good rain soon...

Game  paths crossing the trail.

Some more climbing and then it was the final push to the beacon. The views are great from here and it is certainly worth the effort.

Beacon at the highest point in the reserve.

1645m (5397ft) - Not that high but still good altitude to train at. ( My Suunto has been through the wars a bit...)

And what's the point of running to a beacon without making a fool of yourself...?

Johannesburg to the north.

Looking east.

Looking south.

Looking west.

From here I took the Legae Loop to go down again. You can easily see why this is called the Legae Loop...

There are some really beautiful places in the reserve. I made my way back to the Ruins Trail. I decided while I was at the top I wanted to run down the Ruins Trail. I always use it for climbing from the other side and thought this was a good time to use it for some descent training.

Ray's Ruins Trail.

Some nice ruins to see.

There are quite a lot of ruins in the reserve. I will write a post about them and the history behind it some day.

Going down was quick although the dry ground was quite slippery in places. I made my way back to the Bloubos Trail via the Kiepersol Trail. I felt a bit dry and hot. 

Dusty trail down.

Soon I was back where I started. Another successful beacon run behind me. This run reminded me once again how much I love being out there.

Back at the entrance.

Definitely successful!

This Sunday I will actually run a race in this reserve. I will only run the 8km but part of the enrty fee goes back to the reserve and I really want to support that.

Happy training everyone!

Introducing ActionGear.TV

I was contacted by the friendly staff from ActionGear and asked if I would be interested in helping them to spread the word about their newly launched digital TV channel. In return I will get exposure by being published on their blog page.

This is a great opportunity for me to work with some like-minded people and also a great way to show off some of South Africa's awesome athletes and adventurers.

I will share their weekly TV episode here, so keep an eye out for that. I mentioned some of my future ideas to them which they liked so watch this space,,,

Pleace check out these links for more info:

www.actiongear.co.za    &    www.actiongear.tv

I'm really excited about this!

Have a super week everyone!

Good Running Shoes Are Expensive

Running shoes have certainly become quite expensive here in SA and the exchange rate is not helping. I'm sure the trend is the same all around the world though.

I had to buy new shoes for the road this week. I've been a Nike Pegasus runner for many years and almost always ran in them. There was one year, I think 1995, when they had a terrible model and I had to "level up" to the Nike Air Max. A great shoe but a lot more expensive.

The same happened now. The new Pegasus does not have enough toe space for me. For some reason the toe is not as wide as it used to be. Why change this now I'm asking Nike...?

I had to "level up" to the more expensive Nike Air Zoom Vomero 9.

At least I will be safe and visible in those colours!

A perfect fit but not cheap. I paid R1600.00 for this shoe and I see the Nike online store have them at $130.00. The Air Max is a lot more expensive than these even so I'm glad they work for me.

It is a lot of money, but I also know better than to take a shortcut or is that a cheapcut with this.The cheaper shoes are only good enough up to a point and they never give you the same mileage as the more expensive shoes do. High weekly or monthly mileage definitely makes it worth paying more for shoes.

I'm wearing them to work today and will wear them over the weekend before taking them for a run on Monday morning.

I'm very happy but running is not that cheap anymore... 

Have a super weekend!