London never disappoints! Even when you’re not running the marathon, the race was a fantastic experience. We arrived on Thursday and checked into our hotel in Greenwich. To get to know the logistics around the marathon for a future time, we went to pick up my race bib at the Exhibition Center “ExCel”. It was a breeze. I had planned to get the Garmin 265 at the expo. They offered a 20% discount, so it was a good opportunity. I got a pink one, my first non-grey Garmin. I’m looking forward to using it! We closed the day with good old British chips. On Friday and Saturday, we did all the touris ..read more

We arrived in Zurich last week and were happy to see the family and friends. It’s been a while since I have seen springtime in Switzerland and it was beautiful! The process of easing back into running is going very well. Last week, I did some longish walk-runs which got out of control and turned into longish run-runs. Fortunately, I got called out on Strava by Oliver and Doris. Don’t jump the gun – honour the process! Everything is so green! Following their advice, I took off from running for a few days and got on the mountain bike. Our standard route up our local hill includes a 550m (1’800 ..read more

Yesterday afternoon, I was once again in Dr Leigh’s office. The plan was to do an X-ray of my femoral stress fracture. Only, the X-ray machine was broken. Instead, Dr Leigh asked me a series of questions, the most important one being whether I felt completely pain-free all the time. That was difficult to answer because although I don’t feel actual pain, I do sometimes notice the leg. Last week, I tried running a few strides and again, while I didn’t feel actual pain, I wasn’t entirely comfortable. Kai filmed the short run and we could tell that the gait wasn’t as smooth as it should be. Then ..read more

When I saw Dr Leigh two weeks ago, she had an X-ray done. True enough, the fine hairline crack in the shaft of the femur was clearly visible. “This will take six weeks”, she said. “Oh, but that’s exactly until the London Marathon!” I exclaimed. “I’m so sorry”. She was very empathetic. She’s been dealing with a lot of disappointed runners lately. It’s the big racing season in South Africa (Two Oceans, Comrades) and the reaction of the injured runners is always the same: But I have a race! I thought about the six weeks. I had already stopped running for three weeks before this appointment. Mayb ..read more

My last proper run was my half-marathon over three weeks ago. Before the start of that race, I felt a slight soreness in my left quad. By the end of the race, it had become quite painful. I thought nothing of it – just some muscle soreness that will disappear over the next few days. Only, it didn’t disappear. I went to the chiropractor, who wasn’t too concerned. “You’ll be back to running by next week”, he said. I wasn’t so sure. Now in full panic mode, I went to see a physiotherapist. After a few tests, he said he strongly suspected that I had a stress fracture in the femur. He referred me t ..read more

The Maltese Cross in the background. If you ever come to Cape Town, I have the best hiking tip for you: the Cederberg Wilderness! It’s 2.5-hour drive from Cape Town, but so worth it. As an extra bonus, this unspoiled, rugged area is very much off the grid and non-touristy. We did two hikes and didn’t meet a single person on both days. Together with our two hiking buddies, we set out on the first day to see the Maltese Cross, an awe-inspiring rock formation in the middle of nowhere. After about an hour of hiking, we turned a corner and suddenly, the colossal cross came into view. It’s about 20 ..read more

Last Sunday, I ran the Peninsula Half Marathon. This race was going to be a test run for the London Marathon in April. It’s a very scenic race along the coast – one of the most picturesque races I’ve ever done. Coach Sean wanted me to run it in 1:33. If there was no wind, this should be doable. Kai wasn’t running this time, but fortunately, our running buddy Michael could join me instead. At 6.30am. Just before the start at 7am, the race organisers announced that we would start in batches. Age group contenders should start in the first batch. Thus, I moved forward through the crowd to get clos ..read more

Last Saturday, we did the 10km Firgrove Challenge. Coach Sean had me working on speed over the last few weeks and this race was the final test. For some reason, shorter races like a 10km make me more nervous than longer ones. But at least my Garmin seemed to be optimistic! Such a pretty rainbow this week! Unlike the last race, this one was perfectly organized. Our race started at 5.55am, ten minutes after the 15km runners had started. Mandatory pre-race selfie. We stood in our starting block and the elite runners were in front of us. I saw that one of the elite runners, a tall, blonde woman, w ..read more

After four years of running and racing in South Africa, you’d think that by now, I’d know how things worked. Well, I still have a lot to learn. Last Sunday, I ran the 30km Bay to Bay race. The route was 15km out and back along the coast. It started off with an innocent e-mail informing us about the race logistics. I noted two things: This race was going to be a “carry-your-own water event”. Podium contenders should ask to be in Batch 1. The batches would start every 4 minutes and the finish time will be adjusted accordingly. No problem. I will run with my hydration vest. As for the podium c ..read more

Lake of Zurich The past few weeks in Switzerland have flown by. All I seemed to be doing was seeing people, eating and running. It was great! Vegetarian options…and non-vegetarian options…More walks with my parents.Sunny days……cloudy days……and freezing cold days.Zurich’s rooftops with a fluff of snow. Since Sunday, we have been back in Cape Town and getting back into our normal routine. Less eating, more running! I’m getting excited for the London Marathon in April. I’m a bit worried that it’s so close after Berlin – there are only seven months in between. I’ll just have to be very careful to ..read more