I should probably stop entering races before looking at the route. But then again...
This weekend I devoted my early Sunday morning to my first trail run here in S.A at the Paul Cluver Estate in Elgin. Just meant to be my long run of the week (just under 16k) and a good benchmark for the start of my trail training that will lead to Two Oceans and beyond. Lets keep this casual, no need to stress... ahaha. Right.
Lets just say that the course forced me to not take it seriously. An 800m elevation change in the first 8k's definitely takes the kick out of the legs. It was hard not to enjoy it though, being surrounded by some of the most amazing landscapes I have seen here. Besides, the downhills were what terrified me anyway. Single track switchback decent littered with rocks and brutal shrubbery, actually was passed by more runners then! Throw in a rock bridge over a river and some rope work completed this adventure race. I was awarded with 4 cuts, 1 bruise, numerous blisters and half my body covered in dirt despite never actually falling, amazing!
Another bonus, while trying not to get trampled by all the macho men trying to break their ankles running ridiculously fast down the part I opted to scootch down cautiously I met another potential trail runner friend! Actually, kind of freaked me out... while yelling out asking if anyone needed me to move over someone responded with "No Sarah, I'm fine with this pace, just take your time." ...uhhhh no one here knows me. Turns out he was behind me at registration and remembered my name/ recognized my uh back? Anyway, turns out to be a nice fellow and we ended up bonding over the ropes section (aka Sarah clinging for dear life while chatting, nervous not to look anywhere but at the very small trail as my elbows got wrecked by trees and roots as I scramble up the river bank). Hooray for more running connections!
The rest of my day consisted on scrubbing my legs clean and eating. A lot. Couldn't decide on which breakfast I wanted so ended up making both a proper English breakfast (ok well sunny side up egg, tomato, toast, minus the bacon) AND homemade oat pancakes with nutella :) Topped the day off with some rainbow rolls and spicy tuna (another bonus, realizing that the local supermarket does fresh sushi!) and about 1.5L of strawberry water. mmmmm.
Can I have another weekend like this please?
Just read your blog for the first time in a while. Glad you are having such a great time. I have been addicted to Nutella lately...if you haven't tried pretzels with Nutella, you should. Although, I will warn you, I think I only opened my jar of Nutella about 6 times with pretzels and it was gone.
ReplyDeleteI swear there is an additive in Nutella to make you crave it even more. Pretzels and Nutella sound amazing, definitely will try it out :)
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