All the days of my life I have been waiting for this time Could you believe now it's right before my eyes

What do you do when you are trying to focus on the longest race of your life?

Step One: annual hot dog run with the club. Had an awesome extra 2 hours of sleep this Saturday, didn't have to get up until 6:30am for the training run, another look at the final stage of the ultra (Constantia Nek hill aka my legs worst nightmare come April 23). Its the killer that comes after the marathon mark, but this weekend on fresh legs it was nbd. Lets hope that it feels the same in a weeks time. Regardless, had a great last long run with the club followed by the traditional breakfast of champions. It's a very strange feeling to have two hot dogs in your system before 10am.

Step Two: find every running/ athletic/ outdoor store in the mall and drool over awesome gear. Seriously. I have decided that my future house needs no real decoration, just to be kitted out with outdoor gear. Also, buffs are my new favorite things. I really hope they catch on in the states because they are ridiculously awesome, especially my new multi colored gem.

Step Three: get totally pumped for the race by chatting with people who have run the Two Oceans before. A family dinner at a friend's house quickly turned into race strategy central complete with the pulling out of photo albums from past Two Oceans and Comrades marathons as well as timing predictions and goals for the upcoming event. Don't think I will ever tire of race war stories, and always helpful to listen to how other people have figured out how to conquer The Most Beautiful Marathon in the World.

Step Four: taper. Ok well I am not so good at this apparently. First weekend off of running I managed to still do a 5 hour hike up Devil's peak while doing a little race route recon for the Two Ocean's trail 20k. What beautiful trails! Had no idea they were hiding out there. This city seems to have an endless supply of awesomeness perfect for exploring. Also couldn't resist a scramble up Lion's Head Monday night for the full moon. Ooops, sorry legs, I will try and give you some time off now.

Step Five: get totally psyched up for racing by hearing about all my running friends back home dominated Boston. Awesome job guys! Wish I could have been there to cheer you on in person. Looked like an amazing day for an epic run. Brings me back to last year, who would have thought that race would be my qualifier for this ultra. Crazy.

Step Six: finally understand the difference between my pancakes and South African style pancakes. What I make is considered flap-jacks here, and pancakes are more of a crepe hybrid that can be sweet (we had cinnamon sugar with lemon juice) or savory (hello cheddar cheese) and are thicker, pan sized, and rolled up with the filling inside. Pancakes, flap-jacks, crumpets, crepes, I approve of them all. Great way to carbo load, that along with my Easter candy I got today. Winnnnnnn.

For some the world's a treasure to discover and your scenery should never stay the same

How do you start another awesome weekend? By getting a package from home filled with bday presents AND finally my pair of new shoes arrived! Grey/purple/ neon pegasus with gore tex. You may drool now. I of course had to test them out with a lovely long run Saturday morning with the Harriers. Another beautiful day to run. Its actually quite strange, I have noticed since being here I have started to be conditioned to crave coke when I am done running. Its the refreshment of choice post race here, no gatorade in the finish chutes just water and coke. Regardless, great run in brand new shoes was followed by one very classy lunch at Rust en Vrede, a winery in Stellenbosch (pictures above). Met some new friends for the winemakers lunch (first time ever having steak at a restaurant, everyone be proud, with the most amazing chips (french fries for all you americans) and salad you can ask for). Pair this with glass upon glass of the most amazing red wines imaginable (thanks to a new friend that works at Rust en Vrede we managed a free wine tasting) and some new pilot friends you have yourself a fine afternoon.

Sunday brought about a run/ scramble up Lions Head and Signal Hill, just what the new shoes needed, a little dirt to make them look legit. Have never witnessed so many people on the trails though, definitely got some looks as you run past the casual hikers lol. After a delicious brunch on Kloof st. the rest of the day was devoted to helping some friends begin apartment searching around the city. Somehow managed to bump into an agent that remembered seeing me and the other interns from perspectives! What a small world. However this whole experience makes me absolutely dread having to find a place to live for myself when the time comes, maybe I will just couch surf for the rest of my life :) Ended the night on the balcony of a ridiculous apartment overlooking the harbor watching the seals play and chatting with quite an entertaining couple. Seriously one of the greatest things about travel, meeting people and listening to stories. Wasn't quite ready for Monday after such a weekend, but with Monday comes the possibility for yet another epic week in Cape Town. Bring it.

Lets spend tonight on top of the world, we can do anything, we can be anything

The things I do.

So somehow, in a series of fortunate events, I heard about a cool race in Cape Town this weekend and after originally planning on bandit running a leg or two with a friend I managed to get an actual entry 2 days before the race (thanks mystery person who had to bail because of a broken toe). This thing is called the Bat Run, its a 26k "run" starting at 7pm and takes up up all three of the mountains surrounding the city. Yes you heard right, at night, THREE mountains. Don't let the 26k fool you, what you don't realize is there is about 1700m of climbing ahead of you.

Anyhow, said friend and I got our kit together (I must also mention that in order to do this race you must bring with you a backpack with 1L water, cell phone charged with the race directors number programmed in, headlamp and backup batteries, enough food to survive the night on the mountain, first aid kit, space blanket, rain jacket, and a whistle) and head off to the race, hoping to find other runners new to the scene, especially ones that we could possibly beat. Pulling into the carpark of race registration there were no such runners to be found. Everyone looked 1. extremely fit 2. extremely experienced. Yikes. Our courage was completely shattered when at the pre-race briefing the race director stated "anyone who hasn't run this race before, or is unfamiliar with the course, should probably not be here". Awesome.

A few minutes into the race I decided that advertising this event as a "run" is a bit misleading. I would categorize it as an extreme hike, followed by controlled falling, then racing on jelly legs to the next mountain. Seems crazy enough right? Well factor in the "tablecloth" aka the gigantic cloud that usually rests on the mountain. At a certain point it felt like I was in a wind tunnel with cold mist coming at me from all directions, so powerful that 5 people I was with at the time went down on all fours holding on to each other and the rock we were climbing up. I realize I do crazy stuff sometimes, but at this point I decided this was more extreme than usual. Made it to the first checkpoint on top of Devil's peak and had to shout my race number to someone who most definitely drew the short stick of volunteer jobs. The weather up there seemed more fitting for an Everest base camp of sorts. Don't know how he stayed warm up there!

In between legs we stopped for food and water refill with my friend's family, who had showed up in their aqua Volkswagen bus, an ideal support vehicle! Heading up platteklip gorge I made another interesting observation, the strategically placed rock steps must have been created for a giant, because I nearly had my knee in my chest trying to climb up them. The gorge was the first full leg using headlamps which wasn't too bad until we hit the cloud again and visibility went down to abut 2 ft. No worries, if you slip on the rocks you have your pick of barbed wire fencing of nasty prickly bushes to grab onto. Yipee. Throughout this whole adventure there were constant "humor meter level" checks and surprisingly, with each obstacle we seemed to just laugh it off. Needing to change headlamp batteries with the wind flattening you against a mountain, getting lost 20 meters after the table mountain beacon, running out of water on leg 2...One couple actually mistook us for bat run regulars (apparently chatting while scrambling up mountains makes other people think you know what you are doing and have done said task multiple times before). In fact, we did fairly well for newbies, only getting lost twice!

The last leg of our adventure was up lion's head, the only peak not blanketed by clouds. This finally allowed us to see the full moon the most incredible view of the city bowl as we made the final ascent. Seeing bobbing headlamps snaking up the trails of all the mountains were so crazy awesome! Even felt fresh enough to do the more difficult chains route (metal chains and hand holds drilled into the rock face to climb up along with a few ladders). The downhill into the carpark was one of the greatest feelings of relief ever! Despite keeping our spirits high the whole night we were both cursing downhill steps by the end, poor knees and toes! 6 hours and 55 minutes after we started, the bat run was finally finished (and we weren't even DFL, success).

Staring out the window watching the stars and ocean as I sipped on some fresh orange carrot juice in the back of the vw, with sore legs and completely covered in mud and scratches I decided in this moment everything was right with the world. Maybe I am just mental. All I can say is my bed was so incredibly inviting that I decided to throw a huge towel down and pass out right there. Seemed too much of an effort to try and scrub 7 hrs of grime off the body at 3am. Seriously though, I can try and describe this weekend as best as I can, but nothing comes close to actually witnessing this adventure. Still trying to wrap my head around what actually just happened. I am just so crazy thankful that I managed to find a place in the world that have people that love ridiculousness as much as me. I have heard that there are normal people living here in Cape Town, wonder why I haven't managed to meet them yet.

Sightseeing tour!

Here are a few pics of my first day in Cape Town. Three other interns that also arrived on the same day as me decided to take our free bus voucher and make a day trip of it. We were taken up to table mountain where we had an incredible view of the town and the bay area, then we were driven all the way down to the ocean!