This time of year is amazing for going out on the Vlei for a paddle in my Kayak. It is warming up, and you still get a lot of wind-free afternoons to enjoy the water.
And for the first time in years, the Flamingo’s are back. They are in just about every river and lake in Cape Town at the moment; it is great.
Flamingo’s on Zandvlei
In the middle of the vlei
A floating bird’s nest in the waterways
The houses across the Vlei in Marina da Gama
I did a crazy race last Sunday. It was (in theory) an easy 16k run, but in practise it was mad. We climbed to the very top of Cape Point vineyards – a climb of over 200m in just 2km. Then we ran on tar, gravel, fields and soft sand. The only thing we didn’t do to make it a real adventure was a river crossing!
Climbing the hill
Anyway despite the climb, it was good training and an awesome run. The view from the top of Cape Point vineyards was amazing.
View from the top
Here is an interesting art project that I came across, and it is all by a Cape Town team. They have taken the traditional “mens” sign found on bathroom doors, and converted it to really funky art, so here are just 2 examples.
There are a bunch more on their Facebook page, including historical people, world leaders, tv and movie persona.
I have been chatting to them, and they have offered to do 2 cool things:
Firstly there is a free signed print of the Beatles picture as a giveaway to one of my readers (Just leave a comment on the blog or on Facebook to enter).
Secondly they are going to create a persona of me which I will post when it is ready.
They are planning on crowd-funding this project at the Design Indaba, so in a few days I will post something about it when I have more details. But it looks like an interesting project worth watching.
Two brothers, Shayne & Ant Vervoort, are launching a Kickstarter campaign on September 22 to promote an exciting new art project coming out of South Africa — Persona Art Project.
The aim of this project is to tap into the massive reach that an international platform such as Kickstarter provides. South Africa has just scratched the surface in terms of crowd-funded projects. The Persona Art Project wants to be part of this community of creatives and utilize the process of crowd-funding to build support around grass-roots projects such as this, coming out of South Africa.
The Beatles – Abbey Road
Uma Thurman – Kill Bill
Here is the official video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0UqorB0UQc
There is a lovely outdoor photography exhibition that has suddenly appeared on the walkway between Muizenberg and St James. The first section is just past Bailey’s cottage, and the second at St James beach. I came across it completely by chance while out on a training run last night.
The purpose of the exhibition is to raise awareness of conservation in the False Bay area.
No SLR allowed – cell phone pic – the best camera is the one in your hand :-)
Wayne Hussey played in Cape Town last night.
Who would have thought, Wayne Hussey with a ukulele! It is 15 years since he last played in Cape Town, I cannot believe that it is so long ago that we say the Mission playing at CBC in Town. But he is doing a pretty good acoustic set (and yes – there are a few backing tracks!). His voice is still fantastic.
He did a version of Martha’s Harbour by All About Eve on a keyboard; a really fantastic version. He is pretty good on the keys.
All the goths were at the gig; but this time older, balder and better behaved. We left at about 11:15pm, and from about 11 a lot of people started leaving. Even the old goths have to get home now to the kids and to be awake for work the next day!
But there were a surprisingly number of younger people there; people that probably were not even born when the Mission were playing.
A great evening!
In March it was the annual Southyeasters home-brew festival, and as usual they had a fantastic selection of beer to try (my favourite was a beer made with smoked grain – something I will be trying soon).
I was there to take a few photos, and of course to try the beer.
It amazes me how big the home-brew and craft beer has become in Cape Town. When I started brewing a few years ago I knew of only 1 other homebrewer, and now there are so many people making their own beer. I think it’s fantastic and is only going to result in better beer all around.
So, what to make for my next brew…?
The Two Oceans Marathon is a 56km Ultra marathon raced through Cape Town. It includes about 1000m of climb, and takes in the view of both the Atlantic and Indian Ocean.
I have been training for several months for this event, and on Saturday 4 April, I and approximately 11000 other people were on the starting line, hoping to finish this amazing run. It is difficult to describe how I was feeling before the race. Excited but a little scared. Definitely lots of nerves. At that distance you don’t know what could happen, and this was my second attempt at that distance.
At the start with my friend Grant
The first 26k are relatively flat, a lot of which is along our wonderful coast, but after that the race really starts. There is approx 7km during which you climb about 600m (in comparison “Heartbreak Hill” in the Boston Marathon is just 27m climb). It was tough, and the speedy downhill the other side was just about as tough.
Going strong
When you hit the marathon mark you still have a big hill ahead (usually it would be considered a short and small hill, but not after 42km), and 16km to run. To be honest I can’t really explain how I got to the end. I ran with a great bus that really helped to keep us moving forward, and I learned about what “digging deep” really means.
Near the end – feeling the pain
When I crossed the finish line (at 6h53), I feel elated and like I have overcome a massive personal challenge. I felt that I can do anything. But also a little overwhelmed and emotional. It was physically exhausting and a little like a dream. But I did it, I ran a 56km ultra-marathon!
My friend Steve summed up it up perfectly “pain and pleasure signals all mixed up”. I cannot say it better.
Crossing the finish line
PS: Here is the route if you are interested: https://www.strava.com/activities/279019154
Yesterday was the Cape Town cycle tour (formally the Argus cycle tour). Normally it is a 109km ride around beautiful Cape Town, but because of the recent fires they took the drastic (and very understandable) decision to shorten it to a 47km ride through Cape town (from the city bowl to the bottom of the M3 and back).
I normally watch the ride form the bottom of my road (I used to ride it myself but have stopped since I discovered running). But today I took a short run to watch the bicycles coming past.
The ride was in solidarity to all the firemen who have bravely spent the past week fighting the fires, so a lot of people were wearing red, and even dressing up as firemen.
Cycle Tour
Cyclist dreased as a fireman
Cape Town has been on fire since Sunday. Currently over 4000 ha of bush has been destroyed, and the fire is still not under control. To make it more difficult, yesterday was the hottest day in Cape Town for 100 years. At least today the cooler weather should help a little.
Last night we had another flare-up on Boyes Drive. Literally in the span of about 10 minutes the mountain went from dark to a flaming inferno. These pics were all taken yesterday afternoon and last night at and around my house.
Note the size of the fire truck in the first picture.
Boyes Drive flare up
Muizenberg Beach with a smokey haze above the sea
A fire chopper flies over my house
Boyes Drive flare up
Boyes Drive flare up
Boyes Drive flare up
I saw this rock-art at Danger Beach in St James while out running a few days ago. Isn’t it pretty cool? I just love how somebody took the time to make it and just left it there for us to see, and to see what happens to it. Reminiscent of the Zen sand Mandalas that you make to perfection and then destroy, reminding us of the impermanence of everything.
More rock art
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