If you are an active mom who loves running, then you will know all about the importance f having a good baby jogger. One brand that I have always openly lusted after is the Thule range. They have recently launched the new Thule Urban Glide and it is incredible. When I learnt I was pregnant with Number 2, I actually went into the store, just to stare at it. We have some crappy 4th hand job that has wobbly wheels and is about 30 kilograms too heavy. Not ideal when dodging city traffic.
If you too have been dying to try it out, then now is your chance. I am looking for one active mom, based in Jozi, who is free on 22 September 2017 and keen to take part in the FNB Jozi Run, using the brand new Thule glide.
All you need to do to enter is comment on the blog post and confirm that you are A) In Jozi available on 24 September and B) have a kid/baby to pop in the jogger. I can lend you mine if you want, he’s pretty awesome most of the time 😉 Winner will be announced on Monday 11 September
We will send you the jogger 2 weeks before, so you can do a few practice runs with it before the big race. We will also give you an R850 VIP package to the FNB Jozi Run as well as a gift to keep (sadly the stroller will have to be collected) – A Thule Vea Backpack valued at R2499!
About The Race
The FNB Jozi Run celebrates the sizzling city that is the beating heart and soul of South Africa … Jozi. The 10km race is an opportunity to explore downtown Jozi on foot and celebrate this historical African city.
February – the month of ‘lurve’ and here’s what I’m hearting right now:
1. Samsung S4
I’ve really surprised myself in the past year – I went from using a MacBook Pro to a dodgy Dell (not my choice) and more recently have switched from an iPhone to (gasp!) a Samsung Galaxy S4. Many people have asked, with pained voices, ‘but why’? Here’s why:
Imagine you ate a bowl of oats every single day for 2 years. At the end of the 2 years you got a box of oats in a thinner, longer box. But inside was just oats. The same oats you’d been eating for the past 24 months.
That’s how I feel about iPhone. Love the things but really, yawn.
2. iPod Nano
One of the Apple products I wont deviate from is the iPod – I’m a happy owner of the Classic er… Classic, the shuffle and most recently the latest Nano. It’s little, and cute and purple. Plus it’s half the reason I go to gym.
3. Houzz
Right – so last month I told you my favourite website was property24. This month it’s anything to do with houses and interior design. Because, well… we have finally found our dream home! (More about that in my next post). This app allows you to join QnA forums on anything from fixing a leaking sink to remodeling your bedroom. It’s full of inspiring and beautiful photos and ideas and it’s also bound to terrify your husband into credit card subservience (Costly Smegg appliances, anyone?)
4. Le Creuset
We were lucky enough to receive a whack of Le Creuset goodies for our wedding – including 3 delicious cast iron pots. I’m not delusional and understand that food probably tastes the same after cooking in them – but man alive – they’re just so beautiful to look at – and make cooking a whole lot more enjoyable. They also have the added benefit of weighing a million kilos – so my guns are looking sharp.
5. “Gone Girl” by Elizabeth Flynn
Having put down a few books lately due to them being as exciting as a packet of spots socks I was ecstatic to stumble upon this read. It’s superbly written, easy to get into and full of suspense and intrigue. I had a post book sad after reading this one – read it and let me know what you think.
6. Modern Family
Definitely not a new TV show but still the funniest one I’ve seen. I feel like it’s the ‘Friends’ of the 2000’s – you know, the kind of TV show that you can re-watch episodes of, and never get bored.
7. Plants
As a kid my parents would drag me to Keith Kirstens nursery – wailing and screaming – so they could buy plants. Nowadays I drag my husband wailing and screaming and am obsessed with anything green and grow-able. I’m really looking forward to digging in (literally) into my new garden and making full use of our new space.
8. Cars
My current SUV, gas guzzler that it is, has served me well – but it’s time for a downgrade to a smaller more fuel economical car. I’m currently deciding between a Mercedes B Class or BMW 3 series. Any advice from a petrol head would be much appreciated.
9. Fro-Yo
Obsessed. Fill my tub with your berry flavoured deliciousness, and get.in.my.belly.
10. Trail Running
Loving this sport the more I do it. I have a faithful running buddy Shan and we take part in as many night races as possible. We even do pretty well considering the wine vs. training issue we find ourselves in.
Our ‘Where’s Wally’ themed race for Halloween 2013.
I have a massive case of FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) or in this case KIHMO (Knowing I Have Missed Out) that I wasn’t able to take part in the Energizer Night race this past Saturday. As this time of year goes our diaries were fuller than a Christmas stocking and we had another engagement on – an early Christmas with my fiances family.
As irony would have it – my brother and his fiance both took part – and their feedback only added to my envy. I decided to do a fun QnA with my brother John and one of the winners of the hamper Kate Els.
– Which race did you take part in?
(Kate) 10km run
(John) 10km trail run
Was this your first night race? If not which other ones have you done
(Kate) Not my first, but my furthest night race so far. I take part in the Kinetic Night Trail series once a month and will be running the 8km in December.
(John) Yes, first running race and a night trail run at that!
The entertainment lineup was diverse – who was your favourite performer?
(Kate) I loved the drummers! Code Red Drum Corps I think they were called? They were fantastic and made me bounce up and down a little in the cold wind before the race
(John) Most definitely ‘Code Red’, the drumming show. Real talent and coordination. Apart from that just watching the runners freezing their butts of in the cold waiting for the start!
*Seems we have a definite favourite here!
Would you do it again?
(Kate) Definitely, I think next year I’ll organise a big group of friends and spend more time at the venue though. And won’t be as nervous!
(John) Definitely! Can’t wait to do other trail runs as well.
Did you dress up? If so, in what?
(Kate) Ha ha no! I was far too nervous about running 10km with a headlamp on to even consider dressing up. Made sure that I had lots of reflective neon strips on my clothing though. I loved the guys dressed up in morph suits that looked like tuxedos. They were winners!
(John) No, very boring in my running clothes and Salomons.
Summarise the event in 3 words
(Kate) Energetic, fun, totally-worth-it
(John) Challenging, Rewarding, Entertaining.
Did you take part to compete or just have fun?
(Kate) A bit of both. I want to take part in a half marathon early-ish next year so I’ve started trying to improve my fitness and my 10km personal time.
(John) A bit if both, I told myself it was just to take part, but once I started I felt strong and decided to compete as best I could.
What was the toughest part?
(Kate) Trail runs are harder mostly because of the uneven ground and the winding path, making it more important to concentrate on where you’re running. But even though it makes it tougher, it also makes you a better runner and strengthens your ankles, so less chance of an injury in future!
(John) Waiting in the cold to start! Not the events fault, the weather just decided not to play the part but luckily the rain held out.
Thanks to Kate and John for answering the questions – sounds like a freezing but fun event! Also, Happy Birthday to my big bro for today – see, you can teach old dogs new running tricks 😉
To make up for doing absolutely nothing that was even remotely interesting in the last few weeks, I have decided to repent with a bang and challenge myself to probably my biggest event yet. Somehow between a bottle of wine last weekend and a bit of heckling from 15 post Comrades runners I committed to doing the Half Iron Man race next year. After a small vom (nerve, not wine induced) I pulled up my big girl panties and decided life’s too short to say no to a challenge and decided to give this my best shot. I also reckon the biggest reward at the end will be looking slim and sexy in spandex, not an easy feat.
The Half Iron Man race consists of a 1.9km swim, 90 km cycle and 21 km race. I am so lucky to know a few awesome people, doing this race and have 2 fabulous training partners for most of it, Barry and Eryn.
The training seemed to start almost immodestly, so I was literally thrown into the deep end on day one (hello swimming pool mid winter). I am lucky enough to have a boyfriend with several Iron Men under his belt – gosh that sounds rude – and his trainer who is so specialized he makes chuck Norris look like a janitor. Their input into my workout plan has been invaluable.
My training at the beginning consists of the following :
Monday : 1 km swim
Tuesday : 1 hour spinning class
Wednesday : 1 km swim
Thursday : 3 km run and an hour Bootcamp class
Friday : Off day. This means the heaviest lifting I will have to do is pouring my wine into my glass.
Saturday : 2 hour spinning class
Sunday : 8 km run
So far week one has gone pretty well, but I am nervous for the weekend part. Acknowledging that my morning lie-ins are now a thing of the past has cut me deep. I also know I better suck it up because this training is apparently very basic, and it will only get worse going forward.
I’m also hoping this exercise will pay off with regards to the Sleek Geek change I’m currently taking part in. The diet has been going well and I’m surprised I haven’t yet tripped and fallen into a family sized pizza considering this shite weather. Wait, when I say well I mean I haven’t gained any weight. I still however weigh exactly the same as I did 3 weeks ago. FML.
The below pics are of me full of joy upon acceptance of my quest. And also my heart rate – how not to do it – monitor, after lasts nights Bootcamp.
Along with Miss South Africa and Tellyfun Quiz, Watching the Comrades Marathon was a South African tradition I grew up with. There was never a year that passed by by in our house when the TV wasn’t turned on early on a Saturday morning and all throughout the day we would glance up and see brave souls crossing the finish line, and some who didn’t.
I didn’t grow up in a running family so watching that race on TV was the closes I ever got to the actual race, until last year when we drove to Durban to watch a mutual friend run it for the first time. The experience was exhausting and crazy, and for my boyfriend, a challenge
This year he ran it for the very first time, along with his dad who ran it for the 13 th time, his brother in law who has a few under the belt our friend from last year and 10 of our running club crew.
Waking up at 2:30 am to drive the runners to the start set the tone for the rest of the day. Hurry up and wait. I admire Comrades supporters who pour through Pietermaritzburg in their thousands, complete with camping chairs, refueling goodies, skottels blankets and snacks. The role of the supporter is to arrive at a designated spot a few hours before, set up a station and then watch for their runner to come through, screaming and shouting for all the other runners as we do so, then move onto the next spot If I was nervous waiting for Barry to come through the points, I can’t imagine how he must have been feeling. Luckily, armed with woollies snacks and a crew of dutiful watchers, we found Barry and Pierre at all the stops and then headed off to kings mead stadium for the finish.
I can’t begin to describe the noise, the crowd and the vibe when you arrive. Runners.are.everywhere all doing the trademark ‘Comrades shuffle’. To watch a poor runner try and tackle the stairs after running solidly for up to 12 hours is quite a thing. Luckily we managed to find a spot on the crowded grandstand and wait for the guys to arrive. Barry was hoping for a 9 hour time which qualified him for a Bill Rowan medal, and when he hadn’t come through the finish at 8:50 I was in a state. When he did run under the massive balloon arch at 8:58, high giving everyone and smiling from ear to ear I was ecstatic! Our friend Pierre came in under 11 hours and I am happy to report both of them, although quite ‘eina’ and sore today, can live to tell the tale.
You often hear people refer to all athletes as ‘winners’ but when it comes to the Comrades I couldn’t agree more. To see you challenge yourselves in a run which most people believe to be impossible, and to cross/sprint or crawl across that finish line is a privilege. To all 180000 runners who took part this year – you are amazing.
Meet Amy, one of my oldest and best friends (more like a sister after all we’ve been through). Amy recently got married, isn’t she just lovely?
Maybe if I laugh loudly they’ll think I was just kidding?
Amy also recently drank too many glasses of wine and agreed to do something she never thought she would do – run the 2013 Two Oceans Half Marathon. This is her guest post :
I’m all knee caps and elbows and big teeth.
I should have known that a sweatband and reflective running tights would make me look like the girl version of Owen Wilson. I should’ve pictured my knees knocking and skew shoulders flopping with every step I planned to take but, sadly, this didn’t even cross my mind when I typed out the words that sealed my fate: “Challenge accepted. Boom.”
Boom indeed. The sound of my almost-size-8 running shoes slapping the treadmill. The sound of that novice gym moment when you jump (okay, and scream) because you had no idea an iPod could be that loud in your ears. The sound of my heart smashing into the sides of my head after only 2 minutes of treadmill time. Running is hard man!
However, I do have to admit that it is rewarding. Although I’m nowhere near fit, I can already see my abs trying to reveal themselves and my ‘wobbly bits’ are less wobbly. I feel stronger and have even had my first pounding session like when hot chicks in movies take out their anger on a treadmill (except, I look less like Megan Fox and more like The Fantastic Mr Fox with running shoes).
I have gone from marathon book reader and cake eater to evangelist runner with iPod strapped to bicep in just 4 weeks. Will I be running the Two Oceans Half Marathon in 2013? Challenge accepted. Boom.
At the end of last year, my friends Lauren and Don as well as Barry and myself decided to enter the Two Oceans Marathon (well, the half marathon, Barry will be doing the full because he rocks and has the fitness levels of a super athlete, no jokes). Barry, also being the spreadsheet wunderkind , developed a training program for us, and off we set on our daily runs, happily chatting our way through the first week or two of easy 3 and 4 kilometre sessions.(That would soon change)
Having just recovered from a foot operation in October, I was only allowed to start physical exercise in December, and was fairly nervous about my fitness levels which had crashed and died. Thankfully both foot and fitness levels recovered fairly decently and the raining got off to a good start.
We are now just under 5 weeks away from the big race, and our training schedule has become a lot more intense, and pretty much takes up all of our free time in the evenings. Look, I realise we aren’t doing anything that extraordinary (read Iron man, climbing Kili, Comrades etc), but for 3 people who have never run more than a 5km, I think we have come really far and I am exceptionally proud of the perseverance and dedication we have all given this – especially since the people around roll their eyes when we mention ‘training’ and pretty much all of our close friends couldn’t care less.
Another perk to all this training is the awesome kit we get to experiment with, and being a bit of a gadget girl there are several items I could not do without when training. If you are looking to get into running, or any other form of exercise, I suggest investigating some of these handy items.
The first item is an incredible tool called ‘Runtastic‘ which is an app for most phone models (iOS, Android, Blackberry). Runtastic tracks distance, speed, time as well as provides a host of other information. The app even speaks to you during your run, tracking your distance and motivating (sometimes) along the way.
The device which I use the most is my Polar heart rate watch and foot pod. the watch tracks heart rate zones, calories burnt and time and the footpod allows me to track distance and speed – all very helpful during a long training session. there is also nothing as motivating as seeing how many calories you’ve burnt and just how far you’ve pushed your body.
Speaking of calories burnt – this next app/website has proved invaluable during my training and has really helped me to focus on my eating. My Fitness Pal is an app which allows you to track your daily food intake as well as exercise, and works out calories eaten.It also predicts weight loss and weight gain depending on your daily calorie intake. The niftiest thing about the app is that, when used on your phone, it scans images of barcodes (yes, even local!) and lets you know nutritional content. The app also encourages you to invite friends, and view their progress. Nothing motivates one as much as your BFF becoming a skinny bitch before you, right?
Other handy websites I have found are Runners World, Womens Health and Shape magazine. These tools combined with a personal will to succeed, amazing running friends and a dream to cross that finish line have all been huge motivators!
Here’s to the early mornings, early nights, sacrificing Phuza Thursday and sticking to a goal!
