Tuesday, November 21, 2006
13 and a half hours.
I have been told by my partner, who by the way is otherwise alright, that if I run the next 50km reccie, she will have no sympathy. This needs to be unpacked. Granted she did wait till 11 am on Sunday morning to point out that making dinner arrangements for Saturday night (with my family) and arriving and hour and a half late was a punishable offence, but I had a distinct feeling that she was very happy with the immobile sloth who spent most of Sunday in a horizontal snooze and was not surfing, running, riding or whatever else a normal Sunday programme includes.
Just 'cause I creak, groan and moan every time I walk up the stairs, does not mean I am looking for sympathy. Indeed, explaining to lay people why I spent 13,5 hours running, walking, swimming and caving, is a waste of time- if they dont get it, they dont get it. An epic, ultra trail run like this is a whole life time condensed into 1 day. I waivered from ecstatic elation to nauseous dread. Hidden under the guise of humour we explored the world, its meaning and shared intimate male bonding. Running is ideal for those with communication disabilities (most men?) If you find yourself talked out or talked into a corner, merely slowing down or speeding up allows escape from a conversation you can rejoin later.
The final team to finish included a publisher who lives in a tent, an IT guru on insulin, a drug dealer who would not tell us what he was on, a lift mechanic who would not reveal what was in his pipe and a budhist blogger cum surfer who provided religous teachings.
So, hold back on the sympathy and see you all, in the dark on Table mountain.
I have been told by my partner, who by the way is otherwise alright, that if I run the next 50km reccie, she will have no sympathy. This needs to be unpacked. Granted she did wait till 11 am on Sunday morning to point out that making dinner arrangements for Saturday night (with my family) and arriving and hour and a half late was a punishable offence, but I had a distinct feeling that she was very happy with the immobile sloth who spent most of Sunday in a horizontal snooze and was not surfing, running, riding or whatever else a normal Sunday programme includes.
Just 'cause I creak, groan and moan every time I walk up the stairs, does not mean I am looking for sympathy. Indeed, explaining to lay people why I spent 13,5 hours running, walking, swimming and caving, is a waste of time- if they dont get it, they dont get it. An epic, ultra trail run like this is a whole life time condensed into 1 day. I waivered from ecstatic elation to nauseous dread. Hidden under the guise of humour we explored the world, its meaning and shared intimate male bonding. Running is ideal for those with communication disabilities (most men?) If you find yourself talked out or talked into a corner, merely slowing down or speeding up allows escape from a conversation you can rejoin later.
The final team to finish included a publisher who lives in a tent, an IT guru on insulin, a drug dealer who would not tell us what he was on, a lift mechanic who would not reveal what was in his pipe and a budhist blogger cum surfer who provided religous teachings.
So, hold back on the sympathy and see you all, in the dark on Table mountain.
# posted by Ian Mackenzie @ 1:38 AM 
