GERALD SCHEEPERS TURNS 70
ALLY HOCKEY MATCHES AND PRACTICES
ALLY WATER POLO PRACTICE
BARBARA IS IN CAPE TOWN WHEN NICKY GOES OFF TO SPAIN
FAIS AND FICA EXAMS AT WORK
BEACH FRONT RUNS AND SWIMS
BAAKENS VALLEY TRAIL RUNS
HEAVY RAINS AND THE BACK WALL COLLAPSES
21KM HEART BREAK HILL
SPINATHON AT VIRGIN ACTIVE
FAIS TRAINING AND EXAM 82%
NILS BRAATVEDT IN PE
JULIA, BRENDA and CHARLES to SPRINGBOK RUGBY
ENGLAND PLAY THREE TESTS IN DURBAN, PRETORIA AND PE
NICKY AND HER FAMILY DRIVE TO PE IN THEIR NEW HYUNDAI H1
MY COMPUTER IS STOLEN FROM MY CAR.
VWSA 10km IN UITENHAGE WITH MARGIE SAUNDERS
ENA TURNS 96. BORN 29 JUNE 1916 in DUMFRISHIRE SCOTLAND
JULIA, ISABELLE and FRIEND CRYSTAL HAVE BREAKFAST AT PLETT
ALLY AND HER OLD GREY HOCKEY TEAM PLAY AGAINST AN ENGLISH CLUB TOURNING IN SA
The month of June starts off with Gerald Scheepers 70th birthday party. Barbara and attend the celebration at Old Austria Restaurant on Friday evening. His son John and pregnant wife Lisa are there to celebrate with him.
PEARSON ASTRO: ALLY AT PRACTICE ON THE ASTRO FOR THE FIRST TIME.
BOYS IN THE BACKGROUND
CKY
Saturday morning Ally has a Pearson game which they lose to a better team from Graaff Reinet. I have a trail run through the Baakens Valley this afternoon. The run starts on the grassy area in the Valley. There is an immediate bottleneck going up the dirt road. Then over the other side we make a right turn up a pathway which only allows for single runners. So now there is a really serious blockage and if you started at the back you have no chance of catching anyone. Up to the car park next to Hallack Road and down over theother side on the tar pathway to the stream below. I never bother to walk the blocks, rather choosing to run through the water. Another steep hill to the left means the westart to walk again.
Some of the faster runners seem to have taken a wrong turn and have to make their way past us. At last we reach the top ofthis hill and make our way down to the valley again. Past the electric fence and across Target Kloof. We see Markus Burri on the other side of the road. Susan is in C T for tests as she will need a Kidney transplant. We cross the stream a number of times. Andre also took a wrong turn and passed us. At this stage I am running with Nicky Roote and Almarie. Andre, Svenje, Andrew Barton, Lettia who had run with us at the Addo race earlier this year, and Ronel have pushed on ahead.
Rob Ermes is doing some marshaling. We cross the weir and reach Dodds Farm where there is a water station. Up the 9th ave dirt road and a bit more ups. A man enquiries from Almarie who gave us passion to run in the valley. Not sure who he was but he seemed to be important. After the next little climb we were tuning to go back home. The route was a circular one and earlier I had seen John Scheepers leading the pack.
I later found out that he had taken a tumble and finished in 4th position. Seems like the seed does not fall far from the tree. We cross the road where Paul Johnson is marshaling. Back on the pathways there are still a number of steep climbs before we finally are below the parking are and on a straight flat run back to the start finsih area. Lizelle, I have met her before at the MPRG is not feeling well and stops at the Taarget Kloof crossing, Nicky and I are by now almost at the very back of the field. There may be others behind us but we are not sure sow hence pass a young girl I ask her to stay with us. Turns out that she plays polo and trains with Ally. Ashleigh Johnson. Daughter of Paul who I have known for many years. Small town PE!
CRAIG AND THE REST OF THE GROUP WAIT FOR THE PRIZE GIVING
NOW JUST LOOK AT HENNIE -- HE WINS A PRIZE AND THEN TAKES ANOTHER FROM JANE.
There is an awesome vibe at the finish and as much as i would have liked to stay for a beer and social, Ally had a hockey match at NMMU with the Old Grey Academy team. It turned out to be quite a little social gathering there as well with the sherry and beers that had been brought along.
Andre drops me off at NMMU for the Ally Old Grey match. Nicky meanwhile organizes a walk up Lions Head as a fund raiser for Michael. Nicky later reports that this was a successful activity: super Heros day. Children walked almost the whole way. Nicky now plays a super hero 10 pin bowling activity.
Sunday morning Comrades day. We watch quite a bit of the first bit and then later on when a Charlo Club member runs in with a banner for Michael. Benita 8 54: Eadelene 9, 51 and Marilyn 10 45. Well done to our Mill Park running girls! This afternoon I buy a new pair of Hitek walking shoes. And a hair clipper set. My head is long overdue. And pack for the three days of JHB ahead. I enter myself and Charles for the Spinathon at Virgin Active in Lorraine.
Monday the 4th fly to JHB for FAIS training. Three days at the Tropicana hotel at the Vaal river. Miserable resort hotel with poor meals and poor service. We spend the three days being taught by Chris v d Walt. He teaches us the FAIS ACT as well As FICA. Both are compulsory for the FSGMs as Key Individuals selling insurance in RSA.
Thursday back in PE and I have a run in the morning. First run this week and I enjoy being back home and able to run. Wednesday Barbara leaves for CT where Cathy has a scan. She finds out that she is going to have a boy: and the planned names are Noah or Blake. Barbara moves in with Nicky to prepare her for a week of babysitting while Nicky and Stefan go toSpain for a wedding shoot. I was able to return some shoes that I had bought but immediately spent the refund on groceries.
I had planned a longer run for Saturday morning but Friday afternoon the rain started to fall. It rained solidly through the night and cancelled any runs for the following morning. I had spent the past two days doing FAIS study and was now stuck at home for another two days of study. Ally's hockey game against collegiate had also been cancelled. Much to her. Disappointment as this is an important match between. Pearson and Collegiate.
Sunday we are able to go to NMMU for a league match between Old Grey Academy and another Old Grey team. Ally's team won 4 to 0. Ally herself played well and nothing got past her.we had Kirsty Engelke with us. She also played well. Sunday evening church saw the end of the week.
I had advertised the caravan onGum Tree and received three enquiries. The last one offered me R6500 and I accepted. R3000 to pay school fees and the other half for the swimpool account.
Monday 11th. With all the rain and cold weather i seem to be developing the first symptoms of flu and start to dose myself heavily with immune boosters. This morning i have one of my best runs in a while. I run with Svenje. We do the full Monday morning bottle store route. She has a cell phone GPS that is strapped to her arm. It tells us that we had run 9.4km at average of 6.20kph which seems slow. But the machine appears to be accurate. Earl and Michelle Stevenson join the group at 6th ave. kobus runs from home first. Also in the group is Natalie (duncans wife), claire, Suzanne,dale. Suzannes daughter Emma,leaves for London to join sister Jessica today.
I had to go to the office for a short visit.the Brian Bands to enter a race. Swimpool centre to pay an account then home to find that outback wall had collapsed overnight with the heavy rains. Ally was writing exams so I fetched her early. This afternoon I continued with the study. Ally had water polo training at Newton Park. We did a bit of shopping and then back home for the evening. Cell group was cancelled.
WITH ALL THE WEEKEND RAIN OUR BACK WALL COLLAPSES
I have kind of enjoyed the week of not going to work in the normal way. Relaxed, although I continued to make and take calls and emails. But it is not the same pressure as when you are at work. Feel able to do a number of home life stuff while still remaining on top of work.
Sunday morning 17th June. It is Fathers Day and Michael greets me with a book on MTB trail rides of SA. I am getting ready for the second of the Baakens River Valley Trail runs. I leave home shortly after 7am. It is still chilly and when I park I keep my jersey on. I meet up with John Nelson and Ronel Scheepers. Almarie, Adel (doing her first trail run), Sian (Sheena is injured and hoping to recover in time for Knysna), Hennie who comments how the face of running is changing with the advent and popularity of trail runs, Craig, Chris, Andrew, Jane and Dallas who are the organising team.
JOHN AND RONEL ON A CHILLY FATHERS DAY MORNING AT THE BOTTOM OF BRICKMAKERS KLOOF BEFORE THE BAAKENS RIVER TRAIL RUN.
JANE LOOKING QUITE SERIOUS AS SHE ARRANGES THE REGISTRATION AREA.
After Registering we take off our warm tops and walk down to the old quarry. Here Dallas gives us a race briefing. Last time there were a number of people who said that they had missed the trail. I am not sure how they did this as the trail is well marked and there were marshalls along the route. Dallas assures us that the trail is so well marked this time that you have to be blind to miss the markers. One of John's friends brings his dog along just in case.
RONEL IS READY FOR THE RUN
The run starts at 8;00am. There are far fewer runners this morning than was the case two weeks ago. Last weekend there were severe rains and so the river is flowing strongly. Dallas reminded us that there was no point in trying to stay dry as we would be knee deep in water after a short while. I think that a number of runners thought that he was joking.
Immediately after starting we run in mud and slush. Then up the first hill. Last time there had been a congestion of runners here. This morning I am able to jog up the hill. Up and over and down the other side in the shade which can make seeing your footing a little difficult. From there we run up the main pathway to the parking area in Settlers Park. I have now jogged up both the first two hills. I am puffing and panting. Down the other side and across the river. I see a number of runners stepping carefully across the stepping stones. But I am proud to see Ronel has no such ideas. She wades through the fast flowing river. I follow her and we come out on the other side ahead of five or six other athletes. Up the steep hill to 5th Avenue Walmer side. This is a long pull and most of us walk at a reasonably brisk pace.
Then at the top we track along for a while before a steep slippery descent down towards Target Kloof crossing. We avoid touching the electric fence. At Target Kloof Paul Johnson is again marshalling the runners across this busy intersection. This is not an easy task as motorists can become impatient and runners are negligent. We cross and then down to the river for a second crossing. Here we feel the pull of the stream and there are two men assisting us as we cross. Shortly thereafter we cross again and again are assisted.
CROSSING IS QUITE AN ADVENTURE
Now we make our way to Dodds Farm where we carry on straight and up the set of steps. Anton is walking along this path with his camera. Down the other side of the steps and again we cross the stream. We carry on and turn right this time. Here there is another tough climb up to the cycle path and near the houses that border the valley. There is a watering station here. I have brought my camel pack and am drinking all the time so do not stop for water. I meet up with Kelly whose husband is up ahead. She has an armband strap for her phone. Ronel also uses one of these. Perhaps a must for me as I tend to keep mine in the backpack. Not easy to access the camera when you are on the trail. Down another slippery hill and up the other side. Each time we climb I walk. These hills are just too tough and steep for me to even think of running.
Down the other side again and along a slippery path. The rain has made the pathways very muddy in sections. I run with Jacqui for a while. At the next crossing she steps into the stream and slips almost falling completely into the water. I press on. We are now well on our way back to the finish area. We cross the river again where the men are assisting runners and then back over the Target Kloof intersection. From here there is only one major climb. We contour the pathways and up the steep section before descending onto the main Settlers Park pathway. Cross the river twice more and then where I think that we will turn up the path we cross the river again. A sharp right turn along the muddiest and slipperiest section of the whole trail. It is all I can do to not fall into the mud.
At the end of this section I wash my shoes off in the river before climbing the final hill, down the other side and slosh through the mud. Then it is only a short way to under the Brickmakers Kloof Bridge and up to the finish.
I have enjoyed this run even more than I did the shorter distance. Two weeks ago the distance was around 10kays. Today the plan was for an 18km route but the wet conditions forced Dallas to change this to around 14km. I really enjoyed the route. I am sure that it is not easy to design this route as Dallas and Jane must have done a lot of searching and planning to be able to find a pathway that is so varied and interesting.
At the finish Dianne, Brad and Megan are waiting for John. I had planned to leave immediately for Allys hockey but I realise that I have plenty of time so I sit and chat for a while. I put my name down for the Luck Draws and am fortunate to win a voucher for R250 for the Bridge Street Brewery. This is a restaurant adjacent to the one where the run starts and finishes. Chris Gedye wins a position prize as well as a luck draw. Craig Wilson and Hennie van Eck are sitting together and Hennie also wins a prize.
IT IS CLEAR THAT THE NELSON FAMILY IS IN A WITNESS PROTECTION PROGRAM AND DO NOW WANT TO BE RECOGNISED AS BEING AT THE BAAKENS RIVER EVENT THIS MORNING. I PROMISE NOT TO SAY A WORD JOHN.
After the prize giving, Sharon Jessup introduces herself to me. I ran with Sharon many years ago at an Addo Trail Run near to Colchester. She heads up a fitness program called Boot Camp. Barbara and Lene met her there and since then she has been working to raise funds for Michael's trip to Michigan where he must have treatment for his cancer. Sharon is married to the son of Gilbert who married Jenny Goldman who used to work with me.
After the event I head home for a shower and clean up of my clothing. Ally and I drive out to Woodridge where she plays hockey for Old Grey against a Woodridge league team. The game starts off early with a goal against OG and then the scores seasaw until with just seconds to go before half time Woodridge score to level at 3all. After half time Woodridge score a quick goal and we trail for most of the second half 4-3 until with only minutes remaining we score from a short corner to level the score at 4 all.
Ally has a plan to make Chicken Wraps with Cream Cheese and Rocket Salad. As soon as we get home she gets stuck into this recipe and we enjoy a bit of a treat for lunch. This is my Fathers Day Present from her.
Ally is in the middle of exams and must still study for History and Geography this evening so gives Church a miss.
Monday morning I sleep a bit late. Still tired from the weekend. Cell group this evening. Tuesday back on the road. Run with Pat and Ronel. Drop Ally at school and the meeting in Port Alfred. Back home and take Ally back to school to watch her teams play hockey. Then it is water polo league evening before finally home for the evening and sleep.
Wednesday. Running again this morning. Have a good run with Pat.
Thursday .. Supposed to meet Pat and Ronel. It is cold and they woosie out. Nicky, Svenje and Georgie start off slow group. It rains as we run but we have a good turn out of over 15 runners. This evening I go to Spar on my way home. And my computer is stolen from the boot of my car. Big upset!
Friday 22nd. I start off this morning at the police station to report the compuuter theft. Then after dropping Ally at school I drive through to GRAHAMSTOWN where I spend the morning at work before collecting Nils Braatvedt. We drive back to PE. Drop Ally at church for Holiday Club training. I spend a couple of hours at work, Nils and I share some time together before I drop him at the airport.
TIM, PAT AND RONEL AT THE START OF THE 21KAY HEARTBREAK HILL EVENT.
Saturday 23rd morning. 21km race at MOFFET on Main. I register, meet up with Tim, Pat and Ronel.we start together but Tim and Ronel are too fast for me. This course is very tough. Lots of hills. Up Constance road, up Glendor road, pass the 7km marker.we turn right into the Sardinia Bay road. I meet a Barbara and Jason, who comments on the age of my running vest, we run together for a while. Cathy Ives is just ahead. I pass Bob Stedman, Gerald Hoxley and Bernard, Achilleans. We turn right again at the 12km marker.
Now with 7km to go we head uphill past the golf course and then right up what gives this race it's name ...Heart Break Hill. In totalit is around a 5km hill before you reach Boundary Road. From here it is 4km to go. But not all down hill. There is still the little up to the top ofConstance road. The final. Two kmis down Constance rd and back to the. Shopping center. At the end of the run Michael and family are. Waiting to greet finishers. Sharon Jessup has arranged for more publicity for fund raising for Michaels treatment. Ronel had run 2:05 and I was five minutes behind her, Barbara who I had met on the road was a few minutes ahead of me. I had not been able to keep up with her on the final climb and then never caught up on the downs. Coming down Constance, everyone seems to try their hardest.
From here I drove home for a shower and the straight to the Virgin Active Gym for the Spinathon. Sharon had gone straight there and would do a three hour session after her 1:50 half marathon. Also supporting us today: Eckhart Shuman who did the 21earlier, Adrienne Wilson and Paula who was doing instructing, CRONJE, Claudine and Joshua; Maryna Baard, Tracey Meistre and friend, Rob And Jason Ermes, Charles also came down for a session. I ended up doing two sessions of an hour each. Sharon Jessup and a few of her fellow Charlo Runners. Some people who could not make it to the event had contributed anyway, Ant A and Christoff, Percy D and other Achilleans. Darryl Smith and Blind Spots.
Doing Spinning is not easy. My first hour I was nowhere. But in the second hour I started to get the feel of how to do the spinning. At first every time I stod up I would get thrown out of the cleats, but then I started to get the hang of how to stand as well as the settings and the level of difficulty. My second hour went a lot better. Paula handled the first and Theo the second hour that I did. Gail was doing the admin, Karen also did some spinning. Michael, LENE, Jessica, Joshua ... All helped getting the flow going and Josh even did some spinning as well.
Being my first ever spinning session I had gone ill equipped. No towel and no change of shirt. I was saturated and the gym is air conditioned. I am always afraid of colds, so left immediately for home. A second shower and ready for Rugby.
Months ago I had bought seven tickets for the game between England and SA. It was the third in a series of three games. We had won the first two in Durban and JHB. Charles, Ingrid and Ian; Julia and Brenda met at our house and we left together for the game. Fortunately we found easy parking, walked to the stadium and enjoyed a tough game of rugby. For spectators the tough part was beer buying and toilet queues. We had seats in the very back row. It is very windy and cold up there. But we were dressed warmly and were out of the rain so enjoyed the evening. This is an amazing stadium. No bad seats. We could see clearly and identify the players. Isabelle was visiting Julia but I did not have an extra ticket so she went home to do some studies. The game ended up with each side scoring just one try and three penalties. Final score was 14 all. A tie. We. Had won the series but on this final occasion the English team had come back with some attacking play both in the front line as well as their backs. They defended well and could have been the stronger team on the day.
We walked back to the cars in the rain. Dropped Julia at her home and,with a cold wet night outside Ally and I were in bed shortly there after. It had been an active and busy Saturday. Barbara is still in CTand will drive home with Nicky on Sunday.
FRIDAY 29TH
I take the day off to be with Ena on her birthday
It is Ena's 96th birthday today. Nicky, Barbara and I drive through to Plett where we meet Julia, Isabelle and Friend. We have a lunch with Ena and a friend of hers before driving back to PE
BORN ON THIS DAY 1916. STILL GOING STRONG.
Sunday morning.
Ally and I have a lazy morning. Then later I am up and working on a whole lot of household chores. Cleaning, sorting, fixing. Nicky and Barbara drive from CT and arrive home around 6.30 pm. I am at church and see them after church. We now have 7 children and 5 dogs running around the house. Stefan is in Berlin for a photo shoot there.
Monday morning I try to run but am still very stiff and sore from Saturdays marathon exercise. Pat and Andrew keep me company. Tuesday morning I am starting to feel better. I skip Wednesday as a rest day. Also it is cold, windy and miserable. Thursday I run again with Andrew and Georgie. Andrew and I cut short but we are trying to build again.
This week Nicky and Barbara are out and phone me to join them at a shore front restaurant. Brooks Pavilion is a wonderful setting for a warm winters evening.
We sit outside on the deck.evening lights and colors sat the sun sets to the West. Children running around make their own pizzas. A pod of dolphins delights the patrons as they swim past us. We enjoy a drink and relaxed conversations together with a good meal of ___ Nicky has Salmon, Barbara chicken liver and pasta, Ally has a large pizza and I have seafood pasta. I drop Ally off at church where she is taking part in Holiday Club preparations. Se and a few of her friends have signed up as leaders at the holiday club.
Saturday 30 th June.
I have gotten used to the morning races and events routine: what I do is to make myself some Future Life Porridge. And a Banana if I can find one. A cup of coffee which I take in the car. An anti inflammatory dissolved in water and immune booster / energy pill. Ciplaton which I try to remember to take every morning as a way of keeping colds and flu at bay.
Margie Saundrs met me at 5:30 am. We left for Uitenhage. In Uitenhage we found Brandwag school. And a good parking close to the entrance of the fields. Once we had registered we stayed in our. Track tops. It was really cold at 6 degrees C. We did a short warm up jog around the suburb and then back to the car where we stripped for the event.
It was a 10km.
We found the start area and lined up with the rest of the athletes. There is a strong contingent of Achilles runners. Paddy Hoginson chats for a short while. He is a lot quicker than I am. The race starts with a whistle.
Sprinters go off at high speed. I jog on as fast as I am able. Trying to keep up with Bob Stedman.
Graham Nel is with us. My hands and ars feel the biting cold of the morning which drops again as we run down into the valley. At around two or three Kim's, on a slight up hill Bob starts to pull away. Graham is already ahread of me. I am puffing and panting. Hills tend to get to me recently. I have to bring up them. We run past Ajays house on the outskirts of Uitenhage. Finally we reach rhe 5km marker board. The Kim's seem to be coming slowly. A right urn and slight uphill. Bob is now well ahead, Graham and I are trading positions. Then another right turn up a hill and Graham walks. I had thought for while that he had the legs to catch Bob.
I carry on up and past Graham. Now with 7km past us I work as hard as I am able. I have no idea of time but the pace feels like I should be able to break one hour. With around two Kim's to go we take a sharp right turn and I can see Bob is now around 500meters ahead of me.
I put my head down and press on with all my strength and determination that I have. It always helps to have someone to chase. A short down hill and then a couple of climbs. Now it is the final km which ends in a sharp climb to the field where the finish awaits us. I have managed to close the gap to around 100meters. And Bob is battling up this hill. Margie(my personal trainer) comes back to fetch me. And starts goading me up the hill, telling me that Bob is just ahead and that he is slowing down and that I can catch him.
Now to anyone on the outskirts of running this chase is worthless. We are way back in the field of runners and one or two positions will make absolutely no difference at all. But to Bob and myself there is a great friendly rivalry. I am sure that he knows that I am trying to catch him. So I work up the final climb, turn right to see that Bob is now only around 50 meters in front of me. I give it one last surge, turn left up onto the field, run past a few other competitors. Bob is just too strong for me. We finish about ten meters apart at about 55minutes. My lungs are burning but I had a great race and an hour of good exercise.
Margie collects her prizes and her Gold Medal. After a short rest we head back to PE.
I shower and spend the rest of te morning at work. It is the company financial year end. I lost my lap top computer recently so my out of town trips are quite difficult to arrange with no communication format as I am used.
I stop off at Ben Carver and he agrees to come to Knysna next week to ride the MTB event there. Andre was going to be with me but has had an injury.
This afternoon Tour de France starts off at Liege Belgium. I love watching this event.
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