The return of the Mountain Goat

This time it was at the Helderberg Mountain Extreme. Only 24km......That's nothing.....Right?

On Saturday night I thought it might be a good idea just to check last year's times. O my shattered nerves.....this will take me longer to finish than the Jonkershoek race of 2 week ago. And Jonkershoek was 30km!! So I new something was cooking with this race, ain't no flats involved.
And that was the correct assumption. It was up and up and up and then down and then up and up and more up.

The start of a LONG climb



Long walk to freedom

My quads were killing me....but what can you do. I can stop, gooi a tantrum, but then what. I'm already halfway up the mountain (for the SECOND time I might ad), so lets just finish this mother.

One thing that I realised at this race was that I need to work on up hills. Alot of people passed me as I missioned to the top op the West Peak. But then when it came to the downhills, they had to get out of my way, cause I was FLYING down. I was running on pure adrenaline! I politely ignored the fact that if I do slip and fall, I'm going to be falling for a LONG time! Block. Ignore. Run.

The Helderberg Xtreme is 60% mountain (and rock) climbing and 40% running....well that's my opinion. I think if I knew what I was getting myself into, I would have thought twice about entering. But by next year, I would have forgotten about the 'bad' things of the race...and will enter again.


Boulder hopping....ps. slippery when wet.

Even though this race, for me, was tougher than the Jonkershoek one, I felt like a million bucks afterwards. Ignoring the fact that when I finished the race, I was sort of covered in blood. A certain young lady decided to buy a piece of single track on the Helderberg Mountain. Flat piece of single track. Only a few rocks. And those few rocks connected with my hand, arm and both knees. it was a spectacular fall. And I did check....no-one saw me. . I fell so hard that I had to wait a few minutes for the air to return to my lungs.....Girls don't cry. Girls don't cry.

This was truly an extreme race, very technical downhills and very steep up hills.

For those +/- 5 hours I felt ALIVE! Un-stop-a-ble.

The mountain goat is back, for the time being....giving the queen of the desert a bit of a breather.

Queen of the Desert turns Mountain Goat for a day

......at the Jonkershoek Mountain Extreme.

What a lekke way to spend a Sunday morning.....At least this time the weather was perfect. As we trekked up the mountain the temperature did take a bit of a dive, but you could still feel your hands and feet. So nothing to complain about. It was absolutely BEAUTIFUL up on the mountain.

OK, first you have to get up the mountain..........all the way up Swartboskloof!!!!


Trekking up Swartboskloof

Trail running.....lets call it trail walking rather. It was this snake of colourful trailrunners hiking up the mountain. I didn't feel bad not even attempting to run up this monster, because everyone infront of me was walking...Phew. Thank goodness.

Spectacular view from the top

Once I got to the top - it was a mixture of run, walk and caution caution. For one split second I did not concentrate .....and down I went. Crash boom bang. At least I connected with a grass patch and not the rocky single track. A well, that's part of the whole adventure. Scars are cool!
In the back of my mind I sort of recall from last year, that there is a very tricky downhill coming up.
Tricky might be a bit of an understatement. Nerve-recking.....mountain, single track, slip and fall and they will find me days later. This race is NOT for my friend Mike in the UK....his got a bit of a vertigo thing going.

Concentration to the max, as we all venture down a very steep and technical downhill.

                                                          Caution Caution

And suddenly it was over, and I could start running. At this point the 19km competitors joined the 30km competitors. We(the 30k'ers) must have looked like a bunch of wild creatures, running as if something was chasing us. After over 3hours on the mountain, this was the first time we could actually run.....that's what we came here to do. RUN.

ps. note to self: If one enters a mountain race, one must train on the mountain.

My technical running ability was not what it's supposed to be - not use to rockhopping! that is more Linda Doke's scene. Linda, next year you have to run, to show us how it's supposed to be done!

and then, nothing like ending a day with a bit of an injury. I could feel the inflammation in my foot getting real bad from about 6k's to go. But what can you do. Finish the race and deal with it afterwords.

Self-treatment 101: nothing that duct tape and mixed veg's can't fix.

Cheers
the wanna-be Mountain Goat

and the next desert.....

From the 1st of May it will be all systems go for the next desert......The SAHARA!!!

At the moment I'm enjoying my recovery period, bit of gym, little running and a bit of socialising

I'm super excited about this race - it's a BIG one - but with the help of Ian and a bunch of experienced 4 Desert loonies, I'll be fine (I hope....).

My training for the Sahara will have to be completely different than for Namibia. Guess I'll be spending my weekends running up and down Blouberg beach or in the Atlantis dunes!

.
For the Sahara I have to carry everything I need for the 7 days on my back. I'm going to try my best to clock in my backpack at max 7kg.....that's heavy! and even heavier if you have to run in sand for 7 days.

All fun and games!

Now to secure sponsorship..........there are a few deserts still to be conquered!


This is only the beginning.

Live your life while you are alive

WOW WOW WOW

What an absolutely amazing week in the Namib desert! I can honestly say that is was THE BEST week of my life. The race the people the organisers (Kinetic Events - www.namibdesertchalllenge.com) everything.
And to the Sossusvlei Lodge that fed us every night. At 18h30 every night they rocked up with most amazing food! Springbok steak and potatoes for me, thank you!

With the build up to the race I was quite nervous....will my feet be OK, will I be OK.....you know what everything was perfect. I did get a few blisters, but nothing serious. With the adrenalin pumping you don't even feel your sore feet.

Day 1 and 2 was WET. and they say it never rains in the desert. Bull!
It was all fun and games, I managed not to get any blisters on day 1, only realy disgusting looking feet.
At check point 1 I changed my socks.....was a mental thing....because 30 seconds later they were wet....again.
Mike and Glen(in picture below, and members of Team Toss) passed me at the checkpoint with the following remark..."Looks like trench foot" (thanks guys)

Finished the day with a big fat smile on my face!

and I just knew, this will be an amazing 5 days in the desert.

Day 2 was still wet........

But running in cool weather does make a difference....last year I did day 2 in 6h30 and this year I came in at 5h03!

Thank goodness the sun came out for a bit so that we could dry our clothes, socks and shoes.
We had a barbeque for clothes..........and we came up with new perfume as well....Fire and Sweat.
One day myself and Jesus Menendez will cash in on this unique fragrance!

The Team Toss washing line

and then came Day 3...........and the sun! YEAH!! I trained for HOT weather conditions and not for Jungle type weather. So I felt confident that the day will be good, and a great one it was. Got back to the camp after 4h of running, the sun was shining and could charge my ipod, dry my clothes and all was good.
(as you can see, the main theme of NDC this year was "how to dry your clothes and shoes")

The long day, Day 4

I teamed up with David Barnard after about 6km's and we ran together the whole way. This was the first time in a race that I ran so well with someone else. We ran, walked and chatted and suddenly the day was over. As we approached checkpoint 4, I was a bit disappointed......because the day was almost done, and I wasn't ready for it. Only one more day, and the race will be done and dusted.

Jo(1st lady), Me and Tiaan

Me and Jesus

Day 5........What a blast!. The route was very flat for the first 10+km and then we hit the dunes. Super cool racing and so so beautiful. As I approached the finish line, there were a truck load of tourists behind me - they had no intention of passing me, but instead they cheered me on all the way to the finish line. That was super cool!

Dirk Cloete - NDC 2012 winner!!!

Every day I ran MY race, MY pace and in MY comfort zone.
and I felt alive. I belonged there. Staged racing is my thing. LOVE it!

To all my peeps! Dudes, thanks for all your support! You guys have no idea what it means to me to have you behind me and supporting me in my crazy adventures!


To all my new friends...........was super super cool to meet you guys! I really hope we meet up in the not to distant future.

You know you are all welcome to join me in the Sahara later this year.......

Kriss West, Queen of the desert

my bags are packed, I'm ready to go....

.....well, almost ready to go.

I still have a few last minute things to sort out before I hop on the plane tomorrow morning.

Why do I always leave things until the last minute.....like stitching the velcro onto my running shoes.
last time I use a cobbler, but this time around I will have to do it myself.
so guess what I will be doing tonight! Me myself and I and velcro and a needle and thread and my Inov8's. Nice way to spend a Friday evening.

The nerves are starting to kick in, but it's all good......I know what to expect. Part of my game plan is to start the race very easy. Day 1 is the most important day to me. If I can finish the day without any blisters, it will be awesome.

It will be very hot, but so what - deal with it!

Can't wait to meet up with some old friends and making some new friends!

Wish me luck!!!!!

Check you on the flip side

in 2 week's time

I will be running(shuffling) day 4 of the Namib Desert Challenge 2012.

The day starts with a little swim in the canyon, fantastic, wet feet within the first hour of the race!
But don't be a-feared(don't think this is word, I made it up).....you've got another 7+ hours for your shoes to dry, before you crawl up dune 45.

The race organisers are really kind people, they make you run for 7/8 hours and then they make you run up an HUGE dune. NICE! And then you are finished. YOU ARE FINISHED and so is the long day.

How is it possible that time can fly so so quickly! It feels like just yesterday that my colleague and friend, Colette, baked me this amazing Desert Cake after I completed the NDC 2011.
Collie, I hope I get another one this year........

The training for NDC is done, now it's taper time and time to pack my bag and sort out last minute things.
Going to do the last bit of shopping this weekend and work on my game plan.

My friend DGT wanted to know  - exactly what does "game plan" mean. Am I planning to win?
No no, planning to finish the race.
"game plan" to me means - when to eat what, what to do when I wake up, what to do when I finish each day etc. It may seem silly, but last year I was so tired that I forgot about silly small things.
Like vaseline before the day starts......

Aaight, 'till next week.

Sexy feet

And this will NOT be my feet at the end of NDC!