Hit the ground running

I had a very successful year last year in terms of reaching my fitness goals, taking part in competitive races and becoming a better runner. How crazy is it that just 3 weeks of holiday can nearly destroy a years progress? Ok that could be slightly dramatic, but I know that I have a lot of catching up to do this year. My new goal is the Maritzburg half marathon in February (soon I know).

I ran the 21km half marathon in Knysna last year, but I thought why not set new goals for a completely different course? I don't see myself running further than that as I think that would be extremely daunting and I am not THAT serious, so I have decided that I need to keep setting up competitive runs/swims as motivation. I don't know if its the leo inside me that constantly requires a shove in the right direction in terms of requiring a reason to complete something, but I am just going to go with what I know works.

So off I went on my first training course, a casual 5km run to start off (or so I thought). Well let me just tell you I had a slight wake up call concerning how much I need to get my A into G before this race, which is only a few weeks away. I might have been overzealous about where I was at in the fitness category... on a scale of one to fat amy I was somewhere in between, and I kind of had to reward myself afterwards with a strawberry smoothie.

This run, however, has a more heartfelt significance to it. A friend of mine came up with the brilliant idea of getting sponsorship from friends, family and strangers (possibly you!) to raise at least R21000 for an orphanage called Bantabami. They focus on children that have been infected or affected with HIV AIDS, and I personally believe that it is a great cause. All the more reason to get my running shoes on and do it for the kids!

Anyone that is keen to make a donation to this amazing cause (no matter how big or small) will be publicly thanked, and personally contribute to improving the lives of the children from Bantabami. You can read up about their outreach programme below, or follow their Facebook page. If you would like to do the half marathon with us (or the full marathon if you are crazy) then please feel free to contact me for more info x