Longest run in a long time

For the last 6 years, I have done very few long runs. 

When I first moved to George, five years ago, I had a right-knee niggle that I was rehabilitating. I did not know the cause and more than 8 months at the biokineticist resulted in small improvements. A visit to a chiropractor did the trick - my knee pain related to locked SI joint and lower back muscle tension.

I got back to running but stuck with shorter distances (max 8 to 9km) and avoided steep descents.

My knee niggle swapped sides with the left tweaking. Again the problem came from tight lower back, glutes, quads and ITB, which all tugged at my knee making it feel sore. But not all the time. 

I've done odd events (orienteering - max 8km distances), an adventure race (no niggle), an 18km run from Knysna and a handful of runs in the 14/15km distance.

I've learned how to prevent and manage lower back tension (less stress, stretching, mobilisation) and these work well for me.

In the last two months I've had more distance with a few 10km, and three 14-15km runs, and a dash of hiking to cut alien vegetation. I'm consistently stronger and also none worse for wear after each one. 

So, I decided to do the 21km course of the 'For The Trails' run, one of the Garden route Trail Running December events - this one a fundraiser towards the massive amount of trail maintenance done by GTR and Hillbillies.

At the 7am start, it was already warm, but not hot. The course started with a whopper climb up to Tonnelbos and from there on the steep trail up to Van Daalens Peak. I've only ever been down the trail that we went up. 

My strategy for the first 7km - to get over Van Daalens - was to take it 'easy' without spiking my heart rate or breathing so that I would be able to run and enjoy the next 14km of mostly runnable terrain. This worked really well for me and the kilometers ticked off almost too quickly. 

Highlight for me today was the fynbos and the abundance of flowers (Watsonia and others) on the path up to Van Daalens and across the top. And the views of the mountains on the other side.

I felt great throughout the run, paced it well and finished strong. After Van Daalens, I didn't see any people until I caught runners further back on the short course on the Lookout trail. I enjoyed being out there on my own with no distractions.

The run took me around 3h30. It must have been two hours to get to 9km with all that ascent. 

I'm looking forward to enjoying more long runs out there. 

My JHB friends Tania and Paul and their daughters are down here for Xmas. We went to the Bon Game Reserve parkrun on Saturday morning, which is a bit out of Mossel Bay on the Cape town side. Small parkrun, really nice route, some steep short climbs and pleasant running. 

with Paul, Tania and Sarah. 

Big discounts - and they're not making a loss

 We decided long ago that AR Gaiters would not do discounts on our products and Black Friday sales. Our pricing is fair and it is not overinflated to accommodate seasonal sales. We also didn't want someone who orders one day to score big, while someone else two days later who only just heard of us misses out and pays full price. We also did not want our sales to be affected by customers waiting six months for a clearance sale.

On Sunday morning, I went to Food Lover's Market for the first time in a long time. A friend had shared that a sale was on and one of the items was 2kg parboiled rice, which I mix in with my dog's food. The price was a win at 4 x 2kg for R100. I picked up some other items for myself and for my friend too. The special included 8 x 500g pasta for R100. The saving, just on this, was R139.92! In total, my savings on a total bill of R599 - items for me and for my friend, came to R291.79. 

Here's the thing... they are not making a loss on selling these products at significantly lower prices. They are just making less profit. It is a numbers game selling bigger volume for a lower margin to still come out right at the end.

I do love a good discount, and I would be a fool not to take advantage of offers, but it does make me feel that the rest of the time I'm being ripped off.

We never want our AR Gaiters customers to feel like this so we instead deliver an excellent product at a fair price all year.

New career path - Mediation

 I'm very proud to announce a new career path that I have chosen... I am now a qualified Family Law Mediator.

I've had a busy few months with part-time studies through Mediation Academy. The course wrapped up with two intensive practical days just before I joined up with the team for Strandloper Project.

Even a year ago, I could not have imagined that this would be my path. The silver lining to three years of encounters with the law directly (Vagabond) and indirectly (two close family members) made it clear that court, where the outcome is out of your control, is not a solution (for most non-criminal disputes) and that there has to be a better, less expensive, quicker and more successful way.

 
There is. Mediation.

The foundation of mediation studies is Family Mediation (divorce, maintenance, child care and contact). The tools and techniques acquired here apply to other types of conflict.

 
With more than 30-years in sports (participating, directing, teams, committees and organisations), this is a keen area of interest for me to mediate disputes in the sports environment (athlete-athlete, coach-athlete, association-athlete, sponsor-athlete etc).

 
Life and experiences have led me to this new second-life career. Now the hard work starts in building a new business. Lisa de Speville Mediation is online - a lot still to be built over time.

Logo elements inspired by my love for navigation.
The bodies of the people are compass arrows.
Three people for Party A, Mediator and Party B.

A friend passed on this quote recently and it holds true:

"And then it happens... One day you wake up and you're in this place. You're in this place where everything feels right. Your heart is calm. Your soul is lit. Your thoughts are positive. Your vision is clear. You're at peace, at peace with where you've been, at peace with what you've been through and at peace with where you're headed."

(popular motivational text with no single confirmed author)

Strandloper Project Research Expedition 2025

It was very special to be part of this year's Strandloper Project Research Expedition (15-25 October 2025), documenting the amount and types of waste littering Garden Route beaches. I seldom visit the beach, so I have a whole new perspective and awareness of what is going on. Chunky trash and also nurdles and microplastics on the beach is an indication of so much more that is going on than what we see.

I spent 9 days (of the 11; I joined on Day 3 in Stilbaai) walking a section of the Garden Route coastline from Blombos Nature Reserve to Wilderness. I've followed and supported this research expedition for a few years and this year I did not want to miss out. I enjoyed writing our daily posts on the Strandloper Project Facebook page.

2025 Strandloper Project Research Expedition team: Jonathan, Mandy, Lisa, Mark. Our awesome support driver Rose took this photo.

 Packaging of products by manufacturers, our purchasing of packaged products (water and other beverages included), what we do with this generated waste and what our municipalities do with this waste is a big part of dealing with contamination of waterways, drains, the sea and beaches.

If you go to the beach - or to a river, take a bag along with you to fill with litter. Picking it up - even if the tide is going to bring more in tomorrow - makes a difference in a variety of ways.

Beaches will never look the same again and I don't think I can ever set foot on a beach again without doing a Trashy20 survey first.

Strandloper Project online

Website: www.strandloperproject.org
Facebook: www.facebook.com/StrandloperProjectResearch
Instagram: www.instagram.com/strandloperproject

My thanks to Mark Dixon, Mandy Pelser, Jonathan Britton and Rose Greyling Bilbrough for being such awesome, dedicated and hard-working teammates and for showing me the ropes. We had many sponsors who offered their support from a back-up vehicle to frozen, cooked meals, and sunblock. We looked like a research team with matching shirts and jackets. AR Gaiters did our gaiters again this year - this time in a custom Strandloper Project print. Every contribution made this expedition possible.

A Trashy20 (10m x 2m) survey on a pebble beach - this was just surface material.

Mark is working through the collected data. Findings will be posted on Strandloper's Facebook page.