Monday 23 May 2011

Seven days down, National Running Day, Fish River Challenge 100km

This afternoon I completed my seventh consecutive day of running - 28 to go ;) I'm drawing (or download from my i-GotU unit) all my runs in on Google Earth - just for fun. I should have a really colourful picture by 20 June.


If you look carefully, you'll only see six runs here - the missing one was from orienteering in Pretoria (70km to the north-east of here) on Saturday. To include it would have made these colours into little blobs. Longest run this week was 10km (orange); shortest was the orienteering at 3.8km. I figured my warm-up run topped the distance to just over 4km. I've taken it nice and easy this week with really lovely runs - not pushing it. I've still been a bit post-flu but definitely feeling better with every run. Nose no longer running like my legs.

Talking running... last night I finished Marshall Ulrich's book, Running on Empty - about his 52 day run across the US (West to East). He ran between 60-70 miles! per day through all kinds of agonies.

I've certainly known of Marshall for many, many years from both his adventure racing and ultra running exploits; what a treat to read his book. I was on a waiting list for it for weeks and when I got the notification that the book was available I immediately ordered it. I can recommend this as a book to read - if you're into running tales.

On Marshall's blog I've just seen a note about 1 June being National Running Day in the US - there's a website 'n all (www.runningday.org).

I challenge you to turn this one day into one week. Maybe try what I've just done these seven days - run for one week - from 1 June, every day. It's actually not that hard and when you've got a mission like this; it really does make it easier.

I love running every day but I rarely do it. My running ends up as three to five times a week plus yoga twice a week, dance class once a week, bike once a week... Time just runs out. But, like now, with this focus, running is prioritised and even if I can only squeeze in a 20 minute run (4km), I do.

This running focused period is doing me the world of good. I'm running in the new Fish River Challenge Race at the end of August (booking my flight to Windhoek this week). It's a 100km non-stop, self-supported run through the Fish River Canyon in Namibia. Some adventure racers did it in 2003 and from their adventure this race was born.

This non-stop, self-supported race is so my thing - just read this description:
The race will commence at the rustic Canon Roadhouse Lodge situated near the world famous Fish River Canyon. From there, competitors will follow animal tracks and paths heading cross-country to the edge of the Canyon. They will then follow the edge of the Canyon, taking in the magnificent view until they reach the point where they will descend into the Canyon. Once down in the Canyon, they will follow the river, with an occasional detour across wide meandering bends in the river, and will eventually finish at the wonderfully soothing hot springs resort of Ai-Ais.
Nice eh?

So, let me know if you're gonna give LISA'S ONE WEEK RUN CHALLENGE a try - starting 1 June. I'll be doing it too (as part of my 35 day thing).

4 comments:

expressyourself said...

Hi there, all sounds really cool, i definitely need to get another trip/goal planned or else i will go quite mad. just bought the book so waiting for Kalahari to deliver and then i will get stuck into it, can't wait. see you on wednesday, cheers,

Anonymous said...

Hi - in the '70's some people ran the Fish River Canyon from dawn to dusk in one day. You know anything about that?
'O' Toppie

adventurelisa said...

Nope, I don't know about the attempt in the 70s. This is the history that is on the event website. I remember the 2003 attempt as these guys - specifically Coenraad and Russell - were involved in adventure racing at the time.

"On the 13th of July 1990, two South Africans, Bruce Mathews and Ronnie Muhl attempted to run the Fish River Canyon hiking trail in under a day. They managed to achieve their goal, eventually finishing in a total time of 11hrs 42min.

On the 16th of August 2003, four Namibians decided to better this record. They were Russell Paschke, Charlie du Toit, Coenraad Pool and Tommy van Wyk. They succeeded in their quest, finally finishing in a total time of 10hrs 54min."

Floris steytler said...

Hi there. A friend a I ran the Fish last Sunday, the 24 th of July. It took us 14 hours 45 minutes from the start at the view point to Ai Ais. What a magnificent experience! The level of the river is still high so you need to take your shoes off for a river crossing, and we had in total 13 crossings, quiet time consuming. Enjoy the challenge! Floris Steytler