An impromptu 20km run

Yesterday early afternoon my neighbour gives me a call.

"Do you want to come run 21km with us this afternoon?" he asks.

'Us' is Andrew and his son-in law Ryan.

"Sure, sounds good," I reply.

"Meet us at 15h45 outside Ryan's place. Aisling is going to drop us off 21km away on the Venterskroon road and we'll run back."

As the section we would be running is part of the new event I'm concocting, I was in for sure. I met up with them, my GPS in my backpack to log the route.

I haven't run 20km since... about May, when I did a thru run of the Forest Run route! Aside from the 10km I did on New Years Eve, my runs haven't been longer than 5 to 8km.

It was hot out there when we set off a bit after 4pm. The route is dirt road for the first 10.5km and tar for the next half. We set an easy pace, with me slowing things down to walk parts of the hills.

Andrew (left) and Ryan (right)

The area is looking amazing. Views of the Vaal River, sightings of game, cattle, horses and goats here and there, and lush vegetation in shimmering green all over. The hills of the Vredefort Dome undulate the route.

A bit over two hours later we were back in town - ending on an even 20km with 346m ascent and 276m descent. We live around the corner from each other, which is convenient.

Good news for those thinking of running my AdventureLisa's Fun Run later this year, we ran the route in the opposite direction to what it will be run for the race - so you'll be going down more (on this section) that you'll go up.

I felt quite tired last night but am pleased to say that I'm none the worse for wear this morning. No stiff legs at all, which is surprising.

Yip, a good start to this year and a nice way to do long runs - by being dropped a distance from home.