Night Relay running

This weekend was loaded with activities; and they got off to a start with ex-ARer Max Cluer's Energizer Night Relay. This event has been around for years, but this was its first visit to Jo'burg. The race was held out at Teak Place, which I'd never been to before, despite having heard of its recent revamp and wonderful mtb trails.

My teammates for the night were Steven, Adri and Lizelle, my Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge teammates. Max kindly gave us an entry in support of our preparation for ADAC - thank you Max (and Bex) - and we were looking forward to this fun relay event. We're also doing Max's Triple Challenge event in early November too.

I stopped at Asia City in Bruma on my way to pick up some goodies for the fancy dress component of the event. We were really only one of two teams who dressed up. I thought that we looked better, but the other guys, who cycled in chef outfits - pants and jacket (sans chef's hats, which would have looked good) won the prize. Our wigs, specs and glo-sticks rocked - coordinated outfits would have made us sure winners ;)

The relay format is a 5km loop that each person runs, relay-style, as they pass the glo-stick batton to their next person.

Lovely course, easy smooth trails and great vibe in the transition/finish area. There was music, a big screen and much festivity and shouting as runners came in and out. The bikers were on different trails to the runners and we didn't really pay them much attention. The biking winners - Team Garmin, I think (Mannie and Philip I think it was) - flew around the course to really whip everyone else.

On the run course, the Nedbank mixed team won (yes, they beat the Nedbank mens team... ja, weird...) and an adventure racing team (Piers and company, I think Jane and Nathan and can't think of the other?) came second. Woooohooo!

A super evening out and a late night getting home... We all needed to be up early in the morning to run at Suikerbosrand.
* Upper photo by Jacques Marais.

Some pics from the evening...

Lizelle

Steven

Steven making good time on his 5km lap

Steven & Adri

Adri

Lisa & Steven

Silkie update

My silkworms are HUGE! Yes, in one week they have quadrupled in size. They're eating machines and going through vast quantities of mulberry leaves.

Last week Sunday (or Monday) night we had a near crisis. My silkies were attacked by ants. Fortunately, the ants hadn't been in the box for more than 30 minutes so my worms survived. But it was a horrible experience for them - and me! The silkies were writhing in pain - the ants were crawling all over them... biting. It was really traumatic. I took the silkies out one by one and removed their attackers. Once the silkies were safe from harm, a big flood came and destroyed the ants, washing them down the drain. Lovely. Ant-traps are now installed too. The silkies now live in a houseboat -  a tub floating in a bigger tray, like a castle with a moat.

The silkies went through a moult last week too and they've come out of it well and healthy and way, way bigger. They just keep growing! Here's an updated photo taken a few minutes ago - compare to the one from seven days ago.



Fabulous FEAT

Wow! I knew it would be great and it was even better than that! The audience went home completely inspired, encouraged to follow their hearts and to answer that calling for adventure - even those people who are not sporty and adventurous. Yay! - FEAT did what it was meant to.

The speakers were all incredible and because of the mix of topics, there really was something for everyone - and more.

As for the surprises... we had some super prizes from the event sponsors (envelopes were randomly hidden under chairs in the theatre), a top trials bike rider, Dylan Victor, who did some bouncing around on (and onto) the stage (and over people!) and a seven minute clip from Riaan Manser's new doccie about his kayak circumnavigation of Madagascar ('Madagascar Maverick').

And, as if 12 speakers and these treats were not enough, our MC for the night was none other than ultra running legend and 'King of Comrades Marathon', Bruce Fordyce. He's a great supporter of adventurous pursuits and he was blown away by the speakers.


A super-special photograph

I'm still buzzing, my inbox is going mad and I'm just so absolutely delighted by the success of the event. I could hardly get to sleep when I got to bed at 2am this morning because my mind was racing with tweaks to make and so many ideas for fun elements to include.

The next FEAT will be in Cape Town in early 2011 and it will be an annual event in October.
 
Thank you to the speakers: Alex, Andrew, Cobus, Darron, Kyle, Julian, Mandy, Marianne, Mike, Pete, Pierre and Ray - Wwwoooohoooo! You are all so inspirational.
 
Also to the audience for your support of FEAT and the adventurers.
 
FEAT's sponsors: Biophys (Michael), Buff (Christo, Eric and Nicholas), CapeStorm (Tony) and Hi-Tec (Shayne and Ian)
 
Media: Go Multi magazine (Deon)
 
FEAT Theme Tune: Roland Albertson
 
FEAT logo: Adri
 
MC: Bruce
 
Projection: William
 
Music: Alistair
 
Videography: Willem and Gustav (and extra special thanks to Paul)
 
Photography: Dino
 
And a bunch of merry helpers who complete my team: Dane, Liz, Judy, Lauren, Pam, Paul (with Willem and Gustav).

THANK YOU everyone for being part of making one of my dreams come true last night.

Around the mulberry bush

Yes, it's right. I'm 34 and I have silkworms as temporary pets, a pasttime usually associated with school children. I haven't had silkies for almost two decades!

I got them from friends, who have children, and it is fun raising these silly worms. I've got only 20 of them as I like giving them personal attention. I remember reading something in an article in a National Geographic magazine from the late '80s about tickling silkworms with a feather to encourage them to grow nice and big; and this is what I did as a child. My silkies were always healthy and sizeable. I'm going to give it a try again - and I'll make them spin shapes.

My regular run routes pass loads of mulberry trees, so I have no shortage of leaves.

I'll post an update in a few weeks (I can't remember how long these guys take to get to cocoon spinnin stage?) to show you how big I can get them. Mmm... need a negative control to see whether my techniques work better than just shoving them in a box with food...