Seven days are up

What's with this weather? Serious downpours... in winter... in Jo'burg? In school geography we learned about the high pressure system over the highveld in winter, which prevented the warmer, more moist air from the KZN coast making its way up here to bring rain. So, what has happened to this high pressure system?

Actually, what concerns me even more is that I need to get out for my Day 23 run today... Fortunately I'm working from home the whole day with no meetings so I should be able to take advantage of a break in the rain. There are four mouse birds sitting in the leafless tree outside my window looking really, really pathetic and cold. I'd love to bring them indoors and to give them a hug... my cat would like that too!

Ahh... as I type this the sky has lightened and the strong downpour that has been going for the past hour is slowing. There is hope!

The Seven Day Challenge candidates seem to have done really well.

Tezz, in Durbs, sent through her stunning Google Earth image yesterday, on which she has drawn her tracks. This track-drawing thing is fun - it visualises your efforts ;)

Tezz's seven days of tracks

She says, "Well, that went pretty fast! I was quite dedicated at adding different roads to make it look prettier... even so far as to go around the block at gym after spinning to add a couple of new ones! I didn't clock up too much, but am pleased that I stuck to it every day - my normal week consists of two spin classes and maybe one or two walks/runs. My total for the week was about 34km and two spinning classes."

George spent the weekend commentating at the Cross Country Champs with early mornings and a crazy schedule. So, as he says, "like a crummy soap opera Day 6 is now Day 3". What this means is that days four and five were erased and he has tagged on two extra days to complete the challenge on Thursday instead of Tuesday. His post, updated daily, is on his blog.

Fred has rocked through all seven days and he wrapped up his Day 7 with "4km HARD on treadmill followed by 2km of walking at a 2% incline 7.5km an hour". He's now looking to challenge himself with "21 days of Ashtanga yoga". As a practitioner of Ashtanga, I can fairly say that it is probably easier to run for 35 days! ;)

Terrick also enthusiastically jumped on board to do this challenge. "My seven day challenge ended last night with an easy 3km jog with my new-found jogging partner," he says. "It has been an awesome week of adventure that has brought about many smiles, insane laughter, new friends and some close tears due to some unmarked one-metre deep construction holes along our running/cycling path. All definitely worth it. Thank You! the adventure has only just begun."

My mom, Liz, started the challenge just as she was coming down with nasty coughing and spluttering and a runny, snotty nose. She'll pick up her walking again soon to do her seven days this month.

The other challengers, Jon, Darron, Jacques and Elizabeth, please add your comments below. I'd love to hear how you've found your seven days.

(now at the end of my post it is raining again and all misted over...)

20 days done, 15 to go

I've completed 20 consecutive days of running - only 15 to go. And of these 20 days, Saturday (D19) was the most difficult.

I was out on Friday night and Saturday morning I went to yoga. From yoga, I zooted home, fetched my mom and then her friend and we all went through to an 'International Day' thing at the residence of the Japanese Ambassador in Pretoria. Even on the drive home I was feeling way tired and had an evening gig to go to. I so did not feel like running.

As soon as I got home, I leapt into bed for a 30-minute power nap. I woke up from a deep sleep, lying in exactly the same position as when I'd closed my eyes half and hour earlier. In minutes I had my running kit on and was out of the door for a 30-minute run. Home, shower, out for dins and theatre, sleep, orienteering on Sunday morning, home, lunch, out for acroyoga, home. A really busy weekend.

I really found it hard to go out for that run on Saturday afternoon but once I was out, it turned into a nice run - as it always does.

I have a number of recruits doing my Seven Day Challenge. George has been blogging about his days. Fred is on target - today will be his D6. After yoga on Thursday evening he still needed to get in his run for the day. So, he headed out for his run at 20h30 - in zero degree temperature! Challenges realyl work to get your butt out there.

Jon, in Cape Town, unknowingly started the Challenge on 1 June, before reading my post. He'd already decided to get a grip on his training, which coincided beautifully with my Challenge. He says, "So, without even knowing it I started your seven day programme J and I’m going to continue, but I’m going to extend it a bit – even past the 18^th, your birthday, and past the 20^th, the last day of your 35 day programme, and I’m going to continue for the entire month of June – just for the hell of it, and to have a goal". Go Jon, go!

If you missed the boat on 1 June, no worry. Start today. Seven days. Why not?

Don't finish that book

I love reading. Always have. Years ago I would bravely lumber through books that were dull and not at all exciting, holding out for the something that attracted me to it in the first place. No more. Now I feel nothing about halting halfway (or less!) through a book and moving on to another. There are so many really good books to read and not enough hours in my lifetime to get through them all, so I don't intend to spend any more time on books that don't keep my attention.

I've been grinding my teeth on a John Le Carre recently and last night decided to throw in the towel. The story is unfolding way too slowly, the writing is odd and from one night to the next I can't remember who the characters are - it doesn't feel like they have been developed properly. I'm moving on to a new book tonight - looks interesting; by an Indian author.

I've had Peter Godwin's book, "The Fear", on my sidetable for weeks now. Halfway through. The difference with this one is that it is well written and the flow is smooth. It's the topic that I'm finding difficult. The book is about the happenings and atrocities in Zimbabwe before the last elections. Godwin relates incidents factually and without emotion. By 'without emotion' I don't mean that he's stone cold. Far from it. He just doesn't write in a bleeding-heart, sob-story style. He just says what needs to be said, which is certainly even more powerful.

The reason I will probably not finish it is that the topic distresses me greatly. I've never been one for war movies that portray real events and other movies of a similar genre. Ja, I know this stuff happens but I don't like it and you wouldn't catch me signing up to 'defend my country'. Not a chance. (Aside, I'm not very good at following orders either!). I'm fine with CSI, crime movies and book, psychological thrillers - they're entertaining but they're also more distance and somewhat unreal - although, for sure, bad things happen in real life too. War, with people being cruel and brutal to each other... it is too real. Mass nasty stuff.

And "The Fear" is real. It was back then and it is still now in Zimbabwe. As the third generation born in Zimbabwe, this is a topic I'd rather not read before I go to sleep. I get too uptight and tearful.

Whatever your reason for putting a book down, do it and don't feel bad about it or obligated to the author, story or characters. Tick-tock. Jump into the next one instead and enjoy the story.

Saved stuff - irrelevant with time

Spring, summer, winter... all season are good for 'spring cleaning' - whether cupboards, trunks of sporty gear, inbox or harddrive.

I got this really neat little goody from Lexar two weeks ago. It is a plug-and-stay backup drive, the Lexar Echo ZX Backup Drive. Looks like a flash disk, only smaller - much smaller. I've got the 8GB one but they go up to much bigger sizes - like 128GB!

The idea behind this little gem is that you tell it which folders you want it to backup and then it does it automatically while you work on the files or when you plug in the unit again. You don't have to manually update the files on the drive, it does it automatically. Yes, it's an echo drive. For me, it is really handy to back up those files that I use and amend regularly. Ja, I have an external HDD but I don't back it up very often.

The software is on the unit. You unwrap the packaging, plug it in and run the .exe file. It asks you which folders you want it to keep an eye on. Done. You can also password encrypt it too.

I see the role of this Echo drive as being for current projects. My external HDD is great for completed projects and photos and other data that needs to be saved.

One thing though... although the packaging says 'Always-ready, plug-and-stay backup solution', I wouldn't recommend the 'stay' part, afterall, it is a back-up drive. My friend told me of a lass he knows who had her laptop stolen; and her drive was plugged into it. So, remove it when you leave the office, go to a meeting or go to bed and put it in a place separate to your computer. When you plug it in again it will automatically update the folders you've designated.

Now, the problem is that this little drive has been a catalyst for a bit of a spring clean and folder reorganising. I've got some projects that I'm currently working on (in their own folders, which I have targeted to the drive) and there are random spreadsheets in various locations (folders, desktop) that need to be backed up regularly. So, began the cleansing and organising to put those assorted files that are important and that I regularly use in a single folder I can target to the drive (you select folders, not files, for backup).

It's entertaining to look through the files I've saved. Funny and inspiring creative images, downloaded knitting patterns that I'll probably not get around to attempting in a year of public holidays, PDFs guides to this and that, tutorials...

The thing is that these files, including emails in my inbox, become irrelevant with time. For a few weeks I may want to hang on to an email for a snippet of information that I may refer to later. Five months down the line I find myself deleting it all. Same with the files. Same with cupboards and hoarded stuff. I'm really good at sifting through stuff for both myself and other people; I'm a ruthless discarder and passer-on.

Two and a half years ago when my external harddrive was stolen from my home, it really grated because it was an old drive worth maybe R50 (they didn't take the cable) but on it was more than 10 years of data. My old university projects, lots of photos from adventure races and of friends and family, articles that I'd written, various evolutions of AR.co.za... It wasn't often that I accessed the drive for old files, but they were there and they were mine. Do I miss any of the files now? Nope. Sure, there were photos on it of friends and family members now long gone, but I remember them in my mind and don't need a digital image to give them substance.

Losing current files and emails really hurts.

Whether items are digital or material, it's just stuff that really does become irrelevant with time.