Tell. Don't ask.

I have a neighbour who asks a lot of questions. It's her way of making conversation but it is really irritating. She 'catches' me almost daily and throws a flurry of questions my way. She's not really interested in the answer; just the asking of the question. These range from "Do you think it is going to rain?", which I now answer with, "What do you think?" to "What's that?" and "What are you doing?". I can't even begin to describe the barrage - it's a trait all her own.

But it makes me think back to so many times in the past year where I kept thinking, "Stop asking, please. Tell me something instead".

Asking really has become a way of conversation; a way to connect with people.

On one side it is meant to be polite conversation. You ask people how their day / race / holiday went. You ask them what they do for work. You ask about their family and children.

Questioning is also pure laziness. How many emails do you send asking people stuff that it would really take you only a few clicks to find out? If you had to write a letter (pen and paper), put it in an envelope, lick a stamp and post it to the person would you still ask them the question?

And then there's the 'obligation' side of things. You ask a question and the person is obliged to respond.

Me, I'm into telling. This blog is a case in point.

And I love to be told stuff too.

Yesterday I received a lovely newsy email from a dear friend in the US giving me an update on the happenings in his life. We haven't been in contact much this year so I hung on every word about his family, work and running.  And, guess what? There were no questions in his email.

He wasn't being impolite. The purpose of his email was to update me on his news. He knows that he'll get something equally newsy in response.

See, he gets the sharing of news. He knows that I'm interested in his life and activities and similarly he's interested in my activities. I don't need to include, "So, what are you up to these days?" or "How is work going?" or "How'd your daughter do at college this year?" or "Got any cool races coming up?". He feeds this stuff to me. Sharing is caring.

When I go walking with my mom I tell her stuff. I tell her about projects, people, plans and stuff coming up. She's not as good at spitting stuff out although some times I do get good stories from her. (As she reads my blog she may get more into telling after this post?)

While I've been known to quiz people out - especially where there's juicy news to be known and they're not being very forthcoming (a dash of coaxing required) - I'm actually not very big into asking because I figure that people will reveal what they want to, when they want to. It doesn't mean that I'm not interested.

Yes, I'm into telling. I most enjoy you to telling me what you're up to. Races, projects, plans, excitements, resolutions, goals. To tell just for the purpose of telling. No asking, not instruction. Just telling.

And please, no need to be polite by asking me questions in return ;)

Training log

I first started to keep a training log in about 1991 when I received a log booklet at a running race. I kept a paper-and-ink log for a few years and then didn't log much in the mid 2000s. I started logging in late 2008 - this time an Excel spreadsheet. Sure, I've dabbled with online logs but I like to have my file on my computer for my own purposes. I've got no inclination to share my run routes/log daily.

My spreadsheet has columns for run distance and time as well as time entries for other activities like mtb, paddle and 'other'. Other is usually pole dance, yoga and circus class. I hooked up a graph function to represent run distance each month as well as time spent on disciplines - I don't usually use this although the content populates automatically. For me the most important thing is that at least six days a week have entries in one or more columns.

I've never added up mileages or times so I was totally impressed when my friend Ian (in his 40s) posted his run log for the year on the 31st...

4,526km
339 days of running
Highest week 123km (this week!)
1 sub 3 marathon
A 21km PB (81:05)
7h45 comrades
Seven podiums
Marathons on three continents
Lifetime mileage at 87,028km (including 86 marathons or further) 

So, I added up my mileage for the year... oh goodness. Do I feel inadequate! I've only logged close on 1400 kilometres for the year (minus a number of logs where I was away and couldn't remember what I did). April to June and October to December were my best quarters. I've never been big on high mileage training and it shows in my total vs Ian's. Nonetheless, I'm super impressed with his achievements for the year. To my credit, he isn't putting in 3-5hrs a week of circus school / pole class too.

I'd like to see my running numbers for the year go up so I'm going to aim for over 2000km this year. Yeah, that sounds like a good plan.

31-day challenge

Some people - like me - train year in and year out regardless of goals, races and such motivations. Sure, I'll mix up the disciplines more as a race approaches but for the rest I'm doing something pretty much every day of the year. Others need the prod of an approaching race to get out the door.

My mom is like this. She admits to needing something to work towards. Her 2013 adventure will be to walk a section of the French Camino route. There are Camino routes all over Europe - all leading, ultimately, to Santiago in Spain. She did the traditional pilgrimage route over five weeks in 2011 (this is her talk on Camino de Santiago from FEAT Jo'burg, October 2012). She's looking at September for this adventure.

This means that she has to get back into the habit of walking regularly. The first few months will be about getting fit and acclimatising her feet and legs to walking again - speed, duration and distance. As winter approaches she'll put on her backpack and steadily increase the weight to its 10-kilogram 'race weight'. By September she'll be ready for weeks on her feet, with a loaded backpack.

To get back into the swing of things she decided to do her own 31-day challenge this month; walking every day. I'm joining her (but with running and sometimes a walk with her). You're welcome to join the challenge too. Only 29 days left after today...

A new year - 'Hola amigos' - Adventure Dream

It's another year.

In years gone by I'd get all excited about New Year. It's a time to put the trials of the previous year behind us and to feel excited and energised for all that awaits.

Both last year and this I feel like an exhausted runner standing at the starting line of a race that I don't want to run and having to take numerous deep breaths to psych myself into putting on foot in front of the other.

On the other hand, there are so many things just in the first six months of this new year that I am totally excited about.

I'm back to circus school from Monday - hip-hip-hooray!

Then, late-January kicks off with the Orienteering Schools League. I've got a ton of stuff to write and prep between now and then but I'm looking forward to the League (and the camp that follows at the beginning of March) and hope to see the sparkle in the eyes of many children as they realise that they can find their way from A to B.

In the last few months of 2012 I finished writing the second level of school activities and games so I'll have many school visits to do. I really enjoy interacting with the teachers - teaching them how to teach orienteering skills - and also with the children when opportunity presents.

I've got a nice project to start working on now for Cape Union Mart, one of my clients. They have an expo thing at the end of February.

And, of course, there's my fabulous Forest Run on Saturday, 9 March. I've got a super volunteer team assembled and a ton of organising and logistics to put in place. My list of things to do for this event is a long one. But, it is going to be super fabulously amazing!

In late March I get the chance to run. It's the five-day Namib Desert Challenge. I'm really looking forward to this. I'm running well, feeling good and looking forward to the race.

April is comparatively 'quiet' with no major events. It's www.AR.co.za's 12th birthday so I'll have a Metrogaine Joburg event on - a week night.

May... Expedition Africa time. This is a 500km adventure race organised by Heidi and Stephan. I had been planning on racing... I mean, it's the Drakensberg! But, because of my June-July plans (I'll get to this in a mo) I may have to can this idea and instead volunteer.

This year my 37th birthday looms. Continuing in the tradition of last year and the year before, I've got '37 Days of Running' starting on 13 May. This is 37 continuous days of running - leading up to my birthday - for the age that I'm turning.

Here's the [even more] exciting part...

I've been to South America a few times. In 2003 I went across to run in the inaugural seven-day Jungle Marathon in Brazil. I spent a week in Buenos Aires on one of those great packages where you get flights, seven nights accommodation, city tour, tango evening and such for next to nothing. I went on from BA to Manaus, in Brazil and absolutely loved the race (won ladies and was 10th overall) and the jungle.

In early 2005 I ran the inaugural five-day Coastal Challenge in Costa Rica. A super fabulous event. Straight after this I headed to the tip of the South American continent to write for the Patagonia Expedition Race. That was three weeks in Chilean Patagonia and I fell in love with the place. I was back there in early 2006 and decided then that I really, really wanted to learn Spanish.

I signed up for a course here with Slade and the Spanish Academy. Slade is a superb language teacher and I learned more in one lesson with him than in three months of French at Alliance Francaise. It was here that I had the idea of heading to Argentina to do intensive Spanish lessons for four weeks. While I have a basic understanding of the language, I'm not conversant and especially now when almost seven years have passed.

Last year at FEAT I did a new thing - Adventure Dream postcards. The audience was asked to write down their Adventure Dream - something that they really want to do. Anything counts. I realised that learning Spanish was top of my list - still.

About a month ago I was chatting to Marianne Schwankhart (climber/adventurer; we met through FEAT 2010). She has recently done a course with Slade and she has spent quite a bit of time travelling in South America to climb. When I told her of my plan to go to Buenos Aires she suggested Bariloche instead. Great suggestion as it is an outdoorsy destination rather than a city, which suits me better. It's on the Argentina-Chile border - right up against the Andes mountains. At the 2005 Patagonia Expedition Race there was a cameraman (also an adventure racer) who came from Bariloche and I remember him speaking highly of the place - beautiful, town on a lake, mountains surrounding it, snow...

So, I looked into it...

And last week I booked my flight, accommodation and the Spanish course. Yes, four weeks away to learn Spanish! My adventure dream. I've been working through these awesome Spanish lesson podcasts to revise and to build a bit of a vocabulary again. I should be through all 80 of them by June. You're placed in lessons according to what you know... I really don't want to go all that way to go through 'Hola' and 'Como estas?' again.

I chose to go over this winter period as our schools are on holiday so I won't miss out on stuff for my orienteering project. I can handle odds and ends for clients online. And the double bonus is that Bariloche is a mega snow ski destination (from July) and I've never skiied. I'll definitely sign up for some lessons.

So, that's the first 6.5 months of 2013 for me! And, of course, in between all of this is writing, media releases for clients, various projects, website admin, smaller event participation... BOOM! Time to jump in.

Warm wishes to you too for a full, rewarding and adventurous year ahead.