Up, up and away in a hot air balloon

This morning I had the pleasure of going hot air ballooning!

There is quite a bit of ballooning that goes on around here - totally understandable when you see the area. We've got lots of open fields (with road access) for take offs and landing as well as the scenic Vaal River and Vredefort Dome to look down on.

This morning I was up before 5am to meet at a place a few minutes from town. The air was still. Like totally still. The test balloon went straight up. Today was never going to be a distance outing.

I thoroughly enjoyed helping Felicity (pilot) and Rich (pilot) to get their kit ready and balloons inflated. Everything, from the basket to the gas tanks and balloons, is sooooo heavy! These are small baskets that can hold three people (possibly four at a squish?) and it takes a few of us to move one. I don't even think that four people could lift a basket? We tilt them to move them around and to get them on and off the trailers. And these balloons are 'small', as far as balloons go. Imagine how big a balloon must be to lift one of those huge baskets that can carry 12-odd people? !

It was really cool when the fans started to blow air into the balloons. They lie horizontal on the ground as they inflate.

Sunrise happenin'

This is Rich inside the balloon, securing the crown. He is there - to the right of the round  yellow centre circle. And this is a 'small' balloon!

Then the burners blast heat into the balloon and it rises, tilting the basket upright.

Felicity in her basket.

I was in the basket with Rich and we took off smoothly. With absolutely no wind, we knew from the outset that this would not be a day for distance; but we did hope to get to the Vaal River at least.

We took to the air first. Looking down on Felicity's balloon.

Alas, it was not to be. We caught some very light breezes but pretty much got no more than 500 metres from where we started. It was very misty and I really enjoyed looking out at the Vredefort Dome, towards the hills that I've spent so much time in recently for Forest Run planning.

Felicity in the air.

Looking towards the Vaal. Mist all around. No river in sight.

Our shadow.

We tried for a while to catch a breeze at different heights and then drifted back towards where we set off. We landed in a field about 300 metres straight-line from where we started. This was really easy for Sylvia and the friendly guy who was staying at the venue - they were driving the vehicles with the trailers to fetch us.

It is heavy and warming work to deflate the balloon and to pack everything up. The weight is everything is really quite incredible.

Two curious horses and two curious donkeys came to see what we were up to in their field.

It was a good experience to go hot air ballooning. It really is quite remarkable and would make for an amazing, practical physics class - this whole hot air rising thing; as well as volumes and weights. It must be very exciting to fly distances on strong winds and also to great heights. I look forward to other opportunities.

My thanks to Sylvia for inviting me and to Felicity (pilot), Rich (pilot) and Koos (I really don't think this is his real name!), who warmly welcomed me.

You're a name, not a number

Online entry systems are really useful because they take care of admin behind the scenes. With a system like this, event organisers can just download a spreadsheet with names of entrants and that's it done.

But, for me, there's a problem with this...

If your entry has gone through an online system, I don't feel like I know you. You're a name on a list that I'll probably download close to the event date.

I used an online system for my first two Forest Run events (I was using it for other events) and it works well. The system definitely takes a load off... but, I end up on race day not really knowing who has entered. I see the names on the list but I don't SEE the names. Last year I really enjoyed interacting directly with runners.

Going into this Forest Run I decided from the outset to handle all entries manually again. Sure, there is more admin and emails and comms... but from these I get pleasure. In meeting you, the entrants - old and new. By the time you rock up at the race, I've spoken to you on email, I've looked through your entry forms. I know how old you are and where you're from.

To me, you're more than a name on a spreadsheet to which I assign a race number. You're a Forest Runner.

Then, when I greet you at the finish line, I'm so totally proud of you. Because I've met you. Even if just through an email and your entry form.

Running my own Metrogaine event

I had an absolute treat on Wednesday night - an opportunity to be a participant in my own Metrogaine event. It was hosted from Fred Richardson's Mindful Runner store in Emmarentia.

A few months ago, Christie Courtnage, a young and experienced orienteer, asked if she and Timothy Chambers (another orienteer) could organise the annual April Metrogaine, especially as I've moved from Jo'burg so logistics are a bit more challenging. I immediately agreed.

Christie is based in Jo'burg; Tim is studying in Cape Town, so he assisted with clues during his varsity holidays. What a superb event they planned! Spot-on control placement and excellent clues.

They also had some excellent 'carrots' - high point-score controls and an excellent points distribution that you really had to think about. Very many options out there.

Wednesday was a cold and wet night - the coldest we've had in many, many months. My teammate wasn't keen to run in the rain (I don't blame her!) so I headed out on my own. I wasn't sure going into it how well I'd be running, considering that I had 50km in my legs from the day before.

I felt like a champ! The cooler temperatures really make a difference. I even ran the hills! Initially I was a bit too hot with my shell on, but after 90 minutes when the rain was coming down more, I then started to really feel the chill.

This is what my route looked like:

 Although my route had good flow, I did make a few mistakes.

Early on, I should have gone to #22 before #23. Plenty close enough.

I went 33, 34, 66, 37, 35... I could have gone 33, 34, 35. My map was folded over and I hadn't quite seen 35. My plan wasn't to go back past 35 but to possibly head to 46. As it happened, I was short on time and so hitting 35 as I did actually worked out fine.

I should have zapped the controls at the top of the map and left the ones on the side of #66.
That said, not knowing how my legs were going to feel, I didn't want to run too far away and then have to get over the hill to get back. I decided from the beginning not to go up there even though the points score would have definitely been far more favourable.

Metrogaine really is a super fun event. There's a definite thrill in running around the suburbs at night, claiming them for our own recreation and enjoyment. Night is, for me, a magical time of day. I also took great delight in seeing headlamps of other runners criss-crossing roads and saying hi to them when we passed each other.

We've got some other maps and routes and results on our Metrogaine Facebook page. The Strava fly-by is a really cool one to check out as you can watch the tags moving as the people run around.

My thanks to Christie and Tim for their excellent planning, to Denise for handling the admin and entries, to Brian for his event support; to Fred for opening his store doors to us, for the local Buck & Hog for letting us use their loos and supplying post-run colddrinks. We also enjoyed some samples of flavoured coconut water from Denise's connection. A special thank you too to Vix - I stayed over with her. An excellent team for a most wonderful evening. Thank you.

Forest Run 46km thru run

When I go out scouting tracks and paths for routes, I cover a lot of ground. I check out this trail, that animal track to look for options and connections. Over the past three months, I've covered almost 200 kilometres of trails in the Vredefort Dome. My GPS tracks look like a spider web.

Not all of these tracks are useful. When I construct a route it has to have logical flow, the direction must be pleasing (scenery) and the intensity of the trails must vary.

After each scouting outing I colour-coded my tracks with green being easy-running sections, yellow for runnable sections that require concentration, orange for sections that are technical and slow runnable (I may or may not run them) and red for those sections that I would definitely not run.

Only then did I looked at connecting these tracks to make exciting routes with good doses of green, yellow and orange plus aiming to limit the amount of red - of which there is much available.

On computer, I end up with routes but they've been done in sections, which I may have originally done in the opposite direction as the planned route.

Yesterday I headed out to run the thru-route of the 46km, which includes the 16km (minus a short section that I have done in the past - in the right direction) and the 30km routes.

I only set off at around 08h30 and took it nice and easy, knowing that I had a full day ahead. My running training this summer has been the worst of my life, so with limited kilometres in my legs, I didn't want to push it too hard, too early.

Conditions were perfect as it was cool, overcast and later in the afternoon there was light drizzle.

Even so, I had to be very conservative with my water as there is nowhere to fill up until the furtherest end of the route. Being low on water for a long time was challenging, even though conditions were mostly cool. I was very relieved to get to a cattle trough.

I checked the JoJo tank for a tap. Nada. The flow into the trough is regulated by a toilet cistern-like system. Nice, fresh water. I didn't want to chance it so I did add a water purifying tablet to my reservoir. When I got to Warrin he told me that the water is clean, borehole water and is good to drink straight.

 There has been a lot of growth in vegetation over the past few weeks. We did get some rain in March and the plants responded.

Same area, almost exactly two months apart. This is a section with an old unused trail so it was difficult to follow in Feb. Near impossible now.

I'll be out there in the weeks before Forest Run to trim the route. This will mean weed eating sections like this so that participants can actually see where they're running and what they're putting their feet on. For me it is a way to 'mark' the route - a clear track is the only option for runners to take.

Company.

Pretty.

Warrin's horses on top of a ridge.

I lost a good deal of time in 'stopped time', which was consumed when I stopped at a number of places to send text message back to my safety followers. Stopping means backpack off, open it up, dig out zip-locked phone, check for signal, send messages, wait for send, pack everything back, get going again. Stopping to fill up at the trough took a while and another big fill an hour later. And then a later chatting stop near the end. Total stopped time was 1h30.

I also messed up two sections of the route (I was trying to do it all from memory) and lost probably an hour with these. These messes alter my distance log. I logged a total of 48.5km. For the actual route, this would be no more than 47km.

My moving time was 8h23 so I think it fair to adjust moving time to 7h20 or so. I took it way chilled and walked all the ups. I ran (very chilled and easy pace) the runnable flats and downs. With playing with my map and GPS, I'd say that I was probably moving just a bit quicker (I know the terrain) than a back-of-the-pack runner.

The open 4x4 track sections are divine to run. I definitely reeled in the time here. There are a few sections of really technical rocky terrain, like the sting-in-the-tail descent near the end. These are, for me, slow going because I'm really cautious on stuff like this. And I definitely lost time with all my walking and messing around.

I'm very happy with the route. It has a good balance. The nature of the area means that it is not easy out there. 46km is a decent distance - off-road - any way you look at it. Accumulated elevation is a bit over 1420m.

I made it through to the end just before dark. A very good day.

Pretty sunset colours bouncing off clouds on the opposite side.