Diary of some MADmen – Entry nine – 9 March

Diary of some MADmen is a weekly entry from three crazy guys who are part of the #TEAM18 for MAD2run. They will be running from Joburg to Cape Town, in relay, to raise funds for the MAD Leadership Foundation. For those of you who know the three guys; Josh, Kurt and Allan, what they say in their weekly diary entry could more often than not, be taken as them fooling around. But, as they are all Elite Athletes, we aren’t entirely sure if they are…

If you’d like to get involved and support the cause, click here to do so.

JOSH

Kunjani,

Currently (well when I was writing this) sitting in a plane on the way to Cape Town, strange to think that in 14 days I will be running this journey and not taking the easy route of sitting in an aircraft.

2 weeks to go till we heading out of Joburg, it kind of seems a bit unreal and every now and then I have to pinch myself to remember that this journey started in August last year.

This week we had our last strat/planning session for MAD2Run 2018, final details around the route, shift times/breakdowns and essentially how the whole journey will progress. Post this session, I am far better equipped to explain the finer mechanics of journey (although I know some of my mates will still question this).

We now know which other teams we will be sharing our running shifts with and the times at which we will be running! There is a lot of behind the scenes planning that goes into this trip and it is far more than just jumping in a car and running 1500km down to Cape Town. A massive thank you, to the team who put all these elements together.

A few people have asked me how/what/why did I ever think of doing MAD2Run. Well here are a few of the reasons.

• Kurt and Al needed a supporter (the third member of the team, so I guess I am the third wheel?)—they are good mates and I couldn’t leave them hanging.
• Contributing to something bigger than yourself is very powerful. It provides you with an energy that is hard to describe (my suggestion is that you just try it).
• To experience things that I probably (unless I decide to do another crazy thing like this) would not have experienced, such as running through the Karoo in the early hours of the morning.
• To challenge myself to do more and to do things differently. This journey has taught me A LOT already and I know that there is more to learn on the horizon.

So, as we approach the single digit count down, I can only be excited for what lines ahead of us on the MAD2Run journey.

On the training front, the legs are ready. Haven’t run this week though (I am struggling with some tension in my right calf), but I am not concerned as last week’s 15km time trial was bang on the money. Being in Cape Town for the weekend, I am sure I might land up on the trails on the side of table mountain or on a bicycle.

Enjoy your weekend and keep it tidy!

Ciao

Josh

Ps. Al, shucks bud! Glad I remembered to write this piece, otherwise you were going to have to slot in two MIAs and I know that I would have been in line for another warm gin shot!

ALLAN

Dear Diary,

I am over the flu…..but now have a foot injury!
I went to the chiro yesterday and he needled the crap out of my foot. Just imagine trying to get a needle between the bones in your foot. Not lekker and there was lots of grimacing and shouting out of “PIN! PIN! PIN” when it wasn’t hitting the correct spot.

So, between the flu and now the foot injury, it is two weeks since I last went for a run. When I am back at it, there will be some smart training as we lead up to the start, which is only two weeks away.

Speaking of the start, things got extremely real on Tuesday night. The whole team (barring Kurt, as he is in Bali for his boet’s birthday) either attended or skyped in to the final briefing. Needless to say, but the excitement levels have risen substantially since then.
All the organising that Dayle and Shaun have put in is now coming to fruition as we were shown the route, the timing on the running roster and guess what?! I get to run at 3am through the Karoo desert. That is something I was hoping for all along! I cannot wait. Just imagine the scene; no one else on the road except for the support vehicle, which I may just ask to hang back a bit, so I can run in solitude., not a cloud in the sky, just think of how the sky will look with all the stars not blocked out by pollution or light!!

But first, I need to get some training done, when I’m able to again, and I also need to start with my list of what I need to pack. Luckily Boss-Lady (Dayle) has a general list but it will be the smaller things, the items that I know I’ll need that I have to put down on a list so that I don’t forget or need to buy. I have to remember that there won’t be too many shops that we can buy something if we forget it. But at the same time, it won’t be a life emergency if I don’t have it!

So, what are the plan for this weekend? There is a pre-season hockey tournament that is happening. I decided a while back that I wouldn’t play, but I would be there to coach/manage/chair fines meetings. The reason being, is that I didn’t want to run the risk of injuring myself by rolling an ankle. How Murphy is a horrible person!!!

xoxo

KURT

 

Entry eight – Diary of some MADmen              Entry seven – Diary of some MADmen