Crazy Week

It’s been a wierdly crazy week for me and I am so pleased that I am going away tomorrow.

I ran a great 21km race on Monday, the Traumeel Wally Hayward marathon and half marathon.  The weather was so much better than Sunday, the route was tough without being unpleasant and I ran with some good people.  I was happy with my weekend mileage – 4km Time Trial, 32km race and 21km race = 57km.

Tuesday evening I ran with the girls at my running club, a slow/recovery 6km.  I did 3km barefoot but needed to be sensible in the dark and wore my sandals on the way back.

Wednesday I had a runny nose and couldn’t breath thru’ my nose while I slept.  Today I woke up and my nose is blocked and I have slight winter cold = forced rest!!

My husband has also had issues at work, looks like he has been retrenched.

This morning we had to put my folks 15 year old Yorkie “to sleep” and shortly thereafter a friend, who lives in Australia, arrived at my house for a surprise visit.  I didn’t get to do what needed to be done this morning, but fitted it in this afternoon altho’ I did run around feeling overwhelmed.

I have now packed my running bag and a weekend bag and my youngest and I are off early in the morning with my folks.  My husband will fetch our eldest from school and they will join us later in the afternoon.  Where am I going??

To Sudwala Lodge, near the Sudwala Caves, to run the Screaming Monster Sudwala Half Marathon on Saturday morning (A great video from last years race can be found here)

The Race of the Screaming Monster

The Sudwala caves are proud to sponsor a 21km half-marathon aptly named the Race of the Screaming Monster. It is the only race in the world where runners must run through a cave!
The Screaming Monster is a huge calcium formation in the caves which marks the turning point for the foolhardy taking part.
The race kicks off at 7am from the Sudwala lodge. The route will take you out on a beautiful winding tarred road that climbs gently out of the Sudwala/Houtbosloop valley,for about 6km.The scenery is lovely. After cresting the top of the pass there is a nice downhill for a couple of kilometres until the turning point is reached. Then you face a mild uphill back to the top of the pass and the fun begins. Six kilometres of fabulous downhill with great views of the valley. This is where you can really let the wheels roll! Once you reach the bottom of the valley floor again,there is a fairly flat stretch back to Sudwala lodge. Now begins the Monster part of this run. The route will take you up the mountain for 1.7km and deliver you at the bottom of the steps which lead up to the entrance of the caves. By now you will hear the drums banging. Once you reach the cave entrance the route leads you along into these beautiful cool caverns.The floor in the caves is fairly level with small cobbles in places. The caves are wide and spacious and there is no need to crawl,although you may be crawling from fatigue by this time. The caves are well lit up and the route is well indicated. The Screaming Monster will be waiting for you to pay your respects to. On reaching the Screaming Monster,runners will turn back to the entrance and follow the same route out of the caves. And from here its a breeze,downhill all the way to the finish,at the Sudwala Lodge.

I love that I get to travel to all these different places, just to run.  I am so looking forward to taking part in this race and to just rest and recover from my crazy week.

I plan on taking loads of pictures, so enjoy your weekend and come back on Monday!!