Hello, my name is Hillary and I've got a bum toe!

Hello Dear Reader,

I'd like to reintroduce myself. My name is Hillary and I run hills for fun. Wait, wait! Let me redo that. Hello, my name is Hillary and running hills isn't fun, but I still do it anyway. Ah, yes, much better!

As I stated in yesterday's post, my mission over the next couple of weeks is to run all of the roads (without stopping) that lead to the new Lesotho parliament building. I was supposed to run hills with my friend Doc yesterday, but he tricked me to get me out by his way so that I could hang out with his friends and take a break from running. He thinks I'm too intense. I guess I wasn't too annoyed, because we did have fun and it was raining anyway.

To make up for the trick, Doc sent me a message this morning saying, "I hope you're not doing anything today, cause we're running hills straight after work." Hmm... We'll see if he shows up... he is a lazy bum after all (jk).

Either way, I AM RUNNING HILLS TONIGHT...rain or shine...because I mean business! Tonight will be the first post- Sasol Half Marathon run. The 3 day break from running has actually been a great, yet unplanned, decision. All of the delayed aches and pains have subsided, and my toe is not throbbing like it has been. Additionally, my energy levels are fully restored and I'm ready to go, go, go!

But wait, let me rewind a little bit and speak about my toe. So, early last week, I was washing dishes and dropped a really heavy metal knife on one of my toe nails. If that wasn't enough trauma to my toe, I then had to go and run a half marathon. Poor little toe! After the race, I had Doc take a look at it and in his shaky medical opinion, he thinks my nail is going to fall off. Eww! In a resting state, my achy breaky toe is fine. When any pressure is applied to the nail (yes, I've got issues to do that), it's sore. Clearly, hill running and the upcoming Crocodilian 32km race won't keep me still...but it's the price we pay for 26.2 miles, right? I promise I won't take a picture of it and post it to this here blog (I hope), but forgive me in advance cause I will feel compelled to spill the yucky details every once in a while.

Ok, now back to running. We're all very well aware of the fact that, between November and December, I lost touch with my running mojo. Very sad. Very true. One of the best decisions I've made recently is planning weekend races to get my long miles in. Not only have I been able to knock out long runs, but the excitement and motivation I initially had around running is back and in full effect. Not sure if it's possible, but I'm still burning running high fuel. Setting targets and achieving mini-accomplishments has done the trick to make me want to get up every day and run (and getting a metal and race t-shirt doesn't hurt either). I mean really, how many marathon trainers can say that every time they complete a long run, they get a t-shirt and a medal for it? I know I can!

The other day, I was having an email conversation with one of my friends in Rwanda. We'll call her CPT. CPT is an amazingly witty lady with a passion for baked goods, hiking tall mountains, and lives by the motto..."Why stop at 26.2?" My lovely friend CPT told me that she is now training for a 100 mile race. I'll pause here for you to collect your jaw off the ground.......here's some elevator music to aid in the process....

......better now? Whew! 100 miles?! No way. No how. I asked her if she had reinforced steel legs and a mission to prove everyone in life wrong. I wanted to know...what's the secret.

My secret? i run very slowly. very consistently (as in consistent throughout the run and consistently through life). and with absolute pleasure- running is my favourite activity on earth (unless there is hiking as an option).why stop there when you can keep going? why hike kili when there is everest? that is the kind of mentality I have with exercise. I fail often and that is ok. But the only true secret to running is that it is all in your mind. if people realised that, the whole world would be runners. in fact, the whole world used to be runners before the invention of electricity.

Perhaps she has the right idea: trying in the face of failure and remembering that running is 95% mental. I forget the last part often. With that said, I'm going to level a few hills tonight and if it doesn't happen tonight, well, I'll keep trying until I do!

Until next time...one foot in front of the other...keep it movin'!

Yours in (95% mental) training,


Dani aka Hillary