I have been asked this question quite a few times over the last few weeks. On the surface it was to lose weight and raise some money for charity. At the same time it is to be able to say I’ve finished the Comrades Marathon and to be an Ironman. But deep down there is a lot more to it. I came across a brief blog post this morning that I thought I would modify a bit and add to it a bit. Here is what I managed to come up with:

Why do I do this? To prove my ghosts wrong. That past failures don’t have to be an predictor of future performances. To prove the young blood that they’re not young enough and to prove to the old folk that they’re not to old to be there. To prove my past wrong and my future better, everyday. To make my weakness stronger in every way. To escape, to tell myself I CAN when its beyond safe, to show there is no limit, there is no such thing as good enough. To prove mind over body and body over mind. To achieve what was once unknown, unthinkable and in my mind unachievable. To enjoy every breath, sight, gasp, ache, sweat, sunray, raindrop, dawn and sunset. To prove that I can give my all. And then some. And then some more. Because it’s the best therapy and best of all its free. Because there is nothing I’d rather do. To me its completely normal to get up everyday to swim, bike and run. For hours at a time. Because only a few people know what it takes to get to the start line, knowing that even if its crawling, you have promised to get yourself to the finish and that’s saying something about yourself. To hear someone say “you’re not good enough” and have that push me to slash my times. To hear someone say “you’re crazy to even try” and have that push you to keep going when the urge is there to quit. To prove 4 hours 57 WRONG. To love doing what I do best. To be in that moment right there and not yearn to be somewhere else. To embrace the challenge and live the journey.

To chase down the person in front of me and show them how its done only to get passed and be humbled and inspired by them. To show life that I will not back down. I will not quit. And I will keep moving forward.

But above all to prove that limits don’t exist, boundaries are merely figments of our imagination – an oasis of our mind. Change can be made and the past can be left behind and to prove to myself that even if I can’t do it all right now, at least I can do this and just get better everyday in every little way.

Comrades Marathon - The Ultimate Human Race

The Comrades Marathon 2011 is approaching and I am really excited to be involved with the charity initiative. What I have managed to do is convince the Comrades Marathon Association to provide us with a starting pen specifically for the runners who are running the 2011 race for charity. If you, like me, started in the H group in 2010 you’ll be pleased to know the charity pen is a lot closer to the front. If you look on your 2011 Comrades Marathon entry form you will see there is a seeding batch called ‘CC’, this is the batch that has been set aside for runners who have raised funds for the Amabeadibeadi charities.

What we are trying to achieve is to raise five million rand for the Amabeadibeadi charities in 2011. The Comrades Marathon has 5 official chartities, the Community Chest, the Wildlands Conservation Trust, the Sports Trust, the Starfish Foundation and the PinkDrive. There are only 1000 spots available in this starting pen and all you need to do is raise R5 000 for one of the Amabeadibeadi charities.

Not only will you get to start in the charity seeding group but we have also put together really exclusive goodie bags for all the runners running for charity as a thank you. We have also secure some really special spot prizes for the charity group as well and some really cool incentive prizes for those runners that raise the most money for the Amabeadibeadi Charities.

If you would like to find out more about this initiative you can visit the 2011 Comrades Marathon Charity Initiative website.

I just got back from a 98km cycle and I am poked. We decided (Kevin and I) to do an easy 100km ride this morning. We headed out towards Maropeng at a decent pace and all was going just great. We were about to turn left off the R563 towards Maropeng when Kevin looked at me and asked “Are you feeling strong?”. Bare in mind at that stage we had done just over 30kms. I responded “ja, I’m feeling ok”. He then proceeded to ask me if I was keen on Hekpoort. I like visiting new places and had never been to Hekpoort so I said let’s do it. What the hell was I thinking???

Kevin did mention there was a steepish hill that we were going to go over but we would be fine. I got worried when we came around a corner and saw this view:

The view from the top of the Hekpoort pass

The road signs telling the trucks to engage a lower gear (like they do on Read more…

My training for the 2011 Ironman 70.3 in East London and the full Ironman in Port Elizabeth is going pretty well. I’m sure the time is going to come when I am going to need some serious motivation to get out onto the road or into the pool. I’ve always been a sucker for motivational videos. I found these two that absolutely fired me up. I thought I’d share them with you.

Read more…

What an amazingly wicked day. Saturday 4 September 2010 will forever be etched into my memory as the best Joburg Day ever. I’ve been trying to figure out how many I’ve done so far and I think its got to be seven or eight. But I can safely say this has been the best line up. There has been some great individual performances that stand out over the years. The legendary Johnny Clegg singing The Scatterlings of Africa as the sun set a few years ago. Prime Circle rocking Live This Life and the Parlotones having the crowd eat out of their hands back in 2008, the last time Joburg day was held at the Randburg Sports ground.

The line up in 2010 was seriously impressive. La Vuvuzela, Loyiso, Danny K, Jack Parrow, HHP, Liquid Deep, Thembi Seethi, Arno Carstens, Denim, Freshly Ground, Prime Circle, The Parlotones and Locnville. There were also guest appearances by Axene, the Irish band Ash and Thabo Mdluli to name just a few.

Everyone brought their A game. But the stars of the show were undoubtedly The Parlotones and Locnville for me. I’m looking forward to Joburg Day 2011 and to see how 94.7 Highveld Stereo can top the 2010 line up. Below are some pictures I took on the day:

Arno Carstens Joburg Day 2010

I’ve been putting my initiative for the Momentum 94.7 Cycle Challenge together over the last couple of months. (Click here if you are a cyclist and you would like to get all the details of the Pink Drive Cycle Challenge Initiative) and it is rolling out quite successfully.

I do need your help though. You may or may not know that I lost my mom to breast cancer in May this year. Two weeks later I took on the Comrades Marathon in her memory as well as in support or in memory of a whole bunch of people affected by this dreadful disease as part of my 89 Memories 1 Race Initiative

I’m at it again but this time I will be riding the 94.7km for anyone suffering from cancer or who has lost the battle. Each kilometre will be for someone. If you would like to support this initiative all you need to do is sms the words ‘race 1′ and the message ‘in support of *insert your loved ones name here* or in memory of *insert your loved ones name here* to 42030. The sms will cost you R30 and in doing so I will ride one of the 94.7 kilometres for your loved one. Read more…