I love music. Absolutely adore it. I am also passionate about South African music and believe we have so much to offer musically as a nation. Every now and again I stumble across a gem and fall in love all over again. I recently came across an unbelievably talented young lady called Lilly Million. I love the folky feel to her voice and think that 2012 is going to be an epic year for her. Below is her first single called Frontlines, give it a listen/watch & let me know what you think. Gget out there and support South African music.

The last 18 months have been a serious rollercoaster ride in my life. I have been lucky enough to transform myself from a morbidly obese couch potato to a pretty fit triathlete. I have been able to achieve some things I never thought possible but have also had a few lows along the way.

I’ve been working on a few projects outside of radio over the last few months and I have been lucky enough to share my story with audiences around the country and even though there is a lot more I’d like to achieve I have realised that a lot of people can relate to my background and have gotten fired up by my journey.

If you would like to hear what I have got to say you can book me as a motivational speaker for your conference or event. I will share my journey with you and some of the obstacles I have had to overcome along the way. It’s a story that will make you laugh, it will make you cry and in the end it will have you cheering. I will share with you the trigger points that got me thinking I need to make a change. I will also give you practical steps to make positive changes in your life. If you would like to share an inspirational story that proves anything is possible with your staff or clients then I might just be the guy for you. To find out more about me as a motivational speaker or to book me please click here.

Halfway into the first week of 2011. Can you cope???!!! Phillip has come and gone and we’re into a new year. December was quite a hectic month and I was rather quiet on the blogging front.

I can honestly say that I am glad the silly season is over and that we can now return to some sense of normality. December was crazy busy. I worked through, as I always do, but there weren’t many fill ins on the radio, like there normally are, so I kept myself busy with other work. I was able to get a whole bunch of admin and necessary leg work out the way to start the new year off with a bang.

In other related news I had 2 tenants in properties I own decide that December is a horrible time to pay rent and that it was better to enjoy their Christmas celebrations than to honour their financial commitments. Needless to say I made sure both were homeless by Christmas but I still took a massive knock financially in December.

On the training front it was a great month. I managed to get a whole bunch of quality training sessions in, even if the weather wasn’t playing along much of the time. Ironman 70.3 in East London is just over two weeks away and I’m as ready as I’ll ever be. Even though I might be doing the swim without a wetsuit due to the aforementioned tenants. But it is what it is and we’ll make the best of it regardless. I also realised in the last week and a bit it is time to start getting serious about my running and January 1 means Comrades 2011 training has officially started. I had a look at the training programmes on the Runnersworld website a week ago and they scared the living daylights out of me. So far so good though, for the last week I have managed to follow the sub 11 hour training programme. I had a chat to Lindsey Parry (the Comrades Coach) just the other day to see if I was on the right track. I told him I’m keen to run four times a week, cycle 4 times a week and swim 3 times a week. He reckons if I do that I’ll be a for away for Ironman in April and Comrades will be no problem in May. So, that’s my training regime for the next 5 months. Watch this space.

2010 was really a bipolar year for me. There were some serious lows. In particular losing my mom and not having my run on the afternoon drive extended. But there were also some awesome highs. Personally the turn around I managed to pull off as far as my health and weight is concerned has to be the biggest highlight for me. From a serious couch potato in 2009 to running my first marathon in 2010 (and subsequently running one more and two ultra marathons) as well as completing a couple of 100 plus kilometre cycle races and two olympic distance triathlons and also losing about 40 kilograms in the year.

2011 is going to be a year of new opportunities for me. I have decided to put most of my time where I get the best results. 2011 is going to be the year to make some serious progress on my business side of things. You may or may not know I own a consultancy where I help business owners develop and create new business online. I’ve been picking up new clients over the last year but it hasn’t been my primary focus. This year it is going to be. I am actively looking for and helping people who need help marketing and growing their business using the internet. I’m quite excited and have already picked up a few clients this year who are already benefiting. If you know anyone who has a business that they would like to grow and expand in 2011 please pass on my details, I’d love to help them out.

For now can I take this time to wish you a very happy and prosperous 2011. May it be your best year yet.

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

Arno Carstens warming up just about to go on stage at Joburg Day 2010

Jack Parrow Joburg Day 2010

Joburg 2010 Jack Parrow

Joburg 2010 Jack Parrow Brad Brown

Derek Alberts Joburg Day 2010

Derek Alberts Joburg Day 2010

Brad Brown Joburg Day 2010

Brad Brown Joburg Day 2010

Ash Joburg Day 2010

Ash Joburg Day 2010

Ash Joburg Day 2010

Bailey Schneider Brad Brown Joburg Day 2010

Bailey Schneider Brad Brown Joburg Day 2010

Joburg Day 2010 Derek Alberts Pabi Moloi Carol Ralefeta Brad Brown

Danny K Joburg Day 2010

Axene Joburg Day 2010 with Brad Brown

Joburg Day 2010 Parlotones

Joburg Day 2010 Parlotones

Joburg Day 2010 Parlotones

Joburg Day 2010 Parlotones

Joburg Day 2010 Parlotones

Joburg Day 2010 Crowd from the stage

Joburg Day 2010 Stage

Locnville Joburg Day 2010

Locnville Joburg Day 2010

Locnville Joburg Day 2010

Locnville Joburg Day 2010

Locnville Joburg Day 2010

The Momentum 94.7 Cycle Challenge is approaching fast and I see more and more people out on the roads starting to get active. I hope your training is going well (if you’ve started) and if you haven’t, don’t stress too much about it, there is still time to build up nicely in order to have a great ride. My PinkDrive charity initiative is starting to pick up some momentum (excuse the pun) but we are nowhere near close to where we want it to be. So, if I can ask you a massive favour, please can you continue helping me getting the word out there that we, as a group, are trying to raise at least a million rand at this year’s cycle challenge. The money is going towards a great cause and if we can raise the million we will be able to buy another educational truck for the PinkDrive. If you can forward this link onto anyone and everyone you know who is riding the race, is thinking of riding the race or who has ever thought about riding it. In a nutshell it’s pretty easy to get involved. All you need to do is raise R3 000 for the PinkDrive. As a PinkDrive group we have an awesome start time, you’ll get cycling kit to show you’re part of the group and you’ll get to ride along side some South African celebs that have also committed to ride in support of breast cancer. All the details you need are here, Brad Brown’s Cycle Challenge Initiative and check out Race 4 Charity to see how easy it is to raise the required money for charity

Bailey Schneider and I were talking about the Garmin range of sports GPS units on the afternoon drive today. As part of the entry process for the Momentum 94.7 Cycle Challenge Highveld Stereo are giving away 20 Garmin Transitions packs, but only if you enter before 1 August 2010. You can enter by visiting the Cycle Challenge website. In that pack is the Garmin Edge 500 cycling GPS unit. I don’t train with that particular unit, I use the Garmin Forerunner 310XT which I absolutely love, but the functionality of the two units are very similar. If you love gadgets you will love training with a Garmin. Below are the details of the ride I did on Sunday afternoon. Take a few minutes and analyse the data to see what nifty little gadget it is: (by clicking on the view details button at the bottom)

I love what I do for a living. Being on radio everyday is one of the best things about my life. There are perks to what I do as well. We get to go meet tons of really amazing people and get to go to some pretty exclusive events. But every now and again we get to experience something that comes along once in a lifetime. Today was one of those days. Primedia teamed up with Southern Sun and Supersport and invited South Africans out into the streets of Sandton to show their support for Bafana Bafana.

By the end of my show on Wednesday we had about 50 000 people committed to coming out onto the streets to support our boys. Our expectations were exceeded and then some! About 250 000 proudly South African supporters came out and showed just how much support there is for the South African Football team for the 2010 World Cup. Below are some of the pictures I took from the side of the through out the day, from one of the open buses in the parade and from our building at Primedia Place.

The crowds at United We Shall Stand

RMB United We Shall Stand

Cnr Maude & West - United We Shall Stand

Cnr West & Friedman - The Bafana Bafana bus to the right

Marriage Proposal for Katlego

Young and old enjoying seeing Bafana Bafana

The smiles say everything

No Vuvuzela? Make a plan brother

You make Joburg great

Cnr Gwen & Friedman - United We Shall Stand

My preparation for the 2010 Loskop Marathon was not ideal. A constantly niggly left foot after the Vaal Marathon 6 weeks earlier never allowed me to do the sort of mileage in the build up that I would have liked to have done. I also decided to change the shoes I was running literally one week before the race. This in hindsight probably wasn’t the wisest decision either. In the week prior to the race with the new shoes my tendonitis cleared up so I decided to risk running the 50kms in the new shoes.

We decided not to sleep over in either Middelburg or at the Loskop Dam the night before as I was on air until 7pm on the Friday evening. We woke up at 2am and were on the road to Middelburg by 2:30am. An early start to what was going to be a long day.

The Start of the 2010 Loskop Marathon

By the time we reached the start I was a bundle of nerves. As it started to get light the 4000 runners began the trek to the loskop dam. Earlier on in the week I had spoken to my good mate Dave Walters from MPower FM in Nelspruit and it turned out MPower FM was the media partner for the race. We were going to try and do a couple of live crossings from the road and the first one was as the gun went.

My goal was to go out until halfway at just under 7 minutes per kilometre until halfway and then take the rest of the race as it comes. It all went according to plan. About 5 km in I got swallowed up by Vlam’s sub 6 hour bus and decided to stick with them for as long as I could. I actually finished the Vaal Marathon in the bus and that’s how I qualified for Comrades 2010. That’s why it wasn’t vital that I finished under 6 hours in this one but the goal was to spend as much time as I could on the road to get a decent long one in the legs.

Peter Swanepoel and myself about 8kms in

Halfway - 25km to go to Loskop Dam

Looking back down Bugger's Hill

The ball of my right foot started hurting about 20kms and I just thought it was the hardness of the new shoes. Turned out it was the start of a monster blister. More on the blister later though. Going down Kranspoort Pass hurt like crazy. That pass is steep and I took it very slowly knowing that I had enough time in the bag to finish regardless of what happened. After turning into the valley the road stretches out in front of you and you get your first glimpse of Loskop dam.

At the Marathon mark with my Garmin 310xt

There is one last ugly sting in the tail of the Loskop Marathon. Varaday’s Hill. If you’ve run it you’ll know what I mean. After 46km on the road, you’re tired, your body aches, you know you’re close to the finish and then you arrive at the foot of Varaday’s. It’s a horrible climb and is made worse by it positioning in the race. At the top of Varaday’s the view down to Loskop Dam is nothing short of spectacular and it then leaves you with a jarring 2km to the finish.

Looking back down Varaday's Hill

The view of Loskop Dam from the top of Varaday's Hill

I completed the race in 6:16 and some change and to be dead honest was knackered. First thing I did after getting my finishers medal, t-shirt and goodie bag was to find my family and take my shoes off. The blister on the bottom of my right foot was extremely sore. I’ll leave the story of the treating and subsequent lessons learnt from that blister for another post.

Generally I have only good memories of the 2010 Loskop Marathon. It was well organised and the 2011 Loskop Marathon is definitely one to pencil in the calendar.

I had the funniest experience last night that I just had to share. I attended the Rockies Road Runners Comrades 2010 panel talk at the Zoo Lake sports grounds. The speakers had a wealth of Comrades experience and knowledge and I thought it would be good to go learn from them. Included on the panel was 9 times Comrades winner Bruce Fordyce, Dan Oliver who is a running coach extraordinaire (He has also completed 19 Comrades marathons himself) and well known and highly respected sports physician Dr Jon Patricios. Don Oliver opened the meeting breaking down his training programme and Bruce Fordyce wrapped things up with a bit of a what to expect session and opened the floor for a bit of a Q&A session which was very entertaining and informative.

The amusing bit of the evening was the talk by Dr Jon Patricios. I first met Jon in November when I had picked up a strain of the peroneal tendon in my left foot. His talk last night was about the adaptation your body will go through to finish a race like Comrades. Obviously one of the biggest changes in your body will be the strengthening of your skeletal system and your muscles and tendons. My injury in November was my body not being able to adapt to the stresses and strains I was placing on it.

To wrap up his talk Jon said it was important to be sensible in the build up and make sure the adaptation was gradual enough not to cause serious damage. In closing he used the following example to illustrate his point:  He said he saw a patient at the end of last year with an injury that was caused by a few things. This patient is a radio jock on one of the big radio stations and weighed about 145kg’s and was convinced he was going to run Comrades as part of their celebrity challenge (At which point the audience gasped). He went on to explain that this patient had broken down at the end of November and there was no ways that this guy was going to do it. I think the words he used were “reckless and irresponsible to think he could do this”. With that he wished everyone luck for their training and the race itself. At the interval Jon was chatting to one or two of the other runners that were using the opportunity to ask a few questions. I waited my turn, shook his hand (I could see he didn’t recognise me) and said that I was the reckless and irresponsible radio jock he was referring to. I corrected him and said that I was actually 160 odd kg’s when I started and that I was on track as far as my training was going. There is still a long was to go in my training and a lot of hard work to get me to the start line on 30 May but so far so good. I need to find out where his next talk is, that story he tells is just going to get better!

I’m starting to realise the power of social networking site like Twitter and Facebook. Its amazing how you can be in touch in real time with friends and family but also with people who traditionally were unreachable for the masses. I love the fact that I can use these sites to communicate with people who listen to my radio show and also people who are following what I am doing on the road in the lead up to Comrades 2010. I spent a bit of time this week end redesigning the background of my Twitter profile that is more inline with who I am and what I do. If you would like to follow me on Twitter you can find me at www.twitter.com/bradbrown947

Brad Brown on Twitter