Time for a little R & R

Yes even I take time off... well I didn't race, not only that I didn't even run a race! Impressive Coach, even if I have to say so myself!

So let's wind things back a bit and see why I need a little R & R:

- 23 March, raced a 10km on the road, it was hard.

- 29 March, Oceans trail almost 2 hours of hard trail.

- 6 April, Dudleys 15km trail race...

-13/14 April, Mast Challenge 10.5km up! and the VOB 20km trail race.

-19/20/21 April, African X - 3 days and almost 90km of trail with Ian.

-27 April, back to the road for a fast 15km race.

-5 May JMC... 35km of hard trail racing.

-12 May, back on the road for a hilly half. (that was 500m long)

-19 May, HMC 14.5km of trail with 800m of climb.

That is 9 week of hard racing and my body is evidence that you can go on and on for ever...

So what do I do on an off weekend, well we pack the car and head out of town!!! OK it's not that easy as we had only booked to go away Sunday and Monday night's. Saturday, what to do on Saturday, well how about sleeping in (till almost 8, before heading out for a hill session, no racing doesn't mean no training!).

Roll on Sunday, and the winter rains made an appearance, so after another lie in I popped out for a little run before we were due to hit the road. I managed 18km with a little climb up Nursary to see what the weather looked like... the rain was gone, but it was windy in the clouds!!! 2hours later I was back home and ready to pack so we could be on the road by 11h30.

With the wife, 2 dogs and 90 year old mother-in-law packed we headed out of suburbia...

Neatly packed

Stopping at almost every farm stall we bought bread and even had lunch before finally making it to Greyton. Greyton was our destination... we turned right and 7km out of town we found ourselves at the farm cottage we had booked.

Picture me with my feet on the wall and a beer in the hand.

With the car unpacked I opened a beer and put my feet up while the ladies and Peanut went for a walk.

With the mountains in our view just a little far off for an early morning run I found out about the mountain bike trail!!! 25km of mountain bike trail sounded like fun.

So after a night of drinking red wine by the fire I was ready for what ever the "Oewerzicht Greyton Trail" could throw at me...

Not all the signs were clear!

After getting lost in the orchard at the start I found the trail and headed off into the hills.

Look at that, the trail I was running on is also sponsored by my sponsor "Contego". Yes they are also big into mountain biking. It was amazing, I had no clue as to where I was going, I had to keep checking that I didn't loose the trail. I was also on a time schedule as I had told Dawn I would be about 2 hours... With no cell phone reception my phone was only really good for a couple of pictures, so I had to run, and keep running. Short cuts, we only after about 12km did I decide that I would try and cut a couple of 100m off the 25km. I could see a fence crossing off to my right, so I took an animal trail across the field, and yes it was a good move...

The road to no-where

Over the next hill I could see the farm and I was heading "home" 20km was more then even for the start of a rest week...

No sooner had I finished my run then my lovely wife came running up the road, she had spent 40 min running around the river and other accommodation.

The Life

After the day in town I again found myself outside by the fire with a glass of red wine, but tomorrow I would only have time for a short run before heading home, why do we have to work...