MY FIRST TRIATHLON

There have been months of preperation leading to me completeing the triathlon this weekend and as I ran to the finish line the overwhelming joy I felt was not just to do with reaching the goal of so much hard work.

I completed the Midlands Ultra sprint distance on Sunday; 600m swim, 21km cycle and 5km run. It wasnt a huge distance and my time of 2hrs and 6mins wasn't amazing but the feeling of completing  something I had no idea I was capable of filled me with such incredible joy.

Mix, Rory and I have been training together for the last couple months, our training programme was put together by Mix and the two of them pushed me and encouraged me through all of it. There were moments of frustration because being on a mountain bike made me alot slower than those racing on road bikes but as they rode passed they yelled their encouragment and it felt like my legs pushed harder than they ever had and I did the best cycle time I've done since we started.

Endurance sport is something so many people struggle to see the enjoyment in but over the last few months of training there has been so much good; running during sunset Bombay Bicycle club in my ears and the afternoon breeze on my face with my friend Chris running next to me (Christina actually joined us this weekend and took alot of the photos), I've been cycing on Saturday mornings through suburbs or out in open country with beautiful landscapes with fresh rich lunches afterwards, I've felt myself getting stronger and capable of more and more.

We drove down to Durban on Friday for the Tri and saw again the beautiful landscape that never ceases to take my breath away, we walked on the beach in the evening and lay out on the sand in the sun, we drove out to the midlands and through thick forrests, we ate dinner at a cute b&b where the cat comes to sit on your lap and the food fills you and warms you up from the cold mist outside. There is so much more joy to experience in the build up to that one race day, simply by stepping outside, finding these beautiful hidden parts of the country, spending time with people, pushing them and encouraging them as they do the same for you.

This is the begining of hopefully many more triathlons to come and the first adventures of many that waking up, steping outside and trying the new has allowed.

These are a few pics of the weekend and our time around the triathlon.

The evening we arrived we went straigh down to be beach to dip our toes in the water.

Spending time with Chris on the beach while Rorz and Mix had a surf You've never seen a better supporter, she was at every transition cheering us on. Chris will be joining us for the next one, can't wait:)

 Midmar dam, the day before the race.


From Left to right: Rorz, Mix and Pete- Peter is an old friend who moved to Durban, so inspire by Mix's journey he decided to do the race with use.

Mix at the finish line: the picture of determination, hard work and passion!

What he has accomplished this year has truely been inspiring, you can read his story here.

Stories

There's an overwhelming number,
of the storys for none but one.
You have them there,
in the desperate parts of your heart
they long to be lived
they long to be written.

The pictures of places
missing the details
the imagination is limited to add,
faces blurred of those you long to meet
the person you long to be
always nagging at the one you've become.

There are stories untold
shared with none but one
they nurture dreams
lighten fear,
they lift up
and march forward.

Leaving gets harder

We drove down to Durban last Thursday, my dad, brother, husband and I left in the pouring rain at 15:00 in the afternoon and drove the entire five and half hours in a seriously heavy storm. The drive down to the coast is always head clearing , I know exactly how the landscape will change and how my mind will become clearer and clearer as the air changes from crisp and thin to humid and salty. I don't need any entertainment on the way down, I've done that trip a few times a year for over 23 years and those 5 to 6 hours seem like nothing to me now.

We drove down to meet my mom and younger sister and brother to spend 4 days. My mom and I spent two full days totally absorbed in helping put together my cousins wedding and then celebrating it with all our family and their friends. The rest of the time we just relaxed, when you're at home you never feel the need to fill every moment with activity and Durban is as home as my family could ever be.

Needless to say those 4 days went by way to quickly and this was the first time that I can remember actually crying as we drove away from the city and started the climb back up to the highveld. I always feel so free there; in the endless hours I can spend on the beach, how my siblings are happy to just spend the entire day surfing, to go running through the hills on my own over looking the coastline and harbour be gone for an hour and no one worries.. Life seems calmer and simpler.

Bisou xxx

Freedom

This isn't my picture, this is one of those images that some how wondered onto the Internet without someone to claim it.

I've been that person, looking over a shoulder, driving through forests, over mountains, in mist and sun, at night. The wind whipping my face, I feel like I'm running, not away from something but too something incredible, something I haven't found or seen or experienced. 

 I snuck out of a sleeping house and squeezed onto a bike with 3 friends in the dark night and rode through the hills of the Himalaya's, arms out- completely free.

I drove from Nice to Monte Carlo with my husband on honeymoon, we rode along the coastline and ate hot pasta to warm up..We rode back in the winter rain and laughed until we cried standing drench in our hotel room.

We've driven down tiny dirt roads in a quieter part of Phuket searching for a beach and into the forest in Krabi amongst those strange mountains that spike out of the ground.

I've explored and escaped, searched and just driven because the road kept going and we were happy to be together.

Awkward silence

I'm not a photographer, I know in the blog world everyone is gasping because who blogs without owning a fancy camera. The thing is I have a family of incredible photographers in my family and I just don't have their patience for the art, this is my way of excuses all the terrible photo's you'll see in the future.

Anyway I've been doing the norm since my last post, getting bitten by a dog while mountain biking, meeting a giant...

Spending Saturdays at cute markets in town with family,

Cousin Mix and wife bee- more like a brother.

Mom and dad, dad doesn't normally look crazy

me pretending to be a photographer, husband walking
between buildings in the city.

celebrating birthdays..

I do alot with these two- Chris on the right is
my awesome running partner:)



This is Boopty on the left (aka Claudia- general amazing friend)
she turned 26 last week

 A typical couple weeks- I have an amazing family I get to hang out with alot (but that's a story for another day).. But all the while my mind has been on the simmering Bangkok post that's written and waiting for the photo's which the laptop refuses to give me. So much love for the city all written out but the frustration of the continual fight among the different computers in my life which all have some kind of flaw and make me want to throw them against the wall.

I've also been motivated and inspired by the small connections I've made with people who live in a totally different world to me, I've jumped continents through the Internet and suddenly we're like neighbors.. Also made me want to tell you a little more about S.A. and Joburg and how much I love it because well I've learned to love and understand so many towns, cities, suburbs, cultures through the amazing people that pour themselves into sharing and reaching and stretching.

Awkward silence broken,more Thailand soon, Bisou xxx


More of this soon:) You can see how huge this statue is by looking at how tiny I am in front;)



Bangkok, Thailand 2012

Warren and I arrived in Bangkok a couple hours before they rang in the new year. From the moment we stepped out of the train station the sticky heat engulfed me, my shirt and backpack sticking to me.

Stepping into that chaos on Sukumvit, pushing past people, moving through the crowds. Warren lets me march ahead, 4ft 11inch's of tiny wife being a little too easy to loose in a crowd he likes to see me at all times.The city is lit up, alive, moving, loud. My heart feels like its beating with the concert happening along the side walk while the traffic moves along like an angry mob. We're here, well here could have been anywhere in Asia, there is no where as alive, but we're in Bangkok and I'm completely awestruck.


I love how blurry and non-photographer these are, taken in the moment while we were walking:)


I love a loud city, its like a drug to Warren and I, we feed off pushy people tying to get from A-B, an entire life lived between the sky scrapers.
We walked from Soi 23 to Soi 2 where our hotel was and saw every kind of Thai celebration in between; Locals with fire crackers, tourists on scooters, people selling every item one could hope to find. The black night blindingly bright and blurred with smells,colour, heat and humidity. The 30 min walk from station to hotel felt like a full introduction to this insane city and I finished the walk glowing with all that I had absorbed.

We arrived at our hotel, down a dark street with water dripping from the buildings above and huge trees drooping over the street feeding off the moist air.Stepping into the hotel lobby we got that shock of icy air conditioned air like a drink of cold water and tiny Thai man taking our back packs refusing to let us carry them to our room. He unlocked and let us into our simple room with the heavy wood paneling on the walls, the well used sheets and florescent lights and hard floors- simple and comfortable.

We welcomed in the new year, after a walk through the streets, from our hotel balcony, watching the fireworks between the trees and buildings, like a musical introduction do Thailand.

Writing

I'm back here, back to my own little pretty corner of the Internet where a few of you come to read what I have to say. It's been months since I've felt like I had anything worth writing about, and even that sentence and what I thought about it has changed. I love writing, that's why I started bold bird, I want to write and I know I can and I have things I want to say if only I can be bold enough to fearlessly say them.

I'm an extremely private person by nature, I find it easy to make conversation yet very difficult to express the deepest parts of what I'm really thinking. What I've been thinking is that I really do love traveling, in fact I don't think I feel completely at home unless its somewhere completely foreign to me. My husband has made it so easy for me to find home within our marriage, within the family we are when we're together that its no longer about a familiar space but just being there together.

I love traveling, and so I want to write about it. Really write about it, how I felt in a foreign place at 8, at 14, at 18, married, single. There is so much more to traveling than being a tourist and more to a country than its "sites". I have some real bits and pieces of me to share and standing on this ledge (inspired by some of my favorite bloggers) I'm going to taking the writing leap again.

*****

A quick update on me since February. I've been studying, which I always seem to be doing. I am a qualified Pilate's instructor as of about a month ago. Not entirely sure what made me want to study Pilate's but I am so glad I did.I would love to be an instructor and I'm not really sure when I'll get to be but teaching and interacting with people about their physical health and fitness seems to be something that makes me come alive. Some how exercise clears my mind like nothing else does and sharing that is amazing!

I studied through this group www.trifocuspilates.co.za in case anyone is interested, they are the most recognized group for Pilate's in S.A.

My writing muscles sufficiently stretched and the blood flowing, till next time, Bisou xxx

Ready or not..

I’m torn.

I’m torn between writing here and deleting it all together.

I’m torn between the personal or selective pieces of me.

I’m torn between putting it all out there, making an effort or a more surface approach.

I’m torn between an anchor or a sail.

I’m torn between a trim or tattered ends.

I’m torn between what’s old and familiar or the potential of new and scary.

I’m torn between posting this or just filing it away.

I’m so positive and excited for this year, taking some nervous steps forward and I guess I’ve just felt that clinch where it becomes necessary to decide how to proceed. I got back from a a few weeks away with my husband and did my first catch-up on blogs I follow of people I love and admire, some of whom I will never even met. Whilst I was tempted to push  my life as far out of sight as I could (sometimes I feel like Facebook and such are an invasion of my life as I’m sure most do too) I realised so many others had risked this open air that a blog provides and encouraged without even realising. So I decided to be bold and open and just let this space take me where it wishes. While I’m not a huge fan of the F.B. method of portraying my life this is my space, my own little room to pull apart and put back together every part of me and my and them- all that I love. SO here goes nothing right!